We were all reminded around Christmas-time just how tedious it can be to comparison shop. Almost all of us bought things we weren't familiar with for someone on our list. There are so many vairables for each type of product that you can spend hours or even days trying to narrow your choices down. You can't just buy "a DVD player" or "gameplayer." Whether you're shopping for yourself or someone else, you have specifics in mind. It's so much worse when your product search is for something that you don't know much about. I'm quite ill-informed about sporting goods and computer equipment, but my son is into those things, so I need help when I shop for him.

Meta-Review.com not only provides specifications, they provide thousand of product reviews in a wide array of product catagories. Anyone who has read my blog lately knows that my digital camera has died, so I'll use that as an example. MetaReview currently has 597 pages of camera and camera accessory reviews. That's pretty overwhelming, so I need to narrow it down. Piece of cake. I can select a range of megapixels that I think will meet my needs, then add other features like optical zoom capability. There are about ten cameras that have everything that I want. With just a few clicks I've narrowed my search to the products that really interest me. All products receive a Meta-Rating and consumer reviews. That's what interests me the most. I want products that others have tried and given great ratings to. I can take my time evaluating those few reviews and choose the digital camera that's just right for me.

Product catagories include PC Hardware, Sporting Goods, and Outdoor Living. Elctronics, DVDs and Video Games are among the most popular reviews. I've bookmarked MetaReviews for my camera shopping, and I know I'll be back there frequently for other products. They've sponsored this post and I hope you'll give them a try next time you want consumer reviews of the products your looking for.

Labels: cameras, consumer reviews, electronics, payperpost

It's six o'cock in the morning. I'm waiting for my coffee to finish dripping so it can help my pry my eyes open. I had detoured into my home office to turn on my computer on the way to the kitchen like I do every morning. I guess it's just as well that the coffee isn't ready yet, because I'd surely have sprayed it all over the monitor when I opened my mail. See, this gal I know online recently took a European vacation. She recorded everything with her HP Camera and has been generously sharing her photos with anyone who wants to see them. But I must be very special, because she gave me an exclusive piece of a lovely collage she's making. Some of you know just why that's so special. Since you're my friends, I thought I'd share it with you also.



Coffee's ready! Y'all come on over & share a cup with me. Today's special is Kona macadamia nut.

Labels: cameras, digital photography, vacations

PayPerPost is at it again with their whacky videos. This time we get to view the insane antics they cooked up for postie Genki Girl on a cold Chicago day. She had to accost a stranger for his autograph, find someone wearing shorts on that cold, cold day, attempt to make a snow angel on iced-over snow that wouldn’t budge, and write “I LOVE PPP” on her forehead. It’s fun to watch, and suspenseful as we watch the minutes ticking down. This post was brought to you by HP, who supplied the prizes for the bizarre scavenger hunt. Did Genki Girl win a whole boatload of prizes, including an HP digital camera and Digital Photo Printing equipment and a bundle of cash? You’ll have to watch to find out!




Now wasn't that fun? Don't you think HP and PayPerPost should come to Hawaii to thaw out for their next Postie Patrol? Shouldn't I have the next shot at winning a boatload of HP gear and cash? Yeah, I think so, too!

Labels: cameras, electronics, humor, payperpost

The first HP 6 mega-pixel digital camera and printer have been given away. The lucky winner is Anna-Marie, whose surreal fantasy charmed the payperpost and HP judges. Now, I’ll have to agree with them that her contest post is classy. The girl knows how to use a camera. She’s pretty persuasive, too, what with her hard-luck stories about carpal tunnel syndrome and being robbed. But, well, would you just look at her? If you were one of the judges, would you have voted for her? Of course you would. You wouldn’t even have needed to read a word she wrote! I’m quite certain that the judges were drooling the entire time that they were reading her post (if they were able to tear their eyes away from the photos long enough to actually read it.) She’s probably the reason that the contest was delayed; they wanted an excuse to review the entries again and again just so that they could gaze upon her loveliness . Even women are beguiled by her. Tune in to the PayPerPost YouTube Channel and behold the groveling PPP staffer kissing Anna-Marie’s camera so that the imprint of her lips can someday caress Anna-Marie’s hand:



Now I ask you, is this contest fair? What do you think my chances are of winning one of the nine remaining HP 6 mega-pixel camera and printer sets? How can an over-the-hill, grandmotherly type compete with that? Nothing I can say or do is going to make an impression on judges so focused on youth and beauty. The only way they will ever be able to convince the world of their impartiality is to do an abrupt about face. I happen to love PayPerPost and care deeply about their reputation. I’m sitting in my office next to my HP Officejet 7410 All-In-One while using my Compaq (HP) computer to compose this PPP post. I just finished downloading photos from my HP320 digital camera(which, sadly, only has 2.1 mega-pixels,) so it should be clear to everyone that I also love HP. My loving devotion and customer loyalty are surely worth rewarding. PayPerPost was kind enough to sponsor this post, but I don't think that's adequate recompense. I think HP, PayPerPost and I can come to a mutually beneficial agreement here that will salvage their reputations and put a nice new camera and printer in my possession, don’t you? Yes, I'm volunteering to be their token old broad. Selecting me will remove the taint of their past prejudicial practices and allow their reputation to shine once more.

Labels: cameras, electronics, payperpost, YouTube

My camera is an HP320. I like it. It was given to me by dear friends two years ago for Christmas. Two years is a long time for electronic equipment to stay in service in today's fast-changing technological world, but still, it takes nice pictures and it’s easy to use. It has 2.1 mega-pixels. Now, I should tell you right here that I’m not sure what mega-pixels are. I know they have something to do with photo quality, and I know that Ted has more of them than I do. Who is Ted? He’s the PayPerPost guru who wants to give away some HP 6 mega-pixel digital cameras and photo printers. This post is sponsored by HP, who wants Ted to give me a camera and photo printer. Ted has more of almost everything than I do. Since Ted is in a sharing mood, I think he should give me a 6 mega-pixel camera. I live in Hawaii. I take scenic digital photos and share them with the folks who read my blog. My blog works for him when I do PPP posts. It makes sense that Ted should want me to take the best pictures possible. So Ted? Could I please have one? The entire blogsphere will thank you for the quality photos I feed into its stream, and so will I. I'll even give my old HP320, which is a perfectly good camera, to the nearest women's shelter if you give me a new one. Deal?

This post was sponsored by HP.

Labels: cameras, electronics, payperpost, technology