Las Vegas, Baby!

John is out in Las Vegas at CES with the rest of the Livid Lobster team, helping me shoot a TON of stuff for GeekBeat.TV. He hasn’t had a chance to blog all week, but wanted you guys to see what we’re seeing at CES, so here are some CES highlights from today:

CES 2011 Highlights

Casio TRYX

Casio came out with a very different looking camera, called the TRYX.

Gary Shapiro, CEO

First up, a look at what it takes to put CES on, straight from the CEO & President, Gary Shapiro:

Star Wars on Blu-ray

Panasonic and Darth Vader had a special announcement. Star Wars, the Complete Saga, is available now for preorder!!

Sony 3D Camcorder
John shows you this Sony 3D camcorder he fell for…

Panasonic Viera Connect and Panasonic Tablet

Yep, a tablet! How’d you guess??

Let us know what you think about the stuff being announced at CES!!

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Here’s a fun one folks! Cali teamed up with the Discovery channel’s The Colony experiment and put together this Top 10 list of survival necessities. If you find that the world is coming to an end, you might just want to have these items on hand.

My favorite is number 5! Let me know what you think. ;-) By the way, you can head over to Cali’s blog for the show notes including links to all the goodies in the list.

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A few weeks ago I got a brand new piece of art from Trey Ratcliff, who specializes in hdr photography. And I’m not talking about a little 8″x10″ photo or anything… I’m talking about a 5 foot diagonal full color photograph specially printed on a high gloss aluminum surface.

The photo is one Trey took in Central Park which I immediately loved and asked him to get printed for me. Here is a little video of the un-crating of this magnificent piece of wall art.

If you have some room in your home or office for museum quality photography I highly encourage you to contact Trey and just make it happen. He’s one of the most accommodating artists you could ever want to meet, so just give him an idea what you’re looking to do and he’ll take good care of you. Here is his page that lists current hdr prints, but keep in mind that as long as you have the budget I’m sure he’ll make any piece available for you.

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I believe that Jake and Amir accurately summarize all of the points about why I think the iPad is such a revolutionary tool. You’d be wise to heed their advice and run out and get one. Or two. BUT NOT THREE!!!

Of course, I am going to give one away soon, so you could also just try and win it…

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I’m a big fan of Rain X, the automotive window glass treatment. It is designed to essentially fill in the tiny pores on the glass on your windshield and make it super slick to rain, snow or ice.

Since most people have never used a glass treatment before I figured I would show you a video of it in action so you can see why it’s so valuable. As you will see, Rain-X causes the rain to sheet right off the window – even at over 80 miles per hour. In fact, the faster you are going, the more effective it becomes, especially when compared to windshield wipers which can have a very hard time sweeping the rain off at higher speeds.

This video was taken when my NSX got caught in a heavy downpour (I would never otherwise take it out in the rain!), and it’s best if you make the video full screen by clicking on the little icon in the bottom right of the video window that looks like 4 outwardly expanding arrows.

If you’d like to see another demonstration, they’ve got one over on the Rain-X Website. Enjoy.

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Today it’s snowing in Dallas. Rare, but it happens. Even more often we get terrible ice storms. And there is nothing worse than trying to scrape ice off the windows of a car for like half an hour when its freezing outside. So guess what… You don’t have to do that!

If you have a vehicle that you can’t park in a garage, like my big ass Nissan Titan pickup truck, you can get a Windshield Cover and just put it over your window before the storm comes. Then, no matter how much ice comes down, when you are ready to go you just pull the cover off the window and there goes the mess with no scraping!

If you’d rather not spring for a $10 cover (or these $6 disposable ones – Frosty Fender Disposable Windshield Cover) you can just take a large garbage bag and split it down the sides – leaving it attached on the bottom – then when you spread it out lengthwise it should be wide enough to cover the whole window. Same thing with a little painters dropcloth from Lowes or Home Depot. Just find some plastic sheeting and cover the window and you’ll be all set.

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I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I’m in the shower it seems like I’m always coming up with good ideas – or at least thinking of things that I need to do. The problem is, I’ll think of five things… but by the time I’m done I can only remember two!

