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DGW Episode 899

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:14:41 -0700

Casio Exilim EX-FS10

Digital Camera with High-Speed Burst Mode

Casio has introduced into this new pocket-sized digital camera features which were previously found in more expensive prosumer models, the EX-F1 and EX-FH20. The EX-FS10 has a 9.1 MP-effective CMOS sensor, a 3x optical zoom (38mm-114mm, F3.9-F5.4), a 2.5" LCD display, in a 3.8" x 2.3" x 0.64" body weighing 4.2 ounces. The main features are based on a high-speed burst mode of the camera, capturing a series of images in quick succession which then makes possible the following features:

Burst shooting mode of 30 shots per second (resolution downsized to 6 MP, still plenty for most uses).

Best Shot and Combination Shot - The high-speed burst allows you to select the best shot from the series of images taken. Alternatively, the series of shots can be combined into a single image, including re-aligning the position of the subject, to avoid motion blur. Useful in quick motion scenes and night shots. Note: for the FS10 there is no optical image stabilisation.

Lag Correction or Pre-Record - The camera captures up to 25 images (again 6 MP) in a high-speed burst prior to the release of the shutter, so that you can go back in time for the shot which you should have missed, but was stored in the buffer of the camera for you. You can set the amount of time lag.

Slow Motion View - A dedicated button allows you to view the movement of the subject in Slow Motion on the LCD display, selecting the best moment to capture.

High-speed Movie Recording - up to 1,000 fps (but only at 224 x 64 pixels, probably not very practical). There are also options for video at 420 fps (224 x 168) and at 210fps or lower (480 x 360). The output is effectively slow-motion.

HD Movie - 720p video at 30 fps

Image Capture during Video - Even while recording 720p video, a dedicated button allows you to capture a 6 MP still image.

For a better zoom range, there is also the Exilim EX-FC100, with the same features but a lens range of 37mm-185mm, a slightly faster lens (F2.6-F4.5), and anti-shake image stabilising CMOS.

Either This is the Deadlist Show or Your Clock has Stopped
Paraphrasing Groucho Marx ("Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped"), Dick notices that Leo's clock on the wall has stopped.

A Warehouse Gadget Revived
Peter Ganzarski heard about a new Sony gadget, the Party-Shot Automatic Camera Dock (IPT-DS1) which tilts and swivels the camera and uses the face and smile detection of the Sony TX1 or WX1 cameras to take pictures for you: see macnn.com. Peter thought this sounded familiar, until he realised that this is just a reincarnation of a Warehouse Gadget, the Konica Kanpai in Episode 685 (another Japanese idea). Sony should have done a flop search first. Another listener Toyota Boy made a similar observation. Don't these manufacturers ever learn? Straight to the Warehouse please, says Dick.

Sony "Party-Shot" Automatic Camera Dock

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DGW Episode 898

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:14:58 -0700

Acer Aspire One 751h

Netbook

Link: Acer

Acer Aspire One 751h

Leo has had a slew of netbooks, and Dick finally gets his first. It's the Acer Aspire One 751h. The selling point is the big screen, 11.6" LED backlit LCD wide display, 1366 x 768 dots, and a full size keyboard. It also means a larger size, 11.2" x 7.8" x 1", but remains light enough (3 lbs with a 6-cell battery), which really blurs the division between netbooks and notebooks. It also comes with its own multi-touch touchpad.

Versions of Slough
Learn all about slough from Leo: Petaluma's tidal one, and the dead skin version from his fingers. He even throws Gough Street in San Francisco into the mix. Now you ought to have a rough idea of how thoroughly thoughtful Leo is.

Dick Starts Reading
Dick is not generally into reading books, but has started reading Audible books. He was listening to Wayne Dyer's Excuses Begone on his way to Petaluma.

Irrational and Nonsensical
Alfred Chan of insideDGW has found it well nigh impossible, short of having a full transcript, to keep track of what Dick and Leo talk about on the shows (and why would anyone in his right mind want to do that?). It's not just the sheer number of shows. The real reason is, you never know what listeners would pick up from the conversation, and they would pick up the most insignficant, tangential and off-the-cuff remarks in that rambling dialogue between Dick and Leo which they call the Daily Giz Wiz podcast. A prime example is counting the number of days in each month (Episode 876), which listener Anish commented on in Episode 888 - the Knuckles Calendar. Then another listener Verena Fuchs sent an email to Dick, attaching a pictorial illustration of the Knuckles Calendar (via lifehacker.com). It's all irrational and nonsensical, and that's why we're keep listening.

