So you are probably reading this because you just bought yourself a fancy DSLR camera and are looking for a good home for it.

You probably want a bag that will hold your camera along with those fancy telephoto lens (or glass as the pros call it), your hot shoot flash, polarized filter, uv filter, memory cards, and other small equipment you might need for work, photojournalism or just a hobby.

We are proud to suggest the SlingShot 200 AW. This camera bag is sure to meet or even exceed all your needs. The SlingShot easily fits your DSLR with mid-range zoom lens attached, and up to four additional lenses depending on their size. The camera bag is equipped with 2 pockets for storing various articles.There is also a built-in memory card pouch, and micro fiber LCD cloth to make sure you have no dust on your lenses when you begin to shoot.

Photographers usually need to be very close to the camera to capture that perfect shot and this bag allows for the quickest response time. It wears like a backpack and feels really nice and comfortable when you put it on. The SlingShot allows access to the camera with just a swing giving it's owner quick access. It features safety latches so that the camera won't accidentally slip off while you are opening the bag.

Lowepro is known for padding their bags really well, the SlingShot 200 doesn't fall short.

One of our favorite features was the All Weather guard, hence the AW in the name. It is basically a raincoat for your bag. It extracts from the bottom of the bag and covers it completely helping you to safeguard your equipment when nature calls.

All in all, we really couldn't find any flaws in the design of the SlingShot and were very pleased overall. For those getting into the hobby we would also recommend the Lowepro SlingShot 100 which is a bit smaller but still has all the features of its big brother. There is also a SlingShot 300 AW Model with a maximum load capacity of a PRO SLR with attached 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens, 5-6 extra lenses, and a flash unit.

For about $89 this bag covers all the basics and more.

We found one of the best prices at Adorama our favorite place to get camera equipment. They offer great prices ship quickly and have been around for quite some time. Another place that comes highly recommended is B&H Photo. They too have competitive prices and are well known among photographers of all kind.

Instead of clogging-up our landfills with plastics Excellent Packaging & Supply has an innovative solution — utensils made out of potatoes named SpudWare. 80% potato starch and 20% soy oil make up the very simple formula, which according to manufacturer allows the cutlery to take heat. You'll need that kind of heat tolerance since you wouldn't like hot tomato soup to melt or bend while you are using these Earth-friendly disposable utensils. After about 6 months the utensils will biodegrade in the landfill and everyone is happy.

Still, like most "green" products SpudWare utensils are more expensive than their conventional plastic counterparts, which is a shame, because we hope these kind of products would be adapted by the general public at a more accelerated rate. Fortunately, the restaurant industry is taking notice and biodegradable disposable product use is increasing every year.

Get yours at the distributor web site.

Canadian-based Europa Stairways Inc., operating in the United States as Europa Stairways LLC., designs custom-made stairs that you'd typically see in buildings that push the architecture envelope. Meshing wood with stainless steel, they achieve a wondrous level of sophistication in their stair design that is sensitively-modern. Particularly beautiful are the stairs that combine light maple and the aforementioned stainless steel. Europa Stairwars also gives you the option to use acrylic steps when building your custom stair, giving way to some more cutting-edge designs.

One other neat design touch Europa Stairways uses is the inclusion of LED lights in their guardrails and treads. The inclusion of these computer-controlled lights allow for a wide-ranging variety of colors in your custom-made staircase.

Color us impressed.

Though on the surface the Braun Tassimo looks like just another espresso / coffee machine, it is much more than that - it is a multi-purpose brewing machine, or what the manufacturer refers to as a hot beverage system. It is a good description to be sure, but what the description doesn't tell you is that the Braun Tassimo is one heck of a machine.

What Can the Braun Tassimo Do?
In an effort to be brief we'll just list what the machine can do: coffee, espresso, real milk-based lattes and cappuccinos, cafe crema, hot tea, tea latte, and hot chocolate. Surprised yet? We were.


This is how it All Works
T-Discs - that's what makes the Braun Tassimo unique. If you've ever used a pod/capsule-based coffee machine, then T-Discs will seem very familiar on the surface, but they are actually very different. Each T-Disc has a barcode imprinted on the top that tells the Tassimo how much water to inject through the T-Disc. The result of this process is an exact brew that has the same taste time and time again. Alternatively, the Tassimo also lets you manually control the brewing process by simply pressing and holding down a button. It is all about options.

Speaking of options, unlike other coffee and espresso machines, you have a wide selection of brands offering a multitude of flavors and types of beverages. Don't like Seattle's Best Coffee? No problem, you have a choice.

