48 posts tagged “abc”

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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Find DGW Info on GizWizSearch

More from the Toy Fair.  The Force Trainer from Uncle Milton consists of a wireless headset which reads your brain waves through dry sensor technology to detemine the level of focus or concentration.  The data is sent wirelessly to the main unit at the base of which is a fan.  The higher your concentration, the stronger "the Force", and the stronger the power of the fan, which will send the ball (or Training Sphere) higher up the cylinder.

Mattel's Mind Flex works in a similar way.  The setup is a little more complicated in that you are supposed to levitate the ball to different heights and sideways through an obstacle course (with the help of a control knob).  Both games use a form of EEG (electroencephalogram, as Leo explains).  The Force Trainer measures the alpha, beta, gamma and delta brian waves and uses an algorithm to interpret the data to arrive at your level of concentration, while the Mind Flex measures your theta brain waves to arrive at your degree of focus.

To see Dick trying out the Mind Flex at the Toy Fair, watch the ABC World New Now video: Toy Fair Extra.

Taking Failure To Heart
Dick and Leo are still smarting from the letter yesterday complaining about their singing (or at least Leo's).  As performers, they take any suggestion of failure to heart.  They're not singing today's jingle.

TWiT Dependants
Dick wonders if he can get 0.1% of the TWiT audience as dependants for tax deductions.

Customs Regulations
Ernest Bergstrom, 63, has been a MAD fan since forever and thanks Dick for all the laughs.  About Dick's parcel to Ludwik in Poland (see Episode 773), Ernest remarks that Dick and Ludwik have been lucky.  The Customs Regulations provide that you may not send printed matter of any kind.

The Ultimate Ludwik Package
Apart from taking failure to heart, Dick has also taken Leo's suggestion in Episode 773 to heart.  Dick has created "The Ultimate Ludwik Package", on sale at GizWizShopping.  The package contains the following GizWizBiz items: the LED Cap, the Ice Cube, the Lighted Folding Pen, the Cliphanger, the USB Smart Button, something new called the Mini-Strobe, and an autographed copy of MAD.  Since there are only 6 Ice Cubes left, only 6 of these packages are available, for just under $50 (with a saving of $24).

Byte
Leo has a "Leo Laporte Beanie Baby" - named Byte.




Listen to Episode 778
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Dick attended the Toy Fair in New York 2 weeks ago and one of the exhibits was the classic puzzle Rubik's Cube, now available in electronic form, called Rubik's TouchCube.  The original cube sold 350 million copies.  The new TouchCube, developed by TechnoSource, it features a touch technology to enable a swiping action to move the coloured lighted squares around.  An accelerometer detects the positioning of the cube so that teh swiping action is restricted only to the top-facing side.


You can pause the game at any time and the built-in memory will restore the state of the puzzle when you last played it.  It can also give you hints, or simply solve the puzzle for you.  Comes with sound effects to choose from, and a display stand which recharges the TouchCube.


Skype Issue
If Dick's voice sounds less than perfect today, it's because the Skype connection during the recording of the show was a bit rickety.

Dripping Shower Award
Irishman Luigi Benedicenti writes in to inform Dick and Leo that the Daily Giz Wiz has won the Best Shower Podcast at the Dripping Shower Awards, also called the Drippies.  Colleen, dressed in a fetching wet suit and wearing a golden neck chain, accepted the award (2-pound gold shower head with a single encrusted 30-carat diamond in the shape of a teardrop) on behalf of TWiT, who thanked Dane Golden for changing her life, since she walked away with a $50,000 gift basket.

Keyboards and mice collect all sorts of dirt, grime and bacteria over time, but are difficult to clean.  Leo is known to have put his keyboards into the dishwasher for cleaning, and listeners have tried that too, some less successfully than others (see Episode 560).

Now finally there is a consumer keyboard designed to solve that problem.  At CES this year, Seal Shield exhibited their line of Silver Seal Keyboards which are waterproof, spill-proof, dishwasher-safe and antimicrobial.  The surface of the keyboards is coated with "Silver Seal" which uses silver ions embedded in high grade plastic to create an antimicrobial solution that inhibits or slows down microbial and bacterial growth.  When the keyboards get dirty, they are can be fully submerged in a sink of sudsy water, or put into the dishwasher, for a thorough cleaning.  They come with a "Seal Cap" which protects the USB connector during cleaning.  Dick was given a sample which survived his modest dishwasher.

Dick and Leo think this is a great product, even though the name "Seal Shield Silver Seal" is a bit of a tongue-twister.  Also available are dishwasher-safe mice and universal remotes.  Leo is going to get a numer of these keyboards for the TWiT Cottage, and perhaps a dishwasher too.

Another Glowing Keyboard for Dick
Dick warns Leo that before he orders his keyboards, he should know that a new glowing backlit model is coming from Seal Shield.  It's the Silver Flex, also dishwasher-safe and anti-microbial.


