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You are here: Home / Archives for Web and Technology / Cool stuff

Camping? Keep your batteries charged with Brunton’s Solarroll

September 13, 2007 by Tricia

I’m sure you realize by now that I love the great outdoors. I certainly talk about gardening, my love of canoeing and the various road trips that we go on often enough. I don’t however talk much about camping.

This is mainly because I haven’t actually been camping for a number of years. My husband is not really the camping type. He wouldn’t mind roughing it in a tent or trailer on the outside of town, but the idea of a trip deep into the woods isn’t his thing. I’ll get him camping at some point though or I’ll go with some friends as I miss the experience a great deal.

I do know that some of you that read this blog are avid outdoors men and women. Camping, hiking and so on, on your vacations and during the weekends.

Whether you are an adventurer who enjoys camping in the wilderness for two to four weeks at a time like our friend who goes to Labrador every year, or a weekend camper, I’ll bet that you find it hard to give up all of life’s modern conveniences while in the wilderness.

When you go camping or hiking do you bring a camera, video camera, radio, ipod or another type of multimedia player along with you? I actually know of one camper who brings a small television with her when she goes off on a trip with her luxury trailer! Perhaps you carry your cellphone or a satellite phone when you go camping just in case something happens?

Have the batteries ever run dry on any of these items when you’ve been camping? Perhaps leaving you in a dangerous position due to your sudden lack of ability to contact others? Maybe the vehicle you drove to your camping site battery died leaving you unable to start your car or truck?

If any of these things have happened to you in the past, or you don’t like the idea of them happening on future camping excursions, you should consider purchasing the Brunton Solarroll 9. It’s a flexible solar module that will allow you to run or keep the batteries charged for many of the items that I’ve mentioned above.

bruntonsolarroll.gif The Brunton Solarroll 9 is a 9 watt solar module that only weighs 10.6 ounces. When you consider how heavy batteries are, especially if you would need to bring several with you to keep various electrical items running, 10.6 ounces sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Especially if you’re backpacking! The 12″ by 40″ module rolls up and can easily be stored with your camping equipment in it’s convenient storage tube.

The solar module is waterproof, UV transparent and is extremely durable as it’s made with Tefzel Fluoropolymer. Not only has the Brunton Solarroll been made to withstand harsh conditions, but it’s composed of amorphous solar cells which are effective in low light conditions. Perfect if it ends up raining or if it’s very cloudy during your camping trip.

The solarroll includes a vehicle outlet cable and a multi-linking cable which can be used to link multiple units together for even greater output. It even has reverse flow protection.

The max output for a single unit is 9 watts (15.4 volts) making it ideal for either charging digital and video cameras or cell phone batteries or running them directly via the solar module.

This is actually Brunton’s most popular product, and as a result of it’s popularity and remarkable performance Brunton will be expanding their line of flexible solar modules this year to include alternative sizes and outputs.

Did you know that Ed Viesturs will be using the Brunton Solarroll 9 when he attempts to complete his Endeavor 8000 on his final summit, Annapurna next Spring? You certainly can’t get a better endorsement of a product than that! If this experienced mountaineer is assured of the Solarroll’s reliability then it must be a good product.

I know that the next time I’m going camping I’ll most likely have one or two of my digital cameras with me, our HD video camera, a cell phone, flashlights and some form of multimedia player. It would certainly be handy to have a solar charger with me. Heck, if I had a Brunton Solarroll I’d even take it out with me whenever I went on my photo expeditions and on road trips.

If you want to learn more about Bruntons Solarroll 9 or shop for great deals on Camping Equipment visit the FunDeals4U.com website. They have a great selection of tools, boating, electronics and outdoor products to chose from and they are all well priced.





Filed Under: Cool stuff, Recreation, Shopping, Supplies, Vacation and Travel, Wildlife and Nature Tagged With: 10 oz, 9 watt, amorphous solar cells, backpacking, batteries, battery, boating, Brunton Solarroll 9, camera, camping, camping equiptment, canoing, car battery, cell phone, cellphone, charge, deals, Digital, digital camera, durable, electronics, flexible solar module, friends, fundeals4u.com, greater output, harsh conditions, hiking, husband, ipod, kayaking, life, link multiple units, low light, mountaineer, multi linking cable, multimedia player, outdoor adventure, outdoors, performance, photo, Products, recharge, reliable, reverse flow protection, rock climbing, rolls up, satellite phone, solar charger, solar module, solar panel, tent, tools, trailer, tube storage, uv transparent, vacation, vehicle outlet cable, Video, waterproof, weekend, weekend camping

Handy site lists 101 different tools to convert video, audio and more

September 12, 2007 by Tricia

Earlier today as I was surfing the net I came across a site called Conversion Central. It lists 101 tools to convert video, audio, music, image, PDFs and more. I’ve already bookmarked the site because I’m certain it will come in handy when I’m trying to find something to convert some type of file into another in the future.

