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Investing for Dummies Book Review

Investing For Dummies Book Review

Okay, I said I'll review anything sent to me, so I have read and am going to review Investing For Dummies by Tony Levene. It's just over 250 pages long and average A5 size.

This book would be very useful for both people who know nothing about investing (as I was before I read it), and for people who have a good knowledge but want to recap or expand your knowledge into other methods of investing. It's explained in layman's terms and has the helpful symbols common in all "For Dummies" books.

One thing I was happily surprised by is that Investing For Dummies doesn't just focus on investing in the stock market (although clearly it devotes a good few chapters to it). It also looks at investing in property, bonds and hedge funds. Investing For Dummies book is packed with check lists etc. which makes it all easier to digest and helps focus any further research a reader may want to do and explains it all step-by-step. In addition to this, the books is organised so that it doesn't have to be made cover-to-cover and can be dipped in and out of, which I found was a good feature.

I can't really find any drawbacks in this book, I never thought I'd be interested in this kind of thing but I really did enjoy it.

For the best deal I found that Amazon (predictably) was the cheapest, click here to buy it now!

Thanks for reading,
The Sunglasses Guy

Duronic Wind Up/Solar Radio Review

 Okay, so I'm going to review this Duronic Wind-Up/Solar AM/FM Radio. It's about 15cm long & features AM/FM radio, a torch and digital clock with an alarm. Click on the link above to find out more.

This radio is honestly really good. I took it camping so that I could listen to the Olympics, while I was away and it gets really good coverage, even working while driving in the car! It'd be great for anyone intending on taking it on holiday, charge it up with the included USB lead before you leave and after that the solar panel will keep it topped up for days. I'd also highly recommend it to anyone as a radio in a garage etc. but perhaps not if you want is as a radio in your room/office. After the mains charge eventually runs down, mine lasts about 7 or 8 hours after a full charge, the solar panel can't supply enough power if you're listening to tunes constantly at full blast (and is there really any other way to listen to music?), so you have to wind it up every 10 minutes. This is great if you're trying to avoid homework and obviously you can just recharge it from the mains if not, don't write it off yet!

It's also robust and water resistant within reason. Don't take it swimming but a bit of rain won't bother it.  Two other features I particularly like is the headphone socket (remember to buy some with the radio) and also the sound quality (something pretty important). When it arrived it was so compact I thought it would sound tinny, but no, it's pretty great. Also don't overlook the fact that it get AM as well as FM. Lots of radios now only do FM, so you effectively halve the number of stations you can get, worth bearing in mind.

The only negative I've come across this far is that if you need the alarm you'll have to leave the device on (not the actual radio, don't worry!), and if the charge runs out in the night, obviously the alarm won't go off. So don't buy this radio if you actually want an alarm clock! Apart from that, haven't found anything.

At the moment Amazon seems the cheapest out there, click here. I'd give the Duronic Wind-Up Solar AM/FM Radio 8/10, why not try it for yourself?

Thanks for reading,
The Sunglasses guy  

Eko-Mania Paper Log Maker Review

Okay, I'm going to review the Eko-Mania Paper Log Maker. This is a device designed to make logs to burn on a fire from recycled paper. It's 30 cm long (as long as an average ruler) and made of solid green steel, click on the link above to see more details. The basic idea is that pieces of paper soaked in water can be compressed into cheap fire fuel.

This device is great for any eco-enthusiast, obviously no more new trees have to be felled for firewood, which must be a good thing. It'd also be great for anyone keen on making cheap fuel for their woodburning stove, the bricks can cost absolutely nothing.

To make the most of the Eko-Mania Paper Log Maker, you'll probably need a shredder, either manual or electric. I used this Paper Log Maker to sell the logs at the local market, and I actually did well with that, easily making 5 times over the RRP. 

There are two main negatives, neither of them actually the fault of the Paper Log Maker though, but they are linked. Firstly, it does take a while to shred enough paper to make the bricks (I get about 5 bricks from an average newspaper). This can easilt be resolved by shredding a bit whenever you have a spare minute, and you quickly get the paper needed this way. Secondly, you do really need a garden and a bit of sun to dry the logs. Indoors I found that there isn't enough air circulation and the logs just take too long to  dry for them to be worthwhile. If you've got an outdoor space, however, logs will dry in just a few hours of sunshine.

Providing that you've got a small outdoor space and a bit of time on your hands to make the bricks, I'd recommend the Eko-Mania Paper Log Maker. If you've got those two things, click on the link & buy it now!

Thanks,
The Sunglasses Guy

HTC Desire Mobile Phone Review

Okay, so I'm going to review the HTC Desire mobile phone. This phone runs on the Android System and you can get hundreds of apps from the Google Play store. For those of you who haven't checked it out already, it has a 3.7 inch touch screen, colour camera and the battery can last on standby for up to 360 hours. I suggest that you click on the link above to find out more. 

The HTC Desire would be ideal for anyone who uses their phone for a lot of incoming information (i.e. emails, texts, eBay/Facebook updates etc.) A green light will flash at the top of your screen whenever there's something new for you to look at, that's a great feature because it means you don't have to keep opening applications to check up on messages. A micro SD card up to 32GB can be added to make the phone suitable for gamers, I highly recommend the mobile games on Google Play, but the internal phone storage is pretty limited and can only hold a few apps. I would definitely say it's worth buying a micro SD with the phone, my 4 Pics 1 Word game took up most of the internal storage. 

The Google Play store has really been optimised on this phone system and almost all of the apps are free, I haven't paid for one yet! 

The only main downside to this phone is the limited inner storage, but this is easily solved with a micro SD, and a 6 or 8 GB one would certainly be easily enough for most users. A second little inconvenience is that the power button is quite sensitive when switching on. You need to hold it down for a few seconds to switch it off, don't worry about that, but it did use to switch on in my bag. This Otterbox HTC Desire Case put an end to that though, and it does a really great job at protecting from scratches.

Overall, I would definitely recommend the HTC Desire.

Thanks for reading,
The Sunglasses Guy

Okay, so here's the very first post. I'll review anything that companies send to me for free! What a great deal for all you companies out there. The only rule is that I get to keep the product after I've written the review.