Connectix QuickCam
Webcam
Link: Wikipedia
The Connectix QuickCam was also ranked 40 in 2005 in PC World's 50 Top Gadgets of the last 50 years.
Dying of Boredom
Mark Donna writes to Dick about an article from 1961 in the Weekend Magazine, via pixelmatic.com: "Will life be worth living in 2000AD?" One of the predictions was that everything would be so easy that people would die of boredom.
Mad Minute
Sex therapist Dr Rude answers some of your questions.
Listen to Episode 580
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Twist-Lok
Drill & Drive System
Link: Lyropatool
The Dick Cam
Dick is on Stickam too while recording the show, and notes that George Wood and Girl Geek are in his chatroom. Dick on Stickam. That's Dickam?
Stay Home Please
Ryan Kenny from Indiana loves DGW and listens to it almost every day. He missed Leo when Leo went to Australia. Stay home please, asks Ryan.
The Return of the Mad Minute
Mad Minute returns. Mini-News Update with Sara Fowler.
Rotator
Swivel Socket Adapter
Link: Rotator Electric
You can watch a demonstration here.
The Rotato
The name of Dick's gadget reminds Leo of the Rotato, a hand-crank potato peeler. The Rotato Express is electrically powered.
A number of people have asked about watching Dick live on TWiTLive, in the TWiT Studio itself (aka The Giz Wiz Green Room). Dick would love to have a live audience when he appears on TWiTLive on 20 June.
Piano Roll
Daniel Gentleman of ThoughtFix LLC writes in about what he thinks is the oldest method of recorded music distribution - the piano roll, and the player piano.
Even back in the day, the music industry was worried about copyright violation, and one of hte piano roll makers, Apollo, was taken to court, resulting in the 1908 Supreme Court decision in White-Smith Music Publishing Company v Apollo Company, which Apollo won. But later Congress intervened. Read about it on Wikipedia.
Here is an excellent video on YouTube of a TV programme aired on TVOntario in the late 1980's, called "The Acme School of Stuff", on how a piano roll was made.
Dick and Leo wonder if the younger generation would understand what a "bread box" or an "ice box" is.
Radiosophy HD100
HD Radio Receiver
Link: Radiosophy
Each HD Radio FM frequency can accommodate more than one channel, so that you can select different streams or channels of programming even on the same frequency. Also called Multicasting. To check what HD radio stations are available in your area, go to iBuiquity.
The HD100 supports HD radio FM/AM and standard analogue FM/AM frequencies. It has an internal antenna and includes external antenna connections. You can scan for HD radio stations, with or without analogue radio stations. Pre-set up to 5 FM stations and 5 AM stations. The LCD screen delivers data features offered by HD Radio, including song info, traffic and news alerts, sports scores, weather forecast, etc. It's also a clock, with the usual alarm, sleep and snooze functions.
It's A Gas
Dick has sent Leo a link, discovered by listener James Baldwin, to the Mad "It's A Gas" Recording on YouTube, but Leo has failed Dick again. To listen to the recording, go to Dick's home page, or the blog post for Episode 568.
Keeping a Land Line
Bob Harris, who previously wrote in Episode 512, suggests an alternative to keeping a land line, in response to Dick and Leo's discussion in Episode 562. For those who have phones which need to be electrically plugged in, they can use an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).
Listen to Episode 577
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HotStop
Bathroom Accessories/Anti-Scalding Devices
Link: HotStop
Twitter TWiT Derby Result
Apart from not begging (Episode 573), Leo doesn't play dirty either, to win the Hubdub Twitter TWiT Derby, ending at midnight on 25 May 2008. He only asked listeners to follow him and Dvorak, and unfollow Kevin Rose, in return for a chance to win the new Ultimate Gaming Machine (in TWiT Episode 143). To his credit, Leo quickly realised how silly it was and gave a retraction and apology on Twitter.
Leo has also been asking his radio audience on The Tech Guy to follow him on Twitter to send him questions and comments. Top that, Kevin!
With all these desperate moves, Leo has now won the TWiT Derby. His mid-life crisis is officially over; we can all delete our accounts (and our false names) on Twitter; and dare we hope that in return the TWits may finally stop talking about Twitter?
The Ultimate Gaming Machine
It was 10 years ago on TechTV on ZDTV that Leo built the "Ultimate Gaming Machine". Read Leo's explanation on his blog.
Another Reason for Audible
Girl Geek, aka Myra Joyce, has found a motivation for subscribing to Audible for city-dwellers who don't need to commute to work, and another reason for writing to Dick. It drags her away from her computer to go for long walks.
Leo's Autobiography
Leo struggles to think of a name for his autobiography. Dick and Leo came up with lame suggestions "It Wasn't Just A Rubber Ball" and "After The Ball Is Busted". Nothing like the name of his unauthorised boigraphy, "I Never Met The Man". See Episodes 320 and 324.
