Solar-powered Bluetooth Car Kit from Nexxus / IOGEAR Hands-free car kits for vehicles – tried many, liked few. I’ve tried dedicated car kits, phones built into the dashboard, Bluetooth earpieces, wired headphones and hands-free Bluetooth kits, to name just a few. I’ve never found a solution ...

Mosquito barrier – liquid, garlic-based mosquito repellent It’s mosquito season again, and the perfect solution to keep the little bloodsuckers away has yet to be found. Many chemical or electric repellents are either ineffective or harmful to people or the environment. This Mosquito Barrier, ...

Recycle your hand-basin water to flush your toilet – SinkPositive Some time ago, we wrote an article on the Caroma toilet, which is a space- and water-saving combination of a toilet and a hand basin. Apparently, this kind of solution has been popular in Japan for a long time. It’s a great solu...

Taga Stroller and Bike Combo Takes your Child Anywhere Once people have kids, the bike often ends up in the garage, collecting dust until the kids are old enough to ride a bike themselves. You can equip your bike with a children’s seat, of course. But what to do when you arrive at your destinati...

Versatile Battery Charger – Eneloop USB Booster Stick This device seems the best of both worlds. It combines the mobile charging abilities of the unique USB cell with the improved chemicals of the rechargeable Sanyo Eneloop NiMH batteries. On top of this, you don’t have to just use it to charg...

25+ Tips and Products to Travel Light and Compact It’s hard to imagine what people (oops, I almost said ladies) take with them on a short business trip. Their luggage looks like they plan to travel around a continent for the next six months. A real vacation luggage assembly, in its turn, makes y...

CompoSphere Composting Tumbler Makes Composting Easier Last year I was enthusiastic about the EarthMaker rapid no-turn composter because you don’t need to turn the compost on a regular basis in order to aerate it. This CompoSphere compost bin is another alternative that not only makes turning ea...

Replace Your Fluorescent Lights with LED Lights With a combined target of a reduction in energy bills, a reduction in carbon emissions and other “green” considerations, many people have gone through the process of replacing their incandescent light bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescent...

Overview of Rechargeable Battery Technologies Lately there’s been a lot of buzz in the rechargeable battery world, after a number of promising new technologies have been hyped on the market. Now is probably the right time to get an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of the different types ...

Smush Can Self-powered Compacting Trashcan Boxes, bags and other empty packaging fill your trashcan quickly and force you to take out more air than trash, almost on a daily basis. This new trashcan lets you compact the trash inside your home, and it doesn’t need electricity to work. Now you don�...

PowerGenix Rechargeable Batteries Give 1.6V Output Every few years advances are made in rechargeable battery technology; relatively recently, we saw low self-discharge types appearing on the market. But the drawback during the last 30 years has always been that the underlying technology generated ...

Inflatable Chimney Pillow Stops Drafts (and Santa) The Black & Decker Thermal Leak Detector (TLD100) shows you where there’s room for improvement in your home’s thermal insulation. If your chimney is a cold spot in your house, you’ll probably have felt the draft without needing the TLD f...

Rechargeable Batteries that Don’t Lose Their Charge – LSD cells NiCd rechargeable batteries have been around for decades, preventing tons of toxic battery waste, before the new NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) types were designed to cure the old NiCd’s “memory effect”. So far so good but, unt...

Solar-Powered Bluetooth Headset – Infinite Standby Time What’s the advantage of Bluetooth headsets anyway? Admittedly, you don’t have a wire dangling around, but on the downside it’s yet another device that you need to charge. And now you have two batteries that can run out in the middle o...

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 coole...

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 over...

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...

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 c...

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 s...

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 e...