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La Crosse Technology Professional Weather Center Review

Everybody knows a person who is obsessed with the weather; who knows, maybe you are one. That is how my family is. As far as they are concerned, the television could stay on weather news non stop. They call each other to find out how the weather is “there”, even if the other person is only a couple of miles away. Except for me that is. I can’t stand waiting around watching reports of areas that have no affect on where I am. Internet weather reports are better, and at least I can get the information instantly. The problem is…


Brown Bottle DIY with Mr Beer

The weather is beginning to break, baseball season has started, and NASCAR is getting into full swing. What better time to start thinking about cookouts and libations. With DIY mania in full swing as the weather warms up, at least that’s what my wife tells me as I work on project #49.3 on her “to-do list”, what better way to test your skills than making your own beer.  For those of you brave enough to attempt making your own brew, I have just the site for you. The folks over at Mr. Beer offer 5 different kits that range from…


The Good Nite Lite Review

I know that this has to have happened to you; see if you can picture the scene: You’re laying in bed, and you wake up absolutely positive that it is time to get up, but in reality it’s just the middle of the night. It’s not too big of a deal when this happens to us adults, because we’ll simply look at the alarm clock and immediately realize that we still have some quality sleeping time left before we have to get up. We gratefully roll over, and we go back to bed, right? Young kids on the other hand,…


FreshFridge IC2127 Refrigerator Purifier

Like a lot of guys – I have this habit of keeping stuff in my refrigerator just a little too long. Jennifer and I have this fun game that we like to play called “guess the expiration date”. She randomly pulls stuff our of my refrigerator. Asks – do you know when this expired? To which I typically respond something guy-ish like – you mean milk goes bad? So as you could imagine my refrigerator often has an interesting odor that lingers. When I spotted the FreshFridge for $17 on Amazon I just had to give it a try.


Glasi Hergiswil Pilsner Beer Glass Review

Hello, my name is Christopher, and I like beer. In fact, in my humble opinion, there is only ONE thing that I like about living in Chicago during the winter – my garage keeps my beer colder than my refrigerator.  When they say in those beer commercials that the beverage is best served cold, come to my house between Thanksgiving and Tax Day.  The beer here will be chilled to perfection, and likely, worth the trip into the Great White (Almost) North. When Gear Diary was recently approached by Terra Keramik and asked if we’d like to review their Glasi…


Digital Innovations dvdDR Premier Cleaner Review

Digital Innovations sent me some accessories which may help keep those holiday gifts working like they did the day they were received.  I was sent an array of products; first, I will cover the dvdDr items. First up are the dvdDR Premier Disc Repair and Cleaning products.  Anyone who has had CDs, DVDs, Video Game Discs or BluRay Discs can attest that they will not read properly if they are gummed up with fingerprints or other foreign material like the goo from your son’s PB&J.  While the time tested – and probably not safe – breathing on the disc and…


The Altec Lansing inMotion MAX Portable Speaker for iPhone and iPod Review

I’ve covered iPod stereo docks in the past, but this is one of the first I’ve seen that claims to combine a clear and powerful speaker system with a rechargeable battery for true portability. I went into this review with a bit of skepticism; I guess I just wasn’t expecting much from a battery driven speaker system. It would be up to the Altec Lansing inMotion MAX Portable Speaker for iPhone and iPod to either impress me or prove that my skepticism was warranted; read on to see what happened… Wander around the house, and take your music with you….


HBI DreamKeeper 400 Review

When this device came to us via press release, I of course felt obligated to check it out since I have Sleep Apnea and issues getting sleep.  Does the DreamKeeper 400 keep its promise of increased deep sleep and 78 percent longer sleeping time?  Let’s find out.


Oregon Scientific Grill-Right Review: Grilling Perfection

Every summer, outdoor chefs in neighborhoods are firing up their charcoal, propane, or natural gas outdoor grill. Roll down the car window on any weekend evening in towns across America and most likely the smell of hamburgers, steaks or BBQ ribs will arouse the saliva glands. Whether you are having a neighborhood get-together, summer party or cooking outdoors to avoid heating up the kitchen, undercooked or overcooked food is always a grill master’s challenge. If you cut the meat, the flavor of the juices run out; raising the lid on the grill loses the temperature, and worse, serving undercooked meat…


DIY Mini Desktop Air Conditioner with Ice, a Burger Box and Small Fan

Yesterday here in Connecticut it was hazy, hot and humid. Then thundershowers passed through. Afterwards it was still – hazy, hot and humid. If you’re stuck in an enclosed space trying to fight the heat – check out this do it yourself mini-desktop air conditioner. It runs entirely on batteries and is fueled by ice. If you have a spare hamburg box, some ice and a small battery powered fan – you’re in business. More photos follow. Here’s your parts list: — Burger styrofoam box — A small exhaust pc brushless DC fan the thicker the width the better!!thin fans…


The iwavecube™ personal microwave REVIEW

With Father’s Day rapidly approaching, here’s a way to affirm him with a unique desktop gadget – the iwavecube™ personal microwave. While Dad is toiling away in his home away from home, having his very own personal microwave in his cubicle will certainly bring immeasurable joy. Considering how nasty shared use office kitchen microwaves can be, he’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness. With a iwavecube™ personal microwave in the corner of his 8×8 cubicle, Ole Dad could be sipping on some reheated Starbucks coffee, a SmartOne or instant soup for lunch; or freshening the air with popcorn while reviewing TPS Reports.


