Gadget WEEKENDS

[mouser]

I suppose this would be little consoleation

i don't know about that but it might be a little consolation.

[app103]

Did you know, if you tape a piece of this stuff over the air intake vents of an evaporative humidifier, and turn up the fan speed, you can turn them into pretty good air cleaners that remove quite a bit of the dust & dirt from your air?

If it starts getting clumps of junk on it, just vacuum it off. When it gets dirty, just remove and tape on a new piece.

My humidifier has an intake vent that goes completely around it, so I need to use a big wide strip of it instead of a little square, which is why I buy the stuff by the yard at a local fabric store.

Be very careful to get the sew-in, non-woven kind and not the fusable type (that kind has glue in the fabric and not suitable for use as a filter material). Also, get the lightweight or featherweight stuff, otherwise the air won't be able to pass through it readily and it will just block your vents instead of acting as a filter.

A bonus, besides keeping the air in your room cleaner, is keeping the inside of your humidifier cleaner (motor, fan, internal filters, water, etc.), possibly prolonging its life and saving money on expensive repairs and/or replacement parts.

[mouser]

Good idea app -- and also a good reason to buy an overpowered humidifier that is larger than you would normally need 

[mouser]

Today's gadget, an oven liner:


http://www.amazon.com/Jobar-Non-Stick-Oven-Liner/dp/B000GLNV8Q

What it does:
Sits at the bottom of your oven and anything that would normally drip onto the bottom of your oven drips onto it.  Can be easily removed and cleaned and reused.

[Tinman57]

Today's gadget, an oven liner:

(see attachment in previous post)
http://www.amazon.com/Jobar-Non-Stick-Oven-Liner/dp/B000GLNV8Q

What it does:
Sits at the bottom of your oven and anything that would normally drip onto the bottom of your oven drips onto it.  Can be easily removed and cleaned and reused.

  Or you can do as I do, line the bottom with aluminum foil.  When it gets overly dirty, just rip it out and put in some more...

[mouser]

Tinman, why are you trying to ruin a perfectly good, high-tech, possibly toxic, $20 gadget with an 8 cent just-as-good solution?  Are you trying to make me look foolish?

[barney]

Tinman, why are you trying to ruin a perfectly good, high-tech, possibly toxic, $20 gadget with an 8 cent just-as-good solution?  Are you trying to make me look foolish?

Actually, that 8-cent solution will cost more, considering the longevity of the $20 gadget  .  (Well, depending upon how much you use the oven  .)

[4wd]

Tinman, why are you trying to ruin a perfectly good, high-tech, possibly toxic, $20 gadget with an 8 cent just-as-good solution?  Are you trying to make me look foolish?

Actually, that 8-cent solution will cost more, considering the longevity of the $20 gadget  .  (Well, depending upon how much you use the oven  .)

Yes, but with recycling the 8-cent solution just keeps coming back 

[barney]

Yes, but with recycling the 8-cent solution just keeps coming back 

Yeah  -  and out of my pocket every time  !

Been using such a [different than [i]mouser[/i]'s] liner for a couple of decades (I bake a lot).  Much cheaper than one (1) or two (2) rolls of foil every year  .

[4wd]

Been using such a [different than [i]mouser[/i]'s] liner for a couple of decades (I bake a lot).

Well with a half-life of several thousand years I'd expect it to last

BTW, I work it out to ~2.5 cents a time for the foil, (30m roll @ $2 / 400mm each time), changed at ~6 month intervals here, (don't use the oven much - microwave and stove-top Bessemer are much more efficient energy/cost-wise), so I'm good for 300-400 years before I'm losing out to a $20 gizmo.

[barney]

changed at ~6 month intervals

For you, that's good.  My replacement schedule was something like two (2) weeks  .  mouser's gadget is much more cost effective for me.  Different usages affect utility & efficiencies  .

[mwb1100]

Are you taking into account the cost of money, since you spent all $20 up front instead of over a couple decades for the foil? Just think of all the interest that amortized $20 could have earned.

[barney]

Are you taking into account the cost of money, since you spent all $20 up front instead of over a couple decades for the foil? Just think of all the interest that amortized $20 could have earned.

This is an awful lot of discussion over something pretty inconsequential  .  Actually, insofar as monetary values, I've saved money, according to inflation estimates.

However, there's a mostly non-monetary benefit.  I'm an old cripple, so the less often I have to bend down to the base of the oven the better - for me.  For normal healthy bodies, there's still a lot less bending/strain.  Not all benefits are monetary in nature, nor is financial return necessarily a significant factor.  You might consider the Feng Shui of ovens  as well as the mental stress reduction of knowing you have bought a product that will lessen your overall effort(s).  There's more, but I'm outa here on this one  .

[mwb1100]

Are you taking into account the cost of money, since you spent all $20 up front instead of over a couple decades for the foil? Just think of all the interest that amortized $20 could have earned.

This is an awful lot of discussion over something pretty inconsequential  .

Yeah - my comment was intended as a poke in the ribs (I don't use smileys much, so I forgot to add one).

[4wd]

Let's move onto something else food related then



Always handy, the Titanium is even better.

[hamradio]

Today's gadget, an oven liner:

(see attachment in previous post)
http://www.amazon.com/Jobar-Non-Stick-Oven-Liner/dp/B000GLNV8Q

What it does:
Sits at the bottom of your oven and anything that would normally drip onto the bottom of your oven drips onto it.  Can be easily removed and cleaned and reused.

