If you suffer from the winter blues or just the winter blahs, you may be interested in this Kickstarter project from SEQINETIC.  These new “sun” glasses were developed in Denmark, and they are designed give you a means of increasing your light exposure without having to sit in front of one of those special light boxes that help alleviate the symptoms of SAD, or seasonal affective disorder.  These glasses provide harmless, 100% UV-free light, and you’ll be able to wear them as you read the paper, use the computer, and go about your morning routine.  Pledge at least $50 and you’ll receive a pair of SEQINETIC glasses and AAA batteries to power them.  They still have 15 days left in the fund-raising period, and they expect to ship glasses starting in January 2012 if their funding goal is met.

Filed in categories: Health Related Gadgets, News

Tagged: light, Personal Care

Beat the Winter Blahs with SEQINETIC Glasses originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 6, 2011 at 9:00 am.

I don’t want to say how often I misplace our TV remote.   Smartfinder 4-in-1 can help.  Attach one of four color-coded, adhesive-backed receivers to something, then hold down the correspondingly colored button on the RF transmitter to trigger an audible alarm on that receiver.  Also includes a suction hook to attach the transmitter to a fridge or other location that you can actually remember.  Currently $34.95 (regularly $39.95) at Convenient Gadgets & Gifts, but a Google search also located it at other online retailers.

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous, News

Tagged: Personal Care

Use this gadget to find your lost gadgets originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 26, 2010 at 11:41 am.

< !– google_ad_section_start –>

When it comes to your health, I’m a firm believer that it’s very important to be proactive. It’s a lesson that I learned due to the fact that my mother died at a young age (56) because she didn’t take her diabetes as seriously as she should have. As a kid, I remember numerous occasions finding her during a low sugar episode. During these scary times, I would have to mix sugar with orange juice and coax her to drink it. Not happy memories for sure… As a result, it was not hard for me to make drastic changes in my own life, when I learned almost 3 years ago that I was also a diabetic. I keep a close eye on my glucose levels using a inexpensive glucose monitor so that hopefully I will never require medication to control my disease. Besides health monitors for diabetes, there are home use devices for measuring blood pressure, cholesterol and today I’m going to tell you about The ReadMyHeart 100. This handheld device from DailyCare BioMedical can measure your heart’s electrical activity.

The ReadMyHeart 100 is a handheld ECG unit. ECG stands for Electrical Cardiogram. Every time your heart beats, it generates small electrical impulses. If different parts of your heart are not synchronized, or if one of the valves is overgrowing, the electricity will not be conducted the same way. This condition is called Atrial Fibrillation and as a consequence of this condition, your brain may suffer from a lack of blood circulation – and you may suffer from a stroke. More than 2 million Americans have AF and it is the cause of 15% of all reported strokes. If you have this problem, this device can help you keep an eye on your condition in between doctors visits.

Package Contents

ReadMyHeart device
USB Cable
Software CD
User’s Manual
External Auxiliary Electrode Cable

The device is small and comes with a handy zippered hard shell case so that you can take it with you where ever you go. Everything you need (except 2 AA batteries) is included with the package.

At first glance the ReadMyHeart 100 looks similar to a GameBoy or other small handheld game system.

The Left side of the device has two connectors. One for the included USB cable and one for the included optional external electrode cables.

A slider allows you to cover one of the connectors when it is not being used.

Opening the cover reveals a mono LCD, 3 buttons and 2 dry conduction thumb electrode pads on either side of the display.

Using this device is very easy. Press the power button, place your thumbs on the pads and wait 25 seconds for the monitor to record your heart’s electrical activity. If you have problems using your thumbs, you can use the included external cables and sticky electrode pads on your forearms. The display will count down the time and when the test is complete, your heart rate (HR), Segment ST (ST) and QRS Interval (QRS) results are displayed. Under the screen cover, reference ranges are shown for each of these parameters so you can easily recognize if you are within a normal / healthy range. If you frequently see readings out of the normal range, that is an indicator that you should contact your physician.

Each time you complete a test, the results are stored in the device which holds up to 30 records. Once you save 30 records you won’t be able to record any more tests until you either delete the records or transfer them to your computer using the included USB cable and software.

Click thumbnail to see full size image

The software shows trend graphs and the details for each recorded test when you click on one of the plot points. The data can be printed in a report that you can take to your doctor.

Click thumbnail to see full size image

With a doctor’s prescription, you can upgrade to a more detailed version of the PC software that will give you access to the EKG tracing of the measurements you took. You will also be able to select intervals in your EKGs – choose to see averages over segments or individual heartbeats for advanced analyses. The software allows you to print or email any measurement to your doctor. It also comes with a booklet titled Introductory Guide to Identifying ECG Irregularities. Flipping through it made my eyes glaze over. Seriously, don’t try to interpret the graphs yourself. This is your doctor’s job. This device is just an easy to use tool to help you and your doctor manage your condition in between visits.

I know that the DailyCare ReadMyHeart 100 handheld ECG isn’t a typical gadget that you would see reviewed here on The Gadgeteer. But if it can help a few people be more proactive about their health, then that’s all that matters right? ) How many of you use some type of health monitoring ‘gadget’ on a regular basis?

< !– google_ad_section_end –>

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

DailyCare ReadMyHeart 100 Handheld ECG originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2007 at 12:00 pm.

I hate going to the dentist. I joke around and say that I’m still dealing with post traumatic stress from when I was a kid. It seemed like every time my sister and I went to the dentist, we had a cavity. The hygienist used to yell at us saying that if we didn’t open our mouthes wider, she’d have to start all over again. Yikes, I get goose bumps just thinking about it. These days you practically have to drag me to go to my annual cleanings. I usually make them biannual just because I don’t want to go. I must be doing something right though because I haven’t had a cavity since I was a teenager and my dentist never yells at me for waiting so long in between visits.

Cordless toothbrushes aren’t exactly high-tech these days. But how about a toothbrush that uses has an RFID (Radio Identification Frequency) microchip built into the brush head that communicates with a wireless LCD display to give you feedback during your brushing activities? The Oral-B Triumph with SmartGuide ProfessionalCare 9910 toothbrush could be considered the Ferrari of dental hygiene. Let’s take it for a spin…

The box is quite impressive for a toothbrush.

Package Contents

Cordless handle
FlossAction brushhead
Base unit
Brush storage unit
Wireless LCD display
2 AA batteries for LCD display
AC adapter for base unit
User guide

I was a little intimidated by all the parts. For goodness sakes, it’s a toothbrush right? But setup really wasn’t difficult.

The first step was to fit the AC adapter / charging ring into the bottom of the base unit.

Then put the batteries in the LCD display and set the time by using the buttons under the battery cover.

Plug the AC adapter into the wall, place the toothbrush in the inductive charging base and wait for about 12hrs for it to fully charge.

A large easy to read LCD on the handle shows the battery status while in the dock and during use. A full charge should power the Triumph for around two weeks of regular brushing for two minutes twice a day.

The handle is made of plastic with a Blue rubber grip on the back. A large power toggle button, brush mode button and battery status display are located on the front.

The Triumph comes with one FlossAction brushhead (replacements are available for approximately $15 per 3/pk.). The head has several different groupings of bristles that are different lengths and hardnesses. There are also four flexible flosser ‘bristles’. You can see them in the image above, in Yellow.

The toothbrush is also compatible with Oral-B’s ProWhite polishing brushhead. The brushheads feature oscillating-rotating technology for plaque removal between teeth and along the gum line. Both of these brushheads contain a smart chip to communicate with the electronics inside the toothbrush handle wirelessly using the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

The wireless LCD display has a few different functions. When you aren’t brushing your teeth, it is a regular clock that you can set to show 12hr or 24hr format.

When you start brushing, it begins counting up to 2 minutes, which is the dental-recommended length of time to brush your teeth. A circular quadrant display next to the timer shows which area of your mouth you should be brushing. Each quadrant represents a part of your mouth. Left and Right sides, Upper and Lower teeth. You brush each area for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds have elapsed, the brush kind of stutters and another quadrant segment will turn black, to let you know you should move on to another area.

You might also notice the little tooth icon above the timer. This is the brushing mode indicator. By pressing the small triangular button on the toothbrush handle, you can switch through the different modes. The mode you see above is for sensitive teeth.

This mode is the massage mode for brushing your gums.

This is the polish mode.

The chip in the brushhead monitors how much pressure you are putting on the brush and will display a sensor alert on the wireless display signaling when you are brushing too hard. Studies have shown that too much pressure can lead to teeth sensitivity and early gum recession.

Once the 2 minutes is up, the brush will stutter for a few seconds and you’ll be rewarded with a smiley face, this signals that you can stop brushing. The only thing I found missing was an audible alert. All of the alerts on the LCD are visual, which means you need to be paying attention to the LCD for the full 2 minutes. I know that the brush stutters every 30 seconds and then again at the 2 minute mark, but half the time I don’t even really notice that. It would be nice if it would also beep when I needed to switch quadrants or stop brushing.

Besides showing the count down brush time, quadrant info and brushing mode, the LCD will also alert you when it’s time to change the brush head. The wireless display can also communicate with multiple Triumph brushes in wireless range. Each LCD display can sync with up to 2 toothbrush handles.

If you’ve never used a cordless toothbrush, it can take a bit of getting used to. You don’t scrub the brush back and forth on your teeth like a normal brush. Instead, you just hold in on the tooth and let the brush do its thing. You also need to put the brush in your mouth before you press the power button. If you don’t, the toothpaste will fling off to parts unknown.

I don’t consider my teeth and gums to be sensitive, but I found the Triumph to be a bit rougher than my normal non-cordless Colgate toothbrush. The very first time I used it, my gums did bleed a little bit. Nothing dramatic, but I did notice it. No problems though after that first day, and I have been very impressed at how smooth it makes my teeth feel after every brushing. The only other problem I had was that toothpaste and drool often ended up running down my hand because I was standing up watching the wireless LCD display instead of bending over the sink. Luckily the handle is sealed, so clean up is pretty easy.

The biggest issue that I have with this product is of course the price. $149.99 is very spendy for a toothbrush, even if it does have a wireless display and RFID technology built in. You also need to have an outlet to plug the charging base into. That can be inconvenient in a small bathroom. I mean, you could just buy a regular old $3 toothbrush at Walmart and use a timer to make sure you brush a full 2 minutes. Granted, a non-cordless toothbrush won’t make your teeth feel as smooth as this one does. Oral-B actually makes other more affordable cordless toothbrushes that even have a 2 minute audible alert. They don’t tell you when to change areas in your mouth though… The Oral-B Triumph with SmartGuide ProfessionalCare 9910 toothbrush is definitely the nicest toothbrush I’ve ever had the opportunity to use. It’s just very hard for me to justify the price… But, if price isn’t a consideration for you, then I say go for it!

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

Oral-B Triumph with SmartGuide ProfessionalCare 9910 Electric Toothbrush originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 9, 2007 at 4:30 pm.

Looking for a solution to stop the rattle-your-windows-snorer sleeping next to you? Do you need a Father’s Day gift that also rewards your Mom? Then, you might want to take a look at Hivox’ SnoreStopper. This innovative device is worn like a watch. When you start to snore, it produces a 5-second electronic impulse on your wrist, resulting in the snorer to reposition and stop snoring. The distributor claims that within 3 weeks, the SnoreStopper naturally coaches your body to snore less. To test this claim, Hivox graciously sent me a sample to review.

Hardware Specifications:
Asymmetrical bi-phasic square pulse
Maximum length of 22 cm for wrist belt
Temperature requirement of 50 – 104 degrees F
Not suitable for persons that have Sleep Apnea or heart problems
Not waterproof

Package contents:
SnoreStopper
Plastic Carrying Case
Two disposable alcohol cloths
Two re-usable electrode pads
Quick reference guide
User’s manual
Screw driver to change 1.5V battery

When unboxing the device, it is housed in a baby blue, hard plastic case. With the box measuring at 8″ x 5″ x 2″, it seems too large for a typical nightstand. I opted to just not use the hard case.

After opening the box, I looked at the device and thought it would weigh a few pounds. Surprisingly, it only weighs 1.3 ounces, the face measures to approximately 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ x 1/2″, and the wristband adjust up to 22 cm.

To start using the SnoreStopper, there were several steps I had to take. The first was to cleanse the back of the device and my wrist with an alcohol cloth. I then carefully attached the adhesive electrode pads onto the black rubber pads of the SnoreStopper. I emphasize carefully, since these are super sticky and can easily roll or get stuck incorrectly on the device.

To fully adhere to the device, the adhesive needs to remain affixed for 15 minutes before placing the device on your wrist. After the allotted time, I removed the plastic backing and pressed the device firmly on my skin. I then had to hook the band onto the device.

From there, I tightened the Velcro band and was ready to start testing.

There are five intensity levels for the SnoreStopper, which are dialed on the bottom of the device. I started out at the lowest setting of 1 and began testing. Now, the impulse does not immediately go off when noises are made. It requires a set of three similar sounds to cause the impulse. To ensure the wristband has a good connection, there is a green/red light indicating the proper contact. When the green light is lit, you can press the test button three times. It immediately sends an electronic wave along the area exposed to the device.

In my case, I also felt a tingling sensation all the way up my arm and across my chest. I was initially concerned I was having a heart attack, so I immediately asked my husband to do a courtesy check. He placed the SnoreStopper on and did not feel the same sensation. I re-tried it and still found the same pulse-pounding sensation, plus the tingling up my arm. Not to give up, I solicited my neighbor to try it. I did not tell her what it was doing to me (I know, I’m sweet), yet she described the same feelings.

I contacted the distributor and they had not heard of anything like this. They thought maybe it was due to women wearing the device, since our skin is not as thick as men’s are. (Hey, should I have been offended? ?). I did not want to give up and just thought maybe I was doing something that was causing this. Through a couple days of testing, I determined it was possibly one of two things. It was either due to the lotion I put on in the morning or that I was standing up with the device. When I did not moisturize my arms that morning, I did not notice the tingling sensation. When I got into bed and tested the device, the weird sensation was not there. Yeah, now that I am not having a heart attack, I can try it!

That evening, I snuggled into bed while my hubby stayed up reading. He generously sacrificed sleep to see what happens when I start snoring. (Thank you, honey!) To our surprise, I began snoring, got lightly zapped, and then rolled over in bed. What is really cool is that I was not even disturbed or woke up…nor was Ronnie for that matter! He did not hear the paint-chipping snoring.

A couple of hours into my sleep, I did lose the watch. I toss and turn a lot in bed, due to back problems. This caused the watch to get hung up on my pillow and detach. That may not normally be a big deal, except that the wristband is elastic and acted like a sling shot when it unhooked. Ouch!

Something to note is that the SnoreStopper is not for someone with Sleep Apnea or heart conditions. It also cannot be used in loud environments or you will feel the impulse. For example, I left the TV on while sleeping. When the dinosaur roars in the movie “Night at the Museum,” I got zapped, yet I was not snoring. I also fell asleep, while the kids were playing near me. Two different things happened. The first was my son came over and kept pressing the shiny, silver test button. He loved that feature, since it made the device vibrate. The second was when he would start crying, he caused the electronic impulse to emit. Thanks, son!

Another observation was when the device was tucked under my blanket, my pillow, or close to my body (like the fetal position). This caused the sensor to not pick up the snoring, so it did not go off. In cases like that, I still have my trusty sidekick to give me a nudge. Because of this, I deduced it is more suited for back sleepers than side or stomach sleepers.

Overall, I think this device is a neat concept, since it uses biofeedback to naturally teach a person to stop snoring. It will keep zapping the sleeper to readjust his/her sleeping position, until they stop snoring. This in turns gives your partner and you a great night’s sleep. It might be worth a try if snoring is impacting your rest.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

Hivox SnoreStopper originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 28, 2007 at 10:30 pm.

We all know or remember seeing someone at one time or another that has worn a medical alert ID bracelet or necklace. I think I vaguely recall my Dad buying one for my Mom when she was first diagnosed with Diabetes. These days you don’t really see people wearing this method of medical identification. I don’t know if they are
just considered old fashioned or if the companies that make them have stopped promoting them. That’s why I was
intrigued when the folks at CWI Medical asked me if I would review the MedicTag.

The MedicTag is basically a 32mb USB flash drive that includes an AUTORUN.exe program that pops up to allow you to store
and print medical history and information.

The flash drive looks like an ordinary USB drive, but it is made of White
plastic with bold Red print. There is a attachment hole for the included lanyard
strap if you want to wear the MedicTag.

A Red LED is built into one end of the drive. This LED blinks when data on the
drive is accessed.

On the back of the drive, you will find a Lock switch. Flip this switch into the
Lock position and you’ll not be able to overwrite the medical data contained on
the flash drive.

