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Review: Sun Jar by Suck – Disappointing & Flawed Design

By Amazon, TechnologyNo Comments
sun-jar-by-suck-my-photo

My Photo of the Sun Jar I bought myself.

A Jam Jar stores Jam.
A Sun Jar collects and stores Sunshine.
So that you can use it at Night.

…Or so the Sun Jar box says.

The idea is great: use a solar panel to charge a rechargeable battery during the daytime and then when a sensor senses that it’s dark use the battery to power a small LED light bulb.

The Sun Jar features:

  • Two modes: Auto mode and Charge mode. In auto mode the sensor is supposed to detect when it’s dark and power the light bulb.
  • A solar panel, rechargeable AAA battery and LED light bulb.
  • Waterproof – meaning that it can be used both indoors and outdoors.
  • Comes in a choice of light bulb colours: orange/yellow, blue and pink.
  • The frosted material gives a glow to the light.

But unfortunately, due to a flawed design the Sun Jar is disappointing and essentially useless. The Sun Jar isn’t bright enough to be used on it’s own as a night light; but switching on any sort of artificial light causes the sensor on the Sun Jar to switch off the LED light bulb. Making the product essentially useless.

What’s annoying is that Suck, the creators of the Sun Jar, could have easily solved this problem. They could have had three modes on the Sun Jar: Auto (use of the sensor), On (sensor off but light bulb lit) and Charge (sensor off and just charging). It’s shocking that they didn’t discover this fundamental design flaw in the product prototypes.

The Sun Jar could be significantly improved by alternating the colours of the lights. This could have been done through each Sun Jar unit having a number of different coloured LED bulbs. It would be even better, if through a switch, the customer could choose what colour light will be produced or set it to random.

My final thought on the Sun Jar is that it was expensive, costing £20. I don’t think I would have felt this was expensive if I had been able to use the product as I intended: to be a night light, along with another night light to give adequate light.

The Sun Jar is available to buy on Amazon, but honestly, I wouldn’t bother until they’ve made significant improvements to the design.

Review soon,

Antony



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Book Review: The Year I Met You by Cecelia Ahern

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
the-year-i-met-you-cecelia-ahern For the first time Cecelia Ahern has published two books in a year. The first was the brilliant How to Fall in Love, which I have reviewed here.

Cecelia Ahern‘s second book is the favourable The Year I Met You, which I shall review here.

The Year I Met You tells the story of two neighbours. Jasmine Butler has made her career her life, but after being sacked she is forced to take gardening leave for a year. Matt Marshall is a radio presenter on a controversial radio show, that is until an incident on the New Years Evening show leads to him being forced to take some time off-air.

Neither Jasmine or Matt cope well with their change in circumstances. Jasmine starts actually gardening. Matt drinks copious amounts of alcohol. It is at this point that Jasmine starts to notice her neighbour from across the road – Matt. The book is written from Jasmine’s perspective, with her writing to Matt referencing him as You.

All of the characters in The Year I Met You were believable and likeable. Jasmine is an meticulous people watcher who keeps the people in her life at a distance. Matt loves his family but has become entrenched in the daily grind of life. Both characters feel lost, something we have all felt.

Stylistically Jasmine’s perspective was enjoyable to begin with. However her use of You when referencing Matt did become frustrating. Luckily as the reader reaches the midway point in the book, she begins to use you a lot less. This was not only practicable, but symbolises a change in the relationship between Jasmine and Matt.

The storyline was good, but the book was slow paced. That said, there’s not a lot could have been done about it with the premise behind the story. The ending was excellent, reflective and interesting.

Overall a reasonable story. One that is an enjoyable read, but that you probably won’t read more than once. The story is essentially about the characters rediscovering who they are, their friendship that develops along the way and the transformation of themselves so that they are able to move forward.

The Year I Met You is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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DVD Review: Nina Conti – Dolly Mixtures Live

By Amazon, Happiness & Joy, Reviews, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
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Nina Conti DVD and Treats

Last week was a tough week. I needed cheering up, so head to my local supermarket and bought Nina Conti’s live show – Dolly Mixtures, along with some popcorn and a multipack of Curly Wurly’s.

Superb Ventriloquist Nina Conti presents her live show Dolly Mixtures on DVD, filmed in Leeds. The hilarious comedy show is a laugh-a-second and cheered me up no end. It’s part scripted and part improv, with Nina making herself the butt of many of her own jokes.

Nina starts the show with her long-standing puppet Monkey. Monkey presents a lateral thinking puzzle:
A crowd is covered in strange lumps of foam, on the floor empty suitcases, an old mans clothes and a paint brush. What happened?

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Click to Buy on Amazon

Then Nina introduces her six new puppets:

  • Nina’s Daughter and Inner Child who sings ‘My Face Hurts When I Play Guitar.’
  • Killer the Camp Dog who tells his story of how he raided Claire’s Accessories during the riots.
  • Stefan the Builder who is a step-in puppet that requires some audience participation.
  • Granny the Clairvoyant who shows off her clairvoyance.
  • The Human Puppets with Talking Mouths, which leads to more audience participation.
  • Granddad John the Painter who leads to a bizarre but extremely funny show’s ending.

Throughout the show, there’s plenty of good natured audience participation with the themes being: good fun & humour.

Nina is fantastically funny and by the end of the show my sides hurt because I’d laughed so much. The show ends by showing the lateral thinking puzzle, that even God couldn’t solve! LOL.

I’ve watched Nina Conti’s live show – Dolly Mixtures several times since I bought it and never failed to lose myself in laughter. If I star rated DVDs, it would be five out of five star.

Here’s a clip from Nina Conti’s live show – Dolly Mixtures:

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Review soon,

Antony



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Book Review: The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
tales-of-beedle-the-bard-jk-rowling The Tales of Beedle the Bard has been written and illustrated by J.K. Rowling. It contains five classic children’s stories, aimed at young wizards and witches: The Wizard and The Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock’s Hairy Heart, Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump and The Tale of The Three Brothers.

After each story are notes from Albus Dumbledore from the Hogwarts Archives. The introduction explains that Dumbledore wrote these notes about eighteen months before the events that took place at the top of Hogwarts’ Astronomy Tower.

Each of the tales in The Tales of Beedle the Bard are superb, magical and thought-provoking. They carry moral messages about: kindness, perseverance, vulnerability, tolerance and wisdom. Dumbledore in his notes discusses the stories messages, reveals more about his history and life at Hogwarts.

My only criticism of The Tales of Beedle the Bard is that it was too short (at 109 pages). I absolutely loved reading the stories and Albus Dumbledore’s thoughts about them. So J.K. Rowling, just so you know, if you do a More Tales of Beedle the Bard, you’ve got a guaranteed sale from a fan here.

Each copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard that’s sold leads to a donation of £1.61 to Lumos, a charity working to change the lives of disadvantaged children. Lumos was founded by J.K. Rowling after she read about the terrible poverty some children live in.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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