Home

Author: Cameron

  • Best Gifts for the Audiophile in Your Life

    Best Gifts for the Audiophile in Your Life

    Music lovers are an awesome bunch. You can always count on them to come in with a great band recommendation, and they’re super easy to shop for. What should you get for an audiophile? That’s easy: something cool to listen to their favorite tunes on!

    Here’s our gift guide for the audiophile in your life, so you can make sure they get to rock out in style.

    Best Gifts for Audiophiles

    Sony WH-1000XM3

    These Sony headphones are top-tier when it comes to audio quality and design. Their build is impeccable, as you would expect from Sony, with solid construction that feels sturdy even when thrown in a bag. The earcups are large and softly padded, making these a comfortable wear even on extended plane rides or through sprawling albums.

    The battery is conducive to such long-plays, too, coming in at a solid 30 hours. That means you can get in a few good listening sessions before you have to plug the headphones back in to charge up. The sound quality is great and can be described as “roomy” and “spacious,” giving a lot of natural, uncompressed sound to the listener. Even the most discerning audiophiles will love these Sony headphones.

    Roberts Revival iStream 3

    Old-school cool design meets modern sound quality with this retro-chic speaker. The classic Roberts design suggests the normal use for this speaker: it can tune in to normal FM/AM radio signals for those times when you just want to listen to the local stations. It’s got a lot more than just that going on, though.

    The sound quality is warm and could be described as “old-school,” but this Roberts doesn’t sacrifice modern sound fidelity for nostalgia. Bluetooth functionality, combined with wi-fi support and even the option to use rechargeable batteries on-the-go all make this a functional throwback speaker.

    Sony PS-HX500

    While the debate over analog-versus-digital audio rages on (it doesn’t make a difference, really) many audiophiles can’t deny the wonderful tactile sensation of throwing a record on the player. Having a physical medium for your music is just… nice. It’s hard to describe what’s so cool about physical media, but humans really like it. And that’s okay!

    This stellar Sony record-player has more than just old-school audio playback going on, too. You can make ultra-high-quality rips of your record collection with the PS-HX500, allowing you to convert your vinyl to a digital library. This lets you take even your most obscure recordings with you, even if where you’re going doesn’t have a record player.

  • Best Ways to Deal with Dry Eyes

    Best Ways to Deal with Dry Eyes

    Dry eyes are a huge pain, especially during allergy season. It’s hard to work when you’re constantly worried about your eyes being dry and itchy. What are some of the best ways to fight dry eyes?

    Today we’re looking at some easy and convenient solutions to your dry eye problem to help you keep on track.

    Best Ways to Deal with Dry Eyes

    Over-the-Counter Drops

    Simple, over-the-counter eyedrops can be a great solution for mild dry eye. If you’re experiencing seasonal allergies, mild dry eye or general eye strain, OTC drops can be a huge help. Keeping a bottle at your desk at work, on your nightstand and/or in your car can help you get instant relief for dry, itchy eyes.

    These OTC drops are usually simple saline and can help with mild cases. Usually, they’re quite inexpensive and they’re a great first step for combatting typical dry eye. However, if you find these alone aren’t helping, there are a few other things you can try.

    Eyewear

    Some find that a bit of new eyewear can help a lot with eye strain. Wearing lenses that are the right fit for your eyes are a huge help. If you need reading glasses, or glasses for seeing far away, don’t hesitate to speak to your eye doctor about your concerns.

    Additionally, if you use a computer for work and find yourself experiencing eye strain, consider getting a pair of blue-light eliminating glasses. These yellow-green tinted glasses cut the blue light out of any light coming to your retinas, helping to reduce eye strain. Such lenses are available over-the-counter and don’t require a prescription, as they’re quite safe to use.

    Prescription Drops

    If you have severe dry eye that isn’t helped by simple over-the-counter drops and isn’t related to eye strain, speak to your eye doctor. It’s possible you’ve got a chronic condition that is causing your dry eye to stay around in spite of normal solutions. In such cases, your eye doctor can diagnose your issue.

    If your eye doctor diagnoses you with a serious eye issue related to your dry eye, then they’ll likely prescribe you medicated eye drops. These should only be used at your doctor’s direction and will likely have instructions on when and how to take them.

