7 posts tagged “good morning america”

Leo forgot he was going to talk about the Kindle 2 but still manages to come up with something cool.  It's the Coleman Flashcell Rechargeable Screwdriver.  Just a cordless screwdriver, but it's the charging of the battery which is exciting.  The charging base uses ultracapacitors (currently an EEStor project) which give the battery a full recharge in 90 seconds, which will last the screwdriver 30 minutes.  It's the first and only commercial product available using this technology.

Leo even manages to demonstrate the charging of the screwdriver, and keep it running for half an hour.  Just ignore the clock behind Leo.

For those interested in how ultracapacitors or supercapacitors work, go to ultracapacitors.org.  Steve Gibson also covered this topic in Security Now! Episode 177 (with feedback from listeners in SN! Episode 178).  For its possible application in electric cars, see Popular Mechanics.

A Message from the Kindle 2
Al Spalding from Acworth, Georgia refers to the voicemail from the Kindle 2, played on Buzz Out Loud, in anticipation of Leo's review of the new Kindle.  A protest against the objection by Authors' Guild to the Kindle's new text-to-speech feature.

Update on BuyMadStuff
Dick's latest box of "Here's Mad In Your Eye" books have sold out again.  However, he has retrieved (yet again) some more long-forgotten treasures: uncirculated copies of "MAD Murders the Movies".  Collectors' items.  Check out BuyMadStuff.


Listen to Episode 782
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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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This is one of the first devices of the next generation weather stations.  Unveiled by La Crosse Technology at this year's CES, Weather Direct will be employed by La Crosse Technology in a number of their devices with prices ranging from $50 to $130.  Once you purchase a Weather Direct device, you pay a one-off fee to register online to specify the locations for which you want weather forecasts.  The device is connected to the internet via an ethernet port from which it fetches  and aggregates weather and other information from various sources including satellite assisted weather forecast systems and RSS feeds.

Succotash
Hear what succotash is from Dick and Leo.

Penguin Tea Timer
George from Ajax Ontario, Canada finds the Motorola Rokr S9 Bluetooth Headset (Episode 417) difficult to wear together with his sunglasses, and when the bluetooth is turned on, it seems to drain the phone battery much faster.  In the end, he has to return it.  He suggests that Leo cover the Penguin Tea Timer on TTTT, which lifts up the tea bag from your mug when the tea is sufficiently brewed.  Leo thinks it would be a good pal for the Toothpick Bird (Episode 282).  Amazon, on the other hand, suggests as a companion for the Penguin Tea Timer, the Hillary Nutcracker (see also Episode 404).

Listen to Episode 501
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It looks like a cassette tape dubbing deck, and is indeed one, but the Tape2PC also has a USB connection which connects to your computer for converting your cassette tapes into MP3.  It comes with EZ Tape Converter 2 ( for PC), EZ Audio Converter (for Mac) and Audacity (for PC and Mac).  Dick has already tried converting one of the Mad Minutes, and now there is no chance of Leo converting the rest of the Mad Minutes on the plusdeck2c (Episode 127).

To hear Alfred E Neuman's take on New Year resolutions on the recently converted Mad Minute, click here.

Mad Fold-In
Keith Takayesu, or Keith Tak, has sent in a newspaper ad which is reminiscent of Mad's Fold-In.  The sincerest form of flattery.  Listen again to the origin of Al Jaffee's Mad fold-ins, or try Episode 69 where you can learn about some of Mad's artists.

Listen to Episode 473
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From 12 years ago, this BioBrite clock cost $200 and was the first alarm clock with a dawn simulator, so that you could wake up to the sunrise.  Dick's model had an anaogue face and a huge globe.  It helped with Dick's SAD, which Dick finally got rid of by moving the furniture around in the DeBartolo Manor.

BioBrite is still in business and Dick was sent the Sunrise Clock (Advanced Model).  The new clocks have digital clock displays and are in the shape of a wave.  Complete with white noise.  The photo to the right is the top of the line Sunrise Clock Radio.

More TV Blower-Upper
Ken Lamont has an idea for, not ruining a TV set, but dealing with his room-mate's TV addiction.

Rube Goldberg
Dick and Leo are much amused by Ken Lamont's Rube Goldberg device.  For more of them for your kids, go to Kelvin.com.

Temperature Scales
Learn all about the Tres Amigos Celsius, Fahrenheit and Kevin (aka Baron Kelvin and William Thomson) from Leo, or not.

Listen to Episode 445
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This camera came out in December 1999 and was the first digital camera that used a Superdisk (Episode 295) as storage, which gave it a capacity of 120MB.  1.3 MP and the price was close to $1,000.

Roadmaster Digital Message System
Tobias from Princeton, New Jersey likes the Roadmaster Scrolling LED Digital Message System (Episode 271).  When he gets one, the message he will display is going to be "My other car has full motion video."


Listen to Episode 305
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Titanium Spork
Marsha of Springfield, Florida, finds DGW zany, sometimes pointless but oddly informative, and is looking for a good place selling the titanium spork (Episode 182).  Leo recommends Think Geek, which also sells TWiT merchandise.


Listen to Episode 288
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