Home and Kitchen - The Gadgeteer

Gargoyle Router – A Not So Ugly Solution to Bandwidth Monitoring and Quotas – Mini Review

GARGOYLE- [gahr-goil] NOUN – a grotesquely carved figure of a human or animal Gargoyle Router is an alternative firmware for a number of different routers that allows you to monitor bandwidth usage by user and set and enforce bandwidth quotas on particular users. Let me preface this review with a warning. I’m an alternate firmware junkie. Any […]

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VueZone Motion Detection Personal Video Network Review

By Julie Strietelmeier / August 10, 2011 / Reviews / Audio, Video, TV, Home and Kitchen, Security, Video / 2 Comments

A couple years ago I had the opportunity to review the VueZone Personal Video Network System. I liked it for its ease of setup, but wished it could do a few things that it couldn’t at the time. Fast forward almost 2yrs later and VueZone is now offering their 2nd generation motion detecting cameras and

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Brother PT 1290 Label Maker Review

By Elizabeth Daugherty / August 9, 2011 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen, Keyboard, label maker / Leave a Comment

I had previously reviewed another label maker by Dymo which is plugged into the USB port of your computer. Using built-in software, you could create and print labels from your PC. I also made a snarky comment about handheld labelers and needing to be an expert texter. The P-touch 1290 label maker from Brother is

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iPhone Paintings – iPhone Icons as Artwork

By Julie Strietelmeier / August 8, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen, iOS, iPhone / Leave a Comment

Show your fanboy (girl?) pride with this artwork collection of iOS icons from iPhone Paintings. Choose from a set of 16 hand painted icons on stretched canvas over a wood frame or 16 digitally printed icons on Italian artist canvas. Each individual painting/print is 20cm x 20cm. These icons don’t come cheap… If you choose

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Pack Away Kettle – A Collapsible Teapot

By Karen Nelson / August 8, 2011 / News / Cooking, Home and Kitchen, Tea / Leave a Comment

Wacky Practicals has developed a new take on the conventional tea kettle, a collapsible version that is made of silicone. The Pack Away Kettle has a stainless steel base that does conduct heat so it will stay hot after boiling. It is safe for all heat sources, electric, conduction, and gas stoves. Now you can

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Hide Your Key Securely with the RocLok

By Janet Cloninger / August 2, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen, Security / 4 Comments

Fans of HGTV may remember Matt and Shari and their Room by Room TV program. I was looking around on their website recently and found they were featuring a neat product for keeping your spare house key safe outdoors. The RocLok isn’t like those fake plastic rocks with a drawer on the bottom to hold your

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Kelvin.23 Multi-Tool Review

By Karen Nelson / July 29, 2011 / Reviews / Do-It-Yourself, Home and Kitchen, Multi-tool, Tools / 12 Comments

I am sure all of you have had a moment where you’ve been in a pinch to find tools to hang a picture, tap in a nail that has stuck out on a piece of trim, or needed to get a quick measurement. These are some of the projects the Kelvin.23 can help with.

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A Fork and Spoon that Fits in your Wallet

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 27, 2011 / News / Gear, Home and Kitchen, Wallets / 5 Comments

For those times when you have a plate of yummy food in front of you, but no eating utensils in sight, you can pull out this credit card sized set of dining tools. It’s questionable how well they will work… especially the spoon, which looks more like a spatula. The Credit Card Cutlery is available

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Forget carbonite. Encase your favorite smuggler (or droid) in ice with these.