Pictorial Illustration of the Knuckles Calendar

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DGW Episode 897

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:15:10 -0700

Olympus E-P1

Micro Four-Thirds Digital Camera

Link: Olympus America

Turn-The-Tables-Tuesday

Olympus E-P1

The latest addition to Leo's camera collection is the Olympus E-P1. Reminiscent in style of the old Olympus PEN series film cameras, the E-P1 is Olympus's first foray into the Micro Four Thirds format. Similar to the Four Thirds format, the Micro Four Thirds uses a sensor which is about a quarter of the area of a 35 mm full frame (still gigantic compared to sensors on most compact digital cameras), resulting in a focal length multiplier of 2. It takes one step further in reducing the size of the camera by removing the mirror box in SLRs. It seeks to give you the flexibility of interchangeable lenses of an SLR and the size comparable to a compact, but still maintaining a relatively high quality in the picture output.

The E-P1 has 12.3 MP (effective), ISO up to 6400, takes 720p video at 30fps in AVI motion jpegs, and comes with one of two lens kits (crop factor 2): either a 14-42mm lens (f-stop 3.5-5.6) or a 17mm pancake fixed lens (f-stop 2.8). It also offers lens adapters for Four Thirds lenses and old Olympus OM lenses. Unfortunately it doesn't have a viewfinder or built-in flash, although you can get them as hot-shoe accessories.

Leo has taken some pictures and videos on the Wine Train using the E-P1, which he will post to Smugmug in the fullness of time. Meanwhile, you can check out another set of photos taken by Leo on his E-P1 on Smugmug.

TWiT Cottage Air-Conditioner
Leo is very proud of the air-conditioner he bought for the TWiT Cottage, with the help of Colleen and Mini Split Systems. It's a Sanyo split-system, complete with temperature and flap control, Quiet Mode and Turbo Mode, and 17,000 BTU.

More Home Office Locations
More suggestions by Denny Pyott from Glide, Oregon for relocating the TWiT Home Office: Remote, Oregon, and Boring, Oregon.

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DGW Episode 896

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:51:27 -0700

First Alert FX-1 Multi-Colour LED Flashlight

LED Flashlight

Link: Amazon

First Alert FX1 Flashlight

Dick tried hard to resist buying another LED flashlight, but after 3 emails about it, and a further price reduction, Dick succumbed to the temptation. The First Alert FX-1 Multi-Colour LED Flashlight uses ordinary batteries to power its LEDs which have 10 different colours. Available in black and silver bodies.

Dick at the TWiT Cottage
After the Wine Train on Monday and a drive in a Tesla Roadster on Tuesday, Dick settled down with Leo in the TWiT studio to record this week's Giz Wizzes. Here are the highlights of today's show. Video from odtv.me. Sitting in the background is FunCrunch Julie Bernstein.

Dick at TWiT Cottage, Episode 896

Wine Train
Dick, being a train enthusiast, thoroughly enjoyed the Napa Wine Train. Dick and Leo's party were given a private railroad car. Dick finally met Jennifer, and they got on like a train on fire.

WebLoyalty
Dick bought his new flashlight from Buy.com, and Leo warns him and listeners about the danger of inadvertently joining the "webloyalty" programme and getting charged on your credit card. Other websites including Fandango and Orbitz also take part in this webloyalty. For more details, listen to Security Now! Episode 207.

Shoot-It
Listener Seth Combs finally gets his first iPhone app on to the App Store. It's called Shoot-It. You take your photo on the iPhone, send it to Shoot-It together with your message and addressee (for the US, the UK and Western Europe), and a proper postcard with your pic and message will be posted for you in the good old fashioned way. It so happens that Leo has just bought the app, and Leo wonders if Seth is related to Sean Puffy Combs, aka P. Diddy.

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DGW Episode 895

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:40:50 -0700

StarCase Lock De-Icer

Thermal De-Icer for Locks

Link: hwrountrees.com

Starcase Lock De-Icer

During the winter, the lock on Dick's houseboat could get frozen. Dick used to use this StarCase Lock De-Icer to defreeze the lock. It had a heated pick which would extend from its protective shield into the keyhole to melt the ice.

Lock De-Icers
Little can be found on the web of the StarCase Lock De-Icer now. hwrountrees.com still has a listing of an out-of-stock StarCase model. On Amazon, you can still find both the "heated pick"-style de-icers (including some which look remarkably similar to the StarCase model) and "aerosol"-style de-icers.

Savage Winter
Dick makes light of Roz Savage's voyage across the Pacific. So she rows through the Pacific in the warmth of the tropics, but has she tried the savage winter on the Hudson?

Trademarks and Patents
While Leo is having issues with the TWiT trademark, listener John R Henry CPP has been busy patenting his own invention, which serves the purpose similar to that of the Shake-It-Up Milk Bottle (Episode 835). His idea is a container with 2 chambers keeping 2 types of ingredients separate, but with a mechanism for mixing them only when you want to do so. Cereals and milk is one application. You can check out his patent filings here and there.

