11 posts tagged “wild planet”
Philips SpotOn
Motion Sensing Portable LED Light
GizWizLive
Dick and Leo thank Kim and Robin from Wild Planet for turning up for GizWizLive in their elf costumes (a feat they repeated in New York when visiting the Mad Office), and giving them a 600th anniversary cake and a TWiTLive Spork Clock to Leo. For details of GizWizLive, see the blog post for Episode 596. DGW listeners who could not watch GizWizLive, including Jeff Coddle, have asked Dick if the video will one day be available. Leo has the video but at present does not have a channel for distributing the video. One day it will come.
Upcoming New Sponsors
After Leo's recent visit to Audible's headquarters at Newark (during which Leo recorded an audible children's book "Little Golden Riding Hood"), Audible is going to return on DGW as a sponsor next month. So will Visa. As Leo explains, donations from the audience are applied towards TWiT overheads while only sponsorship money is shared among the TWiT hosts.
DGW Disclaimer
Thanks to Dan Lueders's recent prolific output, DGW will have a Thursday Theme, and a Disclaimer (which Leo plays at the end of today's show). The musical portion for the Disclaimer is a reprise of part of Dan Lueders's earlier Gravy Jingle Submission which was lost and found, and finally played in Episodes 313 and 314.
Confounding a Jury
Kevin Selle from Dallas, Texas (previous letters in Episodes 428, 551) was called upon for jury service and went prepared with his iPod loaded with DGWs. While the jury panel were waiting, he learned about the Plantronics Discovery 925 in Episode 597. When he got to the UroClub, Episode 598, he started convulsing in laughter and tears in the company of his potential fellow jurymen. Leo warns us about the dangers of listening to DGW, with a little help from Dan Lueders.
To learn about the most severe side-effect of DGW so far, see Episode 188.
Listen to Episode 601
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
SkyScan 88825
Giant Atomic Clock
Link: SkyScan
Photo above from eBay.
Criswell Poeticises
The Daily Giz Wiz has turned Criswell lyrical. He/She has written a GizWiz Nursery Rhyme:
Tuesday's GizWiz is full of crap, you'll see.
Wednesday has a no-theme meme.
But oh, poor Thursday truly has no theme.
And the GizWiz we hear on the Friday day
Is a trip to Dick's Warehouse where he takes them out to play.
Coming this Friday on TWiTLive
On the first day of summer, 20 June 2008, Dick will appear on TWiTLive to show some of Wild Planet gadgets, and spend an unspecified amount of time with Leo, including special programming for TWiTLive.
Special Appearance
Leo's wife Jennifer sensibly refuses to appear on camera during the recording of the show, but their puppy Ozzy makes a special appearance. Here's a photo of Ozzy. For Ozzy's story, listen to the Letters Section in Episode 353.
Jingle Singers Video: Coming Soon
Dick and Leo refer to a new video of the Jingle Singers performing the Letters Jingle. Leo has misplaced Dick's email for the time being. Keep listening. And Leo will be here.
Listen to Episode 592
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
SpokeLit
Bicycle Wheel Light
Link: Nite Ize
Dick explains that the reason so many gadgets are spelt in funny ways, such as SpokeLit and Nite Ize is so that they can be more easily copyrighted.
The Birth of DGW
Dick and Leo think it was the Hudson Hotel in New York where the idea for DGW was born, while Leo was in town to appear on Regis, after the Hardware Show Preview.
Another Trivia Question
"What is a pregnant goldfish called?" a listener asks Leo. "A mamafish," replies Leo. All right, it's a twit. Read The Straight Dope to learn more than you want to know about it.
Leo's Autobiography
Another listener suggests a name for Leo's autobiography, "TWiT'll Be Me", although Leo now prefers "I Never Stopped Talking".
600th Episode
Episode 600 is coming on in 2 weeks, and Dick and Leo may well be recording it on 20 June when Dick is at the TWiTLive Studio. They might get Wild Planet to give away some prizes, or get ThinkGeek to make some monogrammed Sporks, or SpearHats.
Listen to Episode 589
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
USB Plasma Ball
Light Show
This Plasma Ball is powered by USB, 4'" in diameter, with an on/off swtich. Put your finger on the sphere and the "glow" will congregate around your finger, like all other plasma balls. Available at VAT19 and ThinkGeek.
