Docking Stations - alarm clock, ipod dock system

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I searched a long time for a combo clock radio and docking station for my iPhone. Although there are several on the market, I wanted something that took up as little space as possible on my night stand, had a display with large numbers, would charge my iPhone, play music from my iPhone as the alarm instead of the radio, and was easy to use.



I FOUND IT!! This Sony clock radio is great, and has TONS of features. I like the large illuminated display, which has different settings depending on how bright you want the light at night. Setting the alarm is very easy (you can go forward and backward through hour and minutes, without having to run completely through the cycle like most clocks), and there are TWO alarm settings. You can set an alarm for weekdays to get you up for work, and then a separate alarm for the weekend. Pretty cool.



The snooze button is nice and big on top of the unit, and let's you take the standard 10 minute snooze, or you can keep pressing the button and lengthen the snooze time up to 60 minutes in 20 minute increments. A nice feature.



There's a sleep feature timer so you can listen to radio or iPhone/iPod music while you fall asleep. For the alarm, you can have a buzz, AM or FM radio, or a tune from your iPhone, and it works great.



Buttons on the front and side are nice and large so you don't have to grope in the dark, and there are a variety of customizable settings.



The best part is the hidden slide-out docking tray. Pop it out when you want to charge your iPhone/iPod or listen to music through the clock's speaker, and push it back in when you don't need it, making the unit's footprint as small as possible. The docking tray comes with adapters to fit iPhone or iPod. I use mine without either adapter because I have a protective case on my iPhone, but it still fits in nicely.



In reading back my review, I sound like a Sony employee, but I'm not. Have no connection to the product, other than I'm a satisfied customer, and would recommend this unit highly to anyone looking for a docking station/clock radio for their iPhone or iPod. There are too many other features to go into here. Have fun discovering all the great things Sony thought of to include on this unit.



Thanks for a great unit, Sony! Sony ICF-C7IP Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone with Hidden Sliding Dock Tray

First off, I want to say that I like almost everything about this alarm clock and that I went to a Best Buy first and tested it (music and all) right next to its bigger Sony sibling (the one with the CD player, called Sony ICFCD3iP CD Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone) as well as the iHomes and Logitech and other competitors. Essentially this one came out the winner in every way IF what you're looking for is an ALARM CLOCK. This is not a speaker system by any stretch (it's not even stereophonic, one speaker), it's not designed to party to or have it produce massive bass sounds. I know this is obvious to most of you but there's always some imbecile who doesn't seem to realize that a little alarm clock barely bigger than your iPhone can't possibly be a stereo system.



As an alarm clock, I loved this little system precisely because it does so much and takes up so little space. The LED lights are not too bright when you go to the lowest setting, the sound is definitely loud enough for you to hear even if you're in the next room at high volume, the iPhone dock is easy to use and can be used with a case on your iPhone. It also looks good and it's nice that the dock cradle slides in, overall it looks A+.



Since I also compared this one in person to the Sony ICFCD3iP CD Clock Radio and tested them both simultaneously, I can offer you these observations if it's helpful to you. I ruled out the iHomes, by the way, because all systems that make you stick your iPhone on top like that are horrible looking, maybe that was cool in 2007 if you thought having an iPhone is cool and you want it brandished like it's a trophy, but that now looks tacky, dated and cluttered. This comparison is between this Sony product vs the one with the CD player:



--Size: I liked the CD player one more because I actually thought this one looks a bit too small. This is purely personal preference, if smaller is better for you then go for this one.



--Layout: I call this a draw. One thing that's better on the CD player one is that since it's bigger, there was room to put the tuner and the preset switches on the sides of the device rather than on the back which is not as convenient. You probably won't use these two switches much though so this probably doesn't matter much. One thing I liked better on this one is that hitting the snooze as you're groggy is pretty safe, but on the CD one, since the opening for the CD player is right in front of the snooze button, you can very well accidentally open the CD tray violently if you hit the snooze and aren't careful.



--Speaker, sound: Basically a draw for me. The Sony descriptions on Amazon, and indeed even on the boxes of the two products, tell you nothing about power. I had to look under the devices themselves (which got me bad looks from the salespeople) to find out that this alarm clock's speaker is rated at 10 watts. The CD player's speaker rated at 16 watts. Normally I'd say this means the CD player clock is better, but oddly at similar volumes in the store, I actually found this alarm clock's speaker to be better defined than the bigger one from the other Sony, and almost as loud. The bass was slightly better on the other one though. But since this is an ALARM CLOCK and not a speaker system by any stretch, I frankly didn't care either way, they're both plenty loud to wake up to music or the radio to and close enough in quality despite the different wattage.



--iPhone dock: here I expected them both to be the same, but I was surprised that the iPhone dock trays are not designed the same, and that this Sony's design of the tray was actually better than the CD player's. The CD player's tray hangs in the air, in that when it opens up there is space under. So when you put your iPhone in you kind of have to grab the tray or else the whole thing tilts, it's not a good setup. The tray that comes out of this clock, on the other hand, has the end of it flush with the clock's bottom and whatever table it's on. So it's much more secure and you can just dock your iPod on it with one hand and not worry about a thing. So the clear loser is the CD alarm, as this one is better designed. Both can fit an iPhone with the case on by the way, just don't use the tray inserts that come with this.



--LED illumination: here too this Sony beats out the CD Sony. Both clocks have three light settings. I put them side by side and tested them both. The upshot is that the bigger one has much brighter LED lights. When I compared both at the lowest setting, the bigger clock was still pretty bright and would be annoying in the dark (unless you're scared of monsters at night and want a night light). At its lowest setting, this Sony here was still just a bit brighter than I would have liked, but not nearly as annoying as the CD player's light. This is a big reason why you see good reviews of this Sony here while the CD player's reviews are generally bad with lots of complaints about the light level.



I did buy this alarm clock and all in all, I really wanted to love it, but over the past two weeks it has infuriated me with one BIG design flaw that is making me return it because it is fatal. It simply can't reliably stay tuned to a radio station so as to wake you up to it.



Now if you don't care at all about waking up to radio, consider this a 5-star review and move on. But I like to wake up to NPR, a strong FM station in my area. I've had an 9-year-old CD player alarm clock beside me before this Sony, and not once did it fail to wake me up to a strong NPR signal when the alarm was set. This brand new Sony, on the other hand, comes in and out! You can test it before going to sleep and the sound is 100% clear, and yet when it comes on in the morning it sounds like it is barely tuned to the station unless you play with the ugly and unsightly antenna cable that sticks out of the back of it. Even if you didn't touch that unsightly cable all night.



Even WORSE, when it comes on like that in the morning, if it is not receiving the FM station well, you don't even get static noise (which at least would still wake you up), you get nothing but a very faint buzzing that doesn't wake anyone up! I've already been late to work three times on account of this clock's failure to maintain a lock on a station. I've even tried testing the position of the ugly antenna before going to bed and having the volume very high, yet still for no apparent reason at all it sometimes fails to lock on in the morning and you sleep peacefully to 8:30 am to a very low audio buzzing sound that seems to lull you into an even deeper sleep.



The culprit is that Sony really cheaped out on the FM receiver.



How they can make such a colossal design flaw on a product that costs more than competitors like iHome that are larger and with better speakers is inexplicable. I really wanted to love this, but it's an ALARM CLOCK and if it simply loses connection to a station in the morning despite the ugly antenna cable and can't wake you up, what good is it? Shame on Sony for having such a design flaw by cheaping out on internal components. Whoever was in charge of approving that is incompetent and should be fired because he doesn't understand retail products, this is not a $20 alarm clock on which you can use cheap transistors to save 50 cents. This is an alarm clock aimed at a slightly higher market and there is an expectation that at the very least it can be reliably counted on to wake us up in the morning.



