Every year my family descends upon Lake Crescent in beautiful Oregon for our family reunion/4th of July celebration. This year was more of the same… camp fires, beer, wine, marshmallows, boating, fishing, etc… The main difference this year was the amazing amount of mosquitos, BIG aggressive mosquitos! There were so many mosquitos that it was simply unbearable.

We tried everything to get some sanity. We went through gallons of bug spray (25% up to 100% deet), other than skin burns from the 100% product… it might as well have been water… the mosquitoes were unfazed. We tried a bug zapper lamp which seemed to catch more moths than anything else. On the second morning I was starting to go crazy from the sheer number of mosquitoes and mosquito bites, they were relentless. We had bites everywhere (not going in to details… but trust me… EVERYWHERE).

In a final attempt to get some relaxation we drove 1 1/2 hours into Bend, Oregon and stopped by Home Depot to buy a $300 dollar mosquito gadget (pictured above) with high hopes of being the campground heroes. We also bought and filled a propane tank, and an extension cord. We returned to the mosquito ridden campsite and quickly set the Stinger Mosquito Vacuum CT-100 unit up according to the directions. The unit was supposed to work for one full acre. This is where the massive disappointment begins. The unit caught 6 mosquitoes over 5 days! At a cost of $50 per mosquito this was a bad investment. I will write to Kaz (the manufacturer) and let you know what they say.

I am home now… scratching my wounds.

Gotta love the new flash based camcorders. No tapes, no hard drive… all digital and can really take a beating. Panasonic’s latest, the SDR-SW20 is a waterproof camcorder that will perform to 5-feet. You won’t be doing any deepwater exploration, but you can at least peep the girls in the swimming pool. The camera costs less than $349 and has the following specifications:

Product Features

• Capture video to flash memory
• Waterproof to 5 feet; Shockproof to 4 feet
• 10x optical zoom
• 2.7-inch LCD screen
• Compatible with SD/SDHC memory cards

More details, pictures, and videos after the break.

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Ever been working on something around the home or office… and wished you could just peak around the corner or down a tube to see what was there before you were forced to disassemble everything?  I have… and the Milwaukee M-Spector Inspection Camera would have come in handy.  The unit has a 3-foot long camera snake that can fit through a hole only 3/4″ in diameter.  You can see what the snake sees with a 2.5″ color LCD, you can even control the zoom and LED brightness.  Quite a bargain at around $250.

You do-it-yourself doctors better not get any clever ideas to avoid your proctology visits.

There are plenty of mediocre firework shows… but if you want to see something truly spectacular then you need to be in one of the following cities on the 4th of July.

• Los Angeles
• Chicago
• New York City
• St Louis
• Washington DC
• Miami

Want more details?  Read on.

Tesla is finally trying to make a more mainstream (still not cheap) car, their latest slated for 2010 is the “model s” which will cost $60,000.  I still want one.

Honda’s been busy showing off its Walking Assist Device at trade shows and whatnot for some time now, but it looks like it’s now finally getting down to some actual trials of the contraption, with it set to begin some collaborative testing with the Shinseikai Medical Group at Kasumigaseki-Minami Hospital tomorrow. They will reportedly be using the device in rehabiliation training to help people learn to walk again, during which time the “compatibility and effectiveness” will be evaluated. In case you missed it, the Walking Assist Device uses some of the same technology that Honda originally developed for its ASIMO robot, including an array of sensors and motors that promise to keep the wearer upright and, eventually, give them a fighting chance against the machines.

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I guess the Indian’s love Google more than most.  The Google-themed sari was found in a fancy shopping mall in Guragon, India near Delhi.

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