Short Version: The Dirt Devil AccuCharge 15.6 Volt Stick Vac is a powerful, cordless, rechargeable vacuum cleaner that really, really sucks. It’s priced quite nicely at $65.99, too.

Overview and Features:

• AccuCharge Technology: Longer Battery Life, Charges 2X Faster, Utilizes 70% Less Energy
• Energy Star Approved
• Cordless Rechargeable Convenience
• Powerful 15.6 volt Cordless Vac
• All Surface Cleaning: Motorized Brush for carpet cleaning and Brushroll Shutoff for safe bare floor cleaning
• Fold-away handle for convenient storage
• Charging stand
• 2 Year Warranty
• MSRP of $65.99

Pros:

If you hate vacuuming as much as I do, this Dirt Devil offers the path of least resistance. It’s cordless, so you don’t have to plug and unplug between every room, while at the same time being powerful enough to suck up most ordinary everyday crumbs, debris, and spills. When you’re all done, it’s got a nice little recharging base.

The vacuum works on carpet and bare floors. We have an area rug in our place but not much else that isn’t either tile or hardwood, so I’m not able to thoroughly test it on a fully carpeted room, although it seems that it’d definitely be strong enough for your average, everyday vacuuming. It’s able to grab crumbs, coffee grounds, and various other crap off of our linoleum kitchen floor with the greatest of ease. A single charge lasts about 20 minutes, which should be more than enough for most small homes and apartments.

Plus, at $65.99 you’ll likely be surprised at how well it works. I’d expect it to cost over $100 for what it’s able to do. It feels well-built and isn’t an eyesore while sitting out on its base. The handle folds down behind the container for easy storage, too.

Cons:

Not too many glaring cons here. It’s loud, but that’s to be expected given how powerful it is. Also, you might find that it’s not great for tougher jobs. We use it as our main vacuum cleaner, but we don’t have any pets or children – just a boring married couple. All in all, I’ve been really impressed with this vacuum.

Recommendation:

The Dirt Devil AccuCharge 15.6 Volt Stick Vac is a great choice if you need a powerful, yet portable vacuum cleaner for moderate cleaning in a small home or apartment.

AccuCharge 15.6 Volt Stick Vac [Dirt Devil]

Head over to your local drug store and, next to the other crap marked “As Seen on TV,” you’ll find these Push Up Pros – not to be confused with the Perfect Push-up which is essentially exactly the same device but with a padded hand-rest. But does it really work?

So who is the Zatorski character? Well, he’s some sort of world push-up record holder, so that’s nice. Does that qualify him as a push-up expert? Probably not, be these things – with some caveats – do improve your standard calisthenic workout.

The concept is simple: These things help you use more muscle groups while exercising and keep you considerably straighter and in better form during each rep. Although it’s hard to believe, I’ve been doing push-ups and sit-ups for years and have definitely fallen into some bad habits. Because a push-up is only as good as your form, I might as well be doing disco moves for all the good they were doing me.

To use them, you set them at horizontal and then, as you push up, rotate them to vertical. That’s it. Then you do a bunch of them for a long time. The handles are definitely hard on the hands but if you’re not that heavy – and I’m pretty damn heavy – you’ll survive.

I started using these about two months ago and I can, in fact, feel and see a difference. I’m not saying I’m Jack Lalane, but the change in my push-up style has helped me maintain a straight back and shoulders while reducing the total number of reps. Interestingly, these make push-ups harder and you can only do a few reps before reaching a point of exhaustion.

Could you replace a real weight work-out? Absolutely not. You can, however, do a few nice push-ups and get some minor definition. If you’ve never done a push up in your life, these will keep you in line as you work your way up to a few dozen push-ups per day. Are they worth about $20 or whatever you’ll pay at the drug store? Sure. If you’re looking to mix things and do a few push-ups that will actually do something to your man-boobs and guns, give them a try.

NOTE: SmartParts is closing shop. Do not buy this product unless it is on sale.

Short Version: A built-in e-mail address for sending photos directly to the frame and a gorgeous 8-inch screen barely even out the shortcomings of the SmartParts SPX8WF digital photo frame.

Overview and Features

• 8-inch LCD with 800×600 resolution
• Built-in Wi-Fi connection for local file synching, remote e-mailing of photos, and Microsoft Live “FrameIt” compatibility
• Supports CF, SD, MMC, and xD cards and can act as a USB host for portable drives
• MSRP of $149

Good

The SPX8WF took less than a minute to hook up and within about five minutes, I had pulled down some photos that I’d e-mailed directly to the frame and had them cycling through as a slideshow. Each frame has a cryptic four-letter e-mail address to which you send e-mail messages with photos attached. The whole process is painless, especially since almost everyone knows how to e-mail photos as attachments. Sending huge files isn’t a big deal, either, as the frame will automatically shrink them.

The frame itself is built well and would look really nice in just about any room. We’ve had company over a few times since I started testing this frame and everyone’s been startled to see the pictures on the frame suddenly change. They’d all thought it was just a normal photo frame at first – so big points for blending in.

The 8-inch 800×600 screen is bright and colorful. Photos look great; you won’t be disappointed on that front. You’ve also got plenty of different methods for getting your photos displayed on the frame – I actually found that using Microsoft’s FrameIt service worked best for me because it allowed me to pull in my Flickr and Picasa photos as RSS feeds, so anything I uploaded to those photo sites showed up on my frame.

Aside from e-mail and FrameIt, you can also just plug in a memory card filled with photos and they’ll start playing automatically. Aside from photos, the SPX8WF can play low-res videos and standard music files if you really want to use a frame for that stuff.

