.I’ve recently been asked by Sonic Alert to review two of their products.
 
I was given the Sonic Boom Travel Alarm clock and their NEW Bluetooth Sonic Boom Super Shaker Alarm.

Sonic Alert is a company that specializes in alerting systems for people with hearing loss and for those who are hard to wake up. They sell alarm clocks that have extra-loud ringers and "bed shakers" which are small pods that vibrate for you to feel. They also sell amplified telephones and home alerting systems (visual alerts to important sounds).

​Now the products:

The picture shows the clock portion upright, but it actually can fold flat.

​I tried the alarm in several scenarios:
   - Tucked under two pillows.
   - Between the mattress and boxspring.
   - Clipped to the fitted sheet in between the pillows (on a queen  bed).
   - Clipped to the fitted sheet, but dangling over the side (in case you knocked it off)
   - Clipped to the end of the bed in the middle (by my feet).

It didn't work in only 2 scenarios - dangling off the bed and clipped to the sheet in the middle between the pillows. I figured out why - there was no resistance to the vibrations, meaning there was nothing on top to enhance the vibrating. If it bounced freely, the vibrations are lost - so using a blanket or pillow helps.

In all the other situations - Man did it ever work! You could be in a coma and still wake up on time. That's why the name "Sonic Boom" fits it perfectly.

It was very easy to set up, Just install the batteries, one look at the diagram bof where buttons are and I was done setting the time, the alarm & the vibrate alert. It also has a snooze button, night light and options such as vibrate only, buzzer only, and both vibrate and buzzer. 

The only suggestion I have for improving this product is having a pocket in the storage case for the batteries, (as they advise removing the batteries while not in use).

So whenever you receive a new phone call, text, a new e-mail on your smartphone -  it sends an alert to the sonic boom.

The vibrations can be adjusted - short bursts, long vibrate, and so on. Sadly it cannot be set to different vibrations to different alerts. (short bursts for texts and long vibration for email). I don't really care for that option but thought some users might.

I really thought this would be AWESOME for Deafblind people like myself! Why? We often lack peripheral vision and miss seeing the visual alert flasher or the smartphone's own light. Sure, we could just have the phone vibrate in our pocket - but that gets uncomfortable when you're in a chair or on the couch watching TV, reading, or other activities. Stick the Sonic Bomb alert in your couch or chair cushion and you'll never miss anything else.

Another bonus I liked - the Sonic Boom alerter can either be plugged into a wall socket (with included plug adapter) or a USB port. The bonus is that the USB adapter has another USB port for you to plug in your smartphone or tablet into. So only one plug outlet is needed for the vibrating alert and to charge your phone  How cool is that?

Both of these great products and Sonic Alert's other products, can be found on their website, on Amazon, and in my Store.

So never be late for anything while away from home, or miss any more notifications with Sonic Alert.

Last Christmas, I got an air fryer from my folks and have loved it since.
​
An air fryer is a kitchen appliance that “fries” food but with little or no oil used at all. It does this by circulating hot air around the food. It’s like a tabletop convection oven. Most models come with a basket that looks like a deep fryer basket, but without needing all the heavy oil.

My air fryer is an Actifryer from T-fal, it’s rated #3 on YourBestPicks.com. Check out the link for all the pros and cons of each air fryer brand.

Like I said, most air fryers come with a basket, but mine doesn’t. the Actifryer comes with a paddle that slowly stirs the food around. A great advantage over the other models as those require you to stop midway and stir or shake the food midway through cooking. With the paddle, the food gets stirred and flipped over for nice even browning and crispiness.

T-fal has two models, the larger model not only can hold more food, but comes with a grill plate to grill food as well. I’ve got the classic model which suits our family of 4 just fine.

You can cook a wide variety of food – vegetables, meats, fish, seafood, snacks and even desserts. I believe the food is tastier and it sure is healthier than “traditional” frying.
​
Here’s our favorite French Fries recipe:

*Courtesy of the T-fal Actifryer Cookbook (included with Purchase)
​
Feeds about 4 People
Prep Time – 15 minutes
Cook Time – 40 minutes

2 lbs. Potatoes
1 spoon of oil (Spoon is included with Actifryer – equivalent to 1 TB)

1. Wash and cut potatoes into fries.
2. Put all fries into a bowl of cold water and soak for at least 10-15 minutes. (This is my special trick – not from T-fal)
3. Drain & Pat dry the fries
4. Put the fries all around the Actifryer. Pour the oil evenly over the fries.
5. Cook for 40-45 minutes (depending on thickness of fries).
6. Spread on serving plate or large bowl & sprinkle/toss with salt (or salt substitute).

