I’m toying with the idea of doing ten-minute episodic reviews videos where I can showcase several gadgets in one fell swoop and throw in some nonsense for good measure. So here it is, the first episode of Time For Gadgets!

That exclamation point is part of the title since gadgets should be exciting and whimsical.

Here’s a list of the items featured in this episode…

Trip Glasses: $40 at ThinkGeek

Trip Glasses feature two red LED lights and a sound generator that pulsate patterns of rapidly blinking light and binaural-type audio tones with the promise that “they allow you to safely meditate, hallucinate, trip out and generally relax with your eyes gently closed.”

And guess what? They actually work. You probably won’t full-on hallucinate, but you’ll definitely see weird shapes and all in all, it’s a pretty relaxing experience. The sequence runs for 14 minutes and then the glasses automatically shut off.

Big Buck Hunter Pro TV Video Game: $40 at Jakks Pacific

If you like the arcade version of Big Buck Hunter, you will absolutely love this $40 home version. It plugs directly into your TV and appears to be an almost exact replica of the arcade machine. The gun is a little on the disappointing side – it doesn’t feel too sturdy and the pump action doesn’t have nearly as much travel as the full-size game, but everything else is there.

The TV version adds a red on-screen aiming cursor, which I found to be a tad distracting. If you train yourself to ignore the cursor, though, things get a bit easier.

RoadHome: $35 at Speck

A simple mini-USB car charger that also features flip-out prongs for use in a standard wall jack – nice for traveling, though $35 seems a bit expensive.

HardCase Plus: $30 at Mophie

The best all-around iPhone case I’ve found to date, the HardCase Plus completely envelops your iPhone in protection without adding too much extra bulk. I’m petrified of damaging the screen on my iPhone, so the fact that this case actually covers the screen without hindering any of the touch-centric features is amazing.

MoGo Talk for iPhone: $130 at MogoStore

The MoGo Talk is quite a feat of engineering. It’s a slim, hard-backed iPhone case with a built-in Bluetooth headset that folds down to 5mm thin. When you want to use the headset, just pop it out of the case and flip out the earpiece. There’s a tiny microUSB port built into the case, too, so you can recharge the headset easily.

Sound quality is good and you’ll get around four hours of talk time. The flexible earbud blocks out ambient noise pretty well, too.

Seat Buddy: $20 at Seat Pods

Seat Buddy is a hands-free rubber housing for your iPhone that allows you to hang the device from a seat-back tray table on an airplane. It’s a dead-simple solution to the nagging problem of having to hold your iPhone or iPod touch upright for an entire movie.

HMX-R10 Camcorder: $500 at Samsung

A full HD camcorder stuffed in a compact, attractive package. The HMX-R10 does up to 1080i at 60 frames per second, or 1080p at 30 frames per second. Video quality is really sharp for such a small and relatively inexpensive camcorder, although footage has a tendency to pixelate and tear if you whip the camera from side to side too quickly. Standard handheld and tripod footage looks great, though.

The camcorder really needs a built-in hand strap that spans the entire side of the device. Instead, you get a little leather wrist strap that attaches to the back right corner of the camera. The lack of a full hand strap makes the camera really hard to use one-handed.

Quick look at the Archos 5 Internet Tablet: $380 at Archos

Just a quick hands-on showcasing some of the features of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. I’ll be doing a full review later. For now, you can also read some first impressions of the device.

The 7-inch 800×480 Mimo monitor is a portable USB-powered display that’s easy to set up and use and ought to fit neatly in most laptop bags. At $130, it’s not outrageously priced, either, considering you’re getting a pretty capable second monitor that weighs just 1.3 pounds and requires only a single cable in order to operate.

Specs (from ThinkGeek’s product page):

• Small monitor runs completely off of USB, giving you an extra mini display whenever and wherever you need it.
• No extra power needed. The Mimo monitor is powered by USB.
• No extra video card. The Mimo has a built in video card that runs over any USB 2.0 connection.
• Rotating Portrait or Landscape view. Go vertical for notes and spreadsheets, horizontal to watch a movie.
• Great for laptop use. The Mimo stores easily in your bag and is ready to go simply by plugging it in
• Mac and Windows driver support (intel Mac only)
• Display size – 7″
• Display resolution – 800 x 480
• Brightness – 350 cd/m2
• Contrast ratio – 400:1
• Connections – USB 2.0

Pros: I came away impressed, overall. The Mimo is a DisplayPort monitor, and I’ve run into some wonkiness with DisplayPort devices in the past. This time, though, setup was a breeze and the little monitor was easily able to play back video files from Hulu Desktop, which I didn’t think it would have been able to do cleanly.

The fact that there’s just a single USB connector makes the Mimo a truly special device. Notebook and netbook owners who find themselves wishing for a little extra desktop real estate for e-mail or Twitter or whatever it is you kids are into these days will find that the Mimo travels well and offers just enough additional space to help you remain productive without weighing your bag down too much.

