product-testing

—>See, this is why you let experts like Consumer Reports or Captain Duvel Moneycat handle product testing. Kevin and Olivia from G4's AOTS decide to have a Sham-Wow/Zorbeez faceoff to see which one works best. All we can say is maybe they shouldn't have used so much fake vomit. Oh, and apparently both products smell bad when they're wet.  More »

—>We want to commend hhole for electing himself or herself guinea pig on this morning's coffee grounds post. Apparently, hhole immediately started rubbing coffee grounds all over his or her body in order to see if it really would work as a facial scrub/hair shiner. (Of course, this only makes us want to come up with some imaginary "use" for, say, kitty litter or corn meal to see whether hhole takes the bait.) Read this intrepid commenter's first person report below.  More »

—>Ever wonder how Consumer Reports figures out which products to recommend? For one, it takes mad science, like this echo-free room that sits on a different foundation from the rest of the building. I was up at the Consumer Reports HQ yesterday for a planning meeting related to a blogger's conference they're planning for June, and they were nice enough to give me a quick tour of their testing facilities. I snapped some 33 pictures with my cellphone camera. Check them out in the interactive photo essay gallery, inside...  More »

—> Consumer Reports tested 40 air purifiers by locking them in a closed room and filling it with smoke and dust—in other words, they recreated this writer's childhood Christmases when Granny would visit with her angry poodle. Here are Consumer Reports' selection of the best and worst devices.  More »

—>Consumer Reports wanted to know if leaf blowers were really worth the money and ear damage, so they marked off a parts of lawn, filled it with leaves and had the ultimate man vs. blower showdown.  More »