Here is ThinkGeek's explanation of this magic. A combination of gasses (such as Argon) are trapped inside a plastic sphere at relatively low pressures. An alternating current, at relatively high voltages, is sent into the sphere via an electrode in the centre. This energy causes atoms (or electrons maybe) to be stripped from the gasses, leaving in its wake some positively charged ions and a gorgeous gaseous and electrically conductive environment (aka Plasma). That high voltage served up through the electrode will now arc up through the plasma to the plastic sphere where the voltage is lower (starting at the top where the temperature is greater). The arcs glow because they are hotter than the surrounding plasma. You can touch the plastic and the arcs will strongly congregate to your touch because you will be creating an even lower voltage jump from the electrode.
Or just let Dick explain it to you in his own words:
The Giz Wiz Green Room
Dick is negotiating for the TWiT Studio to be named after him. Leo suggests "The Dick DeBartolo Memorial Antechamber". Dick thinks it's too early to do that, and prefers "The Giz Wiz Green Room".
The Bird Logo
Leo explains to Dick how the name Twitter came about. Evan Williams was running Odeo whose logo was a bird. As a side project, an engineer of Odeo suggested this IM-like web service, so people could send messages called "tweets" to each other. Hence the name Twitter. For Dick and Leo's previous mention of Odeo, listen again to Episode 150, towards the end of that episode at about 14:00. And it was Leo who told Dick about Odeo.
No Begging, Again
Having finally overtaken Barack Obama on the number of followers on Twitter, Leo is now locked in a close race with Kevin Rose. As with the May 2006 Podcast Alley vote, Dick and Leo do not beg (Episode 67). So sign up at Twitter and follow Leo, follow Dick, and Alfred E Neuman.
Please alleviate Leo's mid-life crisis and follow him on Twitter. Otherwise send him a Jacob's Ladder for The Giz Wiz Green Room.
The Belly of a Dead Fish
Jack from New Hampshire (who may or may not be Jack Kelly from Episode 419) was listening to Episode 564 and was amused by Dick's reference to the beigey colour of the Socket Pocket. As a technician, he is all too familiar with the colour and has always called it the "dead fish belly yellow". It's very close to Dick's Tainted Tuna Taupe.
Listen to Episode 573
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Eagle Creek Multi-Function Travel Clock
Travel Accessory
Link: Eagle Creek
Brand New Monday Jingle
It's a brand new week and a brand new day and a brand new Monday Jingle, from Dan Lueders again, which has incorporated Leo's Monday ditty, their occasional slogan "The worse your life is, the better we sound" and even the Gravy Slogan.
Rock My Teeth
Patrick Warn from Georgia, Vermont writes about Rock My Teeth - a musical tooth-whitening system. Attach the whitening kit to your iPod and the music, Professor Bocelli claims, helps line up the peroxide molecules to make it easier for them to penetrate through the enamel into the dentin to whiten the teeth. Watch the video here. Dick thinks the HydraBrush (Episodes 226, 480) - though Dick thinks it's called Turbo Brush - makes a lot more sense.
Cotati Accordion Festival
Dick is joing Leo at TWiTLive on Friday 20 June 2008, and Dick has had difficulty getting a room at the local hotels, because that weekend is the Cotati Accordion Festival. Dick manages to book himself a 2-night package at the Metro Cafe and Hotel, one of Leo's favourites. Kim from Wild Planet is going to demonstrate their Christmas toys and she'll come dressed as an elf.
Listen to Episode 566
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Snappy Video Snapshot
Screen Capture Device
Link: Atomic Internet
This is not a reproduction of an Easter Island statue, but a product from the mid 1990's, made by Play Inc, called the Snappy Video Snapshot. You connected it to a parallel port of the computer. It had composite video in and out, which you hooked up to a video source such as your VCR or TV set, and when you pressed the Capture button, Snappy Video Snapshot would do a screen capture for you. It would also cost you $199.
It was ranked 39 in PC World's 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years in 2005. The latest iteration of this product was Snappy 4.0, still available at the time of writing on Amazon.
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.
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
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Monster Cable Cable-It
Cable Organiser
Link: Monster Cable
Cables can come out of the tubing easily via the slit to make their connections at different places along the tubing. Available in 3 diameters to accommodate different numbers of cables. Different lengths available too. Come in black, white and grey.
If you missed Leo's live demonstration of Cable-It during the recording of the show on TWiTLive, you can watch a demonstration of how it works by Jeff MacArthur, Amber's brother, on Episode 130 of the CommandN podcast.
