The BabyGiraffe is a multi-use accessory for holding and hanging anything from a toy to a bottle that any parent would appreciate.

One thing we’ve learned about Rosemary, our three month old baby girl, is that she loves to stare at things. Especially fuzzy, hanging things. Put something fuzzy and hanging in front of her eyes and she’ll be captivated for period of time. And the more things you can dangle in front of her, the better. In an effort to keep her distracted and therefore quiet, we dangle things in front of her whenever we can.

But not everything you place her in is outfitted with fuzzy hanging things. This is where the BabyGiraffe, a versatile holder of fuzzy things, comes in handy. It is a simple yet clever accessory that allows you to dangle fuzzy things in front of your baby just about anywhere. It uses a surprisingly powerful spring-loaded clamp that doesn’t budge once it is clamped onto something.  At home, I’ve clamped it on the changing table, the swinging chair, and the crib. The flexible spine makes it easy to place the hanging object exactly where you want it and viola, baby is distracted. It is small enough to fit into a diaper bag, so we take it everywhere. As soon as we settle Rosemary in, the BabyGiraffe comes out.

The idea of a gadget like this to hang things from was a great one, but the giraffe print cover was a stroke of genius. The soft material protects the surfaces it clamps to, which any fabric cover would do, but by using a giraffe motif, it is so much more fun. It was because of the giraffe print that before I even used it, I was charmed.

Other than fuzzy things, the BabyGiraffe comes with a bottle holder and a mirror, which comes in super handy for rear facing car seats or front facing strollers so you can keep an eye on your baby. Or it can be positioned so your baby can stare in awe at her own reflection.

At just $24.95. the BabyGiraffe is an accessory that any new parents will appreciate and use, so it makes an affordable and memorable gift.

Here are four distinctly different headphones, as opposed to ear plugs or buds, for holiday gifts. They come in a variety of price levels and serve different functions.

1. For little kids, consider the Griffin GB10027 MyPhones Headphones ($39.99 list). They are perfect for kids and unaware teens because the volume can’t exceed 85 decibels—the highest level recommended by many auditory health organizations.

2. For more fashion-conscious teens, the Wicked Reverb headphones look hot, and deliver good sound. And, at $20 (Amazon) they are imminently affordable. These headphones have enhanced bass, and include a 3.5mm and 6.5mm jack for use with iPod or phone (no mic though) and better stereo equipment.

3. When I tried the Frends Alli headphones while listening to music, I could hear a baby crying. I found this really annoying but these headphones don’t completely cover your ears. Turns out, it was a baby crying that I had never heard on a favorite piece of music. While these headphones don’t cover the ear completely and can let in outside noise, don’t be surprised if the train you hear bearing down on you is actually on the musical track rather than a neighboring train track. These headphones also have two great additional features. They have a mic so you can use them with your phone or other inputdevice. And, they have a fabric cord, which miraculously does not tangle and stick like most headphone cords. For $35, you can not go wrong with these.

4. Finally, we love our Crossfade LP headphones. They also have a fabric cord and an second cord that includes microphone/call/music button if you want to use them with your iPhone (3GS and newer) or Blackberry. As the more sophisticated phones that they are, they also have a 6.3mm and 3.5mm adapters for different size headphone jacks. These are more expensive at $199, but are high quality headphones with superior sound driven by HD drivers and gold-plated jacks. For this price too, you get a very cool, black “exoskeleton” back case with a red lining. These make a fine gift, but I’m happy to say mine are already in service and I don’t have to to wait until Christmas to disappear into their sweet sound.

It’s amazing how prices have fallen and the quality that is available even at lower spending levels for decent headphones for everyone this holiday season.

GreatDad.com Review Policy: The featured products for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.

If you have an iPad, you’ve probably considered giving your laptop the boot, at least when traveling. The iPad is so easy and light, but the keyboard is so clunky and unusable for real typing, blogging, or any meaningful data entry over a sentence or two. I’ve been looking around for a Bluetooth keypad for a while so I was excited to give one a try.

The Verbatim Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard is a nicely designed device. It folds shut in a fairly size and fits into a stylish black leatherette case. Setup for us was easy. Just hold down a recessed Bluetooth key and wait for the iPad to issue a four number series to enter on the keyboard and done!

The keyboard itself is almost as wide as laptop keyboard, which is odd since the main letters from QWERT on one side, and YUIOP on the other are actually wider on the Verbatim keyboard than on my Mac laptop of desktop keyboards. At the same time, number keys across the top are more compressed, as are the multitude of side keys, including arrows, shift and parentheses. There is no vertical number pad, to the dismay of number crunchers.

