I have always been a handyman around the house and I often get calls from people who need some sort of help -- whether it's installing a microwave, getting a PC built, or building a deck outside the house. I guess you can call me a jack of all trades, master of none.

I often found myself without the right tool when someone would call me to do something silly like tighten a screw. I started carrying a Swiss Army Pocket Knife Swiss Champ but lost it. After some time I found myself needing something to replace it and felt that the Swiss Army was good, but it lacked ruggedness. I then went for the Leatherman Wave Multitool, which I also lost after a couple of years of use. I finally decided I needed to replace it, but didn't go for the Wave because all my pants would get holes in the pockets since it was so heavy. So, the end result was something small and manageable.

Enter the Leatherman Micra Multitool. I wish I had gone with this one first as it has proved to be a very rugged tool for its small size. It features a nice set of scissors, a sharp small blade, tweezers, a nail file/cleaner, flat Phillips screwdriver, extra small and medium screwdriver, bottle opener, and a ruler. Best of all it fits easily in your pocket and if you attach it to your keys, you will never leave home without it.

THE GOOD
- Good construction.
- Great assortment of tools in such a small tool.
- Easy to carry anywhere you go.

THE BAD
- A bit expensive.

IN THE BOX
- One Leatherman Micra Tool.

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
Leatherman

I get really annoyed when I have to climb up and down ladders to get screws that constantly fall down. And sometimes when on the ground, my shirt pocket isn't good since stuff falls out of the pocket when bending down. So, this Magwear Magnetic Wristband should help alleviate all that. The magnet that powers this interesting device is none other than a N50 Neodymium magnet (a powerful magnet) that can hold on to hardware and even small tools. The wristband wrap uses a Velcro strap to keep it secure around your arm.

Found at Amazon

If you want to get something for someone that has everything this Christmas, but haven't found anything, take a look at the Cinemin.

Since we weren't able to get our hands on one of these to do a full review, we went out to our nearest Brookstone store and had the manager give us a demo. This little thing is amazing.

The image is very good and can be projected on pretty much anything. It uses Texas Instruments' DLP projection technology to do its magic and we recommend a white surface to project onto. The uses for this little guy are endless: you can project onto the wall to show friends and family a slideshow, YouTube videos, presentations, and so forth. You could even watch a movie on the ceiling of your room while you are on your way to catch some Z's. Honestly the gadget is pretty cool. The image was a little dim when we saw the demo, but it was probably due to the bright lights in the room. The Cinemin Projector can be used with portable media players, pretty much any apple product from the i family (iPhone, ipod), Flip Video, PSP, digital cameras, portable DVD players, netbooks, notebooks, and smartphones with video-out functionality. One thing to caution: the screen wouldn't project what was on the iPhone screen as we were going through the menus. It basically only works for pictures, movies, and presentations on the iPhone.

The Cinemin Projector has a resolution of 480 x 320 (HVGA). Its 90 degree swivel allows you to use it pretty much anywhere without using anything to prop it up. The Swivel can project a 60-inch image from over eight feet away.

This mini projector has a built-in speaker with adjustable volume and a headphone jack. The audio from the projector through the built-in speakers was decent, but if you have a large crowd you will probably want to connect your own powered speakers. The batteries should last up to two hours and are rechargeable.

Although the Cinemin Projector is a bit pricey at $299, we are sure that its usefulness outweighs the price.

THE GOOD
- Has many uses
- Multiple AC plugs allows for international use
- Small package delivers big image
- Can be used with multiple devices

THE BAD
- Battery life seems a little low
- A little dimmer than we expected
- Pricey
- Can't be used to scroll through iPhone menus

IN THE BOX
- AC/DC power adapter
- Power plugs for North America, UK, Europe, and Australia
- USB (A) to mini USB (B-5 pin) cable
- USB (A) to mini USB (B-4 pin) cable
- 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm cable
- AV composite to 3.5 mm cable
- Battery
- Padded soft case with Velcro flap
- Quick start guide.

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
WowWee

If you have kids you likely go through dozens of batteries on toys. My wife and I have a 16 month old who loves her toys. We were throwing our money down the drain by buying batteries every time we went to the supermarket. Not having a good experience in the past with rechargeable batteries, we were skeptical about purchasing the Energizer 15-Minute Battery Charger.

