27 posts tagged “camera”

The Socket Pocket by Perfect Curve is just a container to hold your mobile device while it is being charged, without having a great length of cable dangling down the wall and your device cluttering up the floor or your work surface.  Unscrew one of the screws on the socket plate and screw in the socket pocket through one of the openings at the back, while the cable can come through the opening at the bottom.  Available in white and beigey (or butter cream).

An idea similar to the Drinn, the WTHII gadget for November 2007.  See Episode 462.

Omentum
Learn about waist management and the omentum.

Saving Endangered Namesakes
Adam Merkley of the RSL Show (Real Salt Lake, a professional soccer club in Utah) and AYL Soccer was reminded by Leo's story of the Save The Tasmanian Devil Fund of his grandfather's experience at the old Jaguar factory in England.  Apparently Jaguar used to make donations to South America to save its namesake, and now still donates money to help preserve the rainforests in South America.  Adam suggests that Warner Brothers should help save the Tasmanian Devil because of Taz the cartoon character.  Dick says the Mad Crew first.  They're still trying to get Time Warner to give them folks at Mad a Christmas Party.

Listen to Episode 564
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page

In the first episode of TTTT after Leo's Tasmanian trip, Leo talks about a gadget he took to Tasmania and used a lot (or will take and use).  It's the Lowepro Slingshot 200AW.  Lowepro specialises in camera bags and other photography-related accessories.

The Slingshot series gives you backpacks with a single shoulder strap, called the sling strap, ergonomically designed to evenly distribute the load over your body.  It has a nice camera compartment large enough to fit your DSLR and its mounted lens, with a built-in micro-fibre cloth to protect the camera's LCD screen; storage spaces for additonal lenses and flashes; a memory card pouch; an all-weather cover which you can slip out from within the bag to protect the bag from rain, dust and other inclement conditions, and other compartments and attachment loops for further storage.

It's called the Slingshot because you can swing, or sling, the bag from your back to the front easily, giving you convenient access to the contents of the bag without having to unload the bag from your shoulder.  The largest model is the Slingshot 300AW, with an extra padded waist belt to distribute the weight on to your hips.  The 200AW and 100AW are smaller sizes, which have a "stability strap" for added stability.

You can watch a demo by Lowepro at this link, or better yet, watch Leo's own demonstration from the Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania, before he set off for the Freycinet Forest.

A New Cop Show
Chicago-based Dan Lueders, who made a gravy jingle submission and the theme-free Wednesday Theme, has done a TV commerical for the TV Event of the Year, a new cop show called "The Spork".  For more details on Dan, see the blog entry for Episode 528.


Listen to Episode 547
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page

In all the extensive coverage of CES 2008, no one mentioned the Liquid Image Underwater Digital Camera Mask, Model 302.  But Dick does.  It's an underwater mask, with a built-in 5MP digital camera which takes video (640x480, 18-25 fps) as well.  16MB internal memory, with a microSD card slot, powered by 2 AAA batteries.  Photographic distance is up to 5 feet.  The Model 302 is for ages 8 to adult and can operate up to 30 meters underwater.  Model 300 is for ages 8 to 12, and Model 301 or ages 8 to adult.  These other models use a lower resolution CMOS, 3.1MP, and operate up to 5 meters underwater.  All models come with USB cable for downloading images and videos to your computer, with ArcSoft photo and video editing software.

SCUBA
Leo the wordsmith explains that "scuba" in scuba diving stands for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus".

More Work for Dick and Leo
After Dick and Leo mentioned gadgets they didn't like in Episode 461, J/P suggests that Dick and Leo do a Throw Away Thursday (or Take Out The Trash Thursday) and have another jingle.  Together with Head-To-Head Wednesday suggested by Deak in Episode 481, that should complete the week of themes.

A virtual makeover kit for girls, the Digi Makeover has an interactive touch pad and a digital camera which plug directly into the TV via RCA jacks.  It has loads of special effects for clothes, accessories, jewellery, hairstyles and makeup, to add to a girl's digital image taken by the camera, while watching the result on TV.  Images with special effects can be saved.  It also allows girls to pose with their friends in Photo Booth mode.

Advertising Scams
Joe La Rosa remembers fondly an ad from the late 70s or early 80s about some dolled up rabbit ear TV antenna which was supposed to "pull signals right out of the air" - "You don't get cable because you're not paying for cable!"  Sadly, Joe's father fell for it.  Dick doesn't have it in his warehouse, but he still has the AC plug which "makes all the wiring in your house into one gigantic TV antenna!"

Listen to Episode 479
Go to TWiT
Read Dick's Write-Up

Qipit is a service provided by RealEyes3D that allows you to take a picture of your notes (on paper, on a whiteboard) or any reading material (such as a newspaper and magazine), upload it via email or even fax to the website which will clean up the picture for better reading and convert it into a PDF document.

To use the service, you have to be situated in an eligible country (such as the US, most of Europe, Japan and India), have a compatible mobile phone or digital camera, and create an account with the website.

You can see some examples of the conversions done by Qipit on the Qipit blog - which by the way has just featured this episode of DGW, given a very good introduction of Leo and TWiT, and of Dick.  They've also confirmed that Qipit is pronounced "Kwip-It".