Well, I was watching a show with some divers in it when one wrote on a notepad to communicate with another and it hit me! That is how we can make notes in the shower! So, I ordered a large underwater dive slate from Amazon and gave it a try. Guess what… it’s perfect!

You can just use a normal pencil and eraser on the pad, which works out very nicely. I would also advise purchasing a small suction cup with a hook on it so that you can attach it to your shower wall and leave it hanging there.

So if you have this same problem, now you’ve got a solution for under $10. Enjoy! Oh, and please let me know how it works out for you if you actually buy one…

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You know, I’ve always been bothered by the fact that if I want to actually attach 10 sheets of paper together I need to spend like .001$ on a staple to make that happen. But now my dreams have been answered!

Someone has spent untold numbers of hours engineering this little plastic marvel which will apparently do away with all the inefficiency of an actual stapler and instead punch some sort of little slit out of a stack of pages and then fold it back over through it’s self. Surely this will save the environment, money, and probably mankind itself.

So long as you don’t need to attach more than about 6 pages. Then it’s right out. Here is a video that shows you exactly how it works. Enjoy.

Get em here.

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Hey folks, this season there are going to be some serious deals to be had if you’ve got the spare cash to take advantage of them. But don’t run all over town hunting down those damned Black Friday deals! First of all, they never have the item you went for in stock, and secondly… just remember all those lines and whiny people!

Instead, prepare by doing your research online, and keep an eye on the following Web sites to see all the hottest deals being offered. The key is to act quickly, because a lot of these deals will disappear quickly.

First of all, if you absolutely insist on participating in Black Friday, here are a couple of sites that will show you all of the ads that retailers are putting out. This can at least help you plan your attack, even if you have to get up at 4am to do it.

• BFAds.net
• TGIBlackFriday.com
• BlackFriday.fm

In addition to Black Friday, you can shop the online equivalent, Cyber Monday:

• CyberMonday.fm
• GottaDeal.com
• BradsDeals.com
• DealNews.com
• Hot-Deals.org

In addition to all of those sites, here are a few to keep an eye out for on Cyber Monday. It’s like these guys are giving free money!

Newegg Cyber Monday Deals

• 20% Cashback when you pay with Paypal

Best Buy Cyber Monday Deals

• 12% off in-store coupon

Circuit City Cyber Monday Deals

• Extra 10% off $249

Overstock Cyber Monday Deals

• 13% off any order + Free shipping

Google Checkout

Just create an account, pay with it, and get cash!

• $10 off on orders over $30
• $20 off $50
• $10 sign up Bonus

If anyone finds any really killer deals please drop a comment below because I’m always on the lookout myself!

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Two years ago I paid $2,000 for the predecessor to the Sharp 42″ HDTV that Dell currently has on sale for $799. If you’ve been waiting for a good deal to purchase a new TV for yourself, this is the best deal you’re going to find this season on a kick ass TV.

The Sharp 42″ AQUOS Model: LC42SB45U television features:

• 1920 x 1080 resolution – Full 1080p!
• 6.5ms response time
• 500 nits brightness
• 178-degree H/V viewing angle
• 8000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
• 3 HDMI Inputs

This TV is currently $1,000 on Amazon, and $1,099 at Best Buy.

So, head on over to Dell and pick one up now before they are all gone. Hey Pop! This means you!

EDIT: Just discovered that you can also get it from Costco Online for the same price, but a little more shipping. Might be worth it to have the abiltiy to return it to a local Costco if you’re a member. Plus for Executive members you’d get your 2% back at the end of the year…

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I’ve really got to get me one of these T-shirts!

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Folks. I have a confession to make. I’ve been secretly cheating on all of you for some time now. Oh, and to make matters worse, I’m proud of it.

Yes, you already know that a few months ago I joined Layered Technologies as the Chief Marketing Officer… but I’ve got another on the side. And she’s called Woopra. I’ve been secretly working with Elie Khoury and Jad Younan on this project, and we just unveiled it yesterday at WordCamp, making Beta accounts available for the first time for all participants.

What can I tell you about Woopra? She’s hot, smooth, smart, and sexy. But don’t take my word for it… Here is what Cali from GeekBrief had to say after just a few minutes with Woopra.

