Home and Kitchen

News, reviews and articles about home and kitchen products.

Protectrix Automatic Garage Door Closer

Have you ever left your house, gotten a few miles away and asked yourself or a passenger in your car, did I close the garage door? Maybe you have even turned around to check, just to put your mind at ease. I know that I have. To be completely honest, I have done this numerous times. To the point that it is a running joke between my wife and I, since I often ask her if I closed the garage door.

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Verilux Rise & Shine Deluxe Natural Alarm Clock Bedside Lamp

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.

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Verilux HappyLite Mini Ultra

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.

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Litebook Elite

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.

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emWave Personal Stress Reliever

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.

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VTech mi6879 Expandable Cordless Phone System

As The Gadgeteer, I feel like I am not doing my job if I don’t have the latest and greatest mobile phones in my pocket, but when it comes to my landline phone, it is a 2yr old 2.4GHz boring Panasonic answering machine / handset. Whee… You know me though, I’m always up for trying something new, so when the folks representing Vtech asked if I would like to test some of their phones, I said sure!

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Philips 7FF1AW/37 Digital Photo Display

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to review 4 different digital photo frames. The last such review was the Tricod Frame just this past summer. Although I did like this device, I ended up giving it to my Dad, because it lacked one feature that I’ve always longed for in a digital photo frame. Today I’m going to tell you about the 7FF1 (what a wonderful product name) Digital Photo Display from Philips. Guess what? It has the feature I’ve been wishing for. You’ll just have to continue reading to find out what that feature is…

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Chef’s Quad-Timer Professional

I enjoy cooking and tend to be the main person in my household to do this task everyday. Until now, my method for timing dishes on the stove and oven has been accomplished using the timer in the microwave, the grandfather clock in the living room and the timer built into my stove. That doesn’t sound like a problem does it? Well it is when you forget what time source was used for which dish. And then there’s the fact that the grandfather clock doesn’t actually buzz when the time is up.

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OHSO Marko Travel Toothbrush

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.

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Hydro-Industries ReelSmart Automatic Hose Reel

August in Southern Indiana can be both hot and humid. Temperatures around 100 degrees are not unusual for us. As a result,
it’s normal to see people watering their outdoor plants in the evenings, to keep them from frying to a crisp. I’ve been
known to shirk my watering duties due to the fact that I hate wrestling with the garden hose. Unwinding it usually isn’t
a big deal, but winding back onto the reel can sometimes be an exercise in frustration. Since I’m all for trying a product
that has been designed to ease my frustration level, I was happy to review the ReelSmart Automatic Hose Reel from Hydro-Industries.

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pzizz Personal Life Coaching System

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.

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La Crosse Technology WS-7038U Wireless 433MHz Miniature Rain Monitor

Mother Nature and gadgets. The two of them are a match made in heaven. There are gadgets that measure wind direction and velocity, gizmos that measure changes in the barometric pressure and gadgets that display the temperature. Today I’m going to tell you about the La Crosse Technology WS-7038U Wireless 433 MHz Miniature Rain Monitor. Sent to me by the folks at SmartHome, this kit comes with everything you will need to keep track of how much precipitation falls at your location.

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ionKids Child Monitor and Locator System

I recently purchased an 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.

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Tricod Inc. 5.6 Inch Digital Photo Frame

Digital photo frames sure have come down in price over the past few years. I reviewed the Digi-Frame DF-560 in May of 2002. At that time this 5.6 inch frame had a whopping price tag of $549! Now here it is 4 years later and I’m going to show you a digital frame from Tricod Inc. that looks almost identical to the DF-560, but costs $400 less. At $149, this frame can even play music and video. Check it out.

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HomeBrite Solar Powered Garden Accent Light

I have recently become interested in solar devices. There’s something really cool about using the power of the sun instead of the power of an AC adapter, when it comes to powering products. The sun is free; Electricity definitely isn’t. That’s why I was more than happy to review a solar powered garden accent light, when the folks at SmartHome contacted me to gauge my interest in their Solar Powered Garden Accent Light.

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DYMO LabelWriter Twin Turbo

Does anyone truly enjoy visiting their local post office? I don’t think I’m the only person that doesn’t look forward to standing in line during my lunch hour or after work, just to buy a few stamps or to mail a package. As a result, in the past couple of years, I’ve used the USPS website to print my priority mail labels. This saves me wasting 30 minutes or more standing in line. But it always seems that I’m out of regular first class stamps, or if I do find unused stamps in a drawer, I’m never sure if they are the current value. Today I’m going to tell you about the DYMO LabelWriter Twin Turbo. This dual printer just might be the solution to all of your postage printing and label printing needs.

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ColdHeat Freestyle Cordless Glue Gun

Ok, this is going to be one of those reviews that will probably not to appeal to regular ole Joe Geek. Unless Joe Geek also happens to have a crafty side. Today I’m going to tell you about a glue gun. Wait, don’t go away yet! It’s cordless! Yeah, I knew that get you interested… The Freestyle cordless glue gun from ColdHeat is just what you need for those marathon refrigerator magnet making parties.

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BioTrainer

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.

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