SkyMall Monday: Sling Couture Arm Sling ACTUAL REVIEW

by Mike Barish on

A few weeks ago, SkyMall Monday reviewed the Sling Couture Arm Sling. We were thrilled to learn that it made people feel good by making them look good. But it was such an important product and held such potential to help people who are recovering from uncomfortable injuries, that we just had to try it out for ourselves. The only problem? Well, no one at the SkyMall Monday headquarters (read: me) had a broken arm. Sure, I could strap on the sling to gauge its fit and comfort level. But, without actually having a fractured bone, it’s a challenge to understand just how useful the Sling Couture Arm Sling truly is. Enter Calvin, my Garden Yeti* who recently injured his arm in a tragic self-pleasuring incident. His misfortune is our gain, as he can now share his thoughts on the Sling Couture Arm Sling firsthand.Calvin was quite impressed with how durable the sling is. It’s well-made, fully adjustable and able to withstand the active lifestyle of an cosmopolitan Garden Yeti. As you can see from the photo above, Calvin attends many formal functions. Dressing down is simply not an option. The Sling Couture Arm Sling allowed Calvin to look the part of debonair lawn ornament at cocktail parties, debutant balls and Quinceañeras.

The padded straps and sling provided Calvin with the comfort he needed to ignore his injury and focus on impressing the other party guests with his witty anecdotes. While his arm was throbbing and the pain was difficult to manage, the Sling Couture Arm Sling kept him looking calm, cool and collected. Traditional slings look clinical and simply remind you that you’re still not back to 100%. The Sling Couture Arm Sling had Calvin feeling confident and sexy. For a medical product to bring a wounded Garden Yeti such confidence is a tribute to the magic of sequins.

You wouldn’t expect a strong, aggressive Garden Yeti to welcome sequins into his lifestyle. But Calvin is comfortable with his sexuality and appreciates the attention that the sequins garner him. He knows that he wouldn’t receive all the coy smiles, flirtatious winks and, most importantly, phone numbers, if it wasn’t for his disarming eyes and sparkly sling. He’s even considered continuing to wear the sling after he is completely recovered just for the advantage it gives him with the fairer sex.

Overall, Calvin recommends the Sling Couture Arm Sling. At $40, it may be the cheapest medical product that you ever purchase and is a small price to pay to help you both make light of your injury and continue to live your elegant lifestyle. Pills may make you feel numb and time may heal all wounds, but the Sling Couture Arm Sling makes even the gruffest Garden Yeti look like a million bucks.

* Full review of the Big Foot Garden Yeti to come in the near future.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.

SkyMall Monday: Sling Couture Arm Sling

by Mike Barish on

Remember when you were young and broke your arm and everyone signed your cast? It almost made falling off that jungle gym worth it to have everyone you knew come over to autograph that itchy plaster on your arm. Sure, you ended up with a pale, shriveled limb and a pretty boring summer, but that cast made you popular. Well, adulthood is less conducive to enjoying a cast. As an adult, you have meetings, social obligations and dress codes. It’s hard to attend black tie functions with a bright white cast. And everyone will want to know how you injured yourself. Referencing that jungle gym probably won’t be very plausible. Instead, people will be questioning your decision to make a go at being a professional arm wrestler. But what if you could conceal your busted wing and look fabulous doing it? This week, SkyMall Monday features an accessory that no klutz or failed armed wrestler should be without. SkyMall knows that just because your health is bad doesn’t mean that you can’t look good. And that’s why everyone with a broken arm and an elitist social calendar needs the Sling Couture Arm Sling.Sure, you could wear a plain black sling, but it would lack panache. It would be devoid of flair. It would be bereft of style. And you’re better than that. You need a sling that’s covered in sequins. You know the saying “if you look good, you’ll feel good?” Well, let that good feeling help your arm heal. Sure, the pins and screws and immobilization will go along way towards fusing those bones back together, but narcissism is the best medicine. Rather than asking you about your injury or last place finished in the Tri-County Arm Wrestling Pro-Am, your friends will be wondering how they can break their arms and look as good as you.

Think that bedazzling your ulna isn’t that humorous? Then you don’t get good skeleton jokes. But, make no bones about it, this product is a must for anyone with a broken arm. Just take a look at the product description:

Heal properly in greater comfort, and look good while doing it…When you look better, you will feel better!

Didn’t I just say that? Now you’ve read that theory twice…on the internet…so it’s doubly true!

