Starting today, Amazon has launched a new environmentally-friendly initiative called
Frustration-Free Packaging. What that means is that we can get products in new, easy-to-open packaging that's delivered in a recyclable cardboard box — therefore eliminating the need for extra packaging and annoying plastic cases (that I can hardly open anyway).
Already,
19 products from companies like Microsoft, Transcend, and Fisher-Price are working with Amazon to use less packaging when their products are shipped.
In case you missed it, Oprah announced that
Amazon's Kindle was her new faaaaaavorite gadget on her show on Friday. Now, when Oprah says something is her favorite, people don't just acknowledge it — they respond with consumer glee, often selling out that product (I bitterly recall not being able to get sold-out things like the
Clarisonic or Uggs because of their placement on Oprah's favorite things show).
So I'm really curious to see what Oprah's fans make of her endorsement of the Kindle, whose popularity has been moderate but not mind-blowing; will the exalted O's influence introduce a new audience to the eBook reader?
If our
electoral map were as red as Amazon's
map of our political book-buying habits, things would be looking up for John McCain. Yet while Americans are buying up conservative books, our electoral map is getting bluer and bluer each day.
I initially chalked up this discrepancy to how unscientific Amazon's map is.
In the marathon of this election, we're three weeks from the big day. Those three weeks though, like the end of a big race, might make us all have to dig pretty deep to carry us over the finish line. We're thinking it might be the perfect time to take some of the advice in Liberty's
Election Survival Guide series, pick up some new news sources and reading material — the candidates' books, perhaps?
I know I boasted about being
out of the printer game, freeing up the desk space for more efficient things a few months ago, but it appears I'm back in — my boyfriend and I decided that we really needed a scanner, and Ta-Da! Our scanner came with a printer (bonus: it makes my
Fandango outings a lot easier).
So now it looks like I will be back to shopping for one of the most annoying things to shop for ever: printer ink refills.
I was helping a friend investigate buying a new HDTV as her gadget guru, and we thought we'd found the perfect one: A
40-inch 1080p LCD flat screen by Samsung, which had just gone down in price to about $1,080 — and to sweeten the deal, there was a new $200 rebate (not surprising considering
Samsung is rumored to be slashing prices to clear out old stock), bringing the total down to about $880.
My friend added the TV to her cart, had her credit card ready to go when I said "Wait!" and insisted she figure out what exactly the details of the rebate were, just in case.
The release of highly anticipated video games usually conjures up thoughts of
long lines, depressing sold-out signs on store fronts, and waiting – oh painful waiting – those extra few days for your preorder to arrive while all your pals brag about how they've already made it to the final level. Booo!
Thankfully, Amazon has come to rescue you from your game-day troubles with its
Release-Date Delivery service.
When we're out and about, my boyfriend is always telling me to remind him to add such and such movie to his Netflix queue or remember a product name to look up on Google later. Today I'm sending him a link to this article so I can retire from all my "remember this and that" duties. If you haven't heard of it already,
Kwiry is the ultimate "free" service that will send you text messages of all the things you want to remember.
Best girls' night in ever? Watching TiVo'ed Sex and the City reruns on TBS and . .