When you insert the MedicTag into a USB port on a Windows PC, it will
automatically launch the autorun.exe program on the drive and within a few
seconds, you’ll see the popup window shown in the image above. The MedicTag
interface is very simple and gives you 3 options. You can View emergency info,
Print the emergency info or Exit the application.

When you click the View option, Microsoft Word will automatically launch and
display a special document with fields that you can fill out with your personal
medical information. The problem here is that you need Microsoft Word or a
Microsoft Word compatible application that can load and edit Word (.DOC) files
in order to access the medical data.

Click thumbnails to see full-size images

The special form that loads up in Word has a big Yellow box at the top where you
can add important information regarding medical conditions. Since this is the
first thing that anyone accessing the MedicTag will see, it’s important to be as
descriptive as possible. You can also see that there are fields for all the
regular information that people will need to see, such as name, birthday, sex,
address, phone number, etc. Scroll a bit farther down the form and there are
fields for emergency contact numbers, physician contact info and medical
insurance information.

Click thumbnails to see full-size images

Even farther down, there are fields to list your current prescriptions and
medications. And even
farther down, there are places to list allergies, existing conditions and surgeries.
At the very bottom there is even a field that you can use to add any additional
information that you deem necessary. As far as the information allowed, I think
this form pretty much covers everything that any emergency medical technician,
emergency room technician or hospital might need to know in the event that you
were unable to relay that information yourself.

I really do wish that the folks that created the application and form would have
made it a bit more computer generic than they have. The inclusion of the
autorun.exe, MedicTag Windows based interface and .DOC (Word formatted form) can
present a problem. Yes, I understand that most (if not all) EMTs and hospitals
probably use Windows based computers, but the person that buys the MedicTag
might not. This results in a bit of confusion when that person goes to
initially add their information. As a Mac user myself, the first thing I did
when I received the MedicTag was to pop it into a free USB port on my iMac. The
result was a popup from Codeweaver’s
CrossOver Windows virtual machine software that I had only halfway installed on
my machine. It told me it didn’t know what to do with the autorun.exe. I then
popped it into my Macbook Pro which was running
Parallels Desktop (another Windows VM
program). It kept giving me an error saying that a file was being used by
another process and to kill the process and try again. Well crud… since I
wasn’t getting very far with ‘fake’ Windows machines, I decided to try it with
my Acer Ferrari running Windows Vista. Finally I was able to launch the app, add
my info and exit.

Click thumbnail to see full-size image

After I added my info and plugged the MedicTag back into my iMac, I opened the
MedicTag Information.doc file directly by using TextEdit and it
appeared as shown above (ugly isn’t it?). It’s interesting to note that the file
was set to read-only and would not allow me to edit it. I was unable to edit it
with NeoOffice
as well. Plugging it back into another Windows XP machine with Word (my DualCor
CPC), it allowed me to directly edit the .doc file. Go figure…

The ultimate question is: Is the MedicTag worth the ~$40 price tag? While I
can’t dispute the fact that this product is a good idea, I think you’re mainly
paying for the actual look of the product and not the functionality product.
Being White with the Red +, it’s easily noticeable to emergency personnel. But
it’s only 32mb and the application / form are not that useful for those of us
that do not use the Windows OS. I think I’d rather just get a cheaper / bigger
USB drive, put a label on it saying something like: Julie Strietelmeier’s
Medical Info and then on the drive save a generic .txt file with all my
information that I can more easily edit and format however I would like.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

MedicTag originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 7, 2007 at 10:30 am.

Now here’s a great idea that gave me one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” feelings when I first saw it. It’s the Rise & Shine Deluxe Natural Alarm Clock Bedside Lamp from Verilux. This company sells a variety of illumination products. I actually reviewed their HappyLite Mini Ultra earlier this month. The Rise & Shine combines a clock, radio and lamp all in one device.

Available in Ivory and Graphite, the base of the lamp is 6.5 inches wide. The overall height with the shade installed is 20.25 inches and the shade width is 11 inches. The style of this device would probably be considered modern given the built in display and buttons. That said, it should fit reasonably well with most bedroom decoration schemes.

The main controls for the lamp are located on the front and base of the unit. The large knob in the center controls the intensity of the light. Press this button to toggle the light on and off, and twist the knob left or right to dim or brighten the output. The lamp uses a 2000hr 60w natural spectrum Xenon bulb that puts out the light equivalent to a regular 150w bulb.

Below the knob are large easy to access buttons that control power to the radio and built-in ambient sound playback. The Rise & Shine has 8 pre-programmed nature sounds (Birds, Harbor, Town, Brook, Surf, Forest, Rain, and Wind). You can wake or go to sleep to the sounds. Some are better than others though. The Town recording is pretty annoying with it’s crowing roosters and chiming clock noises ;o)

Below the Sounds and Radio buttons is the 3.5in (diagonal) screen. All the information regarding the current time, date and alarm settings are visible at all times on this screen. Another feature of the screen is that it is backlit with 7 cycling colors. You can either allow it to continually cycle or lock it into a fave color by pressing a button on the side of the lamp.

Buttons along the base control the alarm settings. The Wake button lets you choose if you want to wake up to light, sound or both. The large bar button in the middle is the Snooze button. If you hold down this button, it will reset (silence) an active alarm. To the Right of the Snooze button is the Sleep button. You can use this button as a timer for the lamp and / or sounds / radio. After 5 – 60 minutes, the light and / or sounds will turn off.

On the Right side of the lamp you find the radio tuner dial, AM/FM switch, Display brightness dim/low switch, color mode lock / unlock toggle button and the volume adjustment button.

I was a little disappointed when I found out that radio could not be digitally tuned by looking at the display. Instead you have to look at the dial where the frequencies are printed in small type. Bleh…

The AC adapter power jack, speaker jack and antenna wire are all located on the back of the Rise & Shine. Regarding the power adapter, it’s a largish sized brick with an 8ft long cord. There’s also a battery compartment built into the bottom of the base. It holds 4 AA batteries (not included) The batteries keep your time and alarm settings backed up for 48hrs in the event of a power failure. If the power is off, you can’t use the batteries to power the lamp.

A small pillow speaker is included with each Rise & Shine lamp. You can use this speaker to listen to the radio and other sounds without disturbing your bed buddy.

The whole idea behind the Rise & Shine has to do with balancing the Circadian rhythms in our bodies by simulating the rising and setting sun.

The way it works is that you program in the time you want to wake up. Say that’s 6:00am. Then you set the wake time cycle. This can be either 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. If you choose 30 minutes for example, the alarm would activate at 5:30am. If the alarm is set to use light and sound, the lamp will turn on at the dimmest setting and the sounds will start playing at the lowest volume. Every few minutes, the light and sound intensity and volume will increase until the light is at full bright (see the images above for light examples) and the sound / radio is at a moderate volume level.

For me, the sounds tend to wake me up before the light does. I think I sleep with my eyes closed pretty tightly. I also have a habit of pulling the covers over my head a bit. If you’re the same type of sleeper, you might not find the light feature of this lamp to be that helpful as far as aiding you in waking up. Also, if you sleep on the opposite side of the bed, you might not notice the light part of the alarm as much as the person that sleeps on that side. I did notice however, that once I was awake that it was easier for me to get out of bed with the room lit up. It helped me feel less groggy.

I did notice a couple of issues using the alarm functions. The main issue is that when the lamp first turns on at the dimmest setting, there is a noticeable humming noise. The noise slowly goes away as the intensity of the light increases.

The Rise & Shine also only allows you to set 1 alarm. Since it has date (day, month, year) settings, it seems like it would be easy to add the ability to set extra alarms based on day of the week. I’d especially like to see a weekend alarm setting.

Then there’s one more minor annoyance with alarms. If you want to silence the alarm, it takes 2 steps. You have to press and hold the Snooze bar till the sound / radio stops playing and then if you also had the light as part of the alarm, you have to manually turn it off by pressing the knob. It would be more convenient if there was a simple Off button that you could press. I don’t know about you, but on the weekends when I’m half awake and want to go back to sleep, I don’t want to have to think all that much about how to turn off the alarm.

After all is said and done, I’ve enjoyed having the Rise & Shine lamp as an addition to my bedroom. It’s nice having a bedside lamp that doubles as a clock. Add the ability to set more than one alarm and I’d like it even more.

3yr warranty
Replacement 2000hr 60w Xenon bulbs – $19.95

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Clock, Personal Care

Verilux Rise & Shine Deluxe Natural Alarm Clock Bedside Lamp originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 23, 2007 at 1:54 pm.

Light therapy devices seem to be gaining in popularity these days. Having just reviewed the Litebook Elite, I was happy to take a look at the Verilux HappyLite Ultra Mini – a similar product. Unlike the Litebook, the HappyLite is not really a travel device as it does not have a rechargeable battery. It is better suited to remaining plugged in and on your desk.

Package Contents

Verilux HappyLite Mini Ultra lamp
Diffuser
Bulb
Instruction booklet

This light therapy device stands 12 inches high x 5 inches wide and 3.5 inches deep and is designed to provide light that has the same wave length has natural sunlight, but minus harmful UV rays. Exposure to the HappyLite for 15-60 minutes a day can help
alleviate symptoms of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) that effect as many as 14 million people in the US.
If you are not familiar with S.A.D., here is some info from
Wikipedia:

"Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, also known as winter depression is
an affective, or mood, disorder. Most SAD sufferers experience normal mental
health throughout most of the year, but experience depressive symptoms in the
winter or summer. SAD is rare, if existent at all, in the tropics, but is
measurably present at latitudes north of 30°N, or south of 30°S.

Seasonal mood variations are believed to be related mostly to light, not
temperature. For this reason, SAD is prevalent even in mid-latitude places with
mild winters, such as Seattle and Vancouver. People who live in the Arctic
region are especially susceptible due to the effects of polar nights. Prolonged
periods of overcast weather can also exacerbate SAD."

The included 10,000 hour 36W bulb has Trucolite Phosphor Technology and delivers 5000 LUX
of light. What does that mean? It means the bulb is bright and should last for
approximately 54 years if you use the HappyLite for 30 minutes a day every day.
Replacement bulbs will set you back $24.95.

Installing the bulb is a snap… literally. Just orient it correctly and snap it
in place. Simple.

Install the plastic diffuser, and plug the cord into a free outlet and you’re
all set to enjoy your HappyLite Ultra Mini.

The only switch on this lamp is located near the base. The switch has 3
settings. Off, full bright and half bright.

I was a little worried that the bulbs in this lamp might flicker or buzz since
they are not LEDs like the Litebook uses. I’m happy to report that the HappyLite
has none of these problems. Also, when you turn it on, it lights up instantly,
unlike the fluorescent bulbs I’m used to.

It’s best to place the lamp at least 12-20 inches or so from your face. You also
want to place it at an angle so that you’re not looking directly into the lamp.
You can see how I have it set it up in the picture above.

If I compare the light output from the HappyLite with that of the Litebook, I
find that I prefer the HappyLite. This is mainly because the light isn’t as
sharp as the Litebook. It feels more even and soft. The Litebook has the
advantage though because it is more portable, has a rechargeable battery and
most importantly, it has a built in timer. But then the HappyLite is less
expensive. You can actually buy 2 HappyLites (one for each side of your face…)
for less than the price of one Litebook.

Some people might not believe that light therapy is really all that helpful, but so far during my review of the HappyLite and the Litebook, I have found that using these devices gives me a little more energy and focus in the morning. And who couldn’t use a little more of that?

3 year warranty, 30 day money back guarantee. $139.90 for a set of 2.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

Verilux HappyLite Mini Ultra originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm.

This time of year I always tend to feel a little blah. It’s not surprising due to the fact that the winter months here in Indiana can be cold (it is 13 degrees here today), damp (it’s snowing right now too) and gloomy. I get up and go to work while it’s still dark outside, then come home and sit in my basement office working on reviews all evening. That leaves pretty much no time to soak up any natural light. For some people, these winter doldrums can turn into S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder). While I don’t think I actually suffer with that particular problem, I didn’t turn down a review of the Litebook Elite when it was offered to me.

Package Contents

Litebook Elite
Canvas travel bag
AC adapter
Instruction manual

The Litebook Elite is a device that you can take with you anywhere to provide light therapy. What kind of therapy does light offer? Well according to those in the know, it can help combat against low energy, irritability, difficulty with concentration, trouble sleeping, jet lag and carb cravings. Wow, I could help with all of those problems ;o) But how does bright Light Therapy work?

“Experiments indicate that individuals who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) are affected by light, which plays a major role in the secretion of melatonin. Melatonin is a natural hormone made by your body’s pineal gland. This is a pea-sized gland located just above the middle of the brain. During the day, melatonin levels are barely detectable in individuals who don’t suffer from S.A.D. When light hits your eye, the retina transmits impulses to your body clock, located in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus regulates sleeping, eating, body temperature and libido.

Clinical research shows that The Litebook’s wavelength may assist in regulating the body’s melatonin levels. It also boosts a feel-good neurotransmitter (serotonin), which makes you feel content and energized.

What is the difference between Winter Blues and S.A.D.? SAD is a form of seasonal depression that commonly occurs during autumn and winter, though summer SAD also occurs. The Winter Blues is a milder form that affects up to 25% of people. Though the symptoms are fewer and less severe, the Winter Blues often cause a decrease in energy and enthusiasm, abnormal tiredness, a desire to sleep more than usual, and a craving for foods high in sugar and carbohydrates.”

Let’s take a look at the device…

The Litebook is portable CD player sized device. It’s 5″ x 5″ x 1″ (12.5cm x 12.5cm x 2.5cm) and weighs in at 8oz. (225g). It’s made of light Blue and Silver colored plastic.

The integrated lens cover doubles as a stand to prop up the Litebook on your desk. Besides the lens cover, the only other moving part on the Litebook is the rubber power button. Pressing the power button will turn toggle the light. It will also allow you to set the light timer. You can set the Litebook to automatically turn off after 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes. The timer is set by holding the power button down and then pressing it repeatedly to set the timer length. A 4 segment status LED on the upper right corner of the device gives you visual feedback for that setting. It also doubles as the battery status LED. When it flashes, you know the battery needs charged soon.
The built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery provides up to 2 hours of light when fully-charged.

Under the lens are 24 White LEDs. These LEDs mimic the peak wavelengths of the sun–which turn out to be the wavelengths that our bodies respond to for health. 15 to 30 minutes of light a day should be enough for the average person. The good news is that this light does not emit UV radiation, so it is safe to use.

It is recommended that you use the Litebook the first thing in the morning. Older people find that using it in the early evening will help them not fall asleep too early or wake up up too often during the night.

The Litebook is very bright! Of course you don’t want to look directly at it, but it does need to be approximately 12-20 inches (30-50 cm) from your face. I was a bit worried that such a bright device might put out a lot of heat. My fears were completely unfounded though. The Litebook remains cool to the touch… even the front lens.

The best thing to do is to place it on a desk or table at an angle so that it does not glare into your eyes. Then go about your normal activities such as working on your computer, reading, eating breakfast, etc.

According to the documentation that ships with this product, a person should notice some improvement within 30 days. I’ve only been testing the Litebook for a couple of weeks now and am not sure how much it’s helping me so far. I still feel grumpy about the weather ;o) That probably won’t change until Spring. The only improvement I may be noticing, is that after using the light when I get to work in the morning, I feel like I can get into my job quicker than usual. Some mornings my brain doesn’t fully ‘wake up’ till after 9am most of the time. Since I started using the Litebook, it seems as if the cob webs clear quicker for me. I’m not sure that I would pay $200 for that one benefit, but I can see where it could be very helpful to frequent travelers that suffer from jet lag.

FYI: The Litebook ships with a North American AC adapter, but an international AC adapter is available with 4 interchangeable plugs (includes North American, UK, Australia and European plugs) for $29.95.

The Litebook is easy and you can take it with you anywhere, for portable light therapy. The Litebook also comes a 2 year warranty and a 60 day money-back guarantee. That means you can give this device a no risk try for a full 2 months and return it if it doesn’t work for you. I’m going to continue to test this device and others like it, to see if I see any other changes in my winter blahs. I’d like to hear experiences from others that use devices like these.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

Litebook Elite originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 6, 2007 at 10:00 am.

Would you believe me if I told you that a plastic device the size of a deck of cards could improve your life? The folks at HeartMath claim that this is possible with their emWave personal stress reliever unit. The emWave is a hardware version of their emWavePC software product that uses a form of biofeedback to help you learn to breath and think your stress away. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m all for finding a way to alleviate some of my day to day stress.

Package Contents

emWave Personal Stress Reliever Unit
Ear Sensor
Carrying Case
Battery Re-charger (AC Adapter)
Coherence Coach CD
emWave Owners Manual
Quick Start Guide
Jump Start Card

The emWave module is 3.37 x 2.25 x .7in (85 x 55 x 14mm) and weighs in at 2 ounces. It’s very small and light weight and can easily fit into a pocket, purse or bag. It even comes with a small case that has a belt clip.

