With the weather cooling off, it gets harder and harder to convince myself to take my bicycle outdoors for an exercise ride, but spinning for miles on an indoor bike can be a mind-numbing bore. Fortunately, the gear heads at PAFERS have released a new exercise aid to help add some motivation to indoor cycling. Their new XSPIN is a Bluetooth enabled device that works with many exercise apparatuses to inspire harder training.
Over the past few years I have worked to eliminate as much of the paper-clutter as possible. The NeatConnect cloud scanner takes “paperless” to an entirely new level by allowing you to scan directly to various cloud services without the need of a computer. It is a case of “the right tool for the right job at the right time”.
Once I started reviewing SONOS, Bluetooth and AirPlay speakers that didn’t stink, I thought my days with wired speakers were over and done. Then I met the Kanto YU2 Powered Desktop speakers. Three notes into the first song I was a fan. The review sample now has a permanent home in my office. Yeah, these speakers are that good.
Philips Sonicare is the #1 dentist recommended power toothbrush in the US, and now their DiamondClean comes in a sleek black color. Available for a limited time, it removes up to 7x more plaque compared to a manual toothbrush. It ships with an awesome inductive charging “glass” and a USB travel case. Judie and I will be going “teeth on” shortly.
If you don’t know what a “Juicy Lucy” is, then prepare to have your mind blown. The Juicy Lucy is a stuffed hamburger filled with add-ins like cheese, bacon, mushrooms or onions. Until now, they’ve been difficult to make at home, but thanks to the Stuff-a-Burger Press, you can make your own version on the grill!
Dan and I both love our Keurig systems. I enjoyed my original for 3 years, but it started to fail, so I replaced it with the K75 Platinum Brewing System. I feel safe in saying that I have replaced it with a device that is better in every way; the K75 is the K-cup lovers dream machine.
The Swann: Platinum HD System is for the seriously security-minded homeowner. The full 1080p HD DVR/camera kit and the Swann View app offer live remote viewing via four HD Cameras recording at 30 FPS. A 4 Channel DVR with 2TB hard drive records 45 days of non-stop video. It even has night vision. Available now at www.Swann.com for $1599.
For the longest time, I couldn’t sleep unless I had at least two, if not three, pillows crammed under my head. For the past few weeks I’ve been testing the Technogel Contour Pillow, and I haven’t used another pillow since. What could be so great about the $169 Contour to cause the early retirement of the “triple pillow alliance”?
A Beautiful Smoke & CO2 Detector?! That’s certainly not a phrase that I ever thought I would find myself writing! I have a first generation Nest Thermostat — which I love. Based on how well it has performed in my house, I anticipate nothing but good from the Nest Protect, available soon in black or white, wired or wireless for $129.
If you want to add great sound to your home theater without breaking the bank you’ll be glad to know JBL just announced their $399.95 Cinema 610 5.1 Home Theater and $299.95 Cinema 510 speaker system. Both are 5.1 stereo systems with powered subwoofers and JBL sound. Check out the Cinema 510 and the Cinema 610. Both ship this month.
We’ve all been there, one of your socks, probably from your favorite pair, goes missing. The sock monster strikes again! Sock Snappers is funding on Kickstarter now to help keep your sock pairs together while washing and drying. These ingenious little snaps clip onto your socks and allow the socks to snap together so they won’t be separated. The plastic snaps clip onto your socks, and they remain there without any special tools and are made of soft plastic material so you won’t even feel them while wearing your socks. Before you put them in the laundry basket, snap the…
RedSeat Entertainment recently introduced its new TremorFX Home Theater seats, which are perfect for any home theater setup. These seats vibrate and pulsate to correspond to the movie’s soundtrack. TremorFX seats use audio processors and wireless transmitters to bring the sound from your receiver straight to your seat. An available HDMI-Out jack on your receiver is all that’s needed. The TremorFX seats can even be used for gaming as long as the video game is run through your receiver. I’m a huge movie buff and these chairs look incredibly comfortable and would absolutely enhance my enjoyment of my movies. Now,…
If you like smoked meats, then, well I guess we can be friends. But not everyone has the room for a big wood-fired smoker or the time to tend the fire for a long cooktime. For convenient home smoking and consistently delicious reults, the Masterbuilt 30-inch Electric Digital Stainless Steel Smokehouse might just be the solution for you!
