Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

TOPGREENER TGWF115PRM Wi-Fi Plug with Energy Monitoring, Smart Outlet, Control Lights and Appliances from Anywhere, No Hub Required, White, Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Another product that provides mixed emotions.  It took way longer than it should have  to set it up.   The instructions are clear.  You download the phone app and it is supposed to find the outlet.  It did, eventually.  Even when I was 6 feet from my router it took two tries to get it seen.  Once it was seen, I moved it to the location I wanted to use it and tried the phone commands.   Worked just fine.  Connecting it to Alexa could have been smoother.  Four times it showed under devices and yet Alexa could not find it with a verbal command.  I told Alexa to forget it and tried again.  Finally the fourth time it showed and it worked. Topgreener claims to have a two year warranty.  I registered on their site and tried to find my Wi-Fi smart plug.  Couldn’t find it.   In fact I saw no li

Fantastic Christmas Present Power Wheel Photo First this is really cute.  Surprisingly it was not as difficult to assemble as I expected.  Kudos to Fisher Price/Mattel/Power Wheels for providing clear, easy to read instructions.  Photos could have been a little bigger but compared to most things I end up assembling, these instructions were terrific.  The font was actually readable.  No clue why so many manufactures provide instructions and or assembly information in a font smaller than the now historic phone books.   There was one moment of abject panic when I could not find the steering column.  It was taped to the back of the roll bar and it was underneath said rolling bar.  Otherwise the assembly went well and the decals weren’t too bad.   Decal application was surprisingly tedious or from experience, hardly surprising.   They don’t put them on as the labor cost would add significantly to the price of the toy. I have not gotten a kid reaction yet but I expect it to be q

TOPGREENER TGCSL360-W LED Wireless Closet Motion Sensor Ceiling Light, Battery Operated, Indoor Use, White, 1 Pack, White-1 Pack Sensor Light This throws a surprising amount of light.  I hope the photos can show the difference. It mounted easily and the sensor works well. This light should be ideal for those spots that would be difficult or impossible to wire without disturbingly high costs. From the vendor: ·                        Wireless LED ceiling light automatically turns on when motion is detected from 10 feet away and turns off when motion is no longer detected ·                        Wire-free, motion sensor battery operated light allows for quick installation in areas difficult and expensive to wire ·                        Long-lasting LED gives off a cool white color to clearly illuminate dark areas around the home, 5000K color temperature, bulb lasts 50,000 hours ·                        Advanced technology prevents light dimming and fluctuations

T his works well.   It needs quite a bit of torque to get it to stabilize  but once stable it works smoothly.   Installation and assembly were not hard but the directions are using a 6pt or lower font.    My bifocals could not read them with out squinting.    Particular concern was the grommet on the arm had to be lined up precisely on the arm to fit over the upright post.   The pictures showing lining up the grommet was not big enough or clear enough to easily see that.    Arrow points to where the grommet is located.   Options are provide for two types of install and the parts are included.   That is a positive.   The biggest negative is the assembly instructions.   If the instructions were larger and clearer, assembly time would have been cut at least 35% . From the vendor:  ·                        Single-monitor stand made of lightweight yet sturdy aluminum; arm holds up to 22 pounds (check user manual for necessary adjustments) ·                        Ac

Introducing DART Dani has illustrated 10 books for me.  I also produce books for clients and she has illustrated 6 books for them.  My web page is www.bentrim.info .  Click on Terrific Illustrator on the left hand tool bar to see examples of the work she has illustrated. I am posting this as a favor, no money changed hands for this recommendation.   Dani is attempting to go full time as an illustrator and needs more work.   Please take a look at a page on my web site to see examples of her work.  She is available at: facebook.com/Dart.DanijelaArt instagram.com/dart_bl behance.net/Dart_ e-mail:  danijelap85@gmail.com

I liked the fact that this backpack opened like a suitcase.  That made it much easier to pack.  The size is equivalent to a carry on bag and should fit in the overhead compartment of most airliners.   The ability to carry it on your back is what makes it more versatile than a carry on bag, even a spinner carry on.   If you have a large suitcase and are trying to pull it and a smaller carry on that also has wheels you are suddenly out of hands to hold escalator handles or open doors or to dig out your passport.   It does not have chest straps nor does it have a built in back pack frame which I saw on other bags.   For my purposes, it worked perfectly. If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

If you are expecting a hole in one leg then give this another star.  I did not see the hole in the knee when I ordered these.  They fit well but I'm not a fan of the hole in the pants.  I've got plenty of jeans that I use to work in the garden that have holes in them, I don't need a new pair to have a hole. Perhaps it is age related, I like the skinny type of look but the holes leave me cold, that is a look for the very young.  If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Didn't care for this 3 port plug.  Amazon Basics have come across as very solid quality.  This hub is no exception.  It seems like there are never enough USB ports.  I tested this on a Chromebox and it worked very well.  I also tested it with a standard USB cable as opposed to the C type and it worked just as well.   I do not have many units with a USB-C port.   The only down side I see is that they used one of those weird three circular port power cables to the power brick.   Shades of the old Dell power brick cable if you lost you were screwed until you could get the proprietary cable back. I don’t know of Dell got over that but I was surprised that they didn’t use a standard cable for the brick.  Probably had a good reason but I don’t know it.  Otherwise this will be a valuable addition to my gear.  If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

This is an interesting system.  The absolutely wire free aspect is great, particularly if you have a wife is diametrically opposed to visible cables.   The visual aspect of the cameras is great even at night.  The installation or setup was a breeze.   The cameras synced quickly with no issues.   The required an immediate upgrade via download and four of the six cameras did that flawlessly.   The other two took multiple restarts to get the update successfully accepted.   The phone software works well and I was easily able to see the cameras remotely.   So my initial impression is very positive. I did receive this system in exchange for an honest review.   The documentation for this system is abysmal.   There is no identification on the cameras to determine which of Arlo’s cameras they may be.  This makes it difficult to determine what is expected of the camera.   Supposedly voice interplay is included however there is no indication of this in the phone or computer inter