REVISED REVIEW FROM HERE ON OUT



I am revising my review, going from two to four stars, because as time as gone by the radio reception seems to have improved (but only after careful placement of the antenna cord and making sure it's never moved), and I decided that all the positives and the lack of a good competitor warrants better than two stars. It's still the most compact, efficient and best looking alarm clock out there... I just wish they used better components for the radio receiver. - Clock Radio - Docking Stations - Ipod Dock System - Alarm Clock'

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Dust Collector - dust collector accessories

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It's not often that a product works and does what it is advertised to do right out of the box. This is one of those products. I have tested it with dust from the vacuum, sawdust from my old separator and even ashes from my charcoal bbq. Little to no dust from any of these made it into either my central vac or my shop vac. I can't begin to tell you enough how well this little marvel works. The Dust Deputy

I don't usually write to dispute other reviews, but I will make an exception here.



I have used the Dust Deputy (bought the $99 kit), for about a month now, mostly for dust collection on my Jet 16-32 drum sander, and the thing is freakin' amazing.



I have a 6HP Sears shop vac. Nothing fancy for sure. I use it for shop cleanup and to collect dust from the sander, which puts out a very fine dust. Without the Dust Deputy the filter would clog up in less than 30 minutes of use. With the Dust Deputy in use, I have yet to have to clean the filter! Unbelievable time saver, not to mention the hassle of having to "suit up" every time I clean out the filter.



So, not sure what other users were doing with their dust deputy that they say did not work, but mine works perfectly, even when sanding at #220 grit.



The only other complaint I have seen around the Interwebs is that the plastic cyclone is fragile and does not stand up to dropping/falling. (duh) So do anchor the Dust Deputy to your shop vac, or buy the very expensive metal cyclone. It's quite easy to do, especially if you get the whole kit. I had mine on in less than 30 minutes. If you don't get the kit, definitely use the two bucket system so you can easily remove the inner bucket to dump the dust. And don't let too much dust accumulate or eventually it will bypass the cyclone.

This thing is incredible. I inherited a house with a block shed behind it. The block shed had been over run by rats for years so you can imagine what I had to deal with. YUCK. I didn't want to mess up my shop vac so I tried this. Man was I impressed. The only thing that went into my shop vac was a very light layer of dust and some real small pieces of plastic. That was it. I cleaned up two buckets of debris just cleaning the attic area. And to empty is so much easier that a shop vac. It is smaller and easier to handle. The kit was easy to assemble too.

This thing works like a charm and has made a huge difference both in the life and function of my shop vac filters and in the cleanliness of my shop. The only negative is the cost. It is a simple thing and if I were more capable or less lazy, I would have built my own. Plans and calculation guides for cyclones are all over the internet. However my sloth is not the tool's fault. Highly recommended.

I bought the Dust Deputy to go together with a Paint Shaver Pro I also bought. The both of them are being used to remove many layers of paint from a 97 year-old house.



The Dust Duty is connected to the Paint Shaver (and a random orbital sander) and in turn a ShopVac creates the vacuum in the Dust Deputy.



I can't say enough good about the Dust Deputy. It collects gallons and gallons of paint and wood dust and the filter in the ShopVac can run for days without being cleaned of the very fine dust which is the only thing that gets through the Dust Deputy.



My only difficulty with the Dust Deputy is adapting it to the 1-1/4 inch hoses from the ShopVac, Paint Shaver and orbital sander. I bought a set of adaptors from Oneida to adapt the Dust Deputy to that size, but the adaptors really aren't satisfactory for the purpose, and I had to use duck tape to attach the Dust Deputy inlet port to the tools. I really wish Oneida would come up with some more adaptable adaptors!



Otherwise, I am very happy.

I have been looking at one of these for years. I finally bought one a few months ago after they included some foam blocks and bolts to physically attach it to my shop vac. I wanted the unit to be mobile and not have to drag it or a separate cart around. I got it home, hooked it up to my Craftsman 6.5hp shop vac and voila, it worked like advertised. I used it with my Bosch portable table saw. Like others, I was happy to see that most of the debris was staying in the bucket. I did notice a lot of dust coming out the saw blade and other spots, however, I figured that I just needed to use a zero clearance insert.



The problem:

I was using my shop vac to do some clean up on a job sight and something just didn't seem right. My vacuum is powerful enough to pick up nails and it just wasn't doing the trick. I disconnected the Dust Deputy and used just the vac. The power was at least doubled. This was very upsetting since the impression I had gotten from Dyson and other vacs is that cyclones would maintain or increase suction.



The solution:

I was lucky enough to talk to an Oneida Rep recently at a woodworking show. I told him of my problem and how disappointed I was. He told me that the Dust Deputy obviously didn't have enough air flow for my shop vac because the vac was just to powerful. He told me how to resolve the problem. I would need two units hooked up to my vac. One hose from the vac that would "Y" to the two Dust Deputies and then two hoses from the dust deputies that would "Y" back together to a single hose. Problem solved, however, I wasn't planning on buying 2 of these.



Oneida just recently sent me an email with a Multi Cyclone DIY unit that they are promoting. I think this would also work for my shop vac.



Overall, this is a great idea, but the plastic they use is very delicate and it didn't work for my POWERFUL shop vac as is. This experience will not stop me from buying one of there large dust collectors for my shop. They are, after all, the best you can buy.

It works exactly like advertised. I sucked up a ton of sawdust just after I hooked it up, and there was nothing in the shop vac. Easy to empty, I like that the best.



Things I don't like:

* The hose that comes with it is very stiff and kinks fairly easily. Just makes it a little hard to work with.

* I mounted (bolted) it to the side of my large shop vac. Stays in place just fine, but you won't be able to drag your shop vac around by the hose. You'll need to use one of the other, more complicated and expensive, solutions.

* For what it is, I just think it's too expensive.



I hate dumping my shop vac and cleaning out my HEPA filter, that's the main reason I bought it.



Shop Vac just needs to build a vac with something like this built in - that's not too expensive. - Dust Collector Accessories'

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Electrical Equipment - wire organizer, wiremold

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I am a wire nazi and like all my A/V cables run neat. However, after my new LCD was mounted I had a power cable and HDMI cable ruining the look. I did not want to rip through drywall, route around fireplace vents, drill through 6 studs, and refinish drywall to make it look nice. Maybe one day I will, but not yet. I posted images of the before and after condition.



Wiremold Cordmate II was an ideal solution:

1) Inexpensive

2) Easy to install

3) Very pratical and funtional

4) Looks good

5) Individual pieces available (elbows, corners, etc.)



Install took maybe 1 hour total to plan, measure, cut, and paint (20 minutes of actual work; 40 for paint drying). I painted before install and found that applying paint with a small brush and then using a small, dry roller gave a very finished look. Also make sure your cables are plenty long enough (with some alpha factor) before installing. Do not plan on running a ton of cables through this version - power, HDMI, and maybe a coaxial would be it.



I was very skeptical about the cordmate's ability to hold in corner with thick cables. I had an inside and outside 90 degree elbow within 3 inches which is a lot of force to hold. But the double sided tape is very strong and holding very good.



Perhaps the only minor downside would be ability to add or change cables. It does open, but it takes some pressure. So make sure to feed all wires needed first before taping to wall.



