27 posts tagged “vancouver”

Dick went to CES 2009 early to attend a demo of the new product from ioSafe.  The ioSafe Solo is a USB2 external hard drive, but it's no ordinary CompUSA External HDD Enclosure (Episode 67).  It has a specially designed and constructed enclosure that is "indestructible", or disaster resistant.  It can stay immersed in water up to 10 feet deep for 72 hours, and withstand heat up to 1550° (or about 760°), which will protect the hard drive in case of flooding or fire.  Choices of capacity of 500GB, 1TB or 1.5TB.  The disaster protection does come at a price - in terms of size and weight.  It's about 5" x 7" x 11" and weighs 15 pounds.  The price includes 3 years of warranty and a year of $1,000 disaster data recovery.

Ordeal by Fire and Water
The Solo Demo was one of the best CES demos Dick attended.  The Solo was thrown into a swimming pool, and then put into a furnace with the temperature rising to 1200°F and up.  After the ordeal by water and fire, the hard drive was retrieved from its steaming case, connected to a computer, and the data was still safe.

On the Road to Recovery
Ian Johnson from Vancouver discovered th Daily Giz Wiz about 6 months ago, around the time he broke up with his girlfriend of 7 years' standing.  He couldn't get enough of the DGW and has now listened to the entire back catalogue.  The slogan in the Monday Theme "The worse your life is, the better we sound" particularly resonates with Ian.

Jingle Submissions
Ian Johnson is a musician himself, and he wonders if Dick and Leo receive a lot of theme songs and jingle submissions.  He has a few ideas for the Mail Bag and may in due course submit a theme or two.

The First DGW Jingle
Dick asks Leo which was the first DGW jingle.  In a rare moment of lucidity, Leo remembers, correctly, that it was Mark Blasco's Opening Theme, which he wrote on a geek cruise.  Then the first listener-submitted jingle was Paul Minshall's D-A-I-L-Y Closing Theme (or the gravy jingle).  George Wood then arrived on the scene and more recently Dan Lueders.  Not bad for someone who can't remember the iCap from the radio show just a few weeks ago.


Listen to Episode 751
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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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Play Inc went on to create the Trinity Video System.  One of its CEOs, Paul Montgomery, had previously worked with Tim Jenison at NewTek, which produced the Video Toaster, and now makes the TriCaster, a video switching system which Leo has just bought for the TWiTLive.

Here's a clip, from 1990, from the TV programme Computer Chronicles (from www.archive.org), with Paul Montgomery and Tim Jenison showing a demonstration of the Video Toaster on an Amiga.


Two years later came the Video Toaster 2.0.  Here's the promotional video to show what it was capable of in 1992.

Gotcha
Jonas from Norway enjoyed Episode 556's Gotcha, as he loves pranks and jokes with his gifts.  However, he hasn't needed to use Gotcha yet, since all he needs to do is give his friend one of Leo's TTTT gadgets like the toothpick bird.  Cheaper too.

Law and Order
Woody Allen finally decided not to use Dick's boat for his next film after all, but Dick's boat will now appear in Law And Order.  Dick will tell us about it next week.  Meanwhile, you can read about it on Dick's website.

Listen to Episode 565
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The makers of the Fubar (Episode 231) has released a new model of their Tripod Flashlights, the model 95-146.  It offers high power LED 40 lumens of light output.  Its base expands into 3 legs forming a tripod and supporting the flashlight.  Its head, with a shatter-resistant lens, is adjustable and rotates into 4 positions.  It also retains the technology of older models called MaxLife 369 (such as models 95-112 and 95-115), so called because it can operate on 3, 6 or 9 AA batteries, as you like it.  A 3-position switch gives you the choice of high, low or off.  Low battery indicator.  Water resistant.