 Or you can do as I do, line the bottom with aluminum foil.  When it gets overly dirty, just rip it out and put in some more...

Just a quick search...

Aluminum Foil vs Oven Liner

Don't use aluminum foil as oven liner
"The big name in foil — Reynolds — specifically advises against lining the bottom of ovens with foil."

[Tinman57]

Aluminum Foil vs Oven Liner

Don't use aluminum foil as oven liner
"The big name in foil — Reynolds — specifically advises against lining the bottom of ovens with foil."

  I've been doing this for years and years and never had a problem.  As long as you cut out the vent holes there shouldn't be any problems.  Of course if you let it pile up with grease and other nasties for years, it probably would stick to the bottom....

[kyrathaba]

In the winter when you have heat running, it can make your house very dry.  Until I started measuring humidity and running a humidifier, my house could get down to 15 and even 10% humidity, which I never realized was an issue.. but when i started running serious humidifier the improvement was noticeable -- less waking up to dry eyes and throat, etc.

So.. my second recommendation is a serious humidifier.

But severe allergy sufferers be careful. Allergists warn that increasing home humidity will make a more hospitable environment for some allergens.

[lotusrootstarch]

My gadget of this week, an electric frying pan, from my fav manufacturer Breville:

[attachimg=#]

I've had it for a week now and must say I've been fairly impressed with its ease of cleaning and build quality. It was recommended to me by a friend, a sea food lover (too!), who steams/fries a lot with it. The cooking surface is complete 18/10 stainless steel and thus is fairly easy to clean and is dishwasher safe. The box comes with a steaming rack and a recipe book/manual.

Link: http://www.breville.com.au/cooking/fry-pans/the-thermal-pro-stainlesstm-bef500.html

[ewemoa]

ease of cleaning

+1 for this -- after many rounds of hard-to-clean objects, the brain here seems to be more likely to remember to check for this sort of thing

[mouser]

My gadget today is a soda can (beverage) chiller.

Along with tea, I drink quite a bit of soda (i know, bad habit) -- which i drink out of standard 12oz cans.  I usually have them refrigerated but sometimes not -- especially when guests arrived who want a flavor i don't keep in the fridge.

So this device can take a can from room temperature to very cold in only a few minutes.  They do work.

The best known one seems to be this "Cooper Cooler" brand -- they make quite a few models and they also work to chill wine and beer bottles:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooper-Cooler-HC01-A-Beverage-Chiller/dp/B0007LJNB4


That one above is about $60 -- you can get more expensive models and cheaper ones on ebay too.


The way this device works is that you fill up the container with ice, and it rapidly SPINS the can or bottle for a few minutes.  By keeping the surface of the can/bottle exposed to ice while insuring the liquid inside circulates at the surface, the liquid inside is rapidly and evenly cooled.


Now, those models clearly look like the best performers, but I am a stickler for minimizing clutter and i didn't like the idea of having to fill this thing up with ice and plug it in, and store it, etc.  And i didn't think I had much use for cooling bottles.

So instead I bought a super low tech cheapie version of this on ebay, called the Frost Boss, which can be found for about $20:
http://www.amazon.com/Frost-Boss-1C3/dp/B008CQN3IA/


This one is battery powered and the spinning device is only a little larger than the size of a coffee mug.

So what I do with it is i threw away the container that you are supposed to fill with ice, and kept the coffee mug size spinner.  I always keep a bag of ice in my freezer, so if i ever want to use this i simply take it out of cabinet, attach a can to it, turn it on, and place the pair in my freezer IN my bag of ice, close the freezer, and come back in 5 minutes to a cold can of soda.  No muss no fuss, no cords no wasted cabinet space, no ice water to clean up.

[mouser]

Bonus gadget:

I really like these snap on can covers.  There are a ton of different brands but the screw-cap-type ones are the only ones I have found work well:

http://www.amazon.com/6pk-SNAP-TOP-LID-COVER~SODA~TOPPER~GUZZLE~BOTTLE/dp/B003L2A4K0

[KynloStephen66515]

Bonus gadget:

I really like these snap on can covers.  There are a ton of different brands but the screw-cap-type ones are the only ones I have found work well:

http://www.amazon.com/6pk-SNAP-TOP-LID-COVER~SODA~TOPPER~GUZZLE~BOTTLE/dp/B003L2A4K0
(see attachment in previous post)

Ha, I own these....Didn't consider them to be a gadget though...Great for driving situations, or even walking, so you can put it in your pocket.

[Renegade]

While less "gadgety" than some of the above, my headphones have a couple nice features.

[attachthumb=#]

http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,1063,pid,1063,nodeid,2,_language,EN,view,specs.html

The top headband really makes them feel a lot lighter. This is especially noticeable when you're wearing them for a long time.

While not in the picture, they come with cloth covers for the over-ear-pads. This is much more comfortable than plastic, as plastic makes you sweat. In fact, this is one of the most important feature that I look for in headphones.

The detachable cord is also nice, but I don't really use that. It's more or less for transportation purposes.

The sound quality is great. When I do audio work, I only use headphones - not speakers (except for speaker testing), so great sound and comfort are important to me.

They have very good dynamic range at 15 to 25,000 Hz, so they're ideal for pretty much any use, though you clearly can't do LFE with them, but nobody expects to slap sub-woofers onto the sides of their head.

[KynloStephen66515]

but nobody expects to slap sub-woofers onto the sides of their head.

[attach=#]