Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Amazon Kindle 2 Available for Pre-Order

The brand new Amazon Kindle 2 is finally available. The long-awaited replacement to the first-generation Kindle, or maybe now the Kindle 1, is on Amazon for pre-order, apparently for shipment on February 24. People are already going crazy for the new e-reader, buying pre-order spots and reselling them on eBay (before even receiving the unit) for $600 - in comparison to the $359 price tag.
The Kindle 2 boasts a range of new features and claims to be far superior to the Kindle 1. The closest competitor to the Kindle is the Sony eReader 505, yet most online reviews still favor the Kindle as a whole.
At the Kindle 2 unveiling this morning, the digital ebook reader was advertised as a "thinner sister" to the original Amazon Kindle.
What are some of the imrpovements?

  • It is significantly thinner, even 25% skinnier than the Apple iPhone
  • The processing speed is faster, with page-turning speed increased 20%
  • A longer lasting battery with capacity increased by 25%
  • A better quality and more highly visible display that has 14 shades of gray instead of just 4
  • Memory has been increased to store 1,500 books on the unit itself
  • The dictionary received a vocabulary boost, with 250,000 words built in
  • Ease of navigation has been improved with a 5-way joystick
  • A vocal feature - now the Kindle is able to read the text out loud in a robotic voice
Just based on some of these imrpovements, it already looks like the new Kindle 2 is a winner. With the progress and changes in today's technology and the growing digital life that we are all leading, text on paper is bound to go extinct sooner or later. This e-reader seems to be one of the best ways to catch that wave (in fact, Amazon is largely pioneering that wave) and help us move in that direction. More portable than a book, easier to read (to turn pages and to hold), and just incredibly more convenient as a whole, the Kindle looks to be closer to becoming mainstream every day. Take a look at it on Amazon here.

Monday, February 2, 2009

The Steelers Take It!




NFLShop.com

The 43rd Football Super Bowl has been taken by the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23. The Pittsburgh Steelers set a record by winning the Super Bowl for the sixth time.

For a long time, the Steelers enjoyed a comfortable 20-7 lead, but the Cardinals managed to catch up near the tail-end. However, a touchdown by Santonio Holmes 35 seconds before the end sealed the victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Deals and Coupons - For Black Friday or Any Day


There seem to be many sites online offering various coupons and deals, but the best are those that collect and aggregate deals and offers from as many retailers as possible - for both online stores and e-commerce shops as well as B&M (Brick and Mortar) stores for local print coupons. One of the best sites that I have come across is CouponsCatalog. It has some of the best listings of offers and discounts and bargains from the web. Not only does it include traditional retailers and stores such as NewEgg, Wal-Mart, Buy.com, Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, etc., but it also has some more unique retailers and website such as Firebox.com. I started using it not just to look for deals when I'm searching for specific items, but simply as a place to start out from when I'm just surfing the web for potential things to buy. It's like window shopping at a mall. The mall already chose certain stores for you and your selection is "limited" to the retailers at the mall. So I use the site in the same way. I go on there when I have some free time to check out what's on sale these days and choose something at random sometimes, even if I might not be looking to buy anything specific. So check it out and get shopping. Especially now that Black Friday is around the corner. Why stand in line at 5 am at Best Buy the day after Thanksgiving when you can shop online and get similar prices. Maximize savings while maximizing comfort.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

An Unbiased Look at Ugly Cars



A new blog on the block called FuglyRides.com takes a deep, scrutinizing, and critical look at the aesthetics of the cars that drive on our roads. The central mission is to point out the ugly cars to make them stick out even more - so as to raise awareness and unify ridicule, with the ultimate objective of getting them off the roads via peer pressure. Whether it be oldies such as the AMC Pacer or new fugly rides such as the Scion xB, Chrysler PT Cruiser, or Ford Flex (among many, many others), Fuglyrides.com makes sure to point out all the faults and weaknesses. Check it out for a fun read. And if you have some of your own picks or pics of ugly cars, ugly motorcycles, or ugly anything on wheels, they let you submit your suggestions.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

How Much We Sacrifice for Price


Price is King. With the current state of the economy, it has become more apparent than ever that price is the ultimate decision point for almost all of our purchases. Although obvious, companies have never embraced this fact to the extent that they are now taking advantage of it. Back in the day, products differed from each other not only by price, but some highlighted better quality to justify the price. Today, it seems like no one is really paying attention to anything else BUT price itself. One great blog, The Consumerist, has been tracking the most recent manifestation of our focus on price, calling it the "Grocery Shrink Ray." They've been showcasing grocery store items that carry the same price but cleverly decreased the amount of contents inside. I've certainly noticed this myself as well. Even just a couple of days ago I wanted to buy ground coffee but didn't as I noticed that the size of the bag was half (!) of its normal size - although the price was the same.

