There's a reason why most WiFi routers come with antennas. Those pointy Batman ears emit the radio waves that deliver your Internet connection to your devices: phones, tablets and speakers as well as door locks and security cameras.
And all's well unless your network had dead spots. In my house, the signal can tail off when I get too far away from the router or behind too many plaster walls.
One way to attack that problem is by focusing the signal on the problem areas. That's what the ZeusPro WiFi amplifier does.
The ZeusPro uses a curved surface to concentrate and amplify a router's radio waves in the same way that the curved surface of a satellite receiver amplifies transmissions from space. And it doesn't require an electrical connection.
The ZeusPro, developed by Mizeus, is designed to strap onto the existing antennas on a wireless router. Once it's in place, Mizeus says the device can boost a Wi-Fi signal by two or three times and decrease lags and disconnections during online gaming. using two ZeusPros can enhance WiFi coverage over a 36-degree footprint.
The ZeusPro is currently on sale for $9.99 or $18 for a two-pack, at the Mizeus website.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us all to be more vigilant about our sanitary habits. We wear face masks when gathering in public spaces and regularly use hand sanitizing lotions. You can keep a mask in your pocket or purse but you can't always count on having easy access to germ-killing lotion.
The people behind the Sani Amigo have an answer to that problem. The Sani Amigo is a small personal lotion dispenser that you can clip to your belt or attach to a neck lanyard that many people wear at work to keep their ID cards visible.
The Sani Amigo is the focus of a current funding campaign at Indiegogo and is scheduled to be available later this summer.
The dispenser has an internal tank that can filled and refilled with the user's preferred lotion or gel. A clear window on the side of the device lets users easily see when the tank's supply is getting low.
The Sani Amigo can also remind user's when it's time for another squirt. A battery-powered timer can be set to vibrate every 30, 60 or 120 minutes. The timer runs on an inexpensive coin-style battery that has a long life and can be purchased at most drug or convenience stores.
Sanitizing lotion is delivered by a pump that swivels out to deliver a squirt and avoids unwanted drips by rotating back to its home position.
The developers of the Sani Amigo said they were inspired by the evolution of COVID masks from bland objects to fashion statements.
That’s when it hit us: sanitizer bottles weren’t keeping up. Either there wasn’t sanitizer around, or we’d forgotten it in the car, or it spilled in our travel bags, or the plastic bottles were uncomfortable in our pockets.
Their goal was to create a sanitizer dispenser that would be more useful and more personal than the big plastic bottles that people have at home to see in some public spaces.
The Indiegogo campaign has already reached its goal of raising $3,985 to finance production but early bird special deals are still available until May 7. Packages start at $25 for one dispenser.
To get a closer look at the Sani Amigo, check out the video below, read the Sani Amigo story at Indiegogo and visit the product page on Facebook or Instagram.
Two things that don’t play well together in this pandemic world are Covid masks and earbud headphones.
Adjust your mask and your buds might go sailing our of your ear. Trust me, I’ve been there.
That why the MaskFone caught my eye. It’s among the new gadgets that made its debut at the all-online CES trade show this month.
It’s a stylish black mask that has a built-in microphone and lightweight Bluetooth earbuds.
The washable mask has a slot for replaceable PM 2.5 filters. The earbuds 12 hour battery life with function controls built into the front of the mask. The buds are IPX5 water and sweat resistant.
MaskFone costs $49.95 and is available on the MaskFone website.
My wife hates all hand-held remote controls - especially if she has to use more than one to operate the television, sound system or streaming box.
The multi-function remotes aren't the answer. She almost divorced me when I got one of those programmable remotes from Logitech.
I'm about ready to get the Tek Pal Large Button Remote Control to use on sets that require multiple devices.
The remote has six large buttons that control a TV's essential functions: power on and off, volume and channel up and down, and mute. That's it. No 10-digit keypad, menu, or video recording buttons.
Each button is super-sized and the whole array will light up for four seconds when any of the buttons are pushed.
A couple of caveats: The Tek Pal only works with a TV, not satellite or cable boxes, and you'll likely have to do the set-up work.
The Tek Pal costs about $19 and it's available on Amazon.
It’s been many years since I opened a computer with a soldering iron in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other. But even with today’s sealed systems, I’ve encountered many tech tasks that required magnification.
Like reading the teeny-weenie type on so-called user manuals that come with many gadgets from China. Or the model numbers and other tiny text embossed on the back of my current desktop computer, mouse and external hard drives.
