Gadgets

The Mr. Coffee COSORI Premium 24 Watt Stainless Steel Coffee Mug Warmer. It looked great in the photo. Just turn it on and set the temperature. (This is designed for use with flat-bottom mugs for the most effective warming.) Keep warm or warm up your drink to as high as 131F/55C. Notice the highest warming temperature is 131F, but the description also says: Temperature Range 77°-230°F (25°-110°C). Also this device is equipped with a power adapter plug to make the power supply voltage only 12v rather than 120V. Giz Wiz: It's also 24 watts vs. 17 watts for my old “Mr.

Nima Lets You Test Your Food Anytime, Anywhere. This device is great for people who need to avoid Gluten, and for those with a peanut allergy. (There is a different testing device for each one of those.) The device is called Nima Sensor. Here's info via the company: Science, in your pocket. Nima’s antibody-based chemistry was developed by MIT scientists to be faster, cheaper, and usable right at the dinner table. Nima is optimized to detect 20ppm of gluten, the FDA standard for gluten-free. A separate device due out late summer, early fall 2018 can test for the presence of peanuts in food.

Football season is here and this week's gadget from the Giz Wiz is The Star Sports Backpack. Created by Josie Moncada, a sports mom, for sports fans, the Star Sports backpack is incredibly durable, have extra padding and be lightweight (They weigh about 2 pounds; very light for a backpack.) Inside is a padded computer sleeve for laptop and cables, plus a separate compartment for other school needs. There are two side mesh water bottle pockets. The backpack measures 16" D x 11.5" W x 18" H. Founder Josie Moncada uses it as a carry-on personal item for air travel.

Dick's gadget this week is the Arctic Air, which cools, purifies, and humidifies the air around you. Fill it up with water and just plug this into any wall outlet or USB port and enjoy cool and clean air for 8 hours. The 'secret' is "Evaporative Air-Cooling Technology!" (And that's why they also say: 'works best in dry areas'.) To use it, you fill the non-removable tank with water. Power is USB either via an A/C plug adapter or USB port. And yes, if the room is dry and you're sitting directly in front of it, it will feel cool.

The Swiffer Continuous Clean Air Cleaning System continuously circulates and filters out airborne dust and dirt, and it prevents them from settling on your furniture, so you can go longer between cleanings. And the device is quiet. A bit from the company: Patented Swiffer technology uses Triple Layer Filtration to Trap and Lock away dirt, dust and allergens*. Great for pets! AND KEEP COSTS LOW with replacement filters that sell for a fraction of the cost of more expensive HEPA filters - $5. Average filter life is 30 days of use.

Cauldryn, the company behind the first travel mug to boil water from a rechargeable battery, announces their latest innovation, the Cauldryn Coffee, which could be called ‘the Swiss army knife of travel mugs’. It's a 16 oz. vacuum sealed modular travel mug that allows coffee drinkers to actually grind and percolate coffee right in the Cauldyn Coffee, and it also allows coffee and tea drinkers the ability to maintain liquid temperatures for up to 10 hours. An LCD screen adjusts temperatures within two degrees from room temperature to boiling (78°-212°F).

HDMI Angle Adapters are an inexpensive solution to routing your HDMI cables. Your HDTV or HD computer monitor is super thin but the HDMI cables might add thickness if the ports face the wall or even in the wrong direction. These angled HDMI adapters help you avoid having to bend your HDMI cables excessively which may damage the cable, short out the cable or even worse, damage the ports on your expensive equipment. The company says they support resolutions up to 4K.

Toy manufacturer Tastemakers was showing their newest 'old tech' arcade machines. Five different scaled down Arcade1Up machines are set to be released fall 2018. Most contain four popular old-time games from the arcade era. Unlike bigger, 6' tall machines, these Arcade1Up cabinets are 4 feet tall and weigh a lot less, about 60 pounds or so. Tastemakers says that the machines will offer “the same game play as the originals, with same sounds, joysticks and buttons.” The arcades use a 17-inch LED screen for play and some assembly is required.

Watermelon Smash is the latest new twist on the water roulette game. It challenges each player to press the watermelon against their head as many times as the number on the spinner. It's a suspenseful game because you never know when the watermelon will fully crack open. (You'll see my surprise when I tried playing the game and got drenched. The link is at the Giz Wiz Video below.) If it cracks on your turn, you either get covered with water or plastic watermelon seeds and you are out of the game. Be the last player left to avoid having the watermelon crack open and you win.

The small Wi-Fi Eye-Temp device monitors temperature and time on any item (stove, candle, iron, etc.) that is paired through one of their devices and connected to their mobile app. They say it's the first smart device that can monitor ANY item individually. You'll receive an alert when an item is left on for too long. This is specific to the item being monitored. When you set up Eyetemp, you will choose the type of item you are monitoring when you pair the device. If a rapid and drastic temperature change is noted, there is an alert that will be sent to notify you.