Clipping Pixels: Money Saving Sites for Students

Credit Groupon

Internet coupon sites have been springing up over the last few years and money tight college students can benefit from the discounted meals, products and services.

Sites that present deals as a result of having bulk offers or gambits from business that want the influx of business are an easy place to look for deals. Amazon.com has started using mailing information and past purchases to recommend deals to customers via email. These deals are best suited to beauty treatments and gifts.

Living social offers discounted prices on outings and various classes. These are best tailored for those who want to have a fun trip or take a burlesque dance on the cheap.

The best blessing brought about by Groupon are the “Now!” deals that feature deals happening within a few miles of your current location and usually expire by the end of the day. The Now! deals have some great quick meal options that are fairly consistent. Almost every day the Subway in Porter Ranch 2 miles from CSUN offers a foot long, a large drink and a yoghurt parfait for $6. Taco Llama 3.4 miles away from school on Saticoy offers a $10 coupon worth $15 for food.

Living Social and Groupon are also available as apps for mobile devices so you can spot deals on the go!

New portable charger keeps smartphone alive for two weeks

Credit: Lilliputian Systems

Lilliputian Systems is releasing their new portable fuel cell that will enable smartphone users to keep their devices charged for a least two weeks.

The company will be selling their product through gadget retailer Brookstone.

An upside to this new product that it charges any device that uses a USB cable. Another plus is its size, which not much bigger than a cigarette lighter.

The chargers are powered by butane, which is what you find in cigarette lighters. Lilliputian Systems didn’t disclose how much the cartridges would cost, but Mouli Ramani, vice president of business development at Lilliputian Systems, said it would cost around a cup of coffee at Starbucks, according to an article by CNET.

Couple proves that diesel technology still works

Credit: Volkswagen USA

When people think of diesel cars, they think of huge plumes of black soot shooting out the back end of the car.

When Volkswagen thinks of diesel cars, they think of a vehicle capable of 84.1 miles to the gallon.

That’s what John and Helen Taylor did in their 2012 Passat TDI.

The couple traveled 1,626.1 miles on a single tank of gas from Houston,TX to Sterling, VA.

This isn’t the first time Volkswagen has gotten attention for their diesel vehicles. The German automotive group has been producing class-leading diesel engines and had their Jetta TDI named Green Car of the Year a few years back.

While the rest of the automotive world is building hybrids, Volkswagen still believes in clean diesel technology.

Ford’s safety feature has drivers worrying about what’s in the sky

Credit: Jalopnik

The woman behind the wheel of her 2009 Shelby GT500 didn’t expect her engine to pop out of the hood when she got into a car accident back in April.

But the engineers at Ford had different plans. Ford had developed a new ejection technology that separates the front end of the car from the rest of the frame in a front-end collision.

The reason why anyone would want their front end to separate from their car is simple: so that their engine doesn’t blow up in front of them.

Though the new technology worked and saved the woman’s life, it did cause another car to hit it, causing another accident.

Williams-Sonoma finds a new way to light the grill

Credit: Williams-Sonoma

It almost looks like your mother’s curling iron, but I doubt that she would want to put an object near her head that can heat up to 1,256 degrees Fahrenheit.

So what is it then? The folks from Williams-Sonoma are now selling what is essentially an $80 lighter to start your grill.

But why is it so special? The Looftlighter Electric Firestarter offers consumers to safely light their grills without having to use lighter fluid or any other harmful chemical that could transfer to their food.

The device is powered by using a 10-foot electrical cord, which cuts back on lighter fluid expenses.

LED bulbs look to brighten future of lighting

Credit: GE

Technology never stops advancing, even when it comes to lighting. General Electric debuted a new LED bulb that has the same power as a 100-watt incandescent bulb.

GE’s LED light uses just 27 watts while giving off 1,600 lumens, according to an article by CNET.

While it is exciting to see that there have been developments in the lighting industry, one question still remains: how much will this cost?

Because LED technology is still relatively new, the cost of producing these bulbs will be high at the beginning. But since these will be new to the market, don’t expect these bulbs to be affordable.

Right now, GE has a nine-watt LED bulb that retails for $5o. One can only imagine how much a 27-watt LED would cost.

Low on Health? Wii Games Designed to Get Players Moving

Gym memberships can be expensive and even if one has a membership, it’s sometimes difficult to be motivated enough to get up and make the trek to the gym. For those who want to exercise no matter what the weather is like or for those who just don’t feel the motivation to leave the house, the Nintendo Wii system has several fun video games that are designed to be fun disguised as exercise.