First Looks
Thanks to the amazing technology at the TWiTLive Studio, Dick can finally put a face to the name Dean, or Dave, or Dufus, aka Dane Golden. Colleen too, but that's another face. Dick is now scheduled to appear live on TWiTLive on 20 June 2008.
Leo-Branded Stability Ball
Leo is thinking of selling his own brand of the Gopher fitness ball (Episode 322), complete with his visage and autograph so everyone can sit on his face. It will be called Leo's Butt Ball.
Mechanical Calculators
Girl Geek, whom Dick also calls Geek Girl and other names, who becomes who she is because she has a mother who would buy any crap that passes in front of her, writes in again. One of the vintage gadgets her mother bought is the Addiator. The picture below is from John Wolff's Web Museum.
This reminds Leo about the Comptometer, given to him by his father-in-law. Leo promises to bring it in. Variations of the Slide Rule. John Wolff's Web Museum has it too.
Dick can't remember any of these old gadgts. All he can remember is the old Punch Board, which Leo calls legalised gambling.
PetSafe Micro ID Rescue Collar
Pet Identification Collar
Link: PetSafe
This gadget is also available at Pet Gadgets.
Ramp4Paws
Ramp for Pets
Link: Ramp4Paws
A ramp to make it easier for your pets to get on to your vehicle, or negotiate steps. Especially good if you have an aging pet, a weak pet fresh out of surgery, or simply a vehicle that sits high above the ground, like an SUV.
Ramp4Paws is a catenated series of strong links and hinges that roll up into a cylinder for easy storage and carriage. It comes in a washable nylon storage bag too.
QuickFinder
Intelligent Nail Cutter for Pets
Link: Pet Gadgets
Not a file explorer for your computer. The Quickfinder is a nail cutter for your pet which lets you know when to stop when you're about to "cut to the quick". When Dick recorded this show, it wasn't available yet, but it is now, at Pet Gadgets.
Further to Episode 281, Dick explains that the name of the WTHII gadget is Sound Bites.
Shorthand for Dick
Listen to Dick's story of how he took his shorthand exercises at business school.
Acoustic Coupler
Gars Morgan from Wales writes about his experience at a hotel in Rome on his honeymoon when he had to use a 300 baud acoustic coupler modem to communicate with London. The modem's familiar dialing tones confused the hotel's "modern" telephone system which cut him off when it detected those noisy tones.
Listen to Episode 289
Read Dick's Write-Up
Go to TWiT
Verticon
Mid-Air Combat Game
Link: Verticon Warriors
A game designed by Wild Planet for mid-air combat. The combatants are the coloured balls (with their own "weapons"). You and your opponent each choose your own colours, start the game, and a stream of air will come out from the game stand. The ball that gets knocked outside the air stream and consequently falls to the ground loses.
It's best to see Verticon in action. Watch Dick's demonstration on Call For Help Episode 448 on Google Video. Start at about 9 min 55 sec into the show.
After the demo on Call For Help, Leo's technical assistant/grippe Mike loved it so much that he kept it for himself, even though Leo wanted to give it to his son Henry.
First email from Luxembourg - Graham says love the show. Dick says half of Luxembourg listens to DGW.
PAM
Robert Fernandez wrote from the Philippines, introducing the PAM, a pedometer, but distribution of the product in the States has been stopped.
Mad Minute
News, or History Repeats Itself.
Listen to Episode 171
Go to TWiT
Compaq iPaq Mini CD Player PM-1
Mini CD Player
Link: CNET Archives
From around Christmas 2001, this is a player for mini CDs made by Compaq. The mini CDs were 8cm in diameter, which had a capacity of 185MB. The idea of this iPaq Mini CD Player was to burn your mp3s to these mini CDs for playback. The player's dimensions were 3.9" x 3.9" x 1.2". But the appearance of regular MP3 Players ensured the obsolescence of this player. This product was in fact announced on 22 October 2001, the day before the 1st generation iPod was announced by Apple.
A listener has written in suggesting a TV Volume Regulator to Dick, who will get one and try it out. The picture to the right is an example, the Audiovox VR-1.
Alaska
Leo is currently on a cruise to Alaska with his father his son.
What the Heck Is It
Mad Minute
Motel Records gives you all the religious music you need.
Listen to Episode 140
Go to TWiT
Read Dick's Write-Up