When you type, you have to get used to the fact that there is no empty space between the keys, as there is on a regular keyboard. The keys are wider, but closer together. At first, this means your fingers might hit a few odd keys, especially missing the very small space bars. Luckily, while also tiny, I was able to hit the backspace delete button almost without fail. The more you type, the more you feel other trouble spots, perhaps because some keys, like the B, are irregularly sized. My fingers also tended to type the upward arrow with my pinkie since it is located where you expect the right sided shift key to be. There is a right side shift key, but it is way to the right and and an awkward reach. Since there is no trackpad, this means you have to leave the keyboard to find your spot with your finger.

Luckily, auto-correct is your friend and will fix many errors as they are committed. However, I would not recommend this keyboard to anyone needing to type while copying from another document since it will slow you down considerably if you can’t look at the text as you type.

Another thing users should note is that there is no wrist rest like you’d find on all Mac laptops. This may or may not bother you, but I found the keyboard a lot easier to use with a small notebook placed in front of the keyboard to raise my hands a half inch.

Size is 9.2 x 6.4 x 2 inches which makes this just a bit too big for a jacket pocket, but he weight is only 15.7 ounces. The keyboard is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, iPad2, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom,

Blackberry Playbook, Android Tablets and any Tablet with HID Keyboard support and Bluetooth connectivity, though I only tried it with iPad and as an external keyboard to my Macbook Pro.

What I loved:

1. Form factor is about perfect and little case is a nice add-on though I think most people could live without it since the keyboard folds up into a clean rectangle with no exposed parts.

2. Easy pairing and works out of box since it’s specially made for iOS 4 and above. Side keys make it easy to operate iTunes volume and skip commands.

3. Included easel for iPhone is a nice touch. It folds inside keyboard so it’s not an extra item to lose. However, it would not hold my iPhone vertically when in its case.

What I had trouble with:

1. Odd size keys take a bit of getting used to and right side shift is an unfortunately difficult one for practical use. Don’t expect to feel totally satisfied without some experience.

2. Springs on keys are a bit tight versus a Mac keyboard. On the other hand, they make a nice clicking sound.

3. The instructions are written in multiple languages and should have been printed on a color coded sheet to make reading easier. Additionally, the keyboard itself uses engraved black on black for the on/off button and bluetooth pairing, which is difficult to see in a dark room.

4. The on/off switch “enables you to turn off the keyboard when not in use,” but would have been better as a on/off button with an auto off when not in use for extended time. Since there is no “ON” light, it is very easy to forget to turn the keyboard off when not in use.

$55 on Amazon

GreatDad.com Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.

You’ve got to love the iGrill for iPhone. It has such a silly name, you’d expect it to be sold on Saturday Night Live. However, the jokes about i- things are passé. We are now into an era where stuff can be made that adds value simply by harnessing the power of the iPhone as computer in your pocket. The iGrill is one of those products that would have been a joke a few years ago, but is now a very powerful device for the serious griller.

I love this video starring Chris Allen, one of the inventors of iGrill. He’s so earnest and truly cares about making sure this product fits your needs. If you can’t get to the video, the principle of iGrill is easy. It’s basically a meat thermometer connected to a Bluetooth relay box that sends a signal to you anywhere in a 200 ft. radius. The app on the iPhone does the rest.

Let’s talk about the iGrill hardware first. The iGrill comes in a white or black box, a bit larger than a set of playing cards. There are headphone like jacks on two sides to accept thermometer probes. The front of the iGrill is very clean with an on/off button and a + and – button for setting the temperature alarm. The iGrill functions as a meat thermometer even if you don’t use the Bluetooth and iPhone app connectivity. The box takes four AA batteries (included).
The fun for techie grilling dads who like to show off their gadget prowess comes with the iGrill apps and Bluetooth connectivity. There are two iPhone apps. One has a black icon and is very basic, focusing on temperature alone. The other, shown as a white icon, has the temperature monitoring, but includes a lot more information, including tips, recipes and cooking guidelines. At some point, I would imagine the simpler app will go away, but it may be more straightforward for some users. Both make monitoring food temperature easy.   
Here are some observations from our first cooking experience. Watching the temperature gauge while cooking a few steaks was a fascinating process. We watched the temp move slowly and then really jump in the last few seconds and had to react fast when the steaks were done. It seemed like the iGrill suggested leaving the steaks in about a minute longer than I would usually have done, but the steaks came out perfectly medium rare. I’m glad I didn’t have to sprint from 200 feet away to rescue them when they hit the magic point however.
Between our first and second attempt, I migrated to the new iPhone 4s and had to pair the new iGrill (migrating phones requires re-entering a ton of data I found, including car Bluetooth codes and many app passwords). This is where I ran into some problems. The iGrill is only meant to be paired with one device at a time, so the site covers that issue in many videos. The iGrill requires you to reset the device’s Bluetooth settings if you switch phones or want to use the iPad.
If you read my Griffin Beacon review, you’ll know that I’m no stranger to Bluetooth connectivity issues. They can be a challenge and the iGrill put me through my paces. However, iGrill customer service is the most responsive product service I’ve ever seen. They answer email questions literally within minutes and with a few ideas on their part –the trick finally was to take the batteries out for 15 seconds — I was able to re-sync the iGrill with the new iPhone. Customer service was equally responsive when I found I had gotten a bad thermometer probe. They sent one out immediately, without even knowing that I was writing a review.
The iGrill is a fun toy for grillers and I will be taking it out, especially for thicker pieces of meat with longer grilling times. The iGrill would also make a great thermometer for candy and chocolate makers, though tests have not yet been done to see if the probes could withstand that exposure.
Expect more from the maker, iDevices, a Hartford-based company. They invented this product themselves, but are in business to help other inventors bring iPhonef-friendly hardware devices successfully to market. This is a fun first entry for them and you have to cheer on inventor Chris Allen, featured in all the videos, for his homespun charm and interest in making every iGrill chef a happy iGrill user.