Available in Silver or Blue, the unit is constructed of plastic with one multifunction sensor button on the top (the Red oval) and a grouping of status LEDs above it. The leftmost LED is the pulse indicator. The middle row of LEDs is the heart action strip. The rightmost LED is the coherence level indicator. More on coherence in a second.

The AC adapter port and connector for the ear sensor are located along the Left edge of the device.

First of all, let me tell you what the emWave claims to do. In a nutshell, it monitor the intervals between heart beats. This is called heart rate variability (HRV). The beat-to-beat changes are what creates your heart rhythm pattern. When a person is stressed, their heart rhythm pattern becomes irregular and incoherent. This can affect health, brain function, performance and overall sense of well being. When you are not stressed and are feeling great, you’re in a coherent state. The emWave helps you to quickly and easily reach a state of high coherence. Coherence is a highly efficient physiological state in which the nervous system, cardiovascular system, hormonal and immune systems are all working in harmony. So, the more coherence you have, the less stress you have. Sounds logical right? But how can a little block of plastic do all that?

First of all, you have to charge the batteries by plugging in the AC adapter (the emWave can run for approximately 6hrs on one charge). Once the batteries are charged, you press the left side of the multifunction button to turn on the emWave. You’ll then hear a tone and the status LEDs will light up. The next step is to use either the ear sensor or the thumb sensor to have the emWave monitor your heart rhythm. I find that using the thumb sensor is easier and more convenient than the ear clip. All you have to do is just press your thumb over the button. You don’t have to press really hard or anything, just firmly. You’ll know you are doing it correctly when the leftmost LED starts blinking in the rhythm of your heart beat. If it isn’t recording correctly, the LED will turn Red. When the heart rate LED starts blinking steadily, the middle row of LEDs will start to run back and forth across the heart action strip. As the LEDs travel to the right, you breath in. Then when they flow to the left, you breath out. As you do this over and over, the rightmost LED will turn from Red, to Blue, and finally to Green. Green means you have reached the highest level of coherence. The longer you can keep the LED at Green, the more relaxed you should be.

Deep breathing really isn’t anything new, it’s long been suggested as a way to calm frazzled nerves. The instructions for the emWave go a step further than just helping you breath though. While you breath, you’re supposed to focus on your heart (the center of your chest) and think of your breaths flowing in and out of your heart. You’re also supposed to concentrate on positive feelings by thinking about a favorite place, person or event. They claim that shifting from negative feelings to positive ones while using the emWave is an important step in relieving your stress.

Included with the device is a CD with Coherence Coach software for the PC and Mac. This software gives you another method to help with breathing by using animations and new age style music.

The breathing pacer animation shows a ball that travels up and down through a sine wave.

There are several other animations and audio tracks that can help too.

This may sound like a lot of hocus pocus, but the people that created this device have 15yrs of research to back it up. They have had their research published in journals such as Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, American Journal of Cardiology, Stress Medicine, and the Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Some of their clients include BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Stanford Business School, Cisco Systems, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, Sutter Health, Shell, DuPont, Sony, Redken, and Liz Claiborne.

See it in action…

Click on image to play the QuickTime video (1min 51sec, 3.6mb). The video is encoded in the H.264 codec. You will need the latest version of Quicktime to view it. VLC is another free viewer.

I found the emWave to be very easy to use and within a few seconds, I was able to turn the coherence indicator from Red to Blue, to Green. If you watch the video clip, you can also see that in the middle of the session, the indicator turns Red again. This is because I started breathing rapidly to see what would happen. I then began trying to relax again and the indicator quickly turned Blue and then Green. Ask you keep the indicator Blue or Green, bars will start to accumulate on the left side of the Heart Strip. This turns relaxing almost into a game as you see how long you can keep collecting the bars. If you don’t relax and the indicator goes back to Red, the bars will start to disappear.

Did this product help me feel less stressed? Yes, it really did. I should tell you, that I’ve practiced deep breathing to help with stress *before* I ever heard of the emWave. So, being able to calm myself down tends to come easy to me. That said, I like all the visual indicators that the emWave possesses. Seeing that Green LED has a positive effect that just closing your eyes and breathing deeply does not. On the other hand, I can’t see myself pulling the emWave out of my gear bag at work and using it during the day when everyday work stresses start to take a toll on my sanity. I’m more likely to revert back to my old method of closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths. This is mostly true because no hardware is required, I can do it anywhere, nosy people won’t ask me what the heck I’m doing and I don’t have to worry about batteries running low. So even though I can say that the emWave does help, I think it might be better suited for someone that doesn’t already have their own established method of de-stressing. For those people, the emWave could be come a valuable tool.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

emWave Personal Stress Reliever originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 8, 2006 at 9:35 pm.

This one is for all of you travelers out there. Start rejoicing, because I’m going to tell you about a gadget that will replace that soggy ziploc baggie that no self-respecting gadgeteer should be using. You know what I’m talking about, we all know that Blue and Yellow make Green, but do we really want to use a baggie to hold our toothbrush and toothpaste, when we can use something cool like the OHSO Marco Travel Toothbrush instead? I didn’t think so.

The OHSO (don’t ask me what that stands for, I don’t know…) comes with everything needed for on the go dental hygiene. Two bristle heads, a small tube of Colgate toothpaste, a universal adapter and the OHSO toothbrush housing are included.

The plastic housing is available in a chrome or clear version and is made up of two parts. The bottom section, which doubles as the handle and toothpaste chamber, and the cap.

A vacuum mechanism is built into the OHSO handle which allows you to fill it with toothpaste. The top of the handle has internal threads which match up with most standard sized toothpaste tubes.

It’s easy to just screw the toothpaste tube into the handle as shown above.

To fill the toothpaste chamber, just turn the knob at the bottom of the handle clockwise. As you do so, a vacuum is created which pulls the toothpaste from the tube into the handle. The filling process takes about 15 seconds. As you can see from the pictures above, there’s a window on the side of the handle, which allows you to see how full the chamber is.

If your favorite brand of toothpaste happens to have threads that are not compatible with the OHSO, you’re not out of luck. You can use the included universal adapter. It’s just a soft rubber boot that screws into the handle and makes it easy to use any size toothpaste tube with the OHSO.

After the chamber has been filled with toothpaste, you can unscrew the toothpaste tube and replace it with the bristle head. You don’t need to worry that the toothpaste will ooze out, because it’s vacuum packed.

The included bristle heads are what I would consider soft and relatively small. I personally prefer a medium texture bristle head for my everyday toothbrush, and wish that OSHO would offer different sizes and textures. That said, I used the OHSO for several days while on a trip and didn’t find the size or texture to be overly difficult to manage.

See it in action…

Click on image to play the QuickTime video (30sec,
1mb). The video is encoded in the H.264 codec. You will need the latest version of
Quicktime to view it.
VLC is another free viewer.

Dispensing the toothpaste is an easy task. All you have to do is turn the same knob that you used to fill the chamber, but in the opposite direction this time. After a couple of turns, you’ll start to see a thin stream of toothpaste flowing out of the soft rubber nozzle at the base of the bristle head. Point the head down and continue to turn the knob until you have the amount of toothpaste desired. Stop turning and proceed with your tooth scrubbing. Simple!

After you’ve brushed your teeth, you’ll want to rinse off the bristle head, dry it and put the cap on the end. The cap has 3 slit vents on both sides that allow air to dry the bristle head when it’s not in use. There’s also a handy clip on the cap, but I don’t think that most people will be clipping the OHSO to their shirt pocket ;o)

When closed, the OHSO is a self-contained dental hygiene tool. During my review period, I had no problems with toothpaste leaks, jams, etc. My only issue is that the chamber only holds enough toothpaste for 1 day, if you brush 3 times a day. Carrying a separate tube of toothpaste to use for everyday refilling kind of defeats the purpose of the whole concept in my opinion. But for overnight trips or if you only brush your teeth once a day (eew!) it makes a great inexpensive gadget!

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

OHSO Marko Travel Toothbrush originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 6, 2006 at 3:03 pm.

Working 2 full time jobs (Cummins and The Gadgeteer) can sometimes take a toll on my sanity. There’s nothing that says stress, like spending an 8hr day supporting CAD users all over the world and then coming home and having to write about the latest gadget or gizmo to show up in my mailbox. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about playing with and writing about gadgets at all. It’s just a lot of work and like all of us, work can cause a real energy drain at times. That’s why any product that claims to help a person de-stress and recharge, is a product that I want to test.

Not long ago, I came across just such a product from a company in the United Kingdom. Enter the pzizz Personal Life Coach System. What the heck is a pzizz you ask? First of all, pzizz is pronounced “puh-zizz”. The name is a reference to Power Napping. The P in pzizz is for Power and “Having a zizz” in the UK means “having a nap”. Hence – p-zizz. This product helps you take a special uber-relaxing power nap whenever you need one, by using Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and binaural beats. That’s just a super technical way of saying that it uses a special algorithm that draws from three levels of data files (words, music and sound effects) to create a different nap each time you initiate one.

The pzizz system is available in two different versions. A hardware version and a software version. I’m going to tell you about the hardware version first. The pzizz player is a handheld iPod sized device that is powered by 2 AAA batteries (included).

Package Contents

pzizz player
Sennnheiser earbuds
2 AAA batteries
Instruction leaflet

Front

The front of the player has a small mono backlit LCD display and 3 interface buttons. The buttons toggle power, adjust volume levels and change nap duration. The large button in the middle is the power/select button. Holding it down for several seconds will turn the device on. Then using the smaller buttons, you can adjust the length of your nap from 10 minutes up to a maximum of 60 minutes. Once you select the duration, you press the middle button a second time to select the time, then a 3rd time to start the nap. When the nap is in progress, the smaller buttons adjust the volume levels.

Back

The battery compartment is located on the back of the player. Typically a set of batteries will power the device for approximately 6 to 8 hours. A battery status icon is located on left edge of the LCD display.

Top

A standard sized earphone jack is located on the top of the player, along with a DC in connector if you wish to power the device with an AC adapter (not included).

Bottom

The base of the pzizz pulls out to reveal what looks like a SD card. I thought maybe I could insert a regular SD card full of .MP3s and use the pzizz to play them, or plug the pzizz card into a card reader to see what the files look like. Unfortunately, regular SD cards do not fit in the pzizz slot, and the pzizz card won’t fit into a card reader. It was worth a try though… Since the card is removable, this gives the player an upgrade avenue.

My tests with this player consisted of using it to take a 20 minute nap several times a week for a 3 weeks. You gotta love a review that requires sleep as a test! I really didn’t know what to expect the first time I tried it. I thought it would be similar to some of the relaxation CDs that I had tried in the past. But with the pzizz, every nap is a bit different… Each nap starts out with a male narrator talking for a minute or so. He runs through some relaxation exercises such as tensing all your muscles and then relaxing them. He also talks about letting your mind relax and letting your thoughts drift. His voice is low and pleasant. Then the “music” portion starts. The first few times, the music felt a slight bit creepy to me. The music isn’t like an actual song, it’s more like a combination of energy sounds, bells, drawn out tones, hums and pulses. Here and there ocean waves, and bird chirps are thrown in too.

The audio sometimes moves from ear to ear in such a way that it almost made me feel like my eyes were moving back and forth under my closed eyelids. Like I was in REM sleep, only I wasn’t really asleep. It was a strange sensation.

The part that I really didn’t like, was that the narrator would start talking again just when I felt like I was really relaxing and getting ready to drift off. This would always slightly jar me awake again. The minimum volume level wasn’t quite low enough for me, as his voice was startling. It often made me wish that there was a way to have a nap without the narrator’s voice, or a way to make his voice lower in volume than the music.

After the first nap, I thought the pzizz was kind of lame. I felt pretty much the same way after my 2nd try as well. But then with the 3rd try, I found that after the 20 minutes were over, I felt more awake than I had after any regular nap I’d taken in the past. I also noticed that my pulse rate was slower than normal afterwards. Even though I’ve only used the pzizz 8 or 9 times, I think it shows real promise for helping me de-stress and relax. That said, I want to mention that I’ve yet to actually fall asleep while using it. Probably due to the narrator’s voice ;o)

If I could change the player, I would allow for naps with no narration and the ability to add more time to a nap in progress. As is, once the nap begins, you can’t add or subtract minutes.

pzizz Software Version

The software version actually fixes all the issues that I had with the hardware version and includes some nifty extras.

Available for Windows and the Mac, the software has a simple interface for setting up your naps.

You can set the volume levels independently for the music and the voice parts. You can also turn off the voice altogether, or just have it play for the intro and wake-up sections. Unfortunately, you’re still limited to 10-60 minute naps.

With the optional Sleep plugin, you can use the software to help you sleep at night. The music for this program is more soothing than the nap music. It has actual musical parts with melodies, mixed in with the bells, tones, and pulses.

The best feature of the software is the ability to create naps and sleep programs with specific time and volume levels and save them. This software will also allow you to export these programs to files that your iPod can play. For this reason, I feel that the software version of the pzizz is a better value than buying the hardware player. Especially since you can create nap and sleep programs without the narrator’s voice. Which for me, is a big deal. It might not be an issue for other people though.

It’s still too early to tell if a 20 minute nap with the pzizz is going to make my life better, but so far I’m happy to continue napping to find out!

Prices:
pzizz hardware player $147
pzizz nap technology software with energizer module $39.95
Sleep plugin $19.95

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

pzizz Personal Life Coaching System originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 22, 2006 at 2:29 pm.

I recently purchased an "http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/vbsik.html">ionKids Child
Locator System. The system is meant to enable parents and
guardians to monitor and locate their children with ease, in the
manufacturer’s own words “to keep an ion what’s important”. I’m
extremely satisfied with my purchase and very impressed by how well
the system works.

The Start Kit includes everything you need to track one child: a
base unit, bracelet, charger, key, owner’s manual and a one year
warranty. I believe the system allows you to track up to four
children simultaneously, with an additional bracelet costing
$49.95. I was a little apprehensive about installation at first;
but, setup and execution were both easy.

Upon taking the product out of the box, I immediately set the
base unit monitor and bracelet to charge overnight. The next
morning, I decided to test the product on my son, Nathan. He was
excited to try it on and couldn’t wait for it to be secured and
activated, no lack of enthusiasm there. The bracelet is size
adjustable (thank heavens) and contains a locking mechanism, to
secure the bracelet on the wrist. Additionally, a tamper alarm
sounds if there has been some sort of tampering with the device
while the system is active i.e. the bracelet is no longer on the
child’s wrist or there is a significant distance between the
bracelet and skin sensors work to notify the base unit of
tampering. Ideally, this should work every time. I’ve noticed that
once in a while the tamper alarm fails to sound. This usually
occurs if I didn’t secure the bracelet tight enough and it managed
to slip off his wrist. The term bracelet is probably a little
misleading; the wristag could looks more like a watch. To make it
more attractive the kit comes with a bunch of different colorful
stickers to liven the face (Nathan’s favorite part).

The base unit, as opposed to the wristag, is to remain in the
parents possession. It operates on a rechargeable battery;
practical but still annoying. I end up just charging it every night
along with my phone. As a side note, the charger is pretty clever
since it lets you plug up to eight devices into one outlet (great
for those with more than one wristag). The maximum range of the
device is 350 feet and an alarms triggers, the monitor flashes red
and emits an extremely loud and disrupting beep, when your child is
out of range or has departed from his/her safety zone. The text on
the monitor instructs you to press the Find button, which resides
under the flip cover, to locate your child. The wristag also beeps
and flashes when the child goes out of range, a nice additional
feature.

It’s important to realize that this isn’t a long range "http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/gps-car-tracking-vehicle-logging.html">
GPS tracking device, which I was initially interested in when
contacting BrickhouseSecurity. However, they explained that this
would be a much better solution for my needs. With a GPS tracking
device, you don’t know if your child is lost until hours later.
This solution is more about prevention. There has been some debate
over the nature of such a device. Many think that it will take
precedence over old fashioned caring and nurturing and just make
the lives of the self absorbed parent easier. Respectfully
disagreeing with this idea, I found this gadget to be perfect for
parents who, in addition to cuddling and caring for their children,
find that it is much easier and less strenuous to let your child
play in a crowded park or accompany you on an outing, no more
whiplash! The gadget makes loving your child and letting him/her
have fun less risky. Sure there will be those parents willing to
abuse this gadget, so obviously meant for additional security, as a
substitute for old fashioned methods of attentiveness and caring.
But, that is not a necessary by-product of this product.

So, what are the drawbacks? The only real negative of the system
I’ve found is that although splash resistant, it isn’t waterproof.
Hopefully, that will be their next endeavor.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

ionKids Child Monitor and Locator System originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 8, 2006 at 11:32 am.

Are you one of those types of people that obsesses about your weight? Are you always counting calories and reading the nutritional content on the foods you eat, before you take a bite? I’ll admit that I share some of those traits. I don’t obsess about my weight, but I religiously check labels before buying food. I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic over a year ago. As a result, I’m very conscience about the carb / sugar content in my food.