Credit Amazon.com

Just Dance

The Just Dance franchise is one of the best selling franchises for the Wii and with good reason. It combines new and old songs which prompt players to dance along with a character on screen. Just Dance 2 and 3 have special “Just Sweat” modes that track how many “sweat points” are burned in a work out and encourage you to dance at least a certain number of songs per day and reach a certain number of sweat points in a week. Just Dance 3 is also available for Xbox 360 and Ps3.

Credit Giantbomb.com

Zumba Fitness

Where Just Dance has a player hold the Wii mote in hand, Zumba comes with a belt that serves as a holster for the Wiimote. The hands free game play allows the player to focus on dancing. The game unlocks levels of higher difficulty as the player gets better at doing the Zumba routines that are comparable to real Zumba classes. It may seem very fast paced and even a bit difficult to keep up with at first but the game really induces a sweat in the player. Zumba fitness is also available for Xbox 360 and Ps3.

The Biggest Loser

This is a more traditional work out endeavor. Players can enter a number of weeks to adhere to a program. Exercises are presented and in addition to the physical activity in the game, players are also given a number of healthy recipes and life style tips to help get in shape away from the console as well.

The Cost of Words: Disputes over E-book prices

Apple, Macmillan and Penguin e-book publishers are fighting an anti-trust lawsuit brought about by the Department of Justice alleging that the publishers all raised their e-book prices in agreement with one another to up the costs.

Three other publishers have settled out of court quickly but the other three are still fighting charges. The remaining publishers allege that the fixed prices were an attempt to combat Amazon.com and the Kindle and allege that they undersold book prices in order to further push the Kindle.

The law suit is still going but the fact that the other three publishers were able to settle suggests that the remaining companies may soon do the same.

New Student Recreation Center’s Customizable Workout

Credit The Sun Dial

The new CSUN student recreation center is great for tech savvy students who want a personalized work out from the music they listen to, to a personal work out tracker.

The new treadmills and cycle machines in the work out areas of the recreation center are outfitted with interactive touch screens for students. When starting a treadmill or cycling machine the user will be prompted to either enter their user ID, register a user ID or continue as a guest. User IDs are protected with a password that is a picture chosen by the user and when logging in you are asked to choose from a field of pictures for the one that is your “password.”

Once logged in there is a myriad of options. Exercisers can customize a playlist on their treadmill by scrolling through the database of music videos, tell the system which television channels are their favorites and track the amount of time and calories burned on treadmills, cycle machines and elliptical machines.

For those who yearn for the outdoors, the system also allows you to choose from several pre-programmed runs that simulate running through nature. Forrest trails pass by on screen while a helpful guide encourages you and gives you information about the area you are “running” in.

The wonderful personalization features are well worth the time spent registering to make the gym a more interesting customized experience.

Regalos Electronics para el Día de la Madre

Este domingo que viene es el Día de la Madre y para todos que todavía no tiene regalo para su mujer especial, un regalo electrónico puede ser la cosa perfecta. Debajo son cuatro ideas maravillosas que puede regalar para dar gracias a su mamita.

Credit Boise

 

Bose Quiet Comfort 15 Acoustic Noise Canceling Headphones

A veces, cuando madres necesitan tiempo lejos del ruido de trabajo y niños. Puede dar el regalo de paz y selenio con Boise auriculares diseñado a bloquea todo el ruido que no es su música. Son muy cómodos y cubren las orejas completamente y cuando usted los compra viene con un estuche de transporte.

$300

Credit Amazon.com

Kindle Touch

El Kindle Touch es la cosa perfecta para la mamá que no puede tener suficientes libros. Ahora con el Kindle Touch ella no necesita estar preocupado con llevando libros pesados. La batería tiene una duración de semanas y el precio incluye 3G entonces puede navegar por la web. Tiene la capacidad de 3,000 libros, entonces nunca va a apetecer más espacio. $99

Credit Amazon.com

Tom Tom XL 350TM GPS

Madres necesita pensar en muchas cosas durante sus días. Algunas veces, no tienen tiempo a pensar en donde está manejando. Con este GPS nunca va a preocuparse sobre perderse. Tiene un “touch screen,” una pantalla de 5” y es muy fácil de usar. El voz que ayuda con conduciendo va a ser su mejor amigo.  $180

Credit Amazon.com

Brookstone Photo Frame Speakers

Madres están muy ocupadas durante los días. Entonces un regalo perfecto para ella es algo que hace varias cosas al mismo tiempo como ella. Este producto de Brookstone es un producto que puede llevar fotos de la familia y puede ser conectado a su computadora. Su madre ahora puede mirar fotos de sus hijos y escuchar su música favorita al mismo tiempo.$20