 
My special trick of soaking the fries in cold water for several minutes seeps out the starchiness of the potatoes and you end up with soft fluffy centers while retaining a crispy exterior.

​For other awesome T-fal Actifryer recipes check out The Skinny Actifryer Cookbook from Amazon.

Another advantage I’ve discovered with using an air fryer is that it’s GREAT for a low vision user like myself!

As much as I love my cast iron pans (Southern girl going on 11 years here), I find it hard to fry when I can’t see that well.

There’s the danger of:

• splashing oil while trying to see up close or flip food.
• undercooking or overcooking food from not being able to see. (No such thing as “peeking” underneath when you can’t see well.

The advantages for blind and low vision cooks are:

• Putting in the food cold. No danger of burning oneself while prepping.
• No need for flipping the food, the Actifryer does this for you. (With other models, you just need to shake the basket)
• No splashing or burning oil while retrieving food. You simply lift the basket out of the fryer and dump the contents onto a plate or into a bowl.

​How awesome is that? I love the peace of mind I get with my air fryer!

Also, cleanup is a snap! Just load the pieces into the dishwasher. Done!

This is what some websites listed as disadvantages:

1. Food gets overcooked
2. Food can dry out
3. Tastes different
4. Takes longer to cook
5. Appliance takes up room
6. Not for large families or events

Let me dispute those for you:

1. I check my food about 5-10 minutes before the recipe’s recommended time and then cook in short increments after that until I’m satisfied.
2. Again, I use the above method to make sure everything’s okay.
3. Some people may not like the taste due the lack of heavy oil. Well then that’s where the spices come in. I rather have a “clean” taste and the health advantages of 80% less oil in my food than the heavy fried taste.
4. Sure, a big batch of fries may take about 40 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes in a deep fryer. But how much harder is it to work off that deep fried batch that’s now resting on your hips? I say the time difference is a lot better.
5. It may take up room, but it’s a lot safer and cleaner than lugging a hot pot of oil.
6. The “classic” Actifryer works great for my family of 4, the larger model can feed more. Yes I agree you can’t make large meals in it. But you could either cook in batches (which you would have to do with a traditional fryer anyway), or use a different cooking method.

So, can you tell I love my air fryer? So excuse me while I try out a Cinnamon Apple recipe.

Any idea what percentage of the electricity bill is your lighting? According to recent studies the percentage of lighting cost was up to 40%. Isn’t it quite high? Yes, it is! It nearly makes up for half of the utility bill which indicates that if we consume less energy through lighting, we can save a lot of money!

This is where the role of LED lights come in! The LED lights are a result of a cost-effective, energy saving and an efficient lighting design. For most of our lives, we have used the incandescent light tubes and bulbs but the era of the twenty-first century brings with it the great LED lights. These lights are meant to make our indoor and outdoor lighting system better and more efficient. It’s time we start thinking about evolving our lives using the smart electrical lights.

LED lights produce results that speak for themselves. Using these lights is the only source to drop the percentage of the lighting share in the electricity bill. How much money is saved by using these lights? This is still under discussion.

Before we jump into how much can you actually save by using LED lights, let’s find out how they function that leads to minimum energy consumption.

How do LED lights work?


The Lighting research center suggests that the LED bulbs and lights create energy when the positive and negative charges come together. Once these charges collide with each other, the energy is released in the form of light. This light is the fastest, most reliable and efficient light that can be used to brighten the houses and offices.These advanced lights do not emit much heat energy as compared to the traditional lights. They do not emit the infrared or ultraviolet rays and are highly energy efficient.


The LED lights are cost-effective as they offer a long lasting service. They can run from 20,000 to 50, 000 hours offering seamless service enlightening even the dimmest lit rooms.

How much can you save?

The LED lights come in different types and use different Watts of power/ energy. There are the lights that we use in the bedrooms, lounge and drawing rooms. Then there are the ones that are used as the garden LED lights, wall-hanging lamps lights and street lights. Though the purchase cost of the LED bulbs and lights is high, these lights help a lot in saving the electricity cost. The estimate is as follows:

If one incandescent bulb is run for 5 hours in a day for two whole years, most of the money would be spent on electricity with a total amount of $32 (according to the present energy rates).

On the other hand, if a LED bulb is used instead for the same duration, it will cost $12. The major portion of $12 would be belonging to the price of the bulb itself rather than the electricitycost.

Keeping these calculations in mind, it is quite evident that using a LED bulb costs much less than using an incandescent light on an annual basis. Thus, any of you who wish to cut down his electricity bills costneeds to switch to the best alternative of the traditional lightsavailable in the market.


