Oh! Gizmo

By Gilberto J Perera

This guest post was written by Gilberto who is the main article contributor for Laptoplogic.com, where you can find the latest laptop reviews.

How would you like to set your thermostat at home while you’re at the office? Wouldn’t it be nice if you forgot to turn off your water heater for a two week vacation and you were able to log on to an online portal and turn it off? How about using an energy management system for your home that charges when electricity is the cheapest and avoids the peaks where electric costs are higher? These are all scenarios that will be possible in the next 5-10 years as utilities move towards Smart Grids. The days of a mechanical meter and a visit from a meter reader are slowly approaching to an end.

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By Andrew Liszewski

They say once you go backpack you never go back, and if you’ve had the pleasure of using the backpack paint roller system I wrote about a few minutes ago, you’ll probably wish you could strap all of your household appliances to your back. Sadly that’s still a pipedream for a lot of us, or maybe just me, except when it comes to vacuuming!

This “ergonomic” backpack vacuum can be carried around the house on your back, which is supposedly easier than rolling it from room to room… And before you get any ideas about roaming the neighborhood at night, serving as some sort of cleaning vigilante, you’ll want to be aware that this thing doesn’t use a rechargeable battery, but instead plugs into the wall via a retractable 26 foot power cord. $169.98 from Taylor Gifts.

[ Ergonomic Backpack Vacuum ] VIA [ Likecool ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I don’t really see what’s stopping you from using this indoors, but the Weathershield BackPack Roller System from Dulux is actually designed to be used for sprucing up the outside of your home where ladders and hard to reach places makes painting particularly difficult. So the company’s smooth masonry paint comes in a special container that integrates into this backpack roller system along with an electric pump and a hose-fed handheld roller.

Loading the roller with paint is as easy as clicking a trigger, and being able to wear all of the equipment on your back means you’ve always got a free hand for steadying yourself while on a ladder or when going all Spiderman on the outside of your home. The Weathershield BackPack Roller System will set you back about $80 while the Dulux smooth masonry paint starts at about $34.

[ Dulux Weathershield BackPack Roller System ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Being the huge Star Wars geek that I am, I’m always on the lookout for cool new merch to show off my geeky pride. I’m actually rather selective as to what I’ll set out, which means that something really has to catch my eye. This set of bookends would definitely fall into that category.

When set together, the pieces depict the famous garbage compactor scene from A New Hope. However, turn them around and the gang is struggling to keep your books (or movies) from toppling over. Don’t get too excited about these. They aren’t going to be hitting stores until April of next year, though you can pre-order them already for the salty price of $190.

[ Star Wars Shop ] VIA [ FoolishGadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Normally I wouldn’t consider a hose reel to be OhGizmo! fodder, but this one has a clever trick up its sleeve that easily passes the “hey that’s nifty!” test. The NO-CRANK reel uses a patented water piston engine and the water pressure from your outdoor tap to automatically rewind your garden hose by simply flicking a lever to the ‘rewind’ position. And while I have my doubts that rewinding a hose is actually “one of the most stressful parts of maintaining your lawn and garden” like their PR material claims, I still think it’s a clever idea. And it’s just $39.99 from Buy.com, though I have my doubts it will arrive in time for Father’s Day.

[ NO CRANK Hose Reel ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I have enough devices in my home entertainments center to fill up an entire 12-port surge protector. While not everyone has a dozen devices to hook up, it can be a pain to get everything plugged in as it should be. Plus there’s never an outlet where you need it, right? Well here’s an interesting concept, fill your entire wall with outlets!

I’m no electrician, but I can imagine that this is a fire hazard waiting to happen. Not to mention dangerous for small children to be around. However, you have to admit that it looks pretty damn cool. With so many outlets, at first glance it just looks like the person has fancy wallpaper. Then again you could always fill most of the area with false plates if you just wanted the look. Of course that would defeat most of the purpose in the first place.

[ Ironic Sans ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Chris Scott Barr

It’s Monday, which means most people are back at work and not very happy about it. How was your weekend? Did you notice anything different when you turned on your TV? A bit of snow perhaps? Something tells me that you guys were smart enough to either upgrade your TV or buy a converter box. Or maybe you were like me and just ditched broadcast TV completely. With Hulu and other streaming services, there’s really nothing for broadcast television to offer me.

So did the switchover affect any of you? Surprisingly I didn’t get a single phone call from a friend or relative who was having issues. Even my great-grandparents had everything squared-away months ago. While I didn’t get any calls, the federal hotline for the DTV switch received over 700,000 calls. These ranged from questions about the coupons, reception issues to people that didn’t know how to operate their boxes. Most of the calls were resolved by having people simply re-scan the channels. Did any of you run into these issues, or get calls from relatives?

VIA [ Yahoo News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It might not be as high-tech as a Dyson, but this 18-volt compact vacuum from Black & Decker still manages to one-up them when it comes to cleaning underneath furniture. It features a clever pivoting design allowing the vacuum to essentially fold in half, so not only can it reach deep underneath a couch or a coffee table, but you don’t have to get down on all fours to use it. It’s also got “Cyclonic Action” to keep the filter clean and maintain suction power as the dirt canister gets full, and a 3 stage filtration system for cleaner air exhaust. $99.99 from Amazon or other fine retailers.

[ Black & Decker Pivoting Floor Vac ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In my mind they’re definitely a sound of Summer, but gas-powered mowers are noisy, messy and of course produce harmful emissions just like an automobile. But an electric model that’s tethered to a power cord can be problematic too, particularly if you’ve got a large piece of property to maintain. So the Neuton CE 6 seems like a better alternative since it provides all of the benefits of an electric mower, like being quiet and clean with no engine emissions, without the hassle of a long extension cord trailing behind you. It uses a removable, rechargeable battery with 360 watt-hours of juice that should be good for about 1/3 of an acre, or for about an hour, depending on the grass conditions.

The Neuton’s battery takes about 12 hours to recharge, which could be problematic if you run a landscaping business, but it should be a non-issue for homeowners who only cut their lawns on a weekly basis. Now the Neuton CE 6 will set you back $499, but the rechargeable battery should last for about 5 years, so when you remove the cost of gas, it might be worth it in the long run.

[ Neuton CE 6 Battery-Powered Mower ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]