25 posts tagged “egypt”
Bounceback Ultimate
Backup Software
Link: CMS Products
Leo's China Tour
Leo is nearing his China Tour. He'll be staying at the Raffles Hotel in Beijing first, visit the Great Wall of China from there, the terracotta warriors in Xian, the Li River in Guilin, turn back to Beijing before going on the Geek Cruise, which will visit places in Korea and Japan. He will be leaving the TWiT Cottage on 2 July and come back on 18 July.
Missing 499
Curt Estridge, whose letter was referred to in Episode 841, listens to the Daily Giz Wiz at work with one earbud, leaving half an ear for his boss. Curt does listen to a stereo podcast which it is OK to listen to with one ear, and that's "Says You", also available on Audible. Curt loves the Daily Giz Wiz, and all the MAD Magazines he's won from the WTHII game. He hasn't missed a MAD issue, except Issue 499 which he couldn't find anywhere. Dick invites Curt to send him an email to sort that out.
Leo doesn't beg
Leo is looking for cycling accessories, including the cyclocomputer-GPS Garmin Edge 705. Leo will not beg for it from Garmin, but Dick might. Dick's got Plantronics to send Leo a Voyager Pro (Episode 829) for him to review.
Pre-View Unit Controversy
Just don't talk to Leo right now about review units, as yesterday, Leo, ever the nice guy, threw an uncharacteristic fit on TWiTLive during the Gillmor Gang show, over his being one of a select group of tech journalists who had been given a review unit of the Palm Pre. Read a summary of it on John C Dvorak's blog, which also has a clip of the video that contains strong language from Leo in reaction to comments from Mike Arrington.
Anyone who has listened to Leo for any length of time knows how meticulous Leo tries to be in returning review units, and how many gadgets he's had to buy for himself, to avoid even the appearance of a possibility of conflict of interest, even though it is fairly common for journalists to keep some review units - in which case the reviewer needs to prove his credibility in the long term, and many journalists have succeeded in doing so. But it is against this background that Leo's reaction and use of language must be understood. It must have been extremely galling for Leo, who has spent so many years building up a reputation of integrity and a relationship of trust with his audience, to find himself at the wrong end of a suggestion of a possible lack of independence by another tech journalist as experienced and knowledgeable as Arrington, just because Leo got a review unit.
Arrington has put his side of the story on TechCrunch. In the midst of the explanations and justifications in that blog post, Arrington has made an apology. Leo in response has also made an apology in the comments section. Read it all for yourself.
Listen to Episode 846
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Minolta Master Series V-1400 Camcorder
VHS Camcorder
Link: webspawner
Animal Companions
In Episode 781, Dick talked about racehorses having friends or companions which have to be shipped with the horses to races. Jeff Stewart from Texas has his own horses, and one time a horse had to see a vet, and his entire group of horses had to be taken all together. More recently, he put 3 young horses together, separately from their own families, and then when they were put on the main pasture, they never left one another's side. He's also heard that elephants have graveyards for the dead. Somehow, this reminds Leo of his sigmoidoscopy visits when he is always accompanied by Jennifer.
Match Game Memories 2
Don't forget Match Game Memories 2 will on at 5pm (Pacific summer time) and 8pm (Eastern summer time) on 29 March, on TWiTLive.
Listen to Episode 790
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Alligetter
Wacky Retriever Tool
Link: Alligetter
Christmas Decorations
None at the Mad Office. They are there all year round, except over Christmas. That was Bill Gaines's idea.
Christmas Spectacular
It's the 75th anniversary of the Radio City Music Hall. There's a giant 60' x 100' LCD display on to which scenery is projected. A full size bus on stage. Live fireworks. A real knock-out Christmas Spectacular.
Christmas Party
Now that the TWiT Cottage has a staff of 5 (including Leo), Leo thinks that a Christmas Party is in order. That took place at Tres Hombres in Petaluma last Monday. Free-flowing Margueritas and perhaps even lots of TTTT gadgets as Christmas surprises.
Christmas Present
An early Christmas present from Ludwik. Many listeners who cannot watch the live video recording of DGW have wondered how they can view the video. It's finally available. He gets the original hi-res captured video from kiwinerd and divides it up for each episode. You can now watch the video on his website, GizWizSearch.com. But please remember to download the audio podcasts first. Dick and Leo need the numbers.
Ludwik is considering going to the US to work for 6 months, and Leo might figure out something for him - as long as Ludwik learns a few more English phrases other than: "I'll be here."
Listen to Episode 716
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Kingston Elite Pro 32GB SDHC Card
Data Storage
Link: Kingston
Happy Birthday on the Manhattan
Dick celebrated his birthday on 19 October on the Luxury Yacht Manhattan on the Classic Habor Line with his friends.
Steve Miller writes again, this time about the upcoming Mad auction at Heritage Comics Auction, the subject of an article on MSN. It will be held tomorrow, and the artwork for the original covers (including Alfred E Neuman's first cover, by Norman Mingo in 1956) will be auctioned off.
Dick's favourite Mad issue was the one with a spoof of Poseidon Adventure on its cover, also Mad's best selling issue ever (see Episode 282). The original artwork was auctioned off, and Dick did not bid, thinking it was beyond his means. Annie Gaines bought it and it is now on loan to Dick for life.
Testamentary Wishes
Dick may not realise this, but he is fairly consistent with his "testamentary wishes". See Episode 235 (Sea Urn) for Dick's previous hilarious expression of his testamentary wishes, and Episode 135. He wants a death theme for himself.
