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Crown of the Day
06/11/2009 - (10:26 AM)
We loved today's Crown of the Day because it introduces us to an incredibly simple, but, by the sounds of things, wonderfully helpful product - the My Buggy Buddy Clip. We can imagine that this handy clip could have numerous applications, but it's designed for use with a pram, stroller or pushchair to allow you to hang your extra bags onto the handles. We're sure this is far more convenient than having them hanging off every free arm, shoulder, and hand you've got or getting squashed in the basket under the pram! Oioiyou gives a perfect description of exactly how and why this very affordable little clip is so useful in her review No! I will not hold your... It's a must read for all parents of young children.
p.s. This great review is already in the running to win the Monthly Competition in the Kids & Family category this month, don't forget to get your entries in!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
05/11/2009 - (03:01 PM)
As our dooyooCommunity Guide for Household Appliances, azana says herself that she reads a lot of reviews of toasters. Her observation was that it's not as easy as it may seem to find a truly good toaster - our observation is that all that reading has obviously helped her figure out exactly what makes a review in this category as useful as can be! This excellent Crown of the Day gives a rather favourable account of the Dualit 20333, although with some reservations, and is a thorough, balanced, and extremely useful review - take a look!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Thirty Thousand Thanks
04/11/2009 - (03:08 PM)
Being a dooyooer is anything but a thankless task these days - in October alone over 30,000 consumers thanked you, the dooyooCommunity! That's a lot of people out there making better purchasing decisions because of your reviews, and we here at dooyoo HQ would like to add our thanks to the other 30,000 for all your excellent contributions.
The top categories of interest for visitors to the site continue to be Laptops and Fragrances, with Mobile Phones, Prams, Pushchairs, and Strollers and Digital Cameras also drawing a lot of attention. What does this tell us? To keep those numbers of satisfied and grateful consumers climbing, we need more of your top quality consumer reviews in these categories! We look forward to reading your new reviews.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week!
04/11/2009 - (10:54 AM)
We have been keeping our eyes open for dooyooers who have been doing their thing particularly well this week, and now it’s time to celebrate!
hildas has written a healthy mix of reviews recently, delving into the Film, Travel and House & Garden categories. Her last three reviews have earned her an impressive three Crowns, well done! SWSt has been getting amongst the Book reviews, and we also enjoyed his recent contribution, Halloween: DOA - an alternative review, could this be the perfect recipe for a film write-up? DanielKemp continues to impress us with insightful Music reviews, and as a celebration of his 100th contribution to dooyoo, he’s looked at a classic album, The Cure - Disintegration, which he describes as ‘the greatest album ever recorded, period.’ We all know that actually David Hasselhoff Sings America is the greatest album ever recorded, but each to their own and we won’t take him off this list for that small oversight! yackers1 is another member who is consistently writing great reviews, and lately he has been delivering top notch Travel reviews, his assessment of Hotel Metin (Dalyan, Turkey) earning him another Crown. Lastly, but of course not least, is jillycat. She took out third place in October’s Monthly Competition and has also been writing some cracking reviews in the Book category.
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Off the Hook: October Competition Winners!
02/11/2009 - (04:22 PM)
It was a cracking month in the Telecommunications category, with the review-writing switchboards lighting up with top notch consumer reviews. As always it was a struggle to pick just three winners, but we were totally taken with the outstanding contributions from Hishyeness, topsy-turvy, and jillycat. Check out the competitions page for the full details of these three worthy winners of the Monthly Competition. If you weren't chosen this time, there's always next time - we're on the hunt for top quality reviews in the Kids & Family category!
Taking out the top honours for the Review of the Month in October is Great_reviewer07, for her excellent review Can Samsung Do No Wrong? in the LCD TV category. Full of personal experience and useful information about the Samsung LE-19B450's features and (it seems) it's many advantages, we're confident this review will be extremely useful to all consumers in the market for a new TV.
Congratulations to all winners in October, and thanks for all who took part!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
02/11/2009 - (09:56 AM)
To get our week off to a foot-tapping, up-beat start we have an extra special music review that is sure to have you humming happy tunes for the rest of the day... Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A great ABBA Album) is a pitch-perfect summary of the recent ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits album from the Swedish pop legends. Returning dooyoo member davidbuttery does an excellent job of capturing the energy, verve, and sheer star power that allowed the band to create "some of the most perfect pop tunes you'll ever hear". We dare you to read this review and keep head from bopping!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Hallo Halloween!