As of this writing the following companies offered at least one product under the Tassimo Label:

Gevalia
Seattle's Best Coffee
Maxwell House Cafe Collection
Mastro Lorenzo
Kenco Classic Blend
Carte Noire
Nabob 100% Colombian
Jacobs Kroenung
Twinings Tea
Suchard Hot Chocolate
Tazo

On the down side, like all other capsule-based coffee machines, the price of each T-Disc is significantly higher than if you were to purchase a bag of coffee at the supermarket. So, what you'll gain in speed and ease of clean up, you'll have to pay for with your wallet.

A Taste of the Tassimo
In the past we've always complained about the strength and flavor of capsule-based machines. Some of the espressos felt watered-down as if the amount of coffee in the pod was not sufficient compared to the amount of water being injected through the capsule. Not so with the Tassimo, the Gevalia espresso in particularly delivered a completely balanced espresso with a smooth, yet strong taste. We were also pleasantly surprised at the taste of the cappuccino, perhaps aided by the fact that the Tassimo uses real milk in their cappuccino T-Discs.

Of the different coffees (cafe Americano) we've tried, the taste of Carte Noire was exceptional and in this category the Gevalia performed well again. Of course if you are already a fan of any of the participating brands their T-Discs will probably not disappoint.

Though we are not experts (or even casual drinkers of Tea), and thus can't speak much on the matter, the Twinings Earl Grey Tea we tried was actually a nice introduction for us. Moreover the Suchard's Hot Chocolate T-Disc was one of the ones we were most excited about, and though it had a good taste, we would have preferred if the Tassimo had some support for milk for the hot chocolate as an option (the Tassimo uses a water-based recipe).

The Performance
The Braun Tassimo is not the fastest of the capsule-based brewing machines we've reviewed, that award belongs to the Nespresso brand of coffee machines, but it is still fast enough to brew an espresso in just 30 seconds, and coffee and tea in under 60 seconds. The machine will take approximately thirty seconds to warm up before it is ready for use.

Sadly, the Tassimo is missing a milk frother attachment, which is a standard feature in many other coffee machines. Though the cappuccinos are delicious and have some froth when using the cappuccino T-Discs, it would be nice to be able to have apply as much milk foam as desired. You'll want to keep this in mind before making a purchase.

Conclusion
The Braun Tassimo is easy to use, easy to clean and easy to recommend. With such a wide range of options and features it is truly in a field of its own. And even though this is as multi-purpose as it gets, the Tassimo performs extremely well in all categories, most importantly in the taste department.

Service Villa's Editor's Choice Award Winner.


THE GOOD
- Gives you a choice of flavors and brands
- Brews fast
- Easy clean up
- Does more than just coffee
- The machine is affordable considering what it can do

THE BAD
- T-Disc are on the pricey side
- Lacks a milk frother


Manufacturer's Web Site | Buy Online

The Boulder Colorado based Big Chill has us going back in time like the movie Back to the Future with their line of Big Chill retro refrigerators. These American-built refrigerators have a have a stamped metal body with chrome trim and ample interior room (20.9 cubic feet). Inside you'll find 3 easy-clean spill-proof glass shelves, a temperature management system, 2 half-width clear crisper pans, and automatic moisture control. Some futuristic amenities like a water dispenser and ice maker are optional, but available at a minimal price ($300 bucks).

Big Chill retro refrigerators are available in very fifties pastel colors like Pink Lemonade (pictured above), Beach Blue, Buttercup Yellow, and Jadite Green. For those who appreciate the retro design, but wish to use a safer colors in their kitchen, the company also offers both white and black options. On top of that, there are odd ball colors like Orange and Cherry Red. In all you can choose from 8 different colors.

The Big Chill retro refrigerators retails for $2700, a budget-friendly price for such a niche consumer base.

If you wanted the art in your house to be completely personal, then it doesn't get more personal than the DNA Portraits from dna11. The company offers artwork created from your individual code of DNA. Yeah, it sounds a bit freaky, but who would have thought that your DNA pattern would make such unique art for your home.

The process to get your personalized artwork is surprisingly simple. Through the company's web site you choose the number of individuals you want on your DNA artwork (anywhere from 1 to 4) and then choose the color scheme for your DNA art piece. After placing your order dna11 will then send you a collection kit so you can collect the samples of DNA for your DNA Portrait. After you send the samples back to the lab, they will process the DNA and print out your DNA Portrait art piece. The whole process can take over 8 weeks, so be prepared to be patient.

dna11 offers eight colors to choose from, including the citron option featured above and my personal favorite, the infrared option. Prices start at $390 for the DNA Portraits and go up from there depending on size and quantity of DNA samples you want to pull from.

