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Yamaha’s neoHD remote-one box, one remote for everything

August 17, 2009 By

One of the drawbacks of being a big tech family is that we have too many remotes. TV, DVR, Blu-Ray Player, Amplifier, Xbox, plus a so-called “Universal” remote that doesn’t even control everything any more. My husband has all of our home theater components all hooked together, so in order to watch one thing, we have to use separate remotes to control the channel on the TV, the volume, the component itself.

And you can guarantee that on any given day, at least one of the required remotes is missing. Our Comcast remote has some kind of wanderlust and we are constantly searching for it.  I entered a contest to win a new kind of “universal” remote made by Yamaha called neoHD, and I’m super-crossing my fingers that I win it. Because seriously:

Remotes

Unlike old universal remotes that controlled the TV, stereo and VCR or DVD player, the Yamaha neoHD controls new technology like a Blu-Ray player, DVR and even a game system. I didn’t receive one for this review, so I’m basing my opinion solely on what I can see on their website, but it looks easy to use.  There’s a box that you plug all of your different components into, then there’s one remote with surprisingly few buttons.  You choose from “Watch”, “Listen”, or “Play” on the onscreen menu and that’s it! This is an image of the remote from the Yamaha website:

PV_ymc500sl_remote

Want to enter to win one? Sure you do, and it’s super-easy. You can get one Yamaha neoHD Sweepstakes Entry by visiting http://urlbrief.com/e44caa and leaving a comment on the post (read the post for what your comment entry needs to include). You can also get an entry by tweeting this:  ”I just entered to win a #neoHD b/c I have too many remotes, visit (http://urlbrief.com/e44caa) to enter”

Leave me a comment on this post and let me know if YOU need to win the neoHD remote and if you are going to enter the contest. Thanks!

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disclosure: I was compensated for my time in writing this post. It did not influence my opinion or enthusiasm for the product. All opinions are mine.

Filed Under: Contests and Giveaways Tagged With: , ,

Breadou Wrist Rest Giveaway

February 4, 2009 By

This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the three winners!

Prize #1- Alexia from The Mommy Rambles wins her choice of a Breadou Loaf and Emoticon

Prize #2- Ariana from Labslab wins her choice of a Breadou Loaf

Prize #3- Susan from Relishing the Dirt wins her choice of a Breadou Emoticon

Thank you SO MUCH everyone who spread the word about this giveaway!

I’m pretty sure the products I’m about to show you prove that you really can find anything on the Internet. You know what a wrist rest is, right? Cushions your wrists and keeps your hands in proper alignment while you are using your computer? Breadou makes two types-

Breadou Emoticon : an ergonomic computer mouse wrist rest
Breadou Loaf : an ergonomic computer keyboard wrist rest

Did you catch that? Breadou LOAF? So now you are thinking what the huh? What do you mean, LOAF? Well, I mean THIS-

breadouloaf_keyboards

That’s right! Breadou Wrist Rests look AND SMELL like fresh baked bread! They are made from NASA Memory Foam and provide functional and comfortable support for your wrists, and can be extremely beneficial in relieving muscle strain and stress. They can even reduce/prevent Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and other wrist pains. And they are cute! Look at two of the Emoticon mouse rests:

breadouemoticon

Seriously, how cute is that! I’ve got a terrific giveaway sponsored by Breadou themselves, with three prizes you can enter to win. The prizes are:

1st Prize) Breadou Loaf and Breadou Emoticon ( Value: $40.99, shipping & handling included )
2nd Prize) Breadou Loaf ( Value: $26.49, shipping & handling included )
3rd Prize) Breadou Emoticon ( Value: $15.49, shipping & handling included )
*All Breadous will be shipped via USPS Priority Mail.
**Open to US only

WIN IT: Open to U.S. Entries Only. For one entry, visit The Breadou homepage  and answer 2 questions – 1) What’s your favorite Breadou? 2) Who will you give Breadou to if you win?

Enter by Wednesday February 11th at 12:00 PM ET.

Extra/Bonus Entries:

  • Mention the giveaway on your blog, linking back to the URL for the giveaway and to http://www.thebreadou.com.
  • Use social media to spread the word about the giveaway! Post the URL on your Facebook status, on Plurk, on FriendFeed, on Twitter, give it a Stumble or a Digg, submit it to Kirtsy. In fact, I’ll give you one entry for EACH of these that you do, leave one comment with the links.
  • Subscribe to Table for Five using your favorite reader (I recommend Bloglines or Google Reader) or sign up for email updates. Links are in the sidebar.
  • Link to http://table4five.net/Table for Five in your blogroll or Links page.

Thanks for entering and good luck everybody!

Filed Under: Contests and Giveaways Tagged With: , , , , ,

Gifts That Make Them Say WOW-the Wi-Fi Sony mylo

December 13, 2008 By

Every conference I have attended, I have taken my laptop. My big, heavy, laptop, which I place in a laptop bag and carry through the airport, take out at security, repack after security, then haul through the terminal to my plane, then store it in the over head compartment, then haul it to the hotel, at which point it goes into a corner of my room and is rarely taken out again. I like having my computer with me, but I don’t love the hauling of the heavy laptop. So when Jenny from Rocket XL emailed me and asked me if I was interested in reviewing the new Sony mylo, my first thought was omg, I can take my computer to conferences without having to take the heavy laptop, woo hoooo!

The Wi-Fi Sony® mylo™ personal communicator connects you to the Web using wireless LAN technology,  so there are no monthly bills or long-term contracts. Call your friends on Skype® for free or IM them on AIM®, Google Talk™, or Yahoo!® Messenger using the back-lit slide-out keyboard. You can  browse the Web, take photos and share them on the 3.5-inch LCD touch screen. All this on a device small enough to take virtually anywhere.

mylo_keyboard_black_open_front_f_lg

mylo stands for “my life online”, and it comes with built in widgets to help you stay connected to your online life.  Available widgets include the Google search widget and the Facebook® Notifier that tracks activity on your Facebook page, and the  My Contacts widget that works as a consolidated buddy list for all the IM applications on the mylo. More widgets are available for download on the mylo labs page.

Photos: With the built in 1.3 Megapixel camera imaging and everything you do online are at your finger tips. You can capture photos, edit them on the built in photo editor and because COM-2 features upload and download capability, you can post them directly to your blog or even to your Facebook page. All on the mylo without the need for a PC.

Phone Calls: Skype lets you enjoy free Internet phone calls to and from any Skype enabled device and PC, anywhere in the world! Or Skype-Out to any phone number for a nominal fee. Unlimited calls to U.S. and Canada landlines and cell phones are just $2.95 a month, and there are plans for calls to Mexico, and calls to 39 other countries as well.

All that plus a music and video player, and no expensive monthly data plans! And with the Skype feature, it IS a phone too, so it really is every thing you can ever need in a personal device,  and it’s smaller than a PSP so it’s really easy to take with you. Free Wi-Fi is available all over the place now, except for MY LOCAL MCDONALD’S, which was one of the first stores to offer it and they signed a stupid 5 year contract that requires them to charge for the service, grumble grumble.

At $199.99 with no monthly contract, the Sony Wi-Fi mylo is a gift  that will make someone say WOW. And thank you. And WOW, again. I can’t thank Jenny from Rocket XL enough for sending me one!

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Ideas Tagged With: , , , , , ,