I wanted to tell you about the site, because I’m sure you’ll find it handy too.

I mean, there’s been times in the past when I’ve tried to find software that would convert video from my cell phone to the more common AVI format. It was a frustrating search that took hours, but I finally did find something that would convert the files for me. Now of course I’m sure the software that I downloaded has expired or is outdated so it’s nice to have found this site that lists just about every kind of conversion tool that you can imagine.

Not only will you find a multitude of tools that will help you with converting video, converting music or converting images into different formats, but you’ll also find software and tools that will convert PDF files to Word documents and other formats, or convert text and rss and other text formats to PDF.

Scrolling down the page I also found tools for converting Power Point, Excel, drafting documents to new formats and tools to convert measurements, temperatures, currency, and even clothing sizes!

You have to check this site out. I’d be surprised if you didn’t at least bookmark or favorite it, like I did, once you visit.

Filed Under: Cool stuff, Movies, Music, Software, Video, Web and Technology Tagged With: cell phone, clothing, conversion, convert, convert clothing sizes, convert currency, convert drafting, convert excel, convert measurements, convert power point, convert temperature, converting, converting images, converting music, converting PDF, converting video, documents, download, format, formats, image, images, movie, Music, new formats, PDF, program, RSS, Software, Video

Enter the Cart Me Away contest to win a 5000 shopping spree

September 5, 2007 by Tricia

Who’s interested in entering a contest where you could win a $5000 shopping spree? I know I am!

Shop.com has a new version of their Cart Me Away contest. There’s even more luxurious prizes now than ever before.

If you enjoy shopping you’ll love this new contest which is said to be a fusion of Sex in the City and The Price is Right. Each week those who’ve registered for the contest will get to participate in a fantasy shopping experience.

There’ll be four different fantasy shopping story-lines, one for each week of the contest which began on September 2nd and ends on September 29th. Pick the right combination of products to match the fantasy shopping scenario and you’ll qualify to win the weekly $1000 prize and gain an entry for the $5,000 shopping spree grand prize.

You’ll get three chances daily to pick the perfect match of products to fit the shopping fantasy. New challenges are presented each day.

Along with the chance to win the $1000 weekly prize and or the $5000 grand prize, instant shop.com cash back offers will be given away each day.

Doesn’t this sound like a fun contest? There’s certainly a lot of chances to qualify for the great prizes too. What are you waiting for? Go enter the contest!

Filed Under: Contest, Cool stuff, Internet, Shopping, Web and Technology Tagged With: cash back, Contest, daily cash back offers, fun, grand prize, interesting, match, offer, price, Products, Sex in the City, Shopping, shopping fantasy, shopping spree, the price is right, weekly prizes, win, win 1000 dollars, win 5000 dollar shopping spree

Best Buys – product and service shopping comparisons and reviews

September 5, 2007 by Tricia

When you are thinking of purchasing an item do you try to do a little research before you decide which brand or model you’ll buy? What about when you are about to sign a contract for a service such as one for a mobile phone, credit card or even something like an online dating service?

I certainly try to take the time to read a few reviews and or compare products when I’m thinking of paying a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for something. I want the best product or best service that my money can buy. I’m sure you do too.

That’s why I like the Best Buys website. You can read reviews and compare prices for a variety of products ranging from appliances, audio, cameras, computers, electronics, games, gifts, movies, music, office products, software, telephones, televisions and several other items.

One thing that I found kind of interesting about the site was that when I decided to search for a specific item the search box listed matching or similar search terms as I typed. I didn’t even have to type out the full product name as it guessed almost immediately what I was about to search for – now that was cool.

I had actually gone there to do belated research on the Canon EOS 30D digital camera. As you know I already purchased my new digital SLR camera about a month and a half ago and on this rare occasion I didn’t do much research before hand. However, every time I go looking for product comparisons and reviews for the camera that I purchased I always discover good reviews. Best Buys has 9 reviews for my camera and almost all of them give the camera five out of five stars. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that I purchased a camera that others feel is a good product.

I’ll certainly be going back to doing research before I buy in the future though. I lucked out on my camera, but I’d hate to end up purchasing a lemon just because I didn’t compare a products features, pros,and cons before buying!

If you decide to visit the site you should take a look at Best Buys Comparison Reviews. You can read comparisons on this page of various services. For example it’s said that some of the best and most popular antivirus programs that you can purchase are McaFee and Norton Antivirus. Well at Bestbuys.com you can read a comparison of the two products and find out which product has the best computer security features, best performance and which has the best support as well as finding out which product bestbuys.com thinks is the best buy for your money.

Likewise you can compare services such as Blockbuster versus NetFlix, or if you want to get internet phone service you can compare Vonage with SunRocket and so on. You can compare all kinds of services such music cd clubs, online dating services, satellite TV services, high speed internet services and so on. I’m sure that some of these comparisons will be quick helpful.

