Three things that work as advertised.

I get tired of feeling cynical about commercial products, but they just won't give me a break. Or, they break. Here are three exceptions that I'm feeling pretty good about right now:

Fujitsu ScanSnap


Light, portable, and extremely intuitive. You can process your image any way you want it, right on the spot. Send it to iPhoto? You got it. Email it? Done. Several pages of a document? No problem, tell it when you're finished and it'll make it one file. I processed thousands of paper photos to digitize them, and I would have done it in half, maybe one-third the time with this puppy. Bus-power gives it extra ♥♥♥.

[Disclaimer: Annie bought this, and I just now choked up a little when I saw the price. Still, if you want a quick, small and convenient way to deal with paperwork on the road, I stick by my recommendation.]



Canon Pixma iP100 mobile printer

It's billed as a travel photo printer, but does a bang-up job on regular print jobs, too.  I have to print several times a week, and lugging our old HP up and down from the overhead storage was oppressive.  Losing my grip and dropping it on a cat was never popular.  It's light (made to be portable), but does the job well.  Not bus-powered, unfortunately, but I can't have everything.  Doesn't scan, but see above.




Mini countertop spin dryer


This is small, but effective.  I got this after I led you through a madcap laundry day in the Duck, and I like it a lot.  It isn't a dryer, as the description reminds you, but clothes come about halfway between just out of the conventional washer and completely dry, after two minutes of spinning.  Downside:  it doesn't hold a lot at once.  A pair of jeans, or three shirts.  But, if you like to do your laundry as you go, or you don't dirty a lot of clothes, this "downside" turns into an advantage, because its compact size makes it easy to hoist up onto the counter for a quick wring.

Another "downside" for me is that it isn't manual, so a little electricity is required.  It uses a nominal 0.75A, so if you ran it for an hour you'd use about 0.75Ah, or (for the gridlocked) 0.08 kwh.  Each 2 minute spin would use 0.003kwh.  If you pay 13¢ per kwh, like we do here, that would cost you 0.04¢/wring-a-ding (someone check my math).

If you get one, do read the instructions.  Especially the part about removing the shipping brace on the bottom.  If I hadn't seen a video it wouldn't have occurred to me to flip it over and take that thing off.

I haven't given up on getting a hand-wringer.  I emailed my man, Grant, at Get Prepared Stuff, because he offered me a used mangle at a good price, and I wanted to take him up on it.  Tragically, I never heard back from him, so I think our brief affair is over.  Some other woman is fondling the mangle that should have been mine.