50 posts tagged “abby laporte”

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.

Listen to Episode 894
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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.


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.

Listen to Episode 891
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These days Leo goes through his netbooks the same way he goes through his netcasts - lots of them.  After his Asus Eee PC (Episode 447) and MSI Wind (Episode 762), the latest addition to Leo's line of netbooks is the Samsung NC20, with the following specs:

• VIA Nano ultra low voltage CPU (1.3GHz)

• 12.1-inch, WVGA (1280 x 800) glossy display

• 97% full-size keyboard

• Integrated 1.3MP webcam

• 160GB 5400rpm hard drive

• 1GB DDR2 memory

• Wifi b/g, bluetooth

• 3 USB ports, an SD card slot

• 11.5" x 8.5" x 1.2" and 3.3 lbs

• 6-cell Lithium Ion battery (5900 mAh)

• Windows XP Home

Leo likes the Samsung NC20 (having made quite a number of upgrades), and hulu plays fine on it.  For major reviews of the Samsung NC20 on the web, check out the links on TestSeek.

The First Letters Jingle: An Encore
Andrew Rodriguez welcomes Leo home, and wants to remind everyone of the very first Letters Jingle.  He is good enough to attach the jingle to his email.  Dick and Leo can't remember who was responsible for it.

It's the Finnish Letters Jingle, by Henrich Antonin from Finland.  Billed by Dick as the jingle with the "big finish", it was played from Episodes 151 to 160, and superseded by George Wood's Letters Jingle in Episode 166.


Listen to Episode 882
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The Axius and Zeus Propulsion Systems, designed respectively for twin sterndrive engines and twin inboards, use pod units that can operate independently of each other.  This offers much more efficient and accurate control of boat movements.  They are connected to a computer which gives you easy manoeuvrability of the boat with the simple use of a joystick.  Just move the joystick and the computer will work out which pod units to use for the desired movement.  You can move the boat sideways, or just spin the boat around - docking and piloting made easy.  The Skyhook button, with the help of a GPS, keeps the vessel on a fixed heading (particularly useful in a tight area) even in strong currents and windy conditions.


Dick was invited to test the system at Chelsea Piers and had fun trying it out.  The Axius and Zeus can be found on selected models of Sea Ray boats, including the 350 Sundancer.  On some other models, they come as options.



Leo on Obama Watch
On Father's Day, Leo got what President Obama got, the same watch that President Obama has worn.  It says so on the back of the watch.  Obama's watch was given to him on his 46th birthday by the Secret Service agents responsible his security during his presidential campaign, available in the Secret Service employees' store.  It was made by Jorg Gray.  Read about it on the site onthedash.  Jorg Gray has now released a commemorative edition of the watch, available here.


4th July Fireworks
To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival, Macy's fireworks were moved to the Hudson River and so, much closer to Dick's boat, which he could watch without a TV.  But what's the fun of doing that?

A Gadget for Sign Language Users
Barbara Schneider from Sebastopol, California, has restricted shoulder movements.  When she heard about the Dynaflex Powerball Gyroscope (Episode 832), she checked out one of the videos and was surprised to see her former American sign language teacher, whom she had not seen for 15 years, discussing the advantages of the gadget for sign language users.

From the TWiT Cottage to Gizneyland
Barbara lives in Leo's neck of the woods and has sat in on one of Leo's shows.  The first time she visited the TWiT Cottage was when she went for a group meeting upstairs from Leo and stumbled upon him.  She will be staying with her brother in New York City in the last 2 weeks of July and has requested a visit to Dick's Gadget Warehouse, or a live taping of the Daily Giz Wiz at Gizneyland.

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Salad
A crime wave has hit Petaluma?  Leo put a salad in the fridge near the door one weekend.  When he returned at noon, the salad had gone.  Nothing else went missing.  Maybe it was Barbara.  Maybe Barbara is a stalker.  Dane Golden however is convinced that Leo has misplaced it.  If anyone detects the smell of rotting cucumbers, spinach, mushroom, artichoke hearts, beets, etc, report to Leo.


Listen to Episode 873
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Leo was tempted to buy the Palm Pre (Episode 862), but after Apple announced the features on the latest iteration of the iPhone, Leo got the iPhone 3GS instead.  It has a faster processor and hence the "S" suffix for speed.  In addition to the GPS which already existed in the iPhone 3G, the 3GS has a compass (as on the Android G1 in Episode 686) which in due course will enable more applications based on the magnetometer, e.g. like the Layar browser on Android.  The Find Me feature on the Mobile Me service will help you locate your phone based on its network connectivity.  The Kill Switch can remotely erase all your personal data on the phone via the internet in case you have lost the phone.

The auto-focus camera is now 3 megapixel, with the ability to change the focus after you tap a particular point on the LCD display, which also adjusts the white balance and exposure.  It's now capable of capturing video (640 x 480), with software to do simple editing or trimming on the phone itself.