And then there was the time I had to make some repairs to a drone that hadn’t completely survived a crash landing.
Fortunately, I found a couple of new magnifiers that are proving to be well suited to these sorts of jobs.
One is shaped like a traditional magnifying glass with a large (3.5-inch) round metal lens and a long handle. The lens offer 5X magnification with a small clear bubble on one side that will bump an image up to 10x.
A key feature is the ring of 12 LED lights built into the lens ring and powered by a pair of AA batteries in the handle. The lights are activated by a thumb button on the side of the handle. One press turns on the lights and a second press bumps them to a higher level of illumination.
The same company offers a second magnifier that has a slightly smaller lens that also has 5X and 10X magnification.
This one has a ring of eight LEDs powered by three AAA batteries and an USB charging cable if you're using rechargeable batteries.
This smaller version unfolds to turn a hand-held magnifier into a static desktop magnifier. That setup is perfect for times when you need both hands free. I used it when I had to remove several super-small screws on the case of a toy I wanted to open.
What happens to your old car battery when it goes kaput? The repair shop that sells you a new battery will tell you that it gets recycled and that’s probably true.
But the recycling likely takes place in Mexico or some other country where environmental protection laws are not as strict as those in the US.
Thomas Hoops has a better idea. The inventor and entrepreneur has developed a device that brings dead car and truck batteries back to life.
At his ReVolt Battery Exchange store in Reno, NV, Hoops says he has revived more than 10,000 batteries - including one that was 26 years old - and he resells them, most for about $25.
Now Hoops wants to expand the reach of the ReVolt technology by making his device available to people who would open their own stores as well as to anyone who has to deal with more than a few dead batteries.
I want farmers, ranchers, people in remote areas, villagers, people who live on boats, motorhomes, car lots, auto shops, fleet owners, school districts and more to have a tool like we're using in my business today that will recover their dead batteries as well as add many more years of life to their working ones.
To finance his goal, Hoops launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo where he hopes to raise $5,000 over the next 3 to 4 weeks. The money would be used to build the ReVolt Pro-S1 device that brings old batteries back to life.
On his Indiegogo page, Hoops said the funding will allow his to commit to producing between 1,000 and 2,000 units in the first year and as many as 4,000 the following year.
Those who back the project by contributing $625 can choose a Pro-S1 unit from the first production run, shipping this summer, or from the second run that will ship in the fall.
To get more details about the ReVolt project, check out the video below and visit the Indiegogo page or the ReVolt Battery Exchange website. The site includes Hoops' blog where he offers advice about batter care and and usage and tips for dealing with boat and RV batteries.
There are many services that will park your photos videos on a cloud-based server, but there are also times when you might prefer having a more personal storage solution.
The Kwilt Shoebox aims to fill that need with a tiny device that turns a thumb drive or other USB hard drive into a private and portable server.
Kwilt lets users offload photos and videos from their mobile phones, then share them with friends or family members through a Kwilt app.
After I met the folks from Kwilt at this year’s CES, they sent me a sample of the device to check out. The tiny gadget has connections for a power cable and a USB storage device plus an HDMI output plug for displaying content on a TV to monitor.
To get things rolling, I linked the Kwilt to my home WiFi network, then used the free Kwilt app to transfer content from my iPhone. That process had a few hiccups. It took several tries to move my 23,000 photos from the phone to a 500GB portable hard drive but eventually, all of the still photos showed up in the Kwilt app. I’m still working on offloading my videos.
Now that my photos are safely stored on the USB drive, I can delete some from my phone, freeing space to shoot more.
The Kwilt Shoebox works with both iOS and Android devices and has a very affordable price tag of $49.99. To order one or for more details, visit the Kwilt Shoebox website.
Does it count as innovation if someone combines two products into one? I’m not so sure.
One year at the CES trade show, a company displayed a child’s potty that had a stand for an iPad. Another year at CES, I encountered a gym bad that had a battery-powered speaker built into a side panel. Clever, I guess, but not very practical.
Then there was the device released a few years ago that merged wireless speakers with a mousepad.
It was not exactly a hit. A story in Cnet called it “utterly useless” and a gadget blog warned potential customers that “You really don’t want crappy speakers at your fingertips.”
But there is at least one combo gadget concept that deserves some serious attention. It’s the modem-router combo.
We typically by modems and routers as two separate products. The modem connects a single computer to the Internet through the phone or cable system. If you want WiFi — and who doesn’t? —you also need a router.