GreatDad.com Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.

As a lazy dad who believes that the invention of the remote control is truly proof of God’s existence and New Testament beneficence, we had to try the Griffin Beacon. Griffin Beacon, using technology from Dijit, turns your iPhone or iPad into a universal remote control.

This is a trick that is harder than you might imagine. Griffin had to create a piece of hardware that sits in your living room and needs to pair with your phone over Bluetooth. The Beacon has all major hardware codes within it, allowing your phone to talk to the DVD player, PVR, TV, Cable box without an IR transmitter.

In practice, the Beacon works pretty well, though you might not want to throw out your main remote quite yet. In our experience, we found it a bit cumbersome on the small iPhone screen and while we liked having a universal remote, we gravitated back to our simple Comcast remote for ease of use.

Additionally, sexy features like a functionality to view our Netflix queue, still don’t yet integrate with actually viewing movies on the device or controlling the Netflix feature on our devices.

Still, Griffin is onto something here with their partner app developer, Dijit. Clearly, this app gives us all a taste of Dijit technology is in development and future updates will make the app far stronger, especially when it runs on iPad with more screen space.

The pros:

Set up after you get the Bluetooth pairing down is very intuitive, making adding components a snap

Online program guide is good and future iterations will allow complete integration with social media. This is just the beginning for Dijit and Griffin.

The cons:

You’ve got one more little device (the Beacon) on your coffee table, and while unobtrusive, it’s another piece of clutter

The Beacon uses batteries which will need to be replaced under heavy use

You have to click the Beacon if you change devices, say to your wife’s phone or to the iPad

Our recommendation: Postpone purchase until you download the app and see what you are actually getting since the sizzle may pull you in before you understand the current limits. Even so, we think this technology has legs for the near future.

Griffin Beacon Specs

I’ve been reading way too many articles about laptop thieves in airports and especially coffee shops. The first step, of course, is to get a secure password and a secure encryption system (we like Macs for that reason), but the second, is to lock your machine down if you spend a lot of time working away from home.

We tried out the Griffin Portable Security Techsafe locking system, which was invented I would guess because computers, at least our Macs, no longer come with a security latch built in to their cases. Griffin had to figure out another way.

Their solution is pretty easy. The kit comes with tiny clamp that fits easily into the hinge of most laptops. It’s a slightly delicate maneuver and not one you want to force, but once you do it once and see how it fits, it’s very simple. (The one big fear would be closing the laptop before inserting the clamp all the way, which would probably break the screen.)

Once the clamp is in, part of it protrudes out the back of the laptop, making it easy to latch onto with the include combination lock. LIke any lock and cable system, this is clearly not meant to chain a laptop somewhere out of sight and will only act as a slight deterrent, but one sure enough to stop anyone in all but the meanest of Starbucks locations.

Pros:

Simple mechanism and combo lock so no extra keys to carry.

Cons:

Cable wouldn’t stop of a dedicated thief, but weaker length is the clamp, which is made of a thinner metal, which could be cut pretty fast with wire shears. This could have been made more difficult with a shorter clamp that was more covered by the locking mechanism. The lock is set on one combination for life, so don’t lose it!

All in all, a good laptop security solution from Griffin.

Techsafe Cable Locking System from Griffin Technology $24.54 on Amazon.

GreatDad.com Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.

I’ve been reading way too many articles about laptop thieves in airports and especially coffee shops. The first step, of course, is to get a secure password and a secure encryption system (we like Macs for that reason), but the second, is to lock your machine down if you spend a lot of time working away from home.