The stand and monitor are both built solidly without being too heavy and the ability to position the screen horizontally and vertically is a huge plus.

Cons: Not too many here, folks. Some might be put off by the $130 price tag — you could get an actual big boy monitor for less — but the Mimo’s not meant to compete with traditional displays. The DisplayPort software sometimes doesn’t play nicely with 64-bit operating systems, especially the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Release Candidate (I couldn’t get it to work), but that’s hardly the fault of the product itself, as it doesn’t claim such support.

Overall: In a word: Impressive. I thought the thing would be more gimmicky than anything, but it works well and that extra 800×480 to play around with is perfect for loading up widgets, e-mail, video, music, and anything else that normally takes up space on your regular desktop.

Mimo Mini USB Monitor [ThinkGeek.com]

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EurekaFest is a yearly event held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that showcases the prototype inventions of high school students from around the country. The inventions consist of various gadgets and devices aimed at helping solve real-world problems.

One of the more impressive ideas I saw during the two days I spent covering the event was a prototype “sensing” cane for blind people. The cane features sensors that can detect objects up to eight feet away, at which point the cane’s handle begins buzzing once per second and increases in intensity as objects get closer.

There were actually two separate teams working on sensing canes – one from Harvard, MA and one from Norfolk, VA. I spoke with the team from Norfolk, which you watch in the above video. Their prototype cane cost only about $140 to put together and consists of PVC piping and an Arduino-like logic board that handles all the information from the sensors. Apparently an earlier prototype was made from carbon fiber, but it turned out to be too expensive and not as easy to work with as PVC.

Other interesting concepts included the following:

Pressure-sensitive illuminated computer cable: USB cable that lights up when you squeeze it, allowing you to easily identify a particular cable among other cables plugged into your computer.

Biofilm membrane for oil remediation: A $40 apparatus that attaches to a well in a rural village and filters out oil from water affected by an oil spill. The actual oil is eaten by microorganisms present in one of the filtering sections of the piping.

Alternative energy refrigerator for northern climates: This is basically a $300 attachment that can be easily installed on just about any refrigerator. It hooks up to an outside vent and uses cold winter air to decrease the refrigerator’s energy consumption by up to 50% during the winter.

Assistive mechanics creeper for car repair: An apparatus that allows people with bad backs, bad knees, and the handicapped to easily work underneath cars. “This invention will allow a person to slide from a wheelchair onto the device, lower, and recline backwards to the position of a traditional creeper. This can be done without the person ever having to get up and adjust it. The device will be able to hold a maximum weight of 300 pounds.”

Cooperative cruise control for hybrid commuter cars: A series of sensors attached to multiple cars in the same caravan that allow one lead car to be followed automatically by up to four other cars.

I also got a chance to check out a hybrid electric car developed by a high school in New Hampshire. The vehicle was made out of a motorcycle frame and featured a gasoline generator attachment for extending the mileage. That, plus all of the other inventions can be found in the video at the top of this post. And here’s a list of all the other inventions as well.

Lemelson-MIT Program’s EurekaFest [MIT.edu]

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Got an old sack o’ crap laptop or desktop gathering dust? Sugar Labs has just made its OLPC-friendly “Sugar” operating system into a USB-bootable version called Sugar on a Stick. You’ll need a one-gigabyte thumb drive and about twenty minutes of spare time.

The full instructions can be found here. You’ll basically need to download Sugar on a Stick in ISO form, then use Fedora LiveUSB Creator to “burn” the ISO to the USB thumb drive. Once that process is complete, stick the thumb drive in the old computer’s USB port and boot the machine up (make sure your BIOS is set to boot from USB).

Here’s a little demo video:

Sugar Labs Announces Immediate Availability of Sugar on a Stick; Learning Platform Runs on Any PC or Netbook In The Classroom [SugarLabs.org via Slashdot]

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Short Version: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 with the Wii MotionPlus accessory is the closest you can get to a true golf simulation for $60. The already-great series gets a nice boost this year with true one-to-one motion sensing, addictive online play, and a bevy of other new features that easily justify the purchase.

Long Version: There’s nothing worse than shelling out for a new title in a sports series year after year, only to find that the “new” game you’re playing hasn’t changed much at all from the previous year. It’s my opinion that last year’s Tiger Woods game actually took a step backwards from the year before, due in large part to its cumbersome putting system and duller-than-dull audio commentary. We finally got online multiplayer in Tiger Woods ‘09 for the Wii, but I felt that it didn’t bring much else to the table.

Well another year has passed (actually, not even a whole year — Tiger Woods ‘09 came out last fall) and I’m happy to report that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 has really turned into a phenomenal golf game. There’s still room for improvement, but this year’s version has few, if any, glaring faults. Certainly none big enough to keep you from buying the game.

Let’s run down a big list of features, shall we?