I also try to keep active with exercise. These days that amounts to taking a brisk walk twice a day for around 20 minutes each time. I’ve often wondered just how much benefit I’m getting from these walks. Does walking burn a lot of calories? Some of you may remember when Judie and I reviewed the SportBrain step counter. The idea behind that product was that walking 10,000 steps a day, would keep you healthy. Today I’m going to tell you about another product. The BioTrainer weight loss system.

The BioTrainer isn’t a pedometer. It doesn’t count your steps or how far you’ve walked. Instead, it counts the calories you’ve burned and your activity level for the day. Used in conjunction with a web based application, this system claims to be able to tell you if you’ve gained or lost weight each day.

The module itself is basically a plastic clip with an LCD and 3 buttons located on the face. It is powered by a 3 Volt Lithium battery. These types of batteries are found in watches and calculators and can be purchased from stores such as Walmart and CVS.

Very little setup is required to start using the BioTrainer. Unlike most pedometers, you don’t have to measure your stride by pacing a specific distance. All that you have to do is to input the correct time and your weight. That’s it. Doesn’t seem like enough info to enable this device to accurately track burned calories does it…

Once you input your weight into the device, you just clip the module on your waistband or belt and forget about it. It will then silently accumulate data while you perform your daily activities. It does this by measuring horizontal and vertical body acceleration. When positioned to the front part of a person’s waist, this acceleration is correlated to exercise calories during walking, jogging or running activities. Additionally, the BioTrainer adjusts exercise calories accumulated in proportion to a person’s body weight.

It’s important to note that the BioTrainer will not be able to accurately calculate calories burned for activities such as weight training.

The module can record data for 9 days. On the 10th day, the first day of data will roll off. The LCD will display calories burned by default. You can also view activity units. Activity units were pretty much useless to me though, so I just monitored the calories.

The face of the module can unsnap from the clip and pivot up so you can view it while it is attached to your waist. Also, when the display is flipped up, the data on the LCD also flips so that you don’t have to read it upside down.

I was pretty surprised at how few calories I burned (according to the BioTrainer) during a typical day. The first day I used it, I took two 20 minute walks, several flights of stairs, a half hour or so of grocery shopping and typical walking around at work. After the end of the day, the device said I had only burned 207 calories. On another day, I took 1 walk, several flights of stairs and other typical activities and the device said I had only burned 11 calories for the day… Of course, these were just calories from moving. They didn’t include the calories that we expend from breathing, eating, thinking, digesting, and just living. That’s where the other half of this system comes into play…

When you buy the BioTrainer, you also receive a free 30 day trial of the BioTrainer Monitoring System and The BioTrainer Nutritional Program (after the 30 day trial, this service is $9.95/mo.). These are accessed via a web application.

Click on thumbnail to view full size screen shot

The first step to using the web application is creating a user profile that includes your current weight, target weight, height, body frame size and age.

Click on thumbnail to view full size screen shot

At the end of each day, you can login to your profile and enter the calorie totals that the module said you had burned for that day. The application then calculates your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) to show how many over all calories you’ve burned:

“The BioTrainer accurately measures caloric burn. In tandem, caloric burn is directly associated with the body’s physical activity, not metabolic burn. However, our Monitoring Program will utilize the Harris Benedict Formula to calculate a person’s BMR. *The Harris Benedict Equation is a prevalent formula that uses your BMR and then applies an activity factor to determine your total daily energy expenditure (calories).”
…from the BioTrainer website.

Once I plugged in my numbers, the total computed calories burned was more on par with what I thought it should be. I mean if I was only burning 207 calories a day, I’d be big as a barn! As is, I could stand to gain a few pounds ;o)

Click on thumbnail to view full size screen shot

The Reports page gives a good summary that includes how many calories that you’ve burned in a month, consumed per month and average weight gain/loss per month.

Click on thumbnail to view full size screen shot

You will also need to input the calories you’ve consumed for each day. The BioTrainer site makes a point of saying that the biggest difference with all of the other programs on the market is that the others are simply a calorie/carb/protein food journal which allows the user to record only their food consumption, whereas the BioTrainer Nutritional Program is a micro-nutrient based program (Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B12, etc.) and is far beyond just journaling. That might be true if their food database was much much larger. The web site has a rudimentary search engine that gives some generic food choices. The problem is that their online database doesn’t have name brand foods or restaurant foods listed. So, if you want to be as accurate as possible, it will require you to read the labels on the foods you eat or look up the nutritional info for the restaurants you visit. This is where the BioTrainer system becomes a little too fiddly for me. I’m basically a lazy person. I don’t have time or the desire to look up all that calorie info for the meals I eat. It’s too much of a hassle. And if it’s a hassle, I probably won’t do it for very long.

The BioTrainer looks really cool and it’s easy to use. But in order to realize the full benefit of this device, you must use it with the web based application. The problem with that is the monthly fee and the fact that the food database is limited to generic entries. That said, if this product can motivate a person to get up off their butt and move, it’s a good thing. I just don’t think most people will continue to use it as is. It’s just too much of a hassle to enter data manually once a day. Here’s hoping there will be an update to this product with more robust features.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

BioTrainer originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 18, 2006 at 8:39 am.

Update: Shortly after this review went live, Mack Lipkin M.D., an NYU professor and the Director of the Division of Primary Care in the Department of Medicine at NYU, was kind enough to write me. I am honored that someone with his credentials actually reads my reviews, and I am grateful that he took the time to offer his commentary. His quotes are in
red and italicized.

This is going to be a review that I hope doesn’t cross the dreaded TMI* threshold, but I hope that if it does you all will forgive me. I also figure that if it makes a difference for even a single Gadgeteer reader, then I will have done my good deed for the day.

Anyway!

Whatever you want to call them: spots, pimples, blemishes, acne or just plain old zits – facial outbreaks suck. Getting an acne breakout can be a traumatic occasion, whether the person is 16 or 46. They never come at a convenient time, they can wreak havoc on a person’s self esteem, they are ugly and they hurt.

For some reason, I never really had an acne problem when I was a teenager; but now my 39 year old face seems to be making up for lost time. Don’t get me wrong, as a teen I would get the occasional “whitehead” or “blackheads” – but I never got the kinds of zits that hurt, the kind that could leave scars if they were disturbed. Unfortunately much of my post-pregnancy adult life has been plagued by the occasional occurrence of these really painful cyst-like bumps that will sit below my skin’s surface. According to Dr. Lipkin, “all the family of zits sit below the skin’s surface – the key to these is that they are below the skin {epidermis} itself, hence they don’t come to a head.”

I am sure that it is partly hormonal, and I sure do hate it. Dr. Lipkin thinks this “might correlate with [my] menstrual cycle, which alters the quality of the oil in [my] skin. Equally likely is that [I] have acquired a resident pathogen (bacterium) that is more invasive than normal skin flora—in which case, eradicating it and replacing it with normal skin bacteria is a better approach.”

When these bumps start forming, there is an ache before the “bump from hell appears. I had originally called the bump a “pimple”, but Dr. Lipkin says this is “not a pimple since it is not in the skin or an associated gland that crosses the skin“.
After a day or so, I’ll get this red welt that doesn’t ever become a whitehead or anything so simple. Instead, the bump will become an ugly red mini-mountain that may stay in place for over a week, and no matter how hard I try to resist – it’s useless. I will eventually end up in the bathroom…looking in the mirror and doing what every dermatologist and aesthetician will tell you to never do. Dr. Lipkin states that “this is when action is most helpful since it is possible to use various methods to
abort the infection and avoid the dry squeeze phase which as you say can lead to damage, or worse as it likely will seed the bloodstream and could thereby infect damaged heart valves in susceptible people.“

Well, it’s like this evil genie is sitting on my shoulder telling me that if I can just squeeze the spot hard enough – my wish will come true and the bump will go away!

But it never works that way.

Instead the result is a scabby mess that sits on my face for a week or more, and then a dark mark will appear where I damaged the skin by squeezing. Those marks can last for over a month – mocking me for my impatience every time I look in the mirror. Since I seem to get one of these bumps every other month, I may have a dark spot on my face that is finally going away right about the time a new eruption is ready to occur.

Having this type of acne when you are a teen-ager can be damaging for your psyche and self-image. Having this type of acne when you are a grown woman can be just as bad, but in a different way. I don’t know how many times I have thought “I am too old for this sh*t!” But evidently, I am not.

Years ago I saw a dermatologist for the problem. Since these bumps only appear sporadically and there are usually no more than one or two at a time, I was never a candidate for any kind of serious drug therapy. Dr. Lipkin says “targeted brief therapy might be needed—topicals won’t reach most of these.”  Instead, I was prescribed a topical antibiotic ointment that was applied from the bottle by pressing a built in pad over the affected area – and sometimes it did seem to help. But after reading multiple articles about how overuse of antibiotics is building up all sorts of modern viruses’ resistance, I stopped using the ointment and have since suffered through the vicious cycle in silence. It looks like I might have been a bit hasty, however, as Dr. Lipkin explains, “a. this is bacterial not viral—there are not effective anti-virals x against herpes b. such brief therapy done right will not contribute as much to bacterial resistance development as being a mobile reservoir spreading your virulent bugs throughout Texas.”

Well, I should say I have suffered in relative silence. Julie has also been going through the same vicious acne cycle in her adult years, so suffering painful breakouts has become yet another thing that we have in common and we tend to compare notes…

“I have a third eye on my forehead,” I’ll say.

“Well, I have a mountain on my chin,” she’ll reply.

And then we’ll both sigh in disgust at the unfairness of it all.

Have we passed the TMI threshold yet? Bear with me just a little bit longer…

When I first heard about the Zeno Acne Treatment, a heat based zit zapper, I told Julie I wanted to try one. She laughed when I told her I was willing to write a review about using it, because like me she thinks that getting acne past a certain age is rather embarrassing. She asked if I was going to put pictures of myself with a zit in the review, and I replied, “uh, no! I’m a little to vain for that!”

But I was willing to write about a subject that some might find distasteful or “too personal” for two reasons. If it works, then we would both know for sure. If it didn’t work, then I could tell people not to waste their money.

Zeno agreed to send a review unit, but it had to be returned after a month. I said “thanks but no thanks.”

Returning something that was going to actually be used for personal grooming sounded nasty to me. I wasn’t necessarily declining out of some altruistic caring for the reviewer that might come after me…it was the thought that I might be using someone else’s review unit after they had used it for a month. Since the Zeno comes with a month long return period anyway, I knew that if and when I was ready to lay down the clams, I could basically try out a brand new unit for free.

So two months ago I got another deep and painful zit on my chin, and that’s when I finally broke down and ordered the Zeno. They are available all over the net and are the same price from every authorized source; I ordered mine from the DermaDoctor site because they also sell this 65 SPF total sun block that I like to use and was running low on. Dr. Lipkin says that “the scientific data suggest that any SPF over 30 does not confer added protection only cost and gloppiness.” So next time I can save my $23!

My Zeno arrived too late to help with what is now my latest dark mark, but it was here when I got yet another painful zit on my forehead, near my hairline. Dr. Lipkin said that, “this favors the virulent bug idea as the hair is the major reservoir for cystogenic bacteria.”

This is when I should mention that according to page three of the user guide included with the device, the Zeno does not do a thing for blackheads, whiteheads or other “near the surface” blemishes. Dr. Lipkin adds, “I imagine it would work for some bugs in skin infections.” It isn’t recommended for severely inflamed red pustules with “several deep nodular lesions (solid mass of skin like a knot, can be raised or felt under the skin.)” Nor is it recommended for people that have “many nodular cystic lesions with scarring.” Zeno is recommended for people like me, that occasionally get an inflamed red bump or the occasional pustule (“visible accumulation of pus in skin”). If you aren’t sure if the Zeno will work for you, you should ask your doctor or dermatologist. Evidently quite a few dermatologists even sell them from their offices, which I guess counts as an endorsement of sorts. Dr. Lipkin agrees, saying this is “definitely an endorsement, definitely not evidence of value!”

Assuming that you are a candidate…

Included in the Zeno’s box is the zapper itself, a wall charging cable, a user guide and a quick start guide. The Zeno is composed mainly of clear plastic covering silver plastic. There are areas of trim that feel like they are made of a lighter metal – possibly
aluminum. The unit measures approximately 4.5″ long x 1.5″ wide x 0.5″ thick and it weighs 3.1 ounces. The device is compact, solidly built, and it will fit in any dopp kit or makeup bag.

The front of the Zeno has five indicator lights; the smaller four indicate life left in the replaceable treatment tip and the larger single button indicates battery life. The removable and replaceable treatment tip lasts for a total of 90 two-and-a-half minute treatments. Since each pimple may take two to three treatments, the life of the tip will vary according to how many pimples the user gets in a given time period. I also ordered a replacement tip (for $35) when I placed my original order, because I like to be prepared. ;0)

Before the first use, the Zeno must be charged for at least 6 hours. While charging, the battery life indicator light will blink blue, and once fully charged it will glow solid blue. The Zeno’s nickel metal hydride battery should be kept fully charged in between uses. Low batteries are indicated when the battery life indicator flashes blue after the unit is powered on. If there is
not enough juice to compete a treatment, the Zeno will shut down before the treatment has begun.

Under the Zeno’s cover is the removable treatment tip, as well as the power button and the treatment activation button. Pressing the Power button (on the left) causes the lights to come on, a three toned alert to sound, and the treatment activation button to glow orange. After about a minute the device will have warmed up and the treatment activation button will blink green as a two toned alert sounds. Pressing the treatment activation again will make the button glow solid green; now the Zeno is ready for use.

The smooth plastic tip of the Zeno, which should be cleaned with either warm soapy water or alcohol (but never submerged in water) between uses, will be slightly warm to the touch and it should be directly placed on the inflamed spot – placed, not mashed! There is no need to grind the tip into your skin, it won’t make the device work any better or faster, in fact it will probably hinder the healing and cause a light burn.

The Zeno is held against the red bump for a total of two-and-a-half minutes, and when the treatment cycle is complete, tones will sound and the treatment activation button will again glow orange. Up to three treatments may be done in a single session on different pimples, but you should never double up treatments on a single blemish. Why? Because it is a waste of money (tips are $35, remember?) and it may result in burns or other injury. The most treatments any single pimple should get are three spread over a 24 hour period. There is no need to overdo it, the treatment will either work…or it won’t.

How does the Zeno work? According to their website, “With Tyrell’s ClearPoint™ acne heat treatment technology, P. acnes is destroyed by a process called heat shock response. Heat shock response is a reaction bacteria have to heat whereby they transcript a number of their genes and activate heat-shock proteins. These heat-shock proteins participate in the bacteria’s death by causing the bacteria to self-destruct.” Dr. Lipkin adds, “and/or become more vulnerable to host, immune attack.”

The website continues, “P. acnes self-destructs in the acne lesion preventing infection and allowing the skin to return to a healthy state. Fortunately, the level of heat required is not sufficient to cause damage to the skin.”

You can watch a demo on how the Zeno works here.

My experience with the Zeno has been pretty good so far. As I mentioned, I had a angry red bump manifest after receiving the Zeno. The minute I realized I was getting a painful zit, I did the first treatment. I could feel heat from the applicator tip, but it did not feel like it was overly hot or like I was being burned. Instead it was a concentrated warmth more than anything. Dr. Lipkin asks, “Why not accomplish the same thing with a warm washcloth?” Which is actually something that I have experimented with in the past – hoping that the heat would cause the bump to either go away or come to a head so that I could obsess even more over whether or not to disturb it. In my experience, even the hottest washcloth placed on a bump never really did anything noticeable – other than make my face wet. The heat felt from the Zeno seems much more focused and intense.

Immediately after removing the Zeno I noticed that the bump felt a bit numb, and it didn’t really hurt any more. Dr. Lipkin explains this by saying, “this is because the smallest nerve fibers that carry pain sensation, γ fibers, are easily anesthetized with heat, which leads to a simple treatment for local pain and/or itch—heat the water in your sink until you can put in a finger but have to take it out immediately, soak a washcloth, and place over the lesion as long as you can tolerate it—usually no time. Presto, pain goes.”

That sensation lasted for a couple of hours, and I purposely waited about eight hours before doing a second treatment. At this time the bump was noticeably smaller, although it was still red. Dr. Lipkin says, “it may be that the mechanism also simply includes increased blood flow to the lesion, with heightened immune attack.”

Not long after the second treatment, I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, the bump was now just a red spot. The next day it was gone – with no indication that it had ever been there. GONE!!!!!!!!