Overall, this wire nazi is very impressed and would highly recommend. Wiremold C210 White Cordmate II Kit

Got this item to conceal the wires that would hang between my wall mounted 42 inch plasma TV and the entertainment stand below it which holds my cable box and DVD player. There were three wires to conceal in all - cable box wire (regular coaxial cable thickness); HDMI wire from DVD player to TV (slightly thinner than coaxial cable); and cable for TV plug to wall (very thick for some reason). The cableholder just barely held these three cables (but it did hold them. remember you dont have to get the head of the cable through the cordmate - it can open up so you can clip it over the hanging cables (very convenient). The cordmate is also very paintable to match your walls. paint before you stick it on wall and use a roller not a brush. I used a brush at first and it was harder to paint and was leaving brush lines (could have been brush I was using but...). Anyway, good product and inexpensive - I would buy again for such uses. easier to cut as well than I thought it would be.

First, the good: These cable covers are simple to mount and function well. They are easy to open with a screw driver or even a pen, and they are even easier to snap shut. They aren't the roomiest, so you should know that in advance. I was able to run an ethernet cable, a coax RF cable, and two speaker wires without much of an issue. However, it was pretty packed and doubt it would hold more. The adhesive is quite strong, so you won't need to worry much about how hard you tug on the covers while tucking away your wires. The adhesive also brings me to...



The bad: I'm willing to admit that I didn't fully read the instructions that came with the product, so my problems may have been addressed and warned against. However, upon removal, these things are a nightmare. Trying to pull them off would almost always tear the paint and upper layer of drywall right off. When it did manage to come off without a chunk of the wall, it left a sticky residue that was incredibly difficult to clean (I tried warm soapy water, and even Goo Gone). In the end, I used a utility knife to score the edges, and then just ripped off strips of drywall. Then I had to patch each channel, sand, and paint. If I had known I would be moving only 6 months after installation, I would have never used these cable covers.



In the end, I have to give their function more weight than their difficult removal. They work great, and they install super easily. If you are not planning on removing them in any short manner of time, I would recommend them. However, if you are a renter or know you will move in a year or less, you may want to find another product.

I needed to route the TV cable about 20 feet from the source around two walls and a small nook. I ordered 2 of these kits, and could not be happier with the results. I placed the track on the baseboard just above the quarter molding, and it blends right in. You just need to make sure there is enough clearance below the track so that the coupling and corner attachments can snap on. The track sticks very well and I don't think it will ever release without a struggle. When my TV is mounted, I'm going to run a short piece down the wall for the power and cable box cords, and paint it to match. The track is easy to cut with a hack saw.

The amazon page says this is 1.2 inches in length, 2 inches in width, and 48 inches long. WRONG. The channel which will hold 3 cables of average size (e.g. rg-6 or rg-59 video cable, standard a/c power cord, etc) will hold 3 cables snugly across - it's about 1.2 inches wide outside, but inside is what matters if you have ALOT of cables. Unless you use some micro cables you won't get more than 3 standard size cables inside this track. The 2" dimention I argue with - there is nothing about the track that measures 2" wide. It's 1.2 wide, with under 1" of space inside, and about 3/8" off the wall (call it tall?) - yes the lengths are 48" long.



Wiremold has been used to hide ugly cables for a long time - this was perfect for my job - I just wall mounted a 23" HDTV in my dad's kitchen for him to catch the early morning news with coffee etc. (the set was an LG 23" with more inputs than you could imagine for computer use and a tv antenna / cable input as well - we are using it with a rooftop TV antenna on the house that grabs about 88 ATSC channels, of which we delete around 30 that are advertising or specialized language/childrens programming leaving a healthy 58 free tv channels on the tv set)



The cables were ugly though. RG-6 coax for the antenna feed, power and VGA to a small laptop that logs weather data from the usb port on the weather station I bought as a gift for my parents all had to go to the back of the set - it was a cable nightmare.



With the wiremold full, it drops straight down below the set with 3 cables inside (and they are snug) goes into an elbow to follow the baseboard, then goes through a T connector where the power cord comes out and into an outlet next to the T connector - the wiremold continues to the corner of the room where the RG-6 antenna cable enters the channel and from that point it has 10" left for the VGA cable.



NOTES for successful installation.



I made some mistakes so I'll share them with you for your install - best to learn from others mistakes!



The fittings (T, left elbow, right elbow, inside corner, outside corner) are very generous, but they do not adhere to the wiremold channel, they go OVER the channel. Because of this if you stick the channel to the wall directly touching the baseboard, you will not be able to put he fittings over the wiremold afterwards because it needs to go between the stick of wiremold and the baseboard - so the trick is lay a thin piece of plastic above the baseboard (1/16") then tack the channel down with the foam sticky back - that way you'll have room for the fittings to go over it (same rule goes for corners)



When cutting it, I used a hitachi power miter saw instead of a hacksaw Hitachi C10FCE2 10-Inch Compound Miter Saw - don't make real fast cuts even with the fast saw - let the blade come up to full speed then gradually slip it through the channel as if you were cutting a hardwood. If you make fast cuts, the blade teeth (and this goes for sawzalls too) can snag the non-opening edge of the channel and split the thin plastic - now you have a channel with an opening on two sides, one is a crack, the other a j hook mold. I put some clear shipping tape over the crack like amazon uses to ship boxes to you and held the crack together, then make slow milling type cuts with the saw which came out very clean with square edges on both the use piece and waste piece.



Always place the J hook side where you'll be able to open it later if you think you will add a cable at a later date, i.e. don't put the J clasp edge down towards the baseboard or you'll have a hard time getting it open later. Same goes for a corner of a wall going vertical.



When the project was finished it looked 200% better - no cable mess any more, no cables visable at all, and the adhesive is strong enough it will pull the paint off the wall before it comes off by itself, so make sure you have a level handy for vertical runs to give you an edge because once you stick it on the wall its not comming off. Consider it permanent after 5 seconds (I was able to carefully reposition a small 10 inch piece that had not fully adhered yet by slowly pealing it off the paint as soon as I realized I had a problem)



Make sure your cables do not have the RFI filters (those big blobs usually close to the end of the cable) because those won't go into the channel if they are far back from the connector (my monitor came with a cable like this and I had to buy a replacement VGA cable that has the RFI filters up close to the connector instead)



Final install tip, although it seems best to put the T connector for a power plug right under the outlet, I found it was better to

offset the T about 2-4 inches from the power outlet. This way the cable comes out and has room to lay over before going into the outlet and does not put stress on the t cover, which has no adhesive to hold it on. If it is right under the outlet it will tend to force the T joint off of the wiremold strip.



This kit gives you everything you need to go 12 feet, make an inside corner, and outside corner, go up or down the wall, join two pieces together and one T connector to let cables exit near an outlet. Don't expect to put more than 3 normal size (1/4") cables inside it and you won't be disappointed, but it is not 1.2 x 2.0 x 48" as the amazon specifications say. It's more like 1.2 x 3/8 in x 4 feet long strips x 3 + all the parts. Amazon needs to correct the measurements and make it clear what the raceway outside and inside dimentions are. If I expected 1.2x2.0 " as their page says, and could not fit 6 cables into it I would be upset, but my install worked out. - Cable - Wiremold - Wire Concealer - Wire Organizer'

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Super Mario Bros

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I have been playing video games since the Atari 2600, and was a kid during the Nintendo Entertainment System era. Some of my fondest memories involve one iconic set of characters: Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, and Princess Peach. Over the years, games have changed (some changes for the good, and others...not so much), but I love that the Mario series have stayed true to their roots. Every Mario game that I can think of has stood the test of time, and has served as a model to countless other games. However, despite being one of the best game franchises around, one component was always missing: multiplayer. Sure, previous SMB games had a "2 player" option, but all you were able to do was pass around the same joystick, or take turns using 2 joysticks. The idea of 2 characters on screen at the same time seemed strangely impossible for these games... and why Nintendo wasn't able to make this happen sooner than 2009 boggles the mind. But, having spent 7 or 8 hours playing New Super Mario Bros yesterday, I don't care why or how they were able to finally do it...because this game is an absolute blast to play!



