Every day, I wake up to find that I’m even more jealous of the kids today, because of the kinds of learning tools that they have versus what I had. Ok, I didn’t turn out so badly; after all, I do know how to use a computer, but still! For example, take a look at this globe. You can just point to a spot on the globe using the included pen to get instant facts about the location: geography, history, culture and much more. Of course, since kids may quickly get tired of just that, there are over 30 activities including searches, comparisons, tests, and games against other players.

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Did you wait in line with the masses of people to purchase your copy of Windows Vista last night? Chances are your answer is “no” unless you were cold and wanted to hang out in a warm store, felt obligated to go because you work at Microsoft, or thought Microsoft was releasing Vista with SP1.

Anyway, if you purchased a new machine with Vista preloaded, Belkin created this Easy Transfer Cable just for you. As long as you can plug in USB cables, you’re golden to transfer settings, photos, music, etc… to your brand new Vista setup.

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Ok, so it’s not a super complicated electronic gadget, and it has been around for a while, but if you have a picky kitty like I do, then you would appreciate this great little device which keeps their water nice and fresh.

These unique water bowls continuously circulate, filter and aerate your pet’s water supply, returning it to the dish in a gentle cascade of cleaner, fresher tasting water. By mimicking the flow of a faucet, pets are encouraged to drink more often and receive proper hydration, which is critical to a pet’s health.

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If you’re a coffee buff, and hate drinking coffee made from stale grounds, take a look at this practical gadget. It’s a storage canister and a dispenser in one. Really simple mechanism – just hold and press the button for the release of exactly one tablespoon of coffee, without exposing the rest of the coffee to the air. The Indispensable Coffee Dispenser stores over half-a-pound of ground coffee.

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Dave Zatz over at Zatz Not Funny is holding a charity raffle to help out the James Kim Memorial Fund. For every $10 you send in to Dave you will receive an entry in a raffle for a TiVo Toaster.

To learn more on how to contribute, check out this entry on Zatz Not Funny.

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So there I was… waiting in my seat before takeoff on the flight back from CES ‘07 and Toronto 640 called and asked for an interview on their Sunday show about our CES coverage and the iPhone. I agreed and went on air for the first time on January 14th.

Apparently I did ok because they asked me back last week and in about forty-five minutes I will go on for the third time. Here’s the show lineup for the day.

3:30 Doug Felteau – Chief Gizmoteer with GizmosForGeeks.com. This week, Arlene & Doug chat about the future of video, including the war between HD-DVD’s and Blu-ray Discs. Also, a look at Video-On-Demand and where it’s headed in this technologically-hooked society.

I have been recording the sessions and will make available on Gizmos for Geeks soon. Consider that our weekly podcast!

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Here’s an attractive piece of electronics to grace your kitchen or living room. Useful too. It’s a wireless weather station that displays the indoor and outdoor temperature and relative humidity, and with its built-in accurate local weather tendency indicator, you’ll be able to see at a glance whether it will be sunny out or if there’s rain in the forecast. It gets its time via radio signals from the U. S. Atomic Clock in Boulder, Colorado, so you know it’s accurate.

Here are some other weather station type ‘things’ that you may be interested in: Oregon Scientific Weather Station and Ambient Devices 5-Day Weather Forecaster.

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No, you can’t eat the gel, but the ants can, and that’s why they can live in this self-contained ant farm without your needing to feed them. Look closely at the picture – you can see the little critters. But this ant farm is an upgrade to the traditional soil-based ant farm, not only because of the edible gel, but because of cool blue LED lighting.

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In case you missed it the first time it made the rounds on the gadget blogs, here it is again – the laser guided scissors. What else can we say? The picture practically speaks for itself. If it doesn’t for you, let me try to explain: the laser light gives you a nice straight line that you use as a guide to cut nice straight lines every time! That’s it. It’s $17 for a cool practical gadget. C’mon people, it’s got a ‘fricking laser‘.

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Mr. Alex over at Geekfoolery writes in this week about the sorry state of the inkjet industry, and the toll it takes on consumers’ pocketbooks. Quote: “There are refill kits. There are cheap ink websites. These, however, are messy half-measures that perpetuate the absurd stranglehold that the printer manufacturers have on the market. What we need is a revolution.”

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