About the Author:
This guest post was written by Hassan Khan Yousafzai, he is passionate about Digital marketing. Along with educational background in Software Engineering he is bridging gap between marketing and development department. At Techvando, he has been consulting brands all over Pakistan to gain online traffic and profitable leads.

I was given a Ditto to test out. It's a tiny alert system that you can clip onto your clothes or wear with the wristband. It connects by bluetooth to your iPhone or Android phone and it alerts you to whatever you set it up for.

Get vibration alerts to calls, texts, alarms, App notifications, and it'll even tell you if you've left the house without your phone.

This would be an excellent product for the Deaf and Deafblind!

There are products out there that will flash a light when your phone goes off, but we Deaf and Deafblind know we aren't always present to see it go off.

Sure we could have our phones with us and feel it's own vibration alert, but there are times we can't:

• Wearing clothes with no pockets
• Showering or Swimming (Ditto is waterproof!)
• Sleeping
• Travelling

Wearing
Ditto can be clipped on to your clothes or wear on our wrist with the included wristband. It sure gives peace of mind when you don't have to constantly check your phone for an important text or email.

Showering or Swimming
Ditto is waterproof for swimming (but not diving). So you can wear it while showering, swimming, doing the dishes, etc. A bonus over your regular phone alert!

Sleeping
Wearing a ditto to bed is much more effective than keeping your phone under your pillow or near you, We all know that you'll have to be right on top of the phone to feel it, and there's also instances of knocking the phone out of the bed too.

Travelling
If you travel and stay in hotels as a Deaf or Deafblind person, you know there's not always ADA equipment available at each hotel/motel you stay at. Also packing your own equipment can be a little cumbersome (and pricey). Having a tiny ditto to help with airport text alerts, hotel text alerts (some hotels will text you updates about your room, urgent alerts, events, etc.) as well as your phone's wake-up alarm, ​is so simple.

How it Works

• Buy the Ditto
• Download the Wear Ditto App from the App Store or Google Play Store

• ​Set up your Notifications and personalize what vibration alert you want for each one.
• Works with over 60 other Apps like Facebook, CaptionCall, Lyft, and many more.
• Wear the ditto

That's it!

Drawbacks
The only drawbacks I found with the Ditto are:

• Can''t use other Bluetooth devices at the same time. A disadvantage for Deafblind who also use a Braillenote to access their phone. I was unable to use my C.I.'s Bluetooth headphones at the same time as the Ditto.
• Tether alert starts alerting you once you're out of range of your phone even when you're still in the house.  If I go into the laundry room, the Ditto will start vibrating alerting me that I've forgotten my phone. (This can be fixed by changing the delay time for the Tether alert).

All in all the Ditto is a great little gadget to help alert me to texts, emails and App alerts without having to check my phone every 10 minutes.

I was offered to test a product for a company called eCloth.

​They claim that you can clean your house (and car) with nothing but their eCloth and water only. No chemicals, wet wipes, dry wipes, window cleaners, dusting spray, paper towels and the like.

​Of course I was skeptical because my current cleaning regime doesn't do a good job either and that's with an all purpose cleaning spray, scrubbing sponge and then paper towels to pick up whatever the sponge didn't. Even after all that I can still feel a residue on everything.

​I was given two cloths:

I was super impressed!!!

The bathroom cloths got all the soap scum, toothpaste goo and hair easily off our bathroom sinks with ease. After washing the fixtures and the counters, I wiped them down with the polishing cloth and everything was shiny and I didn't feel any reside afterwards. I even cleaned the kids bathroom - two teenagers, a boy and a girl - with no trouble at all. 

What usually takes me about an hour for both bathrooms using a spry cleaner, a sponge and lots and lots of paper towels was done in about 25 minutes with the eCloth and water! Just wet the cloth, squeeze it out and just wash everything down, followed by the dry polishing cloth.

The kitchen cloth was as easy to use as well, wet with water and wash everything down. For the stubborn spots you just use the non-scratch scrubber in the corner.

So you can clean your house chemical free and they're proven to remove over 99% of bacteria (including e-coli & listeria). You'll also save money by reducing the use of paper towels and chemicals.  E-cloths come with a 300 machine wash guarantee giving you about six years to clean with the same cloth! That's a lot of savings!

So check out eCloth , their various social media sites, or join their e-mail list for their specials and promotions.

I came across this website while researching prizes for a future contest I'll be hosting.

I think it's a great site! Whether you're getting something for family on the holidays, or need a promotional item for your company, Giftcards.com has a huge variety to choose from.

Visa and MasterCard gift cards can be personalized with a personal photo or image. They have plastic or electronic ones that can come with a personalized or pre-designed greeting card.

So if you're short on gift ideas or need a quick reward to send someone, this is a great go-to site for anyone.