We got one of these Passwords Pads when we tired of putting important information on slips of paper that couldn’t be found when needed.

We were pretty good about recording passwords, but would forget to record an Internet account’s secret question and answer, start and expiration date, or user name and e-mail address.

The pad helps us feel less overwhelmed by the volume of information we need to remember for accounts or subscriber services we have through the Internet. And there’s ample space for writing - so you don’t have to write teeny.

The 60-page Password Pad - with space for four accounts on each page - is big enough that we split one between us.

This doorbell links wireless phone technology and an electronic door lock to let you talk with someone at the door and open the door using your cell phone.

Made by the European-based Waleli company, the phone is being marketed in Northern Europe with plans to sell it internationally.

We see several aspects of convenience and safety. People with mobility issues could talk to the person at the door, and let them in, without actually having to go to the door.

And when you are away, you can give the impression you are at home because the doorbell still would ring your phone, whether you are at work, on vacation or while running errands.

You also could open the door from afar if you’re running late and guests come early or the plumber arrives and you’re at work.

(via Gearlog.com)

Warning: Cait & Marty gush over Apple iPhone - again

Being gadget crazy yet technologically impaired, we are gung ho to control their home lights, appliances and security system with the iPhone Marty bought herself and then loaned to Cait, who hasn’t given it back.

We know bubkus about the X-10 wireless gadetry that makes this work, but we see how this could give you more independence at home.

For example, using Marty’s iPhone Cait could control her VCR and DVD, her TiVo (if she had one), her computer, her home security system and her lights - inside and out.

Using the iPhone as a remote control would save Cait extra steps when she inadvertently leaves the stove on and it would be lovely to light the bathroom before she walks in.

Again, remember, we know from bubkus of what we speak, but we have faith in Apple and Steve Jobs. For more information, ask anyone but us. Contact your local Apple store or seek a geek who worships All Things Apple.

To learn more about Steve Jobs, click here to read his profile in Dickipedia - a Wiki of Dicks.

Click here to see a brief video of the iPhone being used as a remote.

Eds Note: As we’ve noted previously, we have leaned on Apple products for years and appreciate their elegance, simplicity and intuitiveness. Apple, in our opinion, nearly has mastered the right side of the brain. Once software for Apple products easily and accurately translate speech into the written word, we will be in Code Monkey heaven.

Marty fell in love with pencils when her mother, a school principal, let Marty mount a heavy, solid-metal, hand-crank pencil sharpener to the window sill above her childhood desk in her bedroom.

That smooth little machine turned Marty into a sharpening fool. And to this day, Marty cannot abide a dull point in pencils or people.

As an adult, Marty found electric and battery-operated sharpeners too zippy and their dentist-drill noise annoying.

Today, she favors hand-held pencil sharpeners by KUM, which makes a sweet two-hole sharpener, shown above, that first sharpens the wood and then sharpens the graphite to a perfect point.

As for pencil bias, Marty for years used thick-bodied, old-fashioned, soft-lead, architect’s wood drafting pencils by Dixon Ticonderoga and Sanford - especially the Sanford Draughting 02237 (should any of you ever fall on a stash and feel like sharing).

When those began to vanish from the market, Marty found elegant Palomino Pencils, in Paper Notes in a Digital World, the blog of a pencil perfectionist who found he preferred writing on paper to writing on a keyboard. (He had good things to say. We miss his posts.)

The Palomino line, seen here to the right, was created by pencil purist Charles P. “Woodchuck” Berolzheimer II, whose family firm invented the ubiquitous Duraflame log and now is the world’s leading maker of pencil slats. In Marty’s opinion, only someone integrated in the tactile nature of science and art could create a pencil as satisfying as the Palomino.

Now, sometimes, you just need to get down to fun and that is when you reach in your desk drawer and pull out a Smencil.

No. 2 graphite Smencil’s are gourmet-scented in Bubble Gum, Cherry, Chocolate, Cotton Candy, Grape, Orange, Root Beer, Tropical Blast, Very Berry, and Watermelon. Made from recycled newspaper, they come individually wrapped and will be a far greater hit with children than a Palomino - unless of course its the kind Roy rode.

Eds. Note: Cait notes that pencils have always been popular with ladies who manicure and now must be considered an essential Gimpliment in a world increasingly driven by the technological push of tiny buttons.

The reliable pencil, Cait says, is the perfect tool if your hand dexterity is wanting and you need to phone someone, text message or slide that slightly out-of-reach piece of paper closer to you.

The Thumb Thing purports to reduce hand strain and fatigue while freeing your other hand for taking notes, quaffing a beverage or petting your pooch.

