It’s time for Dr. Nat’s list of favorite things! Here’s what made the list this year’s list:
1. CVS One-Time Use Camcorder and One-Time Use Digital Camera
2. Smartparts Digital Picture Frame
3. Kodak’s 5300 All-In-One Printer
4. Zeno
5. Wowwee Ltd’s Robopanda
6. GoDuster.com
7. The LightKeeper Pro
8. Bi-Color LED Blow On-Off Candles
9. Holy Cow Cleaner
10. Bowdabra
11. Speaking Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate(r) Dictionary
12. CellPoint’s Flamingo Bluetooth Headset
13. The Wedge
To start out your holiday shopping you will want to get the new CVS disposal cameras. The CVS One-Time Use Camcorder and One-Time Use Digital Camera are great for those of you who still have last year’s holiday pictures still stuck in your digital camera. No need to worry about which cord goes to what device to print them. This is a great solution. You can preview the pictures as you take them on the screen and delete the shots you don’t want. Then take the camera to your local CVS store. The prints are great and better quality than many of the disposable film cameras. You also get a disc with the original picture files and a very simple, non-techie program for sending pictures to family and friends. And if you want to give a gift- you can get a book made of all the shots! These cameras are perfect for busy Mom’s on-the-go looking to record the family vacation or sporting events. I know my family will be using them at Disney World this holiday!
And once you have your photos you’ll want to display them. The Smartparts Digital Picture Frame with SyncPix technology has the capability to store up to 3,000 images, create organized slide shows, rearrange the picture display and add images without the use of the computer or the internet (although that option exists as well). Other frames currently on the market merely play back images with no control over order and force users to put up with clunky image download and have no capability to organize the images. Winner of the 2007 Editor’s Choice Award, it is also one of the most attractive frames on the market. It is available in a wide variety of sizes, fabrics, and colors.
For those of you that do want to print your own photos, the Kodak 5300 All-in-One Printer is top of the line! The whole family will enjoy printing crisp, sharp documents and Kodak lab-quality photos at home for up to 50% less than comparable inkjet printers. And the Kodak EasyShare 5300 saves you money on ink – the color cartridge is only $14.99 and the black cartridge is $9.99! That’s something to shout about! And it is so much fun to use Kodak’s Gallery. Kodak Gallery has more than 60 million registered members and 2 billion stored photos. You can use Kodak Gallery to make Photo Books, Holiday Cards, Ornaments and much, much more! In our family we all pick one picture from the previous year and share with everyone in our family what we are grateful for and what that particular picture represents to us- memories of people, places and shared experiences that are priceless!
So once you have your camera ready, you’ll want to also make sure your family’s faces are camera ready. There is a device that was tested via double-blind, controlled clinical trials. It is the sleek Zeno device. We all know how zits can affect our self-esteem by remembering our teenage days; now there is an answer that works not just for teens, but for everyone. Combining the latest in medical and electronic technology the clinical results showed that 90 percent of the blemishes faded within a day or so! With over $2B dollars spent on blemish remedies, this is a true solution!
If you need to add a little fun to your family video’s you might try adopting Robopanda. It is a playful and talkative interactive friend. With his engaging personality and bright animated eyes, Robopanda(tm) shares stories and jokes, plays games, talks and sings songs. He can even crawl on all fours and return to a sitting position. Controlled directly by touch and sound, Robopanda has advanced artificial intelligence and recognizes and talks to his own toy panda (included). He has three different play modes and includes interactive cartridge-based content. I know my nephew Nick will love this one! Nick’s robotic’s team took first place in their competition this year in Michigan! Way to go Nick! (And Glen- Nick’s dad. Glen coached the robotics team members to success!)
You know how people can drive themselves crazy when only half the Christmas tree lights work They pull bulb after bulb out looking for the culprit bad bulb? You usually just give up and throw them all away and drive back to the store and buy new ones, right? How many miniature light sets could be saved from the landfill if people knew about a little red gun called The LightKeeper Pro. Plug, Click, and it’s fixed. The whole darn light set lights up! How’s that for a great gadget to have in your DIY tool box?
Miami art teacher David Kotkin, invented the hand-held motorized GoDuster to eradicate classroom allergens. You can use it to spruce up your house before the holiday visitors come over! GoDuster is the revolutionary motorized duster that makes dusting faster, easier and more fun than you ever imagined! It’s battery operated, just push the button and the duster head starts to spin, picking up dust in a fraction of the time. Designed for comfort, the handle is ergonomic and balanced to make dusting feel almost effortless. Go Duster reaches dust in every nook and cranny – between books, shelving, plants, blinds, electronics and delicate collectibles. It comes with a bottle of Multi-Surface Dusting Spray that will enhance its dusting performance by grabbing and holding dust. When you’re done, simply rinse the dusting head under a faucet and let dry to use again. Dusting was never so much fun – you might actually get the guys interested!
And as you are sprucing up the house, you’ll want to know about a fabulous new cleaner called Holy Cow. It is completely safe- even kid-safe. It’s organic, natural, and doesn’t contain a single harmful chemical, yet it’s so strong, they sell drums of it to Midas Muffler for degreasing car engines! It beats all the competition on every surface, even the tough ones like shower soap scum, carpet stains, and tile grout. This is the first time in history that a natural cleaner has beat all the toxic ones! And it’s USDA approved for use around food prep, so you don’t leave toxic residue on counters or BBQ racks. You can even wash dishes with it, and it’s a terrific laundry pre-spotter. It’s sold at Ace Hardware, Walgreen’s, and thousands of supermarkets, plus on-line. And, unlike most eco-friendly cleaners, it only costs $2.99 to $3.99 for a 32 oz. bottle!
As the holidays are upon us, no one knows better than us how we want our houses to look just so. When you are looking for a new touch to decorate your house, check out the Bi-Color LED Blow On-Off Candles. They are both safe and easy to use. Rather than a flame, these 100% wax candles have a flickering LED bulb and turn on or off by blowing. A switch on the bottom allows either yellow (natural) light or blue light.
And if you want another decorating tip: Enter Bowdabra a decorating-made-easy bow-making device. Whether on a wreath, evergreen, mantel or gift, Bowdabra can be used to decorate for any festive occasion. The gadget is so easy to use, even kids can do it! It is actually very fun to use!
And you know how at parties, there’s always that one guy who forces the fridge closed with too much beer, and then there’s the next innocent guy who opens the fridge only to have all of its contents come to a crashing, party stopping halt on the kitchen floor? With all of the holiday entertaining coming up, The Wedge will certainly come in handy for the bottomless supply of beer and wine that lives in your fridge next to the eggnog during the season. The Wedge is an essential device to bring order to cylindrical mayhem; when wedged under a stack of cans or bottles (wine, beer or soda), it stops them from rolling away. No need for a wine rack, or for your beers to take up the entire fridge – just wedge it – and you can stack bottles up against a wall or into a pyramid with no need for control!
I am always on the lookout for products that will make our kids smarter. Enter: Speaking Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Designed to help business professionals or students communicate effectively, this electronic handheld is your comprehensive language reference tool and planner all in one. It speaks clear and concise definitions and includes a local/world clock, built-in organizer, calculator and currency/metric converter. (As a not-so-good speller, I love this device!)
And if you are looking for a sexy tech gift, CellPoint’s Flamingo Bluetooth Headset is hot! It’s specifically designed to look unlike other cyborg-like headsets and it has won several European design awards. Of course, I fell in love with the pink one!