CPP Again
The first time John R Henry had his letter read out on the show was Episode 439. Dick and Leo had fun guessing what CPP stood for. This time around, they had more fun guessing what CPP stands for. The answer can be found in Episode 490 - Certified Packaging Professional.

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DGW Episode 894

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:29:06 -0700

Stanton T.55 USB

USB Turntable

Link: Stanton DJ

Stanton T.55 USB

Stanton has been making cartridges for turntables for many years, and with the resurgence of turntables and vinyls, it's making new USB Turntables as well. The T.55 USB is a belt driven turntable (using the Stanton 500.v3 cartridge) with USB and RCA outputs for converting vinyl music into digital form (with the free Audacity software). For a more expensive direct drive equivalent, there is the T.92 USB.

Vinyl Resurgence
For an ABC News report on the recent rise of the vinyl, click here.

Scoundrels and the Way They Part You from Your Money
The biggest live audience Dick's had was probably about 1,500, when he gave a cruise lecture on the QE2 on scoundrels' schemes and scams. Check out Episode 225 again for a fuller story of the lecture, and Dick's original story on the Mitey Mixer (later covered in Episode 870).

TWiT Home Office Suggestions
Chris Walker has more suggestions for the location of the TWiT Home Office: Possum Grape in Arkansas, Siberia in California, Bloody Corners in Ohio, and Mars in Pennsylvania.

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DGW Episode 893

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:07:57 -0700

Knife and Fork Lift

Cutlery for Dieting

Link: Knife and Fork Lift

Knife and Fork Lift

A bit of a gag gift designed by Tom Madden, the Knife and Fork Lift takes a different approach towards dieting from the Checkmate Appetite Intake Controller (Episode 466). It's and knife and fork set, weighted down like a pair of dumbbells (and we're not talking about Dick and Leo).

Disclaimer
The Knife and Fork Lift carries with it a disclaimer, just as Leo's show TWiT Fit does (and as should all of Leo's shows). The Daily Giz Wiz has its own disclaimer - created by Dan Lueders - see Episode 601.

Giz Wiz Meetup - As Planned
At the time of recording, Dick and Leo were still planning the meetup. Eric Shank from Wild Planet would be taking along the Beat Blender, which he invented, for a demonstration. Leo had great plans too and hoped to take with him his Verizon MiFi ("Don't leave home without it" is Leo's new slogan), his new Olympus EP-1 Micro Four Thirds camera and Ozzy the Papillon. To cap it all, he might a grand entrance in his Terratrike.

Giz Wiz Meetup - As it Happened
Very little of what Leo "planned" materialised. Despite that, everyone had fun last night. John Slanina, better known as jammerb was there and was kind enough to post a slideshow of some of the photos he took at the meetup soon after the meet-up. Don't miss the last photograph - it's a very special Spork.

Julie Bernstein of FunCrunch has also posted her pics taken at the TWiT Cottage (during the recording session) and at the meetup. Here's her set of photos.

Dick in Petaluma and TWiT Cottage
Dick had a grand time in California this time. He appeared on Leo's radio show on Sunday, went on the Wine Train on Monday, had a test run in listeners Darrell and Marilyn Holmquist's new Tesla yesterday, after which he and Leo went back to the TWiT Cottage for a fun time recording next week's shows, including Episode 900. Fans have made lovely gifts for Dick and Leo for Episode 900, and so don't miss the show. If you can't wait, go to odtv.me to watch or download the video - but don't forget to download the audio podcasts still, as TWiT needs the numbers for podtrac and the sponsors.

Presto Saves the Day
Marcia Richardson installed the Presto OS (Episode 834) on her Toshiba laptop. Her windows installation was attacked by a dastardly virus but she was able to continue using the machine by booting into Presto. Finally, some good came out of the show!

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DGW Episode 892

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:04:01 -0700

Verizon MiFi 2200

EVDO Mobile Hotspot and Wifi Router

Link: Verizon

Turn-The-Tables-Tuesday

Verizon MiFi 2200

Leo talked about the Verizon USB720 Modem in Episode 357, and the Cradlepoint Personal Hotspot in Episode 542. The MiFi 2200 from Verizon takes mobile broadband to another level. It is a mobile hotspot using EVDO. It also doubles up as a Wifi (b/g) router, allowing up to 5 devices to share the EVDO connection. The 1150mAh Lithium Ion battery can last up to 4 hours (when using only one Wifi client). It is sold with a Mobile Broadband Service Plan. A similar device is available from Sprint.

