gadgets - "as seen on tv"

I was at a street fair today and saw someone selling a gadget to open plastic packages. I think this is really cool because so many products - especially electronics - are wrapper in a way that it is incredibly difficult to open. I say one that had perforation so you could open it would just your hands. Everything else required a knife (I couldn't get it with just a scissor.) Needless to say I bought one.

This product has apparently been advertised on TV. I say apparently because I didn't see it there. Which leads me to think of a point of discussion. What gadgets have you actually seen advertised on TV. (I don't watch many commercials so I miss a lot of such things.)

Many years ago I bought the one and only thing I've ever bought from an infomercial. Actually, I didn't buy it from the infomercial...

I saw the infomercial for the Tilia FoodSaver (vacuum sealer) and thought that it'd be great because I keep a great big freezer in the garage. They wanted about $130 for it however and I figured I'd be willing to try it out for $75.

So I logged onto ebay and there it was with a "buy it now" of $74.99. I snagged it.

And you know what? It would have been worth every penny of the $130. I love it! I'm on my 2nd, in fact.

My favorite one of those ads is the one for the hardboiled-egg peeling machine. Have you seen it? The "before" woman is such an unbelievable nimrod. She has shell fragments in her hair and all over her clothes, because peeling hardboiled eggs is so hard!!! With the amazing machine, you just hunt around your kitchen, find the gadget, assemble it, put the egg in there, push it down, clean out the shells, wash it, dry it, and put it away -- it's so much easier!!!

I love those commercials! The way that they paint "before" is usually hilarious. Not only do they portray them as nimrods, but I always laugh at they other tricks they use -- sometimes subtle, like filming them in a cold light, or blatant by dropping into black-and-white.

Hey can you please see this blog which has various gadgets.I like gadgets from this site.

[ UD: Removed BA designed to lure traffic to own web site. ]

That package opening device looks useful. Those wrappers that you can open with it indeed look like they are made as if they never have to be opened...

You should see what crazy gadgets they sell here on TV... one of the most hilarious ones that I've seen is the "Power Grow Comb", a hairbrush with red and blue LED lights in it, which is supposed to make your hair grow. With "bio-resonance energy" and with "NASA technology"!

It's incredible that they are allowed to say stuff like that in a commercial.

Some years back, we used to get an ad (in news papers though, not tv) which used to solicit an "incredible device to get rid of bedbugs for ever".
Gullible customers used to send money in advance (of course) and obtain in return a tiny hammer and anvil. The idea was to catch a bug, put it on the anvil, and bring down the hammer, this getting rid of that particular bed bug for ever

The one I've been seeing lately is the "Topsy Turvy", which basically looks like a hanging bag. It allows you to grow tomatoes upside down. I would have thought a plant would refuse to grow with its roots up and leaves down, but they seem pretty sure. I can't remember if they say it's not available in stores, but they'd be wrong, because I've seen it in Home Depot.

The bedbug hammer and anvil is hysterical! I hope they include tiny ropes for tying the bedbugs down, because otherwise they're not going to just sit on the anvil waiting for the hammer to fall.

Greg Charles wrote:The one I've been seeing lately is the "Topsy Turvy", which basically looks like a hanging bag. It allows you to grow tomatoes upside down. I would have thought a plant would refuse to grow with its roots up and leaves down, but they seem pretty sure. I can't remember if they say it's not available in stores, but they'd be wrong, because I've seen it in Home Depot.

I have a friend who is using this for his tomatoes -- and he really likes it. And the plant doesn't really grow up-side down. Actually, it does start that way, but then it turns around, upward around the bag.

Henry

Henry Wong wrote:I have a friend who is using this for his tomatoes -- and he really likes it. And the plant doesn't really grow up-side down. Actually, it does start that way, but then it turns around, upward around the bag.

I have two. That's exactly what happens. Although I imagine as fruit develops (I have one so far -- it's still early) it'll pull the plant downward some.

I got mine at Home Depot.

Interesting. The commercial shows the tomatoes hanging down like a bunch of grapes, but it seems like the plant would constantly fight against its inversion. You'll have to keep us updated as the fruit develops.

Meanwhile I'm still snickering over the bedbug hammer and anvil. I love that enough that even knowing the scam, I'd still probably buy one just as a conversation piece. On a similar tack, I once heard of an ad for a natural breast enlargement system, which turned out to be a picture of a hand and a vague explanation that massage would make them grow. I'm not sure if that's true, but I'm certainly ready to volunteer as a provider ... in the name of scientific research of course. Hmm, I wonder if it works on other body parts?

What is the advantage of letting your tomato plants grow upside down?

Just go to http://www.topsyturvy.com/ and watch their video. It will be explained to you in breathless detail.