As soon as the game starts, you start to get an idea of just how great this game is going to be... especially if you have played Super Mario games before (and cmon...who hasn't?!?). Everything looks very familiar, but in a good way. The game really feels like they took some of the best ideas, bosses, levels, and music from each of the Mario games and retooled them for NSMB Wii (New Super Mario Bros Wii). In fact, it feels mostly like Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros 3 rolled into one, with a little bit of Super Mario Galaxy thrown in as well... and that, my friends, is an AWESOME combination! Like I mentioned earlier...I have played hundreds...maybe thousands of video games in my time. And this game ranks right up there with the best of them. It is, in my humble opinion, on par with Super Mario Bros 3, which has been rated by numerous gaming sites as the best game of all time. Playing the game for the first time, there were lots of "oohs and ahhs", plenty of mischievous giggles, lots of punching and name calling (see multiplayer), and even several times where one of us paused the game just to point out how great this game is. I hate to gush over this game, but it really is a work of art. It's easily one of the best games I have ever played, and certainly one of the best available on Wii. Here are some of my observations about it:



Old Skool SMB: Mario games are good, and they work. Period. This is one series of games that doesn't need to be retooled, revamped, updated, or changed dramatically in order for it to compete with the likes of Modern Warfare 2. In fact, there really is no competition for Mario games. Historically, they sell, are highly rated, and have a long shelf-life. This game is no different. It is classic Mario at his best. There are some updates that make the game fresh and interesting, but it is mostly classic Mario 2-D action, and that is a good thing.



Music: Mario games have always had great music. Who hasn't found themselves whistling or humming one of the iconic Mario tunes? This game has some really cool new music, as well as some remixes/revamps of classic Mario music. When I found myself in the first of the Koopa Kid castles and I heard the original music from Super Mario Bros 3(??), I was ecstatic.



Multiplayer: For the life of me, I couldn't tell you why Nintendo was never able to incorporate some genuine multiplayer in a Mario game previously. But, add it they did, and it is great. The multiplayer component of Super Mario Bros Wii is really well done. There are some competitive modes where you and your friends (or opponents) are running through a level and competing to get the most coins, and it is really fun. But where multiplayer really shines is when you are actually playing through the games with a couple of your friends. All of you are on screen at the same time. When you hit one of the "?" boxes, 3 or 4 mushrooms may come out... or maybe 2 mushrooms and 1 Penguin suit...and you have a choice: Will we all go scrambling for the penguin suit? Or will the most skilled player just take a mushroom suit and leave the penguin suit to the others? Or, will I scramble and get all of the mushrooms and the penguin suit, leaving my teammates out in the cold? I tried all of these scenarios, and it was pure joy to see the look on my friends faces either way! You see, the multiplayer can be either competitive or cooperative. There will be times where getting a big coin or a 1-up will require that you cooperate...maybe I will need to pick up one player and hold him over my head, and then another player will bounce off his head to get the 1-up. Or, maybe there will be a player that I want to give some grief... so I can pick him up and throw him down a pit or in the lava... or I can throw a green shell at him. There will also be times where you are all trying to accomplish something (like jumping across a lava pit), and because we are all scrambling and trying to save our own skin, one player will bounce off the other's head, giving themselves a boost up and over the lava, but sending their friend to their death. As you can imagine, the cooperative multiplayer would FREQUENTLY and unexpectedly become competitive, and there was no shortage of amazed/shocked looks back and forth (i.e "Dude... I cant believe you just did that!!"), punches in the shoulder, name calling, calling "dibs" on power ups only to be disappointed, and laughing ranging from a mischievous giggle to rolling on the floor in stitches. When we were playing, one guy even got really upset and went home! LOL. It was one heck of a fun afternoon! Once the sore loser left, we started cooperating more and competing less, and it was equally fun. Almost equally anyway...



Difficulty: I hate easy games, and I hate short games. I especially hate short and easy games. This game is neither. From what I have experienced so far, this is one of the most challenging Mario games I have ever played. It isn't necessarily HARD...anyone can pick up New Super Mario Bros Wii and begin playing. That is the case with every Mario game. But it is challenging. You will die...a lot. Especially when playing multiplayer, since frequently one of your teammates will do something that sends you to your end on accident. Plus, the difficulty really starts to ramp up in some of the later worlds/levels. Also, there are 3 hidden achievement coins in each level, as well as these special "star" coins that you can go out of your way to find...and getting to some of these can be a real challenge. I estimate that it will easily take 20+ hours to complete this game... and even once it is done, it will be a blast to start over and play again. And the truth is, Mario games are always long and fairly difficult... I never did beat Super Mario 2! I think this game is going to have a long shelf life at my house!



I will spare you any more gushing details about this game. Clearly, I enjoyed it immensely. If you own a Nintendo Wii, you should own this game. If there was ONE Wii game I would recommend you buy, it would be this one. If you are considering buying a Nintendo Wii because you like this game...I guarantee it will be worth it. This game is destined to be a classic, and it would be a shame to miss out! Here is my personal rating for the game:



Gameplay: 10/10

Presentation: 9/10

Sound/Music: 9/10

Multiplayer: 9/10

Difficulty: 10/10

Lasting Appeal: 9/10

Overall: 10/10 New Super Mario Bros. Wii'

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Book Sox -frog - stretchable book covers, book covers

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I bought this product because my first grader child needed this for his reading text book. It lasted a couple of months before it receivied its first little hole. When my son put his text book on a bench table at school that has some kind of honey or syrup substance that stuck to the cover. I was even more disappointed. I say it did a average job of protecting the book from external forces. Next year I am going to get a paperbook cover. Extreme Book Sox - Jumbo Planets - Stretchable Book Covers - Book Covers - Book Cover - School Supplies'

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Name Badges

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I was leery of purchasing another inexpensive name badge holder because I've received unusable product before. But these worked out great. Most importantly, they arrived FLAT, and 100% were usable. And they do come with the paper inserts. I couldn't tell that clearly from the description, so I ordered inserts separately. The extras came in handy, but these do include inserts in the package. I'll be buying these again for my next conference. Hanging Name Badge Kit

I got drafted to make the name tags for a small conference I was attending in LA. I stopped into Office Depot to buy them and nearly fell over when the price was about $65 for a box of 50! I went to Amazon.com, bought these for about $8, and got them in two days! LIfe is good! They were so cheap, I bought the elastic hanging style and the clip on style so the participants could choose which style they wanted! I was the name tag hero at the conference!!!

I was very disappointed with this product. A box of fifty badges came with 22 of the cords without steel tips on either one or both ends of the cord. The tips were broken and in the same cellophane package as the cords.

Amazon Verified Purchase

I read the reviews before I bought these and was a little hesitant because of the complaints about making the paper work in the printer. To solve that problem, I just made a table in Microsoft Word and printed it out to check the size. I had the size right within a couple of tries. I didn't think they were hard to use at all. I just printed it on regular card stock, instead of using the paper sheets that came with the product, and got 6 name tags per sheet. I would order these again, especially since you get a lot for your money.