30/10/2009 - (10:49 AM)
It's that time of year again folks. Time to stock up on sweet treats for trick-or-treaters, carve up a few pumpkins, and even your chance to get creative with costumes if you're going all out - tomorrow is Halloween!
The natural place to start is, of course, the Fancy Dress category. Whether it be the perfect accessory to complete that homemade 100% aluminium foil robot costume, like this Toys R Us Robot Arm, or a readymade outfit like the Cesar UK Ben 10 Reversible Costume or Spiderman Classic Muscle Costume, you'll find all sorts of treasures for your dress-ups chest in this category.
Halloween doesn't have to be an expensive exercise for the parents though, and it can even be a great opportunity to encourage your little one's (and your own!) creativity. Try getting colourful with the Crayola Face Paint Party Kit or the Snazaroo Face Paints, which come highly recommended from the dooyooCommunity. Don't forget that extra bit of sparkle on the princess's face - Barry M Fine Glitter Dust should do the trick. No need to panic if you're not exactly up on the latest trends in facial art - just pick yourself up a copy of The Usborne Book of Face Painting.
There are also lots of fun activities you can do with the kids to keep them entertained this weekend. What about making some Halloween-themed biscuits? The cute Wilton Cookies Teddy Bear Comfort Grip Cutter is a good start. For no-mess creative fun, try building some crazy Halloween inspired creatures with the revolutionary Spin Master Bendaroos Amazing Flexible Building Sticks, or some good old PlayMais. There's something for everyone in the Arts and Crafts category. Playmobil also have some fun options for younger children with the Trick or Treaters, Halloween Ghost, and Halloween Mummy sets.
It goes without saying that it's also time to browse through the Horror DVDs and pick out this weekend's viewing. Whatever you're up to this weekend, we here at dooyoo HQ wish you lots spookalicious fun - happy Halloween!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
30/10/2009 - (09:35 AM)
Curvacious, Cunning and Cool... sounds intriguing right? If plipplop's review is anything to go by (and they almost always are!), then the Blackberry Curve 8900 is indeed something worth checking out. This dooyooCommunity Guide calls the new Blackberry "the best mobile phone I've had, full stop", and says that "the high-resolution display is such an advance from the previous models that it feels revolutionary" - now that's some serious praise! We have some praise of our own to dish out, and we're sure you'll agree that this review is thorough, knowledgeable, and extremely well written - a deserved Crown of the Day.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Loving the Interwebs: International Internet Day
29/10/2009 - (03:49 PM)
That's right, way back in the dark ages of internet development a bunch of internet lovers got together and decided that the 29th of October was the perfect day to celebrate the mystery, wonder, and pure procrastination potential that is the world wide web. Since none of us would have our favourite dooyoo hangouts without it, we decided to dedicate today's post to some of the dooyooCommunity's favourite internet-related products.
Of course you can't do much online without your trusty laptop (well at least you couldn't in the days before smartphones, but we'll get to that later!), and the most popular model with the dooyooers is again the Dell Inspiron 1545 this week. If Dell isn't really the brand for you though, there's the highly recommended Samsung R520, or for undeniable style there's the Apple MacBook Pro, which just about everyone seems to be raving about at the moment
These days, though, despite laptops getting smaller and lighter all the time, there are even more portable options for browsing your favourite sites. There's the incredibly popular Blackberry Curve 8900, although many still believe that the iPhone is the market leader in mobile internet use. All the other major telecommunications brands are also getting into the swing of things, like the Samsung GT S5230.
Wondering which internet sites are the best for music, entertainment, or sport? The dooyooCommunity have all those topics, and many more covered. Plus, if you're thinking of buying online, you'll want to check out what others think of the online shop before handing over your hard earned cash.
With all this fun and opportunity, however, comes a little risk, so it's important to minimise that as much as possible with virus protection. The new Kapersky Internet Security 2010 is already turning some heads, although some users still prefer McAfee or Symantec.