Vamoose! Tobacco Odor Eliminator Review

I was twittering one night and Judie mentioned that she had this product to test. Only problem is that the product claims to remove cigarette and tobacco odors and she doesn’t know any smokers. Lucky girl. Much to my eternal shame, I told her that my beautiful, intelligent teenage daughter has decided she is a smoker. The really great part is that the wretched child thought it was a secret even though everything she owned absolutely reeked of cigarette odors. At first she tried to tell me it was from hanging around friends that smoked. She thinks I am stupid….


Evolve Showerhead Review – Save Time, Water and Energy

How often does this happen? You start the shower so that it can warm up and then you’re distracted by other things. Maybe the kids call you from another room, you start folding clothes, reading an article in the newspaper. Suddenly 5, 10 or 15 minutes can suddenly pass and the entire time you’re wasting hot water. Evolve Showerheads has a solution. And it’s not the typical reduced flow showerhead. What they’ve done is add a temperature flow valve that auto-senses when the shower reaches 95 degrees. Then it slows the water to a trickle – saving otherwise wasted hot…


Review: Pur Sleep Aroma Therapy for CPAP Users

First, before we get into today’s review, I want to talk a little about Sleep Apnea. Sleep Apnea is when you stop breathing while you sleep. The worst part of Sleep Apnea is a lot of people who have it don’t even know it. Symptoms of sleep apnea can include: Loud snoring. Waking up gasping for air. Waking up in a sweat. Feeling unrefreshed in the morning. Headaches, sore throat and dry mouth in the morning. Sleepiness during the day. Now I know what your going to ask. How do you know for sure if you have Sleep Apnea?


AeroGarden Pro 100 – Indoor Gardening Made Simple – Review

About 3 months ago I saw an AeroGarden advertised in Sharper Image and did further investigation as it seemed interesting. An appliance you just plug in a seed pod, 2 nutrient tablets and water (no soil! Yay!). And on your counter you’ll quickly have enough fresh herbs to last a lifetime. Being the gadget geek that I am there are very few home devices that have a microprocessor that I don’t own. So this was new and somewhat exciting. Combine nature, healthy eating, and a touchpanel….Joy!


Keurig Ultra B50 Gourmet Single Cup Home Brewing System

While waiting at Valvoline to get my oil changed I was introduced to the Keurig Brewing system which they had in their lobby. This is a coffee and tea machine that uses self-contained cups of tea, cocoa or ground coffee. I’d previously used Senseo machines (leaky, somewhat messy). What interested me about the Keurig was that the coffee is all enclosed in a K-Cup – so there is no messy cleanup or annoying need to grind coffee. So, is this better than the old drip makers? Does it outperform similar machines like the Senseo?


Hallmark’s New Self Adhesive Gift Wrap – Time Saver or Just Tacky?

Hallmark announced on Monday a new line of wrapping paper. Instead of using tape , this paper is self adhesive and Hallmark claims the wrap is “sticky enough to create clean lines and crisp folds without leaving any residue on the gift“. I couldn’t resist testing these claims – so I headed to Hallmark Gold Crown (the only place it’s sold). Here are my thoughts on whether this is worth the extra $1.20 per roll that I paid ($4.99 for adhesive vs $ 3.79 for similar sized regular wrapping paper). P.S. – Even if you’re not looking for wrapping paper…


The Litter-Robot Review: Never Sift Through Your Kitty’s Litter Again

Of all the gadgets I have ever reviewed, I think that the Litter-Robot would definitely win the title of most offbeat, but it was well worth doing. I unboxed the Litter-Robot in late January, set it up, and then sat back to see whether Avah would accept this “spaceship” as her litter box. It will have been two months tomorrow, and we have both lived to tell about it, so that should immediately tell you that things went well. But let’s go back to the beginning…


Hava Gold Review

With the Hava Gold, you can watch your TV, anywhere you can get an Internet connection.  Does the Hava Gold give you what you want, or does it provide a gilded experience?  Let’s take a quick look and see how it goes… Software Installation Installing the software went about as you thought it would. However, there were a couple of interesting steps that I’d like to take you through.  Before anything else happened, after inserting the software CD into the drive and clicking on the software installation link, the following graphic appeared: Hava Driver installation The start of the device…


A Open Source Router with more power! The LX800-40 Review

Now, Open Source software has been running on routers for quite sometime, however most routers like the Linksys WRT54GL have limited resources. They have limited ram, limited CPU and limited on board storage. This limits greatly what can be done with the router software wise. So, eventually, you run up against a wall with what you can do with the router. Even if you can get the software setup on the router, sometimes it seems like it’s just slow or you wish it was just faster than it is now. David Samms and New World Data Systems based here in…


Setting Up and Using the Roomba 560

Today I unboxed and set up my recently received iRobot Roomba 560 evaluation unit. I figured it might be fun for those of you who are curious to see what’s involved…and then we could send it on a test run together. Consider this part one of its review, because I will be posting initial impressions tonight and final impressions after having used it for a good bit longer. I like the promise written on the box, “cleans routinely so you don’t have to.” Yes, please! This model is supposed to be able to clean four complete rooms, it can be…