Do not buy! If you don't care whether or not your names or graphics line up correctly with these tags then feel free to buy them. We are a print shop (25 years in business) which had a request from a customer to source these hanging name tags. The Avery product is very expensive, but at least you know what you're getting. Products of this sort are usually provided in 8.5" x 11" format for printing in either laser or inkjet. The fact that these came 4.25 x 11" was a bit surprising since there was no prior reference to it being other than standard. But we make our living solving problems others can't or don't want to. The problem with this product was that they appear to have been split away from the "other side" of their obvious perf'd mates. And they were not only broken from their other halves, but it looked like it had been done with a butter knife (very poorly, in other words.) As well, the perforations from sheet to sheet did not line up across bundles. This horrible alignment was off by almost 3/16". If you don't like rulers, that's a lot. This product is an embarrassment to paper producers, and retailers alike. I only needed 150 good tags, and bought 200, but even with a 33% surplus I'll be lucky if I can salvage the job. They're due tomorrow, so now I don't know what alternative I have. Sparco should be ashamed of selling this utterly useless product.

I had searched all over for some reasonable badges but all were expensive. I went to Amazon and found what I needed for way below half the price. This was so awesome to me. If, I ever need anything else, I will shop Amazon.

We needed something to identify Volunteers at a recent fundraiser.

The ideas that I heard were less than stellar, so I came to Amazon

to see how they could help. I always come to Amazon when I need something

good and they don't ever let me down. I found these at a great price, Prime

brought them to me in two days time, and they worked perfectly! lightweight

enough not to be annoying, well made enough to last the night, and be re-used.

RECOMMENDED

This was really a speedy delivery! Thanks! I want to make special name badges for a family reunion, and did my research on Amazon, after seeing the price of the kits in an office supply store. This set had some good and some poor reviews, but the price was right. The kit contains pre-perforated card stock for inserts, in strips of three 3 x 4" badges; elastic cords with metal tips on both ends; and the clear plastic holders. Most of the holders are sort of warped, but usable. So I am happy enough with my purchase. This kit is fine for one time use, but for name badges to be reused over a period of time, I recommend a sturdier holder..'

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Although this book provided an acceptably organized compilation of movie classics, I was bugged by the fact that reviews/thoughts included spoilers, or revelations of the movies' endings.



I purchased this book in order to discover movies I knew not of previously or had heard of and was interested in seeing. The occasional spoilers are given without warning and made me read with caution to those movies that I did not yet know the outcome of, which was quite tedious.



Overall, the reviews were convincing and thoughtful when not completely blatant, but do proceed with caution. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die could be a great film guide. It is loaded with both well-known and obscure films, many of which I have sought out and enjoyed after reading about them in the book. I've really started to enjoy noir films because of this book's recommendations.



The fatal flaw in 1001 Movies is that they frequently give away the endings! For example, they often tell you when an important character dies at the end of the movie -- what is the point of that? Look for a different guide that doesn't spoil the endings.

As soon as I saw this book on the shelf I knew it was for my ever-expanding collection of cinema sources & the selection contained herein did not disappoint. Except maybe for the alarming number of errors I found. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN did not win best picture in 1976; as the next page testifies, ROCKY did. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW was not narrated by Dr. Everett Scott; it was narrated by The Narrator(Charles Gray). DANGEROUS LIAISONS did not win Best Picture in 1988; a few pages later it states,correctly,that RAINMAN did. In the piece on Charles Chaplin's brilliant MONSIEUR VERDOUX, the end result of his work & the sentiments expressed in his film made him the target of the political right which led to his permanent departure from the United States in 1952. He returned in 1971 & was presented with a lifetime achievement award at The Academy Awards.

The issue with this book isn't that there are factual errors or that its list of movies isn't what you would pick. The big problem with this book is that the writers frequently spoil the movie for the reader. The most blatant example I've found is the review of "Don't Look Now", where the third paragraph recounts what is probably the entire last five minutes of the film. The writer then has the audacity to add, "It is no exaggeration to say that few scenes in the history of cinema have proven as effective at sending chills up the spines of viewers as this one." Also, I recently watched "Oldboy" and followed it up by reading the review in this book. The second sentence of the first paragraph, if fresh in a person's mind, would definitely have given away an important plot development. I'm glad I didn't read it before watching the movie.



Please, do yourself a favor and don't buy this book. Or if you feel you still want to, watch the movie before reading the review.

With the amount of junk that Hollywood feeds us these days, you need a source to help you find the good stuff. This book helps in the search for quality. It simply and briefly lets you know why these films are worth seeing. I have found many films from years past that I would've never seen if I hadn't read about them here first. Just about every great film from the silent era to the present is in here. Hopefully, more people will start paying attention to the good films of the past. Once you start watching these films you'll notice just how bad most of the the current blockbuster studio releases are. If we keep paying to see bad movies, the studios will keep making them.

For the casual film fan this book provides an excellent overview of the cinema for the past century. In order to fit in the large number of mini reviews and commentaries for the selected entries the editors had to omit a good number of films that many would have deemed worthy of inclusion. The most egregious omissions were of silent films, of which only a relatively small number were included from the many years before the beginning of sound films. Film buffs may argue with some of the selections, but the inclusion of "small" and cult films alongside the well-known Academy Award winners is to be applauded. The editors, though, were often sloppy with the sidebar award section, giving a film credit for an Oscar win when only a nomination was received. There are several instances when at least two films from the same year were cited as winning the same Oscar. For those like myself who can recite year-by-year the Oscar award winners and nominees, the sidebar errors detracted from the scholarship of the work.

I think this is a great book and I really enjoy reading through it's pages, but that is not the main point of my review. I want to clear up what I see as a misconception of the book that I see in a lot of reviews. This is not the "1001 Greatest Movies Ever Made" or "1001 Most Important Movies Ever Made"; it's 1001 movies you should (must) see to get a very well rounded sense of movies and their history. Some movies in the book are included just because they are great, others because of their historical niche in movie makeing, some because they illustrate a certain style, and some for pure entertainment they give. Movies with different types of animation are included and well as a broad spectrum of foreign movies. Think of this book as a watch list for a very in depth cinema appreciation class. Some of these films may not be great, some may not even be entertaining, but all are important, or illustrate an important part of cinema history.

I've had this book for about a year now, and it has truly become my own personal bible. As other reviewers have pointed out, the book spans the past century's film history and includes movies from well-known Oscar-winners to more obscure, independent gems. One thing I love about this book is that it does a fine job at keeping the list neutral -- there aren't more American-made films than foreign ones; there aren't more recent films than older ones or vice versa; there aren't more popular films than relatively unknown ones; there aren't more comedies than horror films, dramas than sci-fis, etc.



The included short essays/reviews on each film are concise and informative for the most part, though I must say it bugs me that some of them give the ending or crucial plot details away. The photos are all gorgeous and make this book a nice one to keep on display on your coffee table.



At the beginning, the book states that one of its goals is to make passionate film lovers out of casual filmgoers, and for me, it accomplished that goal with flying colors. Over the past year, I have become an ardent movie buff and lover mostly from watching at least seventy-five of the excellent films included in the book -- I've yet to encounter one I haven't at least liked. As I said, this book has become my bible and it's never far from my reach -- practically every weekend I find a new movie to rent/buy and immensely enjoy. It'll definitely make a believer out of ya!



The editor also notes that although 1001 movies might seem like an exhaustive list, it quickly becomes apparent that it's really not big enough. There are so many great movies out there (way more than 1001, trust me), but this book serves as an excellent introduction (and then some) to the world of film. Highly recommended to those interested in seeing great movies. - Ebook - Kindle Devices - E-reader - Art'

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Like everyone else interested in making the big screen purchase, I spent hours every night reading reviews, shopping around, comparing specs and prices, and trying to decide whether I should go lcd or plasma. Ultimately, I ended up just going to the local BB and seeing which one looked and felt right to me. I purchased this beautiful 55in plasma and I couldn't be happier about it. I've had it for over two weeks now and I don't have a single complaint. The picture is great and the sound is just fine for my living space(apartment). The 2D-3D conversion is alright but you should not expect much from any television's conversion. The 3D Blu-Ray is a different story - The Ultimate Wave Tahiti is AMAZING (I had to watch it twice because I didn't follow a word because I was so blown away by the picture) and Resident Evil Afterlife was fun to watch (the 3D at least).