Graphics

In-game graphics haven’t changed all that much from last year or the year before, at least not noticeably. There’s still a somewhat cartoony look to all the players and you’re not going to get advanced shading and high-definition textures like you’d see on the PS3 or Xbox 360, but this year does finally add gallery crowds. It’s a nice addition even though the people in the crowd are mostly static onlookers with a little movement here and there.

The 27 included real-life golf courses are rendered well and should be easily recognizable to any golf fan, and weather conditions play a bigger role in this year’s offering with especially nice-looking rain effects. All in all, the in-game graphics look pretty good but nothing really appears to have been overhauled.

Menu graphics, on the other hand, have taken a step forward, with big icons and animated backgrounds making up an intuitive interface. It seems simple and uncluttered, even though there are plenty of menus and submenus.

Sound

Again, not a whole lot has changed. In-game sound effects are familiar, although some whispering and shushing from the new gallery spectators has been added.

The broadcast commentary has made a fair-to-middling improvement, with Kelly Tilghmann back in the booth alongside ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, who replaces the almost-depressing Sam Torrance from last year’s game.

Van Pelt offers up some mildly funny to downright mediocre one-liners that seem as though they didn’t make the cut for an episode of Sports Center. I can’t really describe the experience other than at first being like “Oh wow, Scott Van Pelt does the voice work on this game — nice!” and then once you hear it, you’re like “Oh wow, Scott Van Pelt is much, much, much more entertaining on TV.”

To make matters worse, some of the audio is just plain off. Van Pelt will say “Looks like this putt’s gonna break right, Kelly” even though the green grid and putt preview show it breaking left. There’s also been a few instances where I’ve left a twenty foot putt a good five feet short and Tilghmann has said something along the lines of “Now that is a wonderful putt.”

At least this year, though, you don’t need to turn the commentary off. If I could offer some advice to EA for next year, take a note from MLB 2K9. It’s got some nice, natural commentary that makes it seem like you’re watching an actual baseball game. With this year’s Tiger, I still don’t feel like I’m watching golf on TV quite yet.

Wii MotionPlus

Hands down, the best thing about this year’s game. There’s no reason you shouldn’t purchase the $60 bundle with the MotionPlus add-on over the standalone version of the game. Wii MotionPlus and Tiger Woods golf go together like peanut butter and bananas. Or chocolate. Or jelly.

Want to take a 50% swing? Pull the club back halfway. Three-quarter shot? Take it back to just above your shoulder. Fades and draws finally work reliably, approach shots are easy to execute, and putting — my God, the putting. It’s finally phenomenal.

The new “Precision Putting” feature works just like your real putter. I find myself visualizing a ten-foot putt in my living room, swinging as though I’m putting a golf ball from my feet to my TV, and watching the ball in the game go ten feet. EA has done a wonderful job — total redemption from last year’s putting interface.

The one shortcoming of the in-game swing mechanic is that, compared to hitting a good golf shot in real-life, everything in the game still has to be exagerrated somewhat. You’re still going to have to swing a bit harder to hit a shot at 100% in the game, whereas on a real-life tee box you’d want to take a nice, easy backswing followed by a nice, smooth followthrough. When you swing nice and controlled in the game, you’ll often find that it’ll result in around 80 to 90 percent worth of shot power. Not a deal-breaker by any means, but it’s there.

Chipping, flop shots, and pitching are all way, way, way improved this year. It’s much easier to hit partial swings accurately. It’s quite a difference.

Online Play, Dynamic Weather

There are two classes of gamers: those who like online multiplayer and those who like to play alone. I fall squarely into the second camp, except that I’m addicted to online play in Tiger Woods 10. Why? Because you can play online, alone.

Aside from playing true multiplayer matches just like last year, you can now participate in daily and weekly tournaments where you find yourself playing an 18-hole round against everybody else. Lowest score for that daily or four-day weekly tournament wins.

Even better, you can play against all the pros in real-time as they play in major tournaments. As long as the course is in the game, you can play along and see your score on the in-game leaderboard against all the pros in the field.

Wait, it gets better.

There are also real-time weather conditions pulled down from the Wii Forecast Channel. So for instance, yesterday (June 18th, 2009) it was raining like hell on the US Open, which was being played on the Bethpage Black Course in the New York area (play actually got suspended in real life).

So I fire up Tiger Woods 10 yesterday, hop online, and it’s raining like hell in the game. The greens are slow, the leaders are only one under par, and I’m fighting for my life to avoid double-bogeying holes since the conditions are so awful.

Dynamic weather extends to the offline version of the game, too. I put in a little time on my career golfer today and while playing TPC Sawgrass, it started raining — just like it actually did in Ponte Vedra, Florida yesterday. Really cool stuff.

Career Mode

Career Mode is similar to years’ past. You start out trying to make it on the tour, adding skill points and upgrading to better equipment, winning sponsorships, and that kind of stuff. You can also jump right into the FedEx Cup, which is a four tournament elimination-style playoff.

