A feeder for lazy bird-watchers
DIY
We've had a great summer of backyard bird-watching. Hummers and yellow warblers have circled our flowerbeds and our neighbor's window feeder throughout August.
But to keep traffic up in winter, someone will have to head out into the snow to refill the feeder hanging from our red maple.
That bothers me, because I am lazy.
You might have a better excuse: perhaps your health, or your schedule, makes it difficult to keep your feeder topped off.
Nathan Arthurs, an entrepreneur in Rockford, Ill., has helped design a clever system for keeping your winged visitors fat and happy: the ClickON Bird Feeder system (clickonbirdfeeders.com), which transports seed to an outdoor feeder from a 50-pound container inside your home.
The ClickON uses a GE remote control platform: Just push a button on a hand-held remote from up to 100 feet away, and the seed, which is stored in an electrically powered seed container, drops into the feeder.
The system (about $500) includes a cedar bird feeder, the GE remote system, and some of the parts you will need for installation. But you will need a lot more than that. How much more? Try 120 pounds of concrete mix, a shovel, lots of tubing for a trench in your yard, and tools and drills to punch a hole into the side of your home or garage. (The seed storage container must be indoors).
Again, I'm lazy. If you are the handy sort, Arthurs says, you can get this job done in as little as 90 minutes.
Music Listening
If you can get past the $600 price, this iPod speaker is the coolest one yet
When my friend Kathy asked me to recommend a gift for her sons' dad, I immediately shot her an e-mail suggesting the coolest iPod speaker system I've seen: the Zeppelin, from the British hi-fi manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins (bowers-wilkins.com).
Depending on how you look at it, the Zeppelin resembles the famous German airship or a two-foot Perfecto cigar with a stainless steel band about its middle. The system has a tilt-adjustable base.
But brace yourself for the price: I know the boys' dad is a special guy, but this particular masterpiece costs about $600.
The Zeppelin has a 5-inch subwoofer at its center, and midrange and tweeter drivers in its tapered ends. And it has brilliant features for the iPod you will not find in competing systems such as the Mondo Mint or George, from Chestnut Hill Sound.
Unlike those other systems, the Zeppelin's docking port is designed so that it requires no plastic adapter inserts to accommodate the latest-generation iPods. The docking port is on a "floating" arm, which B&W says will make the iPod easier to hold and control. (This strikes me as a minor point.)
Once it's docked, you can access the Zeppelin's equalizer menu through your iPod.
B&W includes a miniature remote control for your iPod and Zeppelin. You can also plug other audio sources into the Zeppelin, via its S-video, composite-video, and mini-jack inputs.
Video Games
Brain Age 2 for Nintendo DS
Scientists differ over whether games such as Brain Age, the brain-training puzzle game, actually keep your noodle "young." But you can have fun trying, especially with Nintendo's much improved Brain Age 2 (about $20).
The new version of this video game for baby boomers includes a virtual piano keyboard game and dozens of other new math and word games, plus 100 new Sudoku puzzles.
The game retains some of its wacky Japanese charm. The disembodied head of Brain Age's inspiration, neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, has the same boxy shape, and the music is as cheesy (and, I find, as forgettable) as ever.
But if you think you've spotted a misfired Japanese-to-English translation while playing rock, paper, scissors, "Please lose" is an actual instruction.
Innovative last week
Digital camera will help you shoot like a pro
Every hand-held gadget seems to come with a camera attached. But you get what you pay for: Those snapshots from your RAZR are not likely to appear in a gallery anytime soon. At roughly $1,800, Nikon's latest digital SLR camera, the 12.3-megapixel D300, will show your art school friends that you're serious about taking good pictures. The D300 (due in November) has a wicked fast power-up time and a 45-millisecond shutter-release lag time. Sports photographers will like the D300's ability to shoot six to eight frames per second, with dozens of frames in single bursts. The camera, with its magnesium alloy casing and rubber gaskets and seals, should resist mud and dirt quite nicely. 