The Chronic Consumer » Interesting Products

Childproofing

Chronic Consumer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:51:16 +0000

A few of my younger friends have toddlers that are just beginning to crawl and become more mobile, so they’ve been asking me for advice about childproofing their homes and so forth. Along with the usual ideas about buying corner protectors for tables and other sharp edges and plugging up unused electrical outlets, I recommended switching to cordless blinds as well.

Cordless blinds can be operated without the dangerous cords that dangle very low and pose a hazard to both children and pets. They look just as good as regular blinds, too, so there’s absolutely no reason not to get them.

As hard as you try, you cannot have an eye on your toddler every second of every day. The last thing you want is a serious injury due to the child getting tangled up in a cord while you’re off answering the doorbell or something. Why take unnecessary risks where children are concerned? Just go cordless!

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Basement flooring

Chronic Consumer — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:31:18 +0000

I have cheap, industrial style carpeting in my basement right now, but I’m thinking of tearing it up and replacing it with laminate flooring. My son really loves to play sports, and laminate would be much more conducive to rolling or bouncing balls than the carpeting is.

Something like Alloc Domestic would probably work best for us. This particular brand is rated for commercial traffic, which means it should be able to hold up to sports and regular wear and tear.

I don’t want to start any big projects in the middle of winter here, but when spring comes around this is definitely on my to-do list!

Sony’s biggest misses

Chronic Consumer — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:44:59 +0000

In anticipation of the North American release of the Sony Vita, The Yahoo Games blog listed some of the company’s biggest misses over the years. Here’s what they came up with. Do you agree that these products were flops?

PSP Go
BetaMax
PS3 Launch Price
eVilla Network Entertainment Center (I’ve never even heard of this thing)
MiniDisc (Aw, I had an MD player back in the day. Much better than CDs, but as soon as MP3 players came along…buh bye.)
AIBO (a robotic dog)
PSX/PlayTV
PlayStation Home
Mylo
Lair (video game)

Yeah, after reviewing this list, it seems that there are some pretty major flops here. Oh, well, every company misses now and then, right? (Even Apple…at least back in the day.)

McGraw-Hill Algebra 1 iPad Textbook

Chronic Consumer — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:46:44 +0000

When I heard that Apple struck a deal with a few textbook publishers and would be making high school level textbooks available for the iPad, I knew I had to buy one to try it out. There were only about 8 titles to choose from at this early stage, so I went with Algebra 1 since I want to brush up on my math skills anyway.

The description of the book from the publisher is as follows:

Algebra isn’t just numbers and equations. It’s about the world you live in. With Glencoe Algebra, you get hands-on math applications to help you succeed in whatever career path you chose. Interactive personal tutors, animations, and practice problems let you review as much or as little as you need to prepare for success in college and beyond.

Content includes:

Relationships between Quantities
Expressions, Equations, and Functions
Linear Equations

Linear Relationships
Linear Functions
Equations of Linear Functions
Linear Inequalities
Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities

Exponential and Quadratic Relationships
Exponents and Exponential Functions
Quadratic Expressions and Equations
Quadratic Functions and Equations

Advanced Functions and Equations
Radical Functions and Geometry
Rational Functions and Equations
Data Analysis
Statistics and Probability

I have only been playing around with the book for a few days, so I haven’t had a chance to go through the whole thing yet. But I do have a few initial impressions. First, the book is simply beautiful on the iPad. This is precisely what the tablet should be used for, IMO, and I think McGraw Hill did a good job making their digital book colorful, well laid out, and interesting. Second, the book covers a great deal of information. It’s a real textbook after all, so there’s a school year’s worth of stuff inside.

I also like that that the book contains the answers to selected problems. This makes it suitable for people like me who are taking the self-study approach to the subject. Without answers, the text would obviously have very limited value for us.

And finally, the book has three important features that students will find extremely useful. It’s easy to highlight passages simply by tapping the text and following the on-screen directions that appear. You can also create study cards based on your highlights or the key vocabulary words from the unit. The note cards have the vocab term on the front, and then you can flip them over to see the corresponding definition. And of course there’s a search box so you can quickly find pertinent pages for the topics you’re looking for. The search includes not only the book itself, but also the web and/or Wikipedia (if you want).

The only thing I was disappointed in is the lack of multimedia elements contained in the book. I think there could have been some more video clips (beyond the “Private Tutor”) or other truly interactive features to enhance the experience.

On the whole, I am very impressed with this textbook. At $14.99, it’s pretty expensive as far as apps go, but that’s a fraction of the cost of a real textbook. This is a terrific early effort and I just can’t wait to see what other kinds of books will follow (history, please!!!).

Best-Selling Girl Scout Cookies

Chronic Consumer — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:15:24 +0000

Just when you thought all those holiday cookies were behind you, now Girl Scouts (and probably their parents) are hitting you up for the annual cookie order. Have you ever wondered what their best-selling cookies are? Well, according to Wikipedia, here are the current rankings:

Thin Mints (25% of sales)
Samoas (19%)
Tag-A-Longs (13%)
Do-Si-Dos (11%)
Trefoils (9%)

That doesn’t add up to 100%, so there must be “other” flavors as well.

And speaking of other flavors, this year the Girl Scouts are introducing something called the Savannah Smile, which is a “lemon wedge cookie dusted in powdered sugar”. Sounds yummy! Maybe I’ll order some of those this year!

Guitar Lessons

Chronic Consumer — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:25:24 +0000

This Christmas I want to get my son something other than video games, despite the fact that that’s what I know he’ll be asking for. I want him to start branching out with his hobbies and experimenting with his various talents a bit more. We know he’s great at Nintendo; now let’s see what else he can do!

I’m wondering if guitar lessons would be enticing to him. I think it would be great for him to learn guitar (or any other musical instrument) so he can begin to develop his artistic side. Who knows, maybe he’ll end up loving it and finding a new calling!

Mom’s birthday

Chronic Consumer — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:08:22 +0000

My mom’s birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I’m starting to look around for a present. I know she has mentioned wanting an iPad or similar tablet, but I honestly cannot imagine her combing through the app store to find all the apps necessary to make the tablet do what she wants. So I’m going to check out regular acer laptop computers instead. She’s had Acers in the past, so she knows this brand fairly well and should be far more comfortable learning a new Acer than trying to find her way around an iPad. Let’s hope I can get one at a great price!

Under Armour Wounded Warrior Unis

Chronic Consumer — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:19:56 +0000

For the past three seasons, Under Armour has been putting out some cool college football uniforms in support of their Wounded Warrior program that benefits injured service members and their families. This year’s unis, which will be provided to South Carolina, Texas Tech, and South Florida, will actually commemorate 9/11 and will have a stars and stripes motif. And players’ names will be replaced with buzzwords like “courage”, “duty,” “honor”, etc.

I’m not a big fan of changing uniforms just for the sake of it, but I think this is a pretty good cause and the unis look cool, so win-win IMO.