Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

You may miss the bus or get splashed by white van men speeding through puddles on your way to work but one of the worst things to happen in the morning has to be over-doing your toast.

No matter how often you set that dial, someone’s always moved it by the time you use the toaster again and the result? Imperfect toast and wasted bread.

Well, worry no more. This see-thru toaster will ensure your bread is just how you like it, everytime.

Keep an eye on your bread so that you can pop it up when it looks exactly the way you like it. It currently needs a bit of tweaking but we’ll let you know when it’s available for toasting heaven!

[Source]

Fake review stories have been all over the news in the past few months. Whether it’s manufacturers and service providers posting fake reviews about their products to try and increase sales or even the hilarious reviews of things like wolf t-shirts on Amazon. Funny or not, these reviews are not genuine and pose a threat to consumers who could be misled into wasting money on goods and services that don’t deliver.

To see how much of a problem this really is, Reevoo teamed up with YouGov to see how many people were even aware that companies write fake reivews of their products and services online and how many people have actually been misled by fake reveiws.

41% of UK shoppers do not realise that fake reviews even exist online. This moves up to 47% of older shoppers in the 45-54 year group. That’s nearly half of older shoppers who are at risk of falling for fake reviews and wasting their money. In the run-up to Christmas, this could mean bad news for millions of shoppers.

Almost one in 10 people have been misled by a fake positive review and wasted their money on something that didn’t live up to how it was reviewed online.

For more information on the research, check out our Reevoo press page.

Reevoo was born out of our founders’ quest for providing shoppers with real reviews but we think now is the time to really shout about it and try and help shoppers as best we can, all over the Internet.

Even though there are now laws against falsely representing oneself as a consumer (The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008), the Internet is impossible to completely police so we’ve drawn upon the powers of social networking to try to get shoppers to help others by reporting fake reviews.

Join our Shoppers Against Fake e-Reviews (SAFER) page on facebook and find out how to spot fake reviews, report your findings and make online shopping a better experience for everybody.

Say no to fake reviews – shop SAFER

How Reevoo makes sure all reviews are 100% real - from people who have definitely bought the product.

No one plans on spending much time in the kitchen at uni - unless it’s where everyone plays ring of fire and watches Diagnosis Murder re-runs - so you’ll be needing some kitchen basics which won’t put a dent in your loan and which will survive daily abuse.

We’ve come up with some best value appliances which will ensure that you can live off the three student staples: toast, tea and beans…and a little something to make sure no one makes off with your beer.

Tesco have a great range of value products and we’ve found a Kettle, toaster and sandwich toaster all for under £30.

kettle - Tesco Value JK07 - £10

toaster - Tesco Value 2T07 - £9

sandwich toaster - Tesco Value Sandwich Toaster - £10

With a microwave, you can pretty much live pan-free. Take a look at the 20 litre Daewoo KOR6L15. It’s a bargain at £38 with five power steps and auto-cook function.

This final item may not be seen as an essential but you’ll soon realise that beers in the fridge disappear quickly. Keep them safe by investing in this Matsui MTT507WW mini fridge which can live in the safety of your room. It’s £72 plus delivery and has a 60 litre capacity…that’s a lot of beer!

Big news in the mobile world this week that Orange and T-Mobile will be joining forces to create a mammoth-sized network with around 28.4 million customers combined, covering 37% of the UK mobile market. Currently, market shares for the major players look like this:

Vodafone – 27%
O2 – 25%
Orange – 22%
T-Mobile – 15%

The merger will bring the UK network selection down from 5 to four (excluding mobile virtual network operators such as Tesco and Virgin).

Although the merger will reportedly cost between £400 million and £600 million, it’s expected to deliver savings of around half-a-billion pounds per year by 2014, saving on duplicate shops, base stations and customer service facilities.

But what does all this mean for shoppers? Let’s start with the potential negatives:
- Less choice. We all like to have a good range of products and services to choose from and this will reduce our options considerably
- It’s possible that with less competition in the market, we might be looking at higher prices for handsets and contracts
- Uncertainty for current contract holders
- What on Earth will happen to Orange Wednesdays! I have to admit, this is a huge cause for concern. The midweek bargain pizza and film have provided THE single form of weekly entertainment for millions.

And the good points:
- Hopefully less pylons all over the place
- Better reception
- Potentially better customer service
- A greater range of handsets
- An end to the exclusivity deals with O2? It would be good to share the handset love. So far, O2 has the most anticipated handsets like the iPhone and the Palm Pre.

Of course, none of this is finalised yet. Things should go ahead in November and if they do, each company will keep its individual name for at least 18 months. After that, who knows what they’ll come up with. Any ideas for the new name? I think I’ll be boring and go for Orange Mobile…or maybe Trangbile. Nice!

Our friends over at Sharp are undergoing a mammoth task in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity. For the next year, the folks at Sharp HQ will be putting themselves through various challenges such as The Great Wall of China Challenge, the 2010 London to Paris bike ride and the huge Race Across America (RAAM), to raise awareness and money for the charity. The RAAM itself is an arduous 7 day ride from the west coast of America to the east, covering 3014 miles, at an average of 430 miles a day. The team, including Sharp Managing Director Paul Molyneux (below), will ride for 24 hours a day, passing through 14 states and climbing for a total of over 100,000 feet.

Prostate Cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. 35,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in the UK and one man dies every hour of prostate cancer in the UK. There’s not enough awareness about this illness. People need to spread the word so that everyone knows what to look out for and can hopefully get treated before it’s too late. For more information the disease, symptoms and treatment, take a look at The Prostate Cancer Charity website.

