3 posts tagged “samantha who”

VCR Plus, started by Henry Yuen of Gemstar, was a system of codes for recording individual TV programmes on your VCR.  Each programme had its own code, so that you could just enter the code into the VCRPlus-supported VCR machine or remote control, and your VCR would start recording the appropriate channel at the right time.  Watch this TV commercial from 1987.

Audible Jingle
Geoff Smith has made an "Audible Pick of the Week" jingle for TWiT.  Check out his ringtones on thegeoffsmith.com/.

Keyboard Cleaning
Mike of Eagle River, Alaska took Leo's advice to heart and put his keyboard into the dishwasher, let it dry for a few days, and even put it in the oven.  The result upon reconnection?  Sparks flew.

Listen to Episode 560
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page

A huge collection of cable organisers in the shape of whimsical animals from cableorganizer.com.  The Animal Clips have strong rubber-based adhesive backs to attach themselves on to surfaces, and are removable.  Use them for those pestilent, all-pervasive cables in our house, or just to keep the odd pencil or USB thumb drive in place.  30 designs to choose from.


Other gems from the same site include the mini cable turtle, the velcro wrap, the floor cord cover.  Highly recommended by Dick for all your cable organisation needs.


Kill A Watt
Dick also mentions in passing an interesting device sold by Cable Organizer, called the Kill A Watt, which is a surge protector with an amperage and voltage meter - an electricity usage monitor.  He says he might return to it, though he never does, until Leo mentions it in another episode in another context, in Episode 642.



A Suggestion for WTHII
Sharon's other half is a pack rat with more unidentifiable junk than any human being should be allowed, which reminds her of Dick, fondly.  How about the listeners sending in the photo of a mysterious-looking gadget?  Dick likes the idea.  If your gadget gets picked for a WTHII contest, you get an autographed copy of Mad.


March '08 WTHII
The button thingy for the March '08 WTHII contest turns out to be the Pants Extender.  It extends the waist of your trousers or skirts when you can't get into them any more after a heavy lunch, or a life of culinary binge, as the case may be.  A real kluge.


Falsetto Guys
Leo wonders why all their jingles are done by guys who sing falsetto.

Listen to Episode 553
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page

These earbuds look exactly the same as the familiar iPod earbuds, but are 500 times as big (hence the name 500XL).  They are desktop speakers made by Fred & Friends, and available on Perpetual Kid (see also Episode 404).  USB-powered, they produce decent sound, and can double up as portable speakers using 4 AA batteries.  A fun gag.

Andy Marken chips in again
The generous Andy Marken has stepped into the fold again, offering 10 copies of Cyberlink's YouCam webcam special effects software (see Episode 443) as prizes, to add to the 3 Maxtor portable drives.  For details of the contest, see Episode 514.

You can see one of the YouCam special effects, the Polaroid look, in Dick's recent video on the 500XL Earbuds Speakers.

And Now, From Our Own Correspondents

Terry Scott who works for Edmonton Transit in Edmonton, Alberta listens to DGW while driving his bus at work.  After listening to Episode 500, he talked to his brother in Winnipeg using his HP PDA on his Jawbone bluetooth headset, and suddenly realised that he's been turned into a geek, but at least he's not a proctologist.  Leo warns, "DGW may cause geekiness," and Dick warns, "Don't look underneath the veneer."

Theme-Free Wednesday Theme
Dan Lueders of Why Me Studio, a DGW listener, and musician and songwriter based in Chicago, sent in a theme to Dick and Leo back in January (which apparently Dick again misplaced - see below).  It's for their Theme-Free Wednesday.  It was made in response to comments by Dick and Leo in the beginning of Episode 478, segments from which have been incorporated into the theme itself.

Some listeners might remember the name Dan Lueders.  He made a Gravy Jingle submission which Dick first mentioned in Episode 115, which was never played, and somehow got misplaced.  The jingle submission was later recovered and played in Episode 313 (and played again in Episode 314).  By then Paul Minshall's Gravy Jingle had long established itself as the closing theme.

For more information on Dan Lueders, check out his profile on urSESSION, or Promiseland Music.

For a long-winded story of the Gravy Slogan and Jingle, check out the Gravy page.

For more DGW jingles, you can find them on the Jingles page.

Listen to Episode 528
Go to TWiT
Read Dick's Write-Up