Listen to Episode 568
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Compaq iPAQ Personal Audio Player PA-2
MP3 Player
Link: Compaq Press Release Amazon
This was the successor to the PA-1, weighing 4 ounces, which came out in 2000. The PA-1 also came with 64MB, but on 2 separate 32MB MMC cards.
Dick thinks he got his PA-2 in October 2001. On 22 October 2001, Compaq, having developed these flash-based portable players, decided to tread back, and announced the iPAQ Mini-CD Player PM-1, which Dick talked about on a previous Warehouse Friday, in Episode 140 - which used mini-CDs as the storage medium for MP3s (on the ground that CDs were much cheaper than flash memory).
On the very next day, 23 October 2001, Apple announced the 1st generation iPod for Mac, selling for $399, but with a capacity of 5GB, using a hard drive. The 2nd generation iPod, with Windows support, came out in July 2002. The rest was history.
The Phonemate Just in Case Beeper and More
The Just In Case Beeper (Episode 540) reminded Theodrake, aka Ed, aka Ed Bruce, of a portable electronic phonebook he had 25 years ago. It could store at least 50 phone numbers and had a speaker on the back which you would hold up to the phone, and it would generate the tones to dial the number. An auto dialer.
Listen to Episode 575
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Kingston DataTraveler Micro Reader
USB Thumb Drive and MicroSD Card Reader
Link: Kingston
Kingston also offers an almost confusing array of alternatives. The name of the model, DataTraveler, means the device includes built-in flash memory. But you can get just the USB microSD reader (without the built-in flash memory), with a microSD card (which is the album art for this episode's mp3), or without a card. There is also the Kingston Mobility Kit (Episode 383) which contains adapters for all the SD sub-formats. All in a thumb drive design.
... aka Wenceslao Moreno, was a ventriloquist who performed on shows including the Ed Sullivan Show with his puppets Johnny (Wences's hand with a blond wig), and Pedro (a head in a box), who bore a striking resemblance to the very Giz Wiz himself. Wences died aged 103 in 1999. You can read his entry on Wikipedia. Here is a video on YouTube of a performance by Señor Wences. Pedro appears in the video at the 1:30 mark.
Video Toaster on the Amiga 2000
Leo's reference to Newtek's Video Toaster in the Snappy episode (Episode 565) did not invoke any nostalgia in Paul Watson. He still has the Video Toaster working on his original Amiga 2000, along with Final Cut Pro on his Intel Mac Pro!
For an archived video of the Video Toaster on an Amiga 2000, go back to the blog post for Episode 565.
Repurposing Lumpy
Dick suggests that Carvel's Lumpy the Whale (more commonly known as Fudgie) should be repurposed as Leo the Loopy. To revisit Dick and Leo's repartee on Lumpy the Whale, check out Episodes 347, 357 and 535.
President and Biz Dev Guy
Apart from getting a new uniform and a No.1 Badge, Dane Golden has been promoted to President and Biz Dev Guy of TWiT. Leo is also going to get a part-time editor to edit the shows to free up Dane so he can bring Leo his cup of broth and blanket, prune the trees and mow the lawn in the TWiT garden, and drive Dick to and from the San Francisco Airport on a stretch Volkswagen when Dick appears on TWiTLive.
To learn more about Leo's new crew at the TWiT Cottage, including Colleen and Frédérique, read his recent blog post TWiT Live Update.
Off to Nova Scotia
Dick is off to Nova Scotia today, on the Queen Mary 2, but will return to base on Tuesday to record more DGWs.
Listen to Episode 574
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USB Plasma Ball
Light Show
This Plasma Ball is powered by USB, 4'" in diameter, with an on/off swtich. Put your finger on the sphere and the "glow" will congregate around your finger, like all other plasma balls. Available at VAT19 and ThinkGeek.
Here is ThinkGeek's explanation of this magic. A combination of gasses (such as Argon) are trapped inside a plastic sphere at relatively low pressures. An alternating current, at relatively high voltages, is sent into the sphere via an electrode in the centre. This energy causes atoms (or electrons maybe) to be stripped from the gasses, leaving in its wake some positively charged ions and a gorgeous gaseous and electrically conductive environment (aka Plasma). That high voltage served up through the electrode will now arc up through the plasma to the plastic sphere where the voltage is lower (starting at the top where the temperature is greater). The arcs glow because they are hotter than the surrounding plasma. You can touch the plastic and the arcs will strongly congregate to your touch because you will be creating an even lower voltage jump from the electrode.
Or just let Dick explain it to you in his own words:
The Giz Wiz Green Room
Dick is negotiating for the TWiT Studio to be named after him. Leo suggests "The Dick DeBartolo Memorial Antechamber". Dick thinks it's too early to do that, and prefers "The Giz Wiz Green Room".