I realized that all the hours I spent reading super detailed reviews was somewhat a waste of time because when it comes down to it, I don't really care about or even notice the subtle differences that so many people compare. I just wanted a solid tv with great picture at an affordable price and this was it.

The setup was beyond easy. The remote and on-screen menus are very user-friendly.

The widgets all work just fine. Watching youtube videos on a 55in can be entertaining.

My roommate and I are traveling surfers and licensed skydivers so we have plenty of GoPro HD videos that we watch on this tv using the SD card slot(we also watch them through the youtube widget)and they look phenomenal.



BOTTOM LINE: If you want a solid big screen with great picture at the right price then this is it. Highly recommend. If you have any questions then just leave a comment. Panasonic VIERA TC-P55ST30 55-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV

Let me start off by saying I am a pretty critical viewer. In the last month I have demoed, previewed and tested the following models almost to the point where my wife was thinking I was a little crazy.



1. pn50c7000 - Black levels were not anywhere close to what I would expect for a current Plasma but very clean image with accurate colors. This TV buzzed quite a bit as well



2. p50gt25 - This TV buzzed, had great black levels which apparently rise over the life of the panel. Good colors but had a ton of noise in any HD format that was compressed such as cable or satellite. The noise filter on this set to me, appeared to be inferior to the Samsung.



I had ordered the pn51d7000 (2011 model) thinking it would have great black levels and the clear picture only to find that it's black levels are being measured higher than last years pn50c7000.



So, needless to say, I was getting very frustrated. I could not find a set that met my needs. I recently acquired the p55st30 and the minute I turned it on I was amazed. The image noise was completely gone, the black levels were deep and revealing, it did not buzz and had great color saturation and had the POP you would normally associate with an HD signal.



My wife who is just a normal TV watcher commented about the clarity of this panel. "It is almost like looking through a window," "It is like the actor is here in the room with us"



I also game a lot and I have not noticed ANY image retention whatsoever, smooth motion, 0 lag. The other two models I tested above had obvious bouts with image retention which is to be expected on a new plasma. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the st30 handled that.



The internet features work great (not something I would be using a lot) So far I have not found one thing to not like about this TV. The image quality is vastly superior to the other two TVs I returned. I don't see how anyone could go wrong with the st30. I am extremely picky about image quality and this TV has surpassed my expectations. GO GET THIS TV. The fact I have taken the time to write this review goes a long way to show how impressed I am with the st30.



I also wanted to thank Amazon for being so understanding though my ordering and return process. They are THE BEST ONLINE retailer I have ever worked with. After selling and ordering thousands of dollars of items via Amazon, and not having a single complaint, it goes without saying how great Amazon is a a company.

As with most guys buying a new expensive electronic toy I did weeks worth of research on TV's. My previous TV was a 2007 Samsung plasma (720p) and I really loved it for the time that I had it but I was intrigued by the new LED line of TV's. Before doing research I thought that this was the future and that plasmas were going to be phased out but I soon found out this is not the case. In fact LED TV's are no more than LCD TV's with LED backlighting while true LED's (OLED) being thousands of dollars for 42" models and scarce availability.



Regardless I went out and bought what I felt was a bargain, a 60" Sharp Aquos Quattron 60LE832U from BJ's for $1,799. It was thin, had wireless connectivity built in, 60", and cheap for what you got. The picture was good but I soon noticed a lot of artifacts in the picture. The color from the factory was overly bright and oversaturated. I am usually one who likes a slightly less realistic picture in favor of slightly more saturated and vivid images too but this was over the top. No matter what I could not get the picture quality right and there were definitely motion issues even with the claimed 240Hz aquamotion. Turns out it isn't truly 240Hz and it suffers from the same motion issues that all LCD's are plagued with. Frustrated I looked over to the plasma side but was apprehensive because in the store plasmas always look horrible. Their pictures are dull and over-brightened to where the blacks look gray and they are always next to shiny LED/LCD's that look so good. I had enough in my account to grab a second TV thankfully to see what it looked like next to the Sharp and figured I would take back the one that looked worse. In this case I was losing 5" in picture and was worried that the ambient light in my living room would drown out the plasma picture because this had always been a problem with plasma.



The second I hooked up this TV I was blown away! The color even out of the box was breathtaking and the blacks were spot on. There was a golf tournament on and I felt like I was there looking through a window. The Sharp had good resolution but it felt fake since the picture was so bright (even when turned down) and the motion unrealistic. I immediately packed up the Sharp and took it back. I am telling you if you are thinking of LED/LCD don't do it, plasma is where it's at and you cannot beat the picture on this TV for the price, it is unbelievable!!! LED/LCD just hasn't been perfected enough which is why there are so many different types such as edge-lit, full array, etc.



I do want to mention for those of you looking to get this TV that I highly recommend you break the TV in for the first 100 hours by not displaying any static images such as logos or game HUD's. I also recommend running the slides that can be found here:[...] for the first 100 hours of the TV to age the phosphors in the TV evenly. The best way to do this is to put these slides on an SD card and run them through media player making sure to run the slideshow on loop mode and continuously. This allows each pixel to age at the exact same rate so that after the 100 hours each pixel has the same color saturation. Early on phosphors are soft and get hotter than normal, making them more susceptible to burn in and image retention but as they age they harden and their colors become more normalized. After this time burn in is less of an issue and your TV will calibrate much better as each pixel has a normalized color to the one next to it. The best settings for the TV can be found here: [...]Issues-Thread but must not be used until AFTER the 100 hour break in time! Remember not to use vivid mode for the first 100 hours either as this can increase chance of image retention although on newer TV's it isn't as much of an issue anymore.



Now on to the actual review:



Pros:

1) Picture quality - Absolutely stunning, the picture is as realistic as it comes with good saturation and the brightness is perfect. I have put this TV next to everything out there include the GT30 and VT30 and there is absolutely no different from what my eyes can see. All you get is THX mode and 1 HDMI and USB port on the other models and anyone who tells you the PQ is better on those is just being overly critical and properly a complete calibration nut because I just can't see it nor can most people.



2) Black levels - Any deeper of a black and it would look fake, even when the brightness is turned up they stay completely black, it isn't not a stupid balancing act like it is with LED/LCD where you have to tradeoff black levels for other things like brightness.



3) Internet apps/connectivity/networking - Comes with a wireless dongle to allow connection to your network and it is much more useful than I thought. DLNA works 1000x better than the Sharp which was clunky, slow, and didn't play all media types. The ST30 even previews your video files on your network as you are scrolling through them, it is a very cool feature and is very responsive. The apps are great too with pretty much everything you would be looking for such as Pandora and Youtube.



4) Price - As I mentioned before you cannot beat this PQ for the price. $1499 at most places and it can even be found a tad cheaper. The Vizio 4SV 55" model is almost $2000 and is large, ugly, and has a myriad of problems such as randomly turning off. This is a documented problem that you can search for and Vizio is apprehensive to fix it for anyone.



5) 3D - I'll admit I wasn't really big on this and the Sharp I bought didn't even have it because I could care less about it but this one did (and was cheaper, go figure). I am really glad now that it does have it as the 3D is simply breathtaking and there is little to no crosstalk at all! All the other makers (except maybe Sony) had a lot of crosstalk, especially Samsung. The Sony I viewed had great 3D but it was also running on a demo in the store hooked to a bluray which is a bit deceiving compared to watching it on DirecTV or something. Also be aware that Vizio TV's are not listed (right now) as a supported 3DTV with DirecTV!