Sarah, my 16 year old daughter, also occasionally gets the same type of painful red bumps; she has been able to successfully treat two of them since I got the Zeno. You know how teens are, she just takes it for granted that it works – zits here today, gone in a couple days. I asked her if she felt like the Zeno had really helped and she replied “I don’t know.” <insert eye roll here>

Before anyone gets the idea that the Zeno might replace the regular care and cleansing of their face, let me put that daydream to rest right now. You’ll still have to maintain your regular facial cleaning routine – whatever it may be. Zeno does not prevent whiteheads or blackheads, and it will not treat them when you get them. Dr. Lipkin says this is so because “they are oily plugs not infectious bodies.” Zeno is solely for those deep, painful red acne bumps that rarely if ever come to a “head”.

It is for the type of zit that when you have broken all the rules and squeezed, nothing comes out but a bit of clear pus.

I hope you didn’t just eat lunch. ;0)

Look, I realize that I have only been able to test it on one zit, but the Zeno’s fast result on what would have undoubtedly become a month’s long blemish sold me. The bump is gone and there is no discoloration left in its place. I had no ugly scab, and there is no sign that a zit was ever there. However, I still have the blemish on my chin from the pimple I tortured before receiving the Zeno! I have joked with Steve that ever since I got the Zeno I must have psyched out my skin because it is actually behaving itself – for now! When it tries to act up again, and I know that it will, I’ll be ready.

Read the Zeno FAQ here.

Once again, I would like to thank Dr. Mack Lipkin for his comments. I truly appreciate that he took the time to add his expert opinion to my ramblings. :0)

*TMI = Too Much Information!!

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Health, Personal Care

Zeno Acne Treatment originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 12, 2006 at 7:10 pm.

I’m lucky in the fact that I don’t have a problem with back pain (I’m knocking on wood as I say that…). However, I happen to know four people close to me that do: my Dad, my roommate Jeanne, her brother, and Judie’s husband Steve. For them, anything that might help alleviate their pain, would be very welcome. That’s why I had to check out the HoMedics QUAD-Roller Massaging Cushion (QRM-400) when I saw it at a local Bed, Bath and Beyond store. The price wasn’t cheap at $149.99, but I figured that if it didn’t work, I’d just return it. So far it looks like a return will not be necessary.

The cushion comes in a large box along with a largish AC power brick and an instruction booklet. There really isn’t any setup necessary before using the cushion, there is just a small screw that has to be removed (an Allen wrench is included for that purpose) first and then a connection to power.

The cushion itself is somewhat bulky / heavy. If it had legs, it would be a chair all by itself. You’ll need to sit it in a chair in order to use it. The cushion is about 16-17 inches wide and the back is 26 inches tall. Straps on the back of the cushion allow you to strap it to the back of an existing chair if desired.

Here you see the cushion sitting on a glider rocker chair. I also tried it on a couch, recliner and computer chair, with no problems.

The main part of QUAD-Roller is covered in black pleather (vinyl that looks like leather) and the white area is made of a see-thru mesh fabric. A large rectangular strip of the pleather material is included to drape over the mesh area. It is held in place via a Velcro strip on the back of the cushion.

As soon as you plug the AC adapter into the wall, you will notice that the 4 rollers light up beneath the mesh material. It’s an interesting effect, but I’m not quite sure what the benefit is since the pleather fabric will cover it.

A hand held remote control is attached to the cushion via a cable. This remote gives you access to 6 different massage programs and other features. You have a choice of a Rolling massage or a Shiatsu massage. For those of you that might not know, Shiatsu massage originated in Japan and comes from shi, meaning finger, and atsu, meaning pressure. If you watch the video below, you’ll get an idea of the difference between the Rolling and Shiatsu massage types.

One odd thing I found with this remote, is the fact that you have to press the Power button before any of the other button presses have any effect. The cushion is already powered on, because as soon as you plug it in, the rollers light up… Oh well…

The first thing you will want to do is to press the Width button. This will allow you to move the rollers in or out according to what is most comfortable to you. After you have done that, press one of the 6 different programs and enjoy!

See it in action…

"/assets/homedics-quadroller7.jpg"/>
Click on image to play the QuickTime video (3:06sec,
6.6mb). The video is encoded in the H.264 codec. You will need the latest version of Quicktime to view it. VLC is another free viewer..

As I had mentioned at the beginning of this review, I’m lucky enough that I don’t have back problems. I should also mention that I don’t enjoy back rubs. My muscles are pretty sensitive, and it actually hurts when someone rubs my back. Even so, I had to test the cushion, just to see what it felt like… I found the Rolling massage to be pretty gentle. It didn’t bother me much at all. The Shiatsu massage on the other hand, had me jumping every so often when it would hit a tender spot. I guess I’m just a weeny! That said, Jeanne really likes this thing. She’s the type of person that gets ‘real’ massages about once a month. How does she think the $150 QUAD-Roller compares to a $50/hr massage by a human? She says there is no comparison. A professional massage wins hands down in her opinion. She said a regular massage works the muscles differently then just digging like the QUAD-Roller. But, for her this massaging cushion has been beneficial at helping to alleviate daily tension and is great for hitting pressure points and sore spots. The main thing she didn’t like about the QUAD-Roller was the fact that it couldn’t easily massage her shoulders and neck (She’s 5ft. 5in. tall). To help with that, she’d slump down so the rollers would press those areas. Not the best solution, but better than nothing. The cushion gets another thumbs up from Jeanne’s brother. Now to get one for my Dad and have Judie get one for Steve to try out. )

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

HoMedics QUAD-Roller Massaging Cushion originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 20, 2006 at 1:57 pm.

Just as portable digital music players did away with the need to tote a CD
player and a stack of disks, portable digital video players aim to do the
same with bulky portable DVD players and their accompanying media. Various
generations of these portable digital video players have been trickling into the
market over the last couple of years, but they have recently begun to receive a
lot more attention.

Of course, savvy gadgeteers have been ripping and converting their DVDs and
CDs in order to transfer movies and music to their PDAs for some time. However,
I’m not sure that the average consumer was ever really aware that it was
possible to load video content onto certain devices, much less that they might
even want to. With the introduction of the new
iPod with Video and the
opening of the Apple Video store,
those that weren’t will soon be. With that said, there are consumers that will
upgrade to an iPod with Video because they are loyal to and happy with that
particular line. These consumers already own formatted content and accessories,
and they’ll buy the newer model because it is an upgrade to a device that are
already familiar with – and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, there are other consumers that haven’t already made a decision on
which digital video player would be right for them, and they will have to use to
use different criteria. I believe that some of the key features these consumers
will be comparing between players will be the devices’ size, screen size,
battery life, ease of use, ease of file transfer and the inclusion of other
value-added functions.

Today, I am going to take a look a member of the newest generation of
portable digital video players, the Datexx
Pavio Portable Digital Theater.

Pavio is pronounced pă-vee-oh

To the best of my knowledge, Datexx has never released any other digital
music or video players before, but they have now decided to jump into the market
with both feet – literally! That’s not to say that I haven’t heard of the
company though, as I had favorably reviewed their
Sentina LED Smart Light
earlier this year.

Datexx’s marketing focus for the Pavio seems to be business consumers;
however this is not a device which can be easily pigeon-holed. The Pavio has a
30GB internal hard drive as well as SD and CF (Type I & II) slots. Because of
these slots, the Pavio can be used in many different scenarios that go above and
beyond simple media playback. Perhaps most interestingly, the Pavio also
functions as a portable color TV and it can record incoming signals
directly from cable, from another TV or from a DVD or VCR.

When I was approached by Datexx about reviewing the Pavio, the thing that
most intrigued me was that this player was also a portable color TV. Think about that for a
minute…a miniature color television that can display or record programs
directly through its own radio frequency (RF) cable hook-up. But to take it one
step further, when connected to a DVD player the Pavio can record movies
directly through either AV cable or S-Video cable…!

All necessary connecting cables are hooked directly to the charging dock, so
that the Pavio can be inserted or removed as needed – charged, loaded and ready
to use on the go. With or without its cradle, the Pavio can also be connected to any computer
with a USB port and used as a portable hard-drive. MP3 files may be transferred,
as well as other stored video or data files. But I am getting ahead of myself, let’s take a look inside the
packaging…

Included in the Pavio’s box are everything necessary to get even the most
AV-challenged user up and running quickly: the device itself, the TV tuner/dock station, a
3.7V rechargeable Li-Ion
battery, a 5.0V/2.0A AC adaptor, a remote control,  a cable splitter, two 6
foot RF
cables, an AV cable, a USB cable, a soft carrying case, stereo earphones, a
quick reference book, a quick setup sheet, a CD containing additional software
and USB driver and the warranty card.

My review unit did not include the soft carrying case, but it did include
everything else seen here

The majority of the Pavio’s body is composed of black or silver plastic, but its
faceplate feels like it is made of the same magnesium casing Sony CLIEs used to use.
Measuring 5.5" wide x 3.13" tall x 1" thick, and weighing 12.1 ounces, the Pavio
is only slightly longer and fatter than the
Neuros 442 and my
iPAQ 4700 when its extended battery
is installed.

 
From left to right: Datexx Pavio, Neuros 442, iPAQ 4700

From top to bottom: iPAQ 4700, Neuros 442, Datexx Pavio

From top to bottom: iPAQ 4700, Neuros 442, Datexx Pavio

Here is a picture of the Pavio functioning as a TV. Steve’s hand is next to
it to show that the device really isn’t all that big.

It employs a TFT (480 x 234 pixels) color display which is listed as 3.5" but
when measured diagonally with a micrometer is actually 3.4". The player feels
quite solid, with absolutely no give or flex when the case is squeezed.

Obviously video is displayed upon the screen, but audio may be heard either
through a stereo headset or through the dual external speakers on the front side
of the device. These speakers allow the Pavio to be used as a self-contained
portable player when propped on a table top, when in its cradle or when held.
The external speakers are not extremely strong, their max output is (L) 230mW +
( R) 230mW 80, but they are more than sufficient even in somewhat busy
surroundings ripe with background noise. The Pavio is meant to be operated in 32 ~104° F and in 85% or less
humidity, which means it should be all right just about anywhere – within
reason. A complete list of the device’s specifications
may be found here.

We’ll talk about all of its features shortly, but let’s first take a look at
the device itself…

On the front of the player, starting at the top left and going down is the
left speaker, the Home button, the Cancel button, and the four-way navigation button
with an OK button at its center. On the other side is the right speaker, the
Stop button, The Play / Pause button, and the Volume knob.

The back side of the Pavio does not have any buttons or outlets, but there is
a handy swinging plastic leg…

Notice the little rubber pads which help keep the device from
slipping while standing

…which can be opened to allow the device to stand securely on a tabletop.
When not in use the leg snaps back into its well.

The bottom of the device has the syncing and charging ports. Notice the
little sliding door on the sync port? It can be raised or lowered to open or
protect the port as needed.

On the right side of the bottom is the battery door which opens to allow the
insertion of the 3.7V rechargeable Li-Ion battery. Additional batteries can be
purchased for $40 each from the Pavio Site.

The top side of the player front houses the LED status light which blinks
orange when the PC link is in use and the disk is being accessed, red when the
battery is charging, solid red when it is charged and green when it is in use.
Next is the sliding Power
button which can be slid one way to Lock or the other way to turn the device on
or off. Beside that is the external microphone for voice recording – yes, the
Pavio does that too.

The trigger on the far right opens the door which hides the SD and CF slots.
The SD slot is spring loaded, whereas the CF slot has a handy push lever –
similar to the type employed for ejecting PCMCIA cards on a laptop. This is a
great feature because it removes the chance of the card getting stuck.

On the left side are the headphone jack, the mini USB port and the power
jack.

When not in the cradle, the Pavio can be charged via USB port or with its
5.0V power cord adapter.

There is nothing on the right side, but here is a look at it anyway.

The included dock is a marvel! Measuring approximately 6.5" long x 3" wide x
3" tall, this cradle is what helps make the Datexx one of the most convenient
devices of this type that I have used. Not only does it keep the player upright,
the entire plastic cradle portion of the dock can be swiveled forward or back –
enough to find a comfortable viewing angle. Just as no PDA really feels complete
without an included dock; it is the same when talking about a device such as
this. However this dock isn’t just for convenience…

The front of the dock has a wide strip behind which an LED will glow either
blue – meaning simply that it is plugged in and powered, or purple – meaning the Pavio
is docked, charging and turned on. The red Record button on the front of the
dock does not glow, just in case you were wondering. Here is a shot of the dock in
use…

The rear of the dock contains (from left to right) the 5V power port, an
S-Video cable port, AV Video Out and In ports and a RF cable plug. Because all
of the audio and visual cables plug directly into the dock, the Pavio is easily
docked and later released.

Here is a close-up of all of the ports located on the dock…

When the Pavio is in the dock, TV mode may be accessed from the main menu and
the remote control can be used. The remote is
very handy for TV operations, as well as doing some of the trickier menu maneuvers, such as setting up slide
shows or zooming in on stored .jpg files.

When the Pavio is run for the first time, the date and time should be set, as
well as the user’s other preferences.

Never mind all of its other features, this is easily the smallest
remote-controlled color TV I have ever used! The Pavio can be set to accept
either NTSC or PAL. On NTSC, it can receive and record from VHF, UHF and CATV
(Cable). The first time CATV is used an "Autoscan" must be run – just as would be done with
any other cable receiving television. Once run, all of the available channels
will be set and will work from then on.

When the volume is adjusted, a status bar will appear on screen…

Here you can see a DVD playing on the 9" DVD / TV in our kitchen. Right next to it is the
Pavio, also playing the same DVD through its "AV In" cable

How did I accomplish this? Steve hooked up the included splitter and an RF
cable directly to the rear of the dock. He also connected the included AV cables
to the rear of the TV and the rear of the dock. I could have done it myself, it
was so simple – but since he is the one that always handles A/V jobs in our
house, I asked him to do it.

While Steve was hooking up everything he pointed out that the included RF cables are not the best
quality, so I am including a picture of them next to a set that we already had to show
the difference. If you plan on connecting and reconnecting the cables more than
once, or if quality of the recording is a big issue, it might be worth it to
invest in a higher quality cable. I am just being picky though, as I think it is
awesome that the necessary cables were even included in the first place.

Our cable on the bottom, the included cable on the top.

From the Pavio’s main menu, I select TV mode, Video Input, and then AV in…

…and voilà, the Pavio is now set to record the currently playing DVD.

If "TV In" had been chosen instead, then I would have received a television
signal directly allowing the Pavio to function as a free standing TV. As you
can see by the "VGA Fine" designation in the upper left hand corner of the screen, I am
recording this Larry King broadcast…all it took was pushing the Record button
on the remote or the front of the dock.

Wouldn’t it be too cool if the Pavio could
set to record future shows?

Well it can – either a single time or repeated showings.

According to the Pavio’s Video specifications…
Available Recording time: QVGA: 65hrs, VGA:
33hrs, VGA-fine: 16hrs
Recording Format: MPEG4 EIMA ADPCM(AVI)
Recording Bit Rate: QVGA: 1Mbps, VGA: 2Mbps, VGA
fine: 4Mbps
Video Playback Format: MPEG4 EIMA ADPCM/VGA/
30fps, MPEG4
EMP3(AVI)/VGA/30fps

Here is an assortment of screen shots. The Pavio’s picture quality is
actually pretty good, but since these were taken close to the screen and with
the macro setting they seem a bit more pixilated than they appear in real life.

In a perfect world, the Pavio would have a VGA screen similar to my iPAQ
4700′s, but I know that a screen that large pushing a hard drive that big would
be one huge battery drain. Speaking of the battery, I began watching video on the Pavio at 11:00 am, and by 2:35 was getting an
occasional series of three high pitched beeps. Since I was busy working, I
didn’t even catch that it was the Pavio’s way of telling me that the battery was
about to die – until I heard the last series and glanced over to find a black
screen at 2:40. So I got exactly 3 hours and 40 minutes of use, or almost two
full movies. According to the Pavio’s specifications, only three hours of movie
playback should be expected, so the player did exceed that rating.
However, I would like to see at least four hours playback since the average
movie is two.

Watching stored movies is a matter of going to the main menu and selecting
"My Movie". A file system will show what movies are available either on the hard
drive or any other available disk, and using the four way selector a choice may
be made.

Movies recorded through the Pavio may be renamed from their generic file
title to the correct moniker when the Pavio is connected to the desktop PC. I
recorded Kung Fu Hustle through the Pavio, and here you can see that because it
is such a large file, the Pavio cut it into two parts – which I have since
appropriately renamed.

Now let’s talk about the digital music aspect of this player which is
accomplished by selecting "My Music" from the main menu, and making selections
through the various shown MP3 files. Here is how the playing screen appears when
in use.

The Pavio offers shuffle, repeat and the control of bass and treble – but no
built-in equalizer presets. The menu that controls these options is accessed by
hitting the OK button as an MP3 is playing.