So, whether you fell off of a jungle gym, sucked at arm wrestling or were thrown down a flight of stairs by Ray Pruit, heal in style with the Sling Couture Arm Sling. Your arm may be broken, but your dignity (and fashion sense) will still be intact. And that’s really all that matters.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.

Daily deal – HAVA Titanium HD streamer with WiFi for $85

by Scott Carmichael on

My daily deal for today is for the HAVA HD TV streamer. I mentioned this device several weeks ago in my “watch TV in your hotel room” article, at the time, the unit sold for about $180.

Today only, you’ll find the HAVA Titanium HD WiFi at Woot.com for just $79.99 (plus $5 shipping).

As the title says – this is for the WiFi version, so you get the HAVA Titanium and their WiFi kit, all for under $80.

With the HAVA, you can watch whatever is on TV at home, anywhere in the world. The viewer application runs on Windows, Windows Mobile, Symbian and even for the Nokia Internet Tablet.

In addition to streaming live TV, the HAVA Titanium can act as a DVR and a media player, when you connect a USB memory stick or hard drive to its USB port.

UPDATE: Item sold out about an hour after this article went live. Sorry!

Daily deal – Sling Media Slingbox Solo for $140

by Scott Carmichael on

In my daily deal for today, you’ll be able to pick up one of the items we selected as the best travel technology products of 2008.

The Slingbox Solo allows you to remotely watch TV, anywhere in the world, using your computer or smartphone. The device hooks up to your home TV setup, through a cable box, DVR or directly to your cable/antenna signal, and streams the signal over the Internet.

Imagine being stuck in a rural hotel for a week with nothing but 4 local channels. Simply open your laptop and connect to your home Slingbox. You are now in full control of what you watch, and you’ll even be able to use the virtual remote control to change channels, or start programming on your TiVo.

I’ve been a huge Slingbox fan for ages, and highly recommend it for anyone who travels more than a couple of days a year.

The Slingbox Solo normally retails for $179, but if you purchase it from Buy.com through Amazon, you’ll be able to pick one up for just $139.99, that even comes with free shipping. When you get to the Amazon page, be sure to select Buy.com as the seller in order to get the low price.

Included in the box are the cables you’ll need to connect the box to your signal, as well as a special infra-red cable for remotely controlling your video source.

What the digital TV switchover means for people on the road

by Scott Carmichael on

By now, most of you have probably seen the commercials warning about the upcoming digital TV switchover planned to take place on February 17th 2009.

Of course, I’m not going to waste your time explaining how to get ready for the transition at home, but I do want to take a minute to help those of you who depend on TV when they are on the road.

There are a couple of scenarios where travelers carry a gadget capable of receiving TV on the road, one involves those little 2″ LCD TV’s, the other is PC hardware for receiving and watching TV on your portable computer.
If you have been a happy user of a portable LCD TV, then the bad news is that you are pretty much out of options. All of these units are analogue only, which means no digital reception. So far, nobody has come forward with a digital unit, though that might change when companies announce their 2009 lineup at the CES in Vegas this week.

If you absolutely must get your TV fix, then you could consider this 7″ Haier unit ($129) or this $150 7″ Axion LCD TV.

Of course, neither unit is as portable as what you are probably used to, but both feature an integrated digital (ATSC) tuner. Portable TV’s in this price range usually come with a small digital/HDTV antenna, but depending on your location, you may not be able to pick up the signal, not to mention you’ll look like an idiot trying to position the antenna in the airport departure lounge.

For users of a computer based TV receiver things can be a little trickier.

Sites like Amazon are still selling PC TV tuners that are not compatible with the upcoming digital transition, so when you shop for a tuner, you’ll need to keep an eye open for units that won’t become close to useless after February 17th.

The magic words you are looking for are “ATSC”, “Digital TV” or “Digital Terrestrial”. More advanced tuners may even include support for “QAM”, which is the digital system used by cable companies.

Some PC TV receivers can be upgraded with digital support, while others simply lack the hardware to receive the broadcasts. If in doubt, check the support site of the device manufacturer.

There are of course alternatives to receiving TV over the air with a tuner. My personal favorite is the Slingbox, which lets you “stream” the signal from your home TV signal over the Internet to your laptop, desktop or mobile phone.

Alternatively, some mobile phone operators offer their own “mobile TV” service, usually starting at $10/month. Both options require a connection to the Internet, and can be fairly data intensive.