Following on from our fun iPod docks post, we’ve got a cracking set of iPod skins and cases for you today.

I had to start with the iFrogz Tadpole iPod Case, which is meant to be for children but I was semi-tempted. It’s bright and extra shock absorbent so that you don’t have to worry about little ones (or slightly larger ones), dropping them. It also means that you’ll never lose it in your handbag…It’s 100% coated silicon so that it repels dust and lint.  This is compatible with 30, 60 or 80GB iPod Classics and will set you back £24.99.

If you’re a more stylish individual, may I suggest this leather case for your Classic? Toro’s Treo leather case has a clear plastic screen protector so that you never lose sight of your music and a rotating belt clip that (I didn’t write this bit) “lets you experiment the best fit to look as snazzy as possible”.  They’re £12.99 and come in pink and brown leather.

If you like a patterned case, there’s bunch of cool cases called Gelaskins. They come in different sizes for different types of iPod. This one is the Red Robot design but you can be as bold or as understated as you like because there are loads of different designs. This 2nd Generation Nano case is £9.99 and available over at iPod World.

For flashy types, the Griffin Technology disko is the case for you. As well as the protective, tough polycarbonate shell, the LEDs flash and swirl away in motion-activated light sequences. Forget disco balls, this can control a party all on its own. They’re £16.95 from MacHeaven.

For the cautious amongst you, why not keep your iPod from thieves by disguising it as a…hymn book? The case is designed for 30, 60 and 80GB Classics but if you have any other make that’s about the same size, it should work for them too.  For £15,’cherishing’ your music has never been so easy. (sorry).

If you’re debating over whether or not to get an iPod or another brand of player, you can read the MP3 player reviews to help you decide. If you’re set on getting an iPod, check out all of the iPod reviews so that you can find the best one for you.

Following on from our dodgy designs story last week, I came across more catastrophes in the MP3 department. The poor people that purchased a 2GB Matsui MAT120 definitely had a few negative things to say about their purchase.

From a massive 248 shoppers reviews on Reevoo, this MP3 player only receives an overall score of 5.3/10. Complaints seem to focus on the fact that the player deletes all of your songs on its own, its terrible battery life and how long the player actually lasted without breaking. Not good news here.

Although it seemed like a bargain – you can pick one up for around £25 - Paul from York pretty much sums up everybody else’s experience when he says “Doesn’t last more than a month. Bought 2 of these both did the same thing, after a month the memory goes, and you are unable to switch it on… You get what you pay for in the end”.

And just when I thought this was a one-off, I came across the 6GB Logik HDD60. This may have a higher score of 5.7/10 from 51 shoppers who bought it but it also had its fair share of negative comments. The biggest problems seemed to be that it’s pretty useless when you try to put music onto it – not great for an MP3 player - and that the battery life is also useless.

So if you want a MP3 player that works this summer, here’s two wasy to save you some money. If you want to find a quality MP3 player, make sure you read MP3 reviews first so that you can avoid the problems these poor shoppers had. At the moment, the top MP3 player is the 7GB Sony Walkman NWZA818. It has 49 reviews and a rating of 9.1/10.

Have you ever considered that all of the appliances in your home may have been designed by people who have never had to use them? For example, that your fridge was designed by someone who still kept things underground to keep them cold? It would certainly seem so, going by some of the reviews we’ve been reading.

As we’re on the subject of fridges, we’ll start there. The Bosch KGU30605 fridge has been designed by a genius who thought an egg tray with space for five eggs was revolutionary. The unfortunate sixth egg that almost certainly is included when you buy a standard pack of half a dozen eggs, will have to find its own home amongst the jungle of jars and leftovers.

How about the Elba C96DF 90 gas oven that gets nice and hot on the inside but feels the need to heat up its surrounding area by getting dangerously hot on the outside too? I guess we could all start frying our eggs on oven doors to save energy. Maybe that’s what the designer had in mind here.

We talked about the amount of energy you can save by not leaving your appliances on standby last week but what if your TV wouldn’t turn off at all? The LG 37LF66 can only be turned off by switching it off at the mains. And there’s even a washing machine that insists on washing cotton and synthetics at 60 degrees - all in all, just great for your energy bills.

If you feel your life isn’t inconvenient enough, why not purchase a couple of dishwashers? One won’t fit standard sized cups on the top shelf and one won’t fit standard sized plates on the bottom but by buying them both, you can be sure that your crockery will be squeaky clean…one way or another.

And for those of you looking for something to amuse the kids over the summer, you might want to check out the reviews for the Easy Store Large Slide. It seems to be multipurpose - a slide and a bug collector. It’s all kitted out in bright yellow so that hundreds of insects are attracted to it as soon as you set it up. I wouldn’t advise sliding on it but it could be great for a wildlife project.