And not just any router, it has to be one that works with your brand of modem and you better be prepared to do some configuring and tweaking.
In the past few years, cable companies and other Internet providers have begun offering modems that come with a router built into the same package. That reduces set up issues and they often cost less than buying two separate products.
Cable and IP services typically offer modem-router combos for a monthly rental fee but you can also find dual-use devices for sale and buying one outright often saves money.
When the guy from the local cable company came to set up my new Internet service, he offered to install one of the company’s approved modems, which I would come with a monthly charge that would last forever, and to also provide a wireless router, which would also have a monthly fee.
What he didn’t tell me was a) I could buy my own modem and/or router and avoid the monthly charges, or b) I could buy a modern and router combo in a single box.
I hadn’t heard about modem-router combos until I came across Blue Gadget Tooth, a blog that reviews a variety of digital communication devices and services such as Bluetooth speakers and cloud storage services. The site also contains a detailed review of five different modem-router combos.
Why go with a dual-purpose device? For starters, you’re dealing with a single box, and that makes installation easier and reduces the potential for compatibility issues along with space requirements.
The article looks at five combos from these brands: Motorola, Netgear, Zoom Telephonics, ARRIS and TP-Link. Each review looks at the download speed and the pros and cons for each device. One device gets the blog’s Editor’s Choice designation and another is rated Best valuer for the money.
No spoiler alert here. If you want to see which combos got the best scores, just click here.
How scary is this? You unexpectedly receive a small package and when you open the unlabeled box, you’re greeted with the sound of Donald Trump talking about his, um, hands. “Look at those hands. Are they small hands?”
You know where that’s going to go.
It’s called Trump in a Box and it’s brought to the world by Rick Roll By Mail, a company that capitalized on a popular prank called the Rick Roll. According to Wikipedia, Rickrolling “is a prank and an Internet meme involving an unexpected appearance of the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.” On the Internet, the victim clicks on a link that supposedly points to some unrelated material and instead gets a mini serenade.
In this case, the developers have captured the Trumps boast from one of the Republican debate where Trump appears to be bragging about the size of his manhood.
The company is taking $10 pre-orders for a Trump in a Box on the Rick Roll By Mail website where it still sells Rick in a box for $14.
When our kids were teens off doing who knows what with the family car, I would often check the odometer to see if they had strayed far beyond the boundaries we had set. That was a poor way to keep tabs on them, but it was all we had.
Today, I could use the Scout GPS tracker offered by On Demand Tracking to get an alert if the car was speeding or if it crossed the parental perimeter.
On Demand’s Scout is a device that plugs into the the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) port that sits under the dashboard of any vehicles made since 1996. Using cellular networks, it transmits real-time data that is displayed using the company’s software.
In addition to tracking teens, the Scout can be used to track elderly drivers or commercial fleet vehicles. On demand offers subscription plans that start at $22.50 per month to get data transmitted every two minutes.
More information is available at the On Demand website and a free demo can be arranged by calling 317-662-4636.
Gizmo Review
My mother is no longer around to correct my bad posture, but I may have found a digital substitute. After a few minutes of leaning back in my desk chair or hunching over my keyboard, I feel a vibration in my midsection. It’s not my phone vibrating, it’s Darma telling me to sit up straight by delivering a literal kick in the butt.
You know those apps and devices that periodically tell you to stand up, walk around or stretch you limbs? Darma does that working with a smart seat cushion and a companion app. The cushion and app know when your posture is bad and when you’ve been sitting too long and it lets you know with a notification on your phone and buzz on your backside.
The sample cushion that Darma sent me arrived in a well-padded box that contained the cushion, a charging cable and a travel bag. The cushion has a soft ventilated leader surface with a power button and USB socket guilty into one side.
I connected the USB cable to charge the cushion while I downloaded and installed the Darma app from the iTunes App Store. Darma also has app for Androids in the Google Play store. I created a personal account with the Darma app and used Bluetooth to link the app to the cushion. That was as easy as adding a wireless speaker or headphones.
The Darma cushion is designed to work with weights between 90 and 260 pounds. The battery is supposed to last about 15 days - that was consistent with my experience - and it shuts off if you don't use it for three days. A lighted ring around the power button notes when the cushion is battery is low and when the device is connected or disconnected to the Darma app.