In Defence of the Cell-Mate
Kevin Selle boldly goes where no one wants to tread.  He is standing up for the Cell-Mate (Episode 744), and encouraging the company to forge ahead.  Why stop with the cellphone?  Who could argue against the benefit of a giant velcro patch on your head and attaching stuff on to your head so you won't lose it again?  Keys-Mate, Spork-Mate, Flashlight-Mate, Passport-Mate (hello, Jennifer), Purse-Mate (goodbye to the Purseguard, Episode 406) come to mind.  Just don't try it with the UroClub (Episode 598).

Another find from CES 2009, the iCap MP3 Player is a specially constructed baseball cap with an MP3 Player slotted into a cut-out in the front flap of the cap.  The package comes with a clip for attaching the MP3 player to your own cap or elsewhere.

The MP3 player comes with 1GB storage, a microSD card slot for expansion, FM tuner, and built-in speakers (with surround sound).  The idea is you don't need to listen to it through the earphones, which may save your life in certin circumstances.  It is detachable and can be used as a stand-alone player too, and you can also listen to it with your earphones (which are also included).  It has a buillt-in microphone for voice recording.  The rechargeable Lithium polymer battery is replaceable, and the player supports MP3 and WMA (including Windows Media DRM-9 and DRM-10 files).  The stand-alone player weighs about 2.65 ounces.

Dick thinks that a combination of the iCap, the Cell-Mate (Episode 744) and the nPower PEG (Episode 748) from yesterday would look great, if you could survive the dorkdom.  Dick isn't going to walk down the streets of New York "with his head playing".

A Political Scientist at TWiT
Leo was earlier broadcasting the feed of Barack Obama's Inauguration when he discovered that Dane Golden, a major in policital science, knew who all the politicians were.  Little did Leo know that Dane was just bluffing him.

The Letters C, H and P
Stefan from Sweden and Jeremy on the TWiT Army write in to explain the letters C, H, and P for APS film's different aspect ratios (Episode 745).  They also point out that you could decide which aspect ratio you wanted, when you had the Advantix rolls of film developed into prints.

A Bout of Amnesia
At the beginning of this recording session, Dick and Leo thought that they had already recorded Episode 749, and so started with Episode 750, a Gadget Warehouse Friday show.  A little bird tipped off Dane Golden who told Leo about the missing Episode 749.  Dick then realised that he thought he had done it because he had earlier talked about the iCap on Leo's radio show - which drew a complete blank from Leo.


Listen to Episode 749
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page

Dick has a penchant for flashlights, but even he doesn't think he wants this one (unless someone gives it to him for Christmas).  Waiting to enter the Guinness Book of Records, The Torch offers 4,100 lumens.  The battery lasts only 15 minutes, but is rechargeable.  It's offered by Wicked Lasers, one of Steve Wozniak's favourite sites, where he gets his green lasers.  The website was also suggested by regular correspondent Alessandro Abate back in Episode 582.

The flashlight is so bright that the heat given off by it is intense enough to light up a cigarette, turn paper into cinders and even cook scrambled eggs.  A blazing torch, literally.

A Free USB Smart Button
Donny Robinson, audio engineer at the Kimball Recital Hall, University of Nebraka, has a lot of flashlights, and his favourite is the GizWizBiz Cap.  At Dick's invitation, Donny bought 4 Caps and got a free USB Smart Button as promised by Dick in Episode 715 (for any order of 3 Caps or more).

Back To Normal
This is the last of the holiday season pre-recorded show.  Tomorrow Dick and Leo will resume their Tuesday recording, and release Episode 732 as soon as possible.


Listen to Episode 731
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page

No gadgets again on this Christmas Day from Dick and Leo, but Dick has asked the TWiT Army to email him about gadgets they would love to see under the Christmas tree this year.  Here are some of them: a Mac Mini with Parallels and Windows Vista, a Google Android phone on Verizon, a laptop - a MacBook Pro perhaps or an HP TouchSmart Notebook, a ThinkGeek Annoy-A-Tron, a camera with geotagging and a decent zoom, a blu ray player, a Segway, "My two front teeth" or some high speed RAM, a Powerball Gyroscope, a Tricaster (from Leo maybe?), a Flip Ultra for Jean Troiano (and a belated Happy Birthday to Mike Troiano on 19 December), and an autographed Richard DeBartolo Handle-bar Moustache that wiggles and barks like a Bijon Frise.

Blessed Interaction
Leo has everything he could ever wish for, and feels blessed that he is able to do the podcast with Dick, and Dick loves interacting with Leo on the Daily Giz Wiz, especially on Tuesdays.

Family Affairs
Dick and Leo aren't that keen on family meet-ups, and Dick for the first time on DGW reveals that he has a brother called Leo.  Who can blame him?

Pride And Glory
Pride And Glory has finally been released.  You can catch a glimpse of Dick's houseboat (now given away to a charity) in the film.  Watch out for a fibre optic Christmas tree.  For the full story, revisit Episodes 460 and 461.

And Finally, A Merry Christmas ...
... from me and all my imaginary staff at insidedgw.vox.com to Dick and Leo (who have given us a show for all seasons), to the TWiT staff (Dane, Colleen, Tony and Frederique who have kept the TWiT machine running), to Ludwik Trammer (who keeps doing wonders), to Paul Minshall, George Wood, Dan Lueders, all the jingle contributors and Daniel Rodrigues Parreira (who have made the show so much fun to listen to by performing all the themes and jingles and making them accessible to us all), and to all the fellow DGW listeners (who are mad enough to listen to the show).


