The Geeks received Logitech’s first product to employ NXT’s flat-panel speaker technology, simply called the Logitech 28mm Portable Speaker. NXT provides unique sound solutions and they are best known for their flat-paneled speaker technology which exploits their expertise in bending wave physics. We have tested several portable speakers before with lackluster results… read on to see if NXT flat-panel speaker technology can make portable sound rich and full.

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Being the soccer fan that I am, and I know I’m going to be leaving an impression in my sofa in the next few weeks with the World Cup on, I had to point out the quirky list of Top 10 Must-Haves for the World Cup that the folks over at HipTechBlog put together. Not exactly my top 10, and while I like the big screen TV and the Location Free TV from Sony isn’t a bad idea, you may want to check out the Slingbox as well.

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Take yet another step towards turning your static, ‘manual’ house into a dynamic and totally remote controlled playground. Ok, maybe you don’t run with scissors in the house any more, but this is better. Outfit your doors with this gadget and you can open and close them via a 4-button remote control. The Swing Door Opener works on practically any kind of swing door: inward- or outward-swinging and left- and right-hand doors. Wait, that’s not all. You can use 1 remote to control 2 doors. There’s a timer mode to automatically close the door after it had been opened a preset amount of time (up to 50 seconds). Still more: during a power failure, the door can still be opened or closed manually. For safety, there’s an obstacle detection sensor as well an electric strike.

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The Geeks received a SENA Blackberry 8700 Leather Case to review and since I’m a Treo guy and don’t have a Crackberry, I asked one of the executives at my company to give the SENA case a full test. Using the SENA case with his Blackberry for a few weeks, he performed real world tests that any executive would encounter including carrying the Blackberry everywhere and even dropping it a couple times! Read on to see what he thought of the case.

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In another example of greed and fear among huge corporations, 4 Hollywood studios and the big 3 television networks sued Cablevision over their plan to launch an on-demand service that could replace the consumer’s TiVo/DVR. So instead of recording stuff to your own home DVR, you would record it to a DVR run by Cablevision on their servers. The studios and networks are crying copyright foul, because Cablevision is copying and retransmitting material that they didn’t license. Hmm… the consumer didn’t ‘license’ it either, did they? To me, this seems like a value-add for Cablevision customers and that’s it. I don’t really see how this particular issue as being one of competition, but isn’t it ironic that in our competiton-driven economy how afraid companies are of just that?

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If you’re a pasty white geek afraid of facing the sun without SPF 1001 sunscreen, the Geeks have found a gizmo for you (and me!)… the UV Hawk. The device has four skin tone options that help eliminate sunburns dependant on your skin type. The portable device shows accurate UV index and the safe amount of time to spend in the sun. Even on overcast days I bet I should not stay outdoors for more than 1 minute!

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According to the latest survey run by Harris Interactive, the number of Americans online in April was 172 million, which represents a 5% increase over the same period a year ago. Also encouraging is that the demographic profile of American Internet users is starting to resemble the overall demographics of the country. You know what I’m thinking? If I can only sell something to each one of those online users…

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We started out reviewing the VRFM8 from Roadmaster, which is an FM transmitter for wirelessly broadcasting music from your iPod, USB stick or other music source over your car’s stereo, but then also got the VRFM9. At about the same time, Kensington was good enough to send us a Pico FM transmitter, so this review turned into a bit of a comparitive review. Other vendors that produce FM transmitters declined to send us review samples (although we did review a Belkin TuneBase late last year). Since the Kensington Pico is built for an iPod Nano, that’s what we used for the majority of the review. The VRFM8 and VFRM9 also take USB thumbdrives which plug directly into the units, so we tested those as well.

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Most do not possess my Jedi Grilling powers of knowing exactly when to pull the steaks to assure they are perfectly cooked to specifications (nothing like a top sirloin with a nice pink center). In cases where you’ve overcooked or underdone meat on the grill, today’s gizmo is for you!

The final gizmo in the Memorial Day Weekend series on grilling is a must have for grilling newbs and grillmasters alike. Nothing is worse than the anticipation of a cookout, firing up the grill and grilling only to overcook the steaks (or uncook the chicken!).

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Continuing the Memorial Day weekend theme of grilling, no Grill Geek should be without his or her trusty set of grill tools. Sharper Image has compiled 25 stainless steel tools into their grill set including the usual spatula and extra-long tongs as well as salt and pepper shakers and a corkscrew (don’t worry, the spatula has a built-in bottle opener for the beer crowd!).

One final word about the grill set, the whole set is dishwasher safe for a quick cleanup. That’s important in grilling. Now, let’s throw on some cow!

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