    Medicated eyedrops can help with even severe dry-eye by adding medicine to the surface of your eye. These should be used a last-resort if traditional methods don’t work, however, as they’re a good bit more expensive than OTC drops!

  • Empty Nest Syndrome: How to Fight It

    Empty Nest Syndrome: How to Fight It

    This is the moment: the kids have finally all moved out. How do you feel? Probably some combination of proud, wistful and nostalgic. It’s hard to wrap your head around.

    This chapter of your life has come to a close, and now you’ve got the house to yourself again. How do you fight off the empty nest blues?

    Here are a few of our tips.

    Empty Nest Syndrome

    Hobbies

    Consider picking up some new hobbies to help you focus on something else. Painting, playing an instrument, learning a new language, gardening and learning a new sport are all popular choices. Health and fitness pursuits are also great at this stage in someone’s life.

    Not only will these hobbies provide a good outlet for your complex feelings about this stage of life, but they’ll likely help you meet new people or find new common ground with old friends.

    Vacation

    If being in your home without the kids is bumming you out, consider taking a vacation. Get on a cruise ship and travel to the Caribbean for a week. Head up to Aspen and enjoy some skiing. Heck, just head to the beach or the mountains for a weekend. It’s hard to get used to the new status quo, so why not take a break from the usual for a while?

    Downsize

    Maybe you’re finding your current place is a bit big now that all the kids have moved out. Maybe you don’t need all this room, and you’re sick of seeing the empty bedrooms where the kids used to sleep. Consider moving into a new, smaller home. Not only will you have a smaller mortgage, you’ll also get a fresh start on a new chapter in your life.

    If you’ve found it hard to move on from your kids moving out, maybe it’s time for you to move out too. You can even opt to move somewhere more central, like downtown or closer to the city center, to get into more social activities.

    Reflection

    Life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. When all is said and done, some things in life are hard to wrestle with. The blues you’re feeling now that the kids have moved out could be simple angst that time keeps passing. Aging and, eventually, dying are just natural parts of being human. If these are the underlying issues to your empty nest syndrome, we’ve got advice.

    The best way to deal with these emotions is by sitting with them and reflecting on them, honestly. Aging isn’t glamorous or fun. It is, however, what makes you human.

    Consider meditating on your life’s path, and think about your children and their role in shaping who you are now. Accepting life, even in the moments where it hurts, is key to living happily.

  • Soul Electronics Blade Earbuds Review: Great for Fitness Fans

    Soul Electronics Blade Earbuds Review: Great for Fitness Fans

    True wireless earbuds are great for fitness-focused people. Whether you’re into swimming, running, cycling or hiking, having earbuds that don’t require wires is a huge help. If they’re also weather-resistant and high-quality, that’s just a win-win.

    Today we’re looking at the Soul Electronics Blade earbuds to see how they stack up against the competition.

    Soul Electronics Blade Earbuds Review

    Design

    These new earbuds are stylish and made of a comfortable, flexible rubber. They’re weather-resistant, with a solid iPX7, meaning you could even swim with these or run in the rain with them. The Soul Electronics earbuds are actually a new version of the previous Blade In-Ears from last year. Those, likewise, were aimed at fitness-focused people with their numerous smart features.

    The design is hook-like to make sure the earbuds stay on your ear during a run or other activity. A comfortable, sport-friendly fit is a must for these kinds of earbuds, and that’s on display here, too. The battery life is impressive, at six hours, making these a great pick based on their design alone.

    Fitness Features

    The Soul Electronics Blade Earbuds sport a number of bleeding-edge technological features for fitness-minded folks. Firstly, there’s a built-in heart rate monitor, so you need not worry about having a separate fitness tracker. That’s a huge help for fitness fans on a budget who don’t have the money for a ton of different gadgets.

    Another interesting feature on display with these new earbuds is a voice coach powered by an AI that can give feedback on your run. This feedback is given in real-time by the AI, and takes a lot of factors into account. Speed, distance, step length and width, even the angle of your head are all tracked by the earbuds and taken into account by the AI system.