Although there is really nothing that anyone can do about these decreasing package sizes, this trend made me realize how much we sacrifice for price in other shopping choices. Most importantly, many people often choose to buy a product at the lowest price - no matter where it is that they find this best deal. But I would really warn people against this habit. Most often, we heavily discount future customer service needs. In other words, since we tend to think that our new Plasma TV will work perfectly, we decide to pay less at some shady store (or buy it from some unknown manufacturer) than to pay a premium for some "potential" warranty or customer service if we "might" encounter any problems.

I see this on an almost daily basis in the area where I live. There is a large electronics, appliance, home-goods store in the Southeast called Brandsmart USA. It is an absolute horrible store, yet they have constant and non-stop traffic. Why? One and only one reason: price. It's true that their prices are some of the lowest, and very often beat the prices of the local BestBuy or CircuitCity, etc. Yet the shopping experience is literally disgusting and the way that they go about their business is not only unacceptable in today's modern market, but even appalling. They have salesmen (don't really need to be gender neutral here, since I've never - not once - seen a female salesperson in their stores - only female cashiers) that are worse than car salesmen on your cheapest used car lot. They still work on an ancient system of commissions, so as soon as you place your eye on an item, that department's 7 salesmen will literally attack you. They jump you and start pushing that item, no matter what it is, no matter if it's the worst thing there, no matter if you look like you're interested or not. But as soon as you just hint at the fact that you're definitely not going to buy it, they forget you as if you just disappeared completely. They go and attack the next customer. I've tried just asking some questions about products in the past, and at first they try to answer (I say "try" because every single time I knew more about the product than they did - they are absolutely clueless), and if you seem disinterested they won't even give you any more time to answer more questions. They will say that they are "with another client" or will tell you to "go ask that guy over there."

But that's not even the worst. If you want to buy something, no matter how big or small, you have to first be "entered into their system." They record every single piece of information about you, almost with your child's name and birthplace, just so that they can write some code down on a piece of paper (randomly ripped from whatever is within arm's reach) and tell you to go to the cashier. So you go into the back where they literally have a complete mess. It looks like you're betting on horses or going through some third-world country customs. There are about 30 windows with cashiers sitting in front of computers. You could stand there for an hour or more at times. And remember, this horrible procedure is followed no matter how small your item. Even if it's just a simple digital camera. I'm not talking about $5000+ big-ticket items that might need this type of extra security.

Once you pay, you're still not done! You now get a print-out, and you have to go outside, around the building, and into their (dirty, shady, seemingly dangerous) dock loading area. And that's exactly what it is - a loading area for delivery trucks to pull up to in reverse. So they treat you like you're some wage worker who is supposed to go up to the loading area to pick up your item. There, it's an even bigger mess. You have tons of people just hovering around, and there is no specific line to know who's next. Once you get someone's attention (guys running around in the warehouse area getting your stuff), you give the guy the slip of paper that the cashier gave you. Now this is the only proof of your purchase that you have! So if the guy goes in there and you never find him again (since there are dozens of them) or he loses your paper, you can't do anything about it. But if everything does go smoothly, then after 30 minutes or so the guy will pop back out with your item.

Now he crouches down to your eye level (since they're elevated on the loading dock) and opens the package to have you see that all the contents are in there. What if I'm buying my item as a present and would rather have it factory shrink-wrapped ?!? Nope. No such option. So I guess anything you get at BrandmartUSA as a present will basically look used since it's open-package. Once you agree that it's OK, they have you sign some type of "release" form and off you go.