Once the app and cushion were talking to each other, the Darma system began tracking my sitting experience. It knows when I lean left or right, forward or backward, and when I stand up. Fiber-optic sensors embedded in the cushion also track my heart rate and breathing and use the metrics to determine my current level of stress.
Notifications are delivered through the app or by vibrations in the cushion. Darma does not appear to have a specific appear the Apple Watch or other smart watches, which would be a welcome addition to the Darma program.
Darma also acts as a as a coach. The app delivers posture advice, reminders to stand up tailored stretching and breathing exercises based on my personal behavior and habits.
During the setup phase, I told Darma I wanted help with occasional lower back pain. Now, as I write this, Darma says “Stand up for 1 minute now will help help relieve your pain later.”
That back pain is the main reason I wanted to test the Darma cushion and so far, I think it’s helping. And, I think Mom would be pleased.
The Darma cushion is expected to have a list price of $199 when it is officially launched. The company is currently accepting advance orders at $179 on the Darma website.
Note: The Gizmo Editor is an Expert Influencer engaged by Xberts.com, which provided a sample of the Darma cushion.
Tired to dragging your suitcase through airports, hotel halls and down sidewalks? The Israeli company Nua Robotics has designed suitcase that will follow you like a good puppy.
The carry-on case uses a built-in camera sensor to know where you are and where you’re headed. The device use its battery to charge your electronic devices.
Of course, you are on your own when it comes to stairs and escalators.
No showed a prototype of the suitcase at CES this week. It did not disclose plans to sell the suitcase or how much it might cost, but it is taking emails at the Nua website.
Like most smartphones, mine can always use a little extra juice. By the time I arrive at a pub or restaurant for an evening drink or meal, my little battery icon is well below the halfway point.
And, of course, I don’t have a charging cable and there’s no power outlet nearby. But there would be if the table included a set of Circle coasters instead of cardboard disks sports a beer logo.
The Circle is an elegantly engraved wooden disk that has a charging cable nestled inside it’s outer rim. While the coaster collects condensation from your glass, the cable recharges your iPhone or Android device.
The Circle is the creation of ChefCherger, a Boston-based and MIT-affiliated collection of inventors and thinkers. The crew is currently raising production funds with a Kickstarter campaign that aims at collecting $45,000 over the next four weeks.
Backers who pledge $80 will get three circles with cables of their choice (iPhone or Android) and wooden charging cradle. Backers who spend a little more can have the coasters customized with text or an image. The Circle is scheduled to be available in March, 2016.
When I flew to Las Vegas for the annual CES trade show in 2014 my airline gave my suitcase a little side trip. While I arrived in Las Vegas safe and sound, my clothes flew off to parts unknown. It took the airline four days to locate and deliver my luggage - just in time for my return trip home.
Every frequent traveller has had a similar experience and every one of them would love to know just what happened to their baggage and their possessions. A new gadget called BagSentry plans to tell them.
Developed by CargoSense Inc., BagSentry is a sensor that can record when and how often a bag is opened and if it’s dropped, damaged or left out in the rain. And it will deliver a detailed report that can be used to support a claim for lost luggage or damaged contents.
The sensor is housed in device that’s slightly larger than an ordinary thumb drive and it’s programmed using a mobile app. Users input in the airline, travel date and flight numbers and toss the sensor in with their clothes and other items.
The sentinel has a light sensor, so it knows when the bag is opened, a shock sensor and the ability to recognize the airport where it departed and landed. After a trip, the data can be transferred to a computer using a USB connection and BagSentry software will produce a detailed report.
CargoSense has completed development of the sensing device and it has a Kickstarter campaign under way with a goal of $100,000 to finance development of app. Backers who contribute $80 or more will be in line to get one of the first BagSentry units along with six trip reports.
The BagSentry system is scheduled to be available in the spring of 2016 with a list price of about $130 with a fee of about $4 for each trip report.
For more details, check out the video below and the full description on the Kickstarter page. You can also follow BagSentry’s progress @bagsentry on Twitter.
Now that we’ve turned back the clocks for the winter, my evening dog walk often comes after dark. Safety says I should carry a flashlight, but I don’t want to lug along the big and heavy MagLite that we keep in a closet.
That’s why I have my eye on the J5 Tactical V1-PRO Flashlight. It’s a small and lightweight LED light that can throw out a strong and bright light despite its size.
According to the folks at J5, the V1-Pro has an adjustable beam that can sweep light over the length of two football fields on a clear night. It has a high and low intensity setting plus a strobe setting for bike riders. And it runs on a single AA battery.
