Random crazy prices on Amazon
January 14, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I was just doing a bit of shopping on my go-to site (Amazon, clearly) and noticed something strange with pricing.
First, for Puro Caff, which I use to clean my espresso machine (and you should, too, it’s amazing):
First price, fine. That’s about the average price for a 20 oz thing of Puro Caff. But the second, identical product with a slightly different label — $113? That’s quite literally a $100 difference between Puro Caff sold by Amazon and a third party, which is RIDICULOUS. Unless it’s signed by the inventor of espresso or something.
And second, my favorite mouse cushion:
Price I pay, again, fine. $14 to avoid carpal tunnel is a pretty good deal. But wait a second– list price $711.00. No, I didn’t get the decimal wrong, it really says seven hundred dollars for a wrist cushion, and that you ‘save’ $697.55 when buying on Amazon. This little guy is $11 at Staples, so you’re not fooling me, Amazon.
Let’s hope this is a bug, because y’all, Amazon’s pulling some weird shit if not.
The Smurfs – movie and iPad app
May 25, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Remember the post I wrote about Hop and Rio?
There’s apparently a Smurfs movie coming out, and they’re following in the promotion footsteps of the terrible animated movies before them. And yes, I think the Smurfs movie is going to be royally AWFUL.
Here’s a confession: I have the Smurf Village iPad app. And I LOVE IT. It’s my Farmville. The app just updated with a new ‘quest’ to build a movie theater in the village and watch the trailer. You HAVE to do it to continue with the game. Brilliant.
huzzah!
I mean, the trailer made me want to scream, but I watched it. They had the opportunity to make an impression on me- probably for a very low cost.
this is what the theater looks like
Cool, right? What do you think?
5 reasons to be on Pinterest
May 24, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Y’all.
Pinterest is BAR NONE the best social bookmarking website out there. Especially if you’re interested in design, homes, food, pretty things or weddings (most of the users are females).
As an online marketer, I’ve used pretty much every social bookmarking tool in existence. Most of the time I only put up with them because they help with SEO. It’s not like they’re fun to use. (except maybe reddit, and have you seen their interface?)
why pinterest is awesome
Interface. It’s beautiful. For anyone that likes “design-y” things, you’ll like their layout. (hint: shades of grey)- Bookmarking. There’s a bookmarklet (like with most social bookmarking sites), but it doesn’t take you away from the site you were on. And it’s FAST.
- Enjoyable. Bookmarking (or pinning) from the home page is not only easy, it’s fun. Addicting, actually.
- Useful. Pinterest isn’t a time-waster. It adds true value to my life. I’m planning a wedding, and it’s my virtual inspiration board. So much more valuable than random wedding magazines filled with things I can’t afford.
- Social. It connects to Facebook, so my friends are on Pinterest. I ‘follow’ people that I love but don’t see often. Looking at their pins makes me feel like we’re bonding. (I’m talking to you, Jess!)
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Pinterest on Facebookresponse to corning’s “a day made of glass”
March 23, 2011 § Leave a Comment
A fellow Tar Heel, Meghan Prichard, just tweeted this (very cool) video about future glass technology:
First reaction: it’s a realistic Minority Report. Very cool.
And then I thought about it. Some of that technology seems like it’d be way more frustrating to use than exciting. Example: functionality that relies on multi-touch. Maybe my fingers will get more precise as I become ever more used to touch screens, but multi-touch irritates the bejeebus out of me sometimes. Half the time I do something without meaning to and then waste time trying to figure out how to fix it. It’s not the smooth, flawless functionality Corning demonstrates.
Also- putting your phone / mini glass computer device down on a surface expands what’s on the screen. I can see a huge potential for embarrassing situations and a rise in snoopy behavior. People will have to be really careful about not putting their phones down before clearing away whatever they had up.
I’m now at the age where I pay my own bills. Almost all of them. Howw expensive would it be to have that fridge play a video all the time? Even on motion sensors, that seems like a waste of energy to me. But it might work for some. Maybe I’d like it if it were a TV on a fridge. But then I can see myself getting mad every time Bek opened it for something while I was watching a show.
As for the lightweight, flexible e-reader? Wouldn’t that be annoying to hold up? I feel like it’d bend. Potential product issue right there.
What I DO like is the concept of photosensitive glass. I really love natural light in living spaces, and like the concept of wall-to-wall windows in a home. Of course, that brings with it the idea of energy (in)efficiency and a lack of privacy. Glass that changes to frosted at the touch of a button already exists in posh homes. The photosensitivity would be a cool added feature.
Overall, I think it’s great technology’s going this direction. I just think manufacturers are going to have to wrestle with a lot of functionality issues.