However you like to get connected online, we wish you fun fun fun out there in internet-land dooyooers!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week
28/10/2009 - (10:48 AM)
One member managing to keep ahead of the flock this week is goosey, who was awarded two Crowns - one for a review of the JML Duzzit Handy Hanger, and one for a review in one of the member's favourite categories, Pet Accessories. Meggysmum also had an excellent start to the week with her two Crowns in the Gadgets and Printed Books categories. Larsbaby takes a more laidback approach to his dooyoo reviews but has recently given us some fantastic reviews in the Travel category - you'll definitely want to check them out if you're thinking about going to Istanbul any time soon. A big congratulations goes out to sax_man_al for receiving his first Crown this week for his review of the Freeloader Portable Solar Energy Charger. Those interested in Photography will also want to take a look through some of this member's other reviews, he seems to be quite the expert on camera lenses, amongst other things. Rounding out this week's list is the highly-esteemed jedimastergray73 whose interesting and sometimes rather quirky reviews are always engaging - for example, take a look at this review Would Anyone Like Some English Tea with a Slice of American Pie?, it's a review of Twinings English Breakfast Tea written to the tune of the song American Pie, who would have thought it possible?! Nice one.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
28/10/2009 - (10:17 AM)
With a title like Potential iPhone Killer, you know that the review is going to be of keen interest to anyone in the market for a new smartphone. In today's Crown of the Day review, icetsunami gives the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic a killer 5 star rating and claims that while the iPhone may still be slightly ahead on the style front, this Nokia has excellent features, is easy to use, and there's a rapidly improving online store for optional applications that this reviewer thinks will soon rival the Apple version. Plus it's a couple of hundred pounds cheaper! Definitely a review that's worth checking out - and while you're at it, make sure you've got your entry in for the Monthly Competition in the Telecommunications category, the competition ends this week!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
26/10/2009 - (01:25 PM)
Today's Crown of the Day winner impressed us with her latest contribution, For shooting wildlife. Despite what it may sound like, the only shots anwar7 plans to take are with her camera, so if you're one of the animals roaming her neighbourhood, don't worry, it's safe to come out! The Sigma 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 DC Camera Lens has received top marks from this member - her informative review gives a great overview of the lens' features and functionality, covering everything you need to know without too much photography jargon. If you are looking for a decent lens at a great price, it sounds like you need look no further. But don't take our word for it, read anwar7's opinion for yourself to find out why this lens fulfills her requirements, and if it would work for you.
Feel like getting a comparison before you splurge? Then be sure to check out the abundance of excellent reviews in the photography category, helping you to find everything you need, from photo accessories to tripods!
-Hal
dooyooTeam
dooyooCommunity Tea Break: Fan Mail from the Author!
23/10/2009 - (11:07 AM)
On dooyoo, if there's any fan mail going on, it's usually from a dooyoo member who is idolising a particular author, band, or designer... so imagine how it would feel to receive a personal message from an author who's book you adored! We found out that this indeed did recently happen to one of the dooyooers, so we just had to interview them to find out more. Take a look!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
______________________________________________________
dooyooTeam: What are your favourite categories on dooyoo and why?
oldchem: I would say that book reviews are really my favourite, as I adore reading and love
to get new recommendations for me to read. I have lost count now of the books I have read that were recommended on dooyoo.
dooyooTeam: You were recently contacted by the author of a book you reviewed, tell us about that.
oldchem: The book in question, No Way Home, was one that I took out from the library and I found it extremely moving and felt that I had to write a review about it. I was astonished that the author had read the review.
dooyooTeam: That's fantastic! Did this incident change how you view dooyoo or your reviews on the site?
oldchem: It certainly has, it made me realise that these reviews are not just read by members of dooyoo and just how important it is to get things right and to be honest in your review, as other people could be influenced by your words.
dooyooTeam: Very true. What do you love about dooyoo?
oldchem: I love that I have got back into writing more and that my reviews can of be help to other people. I'm retired now so reviewing has become like a hobby to me, oh and I do like earning the extra money if I am being honest.
dooyooTeam: Great to hear that you're enjoying writing your reviews so much. What will you be reviewing next?
oldchem: I think I shall probably be reviewing either a Johnny Depp and/or Tim Burton film as I have recently written a couple of reviews about other films and it has encouraged me to watch more of their films again.