    App

    There is also, of course, the Soul Electronics Soul Fit app available. This app tracks your runs and various metrics, such as heart rate and steps. The app allows you to even share your run with your friends, helping keep up with your other fitness-minded friends. The training log is great for seeing your progress over time.

    Bottom Line

    Long battery life, stellar design and fascinating fitness features all come together to set the Soul Electronics earbuds apart from the competition. For those looking to pick up a pair of these earbuds later this year, the price is the only sore spot. These are coming in at a relatively high $250, making them a bit on the high side for wireless earbuds.

  • When to Take a Break from Social Media

    When to Take a Break from Social Media

    Social media is a part of everyone’s everyday lives now. There’s nothing quite as modern as flipping back and forth between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, trying to keep up with all of your various newsfeeds.

    Sometimes, however, social media takes too big a bite out of your free time or starts eating away at your mental health. It helps to know when to take a break from social media.

    When to Take a Break from Social Media

    Free Time

    This might sound a little heavy, but you’re probably wasting a ton of time on social media. Your free time is limited: why piddle it all away on some dumb phone app? Surely your hobbies are more interesting than looking at pictures of people you went to school with years ago.

    Take back your free time by stepping away from social media. There are way more fun things out there than scrolling infinitely through yet another news feed. Painting, dancing, singing, watching movies, reading, going for walks in the park, playing board games with friends, the list goes on and on. Just step away from the phone.

    Mental Health

    There’s a clinically-proven link between spending a lot of time on social media and depression. Low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, and even pervasive nihilism are all connected to over-consumption of social media. This is all because of the way social media hijacks your brain’s rewards systems.

    Your brain gets a hit of feel-good chemicals when your content is liked or shared. This is a very addictive process, and it can be very difficult to decouple it from social media use. The best thing to do when you’re spending too much time on a social media app is to just delete it outright and spend more time with your friends in the real world.

    Arguments

    We’d be lying if we said we’ve never been in social media arguments. Thanks to the current divisive political climate and the spread of constant misinformation, arguments are bound to happen on social media. We’ve even had relationships with family soured over regrettable Facebook exchanges. This is really, really unhealthy.

    If you’re finding yourself getting into arguments online and getting really stressed out by your own social media account, cut social media out of your life. Just uninstall the apps from your phone and live your life without sweating the social media. It’s more fun to just live in the moment, anyway.

  • Best Places to Find Deals on Baby Formula

    Best Places to Find Deals on Baby Formula

    Baby formula can be really expensive. It’s hard to find good deals on this product, as it’s universally needed and you can’t exactly skimp on it. If you have a baby, you need formula.

    For those who are struggling with the high costs of baby formula, you’re likely looking for the best places to find deals on it.

    Here are some of the best places to look for deals on baby formula.

    Best Places to Find Deals on Baby Formula

    Dedicated Sites

    Many people prefer to use dedicated websites for buying their baby formula. These sites, like BabySavers, tend to focus on finding discounted rates for baby formula so new parents can save more money. Buying online through these kinds of retailers can be a huge help for people with infants, too.

    For one thing, shopping online offers you the comfort of comparing prices from home. You can quickly judge what the best deal is without having to go all over the place looking at different in-store prices. For another thing, you’re able to have the formula delivered right to your home, allowing you to forego traffic.

    Amazon

    As with most products, Amazon can be a life-saver for buying in bulk online. Using plug-ins like Honey, which helps to find coupon codes, you can likely save big on bulk baby formula. As with buying from dedicated sites, you get all the benefits of buying online, which can be huge for new parents.

    Amazon also often offers free shipping for existing Amazon Prime users. Many new parents love Amazon Prime for getting supplies like diapers and other new-parent staples. If you haven’t looked into them yet, consider looking at Amazon to see if they could help you with all the things you need for your new baby.

    Membership Stores

    Big warehouse membership stores like Sam’s Club and Costco often have great deals on bulk items. Baby formula is no exception. If you happen to already have a membership to one of these stores, check in and see if the in-store price for formula is better than the online price.

    While you don’t get the benefit of shopping from home and avoiding traffic when you shop in-store, there are some upsides. You don’t have to wait for shipping with in-store purchases, so you can get your formula right away if you’ve run out. You also get to stock up on other supplies while you’re out, allowing you to roll your grocery shopping into your formula run.

