Travel Light, Save Space and Replace Your Shaving Cream with Shaving Oil

… or The Incredible Shrinking Shaving Foam Can

When backpacking, every ounce counts, and – just in case you might want to shave from time to time – that 10 oz shaving foam can is not what you’re looking for. And on overnight business trips, you might want to restrict yourself to hand luggage only, when that same can of shaving foam is just another nuisance making this harder to achieve. Worse still, the severe liquid restrictions that apply at airport security checks might get your can confiscated and see you take off with no can at all. So instead of taking a can, why not travel with shaving oil such as the one from Somersets or the Pacific Shaving Company?

Enjoy Your MP3 Music on Your Factory Car Stereo – Without Static

Once you get used to the comfort of an iPod, iPhone or other MP3 player, having your whole music collection at your fingertips, the next thing you obviously want is to be able to connect this to your car stereo and enjoy the same flexibility when driving. New car stereos are often equipped with an AUX input or even with an integrated iPod docking station. When you’ve got a more basic or older car stereo, there’s generally no direct means of connecting your MP3 player. In that case you have to revert to the well-known FM transmitters and live with the interference of neighboring FM radio stations – unless you go for the Scosche FMMOD02 FM modulator.

Bushnell GPS BackTrack Guides You Back to the Exact Spot

The Bushnell BackTrack, also marketed under the name “GPS Homing Device”, is a useful and simple handheld GPS location-finder for people who need to memorize a spot in a city or landscape and who don’t want to operate a more complex GPS receiver. It can memorize up to three spots by the simple press of a button and guide you back by means of a simple arrow.

USBCell from Moixa – Rechargeables that Plug Into any USB Port

We just discussed the Rezap Battery Doctor, which recharges even alkaline batteries – a solution that I favor for most purposes. But it still requires you to take yet another charger with you on your travels, which is not ideal for vacations or business trips. Recently, however, I stumbled upon these USBCell rechargeable batteries from Moixa, which have the charger integrated in the battery itself! A very clever design, with a few minor drawbacks – but lots of advantages.

Make Compost Fast and Without Turning It Over

Composting is good for the environment and great for your garden, but it’s not exactly fun. A large compost pile in your garden needs frequent turning to mix the material, it does not smell very nice (mind the neighbors) and it takes a long time to compost all the material. That’s why tumbler model compost bins were developed, which process their contents much faster in a closed container. But those compost bins often can’t hold very much material and may need daily turning. That’s why EarthMaker, the original No-Turn Rapid Composter, has developed yet another approach.

Steam Cookers or Simpler, Cheaper, Less-Bulky Alternatives such as the Sleekstor™ VeggiSteam™?

Steam cookers – do we need them? Of course we don’t: Mankind has been cooking vegetables in water for thousands of years. But, honestly, once you’ve tasted broccoli or green beans cooked in a steam cooker, there’s no going back. The vegetables are simply much more tasty – and healthier as well. But it’s yet another appliance, and most electric steam cookers take up considerable space in your kitchen cabinet. Steam baskets basically perform the same task, but they have a more compact design. There are already many varieties, and now there’s yet a new and versatile one, and it carries the name of SleekStor™ VeggiSteam™.

Comparison of Different Mosquito Repellent Approaches

When you go on a camping vacation or just want to enjoy sitting outside in the summer, mosquitoes, no-see-ums, black flies, and other pests are a real nuisance and can spoil your entire evening. There are several products on the market that promise to keep them away, and it’s not always easy to make an educated choice between the different options. Some work, some don’t. Some are harmful to your health as well; some aren’t. We’ve compiled the following table based on personal experience and information found on the Internet.
Since it was new to us and it looks promising, we discussed the ThermaCELL Portable Mosquito Repellent in more detail in another article.

For information on the new breed of Solar Bug Zappers, you can read this article on Solar Landscape Light and Bug Zapper.

Breastlight Helps You with Your Breast Examination Routine

All the Breast Cancer Awareness programs advise women to self-examine their breast on a regular basis, for instance once a month. However, it’s not always easy to do – not everyone knows exactly how to do it or can interpret what they feel. And some women simply have difficult breasts to examine by hand. The Breastlight is a new device that you can use at home to examine your breasts with your eyes rather than with your fingers.

Combined Solar Garden Light and Bug Zapper

Maybe you didn’t install accent lights in your garden because you didn’t want to pull wires or you had cold feet about the extra electricity bill? Or maybe you fancy an electric bug zapper on your terrace but you dislike fetching the cable reel each evening to plug it in? Now there are solar garden lights with bug zapper, that solve all problems at once – and there are designs for every taste. But do they work for mosquitoes?

Handpresso Wild Portable Espresso Maker for Travel, Camping and Picnic

If you’re the kind of person for whom a coffee is okay as long as it looks like coffee – even if it doesn’t necessarily taste like coffee – then you don’t need to read any further. For you the product that follows probably is a gadget. But if you’re a coffee lover for whom instant coffee is an inconvenience too far, even while on vacation, the Handpresso Portable Espresso Maker might be your savior. Personally, I can’t stand instant coffee. I’d rather have no coffee at all, even if my blood caffeine levels do get dangerously low as a result during our camping vacation.

Cable Capture Organizes Your Cable Clutter

Cables are always too long and too short at the same time. Too short when you need that few inches of extra reach, and too long for the rest of the time, when they’re just lying in your way. Several elegant solutions exist, such as the SimpleToo or the Cord-It, that enable you to roll cables up until they’re the exact length you need. These are very elegant when you just need to get one cable under control, but if you’re fighting real cable clutter such as in your home office, the Cable Capture cable organizer looks more promising.

ThermaCELL Portable Mosquito Repellent – No Lotions, No Electricity

The fact that you’re reading this article probably means you’ve already had camping vacations spoiled by mosquitoes, or maybe just quiet evenings on your terrace at home ruined by those little pests. So far I haven’t found a good solution to the problem myself, but I have high hopes that this ThermaCELL Portable Mosquito Repellent could save my next vacation.

Charge all your Battery Types with the ReZap Battery Doctor – even Alkaline Batteries

Given the overly high price of good alkaline batteries, I switched to rechargeable NiCd and NiMH batteries long ago. They work quite well, but the voltage is 1.2 volts instead of the 1.5 volts that some devices expect, causing some devices to function incorrectly or to give false battery readings. Another drawback is that they lose charge spontaneously – even when not in use they’re empty after about a month. This means that you can’t use them for devices that need to operate for a longer time, such as a clock, or that need to be working when you only occasionally need them, such as a flashlight or photo camera. This Battery Doctor from ReZap seems to bring the best of both worlds, allowing you to use disposable 1.5 V alkaline batteries – which retain their charge – and still recharge them when empty, saving you money.

EZ-Find Locates Your Misplaced Objects

It’s a frustrating experience when you’re searching through your entire house to find an item you had in your hands a month ago but still can’t find anywhere. With the EZ-Find locator and tags, you finally have a solution to find your things again in seconds – at least when you’ve fitted them with an EZ-Find tag.

Make Your Infrared Remote Control Work At Any Angle

Today's infrared-controlled equipment is better than those of a few years ago in the sense that many infrared remote controls now work at almost any angle. Even so, you might still be using older equipment or less well-designed new devices that still require you to align them well or to be sitting more or less directly in front of them to operate them reliably. Inconvenient? Sure – but there is a free and fast do-it-yourself solution to solve this problem and to increase the operating angle.