The charger pictured here is also available with an AC adapter which is the one that we used for the review. It really does take less than 15 minutes to charge and gets you up and going in no time. Even the Energizer bunny himself couldn't catch up with the speed of this charger. The charger typically sells for about $30.00 and comes with 4 X AA batteries, but is also compatible with AAA batteries (great for remote controls). Currently the highest ma rating available is 2500mAh and a pack of four AA will run you about $13.00. We found a good deal on amazon of 2 X 4 AA packs for under $20.00.

The included AA Energizer rechargeable batteries are not as long lasting as the regular Duracel or Energizer batteries you find on the shelf, but they do save you a lot of money in the long run. These batteries can be charged hundreds of times and although the battery life decreases as time passes, the effects are not noticeable until the end of a long life cycle.

A few hints when buying the batteries, make sure that you purchase the highest mAh (milli Amp Hour) rating you can find. The batteries will be more expensive, but will have more power and last longer per charge. Also label and charge the batteries in sets. They tend to last longer when charged as a set. I use a sharpie to label which helps me see which batteries are older and have degraded life. Finally, remember to check with the toy or appliance you are going to put them in to make sure it allows you to use these type of batteries. I have been able to use them on toys, cameras, and remotes without a problem.

If I had to buy this kit again I wouldn't hesitate. It has saved us a ton of money. The instant gratification of having fresh batteries in 15 minutes is also a plus. One last thing to note is that you are reusing these batteries so it is great for the environment.


IN THE BOX
- Energizer 15-Minute Battery Charger.
- 4 X AA Energizer rechargeable batteries
- AC Adapter

THE GOOD
- Saves you money over the long run
- Charges four batteries in under 15 minutes
- Batteries can be charged hundreds of times

THE BAD
- Initialialy expensive
- Batteries tend to degrade after many uses

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
Energizer

Well watch out Segway! Honda unveiled their new people mover which they deemed a personal mobility device. This little thing has no steering wheel. It has an electric motor, and a couple of little wheels in series that allow one to move in any which direction you want it to. The U3-x moves based on the movement of your body. Lean to the left and it will move to the left. Lean to the right and you guessed it, it will move to the right.

The U3-x weighs about 22 pounds, its seat and foot rests fold into the device and has a nifty handle that will allow you to carry it from place to place. Honda has not said when it will be available, as it is just experimental at this point, but they are going to showcase it next month in the Tokyo Auto show.

Here is a video of this little sucker in action on You Tube.

Looking for a safe way to transfer your important files? Take a glance at the Ironkey thumb drive. The Ironkey is an AES 256-bit hardware encrypted thumb drive that offers protection without the need to install any software.

The Ironkey features a Level 3 FIPS 140-2 security, which is basically a tamper-resistant and tamper-evident design. The way that Ironkey achieves this is by coating the internal chips with a hardened epoxy potting compound. The Ironkey is even capable of self destructing -- like something out of the spy movies.



THE HARDWARE
There's not really much to say about the hardware. It's about as boring as it gets. Silver tin can comes to mind. Its body and cap are made of a hardened metal alloy that is virtually indestructible. The body has a little pin that holds a ring which can be attached to a key chain. The Ironkey label will peel off if the device is used heavily but there is no harm done to the device. The drive is also a little longer than its competitors but its nothing that we feel will drive business away. Take a look for yourself and be the judge. The one thing we didn't really enjoy was the removable cap that can be easily lost.

OUR IMPRESSION
There is not really much to set up on the device itself, which is great. Just like all other USB thumb drives on the market today, it is password protected so you will have to set that up. Upon insertion of the device into your USB drive you will get a password prompt just like all the other thumb drives. The difference with this USB drive is that it is hardware encrypted as opposed to software encrypted. In layman's terms this means that the device will be much harder if not impossible to hack into. The device was made for the government so you could just imagine the crazy security.

Check out the difference between the Ironkey menu compared to what we think is the most widely used and available thumb drive, the
SanDisk Cruzer Flash Drive.

Here is a screen shot of the Ironkey Menu:


Here is a screen shot of the Cruzer Menu:


From the menu you can see that they are both pretty similar. You can easily notice that although both are user friendly, the U3 device
(Sandisk) allows the installation of U3 applications. The Ironkey is not so friendly in this department. To our knowledge, you are not able to install such applications, at least not yet. It was a big no-no for us. The Sandisk allows you to download and install applications easily over the web. We thought this might be a security feature on the part of Ironkey to keep their device secure. Standalone executables however could be run from the Ironkey device without any problem.

