By brwood(view all posts by brwood)
at 9:56AM Tuesday August 30, 2011
under
Shop Smarter
Hurricane Irene struck a few days ago and some people in the Northeast are still without power and other basic services. This got me thinking about some basic emergency preparedness and how sometime the old solutions are still the best. You may get all your news on your
iPhone via The HuffPo, or eat only microwave organic food normally--but most likely that's not gonna cut it after an earthquake, hurricane or other natural disaster.
Here are ten items you are going to want stashed away somewhere in case of emergency.
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By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger(view all posts by Rick.Broida)
at 3:09PM Thursday May 24, 2012
under
Stuff We Like
There's never been a better time to ditch your landline.
If you're already paying for cable or DSL Internet service, you've
got everything you need to kiss your local and long-distance
telephone companies goodbye.
Well, almost everything: The missing ingredient is a voice-over-IP
adapter, which sounds complicated but isn't. It's a little box that
sits between your existing phone (or cordless phone system) and
your router and provides full-featured home phone service. For
pennies.
You've probably heard of one such product: the MagicJack, an
infomercial staple. A few months back, I reviewed its successor,
the
MagicJack Plus.
Today let's talk about its latest competitor, the
NetTalk Duo
WiFi.
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By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger(view all posts by Rick.Broida)
at 9:15AM Tuesday May 15, 2012
under
Product Review
Unless you've figured out how to clone yourself, you can't be in
two places at once. But you can keep an eye on, say, the baby's
room, the babysitter, an elderly parent who's living on their own,
an empty house, and so on -- even when you're not there.
All you need is a Webcam that feeds live video to your smartphone
or tablet.
The
Stem Innovation iZon Remote Room Monitor is one such
Webcam, and it costs far less than competing products. Ah, but is
it any good?
Yes and no.The concept behind the iZon is excellent, the price
quite reasonable. It's the execution that falls a bit short, though
not so far that you should rule out buying one.
Small, white, and cylindrical, the iZon stands about four inches
high on its curved, magnetic base. That base makes it easy to
position the camera, and can even be hung upside-down.
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