I got paid by Swagbucks

Three months ago I was on a review website and read an article about swagbucks.com. It was my first time to be aware of the site. Then I looked at it and did a few searches using its search engine. Subsequently I decided to give it a go.

What is swagbucks.com?

Swagbucks is a rewards site, which mixes paid to search, paid to shop, paid to vote and other activities, such as phone recycling and completing special offers in one. It’s based in USA and powered by Prodege LLC, which is the web's leading provider of branded and incentivized reward portals.

It’s easy to sign up. What you need is an username and a password. However I would like to mention that Swagbucks currently only available for people from USA, Canada and UK to join and to get prizes by collecting Swag bucks.



How to earn Swag bucks?

At Swagbucks you can earn redeemable point, which is actually called Swag buck (SB) and acts like their currency. There are six ways to add up your Swag bucks.

Way 1. Search and win with Swag bucks

Similar as Google, Yahoo and Ask, Swagbucks has a search engine, which includes web, images, video, news and comparison shopping functions. Different from most searching websites at Swagbucks you can get chance to win Swag Bucks by searching via their engine.

Way 2. Special offers

Similar to many cash back websites, there are two kinds of so called special offers on Swagbucks. One is to sign up for limited time offers via Swagbucks and earn Swag Bucks. For example if you sign up Synovate, a survey website you receive 124 Swag bucks or if you shop in a particular shop you can make some Swag bucks as promised. Other is to view their no obligation offers and win Swag Bucks. Usually these offers request you to sign up or receive newsletter. However you can skip them and have a chance to find a special swag code reward at the end. By the way make sure you sign up for their newsletter that can provide you some Swag code rewards too.

Way 3. Shop

There are almost 200 stores at Swagbucks. If you shop by clicking stores or coupons through Swagbucks you can make 2 Swag bucks per $1 you spend.

Way 4. TradeIn

You can recycle your mobile phone and MP3 player to earn Swag bucks. You can also sell your video games or consoles to get Swag bucks.

Way 5. Daily Poll

There is a poll every day at Swagbucks. Every time you vote the poll you can be credited one Swag buck.

Way 6. Invite friends

Inviting friends means that every time they win you do too. For example if your referral is credited 10 Swag bucks by searching, at the same time you will be credited same points too. By doing that you can invite your friends in person or put your promotion banners or Swag Bucks widget on your blog, website or social network, etc.

How to spend Swag bucks?

You have two ways to spend Swag bucks. One is to shop at the Swag store, where you can get about 1400 physical and digital reward options. For example you can spend 1879 SB to get Kong Fu Panda DVD; you can also get $5 to your PayPal account using 700 Swag bucks. The other way is to entre Swagstakes to win E-gift card or physical items using a limited Swag bucks.

My personal experience:

Because I write articles for a few websites I need to do search work daily. If I can make money by searching it would be great. Before I had used two so called paid search websites: interADmedia and Homepage friends, unfortunately at last they became scam sites. So I had no faith to any paid search website, especially if you need to be lucky enough to win their reward. However after reading a few positive reviews about Swagbucks I changed my mind.

When I singed up I was given 30 SB as welcome gift. I immediately entered three Swagstakes, but got nothing at last. That made me less confident with Swagbucks. However one morning when I did a search via Swagbucks engine one message appeared on my screen saying congratulations you have won 11 Swag bucks. I was very excited. Consequently it became my main search site instead of Google. In general I can earn 10-20 SB daily. The biggest reward I met was 36 SB for a search, but mostly the reward is about 10, 11 or 14 SB. Time flies. One month later I added up to 700 SB and redeemed $5 to my PayPal. I was told the transaction will take one month. Surprisely I received my payment in less one week.

My opinions:

I think Swagbucks is a super website! I like it very much. The site is very easy to navigate. It provides many chances to earn Swag bucks. Almost every minute one member is credited for searching. The prizes are reasonably priced and available in both physical and electrical styles to meet different desires. Although many of physical rewards are only available to users in the US, I’m not bothered because PayPal is always my premier choice.

Speaking about the quality of searching result, to me it has no big difference from Google and can generally meet my daily need. The only drawback here is that there would be a couple of sponsored links (you can consider them as ads) in front of the search results. Once you are used to the design you will not be bothered too much.

So far my experience of Swagbucks has been all positive and pleased, I particularly enjoy the message of congratulations. It made me feel lucky every day. I would certainly recommend anybody who searches online regularly to give Swagbucks a go.


Payment information:
PRODEGE, LLC sent you $5.00 USD Transaction ID: 4DS56293HF9950248

Dear ******,

Just thought you'd like to know PRODEGE, LLC sent you $5.00 USD.

Get the details

Sender Information

PRODEGE, LLC

INFO@SWAGBUCKS.COM

877-748-2748

Yours sincerely,

PayPal

Humax Foxsat -HDR Small box, but brings to you a big world

Advantages: enter free Satellite TV with High Definition pictures.

Disadvantages: a little expensive.