The career mini-games also make an appearence this year, although they’re much more straightforward and subdued from years’ past. Instead of challenging golfers head on, you try to repeat great moments in real-life tournaments. So you’ll have a scenario like “Tiger Woods birdied all the par three’s on this course back in 2003, see if you can do the same.” Stuff like that. The scenarios involving Tiger begin with a video of him talking about what happened along with some clips from the tournament.

I think it works pretty well — better than previous years where it’d be like “Let’s have a chipping contest against Natalie Gulbis” or “Play against John Daly on all the par four’s on this course.” It’s more realistic now and doesn’t take as long to advance since you don’t have to wait for CPU golfers to take their shots.

Other Features and Mini-games

Most of the multiplayer mini-games and “Golf Party” stuff has returned this year. It’s fun and adds a nice social element to the game. Disc Golf, in particular, is super fun and makes really good use of the MotionPlus controller. I find it to be almost as addictive as the online tournament features. You can play all of the 17 courses with nothing more than long-, medium-, and short-range Frisbees. I thought it’d be gimmicky, but it’s actually quite enjoyable.

Conclusion

All in all, there’s plenty of “stuff” in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.  The game can appeal to just about anyone, whether you’re a serious golfer, a serious disc golfer, you have a few friends over, or you want to play online.

For longtime fans of the Tiger Woods golf games, PGA Tour 10 will remind you why you fell in love with the series in the first place. Wii MotionPlus makes an excellent debut and adds an entirely new level of depth to the game, the real-time weather and online tournaments are amazing, and the core gameplay itself is realistic and wildly enjoyable at the same time. This year’s edition is a must-buy for any true fan.

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New to Tiger Woods PGA Tour on the Wii this year is the “Disc Golf” feature, which allows you to play all of the in-game courses as a disc golfer. I figured it’d be gimmicky at best.

Well, I was wrong. It’s fun, and it’s a great use of the MotionPlus add-on. If you’ve ever played disc golf before, you’ll probably enjoy playing it in the game. If you’ve never played, it’s not rocket science: throw Frisbee at target, repeat.

Check out the above video for a gameplay demo. I get a triple bogey on the 1st hole at St. Andrews, then follow up with a birdie on the famous 17th hole island green at TPC Sawgrass.

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As a longtime fan of the Tiger Woods series of golf games from EA Sports, I was quite disappointed with last year’s effort. You can read the review and yell at me if you’re so inclined, but I stand by the review. I took issue with what I called an “atrocious” putting system, the lack of realistic motion sensing for half and three-quarter approach shots, and really bad voice commentary from Kelly Tilghman and Sam Torrance.

Thankfully, this year’s version of Tiger is already lightyears beyond last year’s.

For starters, the putting system is outstanding. You get one putt preview (on the middle skill level, no putt preview on the advanced level) and then you make a putting motion just like you would in real life. It works… it really, really works. Approach shots work well now too — pull the club back half way, and you hit a 50% shot. Pull it back 3/4 and you hit the ball 75% — the MotionPlus add-on really takes everything to the next level this time.

Graphics and sound are about the same. There are actual people in the crowd this year, which is nice, but player models and course renderings look only slightly improved. It’s nothing jawdropping, though. We’ve also hit a nice compromise with the commentary: it’s now Kelly Tilghman and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. I’ll take it, it’s not bad at all.

Check out the above video for a look at some of the gameplay. I’ll have a full review up once I dig into everything a bit more. So far so good, though.

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Jeff Victor of STARFLEET, the International Star Trek Fan Association, recently showed me around the 12,500-foot Star Trek exhibit at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute. We laughed, we cried, we played a little Dabo. Good times indeed.

Star Trek at the Franklin Institute [FI.edu]

STARFLEET International Star Trek Fan Association [SFI.org]

More geeky Philadelphia stuff…

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The Ford GT40 Series Car Mouse from RoadMice.com is a $50 wireless mouse stuffed in a replica Ford GT. This is definitely a mouse for car lovers and there’s apparently quite a market for car mice, as RoadMice.com offers about a skillion different models of wired and wireless mice that look just like real-life cars.

The version I tested out is an 800-dpi resolution wireless mouse that uses two AAA batteries and a USB RF receiver. The mouse could easily be mistaken for a scale-model toy Ford GT until you get up close and notice the scroll wheel sunk into the middle of the hood. Other than that, though, there’s little evidence of this being a mouse, so go ahead and take it to work with you.

The left and right sides of the car’s hood serve as the left and right mouse buttons. When you click either button, the corresponding headlight lights up as a blue LED. This feature can be turned off in order to save power. The scroll wheel is sunk far enough down into the hood that it’s a bit tricky to operate, especially clicking the wheel. I had a tendency to accidentally wiggle the mouse while trying to hit the scroll wheel, which often caused me to shift the on-screen cursor off of it’s intended target.