These are just a few of the dodgy designs we found by reading through reviews. We’ve compiled a list of the top ten so that you can take a look. If you’ve got something that you think must have been designed by wild monkeys, let me know and we’ll add it to the list.

1. Bosch KGU30605 Fridge - the egg tray which only holds five eggs instead of the standard six.
2. Zanussi ZWF14581 Washing Machine - The default temperature when you choose cotton or synthetics is always 60 degrees. But almost all synthetics are labelled 40 degrees or less.
3. LG 37LF66 Television - that doesn’t turn off. You have to pull the plug out of the wall to turn the TV off.
4. Easy Store Large Slide - the bright yellow colour attracts thousands of bugs in summertime.
5. Kenwood DW12CFE Dishwasher - Normal sized plates stacked as design suggests in the bottom tray stop the spray arm spinning, and thus the top layer does not get washed. Trays are non removable so the dishwasher won’t run without the top tray in. Hard to fit standard sized dinner plates.
6. LM Tech Battery Powered Heated Gloves - the heating element doesn’t get warm, and doesn’t cover the fingers.
7. Carlton CTD1W Table Top Dishwasher - doesn’t fit standard mugs on the shelf
8. Elba C96DF 90 Gas Oven - the knobs heat up when the grill is turned on
9. Hotpoint RLA21 4.6 Cu.ft. Larder Fridge - there is no light inside so it is impossible to see all the food at the back.
10. UNI MEDIA 22/1 IDTVDVD 22” HD Ready digital television - It is impossible to adjust the picture when the picture adjustment box pops up in the middle of the screen and covers most of the picture.

With these lovely hot summer evenings we’ve been having of late, I hope you’ve all been making the most of them. Unfortunately, it’s the mornings afterwards that prove a problem. I’ve been making full use of the coffee shop down the road but having added up all of these trips, the outcome was a little scary. It made me think about the prospect of buying a coffee machine. They’re a little pricey but surely it’s cheaper than getting them from coffee shops?

The top coffee maker on Reevoo at the moment is the DeLonghi EN660. It’s got 9.0/10 with 93 per cent of people recommending it. It’s around £174 which is a lot less than I thought it would be.

For those of you on a tighter budget, the Krups KP 2000 DOLCE GUSTO BLACK is only £74 and it has some good reviews too. It gets 8.8/10 and looks a bit like a duck.

If you fancy splashing out, the Siemens TK68E570B is pretty sleek and comes in at a impressive £1,029. It looks the business but you may not be able to afford any coffee to put in it!

Design-wise, I do quite like the look of the FrancisFrancis X1 Almond. It’s around £300 so it’s still pricey but the almond colour gives it a great retro look…and they’re made in Italy so you can’t really argue.

Going all Italian, I’ve also been looking for some tasty recipes for biscotti so that I can impress people with a proper coffee-house experience. I came across this one from the food geniuses over at Yumblog. While you’re there, check out the other amazing recipes but make sure you don’t do it before lunch because you’ll only be bitterly disappointed with your ploughman’s.

Triple Chocolate Biscotti

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Skill level: Easy - medium
Makes: 50ish
Ingredients
• plain flour - 200g
• cocoa powder - 60g
• caster sugar - 150g
• baking powder - 3/4 tsp
• dark chocolate - chopped - 60g
• 3 eggs - beaten
• vanilla extract - 1tsp
• blanched almonds - toasted - 100g
• white chocolate - chopped - 100g
• salt - 1/2 tsp

Peheat the oven to 180C (gas mark 4)

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, dark chocolate and salt into a food processor and pulse until powdered. Add the eggs and pulse again until a dough is formed.

Tip out onto a floured surface and knead in the almonds.

Divide into 4 and roll out into 25mm x 300mm flat logs. Place onto a paper-lined baking tray and bake for 25 minutes. Cool.

Cut the baked dough diagonally into 15mm thick pieces. Put onto a baking tray and bake for a further 15 minutes. Cool.

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and drizzle over the biscotti in a Jackson Pollock style.

Eat … or store in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

In a shocking piece of research from Reevoo, Dyson were left off of the top five vacuum cleaners.

Consumers rated Numatic’s Hetty as the number one machine:

1. Numatic Hetty
2. Bissell 3760E
3. Miele S5260
4. Numatic Henry
5. Miele S5210

Who would have thought?! This must be a pretty big blow for Dyson, who have been market leaders for the past decade or so. Although, it might be a great way for them to identify the areas in which they can improve to make their machines even better.

