Product review: Cozy Products CT Cozy Toes Carpeted Foot Warming Heater for Under Desks

My feet get really cold in the winter and I purchased this heated mat as one more option to keep my feet warm. I like it! In about 4 minutes after turning on the carpet I can feel it through my slippers. It does not feel hot to touch yet there is enough heat to keep my feet warm. I like it better than Mastex electric booties which really get hot and I cannot keep them on for too long.



The color of the mat is gray. The stock photo looked a little greenish to me but I was happy to see it has no green in it at all. The mat is 17.5" x 17.5". It is okay to use on top of the carpet and on top of wood. It does not get hot enough to damage either surface. When I was shopping for a heated mat I considered another mat but it could only be used on concrete or tile floor as it gets warmer and over time can discolor other surfaces.

I have been using this mat for 2.5 months. It is placed on top of a silk area rug and I see no changes in the rug.



I am quite pleased overall. Would I like to see any changes? Yes. I wish it was available in more colors so I can match it to my carpet better. I would like it to have a light to indicate that pad is on as a reminder for me to turn off at night or when I am not using it to save electricity. Despite these two minor things my feet are definitely happy.



You can find "Cozy Carpeted Foot Warming Heater" on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Product review: USB 3.1 Type C Cable Tenswall - USB 3.1 spec compliant cable

Tenswall type-C cable is a thick braided cable - it feels and looks well made. It is 40 inches long and easily plugged into a phone with a silicone skin on.

I originally thought it was a 3.1 complaint cable, but in-depth tests by Benson Leung show that it is not.



What is 3.1 compliant cable? USB 3.1 spec specifies that the termination resistor that advertises the maximum available current should be set at 22K which advertises 1.5A of current. Benson Leung has a series of excellent reviews of Type C cables. Benson works for Google's Pixel group and has pointed out that many type-C cables violate the USB 3.1 specification that states that the termination resistor that advertises the maximum available current has been set incorrectly at 10K which advertises 3A of current rather than the correct value of 22K which advertises 1.5A of current. The non-compliant cable could be harmful to devices that are not limited to 2.5A-2.6A such as the ones that Benson evaluated in his reviews. I had an interesting discussion with Benson about my observations of turning this bug into a feature for rapid charging with Nexus 6p, and in general he does not approve of non-compliant cables and said that at minimum people should label them to be sure they are not used as general purposes type-C cables for all devices. I have been using these non-compliant cable with my Nexus 6p with no ill effects with 2.4A car chargers but as they say "use at your own risk". If you do plug in the car charger side of the cable first and the phone second as Benson reported differences based on the order what side of the cable is plugged in first.



All test were done keeping all conditions the same: same level of charge for the phone, same apps running, keeping the screen on so I can see the results.



1) Using a car charger on a port rated 2.5A

Nexus 6p battery is at 39%, at this level it will use rapid charging if possible (i.e. up to 2.5A)

** Tenswall Type C to Type A cable (non 3.1 compliant) -- 1.3A

** Another Type C to Taype A cable (non 3.1 compliant) -- 2.5A



2) Using a wall charger on a port rated 2.4A

Nexus 6p battery is at 37%, at this level it will use rapid charging if possible (i.e. Nexus 6p is cable of drawing up to 2.5A, the port is cable of providing up to 2.4A)

** Tenswall cable ------ 1.27A



Attached are images from my tests that show the results with both cables.



I received this cable from Tenswall for testing and review.  It did not perform as well as other non-compliant cables.



YOu can find this "USB 3.1 Type C Cable" on Amazon via this link





AshopZones review ★★

Product review: Hamer Water Drop Necklace with Earrings Geometric Jewelry

I like this funky asymmetric necklace and matching earrings. It has a unique look and I like its shape and color. I wore it to a Christmas party and I thought it worked quite well. Several people commented that they liked the necklace. It is a little heavy (the necklace is 3.5 oz, and each earring is 0.4 oz), I can feel it when I wear it but it not unpleasant. The largest rhinestone is 2.75" long, the earrings are 1.25" long.



I always wear it with the full length of the chain extended which makes it 21", which fits around my neck like a neckline of a crew neck sweater.



This set was provided to me by Hamer Jewelry as part of a new product introduction with a request for evaluation and review. The necklace is well made and the stock photos match what I received well in all respects. I am adding a few extra photos of my own including the ones that I hope will be useful for size reference.



You can find "Hamer Necklace with Earrings" on Amazon via this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

LG extends ultra-light Gram laptop lineup with 15-inch edition

Back in September, LG brought the Gram laptop family to the U.S. market. As its name suggests, the lineup was designed with weight in mind, with the 13-inch and 14-inch notebooks each tipping the scales at under a kilogram (making them lighter than the Apple MacBook Air, though not as svelte as the refashioned MacBook).

Not content to offer only that pair to consumers, LG is set to introduce the Gram 15, which boasts a larger 15.6-inch display but retains the same 980-gram weight as its predecessors. Unlike its siblings, the Gram 15 will ship with the latest Intel Skylake processors, instead of the Broadwell Core i5 and i7 CPUs the Gram 13 and Gram 14 are equipped with.

Like the previous Grams, the Gram 15 will come with Windows 10 installed, and we should expect other similarities. The earlier models featured 8GB of RAM, 1080p HD screens (1,920x1,080 resolution), 128GB or 256GB SSDs, and a magnesium alloy chassis.