Cons:

1) Only con I can think of is that the 60" model is almost $600 more, which is a bit ridiculous. I was hoping it was more like $300 more as I probably would have jumped on it if so.



2) Nothing else, this TV absolutely rocks!





Bottom line:

If you are on the fence with which TV to get or you are debating plasma vs. LED/LCD please take this review seriously and try the plasma, I am almost going to guarantee that for this price that you are going to like it more. The new Samsung 55" LED/LCD is $2650, while this amazing 2011 plasma is $1499, no need to spend $1200 more! - 240hz - High Definition - 3d - Deal'

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With the ability to play mp3-cd, usb flash drives, and SD cards, you can't expect to pay any less for this unit being at only about $40. Anything cheaper and your looking at tiny radios that can't put out any volume and have very limited features.



Pros:

-several inputs provide plenty of options

-radio reception is phenomenal, tons of stations and alot of them come in crystal clear

-button layout is simple and easy to use

-very portable, only about 14" long x 6" high x 8" deep and maybe 4-5 lbs without batteries

-lcd screen lights up with a nice blue display

-has an AUX-in for whatever that can be used for



Cons:

-battery compartment is a bit tight so its a bit of a pain in the butt getting batteries in and out if you do this frequently

-metal screen that covers speakers sticks out a bit to much and makes it too easy to dent the screen if the unit is hit

-the 2 slider buttons that switch the unit between cd/radio/usb etc and Am/FM/stereo are kinda cheap and its best to try and minimize the number of times you handle these buttons. The buttons work ok but they definately have a cheap feel to them.

-bass is a joke

-only moderately loud and only the "jazz" and maybe the "normal" presets provide decent sound and minimal distortion on maximum volume

-radio tuning is analog (which many people prefer digital)

-the +10



I wrote more more cons then pros but I think alot of the cons are just being picky and also alot of them are easy to live with. If less then maybe $60 and considering the features it has I would probably purchase this unit again. NAXA NX-250 Portable AM FM Radio USB Port MP3 CD Player Boombox Stereo

I was looking for a radio/cd player with a USB port for use in an office setting. I originally purchased a COBY MP-CD471, but had to return the unit due to a loud humming noise the unit makes when earphones are used. The NAXA unit was my second choice, and I really wish I had purchased it before the COBY item. Thus far, it has met my expectations in every way. It has USB capabilities, the radio unit works even in an office building where reception is normally poor, and the CD unit is adequate. The speakers are average, but for my purposes, they are acceptable as I am typically using earphones. If there were one improvement I would make, it would be a digital tuner for the radio rather than the old-fashioned `wheel.' Other than that, I am generally happy with the NAXA unit (for my limited purposes).

First Impressions:



What I like:

* Solid Feel

* Lots of features - Aux in, USB Memory Key/SD/MMC slots, CD - MP3 player, Headphone out Jack, can use battery power.



What I wish it had, could have etc:

* More than a 90 day warranty

* A remote would be super (but, let's be reasonable, it's a low cost box)

* Better controls to allow a bit more bass, the EQ doesn't really allow much of a change in sound.

* A better Manual (With descriptions on how it sorts/prioritizes MP3 Playlist).

* More power (they seem to have trimmed the Volume a bit, probably a good idea in order to not blow out the speakers)



What I don't like:

* Not enough BASS

* The $15+ shipping charge



I originally bought a low end Sony (CFD-S01CD), while it did have the cassette player and had better sound, it didn't have near the capabilities of the NAXA NX-250. Of course, the NAXA is a new name and therefore its quality (to me) is unknown as I have no personal experience with the brand. If it lasts and can hold up under the rigors of camping and light use at home, I'll be satisfied.

I compared this with 2 other boomboxes in my store. All are near the $50 (w/shipping) price range. Out of the Sony ZSE5 series (the white and colored boomboxes) The NAXA NX-250 (used to cost forty sixdollars after shipping) and the Cornet BH-426 I found the following.



The NAXA NX-250 sounds the best, somewhat decent bass, though don't expect great bass for less than a hundred bucks

Second in order of performance was the Cornet, with a tinnier sound and less bass than the NAXA. It does look the nicest by far out of the three.

The Sony had by FAR the worst sound. Way worse than the Cornet. No bass, just totally flat mid range.

The radio was hardest to pick up FM on the sony as well. If you can afford it, and Amazon drops the price back to ninety two dollars, the sony CFDG505 CFDG505BLACK DOES sound about 10 times better than even the NAXA NX-250, proving that if sony's low end boombox is j-u-n-k at lest their mid range box is spectacular.





addendum: this from an email I received from NAXA "...the NX-250 and the NPB-250 are the same unit. The NPB-250 is this year's model and the NX-250 is the facsimile predecessor."

I was doing an extensive search to find a resonably priced CD/MP3 player with a USB port and most importantly headphones. This one has them all, plus radio and memory card slot. I'm extremely happy with the purchase--it is very easy for my kids to handle the unit without any help. The unit offers enough volume to listen to book on CDs and decent effect for music(do not expect the effects of high-end boom box player). NAXA NX-250 packs more than enough goodies at this price-point for my purposes. Highly recommended.



Like other reviewers--I don't like the steep shipping and handling cost.

I bought this about a year and a half ago after almost 8hr daily use at work and it is still going strong. Works with 8GB USB flash drives and regular SD cards. I record my favorite radio shows at home using streamripper and play them back at work using the USB drive.

I bought it to listen to recorded books as mp3 files on a CD. Many books have 200 or more tracks/files. I learned that every power-off situation requires restart at the beginning, and that hold/pause is unusable for this purpose because (1) it often fails and does power-off, and if not (2) it rapidly depletes the batteries. There just is no track memory and reposition. I would select a track number to start at, but there's no such feature. The "skip 10" works but is clumsy for this. Maybe I should have anticipated this, but little technical info was provided before purchase, and my planned use is probably not common.



The extra high price of shipping and handling deters any return.



I've not used the radio feature. - Portable - Mp3 - Cd - Cd Player'

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Panasonic 50 Inch Plasma - panasonic 50 inch plasma

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With SONY and JVC no longer manufacturing their phenomenal high-end CRT HDTVs, and Pioneer out of the Plasma business, the pursuit of picture quality is not as simple as it once was. Rest assured, however, that there are still a handful of manufacturers (i.e. Panasonic, Samsung, LG, ...) still investing in Plasma technology, because LCD is a giant leap backwards in terms of picture quality. When Pioneer - the previous undisputed leader in picture quality - left the industry, they sold their Plasma technology to Panasonic. While the amount of Pioneer technology (if any) present in Panasonic's current line-up is a matter of debate, most critics will agree that Panasonic currently holds the crown for picture quality.





Viera Size Segmentation (VT30 vs. GT30 vs. ST30)

------------------------------------------------



I was in the market for a VT30 this year... however, in the United States, Panasonic's size options are quite restrictive. In Europe, all lines of plasma from the X up to VT are available in 42", which is the perfect size for me.



In the United States, each of the 3D model lines has a different starting size:



VT30: 55" - 65" (Industry leading black level, less buzzing, better speakers, 96 Hz mode for 24p, ISF calibration, ...)

