14 posts tagged “regis and kelly”

Filed in the Mail Order Rip-Offs Section of Dick's Gadget Warehouse, the Mitey Mixer (not to be confused with the current Dynamic MD95 Mitey Handy Mixer which is quite a different product) was a cordless electronic mixer/electric whisk, from about 1990.  Running on 2 D batteries, it was "so powerful it whips skim milk into 'LO-CAL' Whip Cream!"  It was so powerful it would also knock its whisks off when you held the whisks to your nose, as Dick demonstrates.

Last Breath
The weirdest exhibit Leo has ever seen is at the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Michigan: the test-tube containing Thomas Edison's Last Breath.

Caught between Toad Suck and Pickles Gap
Wayne Lunsford from Arkansas, was listening to Episodes 831 and 832 and was surprised to hear about Pickles Gap which became the first TWiT Home Office.  Wayne lives in nearby Conway which, apart from being the home of American Idol Chris Allen, is famous for being the town half-way between Toad Suck and Pickles Gap.  He also offers a sightseeing tour of the neighbourhood for Dick and Leo, including the historical Pickles Gap Village and the Fudge Factory.


Listen to Episode 870
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Link: Graveyard Mall

The Digital Coin Counting Money Jar from Perfect Solutions takes coins of any size, tells you what the denomination is, and tells you the total in the jar.  For another digital coin bank that Dick talked about, see the Pig E-Bank, in Episode 329.

The Graveyard Mall, "where high prices come to die", is bad news for Dick.  It has a deal of the day, and Dick just can't resist buying it.  The other day Dick bought a car gadget and he doesn't even have a car.

Bill Gaines might have been a free spirit, but he was not short of curmudgeonly behaviour.  He used to fine people in the MAD Office for enthusing over a recurring topic of conversation, such as a new baby, put the quarters in a Boasting Jar, and use the money to buy pizzas for the staff.  Now, if only Dick and Leo could be fined by listeners for repeating a topic of conversation in the show, we'd be rich .... and there'll be no shows.

Leo reminisced about rolling up coin stacks in paper.  Dick is outraged by the practice adopted by some banks in New York City of charging 9% for counting coins, and suggests going to supermarkets which will count up coins for free and give you a store credit.  There are also the Coinstar Machines, which count up your coins for free, and you have a choice of donating the money to charity or buying cash cards or e-certificates (including companies like Amazon, iTunes, Starbucks and Lowes).  Check out other uses of Coinstar.

In Episode 845, while Dick talked about the cutlery sharpening truck, Leo chipped in to say how stainless steel knives could not be sharpened and chefs generally avoided them.  Bruce Moore, a hobbyist knife-maker, appreciates Dick's desire to help Leo along in his career but suggests that Dick hold the reins more tightly on Leo.  Bruce says that both of Leo's statements could not be further from the truth, and adds that the higher the carbon content, the harder the steel.  He recommends Lansky Sharpeners to Leo, for whom Bruce, reprimand apart, has the utmost respect.  Leo is truly humbled.

Bruce was not the only one to point out Leo's mistake.  Another listener left a comment on Dick's post for Episode 845.

Leo's misconception about stainless steel knives got Dick on to the subject of housewives' myths, like how Mum always cuts off the end of a roast and throws it away.  "Mum, why do you do that?"  "I don't know, that's what Grandma always does."  "Grandma, why do you do that?"  "Oh, I don't have a big enough pan for the roast."

Leo is scratching his head again for tomorrow's gadget.  He keeps forgetting what he was going to do.  He did mention that he might talk about an old gadget given to him by Jeri Ellsworth in Episode 854.  He might be pressed into talking about the Dutch foam slippers given to him by a listener recently, or his flaming Screen Savers shoes.  Come to think of it, he might do a foot fetish podcast.  There's no podcast that Leo wouldn't do.

The Stickam feed went down during the recording, and Leo had to fix it - in a German accent.

The Johnny-Light is already 15 years old, but it's still going.  It seeks to avoid the battle of the sexes in the bathroom.  When the gentleman lifts the lavatory seat, the light goes on and stays on to remind him to put the seat down for the ladies.  When that's been done, the light will go off.  That's one gadget for the ladies, who should all be singing, "This little light of mine."



