G4TV

ORIGINALLY AIRED: 10/20/2004

Fireplace Clapper, Jesse Kalisher, 3D Photos

Episode #2684

“Alex came down with a bad case of the herp,” announced Martin Sargent at the start of the show, explaining Alex’s absence. But that’s the kind of rumor-mongering that starts rumors. The real reason Alex couldn’t make it today is that he’s still fulfilling his obligations to the Dell Corporation by shooting some commercials for them. Fortunately, we were able to wake Martin from a coma-like slumber to fill in. Denying Kevin’s insinuation that he had been up late the night before, Martin claimed befuddlement over his reputation for such acts.

“Well, you have a cot in your cubicle that you sleep in,” Kevin reminded him.

“And you drool on it,” Sarah added.

In tech topics, Kevin was amused by a new gadget called TV Be Gone, a keychain fob that can turn off just about any TV in its range. “Kevin – you work on television. Why are you telling people about this?” demanded Martin. “You could cripple our industry!”

Martin was equally unimpressed by Kevin’s other big news: AMD’s new Athlon 64 4000+ processor. “Will this allow me to read my email and book my flights more efficiently,” Martin asked. Kevin insisted that this was indeed relevant to computer consumers and to those following the computer industry. Martin responded by telling the tale of his days working at a PC magazine a few years ago; one of the cover stories was “400 MHz Dream Machines.” There is a lesson here, Martin observed: “This episode repeats in two months, and people will be going, ‘What’s the big deal?’”

Timothy from Oakland has landed a new job that requires him to travel a lot. So what are the latest gadgets for road warriors?

Kevin had five suggestions, courtesy of Dan’s pockets. Here are some comments from Dan on each one:

1. The T-Mobile Sidekick 2 is a cell phone that gives you an email client, instant messenging, and full web browsing capabilities. It has a full QWERTY keyboard that lends itself well to IMing. You can even moblog with its built-in camera feature.

2. The Iomega Micro Mini USB thumb drive is good for any geek so he can take his important documents anywhere he goes. There are larger drives available (up to 2GB and 4GB varieties, depending on manufacturer), but 64MB is ideal for data files and pictures.

3. The Sony DSC-T1 digital camera is an effective 5.1 mega-pixel camera. This will allow you to print photo-quality 11x14+ enlargements. It has a Carl Zeiss lens (the lens and CCD are what makes a good digital camera, not necessarily the mega-pixels), with a 3x zoom feature. It is about the size of a credit card! It has an unprecedented 2.5” LCD to view all the pictures you just took. It also captures 640x480 mpeg video at 30 frames per second.

4. The GameBoy SP is a fun little gadget to play on the road. It has a 2.9” TFT Color LCD at 240 x 160 pixels that can display 32,000 colors. If you’re an old-school Nintendo fan, they’ve released a few of the old games for the new GBA SP. And they release TONS of modern games that you’ll love! They come in a bunch of different colors, even a skin that makes it look like the old Nintendo controllers.

5. The iPod mini is a music MP3/AAC player, but it’s not just that. Since it’s a hard drive, it’s also a big storage device. The mini is 4 GB. Currently, the normal iPod comes in 20GB and 40GB varieties. So, a mini can hold roughly 1,000 songs (70 hours of music) and the 20/40 GB models hold 5,000 and 10,000 songs respectively. It holds your contacts, to-do lists, and calendar -- download Sarah’s DOD, iPod Agent, to sync all of that to your iPod!

Pro photographer Jesse Kalisher came by to give us some tips on taking better photos. “These are for any kind of photographer, any camera, any place,” said Jesse. Read his article for more info as well as photo examples.

Kevin and Yoshi often seem to have a lot of time on their hands – especially when they’re sitting around Kevin’s apartment wondering how to mod the fireplace. (“Ooh la la! Kevin and Yoshi by the fireplace!” declared a titillated Martin Sargent.) Kevin’s fireplace happens to be a gas unit with an on/off switch. Naturally, the guys wondered: Could you not hook up a Clapper to said switch and turn the fireplace on and off by clapping? Would this not impress the Ladies?

Well, Yoshi hooked it up, though it remains to be seen how impressed young women will be by the loose wiring. “Those exposed wires – you’ve got to be careful not to electrocute yourself,” Kevin observed.

Therefore, this is a mod we don’t recommend to anyone except licensed electricians. But you can buy your own Clapper here.

The ‘50s fad of 3D photography comes back to life with some high-tech help. Kevin found an application that will take your photos and turn them into those old-fashioned, blue-and-red-tinted 3D images that require “3D glasses” to view. Just take two photos of something from two angles (roughly the distance between your eyeballs), load them into the Callipygian photo editor, and voila – a distorted image suitable for view through red and blue glasses!

You can grab the software at Callipygian.com, and engadget.com has an in-depth feature on how to use it.

“There’s nothing worse than getting up from a C++ app and having to eat,” remarked Kevin.

“This is so nerdy,” said Martin.

Nevertheless, many nerds resort to frozen dinners as a source of sustenance, so The Screen Savers decided to do a taste-test roundup. Here are the dinners Martin and Kevin tasted live on the air:

Vegetarian Salisbury Steak
Mon Cuisine
$4.99
Kevin: “It’s soy based and healthy.”
Martin: “Boooo!”

Veggie Loaf
Amy's
$3.99
Kevin: “This one is actually not bad. All the ingredients are organic.”
Martin: (long, cold stare)
 
Rock N Roll Taco Roll Ups
Kid Cuisine
$2.00
Martin: “If I ran this company, I’m not so sure I’d put a cat on the box – for a couple of reasons.”
 
Pulled Pork with BBQ Sauce and Cheese Fries
Hungry Man Sports Grill
$4.39
Kevin: “This is a full pound of food.”
Martin: “USA! USA!”
 
Roasted Carved Turkey
Hungry Man XXL
$6.29
Kevin: “Fifty-eight grams of fat, 5,410 mg of sodium.”

Conclusion
Kevin: “I think Amy’s was the best.”
Martin: “Let’s go to commercial break.”

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