Based on my highly-scientific measurements (putting a ruler between the mouse and the receiver) the wireless range of the mouse is a mere 12 inches, so make sure you’re sitting close enough to your computer. I had no problems on a laptop and a little server cube that sit atop my desk but my desktop computer sits almost on the floor to the left of me and the mouse wouldn’t work up near my right hand.

All in all, the Ford GT Series Car Mouse is an attractive device for people who love cars. As an actual mouse, though, it’s a bit cumbersome to use and at $50, it’ll likely remain a niche product. Still, if you’ll take form over function when it comes to cars and mice, you’ll likely not be disappointed with this one.

Ford GT (Red) with White Stripe [RoadMice.com]

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Short Version: If you’re a Metallica fan, this may quickly become your new favorite game. Drummers, too, will find the new Expert+ mode with double-bass pedal compatibility a welcome addition to the Guitar Hero series.

Long Version:

In less than a minute of playing Guitar Hero: Metallica, I was thirteen again — sitting behind my beloved drumset in the basement of my childhood home, cursing my Sony Discman for skipping while I was trying to play along to Sad But True on Metallica’s Black album, the first compact disc I ever purchased with my own money.

Perhaps I’m not the right person to review a game like Guitar Hero: Metallica. The band was with me through my formative years, I’ve been to three of their concerts, and, whether he knew it or not, Lars Ulrich basically taught me to play the drums. I am truly a child of the Metallica era. Few bands had been as influential on me as I was learning to play instruments, so to have most of their songs in a single video game is phenomenal. Perhaps if and when Guitar Hero: Nirvana and Guitar Hero: Green Day come out, I’ll have a couple  new games to gush about.

So if you’re into Metallica (or were into Metallica growing up), then you can stop reading right here and go pick up the game. You’ll love it. And if you’re a drummer you may also really like the game, as you can hook up a second bass pedal and rip through classics like One, Dyers Eve, and plenty of other tracks that’ll have you feeling like you’re running in place at breakneck speed. The new Expert+ difficulty level for the drums is amazingly challenging and ought to keep even the best drummers occupied for quite some time. If you’re a drummer who likes playing Metallica songs, I can tell you that this game justifies the purchase of an entire console and Rock Band drumset. Seriously.

Most of the games “features” won’t really appeal to anyone but true Metallica fans, so if you’re not into Metallica you’ll probably want to skip this one. It almost plays like an expansion disc or a big track pack that costs $60.

For fans, there are some nice motion-captured graphics of each of the band’s four members. Lars stands up and pounds on the toms during Creeping Death, James pumps his first into the air to get the crowd all riled up, and bassist Rob Trujillo does his signature whirlibird thing during Seek and Destroy. Kirk… well, Kirk never really did anything outrageous on stage anyway and most of his subdued mannerisms make it into the game just fine.

There are also some unlockable videos of “bootlegged” tour footage, some behind the scenes stuff from the game’s development, and a couple other fan videos, along with guest appearances by Lemmy of Motorhead and King Diamond.

The game is loosely held together by a cartoonish storyline about a Metallica cover band trying to make it big, and progression and unlocking songs is as simple as getting a certain number of stars on available songs to unlock new ones. So this is not really a new Guitar Hero game by any means, it’s basically a bunch of Metallica’s songs with a few outside songs from bands like Alice and Chains, Queen, System of a Down, and even Bob Seger sprinkled in for good measure. I’d gladly trade all the non-Metallica songs for more Metallica songs, though.

Aside from the cartoonish characters that make up your Career Mode band, the actual renderings of the members of Metallica are pretty cartoonish as well. The motion capture makes up for it somewhat by bringing each member’s mannerisms into the game, but it would have been cool if everyone looked more human-like. The music’s there, though, which is the most important thing.

The overall gameplay is impressive, especially if you’re familiar with Metallica’s music. I’m not an awesome guitarist by any means, but playing Hammet’s parts on the medium skill level felt natural and smooth. The drumming interface is outstanding and singing like James Hetfield is actually more challenging than you’d think. All in all, everything’s really well done from a pure note-to-note standpoint. The development team did a great job with this one.

Conclusion:

If you’re a Metallica fan, buy it. You’ll love it. Everyone else might think twice before shelling out $60, as the storyline is pretty weak and there aren’t a ton of new and varied tracks compared to what you’d get with a full blown version of, say, Guitar Hero World Tour. Drummers looking for a challenging drumming experience might find what they’re looking for in this game, and drummers who grew up on Metallica should have already left for the store by now.

Guitar Hero: Metallica [Activision]

The Vestalife Butterfly is an $80 iPod dock with no remote control and so-so sound quality. The build quality is okay, but the whole getup looks like it should be hanging over a baby’s crib. If it cost $30 or $40 it’d be a whole different story, but at $80 this one’s truly for butterfly enthusiasts and family members of Vestalife employees only.