Bad

While the e-mail feature is nice overall, it falls short as a useful function due to the fact that you have to manually check the frame’s e-mail address in order to pull down new photos. First-time e-mail addresses that send photos to the frame have to initially be authorized, which is good, but once authorized, new photos from familiar addresses won’t just automatically show up in your frame’s slideshows.

On a somewhat related note, you have to pick your pony as far as how you’re going to store all your photos. If you’ve got e-mailed photos, FrameIt photos, and photos on a memory card, you can’t view them all at once in a big, fat, everything slideshow. You can view all the photos that have been e-mailed to you, all the photos you set up in FrameIt, or all the photos on a memory card, but you can’t mix them all together.

I picture giving a gift like this to my parents and telling them to just keep it turned on and wait for new photos to show up. Since the e-mail function can’t do that automatically, anyone who wanted to send them photos would have to use FrameIt, which is all controlled by one Microsoft user’s account. I can’t tell you how badly I wish that e-mail feature was automated so their friends and family could just zip photos off to the frame’s built-in e-mail address.

Finally, there’s no user manual included with the frame. There’s a quick start guide that directs you to a website to download the full manual as a PDF file but the link to said manual says “Coming Soon” – seriously? And the link to download the desktop software is under the “Tutorials” section of the product page. It took me all afternoon to figure out how to set the frame up for use with FrameIt.

Ugly

The user interface works fine and your computer and the frame can communicate over Wi-Fi or via USB but it’s not much to look at and it takes a while for the program to open. It handles drag and drop, which is nice, but it doesn’t do much else.

Also, make sure your photos are some multiple of 800×600 or they’ll show up with black bars on the sides or on the top and bottom of each photos. My Canon DSLR shoots at a slightly widened ratio, so most of my photos have the bars. Regular point and shoot cameras should be okay, though, as long as they’re not set at 16:9.

Recommendation

All the negatives aside, once you figure out the frame and get everything working it makes a nice addition to the living room. If you’re savvy enough to figure out how to add the RSS feeds of your photo sharing accounts, adding future images is a cakewalk. This is not a frame you’d give to an average person and expect them to use any of the cool data-centric features, though. They’d be better off with a frame that just read memory cards. However if you can put up with a little behind-the-scenes wheel-spinning at first, the fit and finish of the SPX8WF and the big, bright screen make it a pretty decent choice as far as full-featured frames go.

SmartParts SPX8WF [SmartPartsProducts.com]

In lieu of a stand-alone review of all of the pod coffee makers I’ve been reviewing this year I’m going to offer a quick head to head of the two major competing systems in the U.S., Tassimo and Nespresso, and allow you, the reader, to make up your own mind. Coffee, in the end, is very subjective.

I began my foray into pod or Single Serving Coffee coffee makers a few months ago with the Tassimo maker by Braun. The maker was amazingly simple to use – just pop in the pod, wait a minute, and press the button. I got consistently good, hot coffee any time I wanted. I even put away the old French press and regular coffee maker. The coffee the Tassimo made was outstanding and the various flavors, including blends from Starbucks, made it a morning taste adventure.

Then the Nespresso arrived.

The Nespresso model is all about espresso. You can make bigger drinks – called Lungo, which are essentially doubles – but you’re basically stuck with a thimble full of strong coffee in most cases. The starter pack offers a collection of every flavor the company makes – 12 in all – and, in all honesty, I couldn’t quite tell them all apart. But I do love me some espresso…

So here’s what this comparison boils down to. Both of these coffee makers are excellent. They make excellent coffee but the most important consideration is how much coffee you want to drink at a sitting. If you like espresso, the Nespresso is by far the best choice. The espressos each have a different character and nose and, although I couldn’t tell much of a difference between many of them, a connoisseur will definitely be able to tell which one is which. Nespresso also offers limited edition blends and at 55 cents per shot, this is probably the most economical coffee you can get. Another important point: the Nespresso system starts up immediately. You press the button, you get a drink. Tassimo’s two-stage system which requires you to load the disk and then press the button when the light turns green is a bit frustrating, especially if you’d like a fire-and-forget cup of coffee.

Tassimo discs are available at most stores including Target. Nespresso pods are only available online or in Nespresso stores, a very “Apple Store” marketing experience.

If you like a big steaming mug of coffee, however, then get the Tassimo. The disks are bigger and you get a full-bodied cup every time. Because I’m a mug guy, I’m pleased with the Tassimo. I don’t think I could give it up and most other coffees at this point taste like swill.

Bottom Line
So there you have it. If you like espresso, get the Nespresso machine. If you like coffee, get the Tassimo and accept the limited selection of espressos available for the Tassimo system. The prices are about the same and the quality in both systems is excellent. It’s just a matter of taste.

Like my review of the Juiceman, Jr., the Black and Decker 10-speed Cyclone Blender caused me to move beyond my staple meals of ramen noodles, chicken wings, and beer.  I spent time in parts of the grocery store that I didn’t know existed.  As a bachelor, blending isn’t high on my list of food preparation activities, but for you, dear reader, I tied on my apron and blended a variety of things.

Let’s face it: blenders aren’t new technology.  They’ve been around for over 80 years, and chances are the belnders used by our parents and grandparents don’t differ too much in terms of functionality from today’s blenders.

The Black and Decker 10-speed Cyclone has a sturdy base, an easy to clean blade, and a hefty glass carafe.  I was surprised by the glass when I unpacked this thing, as I was expecting some cheap plastic.  The weight of the glass helps lend a feel of quality to the blender, and also helps keep the thing firmly planted on your countertop as you blend your fruits and veggies.

