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Category: Tech in the News

September 6, 2015

Is Jet an Amazon Killer?

If you’re not a big fan of Amazon these days, you might want to check out Jet.com to save some money… Does that mean Jet can beat Amazon at it’s own game? It depends…

If you’re not a big fan of Amazon these days, you might want to check out Jet.com to save some money… Does that mean Jet can beat Amazon at it’s own game? It depends…

Okay… so Amazon may not be the friendliest place to work. Recently, a few of my friends mentioned to me that after reading The New York Times article on Amazon’s toxic work culture, they’re thinking of ending their Amazon relationship. As I tried to consider my own ethics position on all of this, my conscience was quickly interrupted by the ‘hunting and gathering’ part of my brain…

“Where else is there to shop?!”

First off, I’ve got to admit the irony of my own question, because it was only a few short years ago when I was still dipping my toes into the water of online shopping. I remember calling it,
“The Joy of Shopping at Midnight in your Underwear.”

Now, I simply can’t do without online shopping… day or night. I’ve long ago applied those former brick and mortar shopping hours to other aspects of my busy life.

Married to Amazon
So yes, Amazon has firmly become my go-to online shopping site for quite some time now.

  • It’s simple.
  • There’s always a huge selection.
  • Amazon Prime’s free shipping seems like such a deal even at $99/year.
    (Not to mention the load of other benefits Amazon is piling onto Prime)
  • And Amazon’s pricing usually beats the pants off of brick and mortar stores.

But even without all of the bad press Jeff Bezos has received, I’ve grown a tad uncomfortable with the idea of shopping at only one URL.
(How do you know if the pricing has remained competitive?)

To be fair, I do go to a few other online destinations…

Cheating on Amazon

  • If I’m looking to buy some tech, I usually log on to B&H Photo. The best price is usually there…
  • When my son was still in diapers, I frequented Diapers.com and eventually dropped some coin on its affiliated websites- Wag.com, Soap.com and Yoyo.com. The pricing was sometimes competitive, but the free shipping (if you spent more than $49) always seemed to beat out Amazon’s 2-day Prime delivery.
    (The huge irony here is Amazon has owned Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com since 2011. I didn’t know this until I started writing this post.)

I also spend my money with a few specialty online merchants, such as…

…But for the vast majority of my home staples…

  • Paper towels
  • Toilet paper
  • Kleenex
  • Cat food
  • Ziploc sandwich bags
  • Cree LED light bulbs
  • My favorite crackers
  • Toothpaste
  • Batteries
  • Dish Soap
  • Vitamins
  • (As well as an assortment of other items)

…I’ve been hitting up Amazon.

And while the convenience can’t be beat, I really don’t know how good the deals are anymore.
(No, I haven’t yet taken the obvious step of price comparisons at my local supermarket.)

I think it would be nice (and appropriate) if Amazon had a little competition… right?

Well, guess what?…. Hello, Jet.com!

Jet has Landed
Jet launched a couple months back, and it’s clearly looking to undercut Amazon’s pricing.

Co-founded by Marc Lore, who used to run Diapers.com (note the irony), Jet is structured somewhat like an online Costco with a $49.99 annual membership fee. (The first three ‘trial’ months are free, before you have pay up.)

And then you get ‘club-price’ discounts in several ways:

  • The more you spend, the greater the discount.
  • If you waive your right to a free return, you get a little more off.
  • You also get additional discounts for certain payment methods. (like debit cards)

Jet claims its profit model is focused entirely on its membership club fee, which allows it to sell items at the lowest prices.

Taking a Ride on Jet.com
So I signed up for my free trial and took Jet out for a spin…

  • First off, it’s base pricing usually just seemed to match Amazon’s.
    (Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Shampoo and Wash was a price match.)
    Sometimes the pricing hovered a few cents either way.
    (Brown Rice Snaps were slightly more expensive.)
  • Jet gives you an Amazon comparison tool right there on the page.
  • But then, Jet applies an immediate discount, which grows if you order multiples of the same item. And as you put more things in your cart, your overall discount keeps growing.
  • When you’re ready to check out, there’s indeed a significant savings. On my first order I saved $17.54 off the $72.54 subtotal. Plus free shipping. And no tax.
  • I don’t pretend to understand how all the discounting is applied.
    (‘Smart Items’ are supposed to save you more.)
    But at the end of the day, it’s less than shopping on Amazon.
  • And Jet even has a guarantee that if you don’t save at least $49.99 with your membership, they’ll refund the difference.
  • Just like Amazon, Jet sometimes finds your item through another retailer.

So what’s the downside?

  • Selection
    Jet doesn’t have (yet) the same massive selection as Amazon. I couldn’t find everything I wanted… No bags of Caribou Coffee… and Ziploc sandwich bags only in quantities of 500.
  • Delivery speed
    Every order doesn’t get to you in two days. Sometimes the free shipping takes 2-5 days.
    (And that’s fine, as long as you’re not in a huge rush.)