The three demo units that we have are the IronKey "enterprise products". They come complete with web management and malware protection, although these options come at an additional monthly cost.



For large businesses or enterprise customers, the web management allows the administrators to view activity on the device, enforce rules, or deactivate devices at the touch of a button. The product allows a great amount of flexibility, giving administrators full control. We don't see the average user using this but it might be of high value to enterprise customers or businesses that require that kind of security. A good example of one of these rules is a rule that limits the attempts on the device by allowing the device to self destruct if too many attempts are made to log in. Once all attempts are made the device is destroyed never to be used again.



Another plus is what Ironkey calls their "silver bullet", basically it is protection against rogue employees. If an employee is let go or somehow runs off with your data you can send the device a silver bullet through the web. This will destroy the device instantly never to be used again. The administrator can set up a limit on how many times the device can log in without using the web. This rule will force the user to eventually use the Internet to log in to the device and detonate the silver bullet.

The web browser that is available on the personal and enterprise versions forces encryption, and has a monitor for spoofing web sites to keep you safe. The browser always keeps its files on the thumb drive so you will never leave any trails behind. We have been using the devices for about four months now and are happy with them so far.

The enterprise version also allows VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP), RSA SecurID ready, CRYPTOCard One-Time Password which are amazing forms of security on their own.

The Ironkey allows you to store an encrypted backup on your cpu and restore your drive at a future date.



It also features a pretty fancy password manager that is great to keep all 6000 of your user name and password combinations for your favorite web sites or accounts. The password manager will even generate strong passwords if you are having problems creating one. If that's not enough it will automatically fill out this information when you visit the website with what you have stored.



All in all it's a strong device that offers great peace of mind knowing that your files are virtually indestructible and secure. Can't decide which one? Ironkey helps you decide. Take a look here.

The current prices on Amazon are as follows.
1GB ~ $60.00
2GB ~ $80.00
4GB ~ $130.00
8GB ~ $199. 00

Note: If this is for enterprise use you will need to consider the charge for remote administration and extra services, but you will need to contact a vendor for a quote.

Check out the Demos
Basic / Personal Version for the average
Enterprise Version for business or Enterprise customers

IN THE BOX
- Ironkey USB Thumb Drive with Cap
- Key Ring

THE GOOD
- Strong design
- Offers ultimate encrypted protection for any type of file
- Malware Scanner
- Web management for enterprise users
- Web backup available
- Encrypted backup feature
- Password Manager
- Silver bullet feature (Allows admin to destroy a device remotely to protect data)

THE BAD
- Cap is easy to lose
- Expensive for home user
- Not very easy to find applications that can run on the device.
- Devices are currently only available in 2,4, and 8GB sizes

Get yours on Amazon

MANUFACTURER
IronKey

The Res-Q-Me is probably the most important tool you can carry in your car. It is a seat belt cutter and glass breaker that can fit in the palm of your hand.





We have all seen it at some point in time, a rollover, car in a lake, or a car on fire. This little tool can help in any of these situations. It is a little device that you can put on your key chain so that in the event of an accident you will be able to help yourself out of trouble.
Just recently I was involved in a defensive driving course taught by a member of the Florida Highway patrol. The course was eye opening. The statistics that the officer brought to the table were outrageous on how many people have rollover accidents each year. The numbers were equally high for car fires associated with accidents. The officer then brought this little device and swore by it after giving us a brief demonstration on how easy it could cut through standard automotive seat belts. He also showed a small video clip of how it can break through the tempered glass on your vehicle in seconds. If you have 10.00 to your name and you own a vehicle make sure you get one of these as it can save your life and that of your loved ones. They also come in twin packs that will save you some money if you would like to purchase another for a spouse or child.

Here are some images of the device in action to give you a better idea on how it works.



The officer suggested that the device be used on the key chain because it would not be tossed around in the event of a rollover and since you see it everyday you will easily know where it its and wont fumble around looking for it.

The Res-Q-Me is available in four attractive colors, yellow, royal blue, black, and vibrant safety orange.

Get your on Amazon

Manufacturer Res-Q-Me

If you sit at your desk all day long typing away like a little robot you might like the Gravitonus. The Gravitonus is a state of the art computerized system, created to provide for optimal ergonomic conditions at work or play.