Some of the other more commonly requested features, such as "copy and paste", MMS and tethering, have finally found their way into the iPhone 3GS.  Multitasking, however, is still restricted.

Video Trimming on the iPhone 3GS
Leo has tried the video trimming function oh his new iPhone 3GS, and it works for him.  Here's Apple's demo video:

Scott-E-Vest Wardrobe in a Tom Bihn Bag
For his China Tour and MacMania 9 Geek Cruise, Leo has packed an almost exclusively Scottevest wardrobe, in his new Tom Bihn Tri-Star (see Episode 865) which, it is hoped, Leo will cover on a TTTT.  Right now, Leo has finished the trip in China and should be in Japan on the Costa Classica.  Follow his AudioBoos, and view Leo's gallery on Smugmug.

Ed McMahon Dies
Ed McMahon, whose appearance in the Johnny Carson Show is often the subject of reminiscence on the Daily Giz Wiz, passed away on 23 June 2009, aged 86.

Another Cheesy Infomercial
Jayzee, better known as Toyota Boy, notes that cheesy infomercials have often been the subject of conversation on the show, and has recently seen a really cheesy one.  It's the Comfort Wipe, a toilet paper extension arm and holder.  The original infomercial can be seen on YouTube, but perhaps a more interesting version is a spoof of it shown on Jimmy Kimmel Live, featuring President Obama, also available on YouTube.

Bidets Rule Supreme
Alex Lindsay is much enamoured with the bidets in Japan which wash your behind (and some even blow-dry you), and offer choices of water-jet speeds and temperatures, and temperature-controlled seats.  They are available in the US and Alex has bought one for his family.  An extreme example is the Bio Bidet Supreme BB-1000 with Remote that leaves nothing to the imagination, but there are more reasonably-priced toilet add-ons on Amazon for your more basic comforts.



Listen to Episode 872
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The Vinturi Wine Aerator is a practical application of the Venturi effect (which can also be derived from Bernoulli's Principle).  As the speed of a moving fluid increases (caused in the case of the Vinturi by pouring wine through a narrow opening), the pressure inside the fluid decreases.  The reduction in pressure draws in air, allowing the wine to "breathe" and open up instantly.

Leo has another wine aerator which uses the same principle.  It's called the Soirée.


Cellar and Basement
A rare English vocabulary lesson from Dick.  What's the difference between a cellar and a basement?  A cellar is a creepy thing you don't want to go down.  A basement is a place where you put all your stuff.

Coin Wrappers
In Episode 861, Dick and Leo talked about Coinstar and reminisced about wrapping stacks of coins in paper.  DrMom, the resident doctor in the chatroom, writes in to say that paper wrappers are still available in most stationery stores, or at coinwrappers.com.  For a fun gadget, DrMom prescribes the Twist-N-Crimp, for a professional coin stack finish.



Listen to Episode 868
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The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 is a sub-$2,000 projector for the home theatre.  3LCD optical engine, HDMI input, lens shift, auto iris function, 1080p, 1800 lumens, 18,000:1 contrast ratio, 60fps.  Much better than the business projector EX70 which Leo has tried.  For $1,000 more, you can get even higher quality with the PowerLite 6500.

A Real Work-Out
Angelic Venus, aka Samantha, was turned on to the Daily Giz Wiz, the first podcast she ever listened to, by her fiancee.  They are quite a bit behind with the show as they now have a 9-month-old addition to the family.  She recently listened to Episode 772, and disagreed with Leo that the Wii Fit is not a real work-out.  It might be a bit wimpish to start with, but as you continue, you unlock a wealth of exercise.  You can pile on the number of reps, and the hula hoop can become a 10-minute exercise.  Samantha has managed to lose 10 pounds after she gave birth to her baby.  P.S., Samantha adds, "Dick, you're great!"  She loves the Match Game and they should bring back the show, with two caveats.  Dick should host the show, and they should bring back the guests from the original series (a lot of whom are dead unfortunately).


Listen to Episode 867
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Link: Weather Direct

Weather Direct by La Crosse Technology makes a huge catalogue of weather stations with a whole range of different functions, which Dick first talked about in Episode 501, after CES 2008.  The WD-3103 is described as a 4-Day Internet-Powered Wireless Forecaster.  Hook up the Secure Weather Gateway to your router, and 24-hour weather information on your chosen location (from a choice of 60,000 locations) will be sent wirelessly (up to 330 feet) to the display unit.  Also included is the TX-50U wireless temperature sensor which sits in your backyard or garden and keeps track of your own outdoor temperature.

No subscription is required for weather information on one selected location.  There are subscription packages if you want to receive forecasts alerts or severe wether alerts, or just add 4 more monitored locations.  You can also check whether there is a location near you from Weather Direct's list of locations.