So… Do you want a taste of Woopra? It’s in VERY limited beta right now, but I will send invitations to track one Web site over to my regular readers… so if you want to give it a try, drop a comment below. You need to be a registered user on my blog, or an e-mail subscriber so that I can know that you’ve actually been a reader for a while in order to qualify. (Regular known commenters qualify too.)

If you haven’t been a long time reader, but you go ahead and subscribe via e-mail with a promise to stick around, I’ll consider handing out additional invites. :-) For anyone else, you can register on Woopra and add a Web site to track and we’ll get around to approving it as we have the capacity. (It takes a lot of infrastructure to support all this…)

Oh, and one other thing, you have to promise to do a writeup about Woopra and tell Elie, Jad and I what you think.

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I’ve got quite a smorgasborg of random links for you guys today. Hope you enjoy!

• I don’t even know how to describe this. Just check out the Hema “product” page.
• Have a dog or cat? Get a Peticure to trim their nails.
• MoreWords.com helps solve crossword puzzles, word games, and generates domain name ideas.
• Clone photos on Flickr are cool. They are photos with the same person in multiple poses.
• Obama leads Clinton 1,611 to 1,480 in total delegate count.
• Barack Obama: On Net Neutrality, which I’ve long advocated!
• Prostitution: A User’s Manual from The Huffington Post
• The universe explained in 4 minutes or less.

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The worst thing about emergencies is that you just can’t predict them. The only good news is that you can plan for them.

Since people are always under duress when an emergency actually occurs it is prudent to assemble a kit that you can pull out when needed that covers most bases. So, here is a fairly complete list of the items you’ll find in my personal stash, plus a couple of extras that might be helpful for some folks with special needs.

Now seriously, why don’t you take a couple of hours and really honestly think thorough this emergency thing. You never know, perhaps the reason you’re reading this article today is a sign. You don’t want to be the person that didn’t pay attention and were left unprepared when disaster struck!

General Supplies

• Duck Tape – The most useful product on Earth.
• Emergency Thermal Blankets – $5, get a few.
• Camp stove or at least a Jetboil
• Can opener
• Canned and packaged foods
• Bottled water
• Wind Resistant Lighter
• THE Extractor – Bite and sting kit.
• Gas-O-Haul – Collapsible emergency gasoline can
• An emergency crank radio is simply imperative.

Illness

• Ciprofloxacin (or Cipro), is a broad-spectrum antibiotic useful against a whole lot of bugs, plus famous for fighting Anthrax.
• Vicks One-Second Ear Thermometer – because no one wants to sit there with a thermometer under their tongue when they are sick!
• Potassium Iodide (Radiation Blocking Pills) $12-22 per family member
  Stockpiling of Potassium Iodide (chemical abbreviation KI) is recommended by health officials worldwide to prevent thyroid cancer of those exposed to radioactive iodine in the event of a nuclear reactor accident or detonation of a nuclear bomb.

The biggest health risk after an accident at a nuclear plant or a nuclear attack results from exposure to radioactive iodine. Other radioisotopes are dispersed and quickly excreted, but radioiodine is concentrated and retained in the thyroid, increasing your risk of thyroid cancer. Even tiny doses, which can be carried downwind for hundreds of miles, can be harmful. Children are at greatest risk.

Taking potassium iodide (KI) before or immediately after exposure saturates your thyroid gland with safe stable iodine so that the uptake of radioactive iodine is blocked. There won’t be time to get it when an incident occurs. The FDA recommends keeping a 14-day supply on hand; radioactive iodine has a half-life of eight days.

