The Cable Turtles were probably the cutest of all the gadgets. Their purpose is simple- to hide clutter by coiling up long cables within their “shells”, and thus make a computer station much more organized. I used these next to my desktop, and the mess greatly decreased because of them. However, because the mess of coils was mostly behind the desktop, it didn’t make that much of an impact on a day to day basis. Overall, these Cable Turtles are perfect for a neat geek, and are quite affordable too! Rating: 9.0/10

Below is the PowerStation Traveller [sic], which enables the user to charge up to three gadgets in the car via DC power.

You can adjust the sliders so that your gadgets won’t shift around while you’re traveling. After placing your gadgets in the PowerStation, you merely need to plug the gadgets into three hidden DC power connectors, and then plug the outside connector into the DC car jack. You can also use AC/DC power if you buy an adapter (for $17 more). Overall, I would use this product heavily during road trips, and for more effective charging. However, it is a bit expensive (more so if you include the AC/DC adapter), especially considering I could just charge the gadgets separately. Rating: 7.5/10.

Pictured below is the PowerSquid: a power multiplier that multiplies power to five different grounded outlets.

The PowerSquid is more aesthetically pleasing than other power multipliers that I’ve seen. Additionally, its flexible branches allow for easier connection. Overall the PowerSquid is a lovely product, and I would highly recommend it in place of a normal power multiplier. The only gripe I had was that it was sometimes difficult to plug in electronic devices. Rating: 9.5/10.

The last product that Cable Organizer sent me to review was the USB FireWire 5 in 1 QuickConnect Cable. The QuickConnect USB Cable is a multi-purpose cable connector that comes with five different USB configurations (USB A Male, USB B Male, Mini USB A Male, Mini USB B Male, USB A Female). This facilitates easy installation of USB software and products (scanners, cameras, external hard drives, etc).

Below you can see the USB FireWire QuickConnect Cable with two of the configurations attached. While the QuickConnect is a useful gadget to have around in case you lose a USB cord, or you buy a gadget that doesn’t come with a USB adapter, I personally have never had need of such a gadget. Nevertheless, this is a quality product that will work flawlessly if you need a five in one USB Cable. Rating: 7.0/10.

I enjoyed using the efficient products from Cable Organizer.  So if you ever need to organize your cables, check it out!

DaysAgo is a digital timer that shows you how many days (or hours) ago something was done. These DaysAgo timers can be used for practically everything-ranging from tracking how long ago you opened that can of salsa to how many days it’s been since you last fed your pet fish. Initially, the DaysAgo timer was created in order to help track the freshness of baby food, but now you can use it for a variety of purposes including (kitchen use, prescription reminders, exercise, plant waterings, and much, much more).

The timer is a small, attractive looking device that attaches to surfaces by magnets or suction cups. The DaysAgo timers are also reusable: simply reset the timer, and it will start counting up the days or hours, again. The winner of the Good House Keeping Good Buy Award 2007, DaysAgo is a useful device for those who wish to easily track the pass in time.

It was extraordinarily easy to figure out how to use the DaysAgo counter. You simply press the large button, and it begins counting up days. To switch to hours, you press the button again. After you’re done using it, you can reset the timer by holding down the button for five seconds.

I would heartily recommend the DaysAgo timer to those who have need of it. Simple, easy to use, and well designed, DaysAgo is sure to rescue you from the joys of expired left-overs. The DaysAgo timer is available in packs of two for $10 from howmanydaysago.com.

The FinePix Z5fd is a 6 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, 6.2x digital zoom, a gorgeous 2.5 inch LCD display, 27 mb of internal memory, an xD slot, and ISO sensitivity up to 1600. The FinePix Camera can also record video at 30fps. Trusted Reviews gave the Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd an overall rating of 8/10, saying “Proving that you should never judge a book by its cover, the party-oriented Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd is a very accomplished little camera, capable of producing excellent results both indoors and out in a wide range of lighting conditions, as long as you keep your grubby fingers clear of the lens. It is stylish, well made, performs and handles well, and is very easy to use. The only real issue is the limited battery life, but if as long as you keep it charged up this shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I am very excited about the release of our new EXILIM® Card EX-S770D digital camera, which features the outstanding DivX technology that users appreciated so much in its predecessor, the EX-S600D,” said Susumu Takashima, director at Casio and head of the Digital Camera Unit. “Casio’s card-sized digital cameras are designed to deliver high performance in a compact, slim shape, and have been very well received by the market. Users are making the most of our cameras to take not only still images, but movies as well, all with the greatest of ease. Our latest card-sized model takes movies in DivX® format, and is being marketed in Europe where DivX is extremely popular. Compared to previous models, the EX-S770D also has a larger display. We look forward to countless users experiencing the joy of taking and viewing both still shots and movies.”