This reminds Leo of another toilet night light which he showed on Regis and Kelly, that was a little more advanced.  It had a motion sensor that would light up red for the gent to aim at when the seat was up, and light up green for the ladies when the seat was down.  Leo can't remember what the product was called, but he did blog about it in March 2003.  It might be the LavNav, or something similar.  See the article on Wired.com.



Wine Tasting turned Fire Tasting
Leo has got a new sponsor Gary's Wine, so he does a wine-tasting session on Sunday.  With a bit of Dutch courage and a little help from Brain Brushwood of Scam School, Leo started tasting fire, too.  You can watch the video on odtv.me.

Feats of Daring-Do
Dick has had his share of daring-do.  He appeared on "That's My Line", with a tiger resting its head on Dick's lap.  Leo might have done the fire-eating, but he would not do the bungee jump or parachute jump, and Dick would definitely stay away from the Stratosphere Tower's See-Saw Ride (it's actually called X-Cream) in Las Vegas.


A Camera-Printer for the Warehouse
Darryl Wattenberg of darrylsphotoblog.blogspot.com says that the Polaroid Pogo Instant Digital Camera (shown at CES and discussed in Episode 745) was not the first to attempt that combination.  Olympus did just that about a decade ago with the Camedia C-211 Zoom (or C-211z), a digital camera with 2.1 MP which used Polaroid instant film for the prints.  Read the review at Imaging-Resource.  Darryl also recalls a later camera/printer model from Olympus with dye-sub printing capabilities.  2 more gadgets for Dick's Gadget Warehouse.



Dick in Disguise and Mercury Rising
Dr L S Powers of the chatroom asks if the gentleman with a moustache holding a plastic whale on Boston Whaler's website is Dick in disguise.  Not so.  Leo advises against eating too much deep-sea big-body fish such as tuna, as it may contain a lot of mercury, as Steve Gibson has recently found out.



Listen to Episode 810
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The Lexmark X9575 Professional is an all-in-one printer aimed at the SOHO business user.  It is a printer, scanner, photocopier and fax.  Connection can be via USB2, ethernet or WiFi (g/b/n).  The printer speed is up to 33 ppm (black) and 28 ppm (colour), up to 4800 x 2400 dpi, and can do borderless colour prints.  Supports PictBridge direct printing from the camera, with a 2.4" colour screen for selection or editing.  The flat-bed scanner has an optical resolution of 1200 x 4800 dpi, 24-bit colour depth.  The photocopier is capable of reduction and enlargement from 25% to 200%.  The fax supports black and white or colour faxes, with 99 speed dials and 100 pages of fax memory.  Auto document feeder capacity of 50 pages.

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 HYmini is not a fan, but a windmill which converts wind power into electrical engery and stores it in the internal rechargeable battery.  The wind has to be at least 9 mph.  When the wind is fast enough, a green LED lights up to indicate that electrical energy is being generated.  You can also charge the battery using conventional AC power (adaptor included), or using the computer via USB.

You can also charge the battery via USB by buying a solar panel using solar energy, called the miniSOLAR.  There is also a bicycle attachment to harness the wind power, and an arm-band for people who jog.

You can use the HYmini to charge your 5V portable devices.  It also doubles up as a flashlight.

Sit Up!
Leo is back on his GopherSport Anti-Burst Fitness Ball (Episode 322), while Dick is slumped on his chair in a comfortably bad posture.

VCR Plus
Sharon from PoCo (Port Coquitlam) in BC, Canada loves the VCR Plus episode (Episode 560).  She tells Dick that TV guides in Vancouver still print the VCR Plus codes.  Her parents have been using the codes for 7 years.  Jim Nelson also writes in to say that he still uses the codes.

Regis
Leo thinks Regis is great and does his work without anyone knowing it.  For a photo of Regis in his office, go to Leo's Flickr.

It's A Gas
Dick and Leo mentioned the Mad recording "It's A Gas" yesterday, and again today.  A listener James Baldwin has found the recording on YouTube and emailed Dick the link.  Dick has embedded it on his home page, or listen to it here.