Jet Vs. Amazon
Is Jet an Amazon killer? No, not really.
(Not yet)

But I can’t tell you how happy I am that finally there’s some good, old-fashioned competition to Amazon out there.

And it doesn’t hurt that Jet gives you $10 off your first order (over $35) with a ‘TENBUCKSNOW” discount code.
(That’s on top of the other savings.)

So all this said, will I still continue to use Amazon?

Yep.
(Even though it may be a terrible place to work.)

But now, Jet has immediately become a cost-savings alternative for much of my general online shopping needs…

Am I rooting for the little guy?
Absolutely.

Can Jet beat Amazon at its own game?

We’ll have to wait and see…

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August 23, 2015

Coming Soon… A Movie Trailer You’ve Already Seen

Before this Marvel movie hit the streets, did you know who Ant-Man was? It’s a fundamental question that’s key to any movie’s success. And that’s what movie trailers are for. But the criteria for when and how you’re supposed to consume your movie previews has been upended…

Before this Marvel movie hit the streets, did you know who Ant-Man was? It’s a fundamental question that’s key to any movie’s success. And that’s what movie trailers are for. But the criteria for when and how you’re supposed to consume your movie previews has been upended…

Remember when the movie theater lights would dim, and you’d prepare yourself to get excited over a few movie trailers? Most of the previews you’d probably never seen before, unless you were experiencing the back half of a double feature. (Remember those?)

And what about the thrill you felt when that one amazing movie trailer hit you from out of nowhere? What an experience!

Whenever I bathed in that super glow of movie ‘geekiness,’ I would feel like I didn’t even need to stay for the main feature anymore. How could it get any better than the previous two minutes?

Of course the current availability of online movie trailers has ruined all that. And while I’ve got to admit that the sport of watching and collecting online trailers at home is fun, the experience pales to the purity of in-theater viewing…

No Surprises
Another byproduct of the proliferation of online movie trailers is you don’t need to show up to the movie theater on time.

I used to refuse to walk in even two minutes late…for fear of missing the first preview.
(Often a big one)

Today, I think it’s safe to say I’ve already seen every ‘major’ movie trailer they throw at me. Yes, it can still be more compelling to see it on the big screen, but the crazy urgency I used to feel on the whole matter has gradually evaporated.
(Yes, occasionally, a new movie trailer is first released on ‘day one’ in the theaters and then goes online immediately after… but that’s rare and something of a stunt.)

Movie Roulette
Now, all you’ve really got to do is skip the fifteen minutes of previews and commercials, (yuck) seat yourself just in time for the opening scene, and you’re golden.

Of course, if you play that game, you risk not finding a decent seat….

Plus if you lose, and show up a couple minutes into the flick’s opening sequence, then you become a major pain the butt for all the people sitting behind you.

And that’s really not cool. Nobody wants to miss the first scene of the movie, because you messed up your ‘movie roulette.’

I say it should be more like when you go to a theater to see a play. If you show up late there, you often can’t get to your seat until intermission.
Bravo!

The Rise of the Post-Credit Movie Scene
One type of movie preview experience that thankfully has remained intact (and in fact is becoming ever more popular) is the post-credit ‘surprise’ scene.
Most everybody has already left the theater…
(Who really wants to watch five minutes of credits?)
And then suddenly another scene pops up!

Often it’s something of a throwaway sequence, but sometimes it’s a significant moment that hints at a future film. Occasionally, it is a clip from the next related film!

A perfect example is the credit sequence from the well-reviewed
“Marvel’s Ant-Man.”
(Which I also really enjoyed…. Good talent. Great sense of humor. A story with heart. And a movie that enjoys living in the Marvel super-hero universe, but stands on it’s own. In fact, it was my favorite summer flick!)

“Ant-Man” actually has two separate scenes buried in the credits. The first one points to the evolution of one of the characters. The second appears to be from the next Captain America film- “Captain America: Civil War.”
(There’s no time like the present to begin seeding your future ticket purchase!)

Creating the Cliffhanger Moment
So it’s interesting how the placement of impactful movie-previews has taken something of a 180 and found a new favorite home at the end of the flick you’re watching…. instead of at the beginning.

And in the age of movie blockbusters built on a model of an ongoing story over multiple installments, it’s important to set the stage for the next sequel…

And that’s something of a nod to the cliffhanger model used in the old action and sci-fi movie serials like 1939’s “Buck Rogers”.

Yes…what’s old is new again…

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August 2, 2015

Is Your Garden Water Hose Toxic?

I’m pretty sure I watered my vegetable garden last year using a garden hose and attachments that leeched lead and various chemicals of concern. If you’re like me, you need a different solution right now!

I’m pretty sure I watered my vegetable garden last year using a garden hose and attachments that leeched lead and various chemicals of concern. If you’re like me, you need a different solution right now!

Last year, we grew a small vegetable garden on the side of our front lawn. It housed a variety of tomatoes, which my five-year-old son especially enjoyed. And it was so cool watching him walk by it and pop a few cherry tomatoes as he moved through his day.

Such a natural moment for him and a clue to Mr. At Home with Tech how life must have been like in a more agrarian-based society.