The Thumb Thing bills itself as good for rail and bus commuters, especially if they have to read standing up. When the reader is finished, the Thumb Thing fits in the top of the book as a place marker. It comes in four sizes.

We haven’t tried the Thumb Thing yet, but here’s what’s bugging us: the thumb in the photo is straight up and down in the center of the book. Try that position at home, and Thumb Thing or not, it puts your wrist, hand and thumb in an uncomfortable-to-hold-for-long position. People just don’t hold books that way.

Eds. Note: In our heart of hearts, we’re wishing, hoping and praying for a Kindle - reviewed here by Seth Godin.

Well, actually, Marty is wishing and hoping and praying. Cait is just wishing and hoping.

Cait picked up this cute little USB Airplane Fan that plugs into your keyboard or computer and throws out a delightful curtain of air.

It won’t cool your whole body but the air sure feels nice on your face or on the back of your neck on hot and humid days.

The fan - 3.5″ Long x 3.75″ Wide (Wing Span) x 3.5 Tall - is very quiet, has an on-off switch and the blades are soft plastic, so you won’t hurt yourself if you come in contact with them. The blades just stop.

They are a number of little USB fans on the market but the stability of this one seems better than some and it stays upright without flopping over.

Eds. Note: This fan would like best on a pristinely clean desk. But it’s ended up on Marty’s, which means it’s in competition with numerous books, papers, pens and even an egg-timer that migrated from Marty’s kitchen. She becomes so absorbed in computer work that she forgets what she’s got in the oven or on the stove. Hence the egg timer.

Warning: Cait & Marty gush over an Apple Product

AT&T has introduced a new Internet and text messaging plan for the Apple iPhone designed to help people with hearing and speech impairments stay connected. The company’s new “Text Accessibility Plan” offers unlimited text messaging, Web browsing and access to e-mail for $40 a month.

Cait & Marty share an iPhone - yes, share. Marty bought it but Cait ends up using it most of the time, including on her recent trip through the American South, where she found it to be an “addictive” and easy-to-use travel aid with all its maps, wireless functions, weather reports, camera and locators.

AT&T, the exclusive provider of voice and data services for the iPhone, said the new plan is available to new and current iPhone users with qualifying disabilities through AT&T’s National Center for Customers with Disabilities (NCCD).

Learn more

(Via The State Journal)

Eds Note: Being technologically impaired, we have used Apple products for years and appreciate their elegance, simplicity and intuitiveness. In our opinion, Apple nearly has mastered the right side of the brain. Once Apple contains software that easily and accurately translates speech into the written word, we will be in Code Monkey heaven.

Along with canes, chop sticks and Mr. 7 hands, self-adhesive address labels are one of those versatile Gimpliments that end up in many more places than just the corner of an envelope.

Cait affixes them to nearly everything but her husband, who knows where he belongs. Cait’s got them on her canes, cell phone, iPod, cameras, books, CD and DVD cases and she keeps them in her wallet to paste on forms when she’s out and about.

Cheap at about $7 for a roll of 300, they’re an impromptu gift for someone who is moving and they’re a perfect stocking stuffer for the holidays. Consider them essential for someone with vision or dexterity issues who has difficulty writing.

We favor the simplest ones - block print on a clear background so the label virtually disappears when applied - but they come in myriad colors and fonts. You can find them in many places on the Internet, though we usually order ours from Current Labels.

If you’re a laptop user, you’ve objected at one time or another to the amount of heat a laptop transmits. Cool Feet is a simple design solution.

The four compact and removable supports temporarily fix to the bottom of laptops with suction cups. Simple to attach and detach, they raise the laptop just enough to allow a constant cooling airflow, whether your computer is in your lap or on a table.

Cool Feet also create a comfortable ergonomic angle for the keyboard, which we appreciate because we have wrist and hand issues. After typing on an angled keyboard, it’s really uncomfortable to go flat again.

We’re always on the hunt for a comfy pen and have found one in the Ergo-Sof PenAgain by Pacific Writing Instruments.

The Ergo-Sof is counter-intuitive - the more you relax your hand, the easier it is to write, which takes some getting used to. Because the PenAgain adapts to the contour of the hand, the weight of the hand exerts enough pressure to guide the pen - eliminating the need to grip it.

The Ergo-Sof, which can be used left-handed or right-handed, eases Cait’s hand pain and work’s wonders for Marty’s sloppy penmanship. The drawback, we’ve found, is that you must be sitting upright, directly over it, to use it, which limits its versatility. For example, you can’t recline and write, as Cait likes to do on her sofa.

The Ergo-Sof includes two refills, comes in a highlighter, and sells online at Office Depot, and Amazon.