The Bird Logo
Leo explains to Dick how the name Twitter came about. Evan Williams was running Odeo whose logo was a bird. As a side project, an engineer of Odeo suggested this IM-like web service, so people could send messages called "tweets" to each other. Hence the name Twitter. For Dick and Leo's previous mention of Odeo, listen again to Episode 150, towards the end of that episode at about 14:00. And it was Leo who told Dick about Odeo.
No Begging, Again
Having finally overtaken Barack Obama on the number of followers on Twitter, Leo is now locked in a close race with Kevin Rose. As with the May 2006 Podcast Alley vote, Dick and Leo do not beg (Episode 67). So sign up at Twitter and follow Leo, follow Dick, and Alfred E Neuman.
Please alleviate Leo's mid-life crisis and follow him on Twitter. Otherwise send him a Jacob's Ladder for The Giz Wiz Green Room.
The Belly of a Dead Fish
Jack from New Hampshire (who may or may not be Jack Kelly from Episode 419) was listening to Episode 564 and was amused by Dick's reference to the beigey colour of the Socket Pocket. As a technician, he is all too familiar with the colour and has always called it the "dead fish belly yellow". It's very close to Dick's Tainted Tuna Taupe.
Listen to Episode 573
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Dash Express
GPS Car Navigation System
Link: Dash Express
This week's TTTT gadget from Leo is a recommendation by Jason Calacanis of Mahalo. The Dash Express is a GPS car navigation system with a difference. It is WiFi- and GPRS-enabled, so that its AutoUpdate function will always get you the most up-to-date maps and software (maps include 2D and 3D maps). Its TruTraffic functionality downloads the latest traffic information to give you the most accurate road conditions. It receives traffic information from road sensors, commercial fleets and other sources through Inrix, a traffic data provider. It also collates traffic info from Dash users anonymously to get live traffic flow data. Its combination of historical traffic database and live info gives you alternative routes to your destination.
You can also connect to Yahoo Local Search to search for any information you want, like a dim sum restaurant or Starbucks nearest you, or nearest to your destination, or elsewhere, using an on-screen keyboard. You can get gas prices and movie listings.
A further feature is the DashApps. The Dash Express uses OpenMoKo's Neo open hardware platform, and it is open to third party applications which you can download on to the device, to add functionalities, such as accessing your calendar using funambol, finding out about speed traps via Trapster.
You get 3 months' free trial of MyDash, and thereafter, depending on the length of your commitment, the monthly charge ranges from $10 to $13 per month. The monthly fee includes any Wifi and GPRS charges. If you don't subscribe to the Dash Express service, the device continues to work as an ordinary GPS (and naturally without any updates). Watch the video introduction of the Dash Express:
For another discussion of the Dash Express, by Leo and Jason Calacanis, listen to TWiT Episode 143 (starting at about 1 hour 5 minutes into the show).
Ludwik Trammer, who created the Giz Wiz Search, was challenged by listener Jeff Royal to calculate the total cost for acquiring all the gadgets covered by DGW, in Episode 563. Ludwik does not disappoint. He's already posted a comment to the blog post for Episode 563. He's also written to Leo about it, and did an mp3 voice mail. The cost comes up to about $62,700.
Here's his letter to Leo:
Hi Leo,
Yesterday I've listened to Daily GizWiz 563 (I was a little behind, because I moved out of my parents' house, and moved in with my friends, so I have more of this thing called "social interactions"). Anyway, your listener Jeff asked about combined cost of all the gadgets you talked about on the podcast. Obviously I'm not going to go through all the podcasts - I'm too lazy. But I asked my computer, and the answer, based on a sample of 200 gadgets is:
$110 per episode on average. And that gives you $62.700 for all 570 episodes.
I had names of the gadgets in my database already (from id3 tags), so I just run them throw Amazon products API and Yahoo Product Search API to get the prices.
Then, to verify that APIs responded with the right products I displayed product shots I got from APIs side-by-side photos Leo put in the mp3 files. After quickly scanning through all the pairs and ensuring the picture is the same product I calculated an average of the prices - $110 per one episode.
Ludwik
PS: I'm also sending you an mp3 with DGW letter in audio, but I don't really expect you to use it. For one I have a new MacBook, and it turned out I can't plug my mini-jack mic into it, and I had to use built-in MacBook mic. And my English really sucks, anyway. After two or three years of listening to podcasts I understand English almost perfectly (at the beginning I didn't understand almost anything), but I struggle to find a way to learn to talk in English. I recorded it mainly to practice. The answer to Jeff's question starts at 01:00.
Synthesised Voice
Leo also plays part of Ludwik's voice mail on the show. Leo thinks it's a computer-synthesised voice. For the complete recording, listen to it here:
Listen to Episode 572
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PowerTune
iPod Classic Battery Pack/Speakers
Link: Macally
Kerry Lutz from Armonk, New York (previous letters to DGW in Episodes 318 and 403) has been inspired by DGW to get his children to clear the dinner table and do the washing up. He just says to his children, it's "Turn-The-Tables-Tuesday". The children have no riposte to that.
Listen to Episode 571
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