Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

The Micra Digital Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Cable connects your USB devices to your computer for data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps. With a USB Type-A termination at one end and a Type-B termination at the other, the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Cable is hot pluggable, supports up to 127 daisy-chained devices, and comes with Micra Digital's 5 year limited warranty. I hooked this cable up to my laptop and sent some test prints.   It worked fine.   I didn’t see any speed differential between it and my older cable.      I have no need for it’s ability to support up to 127 daisy-chained devices.   It is definitely hot swappable as I tested that.     The $1.98 price at Amazon makes this a very attractive purchase.   Compare that price to a USB 2.0 cable at retail stores.     If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

This is the first router I have reviewed in awhile that really was plug and play.    It had a very simple and clear 5 step start up.   The start up got you onto the Internet using both a cat5e cable and wireless.    Using the defaults everything worked just fine.    I was impressed with that part.   The less impressive part was when NetGear Genie gave me my success screen and it had an onscreen button to push to go to the Internet, it took you to a screen that said “page not found”.   Nothing worked at that screen so I went to the Netgear site and proceeded to track this product down through their product numbers.    I found the product and found multiple entries for manuals for Genie.    I opened the PDF for the manual and found a Skype number highlighted so I Skyped and told the tech about the defunct page just for their edification.   I will follow up that with an email.    ...

First you will be amazed at the size of this thing. (see photo)    Then you will be dismayed at how cumbersome the installation was.   It did install and I have it working as a repeater.   Once it was configured it worked just fine.    The instructions with the unit it were for all intents useless.    The mini-CD held the manual.    Here is where cumbersome begins.    It teases you with an overview of all the things it can do first.   BTW when it says quick installation guide, their definition of quick is way different than mine.    Auto id did not work on a Vista or an XP machine.   I do not experiment with new products on my Win7 machine.    After being bounced hither and thither throughout the manual I was eventually able to manually configure the unit to be a repeater.    In all fairness, once you got to the right place and were able to see the &%$^#^...

This seems very well made and reasonably sturdy. It is made to clip on to a golf bag. Hopefully it will help speed play if you see you are lagging behind the recommended pace. The metal box it came in was a big hit with the 4 year old grandson. It is perfect for keeping treasures in it. It keeps time and so far is durable, not much more to say about a gussied up pocket watch.   $16.95 on Amazon. If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Hmm, once again I am a bit lost for words.   This is a nice floor lamp.   It assembled easily.   It was missing the flat washer that was supposed to be included but its not like it is hard to find a spare flat washer.   It did include a little wrench to tighten the included bolt so you need no tools for assembly. It feels sturdy and the base is heavy enough that it doesn’t feel like it will fall over.   The goose neck allows flexibility for adjusting where the light shines.   The light is very clear and provides good direct like on things like hobbies or cards if you happen to be playing in a room without overhead lights.   I don’t know how long the bulb will last or what the replacement will cost.   It is an unusual shape for a light bulb.   Outside of that, it’s a light.   It illuminates what I want to illuminate.   Ascetically it isn’t anything to write home about unless your décor is technogliche. ...

This is a well made bike for the price.   The cost of this bike including shipping is $149.00 at Amazon.   You can spend that per month at your local fitness center.    Assembly was fairly straightforward.    No missing parts and no specialized tools were needed.   I like the recumbent feature as it is much easier on my knees than the old bike I had.    This bike also has wheels (really more roller than wheel) than makes it easier to move around.    The distant adjustment works well as long as your intent is to keep the same distance consistently.    This is not a $1000.00 bike for $149.00.   This is an excellent choice for a single rider who plans on using it once a day for a short period of time.    It does not feel like it would handle being used eight hours a day.   It appears that multiple daily adjustments might tax the equipment but once it is adjusted it seem...

I have concluded after another Card Services call that our highly touted Do Not Call List is a joke.    You put the same telemarketers on the same list time after time.   You file complaints at the state and federal level to no avail. We need to put some teeth into our laws regarding the abuse of the Do Not Call List. Sadly even if we put our teeth into the butt of the people who supposedly represent us, I doubt if it will promote any action.    Look at the wonderful way they responded to the fiscal crisis and public pressure for adult behavior and compromise.   My suggestion is that we plead with our providers to provide longer and more extensive applications to block these intrusive and annoying calls.   Comcast allows a list of 12 numbers to be blocked.   That list should be infinite not twelve.   I tracked down the Call Services creeps and addressed the Attorney General’s office in their home state. ...

First this toothbrush is grossly overpriced at $29.95 at Amazon. I expected at this price that the battery would be included. There was no triple A battery included. I got these (one blue, one pink) for my grandkids. I thought the light and the electric aspect would encourage them to brush better. The light is fine. The brush aspect is disappointing. I know it does not say it revolves or does anything like the $16.00 adult electric tooth brush I have but it just vibrates. The vibration lets you know it is running but that seems to be the extent of its cleaning power. The head of the brush is very small and probably more appropriate for a toddler than a six and eight year old. If this product was $5.00 it would still be no more than two stars. At this price though, it should be a negative star.  If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

This is a great value for the money.  It fits the Acer perfectly.  Everything worked as advertised.  My only reason for a 4 star review was it was too small for my hands.  My hands are between large and extra large glove wise.  If you have medium size or smaller hands and and an  Acer 700 I highly recommend it.  If you have large hands prepare to type gibberish.  Of course if your manual dexterity is better than mine, you may be fine.  Key layout was a bit confusing.  Larger shift and return key would have been better but that is back to the size limitation again.  Check out the keyboard layout before buying.  Lots of people are put off by changes in keyboard layout. If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.