Product review: Columbian CO148 (#10) 4-1/8x9-1/2-Inch Grip-Seal Security Tinted White Envelopes

I am very pleased with these envelopes. I was looking for the following combination of features (1) self sealing, (2) security marks on the inside, (3) sturdy with good thickness, (4) good price per envelope. This is exactly what I got in this product.

I am attaching a collage of two photos. Photo #1 shows the envelope opened so you can see the security markings on the inside of the envelope.
Photo #2 shows the grip-seal being lifted.

Grip seal works well, I do not have to re-tape with scotch tape. The security markings prevent the writing being seen through the envelope if you look at the envelope in regular lighting situation. However, be aware that if you look through the envelope by bringing it to a light sauce you can still see the letters and numbers on a piece of paper inside of the envelope despite the security markings.

Overall, I am pleased with the envelopes and would buy them again.


You can find these envelopes on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

How to convert a USB data cable into a charging cable

In several of  my reviews of charges and external power supplies I mentioned the difference between a power cable and a data cable.

Charging cables short the two data connections together (rendering them useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see them as an AC power connection, and thus accept the higher current of the charging source. 

You can see the difference in performance between two cables by using a battery app.  My favorite is Battery App by Elvison as it clearly shows how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.

You can buy a charging cable on Amazon or alternatively you can convert any USB data cable into a charging cable as shown in this video.

Product review: Real Bug Digging Kit - Excavate 3 Genuine Specimens. Discover with Dr. Cool

Let me start by saying that kids enjoyed this bug kit. But we were all somewhat surprised by what we found... but that is not necessary a bad thing just a surprising thing. I hope my review will remove the surprise for the parents and leave the fun for the kids.

From the kit description I expected that I would need to do some preparation by berrying the bugs that would arrive in a box shaped like a big green bug. I also expected that the bug themselves would be loose bugs painted with transparent acrylic paint to preserve them, that the kids would be able to touch, move their feet, etc.

I am attaching a collage of 4 photos that I will be referencing in this review.

This kit works a bit different from what I imagined. The green beetle is not a box, it is made of clay and the bugs are embedded within the clay. Photo #1 and #2 show the clay bug top and belly. The bugs themselves are not loose but are inside of acrylic marble. The bugs are quite pretty and colorful. We found a spiny spider, a fortune beetle, and a scorpion. The marbles are small, in Photo #4 I have them next to the ruler. Each one is 5/8 of an inch. The bugs within the marble are 1/2 inch in size. There were three marbles in the clay.

The kit includes a brush, a little chisel, and a magnifying glass. The clay was pretty hard and that little chisel alone was not enough to break it up. After some struggle, I was the one who use a hammer to tap the chisel to break up the clay and find the three little marbles inside. Photo #3 shows the broken up clay beetle after a 2 marbles were found. The kids squealed in delight and made me break up the clay bug into very small pieces as they were hoping to find more marbles hidden within.

Once the marbles were out and washed we sat down with the colorful guide to read more about the insects and study them with a magnifying glass. The information was educational as well as fun and kept the kids interested.

Overall, we enjoyed this kit. My recommendation is to have this bug party with three kids so each one of the kids gets to keep a marble with a bug.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Note: I received a sample bug kit for testing from "Discover with Dr. Cool" to write an honest and unbiased review and I covered both pluses and minuses of my experience in this review.

Product review: Grace Digital GDI-GSD8200 gdock Charging Speaker Dock for Samsung Galaxy Phones

Gdock is designed for be used as a docking station for use with Samsung Galaxy phones. It can also be used a speakers for any device if the device is connected via AUX IN port by audio cable (included). I received this unit from manufactory for testing purposes to write an unbiased and honest review. I tested this speaker with Android Phone, our two Android tablets (Nexus and Galaxy) as well as a computer speaker. You will find both positives and negatives I encountered during my testing.

Gdock works with AC power source or alternatively can work through a lithium-ion rechargeable battery (sold separately). However, it recharges the phone only when plugged into the AC source. When it operates on the battery it only behaves as the speakers.

I am attaching a collage of seven photos numbered 1 though 7 that I will be referencing in this review.

Photo #1 shows everything that comes in the box: Gdock, cradles, remove control, power cable, audio cable, power supply and cable.
Gdock comes with 6 holders for Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note, Galaxy SII SGH-T989, Galaxy SII GT-I9100 SGH-1777, Galaxy SOO SPH-D719. The GDock comes pre-installed with a cradel fro S III cradle. The cradle can be removed by sliding it up, and replaced with another cradle if needed. Photo #1 shows me sliding one of the cradles into the dock.