  • Best Portable Generators for Your Money

    Best Portable Generators for Your Money

    Portable generators are awesome if you’re looking to go camping or just have a backup in case of an emergency. However, they can be a bit pricey, so it’s often hard to tell whether a given generator is worth buying. Today we’re breaking down the best portable generators so you can rest assured that you’re making a good purchase.

    Best Portable Generators

    WEN 56200i

    This lightweight generator is great pick for a number of reasons. For one thing, it sports a quiet performance, coming in at just 51 decibels. You won’t have to shout to be heard over it. It’s also quite light, weighing only 48 pounds. This makes it ideal for camping or other outdoorsy activities.

    Another great aspect of the WEN 56200i is that it’s got a 5V USB port, two three-prong 120V inputs, and a 12V DC input. That way you not only have lots of ports to charge your devices, but also a ton of options when it comes to your power needs.

    5735 GP17500E

    This generator is great if you need to power a whole house. Consider opting for this massive generator if you’re worried about the power getting knocked out for a while and needing a backup to keep the house online. This is a great generator for people who live in remote areas and want a great backup in case of emergencies.

    This is a 17500-watt unit that is capable of putting out a ton of power. It’s also a favorite at construction job sites to keep appliances powered. This all comes at a price, of course. The unit is quite expensive, and extremely heavy, at a massive 390 pounds. However, it does have wheels so you can wheel it around more easily.

    Honda EU2000i

    This Honda generator is a great pick for those who want a durable and easy-to-use generator. This one is ideal for people who like camping or going outdoors, as it’s a great battery to throw in the back of a car. It weighs just under 50 pounds, and it runs rather quietly.

    Impressively, the battery can put out 2,000 watts of starting power and 1,600 watts of running power. That makes it a tough little generator for its size. Note, however, that you get what you pay for. This generator is awesome, but it’s a little pricey. Consider it a worthy splurge if you’re looking to upgrade to a really great portable generator.

  • Best Cars for New Drivers: What Should Your Teenager Drive?

    Best Cars for New Drivers: What Should Your Teenager Drive?

    If your teenager is about to get ready to start driving, you’re probably wondering what the best cars for new drivers are. Well, that’s a great question. There are a lot of factors that go into making a car great for a new driver. Namely, we’re looking at cars that are easy to drive and loaded with safety features. Let’s look at some of the best cars for new drivers.

    Best Cars for New Drivers

    Toyota Corolla

    The inexpensive starting tag for a new Toyota Corolla is a great draw to this vehicle. It starts at $17,000, and it’s quite reliable on top of that. Five-star safety rating, ample security features and eight airbags all make this a very safe car for your teen.

    The Corolla also has a reputation for reliability: it’s unlikely your kiddo will be getting stranded somewhere with the car not wanting to start. There’s even a tire pressure monitoring system so they don’t get caught out by a flat tire. How cool is that?

    Hyundai Elantra

    A great pick that looks beautiful on the road, the Hyundai Elantra is a stylish car for a new driver. Starting right around $17,000, it’s in the same price range as the Corolla. This is also a very safe vehicle, and earned the IIHS “Top Safety Pick” in 2015.

    You can likely find 2014 or 2015 Elantras used for a great price if you’re trying to be budget-conscious. Older cars are also less expensive to insure, so we often recommend getting an older vehicle for a new driver. After all, if they’re less experienced, they’re more likely to get into an accident.

    Don’t forget about the ample safety features in the Elantra, either. It sports a traction system that helps the driver stay on the road, as well as six standard airbags. That, coupled with the safe design, mean that even in the event of an accident, the driver is unlikely to be harmed.

    Ford Focus

    Another IIHS Top Safety Pick, the Ford Focus is in the same price range as the other vehicles on this list. Once again, it’s a stylish little vehicle with ample safety features to help protect a newer driver. The car sports seven airbags, making sure that the driver is protected from all sides.

    This vehicle even sports steel beams, top-of-the-line boron, in the frame. That way even in side-impact accidents, the driver is that much safer than in another vehicle. There are also rear-view cameras to make backing up or parallel parking that much easier.