Injury

• Triple antibiotic ointment – A cocktail of three popular antibiotics invented in the 1950s that is synergistically more powerful than any of the three alone or in sequence. Trials have shown that triple antibiotic combo reduces scarring better than double or a single antibiotic. It’s an over-the-counter ointment at any drug store.
• Burn Jel or Spenco 2nd Skin Moist Burn Pads – For dealing with burns.
• Precision Tweezers – $12 – When you get a splinter those cheap eyebrow tweezers will only push it in deeper. That’s when you need a good set of Tweezerman Splinter tweezers. They’ll allow you dig just about anything out from under the skin. Alternatively, if you want some seriously sharp tweezers because you have to deal with metal shaving splinters or some other very tiny, yet highly painful, stuff, try som SPI tweezers. – $30
• Self Adhering Athletic Tape/Bandage – CoFlex or Vet Wrap is much cheaper than the human stuff, although you are just going to wrap yourself up with it.
• “H” Compression Bandage – $8
  One of the emergency items I least hope to ever have to use is the compression bandage. You only whip this puppy out in case of massive unstoppable bleeding. But when it’s needed nothing else will suffice, so no emergency kit is complete without a couple of these.
  Make sure you get more than one because certain injuries might require two, or you may need to change it out while working your way to medical care.
• SAM Emergency Splint – $5-40 – Tremendously popular, and for good reason, a SAM Splint is crucial to any medical kit. This foam-padded aluminum splint is adaptable for use in almost any situation on almost any part of the body.
  Waterproof, reusable and invisible to X-rays, SAM Splints may be folded to fit into almost any container and even work well as a cervical collar in emergency situations and are available in a number of shapes and sizes. Here is a very inexpensive generic one.



• Medical Grade Super Glue -Even if you’re a surgeon you’re not likely to have a needle and thread available during an emergency, so in case there is a small to medium sized wound that needs to be closed the best thing you can have on hand is Super Glue, or the medical equivalent.
  • If money is no object, you want some Dermabond (Octyl-cyanoacrylate). This stuff is the Rolls Royce of superglue specifically made for human sutures. There are also other options.
  • Vetbond (Butyl-cyanoacrylate) is a medical grade super glue that is approved for use on animals, but not people because it isn’t packaged in a “sterile” human grade manner. But if it’s good enough for my dog it’s fine for me in a pinch. $15
  • Super Glue (Ethyl-cyanoacrylate). This stuff was used widely in the Vietnam War to patch up soldiers in the field. $3 Oh yeah, you can also use Superglue to actually fix broken stuff.

Water Purification System – $50-150 – You can go without food, sleep and shelter for a while – but you can’t survive without water.

• If money and size are not an issue you can’t beat the First Need Base Camp Portable Water Purifier. It will filter microbiological, chemical and aesthetic contaminants from enough water for a whole group of people. $650
• The MSR Miox Water Purifier will work if you want to purify, but not filter, drinking water. This means it will kill harmful organisms in the water, but not filter out chemicals or contaminants. However, it is small enough to fit in a pocket and only requires salt and lithium batteries. $139
• First Need Deluxe Water Purifier is a non-chemical water purifier certified to EPA Guide Standard for microbiological purifiers against bacteria, cysts and viruses. $97.50

Optional, but Recommended

Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED) $1,250

If you’ve got someone in the family that is at increased risk for heart attack it makes sense to have a home defibrillator around. If it’s needed it can dramatically increase the rate of survival and decrease the severity of complications. Here is a video that demonstrates the unit in action:

Now, with the exception of the water and perhaps a camp stove you can fit everything else on this list into one relatively small container. I personally own 3 Rubbermaid ActionPacker 24-Gallon Storage Containers. They’re basically indestructible and you can get them at your local Target if you want.

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Folks, this is cool. For any of you out there that routinely go camping, fishing, to outdoor sporting events, or even like to take the family to the park for picnics – the Freedom Grill Hitchmount BBQ Grill looks like a fantastic option to carry along and do the cooking on the spot.

I really like everything about the design of this unit, from the secure hitch mount to the articulating arm and even the way the side trays fold into the unit for storage and transport. If there is anything I’d complain about though, it’s the fact that the base unit (offered at Amazon) only has one 12,000 BTU burner. That’s not a lot of heat for doing any sort of serious grilling. For example, steaks are going to take a long, long time, and you’ll never be able to sear them so they’ll come out a little dry.

However for burgers, chicken breasts, hot dogs, corn, and other transportable picnic food this thing should get the job done, and the only thing you need to take with you are some portable propane cylinders.

Now, if you are really serious about your tailgating and you’ve got the bucks to spend on it, they also build the FG-100 with the following modifications:

• Full stainless steel
• Dual 15,000 BTU burners (30k total)
• Grill cover included
• $900 price tag

Oh, and all of these grills come with a 3 year / 36,000 mile warranty.