For more specific details about the whole process and their privacy policy, be sure to check out the dna11 web site.

The Sunbeam Rocket Grill is a new comer to the onslaught of grilling machines in the consumer market. Like other machines before it, the Rocket Grill claims to reduce fat while maintaining flavor. The hook being that it does it at record speeds. We took the machine through some tests to see how well the Rocket Grill performed, so let's have a look.

The whole Sunbeam Rocket Grill package consists of the Rocket Grill unit, 36 Parchment Bags, Stainless Steel Grilling Tongs, a Grill Guide, and a Sunbeam Rocket Grill Cook Book with some enticing recipes. From the included cook book we pulled one of the recipes to do our tests: the Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Chicken.

Depending on what kind of food you are going to be cooking (fresh or frozen) will determine how much time you'll need to set the Rocket Grill to cook for. The included Grill Guide aids you in this process as it tells you how many minutes to set the timer for based on which food you are trying to make. For example, if you have two 2 servings of fresh chicken, you'll need to set the timer to 8 minutes. Alternatively, if you have one frozen hamburger that you wish to cook medium-rare, the grilling time would be 5 minutes. The Grill Guide is an incredibly handy tool that you will not want to lose, and because of this the product designers were smart enough to include a small compartment in the bottom of the unit to store it.

One of the big drawbacks of using a microwave oven or other fat-reducing grilling machines is that the flavor of the meat is typically lost when you cook it. This is not the case for the Rocket Grill and the secret is in the parchment bags that you use to cook your food.

About Those Parchment Bags
To cook your food you place the desired serving into a parchment bag. Then you anchor the parchment bag on two hooks on top of the machine and close the grill gate. The parchment bag hangs as two grill presses cook your food for the pre-determined amount of time. Here is the genius part: Hanging the parchment paper allows the fat to drip into a special compartment within the bag while retaining most of the moisture in the food to keep it tender and flavorful. The fat from the bacon in our recipe filled about 1/5th of the bottom of our parchment bag as a lot of the fat in the meat was released during the grilling process.

After the meat was done cooking (more about that in a minute), all you need to do is release the bag parchment bag from the hooks and remove your food with the included Stainless Steel Grilling Tongs. As you can hopefully imagine by now, the cleaning process was easy: you take your bag and just toss it in the garbage. It doesn't get any easier than that.

Our only real gripe with the whole parchment bag system is that the bags are one-time use only, so be ready to pony up for replacements. Just like the razor business model, here too you'll be paying a hefty price for replacements. For about $15 dollars you can net 36 replacement parchment bags at most online retailers and from the Sunbeam web site itself. Keep this in mind if you are considering buying a Rocket Grill and don't forget that you will also need to pay shipping and handling charges each time you make a purchase.

The End Result
So, how well did the food fair? We were shocked at how good the final product tasted. We are frankly used to the dry taste of chicken when we use other fat-reducing grilling machines, but the chicken and bacon tasted really good. Not only that, but we were surprised that the chicken was soft and tender, and the bacon crispy. We would even go as far as saying that it does a better job than using a non-stick pan since there is very little risk of over-cooking the chicken (something most of us have not yet mastered).

We've been singing the graces of the Rocket Grill for most of the review, but it is worth mentioning that there is inconsistency as far as timing in the included cook book and that of the Grill Guide. The cook book said to line up all the chicken in the parchment bag and grill it for 4 minutes. In our tests however, we had to grill the chicken twice in order to achieve the desired result: a fully-cooked chicken and crispy bacon. In total it took the Rocket Grill about 8 minutes to get there, the amount of time the Grill Guide said to use to begin with. We are not entirely sure why the cook book said one thing and the Grill Guide another so be sure to look at the Grill Guide when making your cooking time decision.

It All Grills Down To This
The Sunbeam Rocket Grill is an amazing cooking device. It is an evolution in the world of fat-reducing grills. It nailed every thing the machine was set out to do in our tests: it cooked food fast, it cooked it well, it removed unwanted fat from the meat, and it kept in the flavor of the food. Though the cost of the Sunbeam Rocket Grill Replacement Bags will add up over time, they are part of the reason you'll have virtually no clean up every time you use the machine. At $129.99, the Sun Beam Rocket Grill is a product we wholeheartedly recommend for anyone who is in the market for a fat-reducing grill, and for that we give it our Editor's Choice Award.


THE GOOD
- The Sunbeam Rocket Grill requires virtually no clean up.
- Grills food to perfection in a ridiculous amount of time.
- Very easy to use.
- Reduces fat during the cooking process.
- Reducing the fat does not reduce the flavor of the food.