You can get involved by helping Sharp towards their goal of £50,000 by June 2010. Either donate what you can at www.justgiving.com/sharpUK, or, you can join Sharp at some of the challenges throughout the year. Check out their events diary to find out more.

Read more about Sharp4Prostate

Off to a festival in the next few months? Take a look at our festival survival gadgets to make sure you avoid all the usual festival pitfalls.

Don’t lose your tent or your friends this year, use Google Maps with Latitude to keep track of both. Go for the popular Nokia N97 or the new Apple iPhone 3G S and, while you’re at it, download the Shazam app which will recognise a tune within a few notes and then helpfully take you to iTunes to purchase the track.

Grab yourself a wind-up charger too, to make sure your mobile never runs out.

If you’re after a festival-proof camera, the Olympus MJU 1050 is tough, waterproof and shockproof so it should last the summer. It’s 12x digital zoom and 30fps video capture mode will keep your festival memories for ever. Owners love this camera and it receives a score of 8.6/10 with one reviewer labelling it “virtually indestructible”.

Going to the loo is a mission at festivals but there’s no need to miss out on all the action while you’re in the queue. This Roberts Solar DAB radio is, as the name suggests, solar powered, so running out of batteries is not an option. It’s rated 8.9/10 by very impressed owners.

After the artists have finished, the music doesn’t have to stop with the Sony NWZ-A816 Walkman which scooped gold in the Reevoo Customer Choice Awards earlier this year and scores 9.3/10. But if you want to share your music, go for the iMode Boombox dock which is rugged and a steal at only £25.

If you have to queue for the loo, at least avoid queuing for the shower. Take the Super Solar Shower in a bag and have a leisurely soak under a branch at your convenience. It can be refilled time and time again and the solar panel will heat the water. An absolute bargain at just £5!

Finally, a festival kit bag wouldn’t be complete without a wind-up head torch. £15 will get you the Uni-Com wind up head torch – hours of fun without running out of batteries.

Summer’s officially here and it’s holiday season. If you’re planning on trips closer to home this year, we’ve picked out a few sat navs to help you on your way. From the traditional in-car sat navs to handheld GPS trackers, you’re sure to find something to suit you.

For an in-car system that’s a bit different, check out the Navman S30 3D. You can see all landmarks in 3D and you can upload all the info about them and local attractions via the Navdesk on your PC so that you have all the interesting facts with you as you travel.

If you’re planning a road trip, Che Guevara style, you’ll want a rider sat nav. The TomTom Rider 2nd Edition UK & Ireland has a 3.5″ glove-friendly touch screen, helmet connection and Secure RAM mount. It’s also waterproof so you can splash though as many puddles as you like.

For the treckers amongst you, check out the Garmin eTrex H. It’s built for tough conditions, it’s waterproof and it only has five buttons which can be easily operated with one hand. It will last up to 17 hours on just two AA batteries and will store up to 500 waypoints in its memory for easy retrieval. There’s also the TrackBack® system which will take you back to your starting point by reversing your track log.

If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at our sat nav buyers guide.  or look through the best sat navs on Reevoo.

Heading to a festival this year? Even if you’re not, the Orange Power Pump can be used for all manner of outdoor parties. It’s a foot pump that powers a tiny generator that will in-turn, charge all your gadgets. No electricity required and with a minute or so on the pump, you’ll have enough charge for a 5 minute call. All that and you’re helping out the environment too.

Watch this space for a price and release date but no doubt it will be available in time for all this summer’s festivals, just head towards the Orange stand.

[Orange]

Currently appearing in [Coolest Gadgets]

Meet the Chairman. We’re talking VIP but Very Important Phone as opposed to Person, because the Chairman is a new phone with a difference.

The clue is in its maker - Ulysse Nardin, watch maker extraordinaire. This phone takes top-of-the-range watch technology and teams it up with a touchscreen giving us a stylish hybrid handset. Its built-in battery is charged by the kinetic energy generated by the moving rotor so that your phone charges without you even noticing, while it’s working.

But if you thought this was a gimmick phone, think again. Ulysse Nardin have created an interesting multi-touch smartphone. Complete with Wi-Fi, 5 megapixel camera and 2.8 inch screen, the Chairman certainly sounds like a phone to look out for. Release dates and price are currently under wraps but we’ll keep you posted.

[Ulysse Nardin]

Featured in the Coolest Gadgets competition.

People have been talking about all the technology in your house communicating with each other for years but Microsoft’s taken the bull by the horns and done something simple about it.

They’ve teamed up with Californian company Fugoo to create a Windows-based platform which can be plugged into a whole heap of gadgets so that they can all talk to each other. And the result? An alarm clock which can talk to your coffee machine and tell it you’ve woken up and to start brewing your coffee, not only that, it can remind you of your first appointment and calculate how long it will take you to drive to work based on current traffic conditions. Your digital photo frame will also be able to sync up with your PC and display your favourite photos, stocks and shares info or the latest news as you slurp that freshly made coffee. The possibilities are endless. Pretty nifty, hey?

So what does it all cost? The system will be released in the US in June and will set you back a cool $99. The rest of the world will have to wait until 2010.

The guys behind the technology are already working on future uses for the gadget, envisaging “a refrigerator that can generate a weekly shopping list based on staples that have been used up, and then place a delivery order at a local supermarket’s web site. Or a lawn sprinkler that checks the weather forecast for the possibility of rain before turning itself on”. Watch this space!

[Fugoo]