Secure USB Memory Stick – Personal Pocket Safe

The amount of data that you can store on today’s USB flash drives is really impressive. The downside is that ever more sensitive data is stored in those memory devices and they’re so tiny that they’re easily lost or forgotten. This can lead to sometimes funny or juicy, sometimes embarrassing or outright dangerous, loss and leakage of all kinds of information – from celebrity private pictures to secret company or government data. Fortunately, the new generation of USB memory sticks offers some optional security mechanisms to avoid future embarrassment.

Air Cooler PLUS – The Alternative to an Air Conditioner or Swamp Cooler

If you can’t stand the heat but can’t physically install an air conditioner in your home, you have few options left. You can either use a compact, cheap but inefficient fan or the good old evaporative cooler or swamp cooler, which isn’t much better. Now there’s the Air Cooler PLUS, which doesn’t need an opening to evacuate the heat but that’s still more efficient than the other options. And you can move it around your home to cool whatever needs to be cooled.

The $0.01 Drill Dust Collector – Ceiling Model

You've probably already seen the wall model of our do-it-yourself (and make-it-yourself) drill dust collector. Because of the many requests, and being confronted with the need ourselves, we've done extensive research to produce a ceiling model as well.

Thermapak Cooling Pad Keeps Your Legs Cool Without Draining Your Laptop’s Battery

Everyone who owns a laptop knows the unpleasant sensation of having your legs fried when working with the computer on your lap for an extended period. I’ve been considering several cooling devices to place between my lap and the laptop, but I’ve always considered it to be a disadvantage that they need batteries or the use of a USB port to power their fans, thereby seriously reducing your working time. They’re also not very portable – you’d dread taking them with you on a flight. The ThermaPAK HeatShift Laptop Cooling Pad deals with these issues, using physics instead of electricity to keep your lap cool.

Avoid Identity Theft, Shred CDs and DVDs Too

Identity theft is a hot topic now that thieves are even searching junkyards to recover hard disk drives from old PCs or other data carriers that have been dumped there. There’s a lot of invaluable information to be found on those, giving insight not just into your passwords but also into other personal information that you wouldn’t want to share with others. Since you can never be 100% certain that erased data is really erased beyond recovery, the best way to make sure your data remains private is to shred the data carriers just like you shred a piece of paper.

Doc XL Convertible Sofa from Bonbon Converts into Bunk Bed

Convertible sofas are typically used, for instance, in rental holiday homes where space is limited and the number of sleepers can vary. Another useful application is for people who invite friends over regularly but who don’t have the space for one or more guestrooms. So far so good – but what if your guests aren’t a couple and don’t fancy sleeping in the same bed? This Doc XL bunk bed solution from Bonbon is very original and, as far as I know, unique.

Care Plus Click-Away – Stop Mosquito Bites From Itching

Everyone has his or her own – usually ineffective – household remedy to ease the itching from mosquito bites. Among the things that do work are cortisone-based creams. They’re very effective, though they can be greasy and stain your clothes. But the Click-Away from Care Plus is incredibly compact and light, doesn’t need batteries and does what it’s supposed to do: stop the itching.

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen Review – Link Your Notes With Your Audio Recording

- A six month test.

The Livescribe Pulse smartpen is one of the most innovative products I’ve seen in years. The pen allows you to write on paper, but when you dock it into its USB charger, your notes are automatically transferred to your PC/Mac. But the best part is that it also records the audio during your meetings or classes. You would imagine that you could then also play back the audio on your PC – and indeed you can. But even better, when you tap your handwritten notes with the smartpen itself, it even plays back exactly that part of the meeting through the built-in speaker! It’s a great invention for college students and professionals alike for note taking and to record meetings, classes and courses.

ShowMyPC – Give Your Relatives Remote PC Support, No Need for Technical Knowledge

It’s great that older people are also embracing the possibilities of the Internet and multimedia, but less so when they regularly ask you when you’re in the neighborhood and if you can spend a few hours to help them with some issues with their equipment or software. ShowMyPC is a free remote support software that allows you to take over their computer remotely, even when it’s behind a (wireless) home router. And you don’t need to have a degree in computer science to get it up and running.

WaveBox – Portable Microwave Oven for Vacation, Car and Boat

I can imagine that most of you can live without a microwave oven for a day or two, but let’s say that you leave on vacation and you’re not sure if your holiday home is equipped with a microwave oven. Or you need to warm the baby’s bottle of milk in the car on the way to your destination. Or maybe you want to cook the fish that you just caught while you’re on your boat with friends. Well, the WaveBox portable microwave oven can do all of that.

Avoid Excess-Baggage Charges with this Balanzza Portable Scale

Baggage restrictions are becoming increasingly severe as airlines try to compete with ever decreasing tariffs while fuel prices skyrocket. For us travelers, it’s very tempting to buy those cheap souvenirs or clothes at our destination, but make sure that you don’t get a nasty surprise when the excess-baggage charges render them even more expensive than in your local shop. Weigh your luggage before takeoff with the Balanzza portable digital luggage scale.

Travel Light – Titan Razor with Shaving Cream Reservoir

A shaving can with enough cream for you to shave 50 times is simply unnecessary when you’re going away for just a few days. It can make the difference between hand luggage only and a suitcase that’ll mean a longer wait at the airport and baggage retrieval, and makes life difficult when using public transport when you get to your destination. This Titan razor helps you to travel light and efficiently.

Cell Boosters Add a Few Bars to Your Indoor Cell Phone Signal

Cellular phones have become so common that nowadays many people even give up their landline. Everyone calls you on your cell phone anyhow, so what’s the point of keeping a home phone? But then you relocate or change operator, and suddenly your indoor cell phone reception is no longer good enough to make reliable phone calls. The result is often frustration due to missed or dropped phone calls. A few consumer-grade signal boosters are around now that promise to help you out with this – we take a look at the Wi-Ex zBoost and the Cell Ranger Port.

UV Monkey Tells You How Much Sunscreen You Need

You know those hazy summer days when you think it’s not worthwhile to put on that greasy sunscreen lotion? Then, in the evening, you get home with sunburn that makes you look – and worse, feel – like a cooked lobster? The UV Monkey ultraviolet sensor will help you to avoid such nasty surprises – and the price shouldn’t be an issue.

NoHands Mouse – Footmouse Prevents Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and RSI

Long before “Blackberry thumbs”, carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries (RSI) were already well known. RSI is a typical problem of computer workers, characterized by a vicious pain in the hands and fingers. It’s caused by continuous work on a computer keyboard and computer mouse, among other things. A doctor might suggest taking a break from work for a while or doing other things, but not everyone has the luxury to be able to decide what to do and when to do it. The NoHands Mouse from Hunter Digital might be your ergonomic savior.