Photo #2 shows the back of the unit, where in the center you see audio in and power connections. On the sides of the unit you see two bass ports for extending the bass performance.
One of the things I found in testing is that the sound is significantly improved if you position the unit in a way that the sound coming out of these port holes has a solid surface to reflect on. The difference was significant and significantly improved my opinion of the sound quality.

Photo #3 shows Gdock on the digital scale. It weights in at 3.3 pounds and feels significant and well built.

Gdock comes with a remote control, which has the following operations:
1. On/off
2. Mute on/off
3. Volume up and down
4. Reset to factory settings
5. Bass up and down
6. Change audio from Aux In to Samsung Galaxy
7. Treble up and down

When the unit is turned on a blue LED light on the front of the speaker is turned on. This light is a bit subtle, it shines through the speaker cloth and I did not notice it right away. I put a red square around this light in picture #7 to bring it to your attention.

To position the phone in the doc the phone is slid into the cradle from the top, through the arms of the cradle and inserted into the micro USB jack connector at the bottom of the cradle. The phone can be positioned either vertically or horizontally on the doc by rotating
the docking port.

Photo #4 shows the Nexus Galaxy phone I used for testing. Several important notes on the phone. The Nexus Galaxy phone is not officially listed as a supported phone. In addition the phone is normally used with an extra large battery which makes is significantly fatter than a standard battery. Despite the "unofficial" configuration I thought this test would be of interest to people who own this phone model.

1) Two of the cradles fit the Nexus Galaxy phone with the standard battery: Galaxy SIII and Galaxy SI SGH-T989.
2) When the phone had its extra large battery even though none of the cradles fit, the unit could be inserted into the USB connection without the cradle.
Photo #5 shows the side view of phone with the extra large battery on Gdock.

Photo #6 show the phone charging. I used Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge. The battery app showed that the phone is connected and is charging at slower USB rate. This is not surprising, since the USB connector has to be a data connector to carry music data to the speaker.

Gdock USB source ... 1% charge in 10 minutes
(by comparison AC source charges this phone 6% in 10 minutes)

Difference between a charging cable and a data cable:
Charging cables short the two data connections together (rendering them useless for data transfer), but this fulls devices to see them as an AC power connection, and thus accept the higher current of the charging source.

Photo #7 shows the phone playing music. However, Nexus Phone appears to be incompatible with the speaker. The speakers did engage, even though the battery app showed that the phone was connected and recognized by Gdock. Since this phone was not officially listed as a supported phone, I am not deducting any stars from the rating, but this finding was a surprise to me and I wanted to share it with other Nexus Galaxy phone owners.

The rest of my experiments was using the audio jack on the back of the unit. I tested Gdock with Nexus 7 Tablet, Galaxy 7.7 Tablet, and as desktop computer speaker. As I mentioned earlier the key to getting good sound from this speaker is to put right agaist a wall or in our case a window pane. This really improved the bass performance. The front facing stereo speakers generate crisp and clear sound, the mid-range was very good. With speaker against the surface the bass sound was reasonable.

When I was testing this speaker as a computer speaker I compared it (using the same piece of music and two different computers) to Cambridge Soundworks speakers and Labtec speakers.
These speakers did not perform as well as my Cambridge Soundsworks but better than Labtec speakers.

To summarize:
1. The mid-range of the speaker was very good, bass performance somewhat weaker but reasonable.
2. Charging is at USB rate
3. Speaker does not work with Galaxy Nexus phone, the charger does work.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Yubi Power pack external battery, Review for use with Nexus 7 Tab, Galaxy Nexus Phone, Galaxy 7.7 Tab, Sansa Clip+ MP3

I tested I 5200mAh Yubi Power external battery pack with Nexus 7 Tablet, Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus cell phone, and SanDisk Sansa Clip+ player.
I received 5200mAh external battery pack for testing from the manufacturer to write an honest and unbiased review and you will find both pluses and minuses of my experience in this review.

I am attaching a collage of 3 photos that I will be referencing in this review.

The external power battery dimensions are 4" length x 2" width x 7/8" thickness. It weight 4.7 oz. It comes with a 6 inch charging cable and 4 connectors: Mini USB, Micro USB, PSP, iPhone.
The battery pack should be fully charged before the first use. It took overnight for it to reach full charge. The manufacturer states that the battery life is over 500 cycles.

Photo #1 shows how each adapter connects to the USB cable. The adapters are a weak point of the design, they feel a bit flimsy and it is easy to loose all the small pieces.

A button on top of the unit turns the unit on and off (hold it for a few second to turn off). Note that the unit does not shut off when not in use. It wil continue to drain power unless you turn it off manually.