In addition to lots and lots of strawberry/banana smoothies, I’ve also made applesauce, a couple recipes of salsa, and a handful of “breakfast drinks” of different sorts.  I’ve learned that I don’t like honey nearly as much as I thought I did.

The bottom line

The Black and Decker 10-speed Cyclone blender is a solid, no-frills performer.

Many of the gadgets mentioned on CrunchGear are geared for the living room or office.  There does exist, however, an entire range of under-represented gadgets designed for the kitchen.  For you, dear reader, I have explored all that the Juiceman, Jr. has to offer. (Note: that link will resize your browser window.  Bad Juiceman, Jr!)

The Juiceman, Jr. is an entry-level juicer, costing about $80.  It is assembled from a number of removable parts, each of which is easy to clean.  Assembly and dis-assembly is extremely straightforward.  The 1/4 horsepower motor offers two juicing speeds, though I never found the need to use the fastest setting.

To use the machine, you simply drop fruits or vegetables down the food chute.  You can use most whole fruits and vegetables without much preparation.  No need to core apples or pears: just drop ‘em in whole.  The owner’s manual instructs you to peel oranges first, and to not use bananas, so I took it at its word.  This is a review, not a college dare!

Waste material is spit into a collection cup at the rear of the unit.  The owner’s manual suggests that you use the little veggie bag from the grocery store as a liner for the collecting cup, to make clean-up easier.  I wholeheartedly agree with this recommendation: it makes it much, much easier to clear up after juicing.  If you’re into composting, the waste material would make a fine addition to your compost heap.  Depending on what you’ve juiced, I imagine you could use the waste material for other purposes, too.

The juice created spills out the spout at the front and into the juice cup.  The cup has an interesting design: it has a removable “pulp shield” that sits in the front portion of the cup.  As the juice spills out the spout, it falls into the cup and the pulp shield helps separate the thicker foamy bits from the yummy juice you really want.  I didn’t expect it to work very well, but was pleasantly surprised to see it keep my juice more pure.

Cleanup after juicing is very easy.  The parts separate quickly, and a quick rinse in the sink with a soapy sponge was usually all I needed.  Most of the parts are plastic, but the juice filter basket is made of stainless steel.  To clean this you’ll need to use the supplied scrubbing brush, otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting all the food bits out of the fine teeth.

I’m normally not much of a juice drinker.  The occasional glass of orange juice or tomato juice with breakfast at Bob Evans is usually where I stop.  When my Juiceman, Jr. review model showed up I figured I’d try my hand at a few traditional juices, and then experiment with more complex juices.  Apple juice is extremely easy to make: just stuff whole apples into the food chute.  Orange juice is similarly easy, provided that you first peel the orange.  Carrot juice was surprisingly flavorful.

In order to really put this thing through its paces, though, I ventured to those mysterious websites populated by juicing fanatics, learning about ingredients that I didn’t even know produced juice.  Who knew you could juice cabbage?  Or spinach?  I created concoctions named “Strength Juice” and “Health Drink”.  I juiced together combinations of fruits and vegetables that I would never have associated together.  The Juiceman, Jr. handled everything I threw at it.  Most of the juices were quite tasty, though I expect that depends to a large degree on individual taste buds.

My only complaint is that the juice cup is a little small.  It’s not really small — after all, this is a personal, entry-level juicer, not an industrial-strength juicer destined for a cafeteria — but some fruits and vegetables produce more juice than others, and I sometimes worried that the cup would overflow.

If you’re so inclined, you can watch nearly nine minutes of hot juicing action:

If you’re a juicer, why not share your favorite recipes in the comments?

The bottom line

If you’re trying to live a more healthy lifestyle, or know someone who appreciates fresh juice, the $80 Juiceman, Jr. is a fine choice to try out juicing without going full-bore into extreme juicing mania.  If you hate juice, maybe buy yourself a beer-making kit instead.

Product Page [JuicemanJR.com]

Sometimes, the simplest tools are the best: the wheel, the hammer, the chopstick. Today, we can add to that list the FURminator, the pet de-shedding tool. You might say “Oh, it’s just a pet brush.” Yes, it’s just a pet brush. It might be the best pet brush you’ll ever buy.

At $30 for “just a pet brush”, I was skeptical. After brushing a cubic foot of fur out of one of my long-haired cats in only a few minutes, I was sold: this thing does a better job than any pet store brush I’ve purchased. The handle is big with easy to grip rubber ribbing. The teeth of the comb are extremely fine, and do a phenomenal job of grabbing and removing your pet’s loose fur. Remember to be careful not to press too hard when brushing, lest you scratch your pet. The FURminator comes with a protective sheath to cover the teeth when not in use. It’s simple, easy to use, and extremely effective.

I’ve spent a couple days now brushing my cats for just a few minutes each, and each time an absolutely absurd amount of fur is removed. The cats seem to enjoy the process well enough, and their coats already look better. The FURminator would make a great stocking stuffer for that pet-owning friend or family member.

If you’re anything like me, you have a slew of gadgets and a large electric bill. So when Black and Decker came out with their Power Monitor, I knew that this device was going to help raise awareness on how electricity was being used in my house. In order to use this, you will need access to your electric meter and a copy of your electric bill. You first mount the sensor around your electric meter and position the optical scanner correctly which can be difficult, especially with older meters. This took me a while, but I finally got it but it could prove to be your downfall if you have an incompatible meter.

To read the current power usage the device either “scans” the rotating wheel inside your meter or connects to the optical port. If you have a considerably older meter the sensor can’t read the rotation and will fail. There are a few fixes they suggest but none of them worked on John’s meter. It did, however, work on my meter.

You then set up the receiver by first binding it to the sensor module and then entering some information from your electric bill.

