2 days Ago
At this time of year, our thoughts as well as our pocketbooks, turn toward gift-giving. And since this is a technical article, we’ll be discussing electronic gifts like televisions, computers, cellphones and the like. Perhaps you are considering small items, such as headphones, or hand-held computers such as iPads, or Kindles.
Isn’t it amazing that the smaller the item the higher the price! Regardless of the gift, everyone wants to get the best value. That is, the best product at the lowest price. But where can you go to find high quality at a low price? Advice from friends? Online product reviews? Magazines or newspapers? How valuable are manufacturers’ descriptions of their own products? In years past, you could seek the advice of a salesperson in a retail outlet, at least for the items offered on the floor.
Best of luck finding a knowledgeable sales associate today. What to do? Well, it turns out a good source of information is the internet, specifically an internet search engine. For most people, the 500-pound gorilla of search engines is Google.
You can access it by typing www.google.com in any browser.
Once there, you can ask Google questions in plain English. For example, we asked Google the following question: “What’s the best headphone for an Apple iPhone 15?” and got several responses. Here are the first three: 1.
Ad https://www.bestbuyersguide.com/ 2.
Ad https://www.amazon.com 3.
https://www.cnet.com › Tech › Mobile So, how do you know which one to trust? Consider this: At the top of any similar Google listing, watch out for the word “Ad” (examples are numbers 1 and 2 above).
These “Ad” offerings are typically listed first by Google. Actually, some of them may be worthwhile, but be aware of this: The providers of these reviews or websites most likely paid a fee to Google to be listed first. Our suggestion: approach these with caution.
Consider beginning with the first search result on the list that is not marked “Ad.” In our case above, that would be the ranking from www.cnet.
com Many consider C/Net to be a well-respected and an impartial internet publisher. C/Net provides reviews and rankings for a wide variety of consumer electronic products. In some cases, the reviews are printed; in other cases, there are videos to watch.
Back to the Google search engine and another advisory caution: As you search through the different listings available, you may run across sites that might be attempting to fool you by trying to look like popular independent rating sources (such as the well-known Consumer Reports magazine). When you see sites such as “trustedconsumerreview.com,” “consumertrustalliance.
com,” “bestreviews.com,” or similar websites in the search link, proceed with caution. In some cases, the rating scale may have been skewed in favor of their highest paying clients.
So, as you plunge into the holiday season this year, ask your friends for advice and check online sources. Just be aware that some of the sources may be biased in their opinions. Good hunting, and happy holidays.
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