There 4 blue lights on top of the unit. A single light on one side of the button indicates on/off status. The three lights on the other side of the button indicate the charings status (3 lights full, 2 light 30 to 80% full, 3 lights charge is 80% or more. The power pack also has an LED light, which can be used a flashlight.

The 5200mAh Yubi Power has one USB outlet. I tested my four electronic devices using both my own USB cable as well as the manufacture cable+adapter. I wanted to see the difference between
the cables, and the difference was significant.

The provided adapters fit Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, Nexus 7 tablet and Sansa Clip MP3 (as they take regular USB-to-micro USB cable) but none of the provided adapters fit Galaxy Samsung 7.7 Tablet (so for Galaxy I could only test with my own USB cable).

I used Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.

The key findings:
================
(1) The power pack worked well with Nexus devices,but did not work at all with Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet.
(2) Using Yubi Power charging cables vs generic cables made a significant difference

Difference between a power cable and a data cable:
Charging cables short the two data connections together (rendering them useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see them as an AC power connection, and thus accept the higher current of the charging source. Both my generic cable and Yubi Power cables used in my tests are charging cables.

Description of my tests:
I tested each devices charging them for 10 minutes using Yubi Power cable and using my own charging cable.

The table below summarizes my findings.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (photo #1)
-----------------------------------
generic cable ...... USB source ... 1% charge in 10 minutes
Yubi Power cable ... AC source .... 6% charge in 10 minutes

Nexus 7 Tablet (photo #2)
-----------------------------------
generic cable ...... AC source .... 0% charge in 10 minutes (barely charging, enough to power the screen and not loose charge)
Yubi Power cable ... AC source .... 4% charge in 10 minutes

Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7.7 (photo #3)
-----------------------------------
generic cable .... discharging
Yubi Power cable -- no adapter, cannot be used

SanDisk Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player
-----------------------------------
generic cable ........ works
Yubi Power cable ..... works

The MP3 player recognized the charger on both outlet, however it behaved differently than charging from the charger it came with.
When I charge Sansa MP3 with a standard AC charger, the MP3 player goes into charging mode, displaying the charging animated icon. When it was plugged into the Yubi Power external battery it continued to play the content. I listen to books on my MP3 player so this caused me to move forward in my book and I had to manually reset my position by a few chapters to get back to where I was when I started charging. The positive side of this, is that is possible to continue listening while MP3 is recharging. This is very handy for Sansa MP3 player since it has built-in battery that cannot be swapped for a charged one.

To summarize:

I liked:
-----------------------------------
1. Good behavior with Nexus devices.
2. Solution for MP3 player with built-in battery

I did not like:
-----------------------------------
1. Does not work for Galaxy Tablet 7.7 (with my own adapter, no Yubi Power adapter)
2. The multiple piece connectors are flimsy and easy to loose. I prefer a one piece charging cable I bought as a replacement.

Overall, I am pleased with this unit and recommend it for the devices I tested with the exception of Galaxy Tablet.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Toothbrush Crayola with Suction Cup

Our dentist gives out a free tooth brush after each visit. On the last visit he gave us a Crayola Toothbrush with a suction cup by Gum. Seemed like a neat idea at first, because some newer toothbrushes have thick handles that don't fit well into the tooth holder cup.

I am attaching a collage of two photos. The first shows close-up of the tooth brush head. It small in size and fits a small mouth quite well, the bristles are soft. The second photo shows the use of the suction cup, which holds up the tooth brush just fine.

However, after the toothbrush has been used it turns out that there is one fundamental issue with this design. Because you stick right to the vanity top the toothbrush drains directly to the vanity creating a mess. I did not like that it created extra clean-up work for me.

This toothbrush is no longer used as a tooth brush, it has been moved to the work shop for use in tools cleaning.


You can find them on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: Bark Mulch 2 cubic feet bag. How much does it cover?

I just had a deck replaced and needed to cover the 11 feet by 6 feet area under the deck with bark mulch. Bagged Bark Mulch typically comes in 2 cubic feet bags and I had trouble visualizing exactly how one mulch bag will cover and how many bags I would need to cover my 11' x 6' area. I needed to keep the depth of mulch at around 2 inches, so it does not overflow the pad on which the central air conditioner sits. I did a rough calculation and decided that 6 bags will do it. In fact, the right amount was 5 bags.

I am attaching two photos. The first photo shows how much one bag covers. The area from the house to the edge of the bark is 6 feet. The second photo shows 5 bags covering 11' x 6' area 2" inches thick.

Hope this helps someone working on a similar small mulching project.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★