Listen to Episode 729
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As hinted at in Episode 673 and last week, Dick and Leo finally talk about T-Mobile's G1.  Made by HTC, the G1 is the first phone featuring Google's open-source smartphone operating system Android.

It has bluetooth, wifi, GPS (though not turn-by-turn), 512 MB built-in memory, although it has an microSD card slot and comes with a 1GB card; a back-lit qwerty keyboard (which is revealed by sliding out the screen) and a replaceable battery; a 3.2MP camera, but like the iPhone, it does not shoot video, and like the iPhone it does not support Flash on the internet.  Unlike the iPhone, it supports voice dialling and "cut and paste".

Physically, it weighs just under 6 ounces.  At the bottom is a panel of buttons: a big Menu button, underneath which at the centre is a trackball (for navigation and as a select button).  To the left of the trackball are the "Call/Send" button and the "Home" button; to the right of the trackball are the "Back" and "Hangup/Power" buttons.

On the left hand side of the phone is a Volume toggle, and on the right hand side the camera button.  For the earphones, unfortunately it's a microUSB connection and you'll need an adapter for your 3.5mm jack earphones.

The display is 3.2 inches at 480 x 320 resolution, with a capacitive touch-screen.  It does not support multi-touch, but does support long presses (through which you get a context menu including "cut and paste").  It has an accelerometer and is supposed to adjust itself to Portrait/Landscape mode, at least when the qwerty keyboard is open.

Since Android is open-source, many applications are expected to come out supporting the platform, and will not be filtered as in the case of the iPhone.  You can access the apps from the Android "Market", and Google will tell you in relation to each app what types of access the app may have on the phone - such as communications, your location and your personal information.

The phone comes with the standard Google apps, such as Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, and like the iPhone, offers a mobile version of YouTube.  If you don't use Gmail, there is another mail application.  Unfortunately, this other mail app cannot open attachments (which Gmail can by HTML conversion), nor save them.  The IM app supports major instant messengers such as AIM, Windows Live, Yahoo and of course Google Talk.  Like Google's desktop browser the Chrome, the Android browser is WebKit-based.  Another app that comes with the phone is AmazonMP3, with access to Amazon's DRM-free mp3 downloads - which only works with Wifi, and not 3G or Edge.  The phone also has its own music player software.

At the moment, the phone is available in T-Mobile stores only in cities which has T-Mobile's 3G coverage.

Favourite Episodes
In Episode 679, Dick and Leo were asked if they had a list of their 20 favourite/funniest episodes.  Ludwik Trammer of gizwizsearch can answer for them.  Search queries on his site show which episodes are most frequently accessed - 182 Titanium Spork, 465 Electron Echo Piano, 462 MP4 Watch, and of course 282 Toothpick Bird.

Ludwik also tells us that the accumulative length of all the DGW shows now exceeds 7 days.

One More Thing
Ludwik is going to introduce a new feature on his site.  In fact it is already operational.  Just go to his site and see if you can spot the difference.  Otherwise, just wait for an announcement through Dick and Leo in tomorrow's recording session, or in next week's episodes.

Video Podcasts To Wait
The last time Leo talked about video podcasts (with hopes of getting DGW on video) was Episode 671.  Unfortunately, with the economic downturn, Leo has decided to be a little more prudent, and maybe putting that on hold, although he may still put out a weekly "best of" video podcast.

Second Longest Episode
At 31:03, today's show is the second longest episode, just 12 seconds short of Episode 634, the Lexmark X9575 Professional.


Listen to Episode 686
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Back in Episode 220, a listener wrote in about a partly-automated pet toilet, called LitterMaid.  The CatGenie, on the other hand, is a fully-automated toilet for the cat.  The unit is connected to your bathroom's fresh water supply and waste disposal plumbing.  It has a toilet bowl with Washable Granules sitting over a grid/filter (which rotates during cleaning).  After the cat has done its business, infrared sensors will automatically activate (although you can choose manual activation) the cleaning process - a long, extensive and elaborate procedure including filtering, scouring, pulverisation, a number of water cycles, draining and hot air drying.  The whole process takes 15 minutes according to Dick, although a user on YouTube says it's more like 30 to 35 minutes.  It's best to watch the video to see how it works.

To complete the setup, GenieDomes, Genie Sidewalls and GeniePaws are available as accessories for different covers for the CatGenie and your cat.

Dusty the Cat
Sadly Leo's old cat had to be put down recently.  Meanwhile, Dick has got in new stock for his GizWizBiz Caps, and Alfred E Neuman is standing underneath David Blaine the illusionist waiting for some loose change to fall down.

WizneyLand
For a catchy name for Dick's mansion, Aston from Plymouth, England suggests WizneyLand, or Taj My Hall.  Leo learns, to his surprise, that Mickey Mouse has yellow feet (or shoes).