This part seems a bit involved, but really wasn’t so bad – looked a lot more complicated for those with tiered electrical billing. The $100 kit displays time, inside temperature, cost per hour and total cost (since last reset).

In the end, I found out that I’m using around 30 cents per hour on average, so I removed a few light bulbs, turned off the monitor, TV and extra lights. Now my house is dark and I bump into things a lot, but I reduced my power consumption by two thirds. Now you too can do your part to support a greener planet. I need to get me some candles.
Product Page

Since we started our Gift Guide I’ve been leaning towards ever more esoteric yet thoughtful gifts for the nerd in your life. That said, I present to you the Black & Decker Smart Driver, one of the coolest little drills you’ll ever own.

How often has this happened to you? You’re trying to install a ceiling fan and you’re on a ladder and trying to drill the fan into a pancake adapter you installed over the old wiring harness. The screws aren’t going in and when they do they go too deep for your big power drill so you have to grab a standard screwdriver and push through plaster and eventually steel to finally seat the base of the fan. Then you’re standing up there and you touch the wrong wire and shock the hell out of yourself and throw the screwdriver across the room. You then sit down for a minute on the couch and refuse to get back up on the ladder and three beer later it’s time to watch Ghostbusters so you’re about done with all that fan noise and you slowly get drunk and wonder what ever happened to Winston.

If you’re saying “John: All the time,” then you’ve come to the right place. This odd little drill has a six position clutch and is able to perform small jobs with aplomb. It includes multiple tips, including tips that fit most IKEA furniture screws and lasts 18 months on one charge thanks to the built-in lithium battery. It’s extremely small and light – almost toy-like – and in our tests it held a charge for about four hours of continuous use.

Two features, however, make this a life-saver. First, there’s a blue LED work light that shines a bright light on the area you’re drilling. This is a lifesaver under sinks and behind appliances and furniture. Second, it has a magnetic screw holder. Oh. My. God. That’s right: you place a screw on the holder and it stays put until you screw it into the wall. This addition in itself is worth the price of admission.

This is not a heavy-duty drill. I wouldn’t send this down to the boys on the job site and expect them to erect a California-style Ranch with this. It is designed for small jobs and small repairs and would make a great PC screwdriver provided you keep the magnet away from the hard drives. It costs $39.99 at Amazon and is perfect for the hardware klutz: it comes with most everything you need and it keeps your screws straight. What more do you need?

Product Page

Quick Version: The $99.99 Pure-Fi Anytime is a good choice as an alarm clock and single-room speaker system. If you’ve got your life on your iPhone, you’ll appreciate this gadget as it pulls double duty as a bedside phone charger and music player.

Overview and Features

• Universal iPod/iPhone dock and alarm clock
• Motion activated backlight and snooze – just waving your hand over the top of the alarm clock acts as the snooze function
• AM/FM radio
• Audio input for non-iPod devices
• Remote control
• MSRP of $99.99

It’s good for…

…people who live and die by their iPhone or iPod. If your iPhone is a major part of your life – contacts, appointments, phone, mobile internet, music, and all that good stuff – then you might as well integrate it into how you wake up in the morning, right?

If you’re the type that has trouble getting going in the wee hours, you may appreciate the ability to flail your arms about wildly when your alarm starts up with the off-chance of activating the snooze. A simple Obi Wan Kenobi-style hand wave within a few inches of the top of the Pure-Fi Anytime is just as good as physically tapping the actual snooze button. The same goes for the backlit buttons on top of the device. They’ll remain dark until your hand gets close to them, at which point they’ll illuminate.

At under a hundred bucks, too, the Pure-Fi Anytime isn’t outrageously expensive. If you have a small apartment/dorm or spend a lot of time in your bedroom, it’s a nice do-it-all alarm clock and speaker dock if you’re low on space.

Not so good for…

…audiophiles, party people, those seeking block rocking beats and/or who wish to be taken to FunkyTown, etc. The sound quality is above average for an alarm clock but a little tinny once you crank it up. It’d also be a little too low-volume for a party, as it doesn’t get all that loud. If you’re from the Midwest like I am, you might be able to throw a successful party because everyone in the Midwest is polite and refrains from talking over one another in social situations. If you’re one of the 900 girls on the East Coast who are each somehow part of my wife’s side of the family, though, forget it.

Also, the remote isn’t really a selling point if you ask me. It’s one of those credit card remotes that seem to ship with every inexpensive audio device on the market. I find myself having to point the remote directly at the Pure-Fi, giving it a nice, hard, deliberate press. Even then, it still doesn’t register sometimes. Not really a direct Logitech issue – none of those tiny remotes seem to work well.

Conclusion

A good choice, especially if you have most of your music on your iPhone/iPod and want to listen while you’re getting ready in the morning. Many people sleep with their phones charging right next to their beds anyway, so you might as well kill two birds with one stone and cut down on the cords to boot.

The price is nice, the motion sensing stuff is pretty cool (if a bit gimmicky), and the unit itself is a handsome piano black which should go well with most bedroom motifs.

Pure-Fi Anytime [Logitech.com]

Like this video? View more here…

While I often blame food on my morbid obesity, I can actually only blame myself. Food doesn’t jump into my mouth unbidden, correct? And sitting on the couch all night when I used to actually run at night when I felt I had too much energy is probably not helping? Right?

Well, now I can confirm that I’m an amorphous blob of flab thanks to the BC-573 InnerScan Scale. This thing tells you your weight, muscle mass, and body fat percentage along with the Visceral Fat – the fat that hangs out around your gut and makes you – me, actually – look like a turd.