Pros:

• Built-in USB port lets you synch your iPod while it’s docked
• Input/output jacks let you use non-iPod players and headphones
• Can run on four AA batteries or AC power

Cons:

• Costs about twice what it should ($80), no remote control
• Sound quality is so-so, unit doesn’t get very loud at all
• Looks and feels like a baby toy

Check out the above video for the full review.

The Butterfly [Vestalife]

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I took a deep personal interest in Batter Blaster when I first covered it way back in October of 2007. At that time it was only available in the San Francisco area and, after what seemed like eons, I finally saw Batter Blaster in a grocery store here in Boston last night.

What is it?

• Pancake/waffle batter in a pressurized Cheez Whiz-type can.

What does it promise?

• Quick pancakes with even faster cleanup.

Does it deliver?

• Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.

Recommendation

If you like pancakes and can get past the idea of pancake batter in a can, then $4.99 for Batter Blaster should be a no-brainer. They taste just like regular pancakes, and prep and cleanup time are pretty much eliminated altogether. I went from no pancakes to pancakes in about three minutes.

Organic Batter Blaster – Original Pancake and Waffle Batter [BatterBlaster.com]

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I’ve been playing golf off and on for about 20 years now and as a mid-handicapper, I’m prone to shooting in the low nineties thanks, in large part, to inconsistent tee shots. It’s no surprise that hitting your second shot from the middle of the fairway is a lot easier than hitting it from underneath a tree that’s located behind several other trees. And so we dance.

I took the train from Boston to New York in early February to test out Callaway’s new Diablo driver – a golf club based on the simple idea that a LOT of golfers tend to slice the ball off the tee, and that a simple way to correct that would be to slant the club’s face ever so slightly to the left – one degree, to be exact — in order to compensate. So does it work?

Yes. And almost eerily well. Here’s video if you’re interested:

While learning golf as a kid, I was taught to swing easy. Then as a teenager, I found swinging the club as hard as I possibly could to be much more enjoyable, even if it meant shanking most of my tee shots three fairways to the right. As an adult, I’ve realigned my constitution with the “swing easy” mantra, as I no longer enjoy losing money to friends and spending 15 minutes in the woods on each hole.

The problem with the Diablo – the wonderful, magical problem – is that you can basically go back to your swing-as-hard-as-you-can days and the ball still goes straight. With my regular driver, I swing easy and, if it goes straight, it’ll go about 250 yards. With the Diablo, I was swinging as hard as I could, it went straight every time, and once I got warmed up I was hitting the ball 275 yards in the air, plus however far it would have rolled after it landed.

Granted, this was all done at an indoor range with no weather or wind but the results were still encouraging. I’ll have to take the club out on a real course once the weather starts warming up, but if you’re a mid-handicapper and you have a tendency to slice your drives you may want to at least test out the Diablo at your local course or sporting goods store to see if it straightens out your swing.

The driver has an MSRP of $299 and comes in “neutral” or “draw” setups – I hit the 9-degree draw version. If you hit the ball straight off the tee, you could go with the neutral but you’d probably be better off hitting whichever club you’re using now. Correcting the slice is the big idea here, so the extra one degree that the draw version turns the clubhead inward allows you to swing the Diablo naturally without resorting to turning your wrists, locking your front knee, or any of the other hundreds of tricks people have tried over the years.

The club itself features an all-titanium head and is pretty standard-sized – not one of those gigantic, oversized drivers that most people are playing nowadays. The way the Diablo’s clubhead fits together allows it to be super thin while at the same time making pretty much the entire face the sweet spot, which also helps for hitting the ball straight.

All in all, I’m impressed with the Diablo (if you couldn’t tell). I’ll have to try it out on an actual course, but things are looking good so far.

Big Bertha Diablo Driver [Callaway.com]

Short Version: Promising to stay in better, sound better, and feel better than the earpieces on your standard inexpensive headphones, Acoustibuds do indeed work as advertised.

Video Review:

What They Do:

You use Acoustibuds in the place of the little foam doodads that normally cover the earpieces on cheap headphones. The company’s claim is that your headphones will stay in your ear better, your music will sound better, and your headphones will feel better thanks to small rubber fins that adjust to the inside of your ears, holding your headphones in place while blocking out ambient noise better than standard foam covers can.

What You Get:

Two sizes, small and large, for $13. The small adapters have five little fins on them, while the large ones have six.

Do They Work?

Yes, and surprisingly well given how inexpensive they are. I can definitely attest to them staying in better and feeling better. Whether or not they sound better is subjective, but I thought they did. They give your music a better lower end – the bass feels richer. They block out sound better, too, so your ears absorb more of your music.

They’re not $100+ noise canceling headphones, though. They simply make your crappy, cheapie earbuds a little less crappy and $13 less cheapie.

I used them primarily with a pair of Sennheiser MX300s and they improved the already-decent headphones’ sound enough that I’ll keep using them indefinitely. They really shine with cell phone headsets which are, by nature, uncomfortable. I’ve been using them with my standard HTC headset and it’s now much more bearable to use.