You're at the halfway point of a week-long camping trip in the back country. You'd like to get a weather report but you're out of cell phone range. The Weather Point 2.0 is designed for just that kind of situation. Described as the world's smallest personal weather station, the device is an individual key chain weather station that measures temperature, humidity, UV index and atmospheric pressure. The readings are displayed on your smartphone based in your exact location. The sensor itself requires no external battery or internet connection.
Weather Point 2.0 is targeted to outdoor enthusiasts who hike, hunt, fish and camp. But it also makes a useful fashion accessory that is described by developers as "cute and elegant, stylish, fashionable, convenient and a very
necessary piece of your daily outfit to help you go through your day
without rain or any other weather surprises."
The sensor is waterproof and durable inside a housing made from aluminum and
titanium. It comes with a free app for Android or iOS devices. Through the app, users can also get helpful information on
altitude, possibility of rain and suggestions for UV protection.
Mind Lab Solution has launched a Kickstarter campaign that has raised more than $100,000 well past its goal of $25,000. Backers who pledge $23 will be in line to get a Weather Point in a plastic case ($39 for the titanium) when it ships this fall. For more details visit the Mind Lab Solution website.
When I headed out for a three-day hike along the Appalachian Trail with a group of Boy Scouts some years ago, I knew our mobile phones and walkie-talkies would not keep us in touch with the guys at our base camp.
But the new Roampod would have been a perfect device to keep in touch or if there had been an emergency.
The Roampod provides a communication channel when other conventional channels aren’t available.
The portable snap-on gadget uses Bluetooth and a mobile device to connect to another Roampod over a long-range radio frequency. The Roampod doesn’t need a mobile phone signal, just a Bluetooth device to serve as a keyboard for text chatting. That means it will also work with a portable device like a tablet or iPod Touch that doesn't have phone service.
The typical range of Roampod is up to 1 mile in the city and up to about 20 miles in rural areas where two Roampods are along a line of sight. That could be attractive for farmers, ranchers or climbers — anyone working in remote areas where a cell phone isn’t practical.
The Roampod is slated to be priced at $249 for two units but when the developers launch their Kickstarter campaign, backers can get two for $149. To be notified when the campaign starts, sign up at the Roampod website and follow @roampod on Twitter.
When I got a new Canon Rebel camera a few years ago, the first accessory I bought was a hand grip. It not only lets me focus and shoot, it also lets me keep a firm grip on an expensive piece of equipment.
Now that I use my mobile phone more often for stills and videos, it should have the same sort of protection. The new Grip Dat looks like just what I need.
Grip Dat is a selfie stick that has multiple functions. It works with any mobile phone - and the GoPro video camera - to provide a secure handle for taking one-handed photos or videos. It has a monopod base clip with adjustable tilting capability and a Bluetooth button to shoot a photo start recording video with one touch. It can be mounted for remote shooting and there’s a wrist tether for added safety.
The Grip Dat folks are currently running a Kickstarter campaign that has surpassed its $9,500 goal. Backers who pledge $25 or more will be in line to get a Grip Dat when the gadget ships in September. You can get a closer look at the Grip Dat on the Kickstarter page and follow @gripdatnow on Twitter.
The bouquet of flowers on our kitchen counter looked lovely when we left for a long weekend. But when we returned, we were greeted by a sorry sight: brown, wilted flowers with their petals strewn around the floor.
That wouldn’t have happened if we had the Fragrant Electric Vase, a modified flower vase designed to deliver beauty and a pleasant smell without an expiration date or the need for fresh water.
The vase combines a permanent flower arrangement with a scented candle that becomes an air freshener when it’s plugged into an electrical outlet. The vase offers six flower types and five refillable fragrances. Users can mix and match favorite flowers with their choice of fragrances.
The vase was developed by Colorful Vase Collections, which has a Kickstarter campaign under way with a goal of raising $15,000. Backers who pledge $29 will be in line to receive a Fragrant Electric Vase with delivery estimated in December.
I started reporting on gadgets and gear when Atari ruled electronic games and computers used floppy disks. My weekly column ran in the The Louisville Courier-Journal and online at USAToday.com and ABC News.com. I was a regular at tech trade shows including COMDEX, CES and the CEDIA show for home theater. Follow @GizmoEditor on Twitter and on Facebook. Contact me at ricman@iglou.comI also create short videos for vendors to use on Amazon and YouTube. Click here to see a portfolio of my recent videos.
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