Make waffles without opening the lid of the waffle maker! What?

Here's a waffle iron that bakes them at an angle. Doesn't the batter leak out? The Giz Wiz puts the Kalorik Easy Pour Waffle Maker to the test. Actually, this is very easy to use. Simply use the included measuring cup to pour batter into the spout of the closed waffle maker that sits at a 45 degree angle. It looks like that would be a disaster, but a rugged gasket holds the batter firmly in place and the angle makes it possible to distribute the batter evenly. Indicator lights plus five browning levels for custom cooked waffles 7" in diameter about an 1" thick.  

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/oLMI35UA2gw

Company website: https://kalorik.com/site/wm-43981.html

Turbo-Pot cookware, speeds up your cooking and helps save money on gas.

Typically on gas stoves, hot air escapes from under the side of the pot, reducing heat transfer, and slowing your cooking. To improve this, Turbo Pot's new tech design adds metal fins onto the bottom of their cookware to increase the heating surface area. This advanced heat sink technology captures more heat, reducing energy waste. I've not used these yet, but the company says their pots have been independently tested by PG&E and are 30~50% faster cooking than conventional cookware. I understand a big market for this cookware is the restaurant industry where speeding up cooking can mean more business and consuming less gas. In the retail market the frying pan and the 2.2 quart sauce pan shown on the air have a MSRP of $48.00 each. There were five different Turbo Pots, plus a kettle, in the consumer line.

www.turbopot.com

Turbo Cookware is now starting to show up on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2FYQmvu - As an Amazon Associate Giz Wiz Biz earns from qualifying Amazon purchases. 

Vista - good looking frames, and good for the environment

There's not much techie about picture frames, but when I saw a block of foam on the Vista Frame table at the Housewares Preview show I wondered what the connection was. It turns out the company has a wonderful goal and a super way to help save the planet with their frames. Here's how they put it: “Our frames preserve their contents, and keep them beautiful. Our process preserves the Earth, keeping it beautiful. We know it’s important to feel good about what you buy, so "picture this" for a moment... We pick up tons and tons of polystyrene [aka Styrofoam] from all over the world, process it into tiny pellets, and turn it into the material we use for our frames. All the while keeping it out of landfills! Doing good by creating things that look good in your home. All of Vista frames are ready made in popular sizes and are designed to be hung vertically or horizontally. So go ahead, and enjoy your Vista.” And I was amazed at how reasonably priced they are. They start at about $7 and up, most selling in the $12 to $15 range the spokesperson said.

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/ckdExBuFCbc

http://www.vistaframes.com/   

Gadgets & Gizmos From Toy Fair

Here's my Toy Fair 2018 spot as it appeared on World News Now, on Friday, 2/23/18

http://abcnews.go.com/WNN/video/york-toy-fair-2018-53299934 

Since most won't be out until summer or fall, you won't them online yet.

But you can find a few more details about some of the toys, games and gadgets below, some with extended videos from my Giz Wiz Show. www.gizwiz.tv

You've Heard of Frying Donuts, But How About Flying Frying Donuts?

This will be a fun game for kids, parties and yes, even adults. I only played it for a few minutes at Toy Fair, but it was fun. I don't know if there's a way for more than two to play, but basically here's how it works. Each player gets four light-weight mesh donuts. They are three donuts each in two different colors so it's easy to keep track of the score. A fan under the 'cooking pot' make the donuts take flight. The winner is the one who gets their three donuts to catch on the baker's hook over the cooking pot first. The spokesperson at the Maya Toys booth said the game will be out in August and will retail for $19.99.

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/mJwYaUDysEM

It's not on the company website yet and probably won't be until summer www.mayatoys.net

Every year Folkmanis introduces a few more of their lovable new puppets. This year there's a new Purring Cat, some Flying Pigs and an Opossum. Now, can you call this Opossum lovable? Here's how Folkmanis describes him: Creepy yet cute, the Folkmanis Opossum puppet is realistic enough to fool your friends. Play "possum" and be ready for squeals of delight and awe when you animate the mouth and display the rat-like printed tail. $53.99. Hmm, rat-like printed tail? Oh, well, judge his cuteness for yourself in the video from Toy Fair 2018. The Opossum is on the company website already, but not the Purring Cat (with purring is built-in) and not the Flying Pig. But they should show up on the company website soon.

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/a-BkVYJkxX8

Company website: www.folkmanis.com

Soggy Doggy is available now!

Soggy Doggy is the showering, shaking, doggy bathing game for kids and the whole family. Players roll the die and move their playing pieces around the game board, taking turns washing Soggy Doggy. But watch out! You never know when he will shake to dry off... and you’ll get a little wet! First one around the board and back to the doggy basket wins.

MSRP: $15. 

Fingerlings are also available now. They're the little ones the spokesperson had on her finger.

The big Fingerling Hugs - the one big enough to hug a kid - won't be out till summer.

Here's a game that might shock you!

Shock Box is called The Reaction Challenge game! There are four game modes: Intense, Exteme, Memory and Rapid Fire. It's for 2-4 players, ages 14+. And yes, you can feel the shock. I asked for the lowest mode, but I easily felt it, so beware of that. And notice, "ages 14+".

It's already listed on the company website although the spokesperson said it would be available in the Spring.

Zing website:

https://zing.store/products/shock-box   

MSRP: $29.99, but it will usually be cheaper once it's online at other places.