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My friend Jimbeau took me to a specialty furniture store in Dallas and I saw one of these. It was about $25 Grand or something like that. But boy it was awesome! It’s made by dbFletcher Design.

This round table has the unique ability to grow by about 50% with a simple twist of the table surface. It is a marvel of modern engineering as well as craftsmanship. Truly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.

Here is a brief overview video of the table in action:

This one is of the DB Fletcher Capstan Ilona expanding table:

Here is another variant called the Schwartz Table:

If anyone would like to contribute to the “Get John P a Fletcher Capstan table fund” send a check for $20,000 to me and I’ll do a complete review when it arrives.

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This is so completely off the hook geeky that it is wickedly cool… So, if anyone is looking for an excuse to get me a present, here is the number one idea. A shirt with animated bars that actually detect WiFi signals.

Better yet, it’s available for only $30 at ThinkGeek.com.

Product Features

• Glowing animated shirt dynamically displays the current wi-fi signal strength.
• Shows signal strength for 802.11b or 802.11g
• Black 100% Cotton T-Shirt
• Animated Decal is Removable (with hook and loop fasteners) for Easy Washing
• Battery Pack is Concealed in a Small Pocket Sewn Inside the Shirt
• Runs for hours off three AAA Batteries (not included)

Washing Instructions

1. Carefully peel animated decal from front of T-Shirt
2. Unplug ribbon connector behind decal and remove decal
3. Unplug battery pack and remove it
4. You can leave the ribbon cable inside the shirt
5. Machine wash gentle cycle on cold
6. Hang to dry

And here is a video showing the shirt in action. I know it’s boring at first, so just skip towards the end to see it in action.

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I recently purchased and tested out the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 (I love Amazon’s Free Shipping!) waterproof camcorder to determine if it was going to be a workable solution for snorkeling around a coral reef on an upcoming trip to Hawaii.

In playing with the camera at home I determined that the video quality was much better than I expected, and photos were decent quality for a 6.37 MP camera. I guess I had been expecting to give up some quality in order to gain a waterproof form factor, but apparently Sanyo didn’t think that was necessary!

Before we move on, there are two other waterproof cameras which are the Xacti’s main competitors. The Pentax Optio W30, and the Olympus Stylus 770 W. Here is what the Globe and Mail had to say about those two:

The other two drenchable devices are both 7-megapixel digital still cameras. Pentax’s Optio W30 ($237) and Olympus’ Stylus 770 SW ($270) are both the third-generation attempts by those companies to create waterproof cameras.

It’s not clear what specific aspect of making a camera waterproof requires some companies to use cheaper, lower-quality components — but both Pentax and Olympus have done exactly that. They take pretty poor photos, at least compared with other $300 cameras.

The Pentax’s colors are off, the Olympus’ details are soft; both cameras are slow to fire and almost useless in dim light. The burst modes are very slow, too — the Pentax’s is measured not in frames per second, but in seconds per frame (1.2); the Olympus’ speed is only slightly better.

So, both of these were out of the running for me from the start.

Now, the Sanyo Xacti has several excellent features which initially caught my eye. Although I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the trigger grip style of camera, that gut feeling is only due to the fact that I have no experience with them whatsoever. What the camera does have that caught my eye are:

• Shoot 640 x 480-pixel video clips and 6-megapixel still images simultaneously
• 5x optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD screen
• Built-in image stabilization
• Up to 80 minutes recording time per 1GB memory card (not included) @ 30 Frames per second.
• Records in the excellent MPEG4 video format.

Now, C-Net has a full review of this camera and gave it fairly mixed reviews. Their opening comment is:

The bottom line: If underwater YouTubing were a market segment, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 would be the camera to get. But the awkward design and slow performance make it hard to recommend for landlubbers.

Still, despite what they had to say, after playing with it for only about 30 minutes I shot the following sample video of Murmur the Cat:

I actually found that the form factor of this camera was not so bad. It’s different, but in a way it was actually much easier to hold it and shoot the video than if I were trying to do it with a standard rectangular digital camera. Plus, with the screen folded out to the side, it made the unit a little wider and gave me a better hand hold to stabilize the unit.