  • How LinkedIn Can Help You Find a New Job

    How LinkedIn Can Help You Find a New Job

    There’s no way to sugarcoat it: trying to find a new job is really, really difficult. It’s hard to even know where to begin. Who’s hiring? Who has good benefits and a good work environment? If you’re not using some kind of job board or have a ton of connections, you’re running in blind.

    That’s where LinkedIn comes in. More than just being a simple job board site, LinkedIn is the best social media app for meeting professional connections. After all, it’s much easier to get ahead in a crowded job market when you know the right people. Here’s how to have LinkedIn work for you.

    LinkedIn

    Take it Seriously

    LinkedIn might be a social networking site, but you should take it seriously. It’s not quite the same as Facebook or Instagram. It’s an opportunity to present yourself in a professional and well-curated way for potential employers and colleagues.

    As such, you should make sure you present your best self on LinkedIn. Make sure your pictures aren’t ones of you and your buddies hanging loose and partying. Make sure you’re well-dressed and well-groomed in your pictures!

    Use it Often

    Make sure to use LinkedIn often. Even if you’re employed and like your job, it’s good to have connections that you cultivate. If you only use the app when you’re looking for a new job, you’ll be out of luck. It’s not enough just to run to it in an emergency: you need to keep up to date!

    By using the app often, you ensure that you’ve got a presence online that potential employers and professional connections can see. This is essentially an ad for yourself as an employee. Take pride in it, and make sure everyone knows just how good of an employee you are.

    Resume

    Make sure you keep a well-formatted, up-to-date copy of your resume easily accessible on your LinkedIn. You never know when a recruiter or hiring manager might come along and see your profile. If they do, you want to make sure your info is all up-to-date and accurate!

    There’s no reason to potentially miss out on a great job just because you’ve got some goofy typos on your resume. Make sure you keep everything connected to your business page tight and well-formatted. This is an easy step to take that will take you only a few minutes, so don’t put it off!

    If you’re looking to make lasting businesses connections, LinkedIn is where it’s at. Get your profile active and looking great today.

  • Fix that Cracked Phone Screen Today

    Fix that Cracked Phone Screen Today

    A lot of people rock around this world with a cracked phone screen. However, you really shouldn’t. It’s not only bad for your phone, but it’s bad for your wallet and even your well-being. You need to get that cracked phone screen fixed, sooner rather than later! Don’t believe us? Check out these crazy facts about cracked phone screens.

    Fix that Cracked Phone Screen

    It Looks Bad

    Firstly, it looks really unsophisticated to roll around with that spiderweb crack in your phone. If you’re going to a job interview or meeting new networking connections, you really don’t want them to think you’re clumsy and irresponsible. You don’t want to look like the kind of person who can’t be bothered to get their phone fixed.

    Health Hazards

    It’s much harder to read what’s on a screen if the screen is badly cracked. If you’re squinting and trying to discern what’s on your phone screen, then you’re likely putting too much strain on your eyes. Another health hazard of a cracked screen is that, if it’s badly cracked, you could accidentally slice your finger open on the glass. Why put your health at risk instead of getting the phone screen fixed?

    Hardware Problems

    If you’re got a newer smartphone, odds are good that both the front and back are glass. If the back glass is cracked, this is still an issue. Newer smartphones are waterproof and dust-resistant. However, when they have cracks in the glass, both of these defenses are down.

    You need a vacuum seal from both the front and back of the phone in order for the water proofing and dust resistance to work. If you’re gotten accustomed to being able to dunk your phone underwater, this might come as an unwelcome surprise.

    Resale Value

    When you go to trade your phone in for a new one, you’ll get a lot less if it has a cracked screen. Often, this difference in resale value is more than it would have been for you to just get the phone’s screen fixed. In short, it’s literally bad for your wallet to leave your screen broken.

    Structure

    Even if you’re not planning on trading the phone in soon, why put off getting the screen fixed? It’s worse than just unsightly. If your phone is cracked, further drops could result in even more severe damage. A small crack can turn into spiderwebbing. A spiderweb crack can result in the screen busting out of its housing entirely.

    In short, just get your screen fixed. What’s stopping you?