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Review: IDAPT i4 Universal Power Charger
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
AC Input: 85-240 VAC – 0.2A; 50/60 Hz worldwide compatible
4 independent chargers with self-regulating power supply
DC Output: Up to 13 W
Cord length: 1,6 m
Dimensions: 169 x 135 x 32 mm
Weight: 300 g
SIMULTANEOUS – Charge up to 4 devices at the same time
ECOLOGICAL – LEDS indicate the charging status of your device. Save energy and switch off IDAPT when not in use
FUTURE PROOF – IDAPT is commited to constantly update the range of adapter tips as new devices are launched.
UNIVERSAL – Charge all your electronic devices with complete compatibility.
SAFE & ERGONOMIC – The articulated tips make IDAPT a sturdy adaptable product for everyday use
EASY AND SIMPLE – Simple connection and disconnection of electronic devices.
Popularity: 1%
Food gift ideas for Fathers Day
Here are a few father’s day consumables for the dad who has everything and wants nothing left on the shelf, or on the plate. Get him something to eat!
1. Cookies from Sweet Sally’s Bakeshop (www.Sweetsallys.com). Owner Sally Minier makes homebaked cookies and sends them anywhere in the world. These are just like homemade or church bake sale, made with butter and sugar and apparently a flood of memories. We especially liked the Wellesley cookie, kind of like a 7-Layer bar in cookie form, made of coconut and chocolate (but minus the nuts, sadly). These won’t keep forever, but will likely be gone before they go bad.
2. New York Times Wine Club (www.nytwineclub.com)- Personally, I don’t know why I persist in trying to magically find wine based on label graphics at my weekly grocery store. It never tastes as good as the wine recommended to me in a restaurant, or the wine served by a friend who actually knows what he is doing. So why not a wine merchant who actually needs to make sure you are satisfied each time with the choices or you won’t come back again? Now God only knows what the NYT is doing in this business, but I guess they have to pay for those far-flung correspondents somehow. Maybe the reporters are doubling as wine testers and buyers when things are slow on the international beat. For Father’s Day 2011, use promo code FATHER for an extra gift.
3. La Cense Beef (www.lacensebeef.com)- I’ve cut down my meat consumption just so I can feel okay about eating a steak every few weeks. And since I’m eating salads all the time, when I eat meat, I want good meat, not just anything red. La Cense is a specialized meat packer that is miles above the leader in the mail order meat category (you know who I’m talking about, Omaha!). Their cows not only are grass fed, they are “grass-finished” which means they are fed naturally even during their last trip to the slaughterhouse, when most cows are fed corn and poorly treated. The meat has more flavor and it also has more Omega-3s. Perhaps not enough to prevent a heart attack, but used in moderation, beef is not a bad thing. You’ll pay more, but you can get any cut including roasts and hot dogs and dad is sure to appreciate the thought.
4. Bake Me A Wish cakes by mail. Did you know you can even send a cake to someone, including someone in the military. Cakes are usually for birthdays, but who says you can’t send one for Father’s Day, especially if dad is a long ways off, and you know he LOVES cake. We tried a chocolate cake from Bake Me A Wish and it was very good. Expect a cake similar in quality to one you would find freshly baked at Whole Foods, with all-natural ingredients and plenty of frosting. The cake was very very moist, perhaps because it had to travel. My wife found it too “wet,” but I enjoyed it. Bake Me a Wish cakes come in 20 plus flavors and can be shipped overnight to any place in the United States, including military addresses. Bake Me a Wish also gives 5% off all proceeds to send birthday cakes to soldiers overseas.
5. Spoonful of Comfort offers Chicken Soup by mail. For the dad who has everything, except a way to satiate his craving for real and simple homemade chicken soup, this is a special gift. At $34 plus a minimum of $13.95 shipping for 4-6 servings, it’s not a cheap half gallon of soup, but we were impressed by the simple ingredient list, the hearty stock and lots of real chicken and fresh noodles. The soup arrives mostly frozen with 2-3 day delivery, ready to heat up and eat. A special fathers day pack also includes 6 homemade chocolate chip cookies, 6 Parker House rolls, and a bright red “Kiss the Cook” apron for $50.
GreatDad.com Review Policy: Bake Me a Wish, La Cense, Spoonful of Comfort and Sweet Sally’s provided samples 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.
Popularity: 3%
Four Golf Books for Dads
For a lot of fathers, the Sunday of Father’s Day means taking time to be away from the kids to play golf. This, I find, is more than a littte sad. Of all the loves I had before kids, golf was probably the hardest to give up in order to spend time with my family, but I’ve never mourned it enough to spend more than a few Sundays away. Six to eight hours out of a weekend was something I could no longer afford to be without even in the pursuit of par.