Should You Buy Them?

Sure, go ahead. They’re $13. If you want them for even one of the three claims (stays in better, sounds better, feels better), then they’ll already be worth it.

Product Page [Amazon.com]

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The Snuggie Blanket – as seen on TV!!! – is a miracle of modern technology. See, it’s a blanket except it has arm holes. You stick your arms in the aforementioned arm holes and, boom, you’re wearing a Snuggie. Easy as falling in love.

Guess what else? If you order a Snuggie, you get two Snuggies! The whole shebang costs $19.95 plus $7.95 for shipping on the first Snuggie and another $7.95 for shipping on the second Snuggie. That’s where they get you.

You won’t feel ripped off for long, though, because you also get two free book lights! These lights clamp to your book and transform from “not on” mode to “opposite of off” mode. The actual transformation is really cool and will ensure that you read a lot more than usual.

The Snuggie comes in three colors: Burgundy, Royal Blue, or Sage Green.

Pros:

• Cheap!
• Book lights!
• Sorta warm!

Cons:

• You look dumb!
• No back protection!
• Lots of static!

We just had a snow storm in Boston here today so I went outside to see if the Snuggie could replace a winter coat. I found out that “no” it could not. It’s best for indoor use. All of that information (and more) is detailed in the above video. All in all, I like my Snuggie. My wife got it for me as a joke, but the joke’s on her because I wear it all the time and walk around the house looking like some sort of frumpy wizard. She let me have the second Snuggie too.

Snuggie [GetSnuggie.com]

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Short Version: The HV675 walks the line between ease of use and speed when it comes to getting video content from your computer onto your TV. There’s no complicated networking to set up, no CDs or DVDs to burn, and most readily-available file formats will work just fine.

Overview and Features:

• Slim, portable design
• Video upscaling to 1080i
• Supports full DVD menu
• Coaxial, Composite (RCA), Component (YPbPr), HDMI connections

Supported Media Types:

• DVD folders, VCDs
• MPEG1/MPEG2
• DivX/XviD (AVI) movie files
• MP3, WAV, AC3
• JPEG

Maximum Content Resolution:

• Video: 720 x 576 pixels
• JPEG: 5120 x 3840 pixels
• MP3: 320 kbps

Setup

The time it takes you to open the box and plug the thing in is basically all you’ll invest with as far as setup is concerned. Geeks.com was kind enough to send out a review unit and it took longer for me to walk downstairs and sign for the device than it did to get it up and running.

It’s literally two steps: plug the device into the wall and then connect it to your TV. Once that’s done, you simply drop your files onto a USB thumb drive or external hard drive and plug the drive into the HV675’s USB port.

Interface

Visually, the UI is nothing to write home about but it’s about as easy and straightforward as they get from a usability standpoint. You turn the HV675 on and you’re presented with a list of your files alphabetically by file name. Select the file you want to play and that’s that.

Videos can be paused, rewound, fast forwarded, skipped forwards and backwards in thirty second intervals, and slow-mo’d. There’s also volume control, which is something these media boxes are often missing. So that’s a nice touch that allows you to put your TV remote away.

Video Quality

Playback is smooth and quick without any jitters or hesitation whatsoever. I was pleasantly surprised at how responsive everything was. I see a lot of these off-brand media players and this one handled just about everything without throwing a digital temper tantrum whereas most of the other ones I’ve tried are either slow, lock up, or only handle very specific files.

The max video resolution is 720×576 (basically 720×480 – DVD quality — for those of us here in the US), which looks more than acceptable. The whole “upscaling to 1080i” feature seems to simply be blowing up the videos to fill the screen but after watching several episodes of Psych in XviD format at (only) 624×352, I’m happy to report that everything looked just fine.

Again, I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth everything was. Big points where it counts: actually watching videos.

Remote Control

It’s your standard credit-card style remote that has way too many buttons. You’ll use less than ten of them, though, and they’re laid out pretty intuitively. The remote works well from a distance and doesn’t have to be pointed directly at the box, which is nice. The buttons are easy to press and the system responds quickly.

Drawbacks

Currently at $67.99, the price is likely too high for most people given the device’s relatively simple purpose. Don’t get me wrong, it does what it sets out to do and it does it well, it could just do it in a lot more homes if it were priced at, say, $39.99 or so.

Being able to handle HD files would be nice, too, as more and more content is being distributed that way nowadays. I have some movies that I won’t be able to watch unless I convert them first and the ability to use an external hard drive kind of negates the need to stick to smaller file sizes. Windows Media support would be a welcome addition as well, but it’s rare to find inexpensive WMV-compatible media players due to licensing costs.

Conclusion

All in all, I’m very happy with the HV675. It makes getting most video files from my computer to the TV a matter of transferring them to a USB drive. And once they’re playing, the responsiveness of the UI and the above-average video quality make the overall experience about as easy as it gets.