Listen to Episode 568
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Courtesy of Jim Troiano, more correctly known as Mike Troiano, the Timex Sinclair 1000 has made its way into Dick's Gadget Warehouse, delivered by an official of the United States Government.  It was made by Sinclair from the UK, which was a slightly improved model of the Sinclair ZX81 on which it was based, with more memory.  The Timex Sinclair 1000 was the North American version, and came out in 1982.  It had 2KB memory, as opposed to 1KB of the ZX81.  The keyboard was tiny, about 5" x 3".

Mike and Jean Troiano
Fans of Leo from California, they have visited the set of the Screen Savers, the TWiT Office, and will soon visit the new TWiT Studio.  They may well take with them Carvel's Lumpy the Whale, more correctly known as Fudgie the Whale (see Episode 357).

TWiT Studio
Leo has referred to the new TWiT Studio a few times in his recent podcasts, including DGW.  He's going to set up his live TV station in the old Victorian house in Petaluma.  To see what the house looks like from the outside, see Episode 73.

To read more about Leo's new ideas for TWiT, read his blog.

Obsoleting ...
A listener writes in to talk about the quickest time in which a gadget is obsoleted by a subsequent gadget, such as the printer obsoleting the typewriter, and the cellphone obsoleting the typewriter.  Somehow the rest of the letter got obsoleted after Dick and Leo distracted themselves with warm-up acts.

Our Own Ed McMahon
Dane Golden is aspiring to be the warm-up act for TWiT Live, as Ed McMahon was for Johnny Carson, Michael Gellman for Regis and Kathie Lee, and Johnny Olson for the Match Game.

Cutest Little Chick in Town
Butter and Eggs Day is coming up in Petaluma and they have a Cutest Little Chick Contest, says Leo.  For more on the Butter and Eggs Day, listen to Episodes 56 and 311.  Petaluma seems to have more than its fair share of wacky contests, including the Ugliest Dog Contest: see Episode 348.

Listen to Episode 535
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Bob Crossman of Damage Control Products invented and manufactured this cable detention device to keep the AC power connector on your laptop connected, and protect it from the day to day tugging and pulling the power cord gets.  You put the power cable into the U-loop of the JerkStopper, which fits snugly on to the "teeth" of the JerkStopper plug, and then you plug the entire device into an ethernet or modem port or USB port.  An ethernet port or a modem port are preferred because they are lock ports.

A Message from ...
... InsideDGW who is not in a position to divulge his identity, over which Leo speculated in Episode 494.  All he can say is he looks forward to Episode 747 on 20 January, 2009.  For the milestone Episode 500, he thanks Dick for his hard work, Dane for the editing, and Leo for just being there; and as long as Dick and Leo will keep saying "I'll be here," so will he.

Listen to Episode 507
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Dick introduced the Hydrabrush on 15th January 2007, as one of the more bizarre gadgets from CES 2007, in Episode 226.  Although the Hydrabrush did not make any further breakthrough announcement at this year's CES, the website is still running, the price has come down, and Dick hopes it succeeds.  Not exactly a member of the Gadget Warehouse.  Rather, Dick just wants to track its progress.

Egyptian Tour
Listen to some of the highlights of Leo's Egyptian Tour.

CES 2008
Dick is at CES 2008, and Leo is following it from home with a massive cold which he caught on the way back.  Listen to what they think about this year's CES.  Dick is most interested in the new Vectrix, an all electric 3-wheeler motorcycle, and will be covering some of the more interesting stuff from CES in coming days.

DGW DSL Line
Dick now has a new DSL line which he uses for recording DGW.

The Chumby
Gary heard about the Chumby in Episode 456, and although the price was high, he ordered one which arrived all the way from China in 5 days.  He thinks it's so cool.

Listen to Episode 480
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The Handler is essentially a hook to avoid contact with door handles.  Capable of 60 lbs of pull, the hook of the handler is made of Nano Slivers which kills the most common types of germs.

Germ-o-phobic
Howie Mandel is one of those, and when Dick first met him, they shook hands by knocking closed knuckles.  Another Howard, Howard Hughes, was famous for his fear of germs.

Old Time Candy
Tony Devito writes in, not about gadgets, but about Old Time Candy.  Leo knows about the website and thinks he may have talked about it on Munchcast with Cammy Blackstone.  In fact, it was Dick and Leo themselves who talked about it, at the start of Episode 308.

Listen to Episode 476
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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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