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299 Bananas = New Stereo?

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Can this be true?

In 1986, Silo (a chain of home electronics stores) ran a television commercial in 23 markets nationwide, offering stereos for “299 bananas.” They never thought anyone would take them at their word; after all, “banana” is a widely accepted, if playful, term for greenbacks. Who could possibly mistake one for the other? Thirty-two customers held the retailer to its unwitting word – they showed up bearing loads of the yellow fruit and demanding the store keep its end of the bargain.

Check it out at snopes.com and find out what happened to all those bananas.

Recall:Toshiba Recalls AC Adapters sold with Portable DVD Players Due to Burn Hazard

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Name of Product: Toshiba AC Adapters Sold with Portable DVD Players

Units: About 142,000

Distributor: Toshiba America Consumer Products LLC, of Wayne, N.J.

Hazard: The AC adapters can fail, causing the portable DVD player to overheat, posing a burn hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: Toshiba has received two reports of minor damage to the bottom of the DVD player. No injuries have been reported.

Description: This recall involves the AC adapter sold with the Toshiba portable DVD player Model SD-P1600. “Toshiba” and ADPV16 can be found on the side of the adapter. “Toshiba”, Model SD-P1600, and the serial number can be found on a rating label on the bottom of the cabinet for the DVD player.

Sold at: Consumer electronics stores nationwide from January 2005 through April 2006 for between $200 and $230.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the AC adapters immediately and contact Toshiba Customer Solutions for a replacement adapter.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Toshiba Customer Solutions toll-free at (877) 290-6064 between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.tacp.com

Green Light to Hidden Energy Costs?

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I have often thought that the little green lights on the computers, monitors and printers in my home office were handy little night lights but today I started seeing them differently. Warren Swil writes in the Los Angeles Times Opinion Section about the tremendous amount of energy that is wasted by leaving appliances on in what is commonly called sleep mode.

In June 2005, British Environment Minister Elliot Morley reported that electrical equipment in sleep
mode used enough energy per year to emit about 800,000 tons of carbon. That’s just for the 60 million or so Britons; multiply by five for the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that by 2010, the portion of each utility customer’s bill consumed by appliances in standby mode will reach 20%.

The article goes on to suggest doing an inventory of your home to see how many of those little green, red and blue lights are glowing day and night. I did a quick survey of my house and found 17 lights including the answering machine and one each for the oven, microwave and DVD clocks. (I never even went upstairs where I would find at least two more clocks glowing red.)

Go ahead, read the article here and then go through your house and see how much those little lights are costing you and the environment.

Recall: Berko Electric Toe – Space Heater

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Berko Electric Toe-Space Heaters Recalled Due to Fire Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in
cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary
recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using
recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Products: Toe-Space Electric Heaters

Units: About 84,000

Manufacturer: Berko Electric, of Peru, Ind., now known as Marley
Engineered Products, of Bennettsville, S.C.

Hazard: If the fan stops working and the heater continues to run, the
unit can overheat, posing a fire hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: Marley has received 29 reports of fires resulting in
property damage. No injuries have been reported.

Description: The recall involves electric, toe-space heaters typically
installed in kitchens and bathrooms at floor level in the recessed space
under cabinets. The recall includes Berko Electric catalog numbers TS,
TS-1 and TS-1A and Emerson Electric “Chromalox Comfort Heating” and
“Environmental Products” catalog number KSH2000. The heater is
controlled by a wall thermostat or a thermostat mounted on the front of
the heater. The heater has a removable, black metal grille that measures
23 1/2 -inches wide and 3 1/2 -inches tall with five sets of openings,
each with seven horizontal louvers.

Sold by: Berko Electric wholesale distributors nationwide from 1972
through February 1985 and Emerson Electric wholesale distributors from
1980 through February 1985 for between $70 and $170.