If the user wants to listen to more than one album – whether it be in order
or shuffled – then their music should not be stored in folders, but should be
instead stored in one large playlist file. The Pavio does not have the ability
to make playlists on the fly. The music player is very basic, but it sounds quite
good. I found the volume through the headset to be plenty loud enough when it
was showing just 1/3 of the available amount. My ears were crying "enough!"
at 1/2 on the volume bar. Of course the included earbuds are not the best, but they will be
sufficient for those that don’t want to listen through the external speakers and
that haven’t yet invested in a better headset.

Because the screen automatically shuts off a couple seconds after music files
begin playing,
versus its constant glow while playing movies, battery life is reported as being
six hours. In another battery test, I began playing music files at 9:40 am, the
low battery notice began beeping at 3:20 and the
Pavio died at 3:24, so my total was 5 hours and 36 minutes, which when compared to the
expected six hours, was just slightly less.

The Pavio can also function as a "photo dump" for digital cameras that use SD
or CF (Type I or II) cards. Digital camera photos of up to 6.3 mega pixels (3072 X 2048)
in size may be displayed on the screen, but it is able to store even larger ones
when used strictly as a storage device. Files may be moved amongst the main hard drive, the SD card and the CF card by
utilizing the "File Manager" option on the main menu, and following the
intuitive menu choices…

Selecting the SD card shows the two files I’ve stored there. Even though they
are music files, the same principle applies. Selecting the
one that needs copying accesses the side menu, which can be scrolled to the
desired choice – "Copy"…

…the new location is selected, and the copying begins.

After completion I can exit out, but first I decide to delete the spare file.

The same basic process works for moving any type files around the various
drives on the Pavio.

Photo courtesy of the Datexx site

Perhaps one of the most impressive features of the Pavio, and one of the
reason’s why Datexx is aiming it so strongly at the business crowd is that
business presentations may be played on a laptop and recorded directly into the
Pavio with sound and video. PowerPoint presentations may be saved as .jpg files
and then transferred to the device, allowing the user to hold an entire business
presentation in the palm of their hand – perfect for light traveling or one on
one presentations. Because the Pavio allows timed slide shows from stored .jpg
files, there are many ways in which business users can benefit from being able
to have such a portable method for sharing their presentation.

I like the slide show feature because I can load several gigabytes of
vacation photos and set them to cycle every five seconds on my desktop. Each
picture segues into the next, just as they would in a professional
presentation…

…which means that the Pavio can also be used as a digital picture frame
- similar to the

Ceiva that Julie and I reviewed years ago, yet way more useful, much easier
to use and with no monthly subscription. Wow!

Transferring large files is fairly rapid, it took me 33.5 seconds to transfer an 86MB MP3
music file and 3 minutes 12 seconds to transfer a 512MB DIVX movie via the USB
2.0 cable.

Software:

When the Pavio is linked to a desktop computer via USB, the 30GB hard drive
will show up as a hard drive disk – "M" in this picture, and the SD and CF
drives will show up as removable storage – "H" and "L".

Once the main hard drive is opened, the following is displayed…

Files may be directly copied or manipulated while accessed in this manner,
and additional folders may be created if the owner desires to use the Pavio as a
portable hard drive for non-media files.

The Pavio ships with two supporting programs,
MusicMatch Jukebox Basic and a
registered copy of
Dr.DivX. Since most people have had
experience with Music Match, I’ll jump right to Dr.DivX, which is handy
software for converting various types of video files to DivX, the video format the Pavio
accepts.

This program is fairly easy to use and comes in handy for those like me that
have the majority of their video files in WMP format and need an easy way to
convert them to DivX. Conversion time varies, according to the size of the
original file. For instance the 355MB WMP Batman Begins movie file took one hour
25 minutes to convert to a 666MB DivX file; transferring it to the Pavio took
only a couple minutes more.

I don’t even know where to start as I try to wrap up this review.

The Datexx
Pavio is a hard to define item that has many uses and does them all in a more
than satisfactory manner; this is no jack of all trades and a master of none. It
is more like the Swiss Army Knife of digital video players. Yes, there are a
couple of weak areas, namely that the digital music player doesn’t have more features
and
the battery life isn’t significantly longer. But otherwise I am quite
satisfied with the device’s performance. I haven’t even heard of another
product that offers the exact features of the Pavio! In my opinion, it is
almost unfair to try to compare it with other portable digital video
players, because it offers so much more than just replay of recorded
matter. I would have to then say that for many gadget hounds, this may be the
ultimate wish-list topper.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear

Tagged: A/V, Audio, Device, MP3, Personal Care, Video

Datexx Pavio Portable Digital Theater originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 29, 2005 at 6:45 am.

It’s the sound that most of us dread to hear. That bleep bleeep bleeeeeep that jars us out of our peaceful dreaming slumber into the stark reality that is school, our job, etc. It’s a resolute individual who can bound out of bed to face the new day without cursing the alarm and pressing the snooze button. I used to be a person that was able to do that. The alarm would go off at 5:30am, and I would immediately throw back the covers, get out of bed and head to the shower. That was at least 10yrs. ago, before I started The Gadgeteer, back when late nights were not the norm… These days, the alarm goes off at 5:00am and I’m lucky if I can drag my groggy body out of the bed by 6:15am so that I can get to work by 7:00am. Monday through Friday, day in, day out. It’s torture. I live for the Saturday and Sunday mornings when I can sleep until I’m ready to get up, not when the alarm is ready for me to get up.

When the folks at Innovative Sleep Solutions LLC. asked if I was interested in reviewing their Sleeptracker watch, I was intrigued. I’m up for anything that helps ease the pain of getting up in the morning, so I agreed.

So what does the Sleeptracker do for you that a regular watch with an alarm can’t do? This watch monitors your sleep cycle and can detect when you’re almost awake and then wake you at the most opportune time. Doing so will allow you to wake up when you’re already almost awake, so that you won’t feel groggy.

The following is an exerpt about sleep cycles from the FAQ on the Sleeptracker website:

When you sleep,your body goes through a series of sleep cycles. The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages, as illustrated by this chart.

No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles,including diet,exercise,medications,drugs or alcohol,stress,sleep disorders,and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too:women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age,we sleep more restlessly.

A typical sleep cycle has five stages and takes 90-110 minutes. During Stage 1 of your sleep cycle, you sleep lightly. At Stage 2, your sleep gets progressively deeper. At Stages 3 and 4, also known as “Delta sleep,” you sleep most heavily; this is when your body rebuilds itself.

Stage 5 of sleep, also known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, is marked by extensive physiological changes, such as accelerated respiration, increased brain activity, rapid eye movement, and muscle relaxation. People dream during REM sleep.

In the first third of the night, Delta sleep stages last longer than REM stages. As the night progresses, Delta sleep diminishes in length. By the last third of the night, Delta sleep usually ceases, while REM stages lengthen.

Using a built in accelerometer, the watch knows when you’re in an almost awake state by monitoring for brief periods of movement lasting typically 30 seconds or less. It is smart enough to know when you’re sleeping as opposed to getting up to get a drink of water or use the bathroom.

Looking at the watch, it doesn’t seem much different than an inexpensive watch that you might purchase at Walmart. It is a large-ish black plastic digital watch with 4 buttons and a flexible rubber strap.

On the right side of the watch face is the large oval mode button. Pressing this button will cycle through the different watch modes: Time, Alarm, Window, To Bed and Sleep Data. On the face of the watch is the Set button. Pressing and holding this button for a few seconds will allow you to change settings in the current mode. The two buttons on the left side of the watch allow you to move up and down through settings and the recorded sleep data. The top button on the left also doubles as the backlight button.

Changing the settings for the different modes is easy and didn’t require any explanation or user guide reading for myself. You set the alarm time as the time that you must get up by. Then the Window time can be set to 0, 10, 20 or 30 minutes. Setting it to 0 just means that the alarm will go off exactly at the set alarm time; totally defeating the purpose of the watch. Setting the Window time to 10, 20 or 30 means that the alarm may go off up to 10, 20 or 30 minutes BEFORE the set alarm time. The time the alarm fires is dependant on when the Sleeptracker thinks that you’re at an almost awake time.

The To Bed time is set to 30 minutes after you think you’ll be asleep. This is the time where the watch will start monitoring for almost awake times while you are alseep.

The Sleeptracker will keep track of all the almost awake times during the night and record them as data1, 2, 3, etc. It will then calculate your average time between almost awake times and store that as data A. This data is only stored for the previous night’s sleep cycle. The next night is overwritten. A nice feature would be the ability to offload this data via a mini USB cable or Infrared to your computer or PDA for future analysis. As is, you’ll need to write it down if you want to save it.

I’ve been using the Sleeptracker every night for the past 15 nights. Wearing a watch to bed felt a little uncomfortable in the beginning, and only just in the past couple of nights have I gotten used it that fact. It’s actually been kind of nice to have the watch on my wrist as I can easily find out the time during the night by pressing the backlight button. I wear glasses and can’t even see the clock next to my bed during the night…

During this review period, I have to say that the watch hasn’t really helped me to wake up easier at all. Out of the 15 days, there have only been 2-3 days when the alarm didn’t go off at the exact alarm time that I had set. And on the days where it went off at time inside the Window, I didn’t feel any more awake than on any other morning. I would actually fall right back asleep after the alarm fired and then end up crawling out of bed at my regular 6am time just as tired as ever.

As an example, here is the data from the last 2 nights:

I’m not going to say that this watch doesn’t work, I’m going to say that I don’t think it works for me. Everyone is different, and everyone’s sleeping patterns are different. This could also be the fact that I’m somewhat sleep deprived. I tend to stay up until 11-11:30pm most week nights and then the alarm goes off 5am the next morning. No 8hrs of sleep for me…

There are a couple of things that might make this watch better. One would be the ability to totally customize the Wake Up Window time. For me 30mins might not be a long enough period. Then there’s the alarm itself; it’s not nearly loud enough in my opinion, and only beeps for 30 seconds. The best solution would be a vibrating alarm, or maybe even an alarm that increases in volume.

Because I’m not willing to totally dismiss this product (I’ve read that others are finding it useful…), I’m going to hold off on my final verdict and give the Sleeptracker another full week and then report back on my experiences. After that, I’m going to send it to a friend of mine who has probably the worst sleeping patterns of anyone I know, and let him give it a try for a month and see what his findings are.

In the mean time, I’d like to hear from other people out there that have had good or bad experiences with this product. Go to the forum linked in this review and let us know what you think.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care, Watch

Sleeptracker Watch originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 31, 2005 at 11:09 am.

Product Requirements:
USB port on computer or laptop

The day that the first computer appeared with a USB port must have been the
time that many an inventor started thinking, "Hmmm – what would I like
to power with my desktop?" Some of the applications made sense – in fact they have
become almost the standard: USB powered keyboards, mice, PDAs sync/charge cables and the
like. But there have also been a lot of novelty products such as the
USB Christmas Tree Light, the
USB Cup Warmer,
the USB Glowing Aquarium.
Today, I am going to look at a product that may or may not fall into the novelty
category -  the
Cyclops
AP280 USB Mini Ionizer / Air
Purifier.

photo courtesy of
Brando

Before I begin talking about this product, let’s take a look at Ionization
and what the process actually entails…

This is the definition of ionization:
I`on`i`za¥tion
n. 1. (Elec. Chem.)

the

process

of

converting

neutral

atoms

or

molecules

into

ions.

The

process

may

occur

by

dissolving

an

ionic

substance

in

a

dissociating

solvent,

such

as

water,

or

by

adding

or

subtracting

an

electron

to

or

from

an

atom

or

molecule.

The

latter

process

occurs,

for

example,

in

an

electron

beam

in

a

mass

spectrometer

and

by

interaction

of

substances

with

ionizing radiation. (online
source)

What does ionization have to do with getting rid of odors and purifying air?

According to the Holmes Website,
"An ionizer is a collection of vibrating needles in the unit that release
negative ions into the air. These negative ions some into contact with small
airborne particles and join with positively changed particles to form a larger
particle. This larger particle can then be drawn back into the unit in the air
stream. It will then be captured in the filter. Ionizers are usually combined
with other technologies, including different types of filters. Ionization units
emit a small change to the air stream as it passes through the unit. This charge
causes the particles to stick together making them larger. As the passes back
through the filter the particulate will be larger and easier to capture." (online
source)

Ok – so if I understand this correctly, an ionizer will release negatively
charged ions which attach to positively charged airborne dust particles causing
them to drop down. If there is a suction of some kind, then the particles can
then be sucked into a filter. But if there is no filter and no suction, then
what happens? Unless I am reaching the wrong conclusion, instead of airborne
dust particles, you will now have a heavier layer of dust coating the room where
the ionization occurred. With that in mind, I think the logical conclusion would
be that an effective ionizer would have to also have a method of suction
and filter to trap the ionized particles in order to be beneficial. Otherwise
you are just moving dust from one area to another – and possibly creating
"heavier" dust in the process. Sound reasonable?

So back to the Cyclops Ionizer…

Included in the package is the unit itself, a sticker disk for attaching it
to whatever surface you choose, and a detachable 62" (over 5′!) USB/DC cord.
This cord is extremely generous, especially if your available USB ports all
happen to be on the back of your desktop. Since mine are on the front, I had to
make a tidy cord coil.

photo courtesy of
Brando

The ionizer measures approximately 3.25" tall x 2.25" wide and deep. The body
is comprised of light steel blue plastic, except for the dome on top which is
translucent blue-tinged plastic. The dome is perforated with holes measuring 1cm
which I presume are for the escaping ions. An on/off button in
silver plastic is on the front of the unit, and when it is pressed a pleasant
blue light comes on. There is a barely audible whirring sound, which I really
didn’t notice after a few moments.

photo courtesy of Brando

How to test the ionizer…that was the question. I figured an effective test
would answer two questions: Did the ionizer have any type of suction to collect
the ionized particles, and did it actually purify the air – which I would
consider successful if recently introduced odors were removed.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a Whirlpool
Whispure 510 air cleaner
running most of the time in our office. This largish device actually employs a
true HEPA filter and moves the air as it
sucks particles, releasing the purified air after filtration. It was not running
when I conducted the tests, but it was running before and I just turned it back
on – a full 24 hours after I conducted the tests.  In contrast, the Cyclops
Ionizer had been running for over 24 hours before the tests were conducted and
is continuing to run as I type this review.

Steve doesn’t smoke his cigars in the house, but I asked him to for my tests.

The first test, or suction test, was initiated when Steve lit a La Gloria
Cubana Purito. I asked him to blow the smoke in the general vicinity of the
ionizer, and waited to see what happened. Well, it shouldn’t be too much of a
surprise that the smoke was actually pushed away, because of the ionized
air blowing out of the top of the unit. So the first test was answered: there is
no real suction on this ionizer; the ionized dust particles will just fall where
they fall and none will be collected. This was not unexpected, due to the size
of the ionizer and the fact that it does not have a user changeable filter.

The second test, or odor test, actually had a surprising result. I say
surprising because in all honesty, I really didn’t expect much of anything from
a $20 USB (what I considered to be) novelty item. While the mini cigar was
quite pungent while burning, an hour or so after it had been smoked I did
not notice any odor in the office. Hmmm.

I don’t know how much was normal odor dissipation and how much was the result
of the ionizer, but on the surface the ionizer appears to have worked. However,
I am waiting to see if my white-topped desk starts to acquire a heavier
than usual dust layer.

For $20, a little bit less than the cost of a larger sized scented candle,
the Cyclops Mini Ionizer is not a wallet-buster. It runs 24/7 in the background
and might actually be accomplishing some good. The jury is still out on
"particle fallout" – but I will update this review should I decide that my
desk’s dust accumulation is heavier than normal.

The Cyclops AP280 USB Mini
Ionizer / Air Purifier is available from
Brando’s USB Store and other retailers.

Price: $20

Pros:
Inexpensive
Compact unit
Actually appears to help neutralize odors

Cons:
May cause heavier than usual dust accumulation

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Home Tech

Tagged: Desktop, Personal Care

Cyclops AP280 USB Mini Ionizer / Air Purifier Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 27, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Summertime in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is mosquito city. I have an ornamental pond in the backyard which is an attraction to mosquitoes to lay eggs. After dark, the yard is practically a Bela Lugosi film festival, there are so many creatures after my blood!

For those of you who are not up on mosquito 411, here are a few facts from mosquito.org, the site for the American Mosquito Control Association, about our blood drinking unwanted summer guests. Female mosquitoes are the ones that bite, requiring blood to nourish her unborn young. Mosquito bites can transmit diseases such as Yellow Fever, Malaria, West Nile Virus, and various types of Encephalitis. A necessary part of gestation, mosquito eggs are laid in water and join together to form "rafts", so any place with water can be a potential incubator.

In the past, I’ve tried several citronella candles and bug sprays with mediocre results. Frustrated and itchy, I decided to give a product from Restoration Hardware (a great gadget store) a try.