Plea and Mitigation
Brian Davis, a judge of the British Columbia Provincial Court, and an ex-friend of Dick's, writes in to tell him that the listener who gave him a copy of an old Gadget Magazine (from Episode 510) and whose identity Dick had forgotten was the same certain personage who took him to high tea at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver (Episode 346), namely himself, and that Dick received the Gadget Magazine over tea itself.  Dick pleads guilty as charged.  In mitigation, Dick offers lunch or maybe even dinner, and more DGW podcasts, and hopes to be friends again.

Listen to Episode 548
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From Sparxline, the Helmet Strobe is an LED light you put on your cycling or skating helmet that gives off a strobe light as soon as it senses motion.  It increases your visibility in the dark.  Auto-on and auto off.  The battery can last for 80 hours, and visibility is up to half a mile.

A Victechian/Victekian Studio
Leo is in the process of decking out the TWiT Offices with TV lights and other tricks.  He's turning the Victorian house into a live studio for the TWiT network.

Ghoulishly Yours
Jeff Mayers writes in to report the news that a documentary film is going to be made by John Landis about Bill Gaines, called Ghoulishly Yours.

One Foot On The Ground
Back in the day, when a bed scene in a film was shot, the man was required to have one foot on the ground.


Listen to Episode 531
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Another gardening tool from Dick, after last Friday's RainStick (Episode 500).  You insert the brass probe of the Thirsty Light into the soil of your plant, and its DryPoint digital circuit will test the moisture level once very second.  It can detect 5 levels of dryness, causing the LED light ito blink faster as it gets dryer, alerting you to the need to water your plant.  Powered by two 1.5V Lithium batteries.

Pet Translator
Leo refers to Pet Translators which can tell you if your pet is hungry.  There was a Japanese gadget called Dog Translator (or BowLingual) which could tell you what your dog was thinking.


Headwear for the Teletubby who's into Metal called Clinky-Dinky
Myra, one of the winners of the January '02 WTHII contest for her fun answer, says Leo's guess for the January '02 WTHII contest, a Pickle Puller, was a bit off.  It's a Montana Cinch.

Listen to Episode 503
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The GE 28310EE1 is a dual Skype and Standard Cordless Phone which you can connect to a land line (for the standard phone) and a router (for networking to your computer).  It uses the DECT 6.0 standard for its interference-free encrypted cordless connection.  Expandable to 4 handsets, Speaker-phone, Caller ID, Call Waiting Caller ID, conference calls between Skype and standard line.  The Skype software in built into the phone.  The phone also supports Call Diverting and Skype Voicemail.

This model is very new but there is a review at Amperor Direct.  Dick's write-up asks listeners not to confuse this new model with older ones (one of which, the GE 28300EE, has received terrible customer reviews at Amazon).  The album art included with this episode's download is also of the older model.

Alfred E Neuman Halloween Kit
Halloween is coming up.  Dick still has one of the Alfred E Neuman Halloween Kits (with mask, costume, freckles, tooth blackout powder), and one day he might talk about it.  Maybe next year.  In the meantime, take a look at a picture of a Halloween costume made by Collegeville, from www.collectmad.com.

TV Blower Upper
Thierry Daigneault (or Terry Daniel according to Dick and Leo) asks if there's a TV Blower Upper for his friend who wants to get a new HDTV to replace his old standard TV, but the girlfriend woudn't budge.  Leo suggests Steve Wozniak's Pen TV Jammer which unfortunately is not commecially available.  Dick suggests the TV-B-Gone (Episode 102) which can keep switching off the TV without the girlfriend knowing.

Match Game Cards
At the time of recording (on or before 24th October), Dick says he's having a bit of a nightmare with orders with special requests. and might stop taking orders for a while.  It seems the cards are available again, for $29.99.  Read the details at Dick's Match Game Page.

Listen to Episode 431
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Dick was reminded of the iPod 10GB by a recent re-airing on ABC of an old clip in which Dick showed it on World News Now with Liz Cho.

