Monthly Archives: April 2008

| Opinion

Daddy Day Camp… on demand!

If you’re like me, you think Daddy Day Camp is the best movie ever created. This fun-for-the-whole-family film, starring award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr., is the smash hit sequel to “Daddy Day Care” (notice the last word is different there, how ingenious when they could have just called it Daddy Day Care 2!).

If you never got a chance to see it in the theatre, now’s your chance to see it in your home theatre, at just a bit more than the price of a DVD rental and with none of those annoying extra features and deleted scenes and stuff.

Videotron’s Illico digital service offers Video-on-Demand, a service whereby for only $5, you can download a new release and watch it as many times as you want on your digital terminal over a 24-hour period. If you wanted to rent the DVD, you’d be billed less, which means you’d have to deal with change and stuff, and you’d have anywhere from two days to a week to see the movie. With such a long rental time, you’re bound to get confused and forget the movies altogether, until your living room is filled to the ceiling with rented DVDs you forgot to return.

And if you don’t have Videotron Illico digital TV? Well now’s the time to buy! A basic digital terminal costs $99, but for a limited time only Videotron will give you one for only $49 with contract! That’s practically giving it away! Or you can upgrade to high definition and a personal video recorder for only the low low price of your first-born child! How can you not take advantage of this opportunity?

Buy now!

| Opinion

Moved by the Hawaii Chair!

Hawaii Chair

Ever hear of the Hawaii Chair? It’s all the rage. They’ve had it on Oprah, Dr. Phil, Ellen and all sorts of other shows. It’s been Dugg, YouTubed and talked about all over the blogosphere. Don’t you think it’s time you get in on the action?

The Hawaii Chair combines the ancient art of the Hula with patented health science technology to create a machine that takes the work out of your workout.

Rather than going through the trouble of walking, running, biking, jogging or doing other strenuous, time-wasting exercises, the Hawaii Chair does all your work for you, rotating your bottom and burning the fat while you sit at your desk eating donuts.

And for a limited time, you can buy your own Hawaii Chair for under $300!

Wouldn’t you like to get more informations?

I haven’t tried the chair myself, but the idea alone is enough to sell me. (I’ll get a free chair if this post is seen by at least 100,000 people, so when that happens I’ll update with a more comprehensive review). With a name like Perfect USA though, this company can hardly go wrong.

Be sure to check out some of their other ingenious devices that will save you time, make you healthier and guarantee six-pack abs forever.

| Opinion

Snap Shots(TM) are so convenient!

SnapShots(TM)

If you haven’t had the chance to use Snap Shots(TM) yet, then you’ve been missing out.

Snap is one of the largest distributed media networks on the Internet, already reaching 9% of the US audience (WOW!) and 35 million unique global users each month in 48 languages. Over 100 times per second, they reveal the content that users want, in the best form possible, and deliver it to them right where they are, without forcing them to click links or conduct searches.

Snap Shots (TM) products are used on over 2,000,000 websites and blogs. That’s pretty impressive, and a clear sign that these folks are doing something right. Why would 2 million people use something that wasn’t worth their while?

The way Snap Shots (TM) works is very simple: You install some code in your browser or website, and then when you hover over links, it shows a snapshot of what that link will look like. You can see a webpage before you even go there! Isn’t that way cool?

Because they’re a good corporate citizen, and there are always crazy people out there who are afraid of new technology, Snap even provides a way for people to opt out of the system, disabling it completely.

So there’s nothing to lose. Why not give it a shot?

| Opinion

Motorola headset saves my neck!

AWESOME BLUETOOTH HEADSET!!!

Back when I was freelancing a lot more than I am now, I did a lot of interviews over the phone. It would always be tiring holding the phone to my ear and typing at the same time.

So I was glad when I got a Motorola H3 Bluetooth Headset, which Overstock.com is selling at rock-bottom prices. You would be stupid to not take advantage.

The inexpensive headset has so many features I can barely list them. For example, it comes with an integrated echo system, which allows whomever you’re talking to to hear their own voice as they do so. Some might call that an annoyance, caused by the fact that the microphone is so close to the speaker, but I think it’s an awesome way for people to know whether or not they’re talking.

Also way cool is the single blue LED on the outside. While some electronic devices have multiple status LEDs, this headset has only one, which blinks with different patterns to tell you what it’s doing. In as little as 15 seconds, you’ll know whether the headset is on, off, charging, charged, on a call, in setup or ringing.

Completing this keep-it-simple philosophy, the device also has only one button to control everything. (Well, not quite, it has a couple of volume buttons too, but everything is important is controlled through the big button.) Want to answer a call? Press the button. Want to redial? Press the button? Turn it on? Press the button. Turn it off? Press the button.

It takes a while to get used to how long to press the button. But even if it redials instead of turning off like it did for me numerous times, that’s ok. It’ll just cause your mom to call you back wondering what’s going on, and you can never talk to your mom too much.

The Motorola H3 Bluetooth Headset is fantastic, and I would so crazily recommend it even if they weren’t giving me $2 to write a blog post about it.

And for you drivers out there, remember that starting today, Quebec law requires hands-free technology in order to operate cellphones while driving. Why not take this opportunity to upgrade to H3?

| Navel-gazing

Introducing some changes to the Fagstein blog

UPDATE: Happy April Fool’s Day, folks!

Since I started this blog back in February 2007, it’s been slowly gaining in popularity. Wooed by my oozing charm, curious web crawlers have been coming here time and time again for opinions and information about Montreal, the media and everything else I care about.

But those same people have always seemed surprised when they find out that I don’t have advertising on this site. This blog isn’t monetized in any way.

Until now.

Starting today, I’ll be introducing some small, non-invasive advertising to the website (and eventually its feeds as well for you 128 freeloaders out there subscribed to it).

I’ve also signed up for Pay Per Post, a system that will provide financial compensation in exchange for blog posts. It wasn’t an easy decision to come to, but a thick, solid line will be setup that ensures my editorial independence. I believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. I will always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences. The views and opinions expressed on this blog will be purely my own. I will never make any statement that I do not honestly believe in, no matter how much I may be offered in compensation. Anyone who requests advertising that breaks my code of ethics will be refused.

I look forward to this new era in this blog’s future, and I hope you will all enjoy the benefits that will come from the increased professionalism that this blog will show, now that it transitions from a hobby into a business.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.