31 posts tagged “manhattan”

The latest addition to Leo's camera collection is the Olympus E-P1.  Reminiscent in style of the old Olympus PEN series film cameras, the E-P1 is Olympus's first foray into the Micro Four Thirds format.  Similar to the Four Thirds format, the Micro Four Thirds uses a sensor which is about a quarter of the area of a 35 mm full frame (still gigantic compared to sensors on most compact digital cameras), resulting in a focal length multiplier of 2.  It takes one step further in reducing the size of the camera by removing the mirror box in SLRs.  It seeks to give you the flexibility of interchangeable lenses of an SLR and the size comparable to a compact, but still maintaining a relatively high quality in the picture output.

The E-P1 has 12.3 MP (effective), ISO up to 6400, takes 720p video at 30fps in AVI motion jpegs, and comes with one of two lens kits (crop factor 2): either a 14-42mm lens (f-stop 3.5-5.6) or a 17mm pancake fixed lens (f-stop 2.8).  It also offers lens adapters for Four Thirds lenses and old Olympus OM lenses.  Unfortunately it doesn't have a viewfinder or built-in flash, although you can get them as hot-shoe accessories.

Leo has taken some pictures and videos on the Wine Train using the E-P1, which he will post to Smugmug in the fullness of time.  Meanwhile, you can check out another set of photos taken by Leo on his E-P1 on Smugmug.

TWiT Cottage Air-Conditioner
Leo is very proud of the air-conditioner he bought for the TWiT Cottage, with the help of Colleen and Mini Split Systems.  It's a Sanyo split-system, complete with temperature and flap control, Quiet Mode and Turbo Mode, and 17,000 BTU.

More Home Office Locations
More suggestions by Denny Pyott from Glide, Oregon for relocating the TWiT Home Office: Remote, Oregon, and Boring, Oregon.


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The Model 604 Duplex Speaker was first made by Altec Lansing in around 1944.  It mounted a high-frequency compression driver which sent sound from behind and through the centre of a 15" woofer/bass driver, with a 6-cell horn placed over the cone, enabling a compact design.  It's a type of coaxial speaker.  The speakers were installed in cabinets or other housing.  Subsequent models were made but the basic design remained the same.  Dick bought the 604C model after he started working for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions.  To Dick's chagrin, his mother later gave them away, along with some of his Lionel trains.

Dick also says that his were Voice of the Theatre speakers.  For pictures of some VOTT models, see Episode 137, and check out audioheritage.org's profile of the VOTT.  A few years ago Altec Lansing re-introduced the VOTT A7-Legacy, which didn't last very long.  It's now part of Plantronics.  For a summary of the evolution of the company including its more recent past, see Wikipedia.

More about the Gadget Warehouse
Dick's Gadget Warehouse is a 10' x 10' x 10' room, complete with floor to ceiling shelves, with no windows and no doors (well, there must be one door), at Sofia Bros Storage Center, 475 Amsterdam Avenue, New York.  You can see some pictures of the warehouse taken by Leo when he visited it back in Episode 246.  For a look inside the building, see Sofia Bros' video:

Mr What?
What should Leo be called?  Check out Answer Giz Wiz Questions.

Keeping One's Sanity
Chris Lind Hodson, from Richland, Washington, started working last August as a high school graduate.  Listening to the Daily Giz Wiz and other TWiT shows helps keep his sanity and dignity, as he stacked pop bottles and juices in the cooler of 7-Eleven and filled oxygen tanks in a different business location.  If Dick and Leo should one day hear about an explosion relating to oxygen, it might have been Chris.  Explosive thoughts, but understandable when you know where Chris lives.  Richland, Washington is sandwiched between the US Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot to its south and the Hanford Works to its north, home of the atomic bomb in World War II.


Listen to Episode 850
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From 1993, the first portable video projector from Fujix from about 13 years ago, the Fujix P701 weighed about 6 pounds, with built-in speakers and amplifier, microphone input and RCA audio and video inputs, and Dick thinks it cost about $700-$800.  It was considered a business class product, but had only 89,000 pixels (little more than 320 x 240) and 100 lumens.  Dick and Leo joke that if Kenner or Mattel were to make a toy projector today, its specs would outclass the P701.

The German site projektoren-datenbank.com lists the recommended retail price as €900.  Back in 1993, the Euro did not exist, so it's unclear how the price conversion was done.  There was a P701 available on German eBay a week ago, but the auction has now ended (final price €51).

Bicycle Gadgets
Larry Blakely from Vienna, Virginia (where AOL is, says Leo) has been a listener since the show began (and Larry was one of the winners of the weird gadgets competition back in Episode 146).  Recently Larry has been training for a fund-raising event organised by bestbuddies.org - a charity for fostering friendships between volunteers and people with intellectual disabilities.  He has chosen the 50-mile cycle challenge, during which he will ride on a trike from Carver to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.  Larry would welcome suggestions from Dick of bike gadgets such as headlights, safety lights, and flat tyre protection.