Argosy HV675 MediaPlay w-HDMI [Geeks.com]

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Doug Aamoth reporting from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. Today in the B terminal I saw some good-looking New England Patriots cheerleaders, a good-looking Maria Menounos, and then everything went all haywire when two guys in bumblebee tutus showed up followed by Richard Branson dressed like a patriotic psychiatrist’s wet dream.

Check out the video above and the photos below for all the delightful hoopla. Virgin will be flying three daily roundtrips between LA and Boston and two daily roundtrips between San Francisco and Boston with Wi-Fi on every flight and fares starting at $109.

Virgin America [VirginAmerica.com]

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Overview and Features:

Health Energy Potion is a tiny 1.69-ounce energy drink that resembles a health vial from a video game. And sure enough, the drink promises “to add +160 to gamers’ HP.” Harcos, the company (“founded by two gamer geeks”) that makes Health Energy Potion, claims:

• 5-8 hours of smooth energy
• Apple-cinnamon flavor
• No sugar, no after crash
• Elderberry, ginseng, biotin and folic acid
• As much caffeine as two cans of Red Bull

The retail price is $3.45 per vial.

Pros:

• Tastes pretty good. Even though there’s no sugar, it’s hard to tell the difference.
• Goes down quickly and starts to work within minutes thanks to a double dose of caffeine. It’s almost alarming – definitely faster than coffee or any other energy drink I’ve tried. One time when I was a little kid, someone hit me in the face with a snowball as I was walking to the bus stop. That’s the only other time I remember being jolted awake as quickly.
• The lasting effect is smooth and even and tapers off slowly, so there is indeed not much of an after crash, if any.

Cons:

• Promises “as much caffeine as two cans of Red Bull” but doesn’t contain as much combined energy ingredients as two cans. I drank three of these but it sure didn’t feel like drinking six cans of Red Bull. The double caffeine accounts for a nice initial kick, though.
• The $3.45 MSRP is insane. It should cost less than half that. A two-pack sells on the drink’s website for $6.90 plus $7.81 shipping and handling. Thankfully it’s sold in stores too, so you can avoid shipping charges.

Halvsies:

• With no quantifiable way to measure my own HP, I am unable to verify if this product did indeed add 160 points to it. I’m pretty sure it added at least 100, though.

Conclusion:

It’s worth a try if you’re into energy drinks. The first ten minutes can make you a bit agitated and antsy but this stuff is aimed at gamers, not quiet blogging, so it’d probably be perfect right before some nice first person shooter action.

It’s definitely worth a try. These guys pack a wallop into a little, tiny container.

Product Page [ManaPotions.com]

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Overview and Features:

FyreTV is a set top box that streams on-demand video (perhaps not the kind of video you’re thinking of) for $9.95 per month. The box itself is free and the monthly fee gets you 100 credits good for between 50 and 100 minutes of video (the kind of video only grown-ups should watch). Standard titles are one credit per minute, new releases are 1.5 credits per minute, and premium content from certain production companies is two credits per minute.

The hardware features Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, HDMI/component/composite video outputs, two dormant USB ports, and a remote control. The service doesn’t require a monthly contract but if you quit, you’ll need to return the box to FyreTV.

Pros:

• Really impressive video quality – videos start streaming almost instantly
• Relatively affordable provided you have some self control
• Hardware itself is small and discrete

Cons:

• You’re forever renting content, never owning it – everything is streamed
• Remote control is pretty bad – buttons are hard to press and its short, stocky form makes it awkward to use

Halvsies

• No HD content, although a firmware upgrade is coming soon. Some would argue that certain things are best left in standard-definition, though.

Check out the video above for the full review…

Product Page [FyreTV.com]

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We’re all officially home; safe and sound, tired and broken. Another year of not eating all day following by drinking all night, backpacks never leaving our shoulders, our fingers still involuntarily typing even though our notebooks have been shut down for hours.

All in all, it was a good CES this year. The crap-hole economy meant the event wasn’t too crowded and there wasn’t as much meaningless fluff. There was fluff, to be sure, just not as much. Speaking of fluff, here are some of our more memorable posts for your perusal…

LIVE CES 2009 Palm keynote

CES Video: Interview with Dr. Dre

Hands-on with the Sony VAIO P

Those are MY hands on the Blu-Ray thing, Engadget, just for the record

Eyes-on the 3D BCS Championship game

CES Video: Hands on with the MSI X320 netbook, plus pricing and availability info

Video: Hands on with LG’s prototype watchphone

Video: Peter Ha praises the Palm Pre on G4’s Attack of the Show

Interview with Mark Cuban and Bud Mayo

CES 2009: BeerTubes.com beer tube video review

CrunchFail: Doug and Greg crash and burn at Rock Band challenge

Look out, Microsoft Surface – the iTable might just trump you in every way

LG and GotWind’s solar+wind “SkyCharger” at CES

Exclusive hands-on with Asus’ prototype Eee Keyboard

Palm Pre Hands On: The Movie

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