Chuck C.

Same as taiwanyo.com. Good resource for food places in Taiwan. Iphone app and website, with android coming soon.

I wanted to share a recent shopping experience. I was looking to buy three books and ship them internationally (to Taiwan). I also wanted these books as soon as possible. I started with Amazon since that's where I usually order my books (and use the free shipping option within the US). When I looked at shipping to Taiwan, I saw that the fastest international shipping option for my books would be around $75 (and the total for the 3 books was only $100). So I looked around.

On Barnes and Noble, the fastest express international shipping cost me ~$50 so I was able to save over $20. So, when you are shopping for things online, check not only the prices of the items, but also the prices for different shipping options because it can matter a lot. (For the slowest international shipping option, Amazon was cheaper.) Be sure to shop around for each situation.

People already know about gmail for its email capabilities.

There is now a new capability in gmail for making phone calls around the world using your computer and mic. Phone calls in the US are FREE until the end of the year, and the international rates are supposed to be very low (I didn't look into the exact rates; just spouting what's on their blog). It's a great looking feature worth checking out.

I had never heard of Escents products when I was living in the US (since in North America, they only have stores in Canada). In Taiwan, you can find these guys in any department store. The Escents section of the store always smells great, and you can tell that their products are of the highest quality. The prices in the department stores in Taiwan for Escents aromatherapy products are pretty steep.

When I found this website (which offers free shipping over $100), I was really happy since the prices are much much more reasonable. Compared with department store prices, you can easily save 33% to 70% on the website. The website features different special deals and sales, and their email list will notify you of different specials going on.

I personally use their diffuser with essential oils at nighttime, and it really has improved my quality of sleep. They also have great soaps, skin care products, hair care products, and body care products. Check them out and try them out.

I first read about this website back around 2006 in some news story about how a 14 year old started this business (in 2001) with a $500 investment and started selling office chairs out of his garage. I became interested and checked out the website and saw that it was very professional looking with full customer service, company, and help details. I decided to give it a try as I was in the market for a new desk chair at school.

I had no problems placing my order for a mesh desk chair, and there were amble item status updates during the shipping process. I received my chair in less than a week and with minimal assembly I had my brand new spanking desk chair. It was very comfortable and served me well. I would dare say it was comparable in comfort to my Herman Miller Aeron chair at home (for which I paid more than five times in price versus this new mesh chair). The material of my new mesh chair was sturdy and good quality. After two years of use, I was going to move and I sold the chair to some other student. It was still in excellent condition (could not tell it wasn't brand new).

About a year ago I was looking for some inexpensive glasses after the coating from my last pair of glasses started rubbing off (after about 1 year). That pair of glasses was covered under my insurance and was free (and would have cost about $100 retail with no insurance). I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that a pair of glasses costing $100 would have its coating come off after 1 year. I would have gone back to the store but that store was in New York and I had moved back to California.

After going to Costco for my first attempt, I didn't find any cheap glasses (cheapest was about $100 a pair which did not qualify as inexpensive for me). I googled and found ZenniOptical and decided to try them out. I was able to choose 2 frames with good quality lenses for $70 total for both ($35 each) including shipping. What a great deal! I was very happy with both pairs when I received them in less than a week.

Only out of the ordinary thing I encountered was having to measure my own PD - pupillary distance -- which I accomplished with a mirror and piece of paper. Not very hard but just a tiny little hassle. Still well worth the time and money.

Guy responds to Craigslist ads with the sole purpose of being funny and publishing the emails back and forth from the two parties. Tons of fun, if you're not easily offended.

I found the website off another's review stating that it was good for a quick laugh, but I strongly disagree. There's nothing quick about it. You get addicted and keep reading the funny posts for a long long time.

If you are looking for poker odds in terms of what hands have the best % of winning and pot equity, this is the best site. Easy to use interface. Check it out if you are a serious poker player.

My absolute favorite website of all time, where you can find information on just about anything. Nothing much much to say except "Heart Heart Heart."

I love reading the "news" on the Onion. I love it when news articles from the Onion show up on the google news feed and freak people out. (I have to admit I was one such "freaked out" person by an Onion article showing up on google news once.)

One of the mysteries people always think about is being a mystery shopper or doing mystery restaurant reviews. This is a tough topic to discuss since people involved with them invariably have to sign non-disclosure agreements. I will say what I can safely say...

I have done a little bit of research into the matter of doing mystery reviews on restaurants, and this "seems" like a great operation. (I'd probably be breaking some rules if i replaced the "seems" with is.)

Check out blogs on the topic, and check out this site if you are interested in being a mystery shopper. Do the research and decide for yourself.

There are two main reasons SuperAntiSpyware is great. First of all, the free version is absolutely great and has everything you should need. There are premium versions which you can pay for which give you more features that you really don't need.

The other main reason (and the mainer of the two main reasons) is that SuperAntiSpyware simply finds more viruses, spyware, adware, and other problems on your computer than anything else I have used (including enterprise level anti spyware or antivirus software). Time and time again, SuperAntiSpyware will find and allow you to clean problems that other programs do not find. The one time that I got a computer virus infection problem my antivirus couldn't fix all the problems and my friend pointed me to SuperAntiSpyware and I'm so glad he did! From that day, I've had SuperAntiSpyware installed on my computers and use it regularly.