The system is an ergonomic dream. It has moving parts all over the place that will conform to your body to give you the most relaxing workstation you have ever tried. "The system constantly changes position of the user to maintain comfort in relation to the Earth Gravitational Field vector." The monitors are aligned perfectly to give the user the best field of vision. Although this product won?t make your work any better it sure will make it more pleasurable.

The Gravitonus also features onboard LED lights array that help eliminate glare. In the event that you get hot you have an active ventilated seat. Feeling cold? No problem they got you covered there also with the heating feature.

The keyboard glides in three dimensional spaces to give you the ultimate comfort. Finally they complete the system with a 5.1 surround sound system to keep you engulfed in your experience.

With hurricane season quickly approaching we thought we would look into some safety items for preparedness. With Urban Lime being home grown in Florida, we have lots of encounters with hurricanes and always find ourselves hurrying to get those last minute items to be ready for a storm.

Hurricanes, unlike many natural disasters, come with plenty of anticipation and warning. We get a good 3+ day warning when a bad storm is headed our way. What tends to happen is that we tend to procrastinate and leave everything till the last day. This means you will be at your local hardware/grocery store picking up the same items that a mob of other people are getting to be read -- things like canned foods, water, and batteries.

While looking for preparedness items before the upcoming storm season we came across the Ice-Qube Luxe Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Survival Kit made by Ice-Qube. Ice-Qube Luxe is a top of the line product in the disaster preparedness area. The system provides premium rescue, survival, first aid, hygiene and comfort products for an entire family.

The nicest thing about the Ice-Qube Luxe is that it all comes in a handy little box. It is very well organized and takes advantage of every inch of space in the Qube. The Ice-Qube Luxe exceeds the U.S. Home Security guidelines for home emergency preparedness. It will provide food, water and essential rescue and survival supplies for up to 4 people for 72 hours. It is amazing that they were able to pack all that stuff into this little box. The Ice-Qube can be used for virtually any natural disaster preparedness such as tornadoes and earthquakes, not just hurricanes.

Contents include:Eton AM/FM FR150 Emergency Radio with built in cell phone charger/hand crank & solar panel,
Mag Light, Flashlight, Lantern 2, Extra Batteries, Light, Sticks, 12 Hour Candle, Waterproof Matches, Rope, Hammer, Collapsible Shovel, Pliers/Shut Off Tool, Fire Extinguisher, Safety Goggles, Scissors, Whistle, Work Gloves, Super Glue, Tarp/Tube Tent, Marker, Multi-Tool, Mylar Blankets 4, Plastic Sheeting 14?14x26, Duct Tape, Alarm Clock, Face Shield, , First Aid Kit, , Bandages, Band aids, Antiseptic Towelettes, Eye Wash , Heat Therapy Pads , Aspirin , Ibuprofen , Thermometer , Potassium Iodine Tablets , Antacid , anti-diarrhea , Cold Pack , Electrolyte Powder Drink, Food Bars 12, Almonds , Jelly , Crackers , Peanut Butter , Raisins 6, Tuna 8, Dried Fruit, Water 10 1.5 Liter Bottles, Powdered Milk , Plate2 , Utility Sets 4, og Food , Lifesavers , Energy Pills , Can Opener, Hand Sanitizer , Insect Repellent , Tissues , Toilet Paper , Toothbrush 4, Toothpaste , Dental Floss , Breath Strips , Deodorant , Diapers, Wet Wipes , Baby Powder , Lip Moisturizing Stick , Tampons , Soap , Razor , Comb/Brush/Mirror , Condoms , Sunscreen Shampoo , Shaving Cream , Garbage Bags, Rain Poncho 4, Socks ? 2 pairs , Pad , Pen Sewing it , Hand Heating Packets 4, Battery Operated handheld Fan, Disposable Camera Harmonica , Jacks , Playing Cards , Puzzle Books , Waterproof Document Packet.

Weight: 99lbs


Found at Amazon

Ok, so this isn't your ordinary house fan, but we thought it was so cool we just had to share it with you. This little wind maker is made by BlowIt Fans). It is made for musicians to be able to attach to microphone stands or equipment to cool themselves off while they are rocking out.

The fan has a 3 speed motor and the airflow can be adjusted on the fly through its directional and angle adjustments. The gooseneck can be positioned in virtually any position, which allows you to use it in really tight spaces.

Please note that it is not a standard house fan, but instead has a clamp that will fit most stands and drum racks.

Found the Personal Cooling System on Amazon for about $69.00