We'll have to wait until next month to find out the exact specs for the Gram 15, as LG is merely teasing it before its formal debut at the annual CES event. We may also find out the pricing then, as the company is not disclosing the cost just yet. We know the base Gram 13 and 14 configurations cost $899.99 and $999.99, respectively, so expect a starting price tag over $1,000 for what may wind up being the lightest 15-inch laptop on the market.

Product review: KARE AND KIND SUPER LARGE 3 LED Handheld Magnifier Reading Magnifying Glass Lens Kit

This is a pretty nice set of 3 magnifying glasses: the small one is the x20, the medium one is x10, and the large one is x5. Each of the loops fits into a the same handle. The magnifier loops are removed by squeezing two buttons on the sides at the same time.



The handle takes three AAA batteries (not included) which turns on two small but bright LED lights which shine exactly where the magnifier is pointing. Also included are cloth pouches for all three loops and a cleaning cloth.



All magnifiers have pretty good quality glass and make it easy to read tiny font or examine stamps on jewelry. I hope attached photos give you a better idea of what to expect.



You can find "KARE AND KIND Magnifiers" on Amazon via this link





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Samsung Quietly Unveils Its 11-Inch Chromebook 3

Sneaky Samsung! On Tuesday (Jan. 5), at the same time that it unveiled its ultra-thin Notebook 9 Windows laptops, the Korean electronics maker quietly announced the Samsung Chromebook 3, its latest notebook running Google's free operating system.

The Samsung Chromebook 3 has specifications very similar to those of the Lenovo 100S Chromebook, which we recently reviewed. Like the Lenovo, the Samsung features an 11.6-inch screen with a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution.

Measuring 11.36 x 8.04 x 0.70 inches, the Samsung is just a tad smaller than the Lenovo; at 2.53 pounds, it's just a hair heavier. Both machines run on Intel Celeron CPUs — the Samsung on the N3050 chip, the Lenovo on the N2840.

Samsung promises that the Chromebook 3 will get up to 11 hours of battery life on a full charge, but hasn't released the size of the battery. In our test, the Lenovo 100S Chromebook lasted 11 hours and 19 minutes.

Like the Lenovo, the Samsung starts with a 16GB SSD and 2GB of RAM, which can optionally be increased to 4GB. (There doesn't seem to be an option to increase the Samsung's storage capacity.)



Both machines sport one of each type of necessary port: USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI and headphone/microphone. But while the Lenovo 100S Chromebook has a full-sized SD card slot, the Samsung Chromebook 3 shrinks that to a microSD slot.

The one thing Samsung didn't disclose about the Chromebook 3 was its price. That may be because while its predecessor, the Samsung Chromebook 2, still carries a suggested retail price of $249, the Lenovo 100S Chromebook retails for $179, and the similarly specced Acer C720 Chromebook goes for $199.

Samsung said the Chromebook 3 will go on sale "in early 2016." We plan to get a hands-on at CES 2016, and be sure to check back here in a month or two for our review.

Kurio Smart 2-in-1 Review

Dell's Latitude 13 7370 Laptop Makes Business Beautiful

For a long time, most business notebooks have had a boring black or gray aesthetic. However, in a world where sexy Surface Pros and sleek MacBooks have begun to dominate the boardroom, there’s no excuse for ugly anymore. So on the 13-inch Latitude 7370 which is due out March 8 starting at $1,299, Dell is taking design elements from its attractive best-in-class XPS consumer notebooks, and bringing them to the office, with enterprise-level durability and security.

Inside, the 7370 is equipped with all the bells and whistles you’d expect on a premium business machine including an Intel Core m CPU, up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of M.2 SSD storage, two Thunderbolt 3 USB C ports for super fast data transfer. On the security front, there’s a plethora of options such as built-in smart card reader, fingerprint sensor, Intel TPM chips and Intel vPro processors.

Dell limits the 7370 to Intel Core m3, m5 and m7 CPUs, which don’t have as much horsepower the Core i3, i5 and i7 chips available on its XPS systems. Dell says m-class chips offer the same level of performance as last year’s fifth-gen Core i CPUs – enough for most business users – while featuring better energy efficiency.

The 7370 has a durable carbon-fiber body which Dell says has the same weave and strength as the carbon fiber on the Space Shuttle. The laptop is MIL-SPEC 810 tested for durability so it promises to withstand some punishment. Weighing just 2.48 pounds and measuring 0.56-inches thick, the 7370 is smaller than almost every other business system in its class.

When I finally got the chance to see the new 7370 in person for CES 2016, its looks were pretty striking.

The first thing you notice about the Latitude 7370 is its nearly bezel-free 13.3-inch Infinity Display, a feature which debuted on the 2015 XPS 13. Customers can choose from a 1920 x 1080 anti-glare screen, or opt for a more vibrant 3200 x 1800 WLED touchscreen if they want an extra bit of visual pop.

The carbon fiber body has been coated with a clear soft-touch finish so you can still see the weave of the material underneath. It’s a subtle look that's stealthy while also being sophisticated, although I feel like the black on black color scheme is a little more appropriate for hacker types who may or may not be working on some clandestine project. Thankfully, Dell also offers a CNC machined aluminum lid, so when closed, the 7370 should look stately even when put up against systems from Apple or any other company.

As with all of Dell's Latitude machines, the 7370's keyboard felt great. It has just the right amount of key travel and resistance, and with its bright built-in back lighting, the notebook should offer a superb typing experience in almost any environment. And if you couldn't tell from the photos, ports aren't in short supply either as the 7370 also has micro HDMI, an SD card reader and a traditional USB Type-A port in addition to the two USB C options.

While I have to reserve final judgement for when the Latitude 7370 finally hits offices in March, it seems beauty has finally made its way to business. It's about time.