From Dick's description, this is a second generation model.  Introduced on 21 March 2002, it had 10GB hard drive capacity, 10 hours battery life and was firewire only.  New to the 2nd Gen was a wired remote, the Touch Wheel (the 1st Gen wheel was a mechanical scroll wheel that actually rotated), calendar and artist search.  It was also the first iPod that supported Windows.

Human, Technology, and Canine Time Scales
Dick and Leo talk about different time scales for humans, technology and even dogs, which sets Leo off on an Ethel Merman impression of "Those Were The Days", although Dick thinks it's more like Al Jolson, which should go straight to the Gadget Warehouse.  They have previously talked about the different time scales in Episode 120, in which they invented the "gadget year".

iPod Vending Machine
Dick remembers seeing an iPod vending machine in Las Vegas.  Dick first told the story in Episode 77, to Leo and Amber MacArthur (the only guest to have appeared on DGW).

HP35
The HP35 (Episode 415) has generated a lot of emails from listeners, including Graham MacDonald from Australia who has bought 6 of them, a graduate from Drexel University at Philadelphia who was a freshman in 1972 when the HP35 came out, and an Air Force recruit who spent one month's salary on an HP35 programmable calculator and later joined HP itself.

Listen to Episode 420
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From 1972, the HP35 from Hewlett Packard was the world's first scientific pocket calculator (with trigonometric and exponential functions), using Revese Polish Notation.  Before then, portable devices could only manage arithmetics: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  Scientific functions were performed by slide rules.  Bill Hewlett disregarded market studies at the time which showed that there was little demand for such a portable device and started developing the HP35.  It proved extremely popular in the market.

The device was called the HP35 because it had 35 buttons.  35 years on, HP releases a modern version of it, the HP35s.

The Two Steves
Steve Wozniak went to work for HP on the HP35.  Leo thinks that Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen mini-van, and Steve Wozniak sold his HP35, to fund the development of the Apple I.

Warehouse Jingle, Finally!
The Gadget Warehouse Jingle, a collaboration by George Wood from Edinburgh and Paul Minshall from Vancouver, DGW's favourite jingle writers, is finally aired.  Listen to it on Paul Minshall's blog (where he also explains the inspiration for the jingle).

NBC Programming
George Gray from Richmond, Virginia (who wrote about the DVD Rewinder in Episode 172) says that the "cheesy programmer" for NBC (Episode 398) was Fred Silverman, who was responsible for such programmes as Super Train, BJ and the Bear, Susan Anton and Sheriff Lobo.  Prior to NBC, Silverman had turned ABC around.

Listen to Episode 415
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Dick has been using a Logitech USB headset to record DGW, which used to have inline voume and mute controls, and Dick used to mute his mic accidentally.  The new ClearChat Pro USB has moved the controls to the middle of an earpiece, and shows a red indicator light at the end of the mic when muted.  Ideal for Dick.  Now he won't be hitting the mute button on his headset as before (as in Episode 10).

The Lab With Leo
Leo was in Vancouver filming The Lab With Leo, and celebrating 100 episodes.

A Date with the Skype Lady
The Skype Lady joins Dick and Leo for a conference call on Skype.

A Letters Jingle that comes on cue
Leo has been blaming the Jingle Singers for being tardy.  Randal Schwartz has advised Leo to move the Letters Jingle file from his external drive to an internal hard drive.  Now finally, the Jingle Singers come on cue.  And Leo still calls himself The Tech Guy.

WWF Mic
Kelly Redwolf Price, and Ron from Houston, have written in about the WWF Mic (Episode 390) and the name conflict between the World Wrestling Federation and the World Wide Fund for Nature.  The wrestling group had to change its name to WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment.  There are WWE mics out there as well, but not the same as Dick's WWF Mic.

Listen to Episode 401
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GizWizBiz Inka Pens
Update: Dick had 100 GizWizBiz Inka Pens made, and has already sold 50.