I’m not too sure that the Rolling Razor is that much safer to use: after all, nicks and scratches are common with even the most basic stick styles, and I can only imagine the damage I could inflict with something like this. But according to the Rolling Razor site, using one helps to eliminate irritation, nicks, cuts, razor bumps and burn.

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If you’ve considered ordering your prescription glasses online after reading my article about the experience, then this may be the extra push that you’ve needed to finally try it. EyeBuyDirect, the company I purchased two pairs of prescription eyeglasses from for $96 complete, is having a two for one sale. That’s right — for as low as $18 you can get two pairs of single vision eyeglasses. The sale is over in two days, nineteen hours at this posting; so if you’ve got your prescription handy, go check out the site!

EyeBuyDirect

We have technology for just about everything.  Need to catch up with a friend on the other side of the globe?  No problem, fire up Skype.   Need to find the closest restaurants?  There are apps for this right at your fingertips.  Want to capture every image, note, or voice reminder and never lose them again?  No problem.  When it comes to ensuring quality restorative sleep, however, there’s not too much technology out there for the consumer.

Sure, there’s the Sleeptracker watch (which I do personally use, by the way) — which works as a wearable personal wake-up alarm — and does keep track of sleep patterns if you want to track that data on a computer.  Honestly, though, I’ve not done that once in the two years I’ve used the watch.  Now there is another tool aimed to really give you the gift of better sleep — without the use or dependency of pills or pharmaceuticals?  Where the Sleeptracker will wake you with either an audible or vibrating alarm when you are closest to a waking moment in a sleep cycle (using movement), the Zeo aims to actually coach you to permanently gain a better night’s sleep by revealing your habits and giving you tools to gradually change those habits  – and wake you using actual sleep phases (not movement like Sleeptracker) —  to give you more quality Zzzz’s.

By giving you the gift of sleep, Zeo also promotes the benefits  essential for their health, heart, stamina, memory, work performance, even longevity.   Interested in making these changes in your own life?  Let’s see how Zeo works.

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Loving that new shuffle with VoiceOver? Dictating all your emails instead of typing them? You may not think about it, but many of those improvements and technological bounds come from a specific area of research; accessibility for people with disabilities.

Businessweek has a great article about how voiceover, Apple’s love it or hate it system in the new Shuffles, comes from accessibility designs in Mac OS X. Further, there is an argument that many businesses can learn from the innovations needed to create “universal access” for specific disabilities, and turn it into features that can make the experience better for every user.

It is a great read, and helps put in perspective how much we can all learn from technology and from the different ways we all use it!

Via Businessweek

As a statistician, I am always looking at data, and try to find new and interesting ways to look at new and interesting data. So I always appreciate when someone does something cool … read on to see what it is! Continue Reading

Travel slipcovers seem like a great idea. They slip over most transit seats and provide a barrier between you and the presumably germ laden seat. The cover includes a headrest pillow pocket to hold your own travel sized pillow. Unfortunately it won’t stop the coughing guy next to you from spreading the flu. If the germs don’t get you the 100 people waiting in the aisle while you unfold and spread this seat cover just might do you in.

Transit Cover – $14.99

If you’re a decaffeinated coffee drinker don’t you hate having to trust the person behind the counter to give you the right cup of coffee? Or how about when you get a cup of coffee in a conference room and your only clue about whether the pot contains regular or decaf is a chintzy table sign? Here is the definitive answer to “is that decaf”. Use these 20 test strips on a sample of coffee. Insert a strip into a sample of coffee and if it turns brown you’ll know you have regular coffee. These strips detect caffeine above a 20mg to 6 oz ratio. Works with hot or cold beverages (but not latte).

D+Caf caffeine test strips – $9.95

In an age where fresh food prices are skyrocketing and fat & sugar filled processed foods are being constantly made cheaper and cheaper with fillers, it is harder and harder for families to make healthy choices. The nutritional labels certainly help, but for many the time and math required to cross-reference Fat vs. Calories vs. Protein vs. Fiber and so on is just overwhelming. So there was much relief recently when an industry collective started the ‘Smart Choice’ label program. The goal was to make it easy to see what foods offered the best nutritional choices. Great in theory … but in reality, not so wonderful. Continue Reading

In 1999, I had Lasik surgery to correct a my severe nearsightedness and astigmatism. At that time I was 32 years old, and I had been wearing prescription eyeglasses or contacts since I was 12. I have the ugly yearbook photos to prove it…just ask anyone who went to school with me in Eldorado.

