Home and Kitchen - The Gadgeteer

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

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 15, 2006 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Outdoors / 3 Comments

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

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 4, 2006 / Uncategorized / Digital Photo Frame, Home and Kitchen / 2 Comments

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

By Julie Strietelmeier / June 1, 2006 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Outdoors / 1 Comment

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

By Julie Strietelmeier / May 31, 2006 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen, label maker / 29 Comments

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

By Julie Strietelmeier / May 25, 2006 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Tools / 46 Comments

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

By Julie Strietelmeier / May 18, 2006 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Personal Care / 4 Comments

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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Zeno Acne Treatment

By Judie Stanford / May 12, 2006 / Uncategorized / Health and fitness, Home and Kitchen, Personal Care / 31 Comments

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

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Gadget Brando Whirl Wind Cup

By Julie Strietelmeier / April 24, 2006 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen / 9 Comments

You probably never imagined that drinking your morning cup of coffee or tea would give you the ability to display your Gadgeteer spirit, did you? I mean, besides a coffee maker, what type of gadgets could a gear-head use to help with that first blast of caffeinated goodness? How about a special mug that can

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HoMedics QUAD-Roller Massaging Cushion

By Julie Strietelmeier / April 20, 2006 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Personal Care / 4 Comments

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

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ScoopFree Automatic Cat Litter Box

By Julie Strietelmeier / April 17, 2006 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen / 62 Comments

I’m a cat person, who turned into a dog person, and who is now a dog person trapped inside a cat person’s body. I know that was kinda hard to follow, so let me try to explain… When I was a kid, I was 100% a cat person. This is probably because we never had a dog the whole time I was growing up. We had a big Black and Grey tiger striped cat named Pepper. He was an outdoor cat that only came
inside to eat and hang out. At night, he went right back outside; we
didn’t have a litter box for him in the house.

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Smarthome 1900 Weather Station

By Judie Stanford / April 4, 2006 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen / Leave a Comment

Unlike those people that can tell when a storm is approaching by the ache in their knees or by the call of a rain crow, my meteorological abilities usually only manifest about thirty minutes before the storm hits – when I can smell the rain in the air and once I have heard the rumble

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MSN TV 2 Internet & Media Player

By Julie Strietelmeier / January 9, 2006 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen / 26 Comments

A few years ago I suggested to my Dad that he purchase a WebTV box so that he could surf the Internet and send emails. Not being very computer literate, I thought this would be a good solution for him. It turns out that I was wrong. Mainly because the service was slow (dial up)

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Sleeptracker Watch

By Julie Strietelmeier / October 31, 2005 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Personal Care, Watches and Clocks / 18 Comments

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

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LeakFrog Water Alarm

By Judie Stanford / September 28, 2005 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen / Leave a Comment

A couple years ago, we had a hot water pipe spring a leak under the sink of our upstairs garage apartment. We had no idea that the leak had occurred because there wasn’t an obvious drip down the inside walls of the garage. In fact, there was no warning at all. Had we discovered the

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Datexx Sentina LED Smart Light

By Judie Stanford / June 17, 2005 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen / Leave a Comment

As most of you that have read any of my LED flashlight reviews know, there is a long dark hallway that runs down the spine of my home. While this hallway is fabulous for taking pictures of a flashlight beam’s reach or for hanging a mini art gallery, this same hallway used to give my

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C.I.D. Colored LCD Clock Review

By Julie Strietelmeier / April 22, 2005 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Watches and Clocks / 4 Comments

In my never ending search for the ultimate cool clock, I have stumbled upon the C.I.D Colored LCD Clock from Brando’s Watch site. From the description on his site, this time keeper appeared to be right up my alley. Funky, small and chunky. My 3 favorite adjectives when it comes to describing almost any gadget.

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Neverlate 7-day Alarm Clock Review

By Julie Strietelmeier / April 22, 2005 / Uncategorized / Home and Kitchen, Watches and Clocks / 15 Comments

My search for the ultimate alarm clock has led me to American Innovative’s Neverlate 7-day Alarm Clock. Although this clock radio was designed with the busy college student in mind, I thought it might have the right set of features to earn a permanent spot on my bedside table. As the name implies, this clock

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CORDination Station PRO Series 1 Review

By Julie Strietelmeier / January 24, 2005 / Reviews / Computer Gear, Desktop, Home and Kitchen, Power / 9 Comments

It is a known fact that home office floors are the perfect environment for spaghetti breeding grounds. Not Italian spaghetti, but cable spaghetti! Just look under your desk and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Need a real example? Then check out these pictures of just a few of the items that I have in

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Hot and Cold Personal Fridge Review

By Judie Stanford / December 29, 2004 / Reviews / Home and Kitchen / 1 Comment

Product Requirements: A DC cigar lighter / power port or a DC converter (for home/office use) Can you remember back when the first (somewhat) affordable portable travel coolers came out? Sized like conventional ice chests, these devices would keep food and beverages either hot or cold by using a vehicle’s DC power port. At the

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