GT30: 50" - 65" (Better black level, +1 HDMI port and VGA input, THX certified)

ST30: 42" - 65" (Entry-level 3D TV)



S30: 42" - 60" (1080p 2D plasma, worse motion clarity than ST30 and no 3D support)

X3: 42" - 50" (720p 2D plasma)



Unfortunately, I can barely fit a 50" TV where I have my GT30. I made the conscious choice of buying a TV slightly larger than I would have liked, because the GT30 buys you THX mode (which does a _really_ good job with skintones), an extra HDMI port, and a slightly lower black level than the ST30.





Picture Quality

---------------



Getting back to picture quality, I have a SONY Super Fine Pitch FD Trinitron (CRT) set in my bedroom that I use as a benchmark for image quality.



The GT30 does not have the pure black level or white performance of the CRT (or even many local dimming LCDs). However, color accuracy and black gradiation (i.e. being able to see fine details in shadowed scenes) are actually better than my calibrated CRT.



Unenhanced motion clarity is indistinguishable between the two sets, and the GT30 earns a lot in this respect when it comes to displaying 24 fps material (48 Hz mode causes flickering, but even with simple 3:2 pull-down, the TV displays 24p video well).



Panasonic has added a more advanced Motion Smoother this year, with two levels - it creates artificial motion enhancement similar to LCD 120/240 Hz, and therefore has limited appeal.





Physical Appearance

-------------------



Typically I do not care about the physical appearance of a television (which is why I still prefer high-end CRTs to flat panels), but the design of this TV is definitely worth mentioning... compared to last year's GT25 model, this TV is lightyears ahead.



The bezel has been shrunken on all sides of the panel, and the depth is equally impressive. Were it not for the speakers, and clunky stand, this TV would be about an inch deep. As a result, the television requires "break out" cables to attach analog audio/video devices, and the total number of analog inputs has been reduced to 3 (Component, Composite and VGA D-Sub). This does not bother me at all, since the only analog device I have connected to any of my TVs is a Nintendo Wii. The extra HDMI port more than makes up for it.



I would also like to give kudos to Panasonic for putting the power button on the FRONT of the TV this year (it was on the side last year).





Long-term Value (Viera Connect)

-------------------------------



Viera Connect is a promising new feature for 2011, that is essentially an evolution of Viera Cast.



Consumers can look forward to a growing software base in the future (as Software Engineers like myself develop software for the new open platform). The beauty of this new platform is that it operates independantly of official firmware release schedules. This is important, because firmware updates for aging products are few and far between - 2010 and older Viera models will likely NEVER receive support for Hulu, etc...



With this TV, two or three years from now, consumers can still download new or updated Viera Connect applications from the Viera Connect marketplace. Another thing I found nice about Viera Connect's marketplace, is that you can buy TV accessories (such as 3D glasses, SD cards, etc...) directly from software built-in to the TV, and rest assured that the product is compatible with your particular model.





Sound

-----



Sound quality leaves room for improvement. This being the second-to-highest model from Panasonic, lacks the sub-woofer and higher quality speakers found on the VT line.



Adding insult to injury, US Viera televisions do not have analog audio out, so to improve the audio quality you must connect them to an A/V receiver (which also draws a lot of power) that supports optical S/PDIF.



In future years, I hope that Panasonic will consider improving the sound quality on the GT line.





Power Consumption

-----------------



Power consumption is good, but definitely not great. This is the only performance measurement that local dimming LED backlight LCDs come out on top in. That said, Panasonic has redesigned the construction of their panels this year, to improve phosphor response time (reduces 3D cross-talk), and improve luminous efficiency. Remember that this TV uses tinted 3D glasses, which darkens the picture... so brightness is important in 3D.



As a result, brightness is up, and power consumption is down vs. last year's model. Unfortunately, one consequence of the new design is "fluctuating brightness," which occurs when the TV transitions from a bright scene to a dark scene - in extreme cases, it can take the TV multiple frames to recognize the change in brightness and adjust its image processing. This was irritating at first, but I hardly notice it anymore.





Plasma Buzz

-----------



On a final note, I have noticed a lot of people complaining about plasma buzz. I feel obligated to point out that the buzz is especially bad within the first 100-200 hours of operation, and decreases somewhat over time.



There are a number of factors that play into the buzzing, including altitude, viewing distance and picture settings. Granted operating altitude is not easy to change, but the buzzing can be reduced by sitting farther from the TV set, and dialing down the contrast setting (buzzing is directly related to how bright an image is).



A lot of people have TVs too large for their viewing distance and have contrast set way too high, and only ever realize it when plasma buzzing or dithering becomes a nusiance.







Pros and Cons

-------------



-----

Pros:

-----



Plasma image quality



* Pure black level is not as good as CRT or local dimming LCD, but...

images with light and dark areas really shine



--> No blooming between nearby light and dark areas (LCD)

--> No image geometry warping related to brightness (CRT)



* Excellent motion clarity without artificial techniques like 120/240 Hz



THX mode



* Accurate skintones

* Almost no picture setting tweaks required to get exceptionally good image quality



Consistent black level



* Panasonic claims that the black level will not rise after 1000+ hours of operation with 2011 models, due to manufacturing changes.



Power consumption vs. Screen brightness SIGNIFICANTLY improved over 2010 models



* In fact, it is so good that the 50" GT30 actually qualifies for Energy Star 4.0



Viera Connect



* New in 2011, free/paid applications can be downloaded through the TV and the selection of applications will grow over time.





-----

Cons:

-----



Viera model lines segmented by size in the US



* Could mean buying a TV that is too large



Average speaker quality on ST30/GT30



* US Viera models do not have analog audio out



--> Requires a dedicated power-hungry A/V receiver to improve on TV's speakers...



Power consumption



* Improved in 2011, but still nowhere near local dimming LCD performance



Fluctuating brightness



* Movie enthusiasts may find the delay in bright image processing frustrating...



--> I have found the issue has almost no negative impact on gaming performance, or general TV viewing.



Netflix Performance



* Given the state of the Netflix app on Viera Connect as of June 2011, audio noticably stutters...



--> Mitigated by the fact that Viera Connect will allow users to download an updated version of the

Netflix app whenever the bug is fixed.







Calibration

-----------



For those who are interested, I have had my GT30 professionally calibrated in THX mode.



If you do not want to shell out $300+ to schedule a calibration on your set, but still want the best picture quality possible, the most important thing you can do is dial the color setting down to around 45. The default THX settings over saturate colors, and if you become used to the over saturated colors, you will never appreciate the advantages of a properly calibrated THX mode. Also, do not use C.A.T.S.! If you have a viewing environment that has varying levels of external light, you would be much better off maintaining two sets of picture settings. In my case, between night and day, all I need to do is adjust my contrast from 60 to 45. C.A.T.S. can detect differences in brightness, but it messes with more than just the white level.



You may be tempted to set the Black Level setting in "Advanced picture" properties to dark because it looks more natural, but this causes black crushing (loss of detail in dark video). Try to learn to live with lighter blacks (this can be especially difficult if you are used to high-end CRTs) and you will begin to appreciate the amazing black performance of Plasma technology. Panasonic VIERA TC-P50GT30 50-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV - Panasonic 50 Inch Plasma'

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Childrens Costumes - astronaut, space toy

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Although these gloves look cool they are way too big for my 4 year old. These are adult sized & not very functional fir a child. Of course my kid still wears them, but his hands can't function while wearing. If I had known how big they were we wouldn't have purchased. Aeromax Astronaut Gloves-size Medium

My almost 4-year-old loves not only the astronaut gloves, but the whole get-up. He even took them for show and share at his Montessori school. He has declared his future carreer path of "astronaut-doctor," so we are just promoting the dream. Reaching for the stars! - Astronaut - Astronaut Helmet - Halloween Costumes - Space Toy'

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