Archive for the ‘Product Reviews’ Category

BluCigs offer a tolerable second-hand vapor.

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

blucigs electronic cigarettesEveryone knows that smoking is a pretty bad idea, but millions of people all over the world do it everyday, disregarding all of the surgeon general and public health notices that it leads to cancer and other serious health problems. I am not a smoker. I have never smoked, never tried it, was never interested or even curious, but the part of smoking that really is a problem for me, is the damage it does to the people around the smoker… Yes, second-hand smoke.  I have had more than one close friend, lose a parent to lung cancer and that person had never smoked a day in their lives. Smokers in the office seem to be the culprit for the onset of the cancer and the early deaths of very good people.

Although I’m not a smoker, I know well enough that once you start, it’s not something that you can just walk away from, so when I saw the BluCig Electronic Cigarette, I felt it was my duty to share this with as many people as possible. The BluCig is fully electronic and contains no tar, no tobacco, no ash and no smell and most important to non-smokers… No second-hand smoke! It is truly a very neat and innovative product, as it looks and tastes (no personal experience) like a real cigarette, comes in multiple flavors and even produces a harmless water vapor that looks like real smoke. Check out the video!

No one knows what will come of the BluCig product in the future, but for now it seems to be a somewhat safer option to aid in the hard process of quitting the nicotine habit. And if it can save the life of a smoker and more importantly non-smoker, it makes sense for people to give it a try and kick the habit.

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Why aren’t you using Skype?

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

It’s around the time of year when I have to renew my Skype & Skype-Out services.  To my surprise, many of my friends, clients and colleagues have no real idea of what Skype is about. In this world of “instant messaging” we all have MSN, Yahoo, ICQ or some kind of messaging system on our computers.  So why have SkypeSkype offers the best quality of PC to PC voice and video communications, which costs the very large price of FREE!  Yes, other messengers offer this kind of capability, but where Skype surpasses them is the ability to call land lines and cell phones from your computer at a very reasonable price.  For a complete year of unlimited calls to the US and Canada, the fee was only around$25.  They even offer the ability to receive calls to your computer, but that is limited to certain areas.

Not only is the quality of the calls you can make through Skype superior, the people that run the company have the right idea about promoting and marketing this service and they aren’t trying to gouge their users with outlandish prices.  And the real hook for me was when they started the PC to Phone service, they offered it for FREE for almost 2 years, and not just to beta testers, but to anyone who wanted to use it.  That is the type of company I want to do business with.  One that sees the big picture and isn’t lead by greed, and that quality far out weighs quantity.

So do yourself a favor and save yourself some money. Give Skype a try.  They have a pay-as-you-go option, so you can test it out and see if it’s for you.  Pick up a headset if you don’t already have one and talk to your friends and family without watching the clock.

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Very cool tool from Snap.com

Monday, November 24th, 2008

I am always searching for cool little tools out there to make the web easier and more fun to use.  As a programmer, I’ve learned that there is no need to re-invent the wheel when there are so many solutions from all over the world that the internet brings to our doorsteps.  So with that said, check out this little tool called Snap Shops from snap.com.  Here is the hype directly from them!

It enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you “look ahead,” before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

So there you have it, add it to your site, blog, profile or whatever online presence you have! And if you want browser based tools and things for your local computer check out their downloads page.

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Riddex Plus – Product Review

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

Times have definitely changed and it seems like major league baseball players are wrestlers aren’t the only ones taking steroids. Bugs are getting bigger and faster every day and we get our share in the house which freak out the family and then it’s time to go “bug-huntin”.  Like you, I had seen the infomercial’s about the Riddex Plus digital bug repellent system and of course I was skeptical and no one else I knew had tried it out.  So I took one for the team and ordered a couple for myself and some family members.  At $29.99 per unit and a special offer of a second unit free, it seemed like a worthwhile test and investment.

Our main issues were ants and spiders and although the Riddex system states that you only need one unit per floor, I decided to plug 2 in, since I live in a bungalow with no basement at about 2200 sq. ft.  The claim is that the product also keeps small rodents away as well, although I haven’t seen any of those around our place.

I won’t get into too much of the technology behind this device, but if you want more detailed information, please click here.  The basic concept is that it uses the internal wiring of any structure to send electronic pulses that deter pests from wanting to come in.  It is a cool little unit that plugs into any outlet and even sports a nightlight capability for those that might need it.  No buzzing, but it does have a green and intermittent red flashing light that might annoy some people out there, so plugging it in somewhere out of sight is an easy solution.

The product has been in place for almost 2 months now and I have to say that other than 2 ants after the first couple of days of having the system plugged in, I have not seen one bug inside of the house and trust me, that is a huge relief.  Even flying insects don’t appear to be interested in coming in the house, although they do buzz around outside of the premises.

The Riddex Plus gets a thumbs-up from me and I’ll be waiting to get some reviews back from family members once they’ve had some time to verify some of the results for them.  And I’d like to hear from any readers that tried it out too! So if you are like me and have had enough of bugs on the inside and don’t want to kill yourself and family with bug sprays, try the Riddex Plus system and live bug free!  If not… Happy Bug-Huntin!

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