The program is easy to install and super easy to use. It is constantly updated with information about new threats so be sure to keep your updates constantly. Just doing it once a week before you do a weekly scan on your computer should suffice.

Personally, I think the best route to go is to use SuperAntiSpyware to scan your computer once a week and pair that with some free antivirus software to do real time protection (if you do not want to pay for the version of SuperAntiSpyware that offers real time computer threat protection). That should be able to handle most of the virus, spyware, and annoying popup problems you may encounter.

Upon reading the existing reviews of Restaurant.com, I felt I had to chime in.

Restaurant.com offers great coupons that get you great discounts at some great restaurants. The single most important thing you need to know is that you need to read the all usage requirements of each coupon ahead of time since they are not all the same. If you do not follow the usage requirements, many restaurants will not accept your coupon but I would say each instance of that is because people are not fully aware of the conditions and usage requirements for the coupon. (Examples of usage requirements include which meal [lunch/dinner], how many entrees required, spending requirements, once a month per restaurant, etc.) Be sure also to mention to your server that you are going to be using a Restaurant.com coupon before you order.

Other thing to know about Restaurant.com coupons is that you should not be paying more than $2-$3 per $25 coupon. There are always sales and coupon codes that allow you to pay those prices. If you sign up for their mailing list they will constantly send you sale notifications (although the frequency of the Restaurant.com email mailings can border on spam so that's something to watch out for).

The times I have used Restaurant.com coupons at restaurants, they have all been excited about them and welcomed the business with open arms. My favorite place to use this coupon is at Strip Steak at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. One time, we booked 2 tables of 2 since we had 4 people and 2 coupons to use (requirement is $50 spent or 2 entrees ordered per $25 coupon, I forget). Strip Steak allowed us to just have a table for 4 and use 2 coupons together as long as we met the requirements for each coupon. It was awfully nice of them and allowed us to have a great meal for a good deal and enjoy everyone's company.

In summary, READ THE REQUIREMENTS and follow them. NEVER PAY TOO MUCH for the coupons. ENJOY THE SAVINGS.

I have hosted both shared servers and dedicated servers with westhost. WIth westhost, you get good uptime, reasonable prices, and a lot of choices for your hosting needs. What has been most impressive about westhost is their online customer and tech support. I have used their online tech support over 20 times in the past 2 years and they are always quick to respond and each tech support is very knowledgeable and helpful. I'm sure that everyone is sick of getting tech support people who know even less than you and have problems grasping the issue / question / problem. With any scheduled downtime, they always notify you well ahead of time with repeat reminders as the time gets closer so that you can plan around it. Zero complaints for the past 2 years from me.

I have probably order over 50 times from amazon in the last 10 years and have never had any problems with any orders. Never been shipped any wrong items (once was shipped the same item twice for a single order which customer service told me not to worry about it) and orders always arrive in a timely fashion. Don't be scared about the delivery time frame for items with their super saver free shipping option -- it usually arrives before they say. Only opt for the overnight / 2nd day shipping options if you absolutely need to have the item in hand by a certain date.

Be aware that if you buy items from amazon stores / sellers, those items won't qualify for free shipping, although the shipping is usually quite reasonable. With amazon sellers, the items can come a little slower, so if possible I usually opt to get items from amazon themselves.

This brand of body care and skin care products is of the highest quality. Site offers easy browsing of products as well as three complimentary samples of their products with each order. If you register, you will also get periodic emails (about once a week) about special deals, free shipping offers, and other sales. Highly recommend.

This site is amazing. You install the software on the machine you want to access from elsewhere. Then using any browser anywhere you can access your computer by entering in a couple of passwords. The software to install is absolutely free (there's a free version that never expires). If you need more functionality such as printing or file transfers you will need a more advanced version (Pro) that requires a fee which isn't even that bad. For file transfers, I get around that by email files to myself (as long as they are not too big).

They also have options for access on your iPhone or handheld devices but those apps cost money. I've never tried them, but I would imagine them to be worth the money for ones that need access to their computer remotely from a handheld.

I have bought tickets to concerts and sporting events several times on stubhub and have not encountered any problems. I find their search features easy to use and the tickets always arrive on time with no problems. Allows you to select the ticket pickup options. You can probably find cheaper tickets from other outlets or sources, but you risk unreliable sellers or running into problems which can be a pain in the butt to solve. Haven't encountered any such issues with stubhub.

Amazing site if you want to search for words in Chinese, including an input system where you write the character with your mouse. Allows those of us who don't know pinyin or how to input chinese characters on our computer to input those chinese characters. The dictionary also does a good job translating.

This site is pretty easy to use to see all three of your credit reports (although they will try to upsell you to see your credit score which you don't need to get there). This is the actual government mandated ftc site unlike all the other misleading ones which offer a free credit report with a trial signup with a credit monitoring service (which often are a pain in the butt to cancel once they start charging your credit card automatically).