First, let’s talk about the design. The images of this scale don’t do it justice. It’s actually quite striking. Invisible leads run through a glass plate and connect the buttons to the main processor under the LCD. The LCD is clear and bright and it’s easy to start the scale with just a tap of your foot. In fact, all of the buttons work with your toes so you don’t have to bend down and waste all those calories.

This model isn’t as complex as some of the other Innerscan models in that it stores only body fat percentage, body water percentage, metabolic age (!!), muscle mass, and visceral fat. You can create multiple profiles and store readings over time, resulting in a sad picture of your overall health.

The scale can hold up to 330 pounds – luckily I come in at just under that – and costs about $109. I’ve seen many Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis scales and this is probably the coolest I’ve ever set foot on. While it doesn’t have the features of more expensive models, I’d recommend this one for the design-conscious consumer. InnerScan and others have other models that take more data points, but the BC-573 looks great and works quite well.

Bottom Line
An entry level body composition scale for the design-concious.

Product Page

The G.E. Digital Speakerphone System offers two nifty features over your standard cordless phone package. First, it has a dedicated speakerphone unit. Second, it has a dedicated Goog-411 button. But wait! There’s more!

In the box

You get two cordless handsets plus base stations, belt clips, batteries and power cords, and a dedicated speakerphone unit. This latter item is just that: a speaker for hands-free communication. You can’t directly dial a phone number with it, but you can answer incoming calls, make intercom calls to the other handsets, and use the thing as a room monitor. In fact, any of the handsets can be used as a one-way room monitor, which activates the microphone but disables the speaker. This might be a handy feature for new parents who got gypped at the baby shower.

The primary base station is the one that plugs into your phone line, while the secondary base station is just a charging station, and has only an AC plug. The primary base station has all the buttons for the digital answering machine, all of which can be accessed from either handset, as well as from remote when you call home.

Features

Each phone can use one of 20 ringtones, plus a special VIP Melody — a separate ringtone to use when that special someone calls (note: requires Caller ID). The handsets each have a dedicated headset jack, so you can plug in a headset for those long calls, and still enjoy the mobility of a cordless phone. The handsets are extremely light, and very comfortable to hold. The DECT 6.0 technology makes the wireless transmission virtually static free, and provides a very long range: I was able to walk three doors down before losing the signal.

Call quality is good — better than expected, really – due to the DECT 6.0 technology. This same technology also makes this a WiFi-friendly phone, since it’s not competing for the same wireless spectrum. The speakerphone function has a nice volume, albeit with a slightly tinny output. Intercom calls are clear and powerful. As a phone, this is a fine product. I didn’t test the answering machine portion because no one ever calls me.

The dedicated Goog-411 button, featured prominently on the product packaging, is simply a speed dial for 1-800-GOOG-411, Google’s free directory assistance offering. I doubt anyone will buy this phone just because that button is there, but it is handy for folks like me who always forget whether it’s 1-800-GOOG-411 or 1-800-411-GOOG. It saves you having to use a programmable speed dial slot, and from navigating through the menu to select it from your phone book. If you haven’t used Goog-411 yet, give it a try: I’ve been using it more and more lately — especially when out and about — because it’s often faster to call Goog-411 than to fire up my mobile browser.

Annoyances

You can’t activate other buttons immediately after ending a call: you must wait for the phone to stop showing your last call info before it will respond to input. And although the phone keeps a log of incoming and outgoing calls, it does not store call duration for these calls. It’s not a big deal, but it’s also not that much more data to store, really. Cell phones record that information, and it’s quite often a useful thing to know, so it would be nice to see it added to landline phones.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a new phone, this is a fine option to consider. The DECT 6.0 technology provides great range and signal strength. Call quality is okay and the dedicated speakerphone unit is handy to have, if a little tinny. The Goog-411 button is not a particular selling point, but I suspect it’ll get more use than you might anticipate which makes it a good addition.

This review might be cheating the CrunchGear 300 a little bit, since it’s covering three products in one post, but they’re all from the same manufacturer and all do pretty much the same thing, so it makes sense to review them together.  Read on for information about an LCD and two OLED digital picture frames from Digital Foci.

The Digital Foci Pocket Album OLED 1.5 is something you’re expected to take with you, whether on trips or always attached to your backpack, purse, or European manbag.  In the box you get the picture frame, USB cable, USB-to-AC adapter, software CD and manual.  The storage capacity of this model is only 32 megabytes, so rather than waste space with their software it is included on CD.  The frame itself has only a mini USB port and a navigation rocker switch, with no extra buttons.  The rocker switch is like a jogdial, but only moves one position to the left or right, instead of continuously around.  It works, but I worry that it’ll be an easy piece to break.

The menu is extremely simplified.  Setting an option takes you out of the menu and back to the photo display, so if you want to tweak several settings expect to spend some time doing it.  You must use the Digital Foci software to transfer images to the frame, as it’s not detected as a removable drive when you connect it to your PC.  The software, which has Mac and Windows flavors, is easy to use, though the chrome is a little garrish.  You select photos from your PC and place them in a staging area within the software, and then you transfer all the staged photos to the frame.  You can also perform some basic editing of your photos before transferring them: crop, twiddle the contrast, etc.  You will probably want to either resize your photos manually before loading them into the software, or use the software to crop them before transferring to the frame: the default operation for photos too large to display is to show only the center portion, cropping out all the rest.

Battery life is about 5 hours, but it takes just as long to charge.  The instruction sheet recommends turning the unit off during charge, in order to speed up the process.  The included USB-to-AC adapter is a real convenience.

One unexpectedly nice feature of the 1.8″ frame is that you can delete images from the menu, so if you don’t like the crop that gets automatically applied you can remove that photo from the internal memory.