Manufactured in: United States

Remedy: Consumers should immediately turn off the heater at the
thermostat and, if possible, at the home’s circuit breaker or fuse.
Consumers should contact Marley to determine if they have a recalled
heater and for further instructions.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, call Marley at (800)
642-4328 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or
visit the firm’s Web site at www.berkomep.com/ts.htm

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including pictures of the
recalled products, please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07298.html

Recall: Electric Heater

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Electric Heaters Recalled by Aloha Housewares Due to Fire Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in
cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary
recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using
recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: “Aloha Breeze” Portable Electric Heaters

Units: About 281,000

Importer/Distributor: Aloha Housewares, Inc. of Arlington, Texas

Hazard: The heater can overheat, posing a fire hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: Aloha Housewares has received seven reports of
heaters melting, smoking or catching fire, including one report of minor
property damage. No injuries have been reported.

Description: The recalled electric heaters are white-colored with the
name “Aloha Breeze” printed on the front. The recall includes model
number 05226 with date codes of 07/05, 08/05 and 11/05. The model number
and date code are printed on the silver label located on the bottom of
the heater.

Sold at: Wal-Mart stores nationwide from July 2005 to July 2007 for
about $15.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled heaters immediately and
contact the firm for instructions on receiving a free replacement.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, call Aloha Housewares at
(800) 295-4448 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. CT Monday through Friday,
or send an e-mail to ahitexaslg@aol.com

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including pictures of the
recalled products, please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07296.html

She’s Willing to Eat a Little Burnt Toast

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I know some people have those toasters with the slots on top that pop the toast up, and I remember having a toy one for my play kitchen as a child, but as an adult with a family to feed, I always choose a toaster oven over the pop-up.  My mother had a toaster oven and she would use it for quick meals during the summer when the temperature in our Southern California  house was in the mid nineties.  My mother is well known in our family for her thriftiness and would use the toaster until it absolutely would not toast another piece of bread.  Even when she had to flip the bread over to toast both sides, she kept it.

Here’s a nostalgic piece from the Navasota Examiner for those of us who remember eating toast that had been over cooked in an aging toaster.

I burned the toast this morning and the unfortunate event brought back many memories. The reason I burned the bread to a black crisp was that my toaster oven of about 20 years refused to toast any longer, forcing me to use the oven broiler. One might say the toaster retired. For all those years, the little oven had neatly browned bread, cooked wieners, toasted buns, baked potatoes, cooked tater tots, French fries and chicken nuggets.
I retired it once before, when my children presented me with a new one, but the newer version promptly caught on fire and destroyed itself. One might say it committed suicide. When the new toaster passed away, I dug out the old one and placed it on active duty, sort of like calling up the National Guard.

To read more, click here

Can KitchenAid Stand up to the Grind?

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One of the easiest ways I have found to get calcium and vitamins into my kids is to offer them smoothies as an after school snack.I just throw a variety of frozen fruit, yogurt and some milk into the blender and produce a treat they love. This is a great time of year to pull out the blender and make a cool treat.

I have been doing this for years using a Hamilton Beach blender I purchased on sale at a local drugstore almost twenty years ago. Now we have a problem. kitchenaid-blender.gifAbout five years ago, my husband bought me a Kitchenaid blender that claims to be strong enough to crush ice at all speeds, but after years of occasional use, the coupler started breaking apart.The coupler is that small black gear-like circle that connects the blender jar and blades to the base. It has broken in two stages. The first time, when two pieces broke off, I called Kitchenaid customer service. The representative there was friendly and sympathetic, but as our blender was out of warranty, she offered no advice other than that we could continue to use the blender as it was although, it would add a slight strain to the motor and therefore shorten the lifespan of the appliance somewhat.

kitchenaid-blender-drive-coupling.gif

So, we continued using the blender for the next few months.Yesterday, two more pieces of coupler broke off.I have sent the base to be repaired at an authorized repair shop at a cost of $25. This is not a huge cost, but as a percentage of an $80 blender, it seems high considering how often (or not, really) we used it. I just think a blender that claims to be an ice crushing, high powered appliance, made by a quality manufacturer should be more durable.

Finding Your Inner Guide – or at Least a PDF Manual

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I recently overhead someone ask a friend: ‘how did we ever find out anything before Google?’. I gave away my internet age when I said “with altavista” and added for good measure – in a gopher guide. But nevertheless, the point stands. Google is just the greatest mindshare search tool, but its just a gateway into the riches of the internet. One of the great killer aps of customer service is the ability of any manufacturer to make all of their manuals available instantly to their customers.

att_logo.jpgMy ATT answering machine phone is acting weird, and my wife asked me to find the manual. After 10 minutes of wasting my time in paper files, I just did a quick search and came up with this page listing dozens of PDF manuals to various AT&T phones.