The solar powered Mosquito Guard is an interesting concept. It is a key chain (and belt clip) attached to a high-frequency generator. The device is powered by tiny solar panels that recharge in about 5 hours. The sound emitted by the Mosquito Guard repels the mosquitoes away from the user.

Product Details & Features

The Mosquito guard is comes in several colors, is 2" H x 1" W x.5" D inches and weighs about 24.3 grams. An On/Off toggle switch to save power when not in use.

Initial impressions

After opening the box, The device clips easily to belt or waistband and stays there, even in heavy activity. When turned on, I can hear a very soft high pitched noise, likely not the actual frequency that repels the mosquitoes but rather to let the user know that the device is on and charged.

Upon reading the box, I noticed the phrase:
While no scientific evidence proves that mosquitoes can hear, it seems to work for most people.

That doesn’t seem too reassuring. However, a bit of online research showed ultrasonic repellents testing has been inconclusive.

Because, there are many things that science has not yet explained or proven so I donned the gadget and bravely went outside in the interest of mankind.

Product Testing

I decided to charge it up and test it in several situations: using the belt clip during the day, using the belt clip at night, in a pocket during the day, and in a pocket during the evening. Here are my limited (and non-scientific) findings.

Belt Clip Day:
For this portion of the testing, my dad volunteered to be the one wearing the device, while I went out unprotected. We walked our dogs in a grassy area where mosquitoes and other bugs tend to bite. Over the span of 20 minutes I was bitten twice, while my father was bitten three times.

Table top at Dusk: Dusk is prime time for mosquito I put the device in the center of my glass top table while entertaining some visitors. I was bitten once, and my guests were bitten several times.

Belt Clip Night:
For the night test, I recruited my husband to wear the device and go for a walk with me along the same route. I was bitten once, while my husband, who was wearing the device was not bitten at all.

Overall, I was disappointed with the performance of this product. The concept and design are good ones, I just did not believe the mechanism was especially effective. Also, if this key chain is kept into your pocket, the results are reduced even more.

Price: $9.00

Pros: 

No chemicals or dead bugs to worry about
Solar Powered
Small and lightweight, perfect for camping or travel
Inexpensive

Cons: 

Not particularly sturdy
If kept in a pocket it is not exposed to light and therefore will not recharge.
Not as effective as traditional methods, such as DEET
Can frighten some animals

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

Solar Powered Mosquito Guard Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 16, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
An uncovered light socket or light
fixture

I am not going to kid you for a moment – when I heard that there was a
light bulb claiming it could eliminate odors, I thought it was the biggest
bunch of flimflammery ever.

But you know me, I am willing to give anything a try…

Technical Consumer Products, Inc. (TCP),
makers of compact florescent lighting, have created a bulb that they claim
will eliminate strong offensive smells such as fish in the kitchen, musty
laundry room odors or even pet smells – kitty box, anyone? Do these bulbs live
up to the hype? We’ll get to that in just a moment. But first I would like to
tell you a little bit more about the fluorescent bulbs themselves…

Fresh² Florescent
Bulbs are similar in style to other compact fluorescent bulbs in that they
resemble a long white tube that has been bent into a spiral and they can be used
in a regular light socket instead of a traditional long fluorescent light
fixture.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with fluorescent lighting, just think of
the long tube style light fixtures that line just about every commercial
building in the world’s ceilings. There is a reason that these bulbs are in
place. Fluorescents are

energy efficient, using from one quarter to one-third of the energy needed
to burn a traditional incandescent; they also don’t put out the
heat of the
incandescent bulb. Perhaps one of the best properties of fluorescent bulbs is
that they last significantly longer than traditional incandescents. How
much longer? A typical incandescent bulb will give 750 to 1,000 hours of life.
Compare that to a fluorescent light, which will last for 10,000 hours or more.

Be sure to check out the chart at the bottom of

this page, which is on the
Consumer Energy Center’s site. It is especially relevant to this review
because it compares the economics of using a 23 watt compact fluorescent versus
a 100 watt incandescent light bulb. Both bulbs are emitting the same amount of
light, but the fluorescent is doing it much more effectively. The Fresh²
is just such a 23 watt bulb.

So, getting back on track, we should all be able to agree that a compact
fluorescent bulb is a better choice for anyone that wants a cooler burning,
longer-lasting, more economical choice of lighting. At an average price of $11 a
bulb, the savings become evident after the bulbs have been in place for several
years, lasting several times longer than their incandescent cousins. What sets
the Fresh² bulbs apart from similar compact
fluorescent bulbs is the fact that they are coated with Titanium Dioxide. When
the light is turned on, it activates the coating which releases "extremely
strong" odor fighting oxidizers. This oxidation process is supposed to "break
down odors completely."

Googleing TiO(2) shows that it has a variety of
uses – everything from being the white pigment in paint and paper to its use an
ingredient used for absorbing odor in foot creams. I even found one study where
TiO(2) was being suggested as a possible way to cut down odors in
swine
farming operations. There is obviously a scientific background for using the
compound as odor control. The question now is just whether or not a fluorescent
bulb would be a proper application for the science. With this in mind, I looked
forward to putting the Fresh² bulbs through their paces.

Since the Fresh² bulbs are shipped
directly from the manufacturer to your door, they are packaged a bit better than
the average bulb you would pick up at the grocery.

Inside a cardboard box is a molded Styrofoam shell that holds two Fresh²
bulbs. In case you were wondering, the blue booklet offers a free t-shirt to
users that write in about their experience with the bulb.

As you can see, the base of each bulb is sized to fit a typical light bulb
socket. Almost every light fixture in my home is recessed and usually holds a 75
to watt indoor flood lamp. We will not even begin to discuss how hot a room can
become when I have these lights on for any amount of time.
Since these bulbs are most effective when they are
in an open socket that allows unfettered air-flow, the fixtures in my house are
actually quite perfect for testing.

The size of the room does have an effect on how
well the bulbs work, so if you have a larger space, you might want to go ahead
and replace several bulbs with Fresh²s. Since I only had two to test, it worked
out best that I try them in two smaller rooms: the laundry room and bathroom.

My laundry room has a typical old fashioned
ceramic socket which hangs unenclosed from the top of the 10′ ceiling. The room
is not huge, it is about the size of a large closet. It not only holds the
washer and dryer and water heater, it is also home for a hamper which is in a constant flux of
varying degrees of fullness from of dirty clothes. This room is also the place
where I store the dogs’ food. I would not go so far as to say that the room
smells bad, but it does have a slight odor most of the time.

Next is the master bath, which has three
recessed flood lights: two above the vanity and one above the commode. The light
above the commode is also near the built-in hamper, so this seemed like a good
location for the Fresh² bulb. The built-in hamper
can sometimes acquire a bit of a musty smell as it holds not only clothing but
also damp towels.

Removing the flood lamp revealed a larger space
than called for with the Fresh², but I figured that since the bulb needs an
uncovered socket to operate, perhaps the extra bit of air-flow area on the sides
wouldn’t hurt.

With the bulbs installed in both locations, and with the doors shut to cut
down on the size of the area that the bulbs would have to affect, I left the
lights on and walked away for ten minutes. When I came back, I thought I could
tell a noticeable change. After an hour, I knew there was a major difference.
Steve even commented on it, and he had begun as an even bigger skeptic than me
about whether or not they would make a difference – much less work as
advertised.

Now for those of you that usually buy scented candles, room sprays and solid
deodorizers to cover odors, I should point out right now that I did not walk in
and smell flowers. Instead, I smelled nothing. Just clean,
fresh air in both rooms. I was also pleased that the light cast by the bulbs
was bright and white. There was no flickering or humming like I have associated
with the old fluorescent tubes of the past.

Fresh² bulbs would be perfect in any room
that has a musty odor or that needs deodorizing without introducing harsh
chemicals. Immediately coming to mind are uses such as in a baby’s nursery, a
room where cigars are allowed, and definitely any room that houses a cat’s
litter-box. I think the perfect way to use these bulbs would be to leave them on
all the time if you have an area that is particularly prone to odors. Because of
their long life and energy efficiency, I doubt that they would cost any more to
run full time than a part time incandescent bulb would.

These bulbs have made a believer out of
me. I challenge those of you that have a musty room, or who allow pets in the
house, to order a set of these bulbs and give them a try. All I ask is that when
you try them you do as I did and put them in an uncovered socket or in a lamp
with an open shade – not in an enclosed light. If you are going to try them in a
larger room, then use a couple of them – don’t expect one to deodorize your
entire living room and leave them turned on! Get over the weirdness that comes with thinking about a
light bulb cleaning the air, and just give it a try. You have absolutely nothing
to lose on so many levels. Not only will you be getting more energy efficient
bulbs to take the place of your existing incandescent ones, if you don’t feel
that the Fresh² bulbs are performing as I say they will, then you can send them
back for a refund within the first 90 days – including $5 for the return
shipping!

Fresh ² Bulbs can be purchased
here.

Price: $19.99 for a two-pack
Comes with a 90-day money back guarantee (+5 for shipping) and a one-year
warrantee against defects

Pros:
Energy efficient compact florescent bulbs fit in traditional incandescent bulb
socket
Bulbs actually remove odors while turned on
No heavy perfumes or other additives in air – it just smells clean

Cons:
It just seems weird to say your light bulb is cleaning the air – don’t
let it get to you, though

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

Fresh² Odor Eliminating Light Bulbs Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 2, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Adequate countertop space, a 120v
outlet and water

Update added 03/10/05: Please read the comments
section linked to this review. Many consumers are reporting that this item works
well for the first couple of months, and then will die after approx. 90 days.

Frontgate is one of the catalogs that
I enjoy perusing. Seldom will I actually see an item that I couldn’t live
without, but I do enjoy lusting over the household eye-candy. Frontgate will
usually have a few interesting – if somewhat pricey – gems hidden amongst the "keeping
up with the Vanderbilt’s fodder." These are items that I either didn’t know
existed, or didn’t know that I couldn’t live without. Sometimes, ignorance is
bliss, but last month I was happy to be enlightened. Let me give you some
background…

I have always wanted an icemaker in my kitchen. The last time I bought a new
refrigerator, in 1996, I seriously considered getting an in-door water and ice
dispenser. But the water quality in my town made me think twice about doing
that. That’s why we always have to take up a shelf in the freezer with a large
bag of ice.

Now, before you start thinking that I am some Evian sipping water elitist,
you should understand that where I live the water is very hard and it is
chock-full of minerals. As if that weren’t bad enough the water taste is
not consistent. It comes out of the tap cloudy, for goodness sakes. Some
days it can be bearable (disguised in iced tea), but on others it can best be
described as a cross between fishy and mossy. I’ll cook with it, but I wouldn’t
fill a pitcher with water to keep in the refrigerator like I would at the ranch
where we have a well.

Before you ask, yes I saw the Penn & Teller episode of
Bullsh*t where
they talked about bottled water. It made me laugh because they had obviously
never been to San Angelo and tried our tap water. The water here is
so bad that I actually have to
give my

Peace Lilies the 25¢/gallon
reverse-osmosis (R/O) water that we buy for our drinking water dispenser. If I
water those plants with tap water, the leaves will turn brown – as if they had
been burned. This is the same H20 that rotted out our water heater after less
than 7 years – no joke. Even my less than three-years-old dishwasher is starting
to act in a questionable manner, and I am anticipating it going out in the next
year or two. I have also had to replace my stainless flatware because it
actually corroded from the water in our dishwasher, and let’s not even discuss
the spots on our glassware – UGH! The point of all this is that without buying a
reverse osmosis unit for my entire house – or at the very least a water softener
- I see no reason to buy any more appliances that rely on a "good" water source.
Especially something like an icemaker, where I would be directly ingesting the
water.

So when I was flipping through Frontgate and saw
the WindChaser
Products

Portable Ice Maker that does not require hard wiring and plumbing to
operate, I was like, "Cool!" My interest was piqued – I didn’t even know
that a product like this existed – the WindChaser required a second look.

According to the catalog, the portable ice maker could be set on a counter
top and it would produce up to 30 pounds of ice within a 24 hour period,
freezing 12 cubes in a choice of three sizes every six to eight minutes. Up to
two and a half pounds of ice could be stored in the insulated compartment, and I
would be able to control the quality of the water used to make the ice. I had to
give it a try.

I have to admit that after looking at standalone ice machines in the past,
which can run in the thousands of dollars, the Frontgate price of $399 did not
seem totally out of line, but I did figure I could do better. A Google search of

portable ice makers revealed a couple of different brands, and of them one
was easily identifiable as the WindChaser model sold by Frontgate. I wound up
ordering the stainless steel version from
A Trendy Home for $349.
There is also a grey version that can be found for just a little bit less.

When the box came, I was a little bit shocked at how large it was…

I had thought it might fit on the counter in my kitchen, but I quickly saw
that I was incorrect. Thankfully our breakfast room had a built-in shelf which
could easily accommodate it.

The actual measurements of the ice maker are 16.25" high x 14" wide x 15.5"
deep. The unit itself weighs about 50 pounds, so you will want to keep that in
mind when you are considering whether you might be interested in a device like
this or not.

The ice maker was very well packaged, with plenty of insulation, and the unit
was ding free when we unwrapped it. Looking at the directions, we saw that we
should leave it sitting for 24 hours unplugged to make sure that the refrigerant
had a chance to settle. In the meantime, we would unpack it and get it ready for
operation.

   
   
The front and left side…

   

The right side (note the drain plug) and the rear

Opening the flip lid on the front for the first time, we found a 10" long 
x 6" wide x 3" deep ice basket. This doesn’t seem that large, but it holds over
two pounds of ice when full. We would find that it was more than adequate for
our home.

A zip-locked package included an ice scoop and all of the warranty
information

A white cardboard box was in place to keep the ice-jets protected. This was
promptly discarded…

As per the instructions, I cleaned the interior thoroughly before we called
it a night.

      

This is the water reservoir, which sits underneath the ice
basket

The next day, Steve moved it to it’s new home on the shelf and we plugged it
in for the first time. He added water from one of our R/O jugs…

Everything was in place and ready to go, so we selected medium ice size (the
second green dot) on the front of the soft touch display and hit start. You can
also make small or large cubes.

There are also red lights that will flash when the ice basket is full or the
water reservoir is low.

The ice-jets began to release water and in no time at all…

…we had a small number of cubes.

The WindChaser automatically lifted the cubes into the basket via the white
scooper-tray, and once again the ice-jets started to do their thing.

In about an hour, the ice basket looked like this…

Plenty of ice and made of good R/O water – not the funky stuff from our tap.
Having this ice maker has answered the question I used to have about why there
was a hole in the middle of most manufactured ice – they must use the same
process on a much larger scale. I would like to know what we should do to make
our ice crystal clear – it makes me wonder if ice manufacturers add a tiny bit
of "something" to theirs.

Needless to say, we were quite pleased with the results.

This unit is sold as something for people to keep in their bars or to use
outside, but it is also a good solution for people like us that don’t want to
hard-wire, hard-plum, or kill the unit over time with mineralized hard water.

Over the month we have had it, we have had a chance to learn the good, the
bad and the ugly about the unit…

The first strike against it is that it is noisy. The WindChaser makes noise
when it is making the ice, keeping it cold, and the worst can be when the
ice is kicked off the jets into the basket and a startling tumbling sound is
heard. The first time it did this in the middle of the night, Steve and I
thought someone had broken in! You would not want to keep this unit in the same
room in which you spend most of your time, but it is perfect for a breakfast
nook, bar, outdoor kitchen or office break room.

The second strike is, of course, it’s price. Not everyone will want to pay
this much for their own ice machine when they can just run down the street and
get a bag of ice for $1.29, or if they are fortunate and live in a place with
good tap water – able to make the stuff for free in the ice trays in their own
freezer.

The good news is that if you enjoy ice in your drinks and you want the
convenience of having your own maker – this one does the job admirably. If you
want a machine such as this and you live in an area that has good tap water,
then you can of course use it to fill the reservoir.

We will definitely be keeping the WindChaser.
☺

Price: $399 MSRP
There is a five-year manufacturer’s warranty on the compressor and one-year
warranty on other parts

Pros:
Convenient
Requires no hard-wiring or plumbing
Constantly working in the background to make ice and keep it frozen
No need to buy expensive bagged ice at convenience stores anymore

Cons:
Expensive
Noisy

Update added 03/10/05: Please read the comments
section linked to this review. Many consumers are reporting that this item works
well for the first couple of months, and then will die after approx. 90 days.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Personal Care

WindChaser Portable Ice Maker Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 18, 2004 at 12:00 am.

