The Gadgets Page

My brother, Dan, got a iPhone 3GS the day they came out. We were so excited to see it and compare it to our 3G phones. Both he and Mike started loading their favorite game, Peggle, at the same time. We were SHOCKED at how quickly Dan’s phone loaded the game. We were going to film it, but it looks like lots of people out there have already done that, so here’s the best video I found:

Stacey, my sister, bought herself a Palm Pre. I’m sure she’ll be happy to notice the results of this speed test by CNET:

In two out of three of the tests, the Palm Pre kicked butt. When tested against the original iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, the Pre was a lot faster for web browsing and sending photos via email. On the power up test, however, the Palm Pre REALLY chugged, taking well over twice the time of the iPhone 3G and almost five times as long as the iPhone 3GS. The lesson of that test is: don’t turn off your Palm Pre unless you absolutely HAVE to because it will take almost two minutes to turn it back on.

For Mike and Dan, the increased processing speed for games like Peggle makes the iPhone 3GS the best choice, but for Stacey, she was excited about how quickly she can browse the web and send email. What scares ME is this report of a dog whistle noise coming from the iPhone 3GS.

• 3G S application that Apple forgot to mention: dog whistle

Boy Genius Report estimates the sound to be in the 15 kHz range (here’s a clip of a similar sound for reference), well within the iPhone’s listed range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Your personal experience with the sound may vary, as higher pitched sounds become harder to hear as you age.

A call to Apple’s tech support revealed they had no previous knowledge of this issue. They directed me to do a hard reset (holding down the Home button the Sleep button for ten seconds) but the sound remained. The representative speculated it was a hardware issue, and recommended I take the phone to my nearest Apple Store to get a replacement.

Years ago, I owned a Palm E2. It had an annoying whistle every time I turned on the screen. The store let me exchange it for another one, but the second one developed the SAME whistle within a month (but after the two week exchange period at the electronics store). Palm wouldn’t take it back or exchange it for another one and NEVER admitted that there might be a problem, despite the multiple complaints from MANY E2 owners. It was so bad that some people went to drastic measures to get the high pitched squeal to go away.

• Protichnoctem: Palm squeal/whine/noise repair

Until I can get a final verdict on whether the iPhone 3GS has a consistent problem with a high pitched whine, I’ll wait to get the new one.

The fourth of July is right around the corner, so get ready for your Independence Day BBQ the way The Gadgets Page would celebrate it!

The best charcoal grill: Meco Stand Up Red Charcoal Grill

Mike and I bought a grill similar to this one at a garage sale about six years ago. The previous owner had used it once. We could still see the single hamburger mark on the grill. After a good cleaning and tightening of the bolts on the legs, it has lasted us this entire time. Now that it’s time for its retirement, I’m partial to just buying the exact same one to replace it. Ours is a little different because it has a little fold-down table on the right side, but everything else is the same. I can’t count how many wonderful cookouts we have had on our little grill.

Best BBQ Tool Set: Mr. Bar-B-Q 18-Piece Stainless-Steel Tool Set

I thought this would be a great set because after I cleaned the tools, I would be able to put them all away in the case and keep them clean and organized. Unfortunately, the case was lost long ago. All that remains of this set are the tongs, the burger flipper and three of the corn on the cob holders. It’s about time we bought another set of BBQ tools and I’m going to go with the same kit as we did last time. I’m going to keep everything in its case, I promise!

Best argument ender: Digital BBQ Fork

The biggest argument while we’re cooking is whether the meat is “done” or not. I don’t own this gadget, but I imagine it would end all of these arguments. I can see them play out like this:

“I don’t think it’s done. You should give it another five minutes.”

“But that will make it all dry and gross!”

“It’s not safe to eat right now.”

“It’s just fine. I’ll risk a little e.coli to have a tender burger.”

“Let’s let the Digital BBQ Fork decide!”

“See! I TOLD you it was done!!”

Of course, it my fantasies, I’m always right, so the Digital BBQ Fork would agree with me. In reality, I’d probably have to wait the five minutes just like Mike said.

Best BBQ apron for a gageteer: Q-Labs Top Secret Spy Gadgets BBQ Apron

I don’t own this apron, but I want it. What gadgeteer wouldn’t want this awesome apron for both BBQ’s AND science experiments!

In the end, you don’t need a bunch of gadgets to have a great BBQ. You just need some good friends and a bit of good food. Have a happy holiday and don’t burn yourself on the grill!

When I was a kid, I watched a cartoon called Yogi Bear. Yogi and BooBoo spent every episode obsessing about stealing picnic baskets. Picnic baskets like the ones that Yogi stole are available even to this day, but as a child of the Seventies, I had never seen a picnic basket in real life. I always thought they must contain the BEST food in the world. As a starving kid, the picnic basket had been elevated to such a level of imagined delectability, that nothing in the real world could ever compare.

Of course, as a child of the Seventies, we never had a picnic basket. We owned a cooler. That’s where all the good food was when we went to Lagoon or up to the mountains. This blue Coleman cooler was lugged around to every park and outdoor activity in the Salt Lake Valley when I was a kid. Mom and Carol would make the best sandwiches with bologna, cheese and mayonnaise. Just the sight of a blue Coleman cooler makes my mouth water, even after all these years.

This Kelty Pop Duo bag gives the old Coleman cooler a run for its money, now. Just like the cooler, there is a work space where you can make sandwiches or cut fruit, but the Pop Duo isn’t a huge bulky box like the Coleman is. I could carry it alone without any help and the pockets look roomy enough to carry enough bologna sandwiches for the whole family (the soda, however, will have to be stored somewhere else).