Crown of the Day
23/10/2009 - (10:27 AM)
The news on the street is that the Sony PSP Go will be this year's most popular Christmas gift, but in today's Crowned Review of the day plipplop poses the question, is it a Must Have - or Must Wait? According to plipplop, this portable video game console is still over-priced for the features that it offers and while it "looks great, feels fantastic and ticks all the gadget heads' boxes", it may be a good idea to wait and see whether this is a market worth entering. Have a read of this excellent review for a full analysis of the product's capabilities and comparisons to its competitors. If you do decide to wait, there are plenty of other portable game consoles options already tried and tested by the dooyooCommunity, check out the Sony PSP Slim & Lite, or the Nintendo DSi.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week
22/10/2009 - (09:13 AM)
First up on this week's list is silverbird44, with an excellent review, An Inca Trail through the Inca Heartland, which earned them their first Crown. Congratulations (and nice pic too)! Sambam000 has been celebrating every Crown on their About Me, and has another one to celebrate this week - we loved their review of the Mutsy Spider pram. Having been a dooyoo member since 2004, Sirg0508 has a few more Crowns under her belt - a whopping 70 in fact! Her latest one was for the review, Certainly Creative, of the Philips GoGear Opus 8GB MP3 Player. Another landmark first Crown winner this week is dizzysummer03 - we were impressed by her review of the Estée Lauder Pure Color Lipstick. Finally, we've been enjoying the great Xbox 360 Games reviews from AndyCreighton, especially one this week on Lost Odyssey. Great work all!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
A Note About Pets
21/10/2009 - (01:40 PM)
You love your pets and want to write all about them, and give tips to other owners about the best pet accessories, and that's just what we want too. We noticed, however, that the Pets category was looking a bit unruly, so we embarked on a clean up mission to make sure the category is well-ordered and easy to navigate. The good news is that we're almost finished with this process, and hope to have the new structure online within the next 10 days. In the meantime we'll have to ask those of you with outstanding suggestions in this category to be patient just a little longer. We will process all of these suggestions as soon as possible once the new structure for the category is live on the site. We look forward to reading your new reviews then!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
21/10/2009 - (09:32 AM)
Whether you're the kind of DIY-er who spends every spare hour in the garage hammering, welding, and sawing away on your latest project, or the type who reluctantly takes care of things around the house to save the expense of calling in a professional, it goes without saying that good tools make the job easier and more enjoyable (or at least less of a hassle!). That's why when we saw blissman70 crowing about a tool that he wants to "tell the world" about, we just had to share it with you. The title pretty much sums up blissman70's opinion of the JML Exakt Saw, which he calls a must have - Probably the only saw you'll ever need for that exakt job. This excellent reviews covers the features of the saw, safety, ease of use, and plenty of personal experience of using the product and is the well-deserved recipient of today's Crown of the Day. We strongly recommend you take a look!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Top of the Pops: Highest Charting Products
20/10/2009 - (11:46 AM)
Big news! The Acer Aspire 6930G has tipped the Dell Inspiron 1545 out of the number one position, but laptops are still on the top of the hit-list for consumers.
The GHD Purple IV Limited Edition Styler Hair Straightener Gift Set was the second most popular product on the site last week. Other popular products in the Fashion & Beauty category included Bio Oil, Slendertone, and the Garnier Eye Roll-on. Reviews on fragrances are also sought after, so if you haven't shared your opinion about your favourite scents we'd love to hear from you!
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S930 is the most popular digital camera, and probably not coincidentally the dooyooers rate it an average of 5 stars! Those consumers after something a little more traditional seem to be most interested in the Canon EOS 3000 SLR camera.
Finally, some rather less predictable products that are attracting attention... The Christmas rush and stress must be kicking in early this year as we've seen a lot more interest in the Kalms herbal stress remedy. The Boots Detox 5 Day Plan is also a popular choice at the moment, but whether or not that has anything to do with the sudden popularity of wedding dresses we're not sure!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
19/10/2009 - (12:08 PM)
Traditional Polaroid cameras have been left to collect dust since the recent mass adoption of digital cameras. laramax, who has been going strong on dooyoo for over two years now, has written a superb review of the Polaroid PoGo CZU-10011B which looks to reverse this trend. This natty little gadget is a mini Thermal Printer that works with your Mobile Phone or Digital Camera and can literally fit in your pocket! (Disclaimer: dooyoo advises to check size of pocket and/or carrying receptacle before purchase.) Not only does this sound like a great gift idea, the review, Unusual Gift for Christmas?, is wonderfully written. Congratulations laramax for being awarded the Crown of the Day!