The Digital Foci Pocket Album Deluxe OLED 2.8 can be used as a desktop picture display, or carried around on a wrist strap.  In the box you get the picture frame, USB cable, wrist strap, storage pouch, USB-to-AC adatper, manual and an acrylic stand.  The software necessary to load photos onto the frame is stored in the memory on the frame (and it’s different than the software on the CD bundled with the 1.8″ frame, for what that’s worth).  The frame itself has a mini USB socket, 4 buttons and a navigation rocker switch.  The controls on the frame are fairly easy to figure out: just keep pressing buttons until you get what you want.

The 2.8″ frame has 128MB of internal storage, and is seen as a removable drive to your PC.  You still need to use the included software to shrink the photos and transfer them to the frame.  The software is easy to use, and it doesn’t take too long to shrink the photos and transfer them across.  As with the 1.5″ frame, you may want to resize and/or crop your photos ahead of time, as oversized photos will be cropped to display only the center portion of the image.

The on-screen menu is easy to use, but setting the time sucks: it uses a 12 hour clock with no way to set AM or PM other than to cycle through the hours.  Additionally, there’s no fast-forward on minute selection, which means you may need to click the navigation rocker switch several dozen times to set the minutes.

There are 5 transition effects from which to select, along with some limited photo organization in the way of folders.  You can select to display only photos from a particular folder, or cycle through all photos in all folders.  You can display multiple images on screen in 3×3 or 2×2 mode, as well as a calendar overlay mode.

The calendar display is neat, and apparently tries to select text color that is appropriate against the image being shown.  It doesn’t always work so well, as I’ve only seen white and yellow text, but at least it tries.  The calendar display is really a convenience when this thing is sitting on your cubical desk, and not a primary feature for which you’d buy the device.

Battery life is also about 5 hours, and also takes as long to charge.  As with the 1.8″ frame, you can delete images from the frame by selecting “Delete” from the menu.

The Digital Foci Image Moments 8 is the showcase LCD digital picture frame from from Digital Foci, featuring interchangeable bezels, an 8″ screen with LED backlighting, a remote control, and multiple media inputs.  In addition to 450 megs of internal storage, it has slots for Compact Flash, HC/SD and MMC, and Memory Stick (Pro, Duo and Pro Duo).  As soon as you turn the frame on it begins a slideshow of the photos sotred in its interal media.

Although the Image Moments 8 has a joystick control and a few buttons on frame itself, you’ll be much happier if you use the supplied remote control.  I found it hard to press the joystick down to select a menu option, and instead usually ended up pushing the joystick into one of the cardinal directions.

In addition to photos (JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, and RAW!), you can play back a limited set of videos: MJPEG, MPEG-1 and MPEG-4SP.  This makes it great for playing back quick videos taken with point-and-shoot cameras: just put the memory card from the camera into the frame, and select the video to play.  The memory cards are hot-swappable, so you don’t need to turn off the frame.

The location of some of the media slots is pretty close to the product casing, though.  If you have fat fingers like me, you might find it a little awkward to remove a CF card.

The menu system is pretty simplified, and relatively easy to navigate.  One thing I discovered is that it’s overly easy to select multiple videos for playback, when you only want one.

You can create and edit playlists right on the frame itself, which is handy.  You can playback photos only, videos only, or both.  The frame has a built-in orientation sensor, so rotating the frame from landscape to portrait will automatically rotate the currently displayed photo — I thought that was a nice touch.  Likewise, the frame reads EXIF data from the photos to display correctly given the current orientation of the frame.

Included on the frame is a small collection of digital music files you can play during your slideshow.  You can upload your own MP3, AAC and WMA files if you want a better selection of background music.

All three Digital Foci picture frames had absolutely gorgeous screens: the OLED technology on the smaller two makes a crisp, vibrant display, and the large LCD on the Image Moments 8 is extremely easy on the eyes.  Of the three frames, I think the Image Moments 8 is the real keeper, with the 2.8″ model coming in second.  I don’t really see the 1.5″ frame being very popular, but I may be wrong.

Think back on the last party you attended. Perhaps you enjoy sitting around an impeccably decorated living room and sipping glasses of cold, frosty beer poured by a nattily attired waitress named Nicole hired for the night so the hostess could mingle with the glitterati in attendance. Or perhaps it was at your friend Terry’s house where you ended up puking all over his couch after trying, and failing, to put firecrackers on his cat. If you read CrunchGear, I’m suspecting it was the latter. That is why the Heineken Draught Keg is not for you.

Conceptually, this bucket of beer is solid. Who wouldn’t want a big keg of Heinie on the counter, ready for all comers? It’s like a party ball without the ball you can cut in half and put on your head later.

That’s what I thought when I bought this keg of fail. The keg is supposed to contain five liters of sweet beer along with a CO2 delivery system. What it actually contains is 10 liters of foam, some beer, and lots of beer on the top of the keg that runs down the sides into the fridge and makes a huge holy mess.

To connect the beer to the outside, you have to insert a little tapping mechanism. This tapping mechanism, no matter how much you try, does not form a proper seal and allows beer to flow up and out of the keg guts. If you carry the keg at all or, perhaps, drive with it, it also begins to foam and most of your pours consist of head and faint sliver of nectar. Not a fun time. This is basically going to be the most petulant and difficult-to-manage guest at your party – be warned.

I’m sure others have had excellent experiences with the Draught Keg but anecdotally I’ve confirmed that most folks have had big problems getting this thing to work properly. I’d recommend getting a case of Amsterdam’s best and leaving it at that. This is a party foul.

