Recently, I wanted a product to take the chlorine out of swimwear. The products on offer were fairly expensive -- typically $5 (plus shipping and handling) for a 2 ounce bottle of dechlorinator. But I discovered that the mystery ingredient is sodium thiosulfate, so it was a simple matter to find some other product that uses the same ingredient.

As it turns out, it is also used as a dechlorinator for water for pets, and the cheapest source is R-Zilla's Aquatic Reptile Water Conditioner which costs $10 for 8 ounces at my local petstore. So now I am using this to take the chlorine out of my swimsuit.

i-gotU Travel Logger is a cool portable GPS gadget that timestamps your location. It has found a niche as a tool to synch with your digital photos, allowing you to match photos to world locations.

• Auto-map your photos with GPS location information
• Organize and present your journey in three-dimensional Google map and Google earth
• Compatible with all digital cameras and camera phones, coolest GPS tracking gadget for your journey.
• Easy-to-use software user interface
• Export in multiple file formats, supports popular web album
• Create and share your live travel blog with all your friends quick and easy
• Multiple ways for attachment, suitable for outdoor use
• Water-resist hardware design, suitable for rainy days, skiing, water sports
• Compatible with 3rd party GPS navigation software, serve as PC GPS receiver as well.

ActiveState Komodo IDE

I've been using this product for a few years for my python coding. I highly recommend it.

Multi-platform, multi-language IDE for end-to-end dynamic web application development. Easily create, test and debug all your code in one powerful workspace. Komodo IDE offers the most advanced editing and debugging for dynamic languages and client-side Ajax technologies, plus intelligent tools for regular expressions, team development and customization, and unparalleled extensibility.

I recently got these two videos from the Charlie and Lola series for my six year old niece:

1. Charlie & Lola, Vol 7 - This Is Actually My Party
2. Charlie and Lola, Vol. 8: I Am Collecting a Collection

I saw it on TV first and thought it was nice. The cartoons have pleasing drawing. The plot and characters are enjoyable. I thought it was pretty cute. Hope she likes them!

From The Princess Bride, a t-shirt with the ultimate event name tag: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

$18.99 from thinkgeek.com

[FakeTV] emulates human watching the tube, supposedly discourages thieves

Miniature Enigma machines (from Bletchley Park): for the ubergeek in your family.

Pocket Enigma
Designed exclusively for and only available through Bletchley Park, Pocket Enigma is a little cipher machine with a single wheel that rotates on the CD mount in a compact disk case. It works on exactly the same principles as the real Enigma machine used by the German armed forces during WW II.

Enigma-E
Enables you to build your very own battery powered Electronic Enigma machine, based on those used by Bletchley Park codebreakers during WWII. DIY simulation of the 8 wheel M3 and M4 Enigma. All components are included. Features an alpha-numerical display, lamp panel and 26 key keyboard as well as separate Stecker board. Requires only basic soldering experience, although basic knowledge of electronics may be required to understand the circuit description.

Just when you realized that you could not live without a t-shirt with a built-in graphic equalizer that responds to sound comes the next geek t-shirt: one that detects 802.11 wi-fi signals and displays the strength of the signal.

[Show-off t-shirt from x-treme geek] $29.95
[Wi-Fi detector t-shirt from ThinkGeek] $29.99

Barbecuing is occasionally complicated by unreliable charcoal bricks. Sometimes they don't start even when you douse them with that nasty kerosene fire starter. I'm expecting that this low-tech solution from Weber will work better. It's basically a custom-made chimney for igniting charcoal bricks. The coals draw air from the bottom and the fire spreads up the chimney.

2008-07-17: I've been using this product for two months now and I have a few comments to add:

• No liquid fire starter required
  Or recommended.
• Intensity
  Within a short period, the fire is consistently red-hot. The coals are amazingly hot throughout.
• Ease of starting
  Every time I have used this, I've had one-match fires. Just one match was needed to get it started. You put two sheets of newspaper in the bottom and that's enough to get the coals started.

Okay, so this is my favorite sleep sound machine. A few of the things that make it so good in my view:

• the sounds don't repeat very quickly
• the sound quality is good
• you can add cards to extend the system
• there is a great big button to turn it on and off (as opposed to many machines that have combination volume and on-off)
• the sound can be played for a set time (30-, 60-, or 90-minutes) and it automatically shuts off
• the sound fades out gradually

• Rhythms of the Sea Sound Card
• Wilderness Journey Sound Card