In April 2009 I bought a set of LG HD TV and really enjoyed it. As I wrote on my review about the TV the picture and the sound were very good. However I was told I can't watch HD programs without a HD receiver. After some serious search on internet I decided to give Humax Foxsat-HDR a go. Now after using Humax Foxsat-HDR for one year I think I can write a review about it.

About Humax Foxsat HDR:

Humax is an electronics company which was founded in South Korea in 1989. It manufactures set-top boxes, digital video recorders, televisions and other consumer electronics. As one of the world's leading digital satellite set-top box manufacturers, it exports products to more than 90 countries across the globe. The Humax Foxsat HDR is a digital box that allows you to pick up HD Freesat TV and record programmes straight to a hard drive.

The package:

The product comes packaged in a cardboard box. The device is very well wrapped in a thin poly bag with one User's Manual and one Quick start guide, RCA, SCART and HDMI cables, 2 batteries and a remote control.

The device:

The device is about a laptop size in pure black colour. There is a small semi-transparent front panel in the centre that shows which function of the device is on: standby, TV or radio. Next to it there are few buttons: standby button, TV/Radio button, Arrow button(changes the channel or moves the cursor up, down, left or right), Ok button(selects a menu or confirms the selected operation), Menu button(displays the main menu) and Guide button(displays the programme guide).

The rear panel includes: LNB IN port for connecting a satellite antenna cable; TV SCART for connecting to the TV using a TV SCART cable; VCR SCART for connecting to the VCR or DVD; HDMI for connecting to the TV; USB port for connecting to the USB memory and transfer of recordings, etc. There is a CI module slot on the right of the device for applying channels that require a subscription.

Connections and settings:

Connecting these cables is very easy and basic. First you need to connect the LNB IN to your satellite dish, then you need to connect the device to the TV using the HDMI cable and then connect the power cable. For the first time you need to set a few configuration items such as language, screen ratio/resolution, you also need to enter your postcode. Next the device will detect what type of service you can receive and search for channels.

Basic operations:

After your TV enters an HDMI interface of free Satellite TV you can use the remote control to change channels. There are 3 ways for that. One way is using the up/down button; Second way is typing the channel number; Last way is navigating the electronic programme guide and selecting a channel. By the way the remote control comes with the standard features so you don't need spend time on learning it. There are many features providing by the remote. I will not list all of them, but just mention the electronic programme guide(EPG) as an example. First you press the 'GUIDE' button to enter into the EPG, then you press up/down keys to the different channels either for watch or record. With the EPG you can list programs by channel or have a look a list of programmes per channel. There are four interactive buttons (red, green, yellow and blue) to use.

My experience:

I paid £280 for the device from Argos on line and collected it at my local Argos shop. At beginning I was worried if it was worthy the money or not. I thought it's ridiculous because the price was almost half of the TV set I paid. However after having it I do enjoy the new experience the device brought. The pictures are a lot cleaner than before without the device. The channels I get are huge beyond my expectation to be honest. Last but not least it also gave me more freedom to record the programs I missed or want to keep for later watch.

Although only BBC HD and ITV HD are available on Freesat currently, sometimes the HD signals are not stable, I still want to recommend the product because it works very well and brings a big fabulous world in my life.

Summary: it works very well and brings a big world in my life.

Not last long from natural black to bitter chocolate

Last December I wondered around a Boots store in London and came across a promotion of Boots Botanics hair dye products for a box of which its original price was £3.79, but if you buy 2 boxes you just needed to pay £7. It was at least £1 less than other big brands’ offers. Although I didn’t know Boots products very well, but for the low price I decided to try one.

What is it?

The one I bought, to give it a full name, is Boots Botanics Permanent 20 Minute Colour. The colour is described as bitter chocolate, as known as dark brown. According to the statements on the package this product will give users a natural-looking and long-lasting colour full of vitality. You just need 20 minutes then get the best colour results.

Inside the box there are a conditioning hair colour tube (45ml), a bottle of developing lotion (45ml), an enriching after colour conditioner (75ml), a pair of plastic gloves and an instruction leaflet on how to use the dye.

How to use it?

Similar with many dye products first you should do sensitivity and strand tests 48 hours before you use Botanics Permanent 20 Minute Colour. If there is no problem then you can apply it full head.

Step 1----preparing the colorant mixture

You need squeeze all the contents of the conditioning hair colour tube into the bottle of developing lotion then shake well for 15 seconds.

Step 2----applying the Hair Colour

Part your hair into sections and apply the Hair Colour evenly through your hair from roots to ends.

Step 3----Developing your colour

Gently message the colour into the hair to give a rich foam then leave to develop for your personal development time up to 20 minutes.

Step 4----rinse and protect

Using warm water, rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear; apply the Enriching After Colour Conditioner into your hair for 3 to 5 minutes then rinse your hair again.

