The Buzz: Consumer retorts

Published 12:01 am Sunday, February 27, 2011

Consumer retorts

To sleep, perchance to dream: If you find yourself waking up but not feeling rested, you might benefit from the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach, which uses a wireless headband to track your brain’s electrical signals. It can wake you gently if it senses you’re entering dream sleep about the time your alarm would go off.

But it also offers an override feature if it senses you’re about to dream, depending on your preference, about the shirtless guy in the Old Spice ads or Scarlett Johansson.

You really got a hold on me: Consumer Reports says that the new iPhone 4 for Verizon suffers the same problem that the Apple smart phone experienced when it was first released as an AT&T-only phone: If you hold it in certain positions, it will drop your call.

Apple denies that there’s a problem with the antenna. But to appease Consumer Reports, Apple is working on an app that delivers a mild shock to keep users from holding the phone in a way that blocks the antenna.

Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1911, inventor Charles Kettering demonstrated his electric automobile starter by starting a Cadillac with the press of a switch, rather then by using a hand crank.

This was viewed as a big improvement by motorists who were weary of carrying a key chain around with a huge hand crank attached to it.

–Jon Bauer, Herald staff