For years, I’ve been using common garden hoses from Home Depot to water my lawn. I replaced them as needed as they got old and overly kinky. I never thought much about it.

As I set up the infrastructure to support our vegetable garden this year, I realized I needed a new garden hose splitter for my outside water tap. I needed one water line to feed the hoses for my lawn sprinklers and a separate hose to water the garden.

Before I jumped in my car, I decided I should also probably replace my garden hose sprayer, because it was leaking pretty badly.
(My shirt was getting wetter than the plants!)

There’s Lead in the Brass
My local hardware store salesman proudly showed me the ‘Mercedes Benz’ of sprayers (as he called it) made by Dramm. I then picked up a brass water splitter from Gilmour and was quickly on my way.

Easy.

Fast-forward a few minutes… I was about to screw in the Dramm to my old hose, and I noticed a sticker on the Dramm’s underbelly…

Dramm Revolver has a Problem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It said, “California Proposition 65: WARNING- The brass in this product contains lead, a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.”

Huh?

I immediately took a look at the Gilmour packaging, and I spotted the same message.

Gilmour Warning Message

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What?!

I can’t use either of these to water my garden!!
(No, I don’t live in California, but I think everyone should heed the warning of the referenced California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.)

So I promptly returned both sub-par items and pointed out the problem to the salesman, who appeared to be as surprised as I was.
(I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.)

Now what…?

Contaminated Gardening Water
I went home and booted up my iMac to do a little research. What I found was more than a little disturbing…

A few years back, the Ecology Center issued a study on hazardous chemicals found in a lot of gardening products including garden hoses. Whether it was too much lead in the brass fittings or Phthalates and the toxic chemical BPA leeching from the inside of the hose, the resulting garden water was contaminated.

Believe it or not, brass fittings on garden hoses are not regulated. They don’t have to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act. So the bottom line is you should never drink from a common garden hose.

Huh.

Okay… I’m not drinking from our garden hose.
(And I’m pretty sure the rest of my family isn’t either.)

But we’re watering our vegetable garden with the same water.

OMG.
(Yes, I freaked out a little.)

Replacements that are Safe for Your Family
After I began breathing normally again, I immediately decommissioned my old hoses and embarked on a little more research.

Old Garden Hoses

 

 

 

 

 

 

I came to the following solutions:

1. Use Drinking-Water-Safe Hoses

Yes, there are a few manufacturers out there that make drinking-water-safe garden hoses.

I zeroed in on a company called Water Right. Their non-toxic-core hoses are made out of polyurethane, and the nickel and chrome fittings don’t leach lead.

Sweet.

The only downside…
These drinking-water-safe hoses are expensive.

A similarly sized garden hose at your local hardware store that’s not drinking-water-safe is a third of the cost.
(But money should be no object when it comes to the health of your family, right?)

Another choice to consider is a potable water hose that folks typically use when camping or for RV use.

The upside is the Flexron is a lot less expensive. The big downside is it’s white, which wouldn’t quite work living on my lawn all summer long.

So I stuck with Water Right, which also was called out by several reviewers, including Gardenista.
(Going with the crowd…)

Click. Click.

2. Find Drinking-Water-Safe Sprayers and Water Splitters
that Don’t Contain Lead

This challenge was more difficult…
Here are the two solutions I went with:

Safe Water Sprayer
$13.31 for Scotts 9-Function Turret Nozzle
(Lead free, Zinc free and drinking water safe)
This screws on the Water Right Coil hose to water the garden.

Water Right Coiled Hose and Scotts Sprayer

 

 

 

 

 

 

An alternate choice is $24.95 for ‘World’s Best Brass Hose Nozzle.’
(99.9% lead-free)

Safe Garden Hose Water Splitter
$14.95 for G&S 2wayz Garden Hose Water Splitter
The splitter allows you to water your lawn and hydrate your growing vegetables at the same time.
(G&S states that the metal in this water splitter is lead-free, but they stopped just short of saying it’s drinking-water-safe. I found a few questions on Amazon directly addressing this, and the well-crafted responses clearly demonstrated some legal dancing.)

2Wayz Water Splitter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I couldn’t find a better product…

I figured I had nailed the other two choices… this was the only weak link.
(Hopefully, not too weak)

Click.

(Any better ideas out there for a drinking-water-safe garden hose splitter?)

Always Read the Fine Print
Who knew that watering your vegetable garden could be so dangerous?

You’d think this kind of problem would have been handled decades ago.
I suppose it was… you’ve just got to read the fine print…
(And you’ve got to wonder about the quality of the water that is used for the vegetables you normally buy in the supermarket.)

That said, I hope I’ve significantly improved the quality of water that’s feeding our homegrown vegetables.
(And no matter what drinking-water-safe solution you put in place, it’s always best to flush out the old water that’s in the hose before you use it. Contaminants can grow in the warm, standing water.)

Have I done enough?
Well, it’s the best that Farmer Barrett could figure out for this growing season…

Another cautionary tale of trying to live a little greener in the 21st century…

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