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
16/10/2009 - (12:34 PM)
Another fantastic review from yackers1 takes out today's Crown of the Day. For a change the review is not a positive one, but in fact positively rips the Olympus X-42 digital camera to shreds! Called You won't capture those important moments on this, the review criticises the camera's usability, screen, and picture quality leading to the resounding summary "don't buy it". Well, shame that this purchase didn't work out the way you'd hoped yackers, but we appreciate your honesty here, thanks for helping consumers make better purchasing decisions!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
15/10/2009 - (09:52 AM)
dooyoo member dee778 has been on a bit of a golden run lately, being awarded Crowns for her reviews in the Printed Books, Household Appliances, and Film categories. She's impressed us again this morning with her stand-out review, A hunky chunk of technology, in the Monthly Competition category; Telecommunications. The review gives the BT Freestyle 750 Trio cordless telephone a resounding five stars and calls it "one of the easiest phones to set up and use". Sounds pretty good to us! Thanks for another great review dee778, keep up the excellent work!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers
14/10/2009 - (11:52 AM)
A new crop of fresh-faced Celebrated dooyooers of the Week... First up is a dooyooer who is practically the definition of "fresh-faced" in her current member profile pic, Absy_Baby impressed us this week with her excellent review of the Sony Ericsson W705 mobile phone. Cosmokat has been very busy in the Printed Book category, and caught our attention with her reviewing (and alliteration) skills in Language Liberation. If you're looking for a new Xbox 360 game you'll want to take a look at tribalsjs's recent recommendations, but it was his review of the Apple iPod Nano 8GB that earned him his first Crown! Another dooyooer who received their first Crown this week is new member beckyX, who actually snagged two Crowns in the one week for her top notch travel reviews. Last but not least, jodiestokes joins the celebrated list this week for her great contributions across a range of categories, including Health Products and Fragrances.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
14/10/2009 - (10:42 AM)
Today we are awarding not only a Crown of the Day, but the very first Crown ever for member AndyCreighton - momentous indeed! It's a spectacularly well deserved Crown too; take a look at the review Lost Odyssey of the Xbox 360 game of the same name and we think you'll agree. Going into just the right amount of detail, but keeping it engaging and full of personal experience, this is a pretty exemplary PC / Video Game review. Congratulations Andy, keep up the great work!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
12/10/2009 - (11:55 AM)
Consumers are always on the look out for informative digital camera reviews and the Crown of the Day undoubtedly delivers! rosebud2001, one of our wonderful dooyoo communityGuides, has formulated an excellent review of the Samsung D75 and we just had to give it today’s top honours. After a solid two years experience with this product you would expect a great review, and that it is, but with the title Bad Buy it seems the quality of the product may not live up to the quality of the review!
Why does it not live up to expectations? How does it compare to other digital cameras used by this member the past? Find out by reading rosebud2001’s latest contribution, and if this particular camera isn’t for you, why not check out the other excellent Samsung and digital camera reviews that have been submitted by the dooyooCommunity?
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
09/10/2009 - (11:01 AM)
Caveat-Emptor describes himself as having "a lot of opinions... and plenty of spare time" - the perfect combination for an avid dooyooer! Indeed, his latest review, I Put My Monitor By The Monitor And My Monitor Went Purple - What?, is an excellent blend of those two qualities. The review tells us everything we need to know about the Fostex 6301B speakers in the Audio / HiFi category, including features and specifications, value for money, and the all important real personal opinion of the product's performance. Plus, the review is not scant on laughs and entertainment factor - sounds good? We thought so too! Check out this fantastic review, it's a great start to what we hope will be a great weekend. Enjoy.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
08/10/2009 - (10:46 AM)
Today's excellent Crown of the Day review comes from dooyoo stalwart JJJJ. The review, Twenty-First Century TV Revolution, draws our attention to the Humax PVR 9300T set top box, which JJJJ says has "fantastic features" and is "a powerful and easy to use machine". The Humax product is in fact getting a lot of votes of confidence from the dooyooCommunity, with all reviews so far rating it a full five out of five stars! So, if you're in the market for a new set top box, sounds like you should definitely take a look at the Humax, and you'll want to have a good read of today's Crown of the Day as well.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers
07/10/2009 - (03:00 PM)
We're celebrating a brand new bunch of review-tastic dooyooers this week, and they've been busy in such varied categories as Nintendo DS Games, Telecommunications (the category of the month in October), Arts & Crafts, and Printed Books. Congratulations and many thanks to emmachilcott, flodombey and Donf18 for their excellent Crowned Reviews this week. Plus a big welcome back to calypte and malibu_jenny, who're back to reviewing their favourite and least favourite products after a bit of a break. Nice to have all of you aboard - and to any other dooyooers who haven't read any reviews by these members, we recommend you add them to your reading list this week!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
What's Hotter Than Hot?
06/10/2009 - (12:08 PM)
It may be getting cold outside but these products are hot, hot, hot on dooyoo this week!
Amazingly, the Dell Inspiron 1545 is still top of the charts this week, however the Acer Aspire 6930G is not far behind in the laptop category.
