Enjoy Poe for No Dough

Project Gutenberg is a truly remarkable organization that offers online and downloadable digital editions of some of the best literature ever written.  All of the pieces are in the public domain, that is, their copyrights have expired.  This has little impact on the sheer volume of great freebies since we all know some of the best books were written more than seventy years ago.  I found Edgar Allan Poe's complete works - free - which I intend to enjoy presently.  Three cheers for Project Gutenberg!

Reviewing Product Reviews

Product reviews are the democratic lifeblood of e-commerce.  Though almost every major online retailer offers some sort of feedback system for their products, the quality and features of these systems vary.  The best sites allow for two types of feedback - a star rating and a review.  Reviewers can often use half star values up to 5, then write a review with a title.  These features, though not universal, are fairly standard.  

There are two features that certain websites utilize that set their review systems a cut above the rest.  First, certain websites allow anyone who owns a product to review that product on their website.  Sometimes, registering an email address is required to access the review submitter, but anyone can do it.  On the other hand, web stores like Amazon require you to have purchased the product from their site to review it.  With this system in order, Amazon is missing out on very valuable input from customers in a scenario something like this.  

Suppose a Bob purchased a TV from Sears because the salesperson told him it would be the "last TV he ever bought".  After the warranty expires, the screen becomes blurry due to shoddy construction.  Hunting for a higher quality TV on Amazon, Bob ends up with a Sony.  After several trouble-free months with the TV, he logs on to review the set.  He notices they offer his former crappy model and wishes to review it as well as his wonderful Sony.  This would be very beneficial for Amazon.  It would allow Bob to share his journey toward the Sony, berate his former model - and most importantly - cajole customers toward a higher quality, higher-priced, more satisfying model.  

In a democratic online shopping environment, it strikes me that budget shoppers as well as Sony shoppers should be entitled to this information, yet Bob can't share his opinion on the low end TV's project page.

Do It Yourself Flash

Wix offers users the ability to design impressive multimedia-rich webpages with the click and drag of a mouse.  This remarkable online software suite is offered free for a basic membership.  Wix offers reasonable monthly rates for a premium membership, with which a user can enjoy their space ad-free and link from his own domain name.  The interface is simple but incredibly customizable and deep.  The tools Wix offers every user really stands behind their company mantra - "Wix:  The Way the Web Was Meant to Be".

Everyone's a Critic

Let's face it - on the information super highway, all of our windows are tinted.  This online anonymity opens the door to unprecedented complaining, belly-aching, protesting, fussing, bemoaning, griping and whining.  I was pleased to see Amazon.com rolling the windows down to expose cyber-whiners.  Their product review interface enables not only member rating systems and written reviews, but allows other users to then rank and comment on reviews.  A for instance of a valuable critical comment:

Sony Playstation 3 HDMI Cable - $29.99

WhineAlltheTime Customer Rating - 1/5 Stars - *

WhineAlltheTime Customer Review - This product stinks!  I turned on my TV after hooking it up and the screen was all black!  What a waste of money!

Comments (3) 

- Did you change the input on your television to HDMI 1?  Mine works great!  What a bargain?

- Is your Playstation on?  I'm playing Call of Duty World at War at 1080P!

- It is possible that your cable was dead on arrival.  Contact the vendor before posting a scathing review!

One digital critic successfully squelched.

BPA - Bottle Plastic Advertising

Since waving goodbye to adolescence, a nutritious diet has been a priority for me every day. As an "on the go" individual, I'm always making portable food and drink choices. So, today when entering the YCP bookstore, a Camelbak "Better Bottle" caught my eye. I examined the bottle and noticed it had several innovative or desirable features:


- Would not leak
- Incremental lines at 8 oz (1 cup) marks
- Has a clip that could be latched to just about anything
- Valve & straw design allows drinking without tipping the bottle
- "Stylish" YC graphic on side


If I had a water bottle clipped to my bag, I thought, I would drink more fluids - and that would be good for me. Seeking to justify the nearly 20$ price point, I launched my iPhone's Amazon app and found the bottle sans the York College logo. 240 people had rated the bottle as nearly perfect. When I realized I would be paying double the online price for a YCP custom bottle, my pride in my school sealed the deal.


Then something caught my eye.
There was a sticker on the side of the bottle that read "BPA Free" with a graphic of two leaves. I assumed (mostly because of the leaves) that this feature had something to do with an environmentally friendlier method Camelbak used to make their bottles. The last such logo I saw boasting about what a product DIDN'T have was on a room freshener spray.



This piece of information about the "Better Bottle" was also supposedly significant enough to be part of the product's title on Amazon.com, so I was suddenly very curious to see what all this fuss was about BPA. When I viewed the product page on my home computer, I noticed Amazon had placed a box right under the price labeled "Informed Customers: BPA". The box queries, "Are you looking for information on BPA? Learn More." The link leads to an information center within Amazon about BPA. Reading through the page, a customer can learn how BPA is involved in the manufacture of polycarbonates (strong, clear plastics), what products contain BPA, and a quick back-and-forth between the FDA and the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health.


The concensus seems to be that though the BPA levels in food packaging are low enough to be considered harmless, the compound does pose potential risks in high concentrations, especially for pregnant women and infants. The Department of Health and Human Services begs to differ regarding the harmlessness of low doses of BPA. "More research is needed," they say. Amazon reassures customers that they "will comply with all applicable safety regulations. In the absence of BPA content regulations, we feel that our customers are entitled to make decisions on which products to purchase and use." This seemingly menial string of events intrigued me because of the connections between my retail experiences and the availability of public safety information.


There are two possible explanations for Amazon's "Informed Customers" box:

1. A product writer or Amazon employee had the foresight to think "If a customer is deciding between Camelbak's "Better Bottle" and a competitor's product, he should be informed why Camelbak spent the time/money to make the bottle BPA free.
2. Enough customers wrote Amazon employees with concerns about the BPA content of their polycarbonate bottles that they thought this information should be right there on the product page.
   

In either case, the immediacy of the answer to the BPA question demonstrates remarkable responsibility and concern on Amazon's part for their customer's peace of mind. Thanks anyway, Amazon, but I'm glad my Better Bottle says YC on it.