TerraTrike
For some hi-tech recumbent tricycles, visit terratrike.com.  These are state-of-the-art trikes for the dedicated cyclers.


Butter and Eggs Day
Petaluma will be celebrating its annual Butter and Eggs Day tomorrow, and you may hear the parade band pass by if you listen to Leo's radio show.  Meanwhile, Leo will be preparing himself and Ozzy for the Cutest Little Chick contest.


Listen to Episode 815
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Back in Episode 520, Dick talked about an old Porter Case suitcase.  The company is still going strong, and Mr Porter tells Dick that he's still making them, and there's a new series of suitcases which cost about half the price of other cases.  It's the Porter Case PCX Lite line.  A PCX Lite case has the usual built-in handle, with which you can wheel the suitcase along.  It also doubles up as a cart on which you can put other bags.  It carries less weight than the regular line, but can still take 100 pounds.  Various suitcase inserts are available for storing special equipment such as your camera and accessories.

For a video of how Porter Case suitcases turn into roller carts, check back at Episode 520.

Homecoming
Abby Laporte is returning home in a couple of weeks' time to her American family, but she wants to spend another year learning French in Aix-en-Provence.

Airplane Stories
Listen to Dick's story of his meeting with Gordon Bethune who brought Continential Airline back to life (a fuller version in Episode 114), and another story of the old lady on a Pan Am 747 who thought she was still in the lounge.

A Butcher and A Thief
While Claudio Quaresma, who rides to work at the Cathedral on his bike, may put up with Leo's butchering of the classic Brazilian bossa nova song "The Girl From Ipanema" in Episode 764, he will not tolerate Leo's infringement of the Daily Giz Wiz trademark.  While recording Windows Weekly Episode 99 (at 1:11:45), Paul Thurrott had to answer a phone call, and Leo played the Wait-For-Dick jingle while singing "Paul" over "Dick".


Listen to Episode 814
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The Calisto Pro from Plantronics takes care of all your phone needs.  It is a DECT 6.0 cordless phone which you can connect to the land line, with speakerphone function.  It has a USB connection for linking up to your computer as a VoIP or Skype phone, and can download your contacts from Outlook on Windows or Apple Address Book on a Mac.  It has a bluetooth headset which you can pair up with both the cordless phone or your cellphone, although you cannot switch between the two in the middle of a conversation.

Match Game Memories
Dick had a great time doing Match Game Memories on 29 March, and was very impressed by how quick Leo was calling up old footages of the Match Game.  Leo might add it as an additional audio show this week into the DGW feed.

Alternatively, you can download the video from odtv.me, thanks to kiwinerd.

Mailbag Podcast
Leo's sister Eva is helping out Leo with his emails.  Leo is thinking of doing a mailbag show with Eva going through some of the more interesting mails for Leo.

Studio 54
The Disco Letters Jingle gives Dick and Leo some disco flashbacks and reminds them of Studio 54, a popular venue during the disco era.  When Leo was last in Manhattan, he went there to see Cabaret.

Finally, Some Savings
Long-time listener and correspondent Steve Miller writes again.  This time, he's not buying any more gadgets.  He thanks Dick and Leo for covering the iCap (Episode 749), the Cell-Mate (Episode 744), and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II (Episode 742), two gadgets he doesn't want to own and one he can't afford.  Steve is a Nikon guy and was lusting after the Nikon D3X.

Circuit City Sale
Dick went to have a look at the Circuit City close-out sale but the prices had been raised and it was no bargain.

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.

Thanks to a reminder by listener Steve Horlick, originally from Brooklyn who now lives in Gillette, Wyoming, Dick talks about the Panasonic CPA - the Check Printing Accountant.  From 15 to 20 years ago, this gadget looked like a thick calculator, which could print out your cheques (you would have to type in the details on the tiny qwerty keyboard), and even balance your cheque book.  Dick saw the demo, did not want to try it for himself, and did not want one for himself, not even for the Gadget Warehouse.

The Five Boroughs of New York
Dick and Leo discuss what is a "borough" in New York.  Find out a bit more from Wikipedia.

Landing on the Hudson River
Dick was alerted to the landing by Chesley Sullenberger of the US Airways jet on the Hudson River, but was advised that boat owners should not go down the river to where the jet landed.  So Dick doesn't have photos of the landing for us, but he has photos of the Hudson 24 hours after the landing!  Almost as good.  See Dick's photos on smugmug.

Butter and Margarine
Leo tries to lure Dick to this year's Butter and Eggs Day at Petaluma, on Saturday, 25 April 2009, with Petaluma's Cutest Little Chick.  Leo explains again how the perpetual parade works.  Everyone in town will be in the parade, except Leo, as he has to do the radio show.  Jennifer will be in it, doing her zumba class.  The theme of this year's 28th Annual Parade is "Recycle, Reuse, Remember".

The Fragrance of Petaluma
Two times of the year, in the spring and the fall, Petaluma has a fragrance pervading the town.  It's when the farmers lay down the fertilisers.  If you can't get enough of Petaluma talk by Dick and Leo, try the Petaluma Ristorante in Manhattan.