Still, golf is very connected to fatherhood in my own life. My own father was gone about 100% of my childhood years, having moved away when I was about 4 years old. We only really got a chance to connect on the golf course after I had reached adulthood. So, for me, I’d rather see golf connected to involved fatherhood. As for now, I’m still waiting patiently for my 7-year old to pick up the game.
For the golfing dad in your life, here are four golf books I’ve enjoyed that make for good gifts for dad.
1. Golf Dreams – John Updike, the great chronicler of late 20th century American life, was a life-long hacker. He was a tall man and I’m sure he could stroker the ball well, yet had the same yips and slices of the rest of us. Golf Dreams is a collection of stories, extracts (from the Rabbit series), and essays, many from the New Yorker. They can be read in pieces or as a collection and make a fine prize for any dad who enjoys golf, and a well-turned phrase.
2. Moment of Glory – John Feinstein, best-selling author and frequent NPR contributor catalogs the golf year 2003 when Tiger lost his swing and four relative unknowns won each of the majors. Mike Weir won the Masters, Jim Furyk won the US Open, Ben Curtis won the British Open, and Shaun Micheel took the PGA. Feinstein is a fantastic sports writer and for any golf fan who lived that year (the year he stayed home to help with the baby?), it’s a good read.
3. Bad Lies – Bad Lies is a “Field Guide to lost balls, missing links, and other golf mishaps.” It’s a coffee table-style book with glossy photos of all the horrible things that happen on the course and the funny names that have been given to them, from Zinger to Dunch to Mulligan. This is a fun book to page through with a Heineken in one hand and the TV remote in the other. All golfers will enjoy the photos and humor.
4. Golf with Dad – David Barrett wrote this collection of the stories of fourteen tour pros, and the role golf played in their relationships with their fathers. From Phil to Jack to Arnie (Tiger is conspicuously absent), there are heartwarming stories aplenty. Barrett is a pro golf writer so has the chops to write both an accurate and inspiring collection of tales. You can’t find a better title for a book for a golfing dad.
All these books make for perfect gifts, especially if inscribed appropriately and given at the 19th hole.
Popularity: 1%
Notable Novelists Card Game experience
Imagine the scene: A warm Spring evening. Good French wine and an authentic steak-frites. Talk of Edith Wharton, Kurt Vonnegut and Ernest Hemingway. Are we in Paris? No, I’m with my 7 and 11 year old son and daughter in a local restaurant and we’re playing a new card game,
Notable Novelists of the 20th Century while waiting for dessert. 
For a book lover who would be pleased to have his kids grow up scanning the New York Review, this was heaven; my son carefully trying to pronounce “Hemingway” and my daughter asking if I have a F. Scott Fitzgerald author card. I have to say I was strangely proud as fellow diners listened to my kids’ recitation of a pantheon of literary greats of the last century.
The game isn’t as intellectual as the authors it salutes, however. It can be played by anyone who can, or almost, can read. All it requires is being able to organize cards into sets containing a bio card, an author card, and a library card for each author. And that’s the genius actually. Adults wouldn’t have the interest to play a game this simple – basically a literary version of Go Fish, but kids like these games and will soak up facts and titles as they play. The cards themselves have old New Yorker-style graphics and some basic and some esoteric facts about the authors, which will also entertain adult players. But the best part is feeling that your kids might actually grow up to read the same books that formed us as we grew up.
Playing this game was a fun and nostalgic way to close out another good evening with my kids.
Notable Novelists – $10.99 on Amazon. Makes a good gift for the book-loving dad too.
Popularity: 1%
NeoCube, Nanobots and Bucky Balls: great toys for kids or for Father’s Day
My 5 year old son bought a version of these magnets “with his own money” at the SFMOMA two years ago and they were a hit at our house. Evidently, the ones we bought, Bucky Balls, weren’t in any way protected and the 2011 New York Toy Fair was filled with versions of them including a major display of NanoDots.
As with Lego displays, they even showed how you could create huge magnetic sculptures:
Here is a fun video for NeoCube that shows just how tactily addictive these little magnets are. They come in packs of 216 magnet balls for about $30. It’s a fairly high price for a small package, but guaranteed to keep little or big hands busy.
I spoke with a NanoDots representative about whether the little magnets could ruin credit card, phones, or even computer hard drives, and he confidently stuck his phone and a credit card on the little magnets to show how well protected modern devices are from magnetic forces. Good to know.
NOTE: GreatDad did not receive samples of this product for review.
Popularity: 3%