One of our goals here is to create a single point resource with as many manuals as we can hunt down. So here’s a start.

Recall: Coby Boombox

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Coby Boombox recallCoby Electronics Recalls Boomboxes Due to Fire Hazard

Name of product: Coby-Brand USB/MP3/CD Boomboxes

Units: About 13,800

Importer: Coby Electronics Corp., of Maspeth, N.Y.

Hazard: When left plugged into an electrical outlet and the off switch is not firmly in place, these boomboxes can overheat, posing a fire hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: Coby Electronics Corp. has received 18 reports of these boomboxes overheating resulting in three reports of minor property damage. No injuries have been reported.

Description: The recalled Coby boombox is a portable CD/MP3 player with an AM/FM radio. The USB feature allows it to be connected to a computer.
The boombox is primarily white with silver-colored speakers. The word “COBY” is written on the front and “DIGITAL” is written on the top. The model number, “MP-CD475” also is written on the top. The recalled units have serial numbers, located on the rear of the unit beneath the AC power cord plug-in outlet, in the following range limits:

0736000001 through 0736005000
0816000001 through 0816005300
0826000001 through 0826003500

Sold at: Discount, toy and office supply stores nationwide from August
2006 through December 2006 for between $20 and $50.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should unplug these boomboxes immediately, and contact the firm for information on returning the recalled units and receiving a refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, call Coby Electronics Corp. at (800) 524-9219 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site.

Source

High Tech Home Appliances

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From Forbes magazine:

Fifteen years ago, you needn’t look further than the ice cube-maker on the door of your Whirlpool refrigerator to find innovation. But these days, we expect a bit more than crushed ice when it comes to high-end, high-tech gadgets.

And we’re not afraid to spend on these domestic devices. Consumers worldwide forked over $301 billion on housewares in 2005, and $72.6 billion of that was in the U.S., according to the most recent data compiled by the International Housewares Association.

The latest innovations include a motion-sensing trashcan and a wall-mounted fish tank that’s only 4.2 inches thick and computer-controlled to sense oxygen flow or when water needs changing.

They join a cadre of housewares built to accommodate the consumer who wants user-friendly, time-saving appliances in every room in the home.

Smart Appliances

The Turbo Chef Speedcook Oven, for example, cooks meals 15 times faster than conventional stoves. Unlike your run-of-the-mill microwave, a Turbo Chef-prepared roast is just as well cooked, and sometimes even better than that of a standard oven, the company says. The oven, currently used only in restaurants, will be available to consumers in April.

Steve Beshara, chief branding officer of TurboChef Technologies, says everyday entertainers were hungry for the Turbo Chef for three reasons: performance, design and, of course, efficiency.

“[It] essentially empowers the home cook to be the cook they want to be,” he says. “Time has become the world’s most precious commodity and we’re trying to help busy people enjoy healthier, tastier meals with an efficient, ergonomically designed tool.”

Other time savers abound.

Consider HomeRight’s Velocity Waxer. This cordless contraption allows you to buff and wax your car, truck or yacht in 30 minutes flat.

Or check out Bialetti Thermovisual Cookware, which debuted this week at the 2007 International Home and Housewares Show and will be available later this year. When the line of pots and pans are ready for cooking, they literally say just that, right on the side of each piece. Now, you can spend your time slicing and dicing instead of watching a pot that appears to never boil.

Gorgeous Gizmos
Of course design is also a factor. The Espressione Nuvola Professional Pod Espresso Machine is not only simple to use, it’s lovely to look at. The dry steam makes concocting a milky espresso drink easy as pie, but it’s Espressione’s knack for designing an artful product that distinguishes itself from competitors.

The combination of well thought out constructs and stunning styles has also worked for Simplehuman, a trashcan company that released its the aforementioned garbage pail, boasting a sensor device that’s recessed so to prevent false triggers.

Beauty aside, Gary Grossman, president of Innovations and Developments, a marketing, advertising and industrial design firm that advises companies on what satisfies today’s consumer, says that above all, Americans are in love with ease.

“It all points back to convenience,” he says.

Nifty.