Product Page

I like Sonicare brushes. They don’t tear up your gums – too badly – and they make funny noises when you brush your teeth. Philips updated their Sonicare line with this interesting new system which is much more like traditional motorized toothbrushes although it does offer considerably more vibration and three buzz settings – regular, gentle, and the erotically-themed massage.

I’ve used Sonicare for a few years now and this update makes the brush tips much smaller and the body a bit thinner and more usable. I’m not sure you get the same effect as the original magnet-on-magnet system used in the magnetic models, but if you know someone who needs to brush their teeth – ahem, ME! – it’s something to consider. Sadly, the kit costs $169 or so online so you might need to scrimp on toothpaste to afford it.

Bottom Line:
Nice clean but a bit pricey.

You probably don’t need an entire review to help you decide whether or not you want a soda-making machine, but if you’re at all interested in making your own carbonated beverages then the Penguin Home Soda Maker is a good bet.

Overview and Features

The Home Soda Maker starter kit runs $219.99 and includes the machine itself, two glass carafes, and two big bottles of CO2 which should provide you with about 120 bottles of carbonated water. There’s also the “Plus Package” which costs $269.99 and includes one extra bottle of CO2.

You can use the machine to simply make fizzy water, but the real fun starts when you mix in various flavors. These “SodaMix” bottles cost $5 each and make 12 liters. Aside from soda flavors, you can buy mixes to make flavored water and tonic as well.

I just noticed that there’s even an Energy Drink mix that costs $6.99, so I’ll need to budget its recurring purchase from now until the day I die.

Pros

If you drink a fair amount of soda, carbonated water, tonic, and the like, then the Home Soda Maker is a god-send. It’ll save you from running to the store constantly and you’ll be creating far less waste, if that’s important to you. Plus, the non-diet soda flavors are made without high fructose corn syrup and the diet flavors are made with Splenda instead of aspartame. So if you don’t want to quit drinking soda cold turkey, this machine provides a relatively reasonable alternative.

You’ll also end up saving money in the long run. After the $229 equipment price, carbonated water will cost you 20 cents per liter and soda will cost you under 60 cents per liter, according to the company.

Cons

The $229 price tag may be off-putting to some. After all, it’s basically a machine that taps into a bottle of CO2 and transfers some of that CO2 to a bottle filled with water. And even though the machine only takes 30 seconds to fizz up the water, the whole process of buying mixes and CO2, along with the cost of doing so and the fact that it’s not going to taste exactly like your favorite brand-name beverage may keep people from getting involved. However, it might be that you like the homemade stuff better.

The CO2 bottles, too, seem kind of cumbersome to get refilled. You can either buy two new bottles for $50 or send your two empty bottles back and get two new ones for $25. You don’t actually send the empties back, though. Here’s how it works:

“Ordering a full Exchange Carbonator requires that you currently have an empty Carbonator to return to Soda-Club. Please have your existing empty carbonator ready for pick-up at the time of delivery of your full exchange carbonator. Most deliveries will be made between the hours of 6AM – 6PM. Please leave your empty carbonator outside by your front door beginning on the morning of the weekday following your order. For example, if you place your order on a Tuesday, leave your empty carbonator outside your front door as of Wednesday morning. Do NOT place in a shipping box. If you place your order on a Friday, leave your empty Carbonator outside your front door as of the following Monday morning. However, please be aware that it may take 5 – 7 business days to receive your order.”

Luckily there are retail distributors in most states, so you could handle the exchanges in person while you’re running errands. I’m not sure how long two empty bottles would last on my sidewalk in the middle of Boston.

Conclusion

Like I said earlier, you probably already know whether or not you want something like this. If the idea of making your own soft drinks and carbonated water is appealing to you, then the Penguin Home Soda Maker is great. It looks cool, it’s really easy to use, and the end product tastes good. And if your household already consumes a lot of carbonated beverages, you’ll end up saving time, money, and you won’t be constantly throwing away empty bottles and cans.

Penguin Home Soda Maker [SodaClub]

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Oh. My. Gawd. I love this Dyson vacuum. It works so damn well and looks great doing it. Some people aren’t going to like this analogy, but it reminds me of the first time I used my PowerMac G4: it simply works and feels like it’s going to last forever. I’m not the one that vacuums in my house so with the hope of not sounding misogynistic, I handed the Dyson over to my wife and later, mother-in-law, for a more in-depth analysis.  

My house has never been this clean. When we first received the Dyson, my son helped me put it together and my wife took it on it’s first test drive; and boy, did she put some miles on it. She quickly discovered that every piece of hard plastic was placed on this Dyson for a reason. The rear wheels are placed farther out for not only non-vacuuming movement, but also stability when the attachment hose is in use. The rollers stop when the vacuum is placed upright. The ball rolls, well, like a ball and the filter is washable. Once again, it simply works well, and does so like no other vacuum we have ever used.  

So then my mother-in-law borrowed the Dyson and pitted it against her heralded Kerby. She found the ball design awkward at first but also enjoyable once she discovered how it rolls. The Dyson passed the classic door-to-door salesman test of picking up what her Kerby left behind. Basically, she only had one gripe about the Dyson DC25: the hose. It was kind of hard for her to use. 

My wife and I found the attachment hose easy, but my mother-in-law couldn’t use it at all due to her bad shoulder. The hose is long, but also features a very strong outer coil that is kind of tough to pull. I understand why it’s so tight as you don’t want your expensive Dyson’s attachment hose to be all loosey-goosy on ya, but my mother-in-law could not use it and is a deal breaker for her.

Speaking of the hose, the two little attachment tools show how well this vacuum is designed. They snap into their own little compartments with – I can’t believe I’m going to say this – style and grace. Seriously! Take your standard Hoover vacuum. At least on the ones I have used, these little tools seems haphazardly designed and placed on the rear panel, but on the Dyson, it’s like the whole vacuum was designed around these parts. In fact, that’s how the entire DC25 feels. 