Mad In Your Eye
Dick has uncovered a case of trade paperbacks "Here's Mad In Your Eye".  Available at BuyMadStuff.

Stop Scrolling
One used to have to keep scrolling down on Dick's website to see all his stuff.  With a little help from Ludwik and GoToMeeting, Dick has finally given his stuff its own pages.

Nerdy Pleasure
Listener Andrew started watching Leo on ZDTV back in his high school days, when it was a nerdy pleasure for him.  A few years ago he was glad to find Leo's new podcasting empire.  He has recently discovered a gadget which is exactly what he has for a long time been hoping for and would very much like Leo to do a review of it.  It's the Car Camera Voyager Pro with GPS Logger from Brick House Security.  It has an internal "event" sensor for detecting speed, braking, acceleration and impact.  It constantly records a video, with GPS logging, on to an SD card, and will retain 10 seconds prior to and 30 seconds after an "event".  Plug the SD card into a computer and you can watch the video with your car's GPS location.



Another Record
Dick and Leo are enjoying themselves in this recording session.  Yesterday was a half-hour show, and today, at 33:55, this is the longest episode of DGW.


Listen to Episode 755
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A Christmas gift to Leo from Tony Wang, sound editor of DGW, the R-Strap made by Black Rapid is a camera strap worn over a shoulder across the chest.  The camera is secured to a connector which screws into any standard tripod ring, and the connector is hooked to the strap.  The length of the strap is adjustable.



Some models, like the latest RS-4, has pockets for storing flash cards.  Leo has the RS-1 which has no pockets.  When a photo opportunity presents itself, just glide the camera up along the strap.  See the demo below from blackrapid.com:

Brick and Mortar Levenger
Chris Whitpan thanks Leo for introducing him to Levenger products (Episode 677).  He found a brick and mortar store selling Levenger in Boston, and it was a good day for the economy.  Chris works for the California Pizza Kitchen, and offers to pick up the tab should Dick or Leo visit the CPK.  Dick asks if the offer is one time only.

Leo finds out from Google, including LinkedIn, that Chris is Manager of CPK, Owner/Chef of Chris's Culinary Catering, Former owner of Kildare Irish Pub.


Listen to Episode 727
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After the Toiletry Sheets (Episode 689), Dick introduces another of Travelon's products, the Luggage Scale with Tape Measure.  The airlines have yet again reduced not only the baggage allowance but also the total linear measurement.  So the tape measure would come in handy, too.  The scale comes with a hook from which to hang the suitcase for weighing.  The scale has a memory lock which locks the indicator at the measured weight for easy reading.  That's why the scale is also called "Stop and Lock".

And don't try Leo's trick of weighing himself with and without the suitcase and subtracting one from the other.  The scale's capacity is only 75 lbs.

Thanksgiving Eve
Dick is going to make his pineapple upside down cake again.  For his recipe, take a look at the classic cookbook Joy Of Cooking and just double up the amount of butter and brown sugar for the topping.

A Tale From the Tunnel
Dick has an old tale to tell about a trailer truck which was too high for the Holland Tunnel and got stuck.  A little boy had a brilliant solution.  Don't saw off the top.  Just let the tyres out!

Air Tickets form 1983
Recently unearthed from Dick's Gadget Warehouse are air tickets from 1983, from New York to Miami, and to Oakland.

That Blinking Idiot
While recording the show, Leo notices a blinking light behind Dick (near the top right corner of the screen), and Dick can't work out what it was.  But the chatroom works it out.  It's the flashing cursor of Leo's mouse on his Skype video screen.

Stromberg Carlson TV Sets
Dick and Leo find out that Stromberg Carlson, apart from the Candlestick telephone that jammerb gave Leo (Episode 696), used to make radio and television sets as well.  Leo also uncovers an advertisement from 1950 on TV History.


Apocalyptic Waste
Software developer Michael O'Connor (Lepton in the Chatroom and the TWiT Army), who has followed Leo since the days of "The Site" (see Episode 187), plays Fallout 3 on the PS3 and finds, among the apocalyptic waste and wreckage in Washington DC, a spork (Episode 182), which he uses on his rocket launcher - which can do serious damage.  Michael has recently developed an iPhone app called AirMote which has found its way to the iTunes App Store.


Listen to Episode 708
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Kingston has now made a 32GB version of their Elite Pro SDHC card, the highest capacity so far of SD cards, and Dick has asked a sample to be sent Leo's way.  It's a Class 6 SD card, with a minimum data transfer rate of 6MB/s.  Leo can now use it on his Panasonic HDC SD5 Camcorder (Episode 407) and his new Panasonic Lumix LX3 (which he has bought for Jennifer and which Leo may talk about on another TTTT), or as the equilvalent of an external drive by in combination with his Kingston Data Traveler SD Card Reader (see an example in Episode 353), or on his new MacBook Pro with a Belkin ExpressCard Card Reader, both of which can read SDHC cards.




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.

Mad Auction
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 Beloved Mad
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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