Because of my vision problems, it became a yearly ritual to go to an ophthalmologist or optometrist, have my eyes checked, get a prescription, and get a new pair of glasses; at best there may have been one or two years where I kept my old frames and only replaced the lenses. There wasn’t a single year that went by where my eyes didn’t get worse, although wearing contacts seemed to slow down my eyes’ decline.

Over the years, as my prescription got worse and my lenses grew thicker, a significant amount of money was invested in purchasing the thinnest and lightest lenses available. I also regularly upgraded with options such as anti-glare, UV protection, tinted or Transitions lenses, and for a brief awful while – progressive bifocals. A new pair of eyeglasses could easily cost $400 or more each year.

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Have you ever been caught away from home and wished there was a way after a big meal that you could stop and brush your teeth before going into an important client meeting? I know it’s happened to me more than once. Now there’s a way that you can freshen your breath without carrying an entire toothbrush and toothpaste in your purse or briefcase. Colgate Wisp’s claim to be able to freshen your breath while wiping the crud off your teeth – all without the use of any water. How well do they work?

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Wet or dry? That’s the question men have faced since the invention of the electric shaver. For years, I used Braun electric shavers, but they weren’t waterproof and  I got tired of buying refills for the cleaning base, so I switched to the vibrating Gillettes a year ago. They’re good, reliable shavers – but they’re also a little… boring.

I thought about getting a new, waterproof Braun, or a Panasonic, but I saw the Philips Norelco RQ1090 in the Virgin Atlantic inflight catalogue, and made yet another impulse purchase.

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Someday Soon, Inhalers Such As This One May Be "Smarter"

At one of my former jobs, my then-manager once told me that a cousin of his had suddenly died from an asthma attack.  Saddened as I was for his loss, I became more concerned about my own wife, who suffers from asthma as well (the adult onset type, or as she likes to call it – “a parting gift from Philip Morris”).

According to the Center for Disease Control, as of 2007 Asthma affected over 16 million people in the United States.  And the number of cases is increasing.  For years, scientists have been researching into the environmental factors that contribute to asthma.  But to solve a problem, one must first understand a problem.  To do that one needs to have data – LOTS and LOTS of data.
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I just got done watching a news conference with New York’s Mayor Bloomberg, who was giving his daily Swine Flu update. He struck a nice balance by calling on people to be cautious and responsible by washing hands more than ever, telling them to stay out of work or school if they suspect they might be ill, and reminding people that there is no need for hysteria since, “no one in New York has come into the hospital seriously ill”.

Caution- YES. Hysterics- NO.

But it could get worse, and if it does technology can come in rather handy. Here are two examples… Continue Reading

When I have a hard time getting motivated to work out, a new pairs of running shoes or a new gadget will help me get out the door.  Sometimes,  just the desire to use my gadgets helps me workout.  I have my iPod but my latest gadget is a Garmin watch that I use to track mileage and calories burned.

What I miss is that I didn’t buy the Garmin with a heart rate monitor.  During my competitive days, I really got into measuring my pulse rate.  Measuring your pulse rate helps you measure the intensity of your workout. I became quite fanatical about knowing what my resting pulse, my exercise rate etc.  I had one of the original pulse monitors that you stuck your finger into, then the monitor that clipped onto your earlobe and then all the ones with chest straps. However, you really could never use them in the pool.  The way they transmitted never worked in water.  But, now there is a solution for those that swim.

Finish has just released the AquaPulse Heart Rate monitor for those that like to measure pulse submerged.

Finis “AquaPulse” Heart Rate Monitor

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When you ask most techno-nuts about the possibility of an Apple Netbook with a touch-screen, they tend to look much like Lieutenant Frank Drebin from the TV show Police Squad as he frothed at the mouth while questioning a dentist. The reasons are simple and manifold – Apple has a reputation for excellent and innovative notebooks starting from the original Powerbooks in 1991, their OS X is a highly regarded operating system that has shown itself to be highly scalable, and they also have done a great job infiltrating existing markets with high quality products and making a massive impact. Continue Reading