The WD-3103 is available on Amazon, which means one-click trigger-happy Leo has ordered it through his membership of Amazon Prime.  Leo has to ask TWiT intern Abby Laporte, who is around in the studio, to stop him by slapping him hard.  This obsessive buying reminds Dick of Bill Gaines.  When Bill learned from Dick that the Casio TE2500 Dictionary Watch (Episode 45) was available at a reduced price, he thought it was a great bargain and bought one for everyone at MAD.

Today, Leo and Henry will be heading to Tokyo on Northwest Airlines Flight 27, en route to his China Tour.  Leo is most looking forward to seeing the Forbidden City in Beijing, which commoners were prohibited from entering, in China's imperial days.

Kung Fu star David Carradine, who played Kwai Chang Caine aka Grasshopper in the show, passed away on 3 June 2009.  This reminds Dick of a MAD magazine parody of Kung Fu, featuring "Mosquito" who chose a blade of grass over a sack of gold, and got slammed by his master.  Hence the title of the satire - Kung Fool.  Check out collectmad.com and look for Issue 164 in January 1974.

Leo had the privilege of visiting the Skywalker Ranch, courtesy of Greg Edmonson and Alan Steinberger, composer and arranger respectively for the sci-fi TV series Firefly, to watch them work with a 70-piece orchestra who were recording music for the PS3 game Uncharted 2.  Leo interviewed them on TWiTLive on 10 June 2009, video at odtv.me.  Those of us who are less fortunate than Leo would have to content ourselves with watching the virtual tours of the Skywalker Ranch, at Skysound.com.

This is the 3rd letter about Episode 844.  John Paradox, a parody writer for the Daily Giz Wiz (see Episode 520), reminds Dick and Leo, who were wondering what Titanic musicals there were, about the Unsinkable Molly Brown, which was first a musical, and then a film.

Jeff Lundberg, from Northville, Michigan and long-time listener since Episode 1, has another suggestion for the TWiT Home Office.  Dick and Leo have already got Kalamazoo, but how about Hell, Michigan?  For souvenirs from Hell, try hell2u.com.

Abby Road
Abby Laporte is back from France and doing an internship at the TWiT Cottage.  Apart from occasionally doing the Abby Road show and managing the board, she receives additional bookkeeping and catering training, in the form of getting paid by Leo and getting lunch from him.  Watch Leo give Abby some fatherly advice, in Abby Road 1.

And On The 8th Day, Verizon Said ...
... "Let there be a dial tone."  Dick's telephone hell (see Episode 853) finally ended.  With the help of Lil from the TWiT Army (DrMom), Dick managed to get the contact number of the CEO of Verizon.  While talking with a Verizon executive, Dick received an email from Ooma (see Episode 779) informing him that XO would be releasing Dick's telephone number in 24 hours.  It turned out that when trying out Ooma, Dick transferred his telephone number to Ooma which used XO Communications as a provider.  When Dick terminated his service with Ooma, his number became an unused number, and got lost along the way.  Dick was not slammed after all, and it was just a bad mix-up.  The sacrifice Dick has to make in the name of gadget review!

The Question to the Answer, "Sis Boom Bah"
John Struse from Wayne, New Jersey solves the answer "Sis Boom Bah" from the Carnac the Magnificent segment in Episode 844.  The question was, "Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes."  You can watch the clip at johnnycarson.com.


Listen to Episode 859
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A listener Jeff Vento remembers that Dick loved his Pur Flavor Options Pitcher (Episode 788), and ordered a 3-pack of these Contigo Water Bottles for Dick to try out.  Contigo makes beverage containers, such as water bottles, travel mugs and vacuum cups, with adult and kid sizes.  All Contigo containers use its Autoseal technology.  Pressing a trigger on the lid not only unlocks the spout, but also releases a valve or air vent at the back of the lid, which makes the beverage flow out smoothly instead of pouring out in stuttered torrents.  Releasing the trigger automatically seals the spout and air vent, making the container spill-proof.


As is Leo's wont, he was dismissive at first of the simple technology but as soon as he learns that the beverage pours smoothly, Leo orders a Contigo stainless steel coffee mug from Amazon.  Here's a demo of the Hydration Bottles, all BPA free.


TWiT Policy on Free Gifts
Dick wants to know If TWiT has a policy on show hosts accepting free gifts.  It's 10% of whatever Leo pays him.  "That's a thin mint, a tic tac," Dick queries.  That doesn't work, so Leo decides that as long as it's free, Dick has Leo's permission.

Donation Button for Dick
There is none.  But you can go to MakeMeMad, and order stuff from Dick to help him pay for the Gadget Warehouse at Sofia Brothers.

From Generous Fans
Leo has talked about his TWiT mats a number of times now.  After the recording of this episode, Leo shows off the non-slip rubber TWiT Mat given to him by a TWiT fan, and an embroidered mat from another fan.




Listen to Episode 856
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