So about 2 hours after you decide what you want, it's in your hands. This should be enough to convince anyone and everyone not to shop at this messed-up store. Unfortunately, even I have fallen victim to their low prices and have bought several things there despite this horrible shopping experience - clearly consumer unfriendly. But what made me stop shopping here altogether is the lack of customer service if you have any problems with your item in the future. I once bought a cordless phone for the house, and when I plugged it in, it had an echo on every conversation. So I decided that I will return it to get a different model. I even bought extended warranty on it, so I wasted extra money that I wouldn't get back (and I know - no one should ever purchase extended warranty - it's always a scam - and it was a stupid mistake on my part). When I brought it back to the returns desk, with receipt, only several days later, it was another horror show. First I had to wait for 15 minutes at an empty desk before anyone would even come up to help. Then, I started explaining how there is a problem. The girl behind the counter was reading something on her computer and seemed completely disinterested. When I finished she just said, "oh, sorry, is anything wrong with it?". I just explained it to her! But she said she was reading something, so I just explained it again. Turns out that they have to test it! themselves to make sure that there is a problem. So for 45 minutes I stand there while some guy took the phone to the back to plug it in and see what is wrong with it. They finally agreed that there is a problem, BUT (!) since I had an extended warranty they could not just refund the money - it would have to go to their their warranty department to get fixed first. Who does this these days? What kind of policy and procedure is this? I just bought it a few days before that and I can't just return it - only because I spent even MORE money on a useless extended warranty? After I started arguing with them, they called a manager, and 30 minutes later I had a refund. I definitely decided there and then that I would never ever shop at BrandMart USA again.

But an experience like this is what convinces me that we should not be only paying attention to price when shopping. Although future customer service needs are heavily discounted and seem unimportant in our minds at the moment - whereas it seems so enticing that we can get a better price at that same exact moment - I would strongly recommend paying a 10% premium to make sure that you get acceptable customer service (instead customer service that will only make life more difficult for you).

As for Brands Mart USA, I don't know how they are still in business. Of course they get a lot of traffic, so they would not have trouble staying in business in terms of financial liquidity and sufficient profits, but I don't understand how they are allowed to stay in business. It must either be that not enough consumers are complaining or (more likely) that they have some shady arrangements with local authorities. For instance, there is ALWAYS a county sheriff at each one of their stores during all operating hours. What kind of arrangement does a store need to have so that a tax-paid public employee serves only and exclusively that store? I really think that this shouldn't be - but there is nevertheless a Sheriff just hanging out by the front of the store all day long. Also, Brandmart has an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau - which is completely unrealistic and just impossible. I don't know how they're doing it - but I would bet on the fact that it's not clean or legitimate. Either way, don't just take it from me. There are tons of BrandMart USA complaints online - such as here and here. I'd recommend to anyone to stay away from this store, despite their slightly better prices.

Driving with a Hands-Free Headset

With California recently switching over to no-cellphone driving, I can definitely see how there will only be more problems on the roads as people will have two hands free while using their bluetooth headsets:

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Finally a Mouthwash Without Pain: Crest


Everyone wants to have a healthy lifestyle, but it's not always easy. Eating healthy food often means that we have to sacrifice taste. Exercise can get enjoyable once you get into it, but getting started is almost impossible - procrastination kicks in like nowhere else. And then there are those "little" things that should be easy: don't expose your skin to excessive direct sun, floss, rest your eyes if sitting in front of a computer for too long, etc. One task that is an automatic habit for pretty much everyone is brushing your teeth. Well, it would seem easy enough to rinse with a mouthwash that will kill bacteria and help kill bad breadth. Except that the leading product out in the market, Listerine, hurts like heck! I've tried using it for years, all the different flavors that they come out with, and each one of them is identical - after swooshing for more than 15 seconds (and they want you to do it for 30) my mouth starts burning, my eyes start tearing up, and I start to feel numb around half my face.

Mouthwash shouldn't cause excruciating pain to "show you" that it's working. That's where Crest Pro-Health Rinse comes in! I just bought it a few days ago for the first time when I needed to restock on my mouthwash and wanted to try anything but Listerine again. I remembered seeing a commercial for Crest which mentioned that it doesn't cause crazy pain. And it's true! I swoosh for a whole 30 seconds without any pain. It's such a relief that I even started to like rinsing after brushing. I feel better about taking care of my oral health (better than before - since I used to spit out Listerine after 10 seconds sometimes and rinse with water for a minute to get rid of the pain), and it's way easier now.

I'd definitely recommend Crest Pro-Health Rinse. And if you're a person who really feels more confident that the mouthwash is doing its thing only if you "feel" the effects, then this is for you too! After you rinse with Crest for 30 seconds and spit it out, there is an "after-effect" with some minor burning. So it lets you know that it's killing the bad guys in your mouth, but at an intensity 10x less than Listerine. Give it a try. And if you want to go a step further in taking care of your dental and oral health, take a look at this product.