The WiFi signal in our bedroom has been terrible ever since we moved into our new home. Due to where the Verizon FIOS service enters the house, the wireless router is on the opposite side of the house, and I’ve tried many WiFi extenders to no avail. Finally, my brother-in-law recommended the Windsurfer parabolic WiFi reflector, and it works beautifully! The instructions included in the website linked above are very simple, and all you need is some printer paper, aluminum foil, scissors or an X-Acto knife, and either some tape or glue. You download the template from the website linked above,…
Pet tracking devices have been something of a mixed bag in my house. We tested the Spotlite, which worked well even if it was a little bulky, and the Tagg, which single-handedly gave me as many gray hairs in one malfunctioning afternoon as three months of parenthood has managed. Still, the concept is a good one, and more companies are entering the growing pet tracking market. eTrak, which has a great deal of experience in GPS tracking, is debuting their PetTrak product today! It looks and functions similar to the other devices we have tested, a small device attaches to…
Is it time to replace your leaky old showerhead and bring your bathroom into the 21st century? Then you should check out the Kohler Moxie Showerhead + Wireless Speaker. This clever design includes a removable Bluetooth speaker that magnetically inserts into the middle of a 2.5 gpm showerhead with 60 nozzles; its style will look great in any bathroom’s decor. When I was offered the chance to review the Kohler Moxie, there were two things that immediately went through my mind: the first was that I needed to replace the leaking showerhead in our master bathroom anyway, and the second…
Do you lack a green thumb, but like fresh vegetables? Have only a small space in your yard but want a garden? If so, the good folks at Nourishmat have a special package for you! At $64.95 for the base model, the Nourishmat comes with a weed-barrier mat with plant templates for seeds and step-by-step instructions—perfect for beginners! It is ingeniously simple. Using the companion planting technique, the neat little package helps simplify gardening for busy folks or people with limited space. Everything from seeds (82 seedballs with 19 different garden plant types), garden mat staples to plant location and spacing is…
If you’ve ever dabbled in small home improvement projects, wanted to fix a damaged item or just mold something to a desired shape to hold something, Sugru might be just the thing for you. Perhaps falling somewhere between ubiquitous duct tape and super glue, Sugru is a moldable, self-curing rubber that can bond to a variety of surfaces and is electrically insulating, so clever techies can patch broken cable housings in sundry chargers, adapters and the like. Starting at $10 for a pack of 3 to $18 for a pack of 8, Sugru could be a MacGyver-wannabe’s new best friend. Check…
If you’re a wine drinker that occasionally can’t quite finish that great bottle, you’ve probably been confronted by the problem of vino that just isn’t so keeno the next day. Luckily, Coravin is here with a novel new solution. Thanks to the manufacturer’s ingenious invention, it’s argon to the rescue! I recently got a note from a p/r agency that read, in part, “Don’t you hate it when you just can’t drink all of that bottle of great wine and worry that it will go bad before you can finish it?” Wait, what? “Can’t drink all the bottle?” I am…
Petzila is rolling out the PetziConnect, a webcam and treat dispenser designed to let you interact with your pet, even when you’re not home. Hey, it beats dogTV! My dog routinely outsmarts us. He figured out long ago that he gets treats for two reasons: someone’s at the door, and we don’t want him to eat them, or we’re leaving, and we want him to go lay down on his bed and be a good boy. Bribing him when guests are over is easy since we can keep an eye on him, but the problem with the treats+leaving combo is…
This is a bit of a departure from my normal reviews here at Gear Diary, but I’ve come across some interesting and unique products from the commonwealth of Virginia that are worthy of sharing. Read on if you’re interested in nut butters from Reginald’s Original, hickory syrup from Wildwoods, or the latest release from AOL, Early Mountain wines. In my day gig as a food writer, I get lots of sample products to review. In fact, my UPS and Fed Ex guys must think I’m a lonely old drunk since I have to sign for liquor deliveries a few times…