“By expanding their line of DivX Certified digital cameras, Casio is giving consumers the ability to create very high quality video that they can experience in a truly open and interoperable way,” said Jim Geison, Vice President of Worldwide Sales, DivX. “Users of the EX-S770D can easily share and distribute their personal content across a wide range of devices, an advantage that is not offered by other digital video technologies that are confined to the PC.”

Camera Labs writes that ” Ultimately the Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi is a great entry-level digital SLR which improves on its predecessor in many respects. It has higher resolution without compromising noise levels, a wide variety of anti-dust features, a bigger screen which doubles-up for detailed shooting information, the AF system of its bigger brother and fast overall handling.

The only thing that’s missing is a cheap lens bundle with Image Stabilisation. This will undoubtedly have potential buyers carefully weighing it up against the Sony Alpha A100 which costs much the same, while those with a little more to spend may be tempted by the superior traditional performance of the Nikon D80.”

DPReview states that “The EOS 400D (Rebel XTi) turned out to be everything we expected it to be; a progressive upgrade to the already hugely successful EOS 350D (Rebel XT). Image quality was just as good, with plenty of detail, low noise and sophisticated noise reduction at higher sensitivities an well balanced, and thanks to PictureStyles predictable, color and tone. It also has a significantly improved user interface, dust reduction system, 9 point auto-focus, larger LCD monitor and combined status display / setting change system. All this in a camera which is just as small and light as the camera it replaces.”

Imaging Resource writes that “Ultimately, the Canon Rebel XTi is an improvement of an already superb camera — the Rebel XT — with Canon’s latest and greatest innovations to make digital SLR photography more like you remember from the film days and more versatile to boot. For my money, the greatest improvement to the XTi is the addition of the 30D’s autofocus array. More pixels, a bigger LCD, and dust reduction are welcome, but faster AF is the true benefit to the Rebel XTi, because you can get shots that you couldn’t with the XT. Now I can say that Canon’s flagship consumer camera has it where it counts: fast, accurate autofocus and the best imager you can get for the money. All the rest is gravy. The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi is a fine digital SLR, an obvious Dave’s Pick, and an excellent choice for anyone wanting to improve their photography.”

Camera Labs reports that “The Olympus E-400 has a lot going for it. It’s very small and light without compromising comfort or usability, there’s quick and easy access to all the settings, the resolving power roughly matches rival 10 Megapixel DSLRs, and while noise speckles are more noticeable at higher sensitivities, at least there’s no smearing through noise reduction. And finally the kit lens is decent quality and the SSWF anti-dust system remains unmatched.”

Trusted Reviews writes that, “In terms of overall performance, the E-400 is impressive. It starts up in under a second, and wakes from standby in about the same time. In HQ JPEG mode it can shoot at a continuous three frames a second until the memory card is full, which with a 1GB card means over 200 frames. In SHQ JPEG + RAW mode it can fire off five frames at three frames a second, and it only takes around 10 seconds to empty the image buffer before you can shoot another 5-frame burst. ”

DigiCam Review states, “The Olympus E-400 is an impressive digital SLR camera, offering excellent image quality, and an excellent range of lenses with very precise manual zoom control. The screen is good, and the camera can produce excellent photos. If you can stick with the lower ISO settings and you want high quality large images then this camera should be high on your shopping list. This camera is easy to use (in auto mode) and offers speedy performance, excellent battery life, with good controls and excellent build quality. I would recommend this camera especially to people who want greater creative control that normal compact digital cameras generally do not provide.”

DCRP reports that, “The EasyShare C875 is a compact (but not tiny) camera made of a mix of plastic and metal. It feels quite solid, though I must always complain about plastic tripod mounts, so there you go. The camera fits well in your hand, with the important controls in the right places. I do wish that the zoom controller was a bit larger, and that the on/off switch wasn’t right in the middle of the mode dial, though… The screen resolution isn’t great, but again, this is a budget cam. It was reasonably easy to see outdoors, and nice and bright in low light situations.

Camera performance was about average. It takes 2.7 seconds after you turn the camera on before you can start taking pictures, which is on the slow side. The camera focuses fairly quickly at the wide end of the lens, but telephoto delays can exceed a second. Low light focusing was just so-so for a camera with an AF-assist lamp. Thankfully, shutter lag was not a problem, and shot-to-shot delays were minimal. The C875’s continuous shooting mode was just okay — nothing to write home about. Battery life was about average.”