This is how my winter mornings usually seem to go, and I would be willing to bet
bet that yours are somewhat similar:  The alarm goes off way too early and
I have to climb out of my supremely warm and cozy bed. As my feet hit the cold
hardwood floor and the icy bedroom air assaults me, I shiver knowing what is
waiting as I enter the tile lined bathroom. Never mind that the central heat is
cranking out at a steady 68º, it might as well be
68 below. As I disrobe, I turn the hot water on full blast and hope that the
steam will help the room reach an acceptable temperature. After defrosting in
the shower and enjoying the attention of the massaging showerhead’s blisteringly
hot water on the back of my neck and shoulders – I dread what is coming next:
the transition from hot shower to frigid bathroom. Even though I have
positioned my towel for easy access, it does little to warm me as I brave the
artic confines of my bathroom. The vent above the bathroom door might as well be
blowing refrigerated air, it is that ineffective. Shivering and chattering, I
hastily dry off and get dressed. It is only once I am fully clothed that I can
finally relax…more or less ready to face another day. This is how it goes from
late fall, through the winter and into early spring – yes, even here in West
Texas.

Other than the open flame gas heaters that some
older homes still have in their bathrooms, it seems like no one ever takes into
consideration the trauma of starting off your day with such a rude awakening,
but what are you gonna do? It is just part of the process of waking up.

When Julie and I traveled to
Scotland last year, we stayed at the
Grange Flats,
a modernized Victorian apartment. Bringing back fond childhood memories of my
grandparents home in Minersville, Pennsylvania, the Scottish flat was kept warm
primarily with

radiators. To be honest, until that trip I had almost completely forgotten
about them, having lived in a centrally heated and cooled home for the last
twenty years. I truly enjoyed getting a hasty refresher course on one of the
biggest benefits of having a radiator in the bathroom – a warmer room and a
heated towel after a hot shower.

There are almost no words to describe the delicious comfort of stepping out
of a hot shower and picking up a warmed towel on a cool morning. Unfortunately,
retrofitting my bathroom with a radiator is not a viable option, much as I like
the idea.

There is an alternative for people in my situation, however – heated towel
racks.

I have noticed various models in catalogs, and have seen that they can be
priced anywhere from the $100 level to thousands of dollars. While it
would appear that there is something available for every budget, sometimes going
with the least expensive isn’t the smartest thing to do. With that in mind, I
wanted to try a model in the mid-range. I wanted to see how well it was
constructed, how easy it was to use, and how well it performed.

I asked Julie to contact the
Sussman Lifestyle Group to ask if I could review a sample from their
WarmaTowel
line. For those that are unfamiliar with
Sussman, they have been
offering steam and sauna products both commercially and residentially for over
50 years. According to their site, they are the only "American
company that designs, engineers, manufactures, and supplies UL/CSA/CE
Residential Steambath Generators, UL/CSA/ASME Commercial Steambath Generators,
UL/CSA Sauna Heaters and CUL Towel Warmers — technologically advanced,
innovative products that consistently set the industry standard."

Looking at their WarmaTowel
model list, I
was not surprised to see that the majority of their products are intended to be
built-in either during initial construction or during remodeling. Since I did
not want to fool with any hard wiring, I knew not to even look at these models.
Fortunately, there was a plug-in version available which would work for my
testing purposes. I asked to review the electric Floor Model (W556), which is
available in the following finishes: polished chrome, polished brass, polished
nickel, satin nickel, polished gold, oil rubbed bronze, brushed nickel and
pewter. I was sent the polished chrome version.

Isn’t it lovely and elegant in its simplicity?

The entire kit came in a rather large flat package which weighed quite a bit
more than I had expected – over 20 pounds! All WarmaTowel racks use solid brass
construction and the electric models, such as the one I received, also include a
built-in stainless steel heater. All models, except for this free-standing
version, are meant to be hard-wired into the wall.

There are also a few Hydronic models available which are kept hot by the
house’s water heating system. I am not sure how much boiling water has to be
moved through the house’s pipes to make this model effective, but considering
that it can take a couple of minutes for the water in my shower to even get hot,
I don’t know that this method would work for me. But I digress…

The Floor Model rack is delivered in three pieces: the ladder and two legs.
Each leg is screwed into its respective side on the bottom of the rack and an
allen wrench is used for tightening. Once assembled, the rack feels substantial
and stable. There is no wobbling and it actually somewhat resembles a radiator –
a twenty-first century version, that is! The complete rack measures 34" tall x
23′ wide and 10" deep at the base. The beams and cross-members measure right at
one inch wide.

When you are ready to begin using the rack, you just insert the three-pronged
tip into a grounded plug, and the rack will soon begin to warm. One complaint I
have is in regards to the electric cord included with the rack. It is only 51"
long (including the plug), which means that the rack must be placed right next
to the outlet. While I realize that this is probably a safety measure, I would
have liked it if there could have been at least a 10′ cord. That way I would
have been able to position the rack nearer the shower. I am all about easy
access!

   
   
Note the nice heavy-duty cord connection. It looks like it
will last through many years of use.

Once plugged in, it takes about fifteen minutes for the WarmaTowel  to
emit a warm steady glow, not unlike that of a radiator turned to lower setting.
In a small space, such as the average bathroom, the rack will actually begin to
warm the entire area as well as the towels placed upon it. While on, the rack
never becomes so hot that touching it would burn you, though it is quite warm.
Just to be safe, I wouldn’t recommend pressing it against any body parts for
extended periods of time.

There were no instructions regarding how long the rack could or should be
left continuously running, but I allowed it to do so for several 24 hours
periods with no ill effects. I would be more satisfied if this model had
included an on/off switch just as all the other models do. It seems
gauche to turn anything on or off by inserting or pulling its plug – especially
an item as pricy as this. However, I would imagine that in the winter I would be
tempted to just leave the rack running continuously, which I assume is
acceptable since there were no cautions included stating otherwise. In that
case, the lack of an on/off switch is not so shocking.

One of the hidden benefits that I found while using the WarmaTowel was that
if I laid a damp towel on the beams after showering, it would dry it thoroughly
before my next use, which cut down on the amount of "dirty" towels I had to
wash. Before a single one of you says "ewwww," kindly remember that after
bathing you are clean. So reusing a towel – especially when you live in a
drought-ridden region – just makes good ecological sense.

I am going to be sorry in a few days when I have to return this review item.
I have had it for almost a month, and I regret that I did not think to review it
during the colder portion of the year. Yes it is pricey, and since I have not
yet tested out a less expensive model I can’t tell you if the cost is justified
or if there is even a comparison. I suspect that the difference in price will be
reflected in the quality of materials used, the durability of the rack and in
whether it can be trusted not to explode if left running. The WarmaTowel
Electric Towel Warmer excels in all of these areas. Towels warmed on the rack
are, in a word – decadent. There is nothing better than using a hot towel
on a cold morning after showering. As a matter of fact, there is nothing better
than using a hot towel on a warm morning after showering! I would love to
have one of the pivoting wall models mounted right next to my shower door. But
this Floor Model is quite fine, as long as you have the space for it and a
properly placed outlet.

Price: $779 as tested, all models and pricing shown
here.
WarmaTowel products include a five year limited
warranty.

Pros:
Warm towels ready as you step out of the shower
Less laundry as the rack will also dry towels after use
Radiated heat keeps bathroom warm

Cons:
Expensive
Short cord means that rack must be placed near outlet
The only way to turn freestanding model on or off is by plugging or unplugging

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Personal Care

WarmaTowel Electric Towel Warmer (Floor Model) originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 17, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Over the years, my mom has gotten worse about keeping track of her keys. She
will lay them down without taking note of their position, put them in her lap,
forget about them and then drop them as she stands up – without realizing that
they have fallen. In all honesty, it has reached the point where it is like a
tired joke that no one laughs at any more. She doesn’t just misplace them about
her house, she misplaces them in her own purse. There is not a visit that ends
without her saying, "let me find my keys." I know that it is a source of
frustration to her, and that is why when I was asked by
Convenient Gadgets if I would
like to review the Finderz Keyperz
I leapt at the chance.

Unlike other key-finder systems I have seen in the past, Finderz Keyperz
operates on the principle that if you have one unit handy, then you can use it
to locate the missing unit. The starter kit comes with two, but you can actually
link up to 50 units. There is no immoveable "base unit" that has to be within
range to find the missing object. Instead, every Finderz Keyperz fob is a
sender/receiver unit. I’ll get into how well this works in just a moment.

Here are the main features of the Finderz Keyperz system:

• 100 ft. / 30 meters effective operating range ensures successful
  locating: FCC ID # NLHRT3310
• Loud 85 dB beeper can be heard under furniture, in a closet and through
  clothing
• Extra-long 60 second beeping duration allows more than ample locating
  time
• Super-bright sapphire blue ultra high-intensity 1750 mcd 100,000 hour
  led personal flashlight with convenient hands-free on/off switch and
  two-minute power-saving auto-shut-off circuitry
• Rechargeable lithium ion batteries and custom smart charging ‘Mouse’ 
• Low-battery chirp provides ample advance recharge warning
• System expandability; accommodates up to 50 units to one system
• Choice of four distinct beeper patterns
• Built-in retractable mini-antenna for extended range operation
• One-million unique transmitting codes eliminates annoying false triggers
• Protective sliding door hides buttons ensuring units will not sound
  accidentally
• Unique patent pending compact design is easy to operate
• One-year limited manufacturer’s warranty

Included in the starter kit’s box are two Finderz Keyperz Sender/Receiver units with
replaceable rechargeable Li ion battery, one smart charger and two 20mm key rings.

Photo courtesy of the
Finderz Keyperz website

The fobs are comprised of a dark smoky gray plastic that almost appears
metallic. They measure approximately 2.5" long x 1.5" wide by 0.5" thick, and
they weigh just 1.1 ounces.

When you open the kit, the first thing you’ll need to do is charge each fob.
To do this you push the grooved slider from the ON to OFF
position, which fully exposes the charging port into which the end of the
mouse-shaped smart charger will plug.

The charger has red and green lights on its top to indicate whether the fob
is charging or ready.

According to the brochure that came with the kit, initial charging time can
be as much as five hours (the Finderz Keyperz site says eight). I found that it
took much less time – about 30 minutes – so perhaps my units shipped slightly
juiced.

To set up the units so that they can find each other, you slide the front
cover down to expose the four buttons, marked +, -, FIND
and ♪.
Making sure that the slider is in the ON position, and the antennas are
not extended, you hold the two units no further than two feet from each other.
At the same time, you press the + button on each unit until they light and
blink. Triple blinks indicate that the two fobs can now communicate with each
other.

Picture courtesy of the Finderz Keyperz website

After completing this step, you press the FIND button on either unit.
Within ten seconds the other fob should receive the signal and begin to beep.
The beeping will continue for up to a minute. You can kill the beeping by
hitting FIND again, or turning the unit off momentarily.

This worked for me the first time I tried it, but if you are having trouble
it could be because the batteries are not fully charged, the units weren’t close
enough together when you were linking them, or you didn’t hit the two +
buttons at the same time.

You can change the beeper pattern by pressing the
♪ button until you hear the
one most likely to get your attention. The beeper volume is 85db, which while
not excruciatingly loud should be obnoxious enough to easily find in the
average home or business. If the forgetful person happens to also be hard of
hearing, which is the case with my mom, then other people in the room should be
able to help listen for the beeping if it is far enough away to be faint.

In order to find missing keys, you extend the
antenna on the fob you have in your possession. The missing fob will begin to
chirp within just a couple of seconds, as long as you are within 100 feet. If
you don’t hear the beeping, then you should move to another location and try
again. As I mentioned before, the missing fob will beep for a minute, so if you
are within earshot you should have no problem finding it.

Photo courtesy of the Finderz Keyperz website

As an added convenience, each Finderz Keyperz unit has a built in flashlight.
The sliding switch for the light is located on the side of the unit.

It is not large, but being slotted it is easy to catch with your finger and
operate. The flashlight will turn off automatically after two minutes, but if
you need it for longer you can reset it by sliding the switch off then on again.
Obviously, if you use the flashlight a lot then you will have to recharge the
fob more often. According to the instructions included with the kit, the bulb
has a life of 100,000 hours.

Picture courtesy of the
Finderz Keyperz website

In case you are wondering how someone that can’t
keep up with their keys is going to keep up with two Finderz Keyperz fobs, let
me tell you my solution. I took the first fob and attached mom’s keys to its
20mm slotted ring. Instead of attaching the 20mm ring to the second fob, I
attached a long piece of black cording into the small ring on the unit’s end to
make it into a necklace. Now, all mom has to do is remember to charge either
unit when the low battery chirp sounds – approximately every two to three weeks.

The Finderz Keyperz Misplaced Item Locater
offers an easy and inexpensive solution that can keep the user from feeling
helpless or dependent on others when they have misplaced their keys yet again.
It offers long battery life with the economy and convenience of rechargeable Li
ion, a long enough beeper duration to actually find the keys, a long range,
expandability and a built in flashlight. I can’t think of a better gift for a
forgetful person!

The Finderz Keyperz Misplaced
Item Locater is available from

Convenient Gadgets and other retailers.

Price: $49.95 MSRP, extra locaters start at $21.95
with discounts given for multiples
Additional parts can be ordered
here.

Pros:
Rechargeable Li ion battery w/included smart charger
100 Foot locating range
Four different beeps – you can pick the most obnoxious
Can expand to work with up to 50 fobs
Built in flashlight
Long battery life: 2-3 weeks

Cons:
Will have to figure out a way to not lose one at least one of the fobs

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous

Tagged: Personal Care

Finderz Keyperz Misplaced Item Locator Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 12, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Product Requirements:
Device:
PC or MAC with a USB 1.1 or 2.0 port

I’m a tea drinker and have been since I came out of the womb. My mom would
fix us hot tea every morning for breakfast (good old Lipton) and we would then
have iced tea for supper. It’s no wonder that now, every morning at about
8:30am, I make myself a cup of hot tea. It doesn’t matter if it’s Spring,
Summer, Fall or Winter, my day wouldn’t be complete without a cup of tea. The
thing is though, I’m a sipper, not gulper. By the time I drink the last drop, my
hot tea has turned into cold tea… bleh! So, when
Brando sent me the USB Cup Warmer,
I was anxious to see if it might keep my tea warm to the last drop.

The USB Cup Warmer is a black stretchy neoprene 11.5 inch wrap with a 38 inch
USB cable extending out of one end. A 2.5 inch cutout to allow for a coffee cup
handle is located on one end of the wrap. The idea is that you slide the cup
handle through the cutout, then pull the wrap around the cup, where it is held
in place with Velcro. In practice, the wrap fit my standard sized mug perfectly
snug.

You then plug the USB connector into a free USB 1.1 or 2.0 port on your PC or
MAC computer, where it will draw enough power to warm the wrap and the cup that
it is enclosing. By the way, it’s a good idea to put the wrap on before
you fill the cup up with boiling hot water. Wrestling with the wrap while the
cup is full, is a good way to spill hot water on your hand… ouch!

The Cup Warmer does not require a driver or any special computer settings. As long as
you plug it directly into a free USB port and not a hub (unless you have a
powered hub), it should be a simple matter of plug and play.

Of course, I wasn’t going to believe the colorful chart printed on the
packaging, which said that the wrap would maintain the temperature of a hot
beverage at 40°C (104°F)
after one hour, I had to see for myself. So, I washed up my favorite mug, filled
a tea ball full of Orange Pekoe, put a
kettle of water on the stove and waited for it to boil…

You know the old saying: a watched pot never boils… It seems
to be true!

Of course, it finally did boil. After which point, I poured the boiling water
in the cup, and let the tea steep for 3 minutes.

When the 3 minutes were up, I used a cooking thermometer to check the
temperature.

I recorded the reading, set the timer for 5 minutes and continued to record
readings at 5 minute intervals.

For the first test, I didn’t plug the Cup Warmer into the computer. On the
2nd test I did.

Here are the results. The test was done in a 74°
room.

* optimal drinking temperature (for me anyway…)

As you can see from the readings, when the wrap wasn’t plugged in, the
temperature dropped approximately 10 degrees every 5 minutes during the first 25
minutes. However, when the wrap was
plugged in, the temperature dropped at a slower pace. True to the packaging, the
wrap kept the liquid at approximately 104° (or 101°
in my test) after 1 hour.

Here’s the thing though… 101° is not really
all that warm. At least it doesn’t seem very warm to me. Maybe lukewarm.

Another consideration is the length of the USB cable. People that have their
USB ports on the back of their desktop machines will probably be unable to drink
from the cup without pulling the cable out of the PC. Notebook users will have a
much easier time though. I would prefer if this product was a hot plate type of
warmer instead. That way you could just set your cup on a heated base and lift
it off when you needed a sip.

The USB Cup Warmer is a novelty more than anything. Although it will keep
your beverage somewhat warmer for a longer period of time, it’s up to you to
decide if warm is warm enough.

Price: $10

Pros:
Use for USB port other than something computer related
Inexpensive
Plug and play

Cons:
101 – 104° really isn’t that warm

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Home Tech, Laptops and Gear

Tagged: Desktop, Laptop, Personal Care

USB Cup Warmer Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 27, 2004 at 12:00 am.