I have to say that I’m rather proud of the fact that I own a Henry. I’ve had him for around 10 years and he’s been great. Wouldn’t change him for the world. I’ll even forgive Hetty for coming in above him.

So where do Dyson need to improve? It seems that a lot of shoppers have trouble moving them around. There are lots of reviews complaining about their weight and the height of some of the models. Other people find their hoses too short, that they are too noisy, that they have a short life-span and that they have to be emptied too often. Although the last point may be because they pick up a lot of stuff.

Going on the positives, consumers did like the designs of the Dysons and the fact that they were very powerful.

We also need to mention that Miele did really well here too. They got two products in the top five and almost all of the reviews for both the models mentioned the fact that they had superior suction.

So it seems that Numatic and Miele are the vacuums to go for. If you don’t agree with the Dyson comments I’ve picked out, you can check out all the other Dyson reviews.

In a surprise piece of research from Reevoo, Dyson were left off of the top five vacuum cleaners.

Consumers rated Numatic’s Hetty as the number one machine:

1. Numatic Hetty
2. Bissell 3760E
3. Sebo Automatic X4 Extra
4. Numatic Henry
5. Miele S5260
6. Miele S4211
7. Miele S 5210
8. Miele TT5000
9. Miele S5280
10. Dyson DC14 Hepa

(You can look closer into the different category results below)

Who would have thought?! This must be a pretty big blow for Dyson, who have been market leaders for the past decade or so. Although, it might be a great way for them to identify the areas in which they can improve to make their machines even better.

I have to say that I’m rather proud of the fact that I own a Henry. I’ve had him for around 10 years and he’s been great. Wouldn’t change him for the world. I’ll even forgive Hetty for coming in above him.

So where do Dyson need to improve? It seems that a lot of shoppers have trouble moving them around. There are lots of reviews complaining about their weight and the height of some of the models. Other people find their hoses too short, that they are too noisy, that they have a short life-span and that they have to be emptied too often. Although the last point may be because they pick up a lot of stuff.

Going on the positives, consumers did like the designs of the Dysons and the fact that they were very powerful.

We also need to mention that Miele did really well here too. They got five products in the top ten and almost all of the reviews for both the models mentioned the fact that they had superior suction.

So it seems that Numatic and Miele are the vacuums to go for. If you don’t agree with the Dyson comments I’ve picked out, you can check out all the other Dyson reviews.

As the days are getting a little hotter, those who are lucky enough to have them will be will be looking to spend more time in the garden. I’ve been looking to see what outdoor green products we could all be making the most of.

First up is some garden lighting. Pretty essential if you decide to make the most of your garden throughout the summer months. Instead of sucking up power from the mains, why not tap into the good stuff and get yourself some solar powered garden lights? Easy as pie to set up and you can pat yourself on the back for all the energy you’re saving.

(more…)

It’s funny Friday review time. It’s going to be a lovely weekend so make the most of it and have a great one.

"Seems to take a while to dry the clothes but I think that is probably my missus being rubbish"

Zanussi TC7103S

"Chunky. Fat-electrician’s-fingers proof!  Fell on it and it still works" Ericsson W850i   

"It blew away on a day with no wind!!" Kids Weather Shelter

"Attracts dust like Elizabeth Duke attracts Pikeys" Kenmark KM-TS012M-K

   

"Slow to the point of brain damage" Vodafone USB Modem

Some funnies to get you through your friday…hope you all have great weekends!

"My wife banged her head twice on the lid before
learning that it has to be ‘parked’ in the fully vertical position. Brain damage to wife not too serious"
Proline PLC218W

"The TV signal has been [on]
since I plugged it in, but then I’ve never had any wire that didn’t do that
(except a scart lead I bought down the market for 49p once - that didn’t work
at all)" Logik HDWTH

"Being a short person, i need a stool to reach the top shelf"  Hotpoint FF200E

"I just cant put it down, its
taking over my life as I attempt to photograph anything that moves and many
things that dont" Olympus E400 DSLR

"It is going to grow old, just
like me, but it can be recycled" Hotpoint FDW60G

This week seems to have flown by, here are some reviews that have  brightened it up for us:

"It’s internal clock is about as accurate as an elephant playing darts" Packard Bell MZ36 T015

"I’ve had it for five months and still can’t suss the timer…the instructions are aimed at nuclear physicists" Toshiba RDXV47

"you need to measure pizza before buying one" Samsung RSH1DBMH

"it looks a bit like a handbag…… but who cares"  Harman Kardon HKGO Play

"It does it’s wirey business very efficiently" Logik HDWTH FR EADAP