We tried out the Griffin Portable Security Techsafe locking system, which was invented I would guess because computers, at least our Macs, no longer come with a security latch built in to their cases. Griffin had to figure out another way.

Here are a few new ideas for dads who just got an iPad or have one coming.

1.Handstand iPad holder -  This isn’t really a stand, though it will allow you to prop up the iPad at about a 15 degree angle. It’s really a way for dad to hold his iPad and feel confident he’s not going to lose it. Perfect for the dad on the go, who carries the iPad without a case, or uses the iPad to take notes while walking in an office situation. Myself, I find it indispensable when I’m at a trade show or conference and need my right hand free to shake hands, but also need to take notes and make blog entries while standing.

The ABS housing won’t break easily and the elastic band wraps just firmly enough around the back of the hand, so the fingers rest comfortably on an upraised area for stability. The handle revolves for vertical or horizontal viewing. $49 on Amazon.

2. The RingO Mounting System – If Dad complains that the iPad is great but it’s always hogging valuable counter space, or thrown around the car, Vogel’s makes a system called the Ringo that can be used as a protective holder, a wall mount (for the kitchen, gym, or workroom), a table stand like a photo frame, and for the back of the seat for backseat viewing. The key here is a hole in the back of the protective casing that then allows for different modular attachments, whether to a semi-permanent attachment that screws into the wall or a special vice-like grip that holds onto the bars of the car headrest.

The RingO is a simple idea that really fits a lot of the way the iPad is actually used when it’s not in your lap. $119 on Amazon, or less for fewer functions.

3. MountMe Freedom II – Another good mounting device is the MountMe II, which uses 4 extra-strength suction cups, but also has screws for more permanent attachments.

This set is less expensive at $49.99 and available at www.mountme.com.

I have never seen or tried this product (G-Form iPad sleeve), nor can I vouch for the veracity of this video, but I love the way the construct this contraption to drop a 12lb bowling ball directly on to an iPad, destroying one test iPad in the process.

This iPad case is butt ugly in screaming yellow (also comes in other colors) and uses some sort of foam technology that expands back when compressed. In another video, they drop 2 iPads out of an airplane. Pretty cool. I just wish they had saved themselves the trouble and sent me an iPad directly.

500 ft airplane drop (YouTube video link)

Dispose-It-Guard Disposal Guard is the best thing ever and it’s one of those items you can’t believe no one has invented before. Simple, simple tool, blocks disposal drain for everyday use, and when you want to throw stuff down the disposal, you lift it out or move it to the side. You can use the long part to push food into the disposal, rather than getting your fingers into it, or to push down long pieces of melon rind or grapefruits. Other disposal covers we’ve used meant you had to stick your fingers on some gooey handle; this one, though it could be longer, is raised about an inch so it’s not always covered with slime. With other covers, too, you’d have to move them aside to let water in, and inevitably water filled with debris would spray up out of the drain. This tool has holes in the cover, so water doesn’t spray up.

I don’t know if this qualifies as a Fathers Day gift idea or not, but it would sure top my list if I didn’t have one.

Dispose-it-Guard is $13.95 on Amazon.

GreatDad.com Review Policy: The featured product for this review was provided to us, at no cost, by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about products. We only review products that we have personally tested and used in our own homes, and all opinions expressed are our own.

The IDAPT universal power charger sets out to provide the convenience of one power charging station that does it all. Imagine being able to plug in four devices simply on a nice organized pad without needing four separate brick chargers hogging all the outlet or power strip space. The IDAPT i4 does that for four devices at a time, but, as with many all-in-one ideas, there are trade-offs.

The IDAPT itself is a nicely designed square that comes in black, red, white, blue, pink and lime green. It comes with six chargers covering major formats, some of which are likely to be useless to the individual user. Mine came with adaptors for Sony Erickson, Samsung, and Nokia phones, as well as plugs for an iPhone/iPad, mini and micro USB. Many people will have one of the three phones, but likely not use at least a few of the included adaptors.
Power tip adaptors for the IDAPT, compatible to over 4000 devices, are available on Amazon for about $10 each.

The adaptor is simple to plug in and out of the IDAPT with a simple click. In testing, however, with our point and shoot camera, a Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FX9,, the power port is set up in a way that the mini-USB adaptor won’t fit. Another Sony camera had a unique power socket that would have required ordering another adaptor.

We like the concept of a dock to organize all of our gear and cables, where gadgets sit charging peacefully until they are used, and precious wall sockets aren’t monopolized by clumsy power bricks. The IDAPT is a good, clean solution to this, but our advice to get maximum value is to check whether your devices are covered by those already in the starter set of six adaptors. Otherwise, the MSRP will be increased $10 for each additional plug you’ll need.

The IDAPT 4 is $59.99 on Amazon.

Product specs