Personal experiences

I had a big hope of using Boots Botanics Permanent 20 Minute Colour because I believed the reputation of Boots brands. However the results were a bit disappointing. First time I left the Hair Colour on my hair about 30 minutes as I thought my black hair might need a little longer than other colours’ hair. After I found it totally didn’t cover the grey and didn’t give me the bitter chocolate colour. My hair did look natural, but black natural. Two months later I tried again and left the Hair colour over 1 hour. Luckily I finally got the bitter chocolate colour and the grey did disappear. I was very happy until two weeks later I found my hair was back to black and grey.

Overall I would not buy Botanics Permanent 20 Minute Colour again. It doesn’t cover grey and doesn’t last.

YO! Sushi------Good Japanese food in the UK

Advantages: fresh and healthy,quick and convenient

Disadvantages: it's a little expensive especially the water is cost at £1 per person.

14 Feb was Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. How to celebrate the two important festivals was a really big issue in my life. It was my ambition to have a special meal so I decided to give Yo! Sushi a go.

Brief information

YO! Sushi was founded in 1997 by Simon Woodroffe, who is a British entrepreneur and one of the original Dragon's on BBC2's Dragon's Den. Compared to most sushi bars you can find in the UK YO! Sushi was a brand new concept in dining that delivered food to customers via a conveyor belt. It has become the most famous and biggest sushi brand in the UK. You can find YO! Sushi in Ireland, Russia, the Middle East and Malaysia as well as the UK. London alone has 21 outlets. To find your nearest branch you can check out their official website www.yosushi.com. I went to one which is located inside a big shopping mall called Bluewater. My review relates only to this specific branch.

Bluewater

Location

It is not difficult to find YO! Sushi among the shops and restaurants inside Bluewater. It's in the open centre of one of the the dining areas and is very noticeable. The long queue at the entrance reminds you of its popularity. Unsurprisingly I had to wait for a while before being seated.

The main feature of Yo! Sushi is the conveyor belt, which runs around the central area. You can sit on stools that are situated along the belt. When the food passes by you can take what you fancy.

The food

The food range is very wide and includes sushi, noodle, soup, salad and desert etc. On the "raw" side you can have sushi, nori rolls, California rolls and fresh made hand rolls, salads and desserts. On the "off-belt" menu you can find cooked hot food such as teriyaki chicken and beef, grilled tuna or deep fried prawns, tempura, various rice and noodle dishes etc.

There are two ways to get your food. One way is to take food from the belt, mainly cold food. The alternative is to order off-belt hot food directly from the waiters. The serving bowls are colour coded and from the colours of the plates you can easily find out the prices. Currently the cheapest one is the green plate (£1.70) and the most expensive one is the silver plate (£5.00). From the menu you can see which dishes you can get on the belt and which you can order to be freshly cooked.

There are water fountains of sparkling or still mineral water along the counter, as well as pots of wasabi and ginger pickle, and a bottle of dark soy sauce. Needless to say napkins, chopsticks and a small dish are also available.

The service

Although it's kind of fast food, you still need to wait to be seated. When you order off-belt food or finish your meal you need to press a red button in front of you to call waiters. However they do work efficiently and you don't have to wait too long to get your orders or your bill. After eating you need to take the bill to the cashier where you pay for the meal. Cash as well as most debit and credit cards are accepted. You don't need to pay tips, however they are welcomed.

My opinion

I quite enjoyed my visit to Yo! Sushi mainly because it's so similar to the Kaitan Sushi I had in Beijing. Yo! Sushi's range of food as well as the taste reminded me so much of Kaitan Sushi. I felt I was back in Beijing and that made me very happy. However I should say it's a little expensive especially the water at £1 per person.

Despite the price I think it is worth trying for the experience of Japanese cooking. The wide variety of food will suit the tastes of most customers no matter what style of cooking you prefer.

Yo! Sushi maintains the reputation of Japanese food as fresh and healthy, plus it is a quick and convenient way to eat.

Summary: it is worth trying for the experience of Japanese cooking.

Mysterious and Impressive Tourist site (Stonehenge)

Advantages: You must to see.

Disadvantages: none.

To my understanding Stonehenge is the number one tourist site you must see in this country.

First time I saw it was on my way to Bath. It was an early morning. From a distance I already saw the stones standing there like silent people. It gave me a shock. It's so very mysterious.

Second time I saw it when I on my way to Devon. I spent more than 3 hours to have a look of Stonehenge. It was an impressive trip. I admired it enormously. The tourist electronical guide provided by stonehenge was amazing with many languages to choose. I was glad I got one with my mother language.

Cimpared to my second trip to Stonehenge I think morning is the best time to visit it because you can feel the mysteries most.

If you want to give it a go, I would like to give you two tips. Hope it would be useful to you.

Stonehenge is both the national trust and the English heritage. If you are the member of one of the two organizations, you can get in Stonehenge free, your car parking is free too. Also you don't need waiting on the queue. You just need to show your card then you can get in directly. Economical both in time and money.

Better to go there earlier than later. Stonehenge is very popular. If you go there earlier than most tourists especially group ones you can save your time on the road, and you can avoid crowd when you explore it.

Summary: Stonehenge, the most famous site in this country.