I can’t vouch for suction longevity but this vacuum knows how to get the job done. I have a little fetish about a clean, well-vacuumed floor, and this Dyson does it for me. This model is designed for all flooring types and a button switches off the front brush so it worked great on my living room’s hardwood floor.

The only other criticism the three of us could come up with is that the ball is located so close to the front brush holder that you cannot vacuum underneath tables and chairs as easily as other vacuums. With that being said, I love this thing. 

Yeah, the Dyson DC25 retails for $499, but until you give it the ‘ol college try, don’t knock the price. It rocks and to my utter surprise, well worth the price.   

The promise of VoIP has a tendency to sometimes fall short when it comes to simplicity. After all, a VoIP solution is supposed to replace the standard landline telephone — one of the simplest communication devices of all time. Ever seen an old person work a landline? They rock those things, no sweat.

IPEVO’s ST4RT (pronounced “Start”) attempts to blend the simplicity of an old school telephone headset with the convenience of VoIP. Is the ST4RT an advanced, feature-packed, powerful handset? No. It’s a $15 piece of plastic with a volume knob that plugs into your headphone jack and your microphone jack. You hold it up to your face,  sound comes out near your ear, and you speak into a little mic located near your mouth – just like the telephones of old. Hallelujah. What a concept. When you’re all done, you can wrap the cords around the handset and be on your merry way.

I got my hands on a two-pack of ST4RT phones (the two pack will cost $25, versus $15 for one handset) and left one at home with my wife while I took the second one on a fancy business trip. I called her up using Skype, we both used our phones, and everything sounded just fine.

Then I called up United Airlines to see if they’d reveal the secret behind the magic trick of somehow losing my luggage between Boston and Denver. After being transferred between India, Denver International Airport, Logan Airport, and the Eagle County Regional Airport, I still don’t have any clean clothes to wear tomorrow but boy, oh boy, did the ST4RT handle being on hold for an hour like a champ. But I digress…

If you use any sort of software-based VoIP and you want a dead simple way to make calls, it doesn’t get much simpler than the ST4RT. Use it at home, then throw it in your bag when traveling (assuming you’re not flying United, because you’ll probably never see it again). And while $15 might seem a tad high for such a simple device, it’s the simplicity that makes it worth adding it to your travel doodads.

IPEVO ST4RT Universal Handset [IPEVO.com]

Rather than bore you with words, I chose to do a video review for the Smartparts digital frame mashup. It poops out 4×6 glossy photos and handles a variety of memory cards. The UI is simple to navigate and there isn’t a whole lot to it, so it’s perfect for anyone with any sort of tech knowledge. One ink cartridge is good for 36 prints and refills cost $20. Swapping ink cartridges was easy and took less than a minute. Photo quality is decent and the 800×600 LCD displays photos quite nicely. The only downside to these mashups is that it takes up a lot of space due to the printer and it weighs a ton. The SP8PRT retails for $279 and is available now. But I’d save your money.

Those of you over the age of 25 might remember something called “baseball” — I used to play baseball when I was a kid. In the days before everyone spent all of their time inside on the internet, children used to go to the “park” and play baseball for fun.

And as most of you know, some grown-ups play baseball for a job. And many other grown-ups (and kids too!) who don’t play baseball for a living like to either watch it on TV, listen to it on the radio, or maybe track it on their favorite sports website.

Enter the Liveboard — a dead-ass simple way to follow every baseball game in real-time. Think of it like a little Bluetooth-enabled scoreboard for your desk, constantly updating itself similar to how you’d follow a game on a sports website.

Pros

I’ll level with you. I don’t follow baseball as closely as I’d like to but I’m definitely a fan. And having the Liveboard within my line of sight while working all the live long day has been great.

Setup is pretty easy and entails downloading the Liveboard Manager software and installing the included USB Bluetooth module. Once you’ve paired the Liveboard to your computer, you choose from the list of current games via the Liveboard Manager or choose to have it cycle through each game that’s being played every so often.

The frame itself is a nice complement to any sports fan’s den or rumpus room, consisting of a cool dark green surface adorned with bright LED lights for team names, scores, current inning, pitch count, batter, and baserunners. The unit plugs in via A/C adapter to any two-pronged wall outlet. The whole getup is really light, too, making it easy to move from room to room (provided you’re close enough to your computer).

Best of all, for a truely diehard baseball fan, the fact that there aren’t any access fees is a great touch. You get all the games, each and every year, for a one-time investment of $199. There’s a 30-day trial, too, just in case it’s not for you.

Cons

There aren’t really any glaring cons, but maybe some features that’d be nice. As it stands, though, the Liveboard unit does what it claims to do with aplomb. No complaints there. The price is likely to be a bit too high for casual baseball fans who follow one team half-heartedly, but those people aren’t likely the target market.

Suggested Features

It’d be cool if there were some simple sound effects for hits, outs, and runs scored. Nothing too fancy but I find myself getting distracted from time to time and all of a sudden, the game I was trying to follow has ended.

Also, maybe future generations could be self contained and work off of a Wi-Fi connection a la Chumby, which can pretty much do what the Liveboard does but for $20 less and with a whole bunch of other features.

Conclusion

Alas, the Liveboard’s not about a bunch of features. It’s about keeping you up to date on all the baseball games using a big, bright, readable board — and it does that quite well. I would love, love, love to see a football version of the Liveboard, although it’d likely have to be a bit more intricate. For baseball fans, though, this is a great device.

Liveboard Website [MyLiveboard.com]