By Andy Jacobs / July 25, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen, Star Wars / 1 Comment

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Oh, the references abound. Ice world of Hoth. There isn’t enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser. Frozen in carbonite. My joints are almost frozen. Now you can have just the right addition to your cantina cocktails for that Jabba the Hutt party you’ve been planning with the Han Solo in

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Verizon’s Wireless Home Phone Connect Review

By Dave Rees / July 25, 2011 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen, VoIP, Wireless / 137 Comments

For those long-time readers, you might remember my rant/question about Comcast charging too much for their multimedia services (i.e., HDTV, phone, and internet) last year. Well, I am finally getting around to cutting the cord. We will be keeping Comcast high speed internet but our household is giving up cable TV and switching home phone

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magicJack PLUS Review

By Bill Kuch / July 22, 2011 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen, Phone, USB / 2,347 Comments

I’ve long been a proponent of Voice over IP (VoIP), having dumped the phone company over 7 years ago. During this period I’ve used 2 major vendors and only switched to the latest one because my former VOIP supplier was getting greedy. The price performance has been outstanding and the quality has been more than acceptable. I’ve

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Suck it with a Titanium Straw

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 20, 2011 / News / Beverage, Home and Kitchen / 4 Comments

ThinkGeek never fails to impress me. Case in point – they are now offering a Titanium Straw for your beverage slurping enjoyment. Why would anyone need a titanium straw? Ummmm… because! This particular straw is made of food safe titanium that is 7″ long and has a 40 degree angle at one end. Now we

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Being Green and Beautiful

By Karen Nelson / July 17, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen, Lighting / 1 Comment

London brand Hulger and designer Sam Wilkinson have designed a CFL bulb named Plumen 001, the world’s first designer low energy light bulb. Plumen is a bulb that finally doesn’t need to hide behind a lampshade. This bulb consumes 80% less energy than incandescent bulbs and life expectancy is eight years. Plumen 001 can

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Obol Solves the Soggy Cereal Syndrome

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 13, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen / 7 Comments

We’re always on the lookout for products that can help make your life easier. This time it’s the Obol crispy cereal bowl. Last year, Andy showed us the Ooma bowl which uses the same principle, but I think this one looks like an even nicer looking / functioning product. The Obol has two sections. One that

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Infuse your Tea with a Dinosaur

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 12, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen, Tea / Leave a Comment

Your coffee swigging buddies will be Green with envy when they see your Tea-Rex Tea Infuser from the NeatoShop. It’s made of food-safe silicone with a stainless steel chain. It’s cute as a button and is available for $9.95.

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Know Someone Is At the Door With Pressure Activated Doormat Chime

By Karen Nelson / July 8, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen / 1 Comment

Swann Wireless has developed an indoor/outdoor doormat unit that is simply placed under a mat or carpet at your home or business entrance. The chime unit is to be placed within 100 ft (30 m) of the mat. It features three customizable chimes that can be adjusted to the volume of your liking. The doormat

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GymyGym – An office chair that tones muscles

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 6, 2011 / News / Health and fitness, Home and Kitchen, Office / 4 Comments

I bet you have never read a title like that one have you? The GymyGym (pronounced like: jimmy gym) is a great looking office chair that doubles as a workout machine. It has built in bungee type straps for your hands and feet so that you can do 16 core exercises to strengthen and stretch

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VTech DS6421-3 Cordless Phone and Answering System Review

By Bryan Sherman / July 6, 2011 / Reviews / Bluetooth, Home and Kitchen, Phone / 13 Comments

Is their anything more exciting than a cordless phone system? OK, I can think of a few things, but this new DS6421-3 system from VTech offers up some very cool additions to this old product segment. Even if you have cut the cord, and no longer have a land-line, you can use this system. It

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Save Energy with the OnPlug

By Julie Strietelmeier / July 4, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen, Power / 10 Comments

You’ve probably heard the term “Vampire Power”? It’s the power that some electronic devices “suck”, when they are plugged in, but not being used. One example of such a device is an AC adapter that charges your gadgets. In addition to being a huge waste of energy, Vampire power is something that you pay for

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Vanquish Hotdogs and Marshmallows with the BBQ Sword

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 28, 2011 / News / Home and Kitchen, Outdoor Gear, Outdoors / 7 Comments

I’m not sure if it’s due to the fact that I’ve been watching Game of Thrones on HBO, but I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the Swashbuckling BBQ Sword on ThinkGeek. This cleverly shaped cooking skewer will be the envy of your buddies at your next cookout. It’s 19″ long, made of heavy

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