Some of the reviews that I’ve just listed above, such as perhaps Blockbuster versus Netflix also has what Bestbuys.com calls “Fine Print Revealed” reviews where you can read information that marketers might not necessarily openly reveal to their clients prior to their signing up for the service. If you want to find out what’s behind the Blockbuster Total Access marketing campaign do visit the service comparison page.

The Fine Print Revealed reviews can sometimes be eye openers and they are worth visiting the site to read if you are interested in comparing particular services before you sign a service contract.

Hopefully bestbuys.com will continue to add more Fine Print Revealed articles to their site. Since I live in Canada a few of their comparison articles aren’t relevant as we don’t necessarily have the same service companies here in Canada as there are in the US. I’m not complaining of course, of the 15 direct comparison articles that I found 11 are services that I might use at some point.

Overall I really like this site and I’ve already bookmarked it. I’m certain I’ll visit Bestbuys.com the next time I’m thinking of making a substantial purchase. The site is very user friendly. You can use the search box at the top of the page to easily find a product or service to read reviews on or to compare features and prices, or you can click on any of the tabs at the top of each page to get to any of the major category sections of the site. Remember there’s over 40 million products and services listed on BestBuys.com!

BestBuys.com also has a weekly newsletter to which you might want to subscribe. The newsletter lists best buys, freebies, and contest information. In fact, speaking of contests, when you refer friends and they subscribe to the newsletter you’ll have a chance to win a monthly prize of $100. I know I’d like a chance to win $100 so if you’d like me to refer you to the newsletter just let me know.

Don’t forget to bookmark BestBuys.com so you can comparison shop before you buy!

Filed Under: Contest, Cool stuff, Gifts, Home and Garden, Home and Lifestyle, Services, Shopping, Web and Technology, Website Promotion Tagged With: 40 million products, antivirus, appliances, articles, audio, best buys, BestBuys.com, Blockbuster versus NetFlix, cameras, Canada, Canon EOS 30D digital camera, compare services, comparison shopping, computer, Computers, cons, Contest, contests, credit cards, Digital, electronics, fine print, Fine print revealed articles, flights, freebies, friend, friends, Games, Gifts, high speed internet, information, interest, Internet, marketers, marketing, Money, Movies, Music, music cd clubs, newsletter, office products, online, online dating services, prices, Product, product search, pros, purchase, ratings, refer to newsletter, satellite Tv, search, service search, Software, telephones, Television, televisions, travel, Vonage and Sunrocket, website, win 100 dollars, wireless service

It’s time to start thinking about Halloween!

August 21, 2007 by Tricia

You may think it’s a little early to start thinking about Halloween, but it’s already the end of August and I know people who start planning what they’ll do next Halloween almost from November 1st.

It’s a big deal.

I mean really. If you celebrate Halloween it’s one of the only times of year when you can truly be someone else. Dress yourself up, even take on a slightly different personality and get out there and have a good time.

In one of my career incarnations I was a makeup artist. I suppose I still am as I have the training behind me. As a result of my skills I was always quite popular come Halloween. Friends and family would come over to have me do their makeup and add some special effects to their costumes.

I guess you can tell that Halloween is still one of my favorite celebrations. I haven’t actually started to plan this years Halloween celebration, but I suppose it’s time to start thinking about it.

zombie.jpg The Costume Cauldron has a huge variety of Halloween costumes and items to decorate your home with, in fact it’s said that they have 14,000 Halloween related items.

They have everything from Sexy Halloween Costumes, to kids costumes, costumes for couples, movie or celebrity related costumes, funny costumes and so on. Just about anything you can think of really. They even have theatrical makeup and accessories to complete your look.

I think the year that I had the most fun helping people with their costumes was the year we all dressed up as the living dead or zombies. I had a lot of fun doing the makeup for that. The Costume Cauldron has a great zombie rot costume that would let anyone look like the living dead!

outhouse.jpgMy sister always had great costume ideas.

One year she had me help her dress up as a tampon. Unfortunately it was supposed to be a used one! Another year she went as a turd. Yes you heard me right.

Now I didn’t search all that hard for one of those types of costumes but I did find an outhouse costume! Isn’t that great?

If you enjoy Halloween as much as I do visit the Costume Cauldron and see if you can find something interesting to wear this year.

I’d love to hear what you might be dressing up as!

Filed Under: Cool stuff, Culture, Entertainment, Fashion, Home and Lifestyle, Recreation, Shopping Tagged With: accessories, adult costumes, career, celebrity, celebrity costumes, couples costumes, creative, decorations, dress up, Family, friend, friends, funny, funny costumes, Halloween, halloween costumes, halloween decorations, help, home, house, idea, kids, kids costumes, kit, living dead, makeup, outhouse costume, planning, pumpkin, pumpkin carving, sexy costumes, sister, style, theatrical make up, zombie

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