The GHD Purple IV Limited Edition Styler Hair Straightener Set is leaps and bounds ahead of other products in the Fashion & Beauty category. Is it worth the fuss? Well, it is according to our resident style queens glitter_princess and Gemma_C, who both gave it a whopping five star rating.
The humble Apple iPod Shuffle beat out all the other MP3 Players to draw the most attention in the Audio / HiFi category, while the big-daddy of the Apple line, the Apple iPhone 3GS 32 GB just pipped the Samsung GT S5230 to be the most desirable mobile phone of the week. Apple should be happy with that performance!
Now, for a bit of fun, check out these fun but a bit out-of-left-field products that also made it into the week's hot list: Disney Winnie The Pooh Curtains, the Disklok anti-theft steering wheel lock, and the Orange Micro Crush amplifier. Quite a variety there, huh?
Thanks for all your fabulous reviews dooyooers, keep them rolling in!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
September Competition Winners!!
05/10/2009 - (12:53 PM)
The Fashion & Beauty category’s face-lift last month definitely attracted an abundance of great looking reviews!
First place went to ld75454 with her outstanding Givenchy: Very Irresistible Givenchy, Eau de Toilette review, Try and Resist This!
She was followed closely by both plipplop’s Absolutely Against Fatties, Abercrombie & Fitch review and Nar2’s contribution, Fuji Believe It, this John Lewis Suitcase Rocks!, which takes a good look at the John Lewis Fuji Lite suitcase.
Review of the Month and winner of a bonus 3,500 dooyooMiles is Smokindave’s smokin hot review of the Phil & Teds E3. According to Smokindave, parents looking for an adaptable buggy that can cope with carrying two small children have come to the right place, or at least the right review. He covers the basics, pointing out features, things to watch out for and what to expect if you decide to purchase this product – exactly what we like to see in reviews! Beats Bill and Ted every time! is an excellent contribution to dooyoo, and a great assessment of what sounds like a great product.
Thanks to everyone who took part last month! Whether or not you were one of last month's winners, you can have another go in October - this month’s selected category is Telecommunication. For full details of October’s Competition and to see the winners of last month’s First Review Draw, check out the Competitions page.
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Cheques
02/10/2009 - (11:30 AM)
As many of you are aware, the postal strike in the UK is causing disruptions in some post arriving at its destination. This sadly includes your hard earned dooyooMiles redemption cheques! It is far from an ideal situation, however unfortunately it is out of our control and we thank you for your understanding and patience. Lets hope it is resolved soon!
The good news is that Amazon vouchers are hitting email accounts as normal - thank goodness the interweb doesn’t strike!
dooyoo offers three ways to redeem your dooyooMiles: cheque, Amazon voucher, or a donation to charity. For more information, see What can I do with my dooyooMiles?
The dooyooTeam will still be processing cheques as normal, but if you want to ensure the speedy arrival of your rewards, perhaps an Amazon voucher is the answer as you will not be relying on Postman Pat!!
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week
30/09/2009 - (11:28 AM)
There's always grounds to celebrate the dooyooCommunity, but it's particularly great when we see newer members doing well on the site. TheAdder, for example, looks all set to become a new star writer in the Music category, having been awarded four Crowns for his recent reviews of glamour and hard rock bands. Recent dooyoo convert, tune57 has also made an outstanding start in the dooyooCommunity, and we particularly liked her review of the Phillips HR1851 Juicer this week. Spudzy123 was celebrating their first Crown last month, and has just chalked up another with a great review of the Victorinox Cybertool Lite Swiss Army Knife. We really appreciate browndoll's recent contributions to categories that consumers find particularly useful, like mobile phones and DVD players. Meanwhile busy mother of a little cutie, kiwiii85 has been using her spare time to give us her opinions on a wide range of products from baby toys to board games, and doing a mighty fine job of it too. Thanks and congratulations to these fab dooyooers, we salute you!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
In the Mood for a Chat? Head Over to the dooyoo Lounge
30/09/2009 - (08:36 AM)
We all know that dooyoo's main purpose is to provide shopping advice on products and services to consumers to help them back better purchasing decisions. The dooyooCommunity helps thousands of consumers every month (just look at the 'thank you' counter in the header for the evidence!) with excellent product reviews, but sometimes members want to share their views on other non-product related topics. That's where our discussion category comes in. We've been doing a lot of reorganising in the category over previous months, adding several new sub-categories to help you find your topic of choice more easily, and now we've given the category a brand spanking new name to go along with its new image. The Speakers Corner is no more, so instead get yourself a warm drink, pull up a