Before I go any farther, I must give credit to Ryanne Hodson (check out her awesome video blog) for her excellent video review of the Xacti a few months ago. Honestly, without this review I would never have chosen this oddly shaped little camcorder. So its fitting to share her review with you right here and now:

Also, there are some really nice sample photos and video over at the Sanyo site.

There were two things that I didn’t like about the Xacti VPC-E1:

1. There is absolutely no lens cover. This really worries me. You do NOT want a scratch on that lens, or you’ve just ruined the unit. So it will have to be stored in the holster all the time. This is just sad. It should have a built in retractable lens cover.
2. The image stabilization is only digital, not optical. This means that hand shake is not actually stabilized, but digitally altered, and this is sub-optimal.

All in all, if you want a digital camera that can also take very good video footage, I’m not aware of many that can do a better job than the little Xacti E1. The fact that it’s the only possible choice for underwater shooting is just a really big bonus.

Other References:

• Sanyo’s page on the VPC-CA65, which I believe is the exact same model with a different number for some reason.
• Laptop Magazine’s Xacti E1 Review
• Swim with the fishes from the Globe and Mail

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OK. I’m man enough to admit that I don’t really like beer. But I know that most of my friends do, and if you are reading this article I suppose there is a good chance you, or someone you know does too!

So, everyone knows that the best beer comes straight out of a keg. But who has the room to stick one of those in their kitchen? Especially complete with a full sized keg refrigerator! Well, fret not my little cheeky-monkeys – you don’t have to! Now there is the Mini Beer Keg Dispenser which you can pick up for about $229 and leave permanently displayed on your kitchen counter.

It features a digital display that allows for easy adjustment and monitoring of temperature settings, and a thermoelectric system which provides ultra-quiet cooling.

So really, what are you waiting for?

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Well, a little over a week ago I received my own personal invitation from Hugh Hefner to join the exclusive society of the Playboy Passport club. Ok, it was a form letter, and Hef probably hasn’t even heard my name yet. But the invite does have his signature on it.

What is Passport you may ask? Well, according to Playboy:

Playboy Passport is the elite members-only concierge service dedicated to providing its members exclusive access to the best in dining, nightlife, travel, and special events.

It’s also limited to 1,000 people worldwide. Forever.

Now, a lot of different sites on the Internet have been talking about Playboy Passport in the past month or so. But, to my knowledge, I’m the only person who has actually received an invite that is writing about it. So, here are the first photos of what an actual invitation looks like.

It came via FedEx (or UPS… I didn’t pay attention) overnight, and it’s in a classy silver package about the size of a large book. Inside is a personal invitation letter that starts out:

Dear John,

For over 50 years Playboy has been turning fantasy into reality. Today I have the pleasure of continuing this tradition by inviting you to become a founding member of Playboy’s elite concierge program, Playboy Passport.

Also enclosed is a guide to member benefits, a very nice brochure, and five extraordinary holograms. They are much nicer than any other holograms I’ve seen before.

So, now we have a decision to make… namely, whether or not to accept the invitation.

This is an exclusive club. But it is also an expensive one. I’m waiting on answers to a few questions and have not yet made a decision. So, feel free to chime in if you have an opinion. In the meantime, here are a few of the benefits that come along with membership:

• Global travel and reservation services including airport lounge access, hotel upgrades, and access to private jets and yachts.
• Invitations to restaurant openings, chef’s table dinners, and exclusive dining experiences.
• VIP access to the hottest clubs and lounges around the world (of course, I’m allergic to smoke).
• VIP access to signature Playboy events at the Super Bowl and Kentucky Derby as well as the Playboy Golf Scramble, Playboy Poker Camp, Playboy Jazz Festival, Playboy boutique openings and events, Playboy magazine issue release parties, and more…
• Exclusive, dedicated events at the Playboy Mansion and Palms Casino Resort Las Vegas.
• Invitations to regional member events and networking functions.

I suppose if Hef were to actually call me I’d pretty much HAVE to accept the invitation, but I don’t really see that happening…

So. What would you do if you were me?

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