Test Drive

Even as NBC was pulling its episodes off the iTunes music store and closing down its YouTube channel this fall, there was a new hope for people who wanted to watch TV online: Hulu, a new site that hosts full TV episodes and selected clips. The site is fully sanctioned by NBC, Fox, and several major studios — no copyright infringement here! — and it allows users to watch, rate, and even embed and share content legally.

The site is still in a private testing stage, but you can sign up for a username and password. I recently got mine and took a spin through Hulu, and here's what I found:

The Good

• The selection. Hulu is by no means comprehensive, but there's a lot here — more than 100 series, including current shows such as Damages and old favorites such as Picket Fences, along with several full-length movies. Scrolling through the list, I was already mentally assembling a playlist: The first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed by a little Arrested Development, then maybe some vintage Weird Science . . .
• The video quality. Hulu video looks sharp in its default resolution, and even at full screen, it's much easier to look at than many streaming video sites.
• Custom clips. If Hulu has a full episode, you can create a custom clip from it, choosing when the video should start and stop.
• The interface. Hulu is easy and intuitive to use, whether I'm looking through the list of series or trying to figure out how to embed a clip. You can even "turn the lights out" while watching a video, dimming everything on the screen except for the clip itself.

Hulu has a lot to recommend it — but there are downsides. To see what they are (and see an episode of Arrested Development that I embedded, just because I can) just read more

I know I'm not the only person out there that has sat down in a plane, train or automobile hoping to listen to my iPod, only to realize I'm down to a tiny sliver on the charge bar. While I often have my laptop or charger with me, this nifty Griffin TuneJuice2 charger is one of those small gadgets you don't want to leave the house without. It can provide up to 14 hours of additional audio play, or 2 more hours of video enjoyment. You just have to pop 4 AAA batteries into it (your first 4 are included and you can use rechargeable) and keep rocking.

For a full gallery of images, from my test run read more

In theory, I like the idea of lip-plumping lip glosses, but in reality, they always seem to disappoint me: They either burn like hell or have little to no effect. But because I'm usually a big fan of the Freeze 24/7 brand, I recently got around to trying the pricey Freeze 24/7 PlumpLips IceSticks Lip Plumper, which I wrote about here. Freeze 24/7 has built a business on providing needle-free anti-aging treatments in the form of makeup and other cosmetics, and it claims that its lip plumper provides a pain-free alternative to collagen. But while the stuff may be less painful than injections, the experience was anything but pleasant.

When I first applied the sweet-smelling, super-shiny gloss, it lent my lips a cinnamony tingle not unlike DuWop Lip Venom, available here. But unlike DuWop, which reddens lips with very little discomfort, the Freeze 24/7 PlumpLips made my mouth feel like it was on fire. When I finally reached for a mirror, the border around my lips was red and splotchy like I'd just eaten a jar of jalapenos. I finally just washed it off with a damp cloth to get the ugliness to go away. Not exactly the look I was going for. Plus, for a product priced so high—it's available for $42.50 here—that just doesn't seem right. But I'm wondering if anyone else has tried this lip gloss and, if so, what you thought of it. Tell me below!

A very slender and brazen friend of mine once told me that just about any woman—no matter how skinny she is—is likely to have what she called "cottage-cheese butt." Meaning, of course, is that even very skinny people get cellulite, since it's more of a cosmetic problem than a weight issue. That's why I'm intrigued by all of the new skin-firming lotions hitting the market lately, promising to tighten skin and reduce the appearance of cellulite through solely topical treatments.

For my first venture into skin-firming territory, I decided to test drive Bliss Spa's Poetic Cosmetics Fatgirlslim. I like Bliss products, and I liked the clever name, plus the lotion had several positive reviews on sites like Makeup Alley. The not-so-secret ingredient in this cream is caffeine—or, more specifically, "QuSome encapsulated caffeine molecules." I suppose the idea is to make your skin so jittery that it tightens up on contact, but I found the effect to be more disturbing than anything. I could actually feel my skin going taut when I applied the lotion, and the side effects lasted for hours—namely, it hurt to sit down. Plus, I didn't see any noticeable difference in the area where I'd applied the Fatgirlslim, but perhaps that's because the tingly feeling was so weird that I couldn't stand to use it for more than two weeks. But I'd be interested to hear what other people think, so pick up a jar for yourself here for $25 and let me know how it works for you.