THE BAD
- Replacement parchment bags are expensive - $14.99 for a set of 36.
- The recipe book and grilling guide do not follow the same time frame.

We've grown tired of the typical numbers you find in the large home improvement stores. You hardly ever find anything other than traditional numbers there, so were happy to see there is a company out there that caters to those of us who like more streamlined modern looking house numbers. WestOn offers forty-one different house number styles from modern to traditional, along with twelve finishes (satin, anodized aluminum, bronze). The company is capable of creating each individual number in sizes ranging from 2 inches to 24 inches. Another nice feature is that the house numbers can be installed flush against the wall or with spacers and they do not contain ugly visible holes on the numbers themselves making them look slick.

If you are into modern-looking house numbers, give WestOn a try.

The Oster Fusion is a marriage between a blender and a food processor. It is Oster's unique take on the crowded blender/food processor market. And while we admit we were somewhat adamant at what the product tried to be at first, after we took the product for a spin we were incredible surprised at how well the machine performed.

The Oster Fusion comes equipped with a 6 cup glass jar for the blender, a food processor bowl, food processing stainless steel blades, a slicer/shredder blade, a 6-point star blade for blending, and the base where the powerful 600-watt motor is housed. Yeah, a 600-watt motor -- this sucker crushes through ice like an ice-breaking ship. More about that later.

There are five different levels of manual controls: low and max pulse, medium blend, and Max/Ice Crush. There are also two automatic controls: Frozen Drinks & Shakes and Food Chop for processing food. And course, there is the on/off button along with a stop button to immediately halt any of the automatic or manual controls.

So, enough about the specs, let's dig into the product itself.

The Oster Fusion Blends Your Soul
I'll get right to the point: The Oster Fusion blender is incredible. We weren't expecting a do-it-all blender to do what this blender did so well. We are ready to put our reputation on the line by saying that the Oster Fusion Blender is the best consumer blender on the market period. We were absolutely amazed at how well the blender crushed through ice. We made pi?a coladas and loaded the blender with cream of coconut,pineapple juice, and a whole tray of ice cubes. We hit the automatic blender button and sat back and saw the machine blend the smoothest pi?a colada we ever had. I don't exaggerate when I say that each one of us came away stunned by how fast and well this machine blended. Amazing. Simply amazing.

The way the blender works is ingenious. The six extremely sharp blades cut through the ice cube, then after a couple of seconds, the blades spin backwards pulling the ice back in for more ice massacre. This happens three to four times during the automatic Frozen Drinks & Shakes cycle then the machine blends what is left as normal. After it is done what is left is a creamy smooth mix without a single stranded ice cube.

That's not to say the machine does not have its problems. The manual controls are missing the powerful reverse control that makes the automatic system so powerful, so if you want to have that capability you'll miss it when going manual. Another problem we found is that both the 6-cup glass jar for the blender and the food processor bowl do not snap to the motor base. This makes the bowl float a top of the base as you process or blend and when you run the machine at high velocities it feels as if the bowl will shoot right out of the base and spiral towards your face. I was scared more times than I like to admit when we were slicing food with the Max Pulse control.

Slicing and Dice
Speaking of the slicer, it feels as if this addition to the product was an afterthought. Though the Oster Fusion sliced through whatever we presented, it will never replace the need for a traditional slicer as a traditional slicer will give you infinitely more control while slicing. The shredder though limited, proved to be very useful when we shredded green apples.

Process Like Your Life Depended on It
The food processor attachment does a good job at processing food, but again the fact the bowl seems a bit unstable as you process food left us wondering if this function was added on late in the product's cycle. As a nice bonus however, the food processor attachment comes with a food shoot, something a lot of the smaller more affordable food processors do not include.

Final Thoughts
All in all, The Oster Fusion is without a doubt one of the best blenders in the consumer market. Though the food processor and slicing features seem like an afterthought, the blender is amazing. At a retail price of $69.99 this blender is absolutely worth it.

You really want to be lazy? Then you must check out the Excalibur Motorized Pool Lounger. The device let's you float around your pool by using two separate propeller subassembly while you use absolutely no calories. Can you imagine seeing yourself floating around one of these guys in a crowed pool with dark sunglasses? Absolutely hilarious.

The pool floating device is powered by twelve 1.5 volt D-Cell batteries and is controlled with 2 Atari-2600-looking directional controls. The device also contains a built-in cup holder to hold a refreshing glass of margarita.

Go ahead, be lazy, as long as your having fun doing it.