Gadgets in Conjunction
Burk Wolder puts his Startech AV Switch (Episode 221), together with a Motorola bluetooth receiver and a Kyocera bluetooth dongle, to connect his iPod to his home stereo, which allows him to control the audio playing via the iPod itself, and not through a dock.

He also wants some suggestion from Dick and Leo about what to do with his collection of black spaghetti, the dozens of cables around the house.  The only thing that comes to Dick's mind is the Chargepod (Episode 368), not exactly an cable organiser, but at least it can charge up to 6 devices (with its hot tips) which may cut out some of the cables.

Listen to Episode 477
Go to TWiT
Read Dick's Write-Up

The Norcent XIAS DCS-760 is a 7MP digital camera, 16MB internal memory, uses SD card, 3x optical zoom (37.5mm to 112.5mm) on a Pentax lens, with different white balance settings and picture taking modes, 2.5" LCD screen, ISO 50-400, video resolution up to 640x480 at 30 fps, voice memo function.  Uses 2 AA batteries.  Available at Wal-Mart.

Mattel Football 1
John Woody Woodward has just got from eBay (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dick's Gadget Warehouse, says John) the hand-held Mattel Football 1 (from 1977), as a Christmas present for his children.

Listen to Episode 474
Go to TWiT
Read Dick's Write-Up

The Eye-Fi is a 2GB SD card with Wifi enabled.  Insert it into the Eye-Fi USB Card Reader that comes with the card, connect it to a computer, and instal the Eye-Fi Manager software on your Windows or Mac computer.  You will be asked to create an Eye-Fi Account, and then it will search for access points, and you'll be prompted to join a wifi network (by entering any WEP or WPA password).  You can associate the card with multiple access points.  Next you get a choice to upload your photos to a photo-sharing or blogging site such as Flickr or Facebook.

After you've taken a picture with your camera, the EyeFi card will automatically transmit the file to your computer (if it's within range), and then to the web (if you have so configured the Manger software).  If the camera gets out of range of the wifi network , it will pick up the transmission where it left off when the wifi network gets into range again.

At the moment, only JPGs are supported for Wifi transmission, although the card can still store whatever file formats your camera can produce.  Wifi networks which require a user log-in via an initial web browser interface are not supported.

For a review of the product, go to Digital Photography Review.

Dick's Share in TWiT.tv
Dick has heard word that Leo is going to sell TWiT to Google for $1 trillion, and Leo has promised $1 billion of that to Dick.

Lauding Dane
Leo thanks Dane Golden for actually listening to the recordings before doing the editing.   A feat which Leo never managed to achieve.

No Letters Today
Dick and Leo forget to read a letter.  Even Dane, with all his editing magic, couldn't save the show this time.

Listen to Episode 441
Go to TWiT
Read Dick's Write-Up

The Sony Ericsson W580i is one of the models of the Walkman Phone series.  The front panel features the music player controls which slides open to reveal the keypad.  Quad-band GSM for global roaming, built-in FM radio, 2MP camera, Flight Mode, built-in pedometer, stop watch, comes with a 512MB MS Micro card.  In Walkman mode, press and hold the Walkman key, shake the phone and it will select another song in your current playlist.  Shake Shuffle.

Cellphones on DGW
Dick says he rarely does cellphones, and Leo says Dick never does.  Apart from the Gadget Warehouse StarTAC (Episode 65), Dick has covered only 2 cellphones.  Both were LG phones, "The V" (Episode 9) and "The enV" (Episode 219).

Holiday Arrangements
Leo is off to Egypt to see the Pyramids over Christmas.  Dick and Leo will pre-record shows for the week of 17th December, and for the next 2 weeks, they will play the "Best Of" episodes prepared by George Wood.  That would give a whole new meaning to "Jingle All The Way".

Archos 605 Wifi
Keith has previously written to Dick and Leo about the Archos 605 Wifi but writes in again to refer to another feature, a podcast management software called Archos Link.  Dick and Leo think they have talked about the Archos 605 on the show, but they haven't, technically.  The 605 is from Archos' Generation 5 series while the AV700 (Episode 64), 604 Wifi (Episode 218), 404 Camcorder (Episode 262), and 704 Wifi (Episode 297) are from older series.

Waterproof up to 5 feet, the Xacti E1 records DVD-resolution video in MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format on to SD cards, and takes 6MP stills.  The different model names are probably just for different countries.

4th of July Fireworks
Listen to Dick's wacky way of watching the fireworks in New York in this episode, or revisit Episode 97.  Leo suggests Dick get a port-o-potty for his boat.


Petaluma hits National News ...
... and it has nothing to do with Leo's enormous weight hike due to his recent ice-cream intake.  The Sonoma-Marin Fair had an Ugliest Dog Contest, and Elwood was the winner.  Commiseration to Leo for being rejected again.

Coming Soon to an internet near you ...
Leo will review the iPhone next TTTT.

Pig E Bank Sold Out !
After listening to Episode 329, Lindsay Kooser from Yakima, Washington went on to VAT19's website to order the Pig E Bank and it's been sold out.  The Power of DGW again.

Listen to Episode 348