Listen to Episode 687
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The Giz Wiz Home Page
Levenger Surf Desk
Laptop Stand
Link: Levenger
Leo has been a fan of Levenger's, and he ran into Steve Leveen and his wife Lori (founders of Levenger) for the first time in Egypt of all places.
A TTTT Bonus
Geeks love pens. So does Leo. His favourite at the moment is the Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen.
Regular correspondent and car buff Brian Drake has a story to tell about the Smart Car. A semi tractor trailer truck in Germany ran into a Smart Car on an autobahn. That the driver of the Smart Car survived is not the amazing part of the story. Nor is fact that the driver of the truck failed to see the Smart Car driver waving at him through the sun-roof. The amazing part of the story is that the driver of the truck only stopped after the police pulled him over, miles away from the impact, and told him that he had a car stuck into the front end of the truck.
Leo's wife Jennifer does not find the story reassuring. But just think of the mileage of the Smart Car, muses Dick.
Brian Drake recommends other alternatives for Abby, also tiny and just as distinctive. One is the King Midget:
Another is a French-made cycle-car with motor. You can turn off the motor and just pedal away. Brian can't remember the name of the car. Dick thinks it must be the Pedaluma. It may well be one of the Velocars made by Charles Mochet (later models had small engines), as indeed one of them is at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, as Brian says. The MicroCarMuseum has lots of pictures of these small cars.
The Tucker
Brian calls himself a Tucker fan. The Tucker was the car designed by Preston Tucker, the subject of a 1988 Francis Ford Coppola movie called Tucker: The Man And His Dream. Read about it on Wikipedia.
Listen to Episode 677
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Lexmark X9575 Professional
All-In-One Printer
Link: Lexmark
The Drunk Professor
The last time Leo appeared on Regis and Kelly (which was February 2007: see Episode 246 when Leo was in New York visiting Dick's Gadget Warehouse), he was asked to wear a lab coat which made him look like a drunk professor. He's been invited to go back, but this time, Leo thinks he might insist on a tutu.
Golden Boy
Before Dick's visit to TWiT Cottage for GizWizLive, he could hardly remember Dane's name. This week Dick cannot stop talking about him, and there is now talk that Dane, "who needs to be needed", might defect to GizWiz Productions, especially with the threat of the upcoming spy-cams all over the TWiT Cottage.
Leo mentions the name of Tony among the TWiT crew. He's Tony Wang, the new TWiT netcast editor, taking the place of Dane Golden after the latter's promotion to President and BizDev Guy.
Privacy is Dead
James aka Uncle Big Bad wants to know what Dick and Leo thinks about how the internet has changed everything about your personal life. According to Leo, Google doesn't think there's such a thing as privacy any more.
The Wild Wild West
Learn about Robert Conrad playing James West in The Wild Wild West.
Longest Episode
This show quickly overtakes the recent Episode 628 as the longest episode.
Listen to Episode 634
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The Giz Wiz Home Page
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.
Live Audience
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.
TT Pack
Restroom Kit
Link: TT Packs
Are We Related?
Trevor from Sebastopol, Australia was glad to hear that both Dick and Leo are watch junkies. So is he. He's got loads of watches, most of which have flat batteries.
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair has done a special on Mad. See the article, with early Mad covers, online.
Spork Commercial
At Dick's request, Leo plays the Spork TV commercial.
Listen to Episode 558
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The Giz Wiz Home Page
Canon VIXIA HV30
HD Camcorder (HD miniDV)
Link: Canon
A successor to last year's HV20, it is a palm-sized camcorder, records High Definition DV in 16:9 mode (1920 x 1080) or 4:3 mode (1440 x 1080). Supports 24p cinema mode and 30p progressive mode, the latter being good for converting into 15 fps web video. 10x optical zoom, fine low light performance, lens-shift image stabilisation, HDMI out, and a hot shoe for accessories.
Turning up the Volume: Size Matters
A listener's challenge to the 500-times size claim of the iPod Earbuds Speakers 500XL (Episode 543) generated a huge volume of response from the audience, including Perl eminence, FLOSS Weekly co-host and long-time listener Randal Schwartz, maths teacher and tea-maker par excellence George from Ajax, Ontario (who recommended the Penguin Tea Timer to Leo in Episode 501), and Van Miller from East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. It's not just the linear dimension, but the volume that counts, so say the chorus of disapproval.
The Miracle Thaw
Leo is enjoying his letters, and continues with another flood of correspondence, this time on the miracle defrosting tray the name of which escaped Dick adn Leo, in Episode 536. Listeners rush in to explain the Miracle Thaw, including Brian Trapman from West Chester, Pennsylvania, Jason Gray, Tim Shay, and Andy Heatlie (whose letter is quoted on Dick's website). It was just a piece of metal, and the FDA wasn't very happy with the commercials either. The Miracle Thaw is no longer available, but the Miracle Thaw Junior may still be, and if not, there is always the "new and improved" Super D-Frost Wonder from the same manufacturer.
Dick and Leo are understandably surprised that people actually pay attention to the podcasts. One hopes the FDA does too, and gets a close look at the Super D-Frost Wonder.
Listen to Episode 552
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Belkin Mini Surge Protector
Portable Power Strip with USB Charger
Link: Belkin
Leap Year Contest
There are 18 winners for the contest (3 Maxtor drives, 10 copies of YouCam, 5 copes of CrazyTalk5). Check out if you're one of them.
Leap Day Warehouse Friday
Jim Driscoll has found out that the next leap day that falls on a Friday will be in the year 2036, and we will be having DGW Episode 7795.
Listen to Episode 534
Go to TWiT
Read Dick's Write-Up