The mystic of the picnic basket is alluring to me, mostly because of the imagination of Hanna-Barbera. If you have never seen a Yogi Bear cartoon, here is one that is pretty typical of the show.

Via: Camping Cooler Bag with Built in Prep Table » CraziestGadgets.com

For the paranoid, one of the most eagerly awaited benefits of the iPhone 3.0 operating system is the Find My iPhone feature. By logging into a web page, you can click on the Find My iPhone button and it will track down your phone and show it to you on a map. This is a fantastic feature for the absent-minded iPhone owners who can never find their beloved gadget.

For those of us who are paranoid, however, the Find My iPhone feature has the added benefit of being able to wipe all the data from the phone the second you realize that it has been stolen. Sure, you can see where the thieves are with Find My iPhone, but all of your bank account information sitting on your phone and your home address can be wiped from the iPhone’s memory before the cops show up at the thieves’ door. Once you wipe your iPhone, it will no longer be able to be tracked, so make sure the cops are on their way before clearing the data.

This is not just a feature for the paranoid like me. Here is the thrilling story from The Intermittent Kevin of Happy Waffle fame tracking down his phone that he lost during a Lego convention in Chicago.

• The Intermittent Kevin – Find My iPhone works, and it is awesome.

Then an amazingly lucky thing happened. I refreshed the iPhone location and the circle moved, to the corner of the block, and shrunk in size to maybe 100 feet across. I waited a minute and refreshed again. The small circle had shifted southward down Washtenaw.

“THAT WAY!”

Us three skinny white guys walked at a rapid pace in the direction of the circle. We moved past the birthday party, curious if one of the participants might be culpable, but the circle again shifted farther south. I was ready to break for our car if the phone started moving away faster than we could catch it, but it hovered at the very end of the street.

This feature, however useful it is, is not automatic. You must have a MobileMe account with Apple in order for it to work AND you have to set it up on your iPhone.

• Apple – MobileMe – Your iPhone, Mac, and PC. In perfect sync $99/year

• Find my iPhone: How to set it up

I originally signed up for MobileMe when I bought a new iMac computer. I synced my bookmarks, contacts, and all other information on my MacBook to MobileMe and then when I booted up my new computer, had it download all that information from MobileMe. It was the easiest new computer switch over experience that I had EVER experienced. EVERYTHING matched, right down to my dock at the bottom of the screen. It was worth the yearly fee for that alone, but now that I can have the peace of mind of knowing that I can delete all the data on my iPhone if it falls into the wrong hands, I feel incredibly happy that I already had a MobileMe account set up.

Every time Apple updates the iPhone OS, they have added wonderful features that I wished for and even better ones that I had never dreamed of. Find My iPhone is one of those features. All of the telecom companies have had this ability for years, but not one of them have offered it to us until Apple strong-armed AT&T into acquiescence. Thanks, Apple! Glad to know you’ve got my back!

• Truly awesome lamp made from an Ikea watering can! http://bit.ly/Lr3d #
• Create 3D Stereograms with your iPhone. AWESOME! http://bit.ly/R1GZH #

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• Duplicate calendars and contacts in UR iPhone after you signed up for MobileMe? See the comments on this entry. http://tinyurl.com/n6pjzf #

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NakedJen and I made an incredible find at The DI last March. It was the Halliwell Rapid-Aire Hair Dryer!

The best part was that it was in FULL working order. If you look closely, you can see that the bottom part folds out like a Lazy-Z-Boy lounger (the handle for it is on the right).

I LOVE the font on this.

NakedJen ended up buying this hair dryer and we lugged it home in the Prius (it easily fit, but it was HEAVY to put in there). She wrote about it here:

• nakedjen: You Don’t Know How Hard It Is…: “You don’t know how hard it is to get your dog to pose for a picture in the most amazing and fabulous thrift shop score ever.”

You can see all my photos here:

• Retro Gadgets: Halliwell Rapid-Aire Hair Dryer – a set on Flickr

I love this little television set from Sharp. It looks so Space Age!

When I was a kid, we had a portable television. Sometimes Carol would take it with her in the car. I remember her picking me up from school when I had to stay late and she had the portable TV in the car, watching it while she waited for me to finish with my after school activities.

Now, we can watch a myriad of shows on our cell phones while we wait in line at the grocery store or take walks in the park. It all reminds me of this Benny Hill song so long ago:

I’d like to take her portable TV set and throw it in the deep blue sea.
Why I’m so jealous of her portable TV set because it takes her mind off me.

Being able to take technology with us wherever we go is very helpful. I no longer have to be at my computer in order to answer my email. I no longer have to be at the stereo to listen to music. And I no longer have to be in my living room in order to watch TV. With great power, comes great responsibility. Use your portable television set wisely.

• Gorgeous Philco Pedestal B&W TV http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr38/3643257386/ I want a brand new LCD version of this!! #

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Wouldn’t it be cool if you never had to charge your cell phone again? What if your phone was able to stay charged just by collecting the radio waves that are already flying around the air around you. That is the technology that Nokia is working on today.

• Technology Review: Wireless Power Harvesting for Cell Phones

The Nokia device will work on the same principles as a crystal radio set or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag: by converting electromagnetic waves into an electrical signal. This requires two passive circuits. “Even if you are only getting microwatts, you can still harvest energy, provided your circuit is not using more power than it’s receiving,” Rouvala says.

This is one of those technologies that will eventually show up in our lives and years later, we’ll be saying to ourselves, “Remember when we had to charge our cell phones? We used to have cradles and car chargers and habits in our lives just to make sure our phones were charged and you little whipper snappers come in here with your fancy self-charging phones.” Of course, by then, I’ll sound like an old miner and wave around a cane like I’m going to hit you with it.

It will be cool when it shows up, though!