Giz Wiz Meet-Up - A Reminder
Dick, Leo and Dane Golden will be at the San Francisco Jillian's Billiards at the Sony Metreon this evening for a meet-up with fans and friends, which will start at 6-ish. Details in Dick's post.

Wine Train - Catching Up
Dick and Leo went gourmet-dining and wine-tasting on the Napa Wine Train yesterday, along with Jennifer and Abby. As promised, Leo (with the help of his Verizon MiFi) uploaded photos and videos from the Wine Train. If you missed it yesterday, you can catch up here.

Dick is figuring out how to get on to the tiny Wine Train

Dick with Andrea Guzman, Promotions Manager of the Napa Wine Train

Even Ozzy tweeted about this lunch ... all that gravy!

Looking out from a private car of the Wine Train

Kitchen Car of the Wine Train

Repositioning old #72 on the Wine Train

Totting up at TD Bank
While Leo's rummaging through his mailbag for a letter to read, Dick steps in to read a letter from Doug from Stanhope, New Jersey. In Episode 861, Dick talked about the surcharge imposed by banks for counting up your coins, and the better alternative of the Coinstar Machines. Doug wants to draw the listeners' attention to the TD Bank (formerly Commerce Bank) in the New York/New Jersey area, whose branches will tot up your coins for free.

A Free Ride in the Tesla
Leo finally locates the letter he was going to read. Back in Episode 661 Darrell and Marilyn Holmquist from San Jose wrote to Dick, promising to give Dick and Leo a ride in their Tesla which was due to arrive in May or June this year. Now the Tesla Roadster has arrived, and Dick and Leo can try it when Dick is in the area for the recording of Episode 900. The test run has now been slotted for today (Tuesday Pacific time), before Dick and Leo start this week's recording session.

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DGW Episode 891

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:20:13 -0700

Clickfree Transformer for iPod

iPod Backup

Link: Clickfree

Clickfree Transformer for iPod

Clickfree keeps their Transformers rolling. After the Clickfree Transformer (Episode 753) and the DVD Transformer (Episode 851) comes the Clickfree Transformer for iPod, which will be released today. It sits between your PC and your iPod, and you can back up the contents of your iPod to the computer, or vice versa (if there's space on your iPod).

Wine Train - Live !
Today, Dick and Leo will be on the Wine Train, and Leo might be beaming videos or photos of the train journey with the help of his Verizon MiFi. Check for their Twitter updates (Leo's Twitter; Dick's Twitter).

Giz Wiz Visit
Don't forget, Dick will be at the TWiT Cottage tomorrow (Tuesday 11 August) recording Episode 900. Tomorrow evening there will be a meet-up in San Francisco, at Jillian's Billiards at the Sony Metreon, with Dick, Leo and Dane Golden. It will start at about 6 p.m. Details at Dick's site.

Location of Jillian's Billiards

The Proud Father of a Podcaster
Leo is very proud of Abby, who is now hosting a podcast of her own, Abby's Road.

The Writers of Writers
At one stage, the writers' room for the Match Game consisted of Dick and Dick only. But perhaps the most remarkable writers' room was the one for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, which included eminent writers such as Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart and Neil Simon.

Weird Al's Parody on CNR
Dick got a rush of emails the day this JibJab video came out. Jeremy Cartee and Ricky Brigante (host of Inside The Magic) were among the first to tell Dick about Weird Al Yankovic's new video parody on Charles Nelson Reilly, called CNR.

Weird Al's JibJab Video: CNR

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DGW Episode 890

nobody@vox.com(InsideDGW) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:22:47 -0700

Beat Blender

Music Mixer

Link: Wild Planet Instructions techdweeb

Dick's Gadget Warehouse

Beat Blender: http://sinkproductions.blogspot.com/2007/01/beat-blender.html

Released in June 2006 and designed by Eric Shank, the Wild Planet Beat Blender was a music mixer that had 3 tracks controlled by 3 beat selector buttons (Drums, Rhythm and Lead). Each track had 4 or 5 music samples, plus a silent beat. There were 4 tempo settings. From these controls, you could make your own loops. You could even piggyback more than one Beat Blender together to create longer songs. Wild Planet does not make it any more, but hacked versions can be found on the web.

Got Audible
Regular correspondent Steve Miller spent 2 hours trying to get Paul Minshall's Audible Theme out of his head. In the end he had to go to the Audbile website, and bought himself Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a book previously recommended by Leo and Paul Thurrott of Windows Weekly.

Weekend Pursuits
If you're in NYC at the moment, Dick recommends an exhibition organised by Gladstone Gallery of works by Basil Wolverton, dubbed by a New York Times article as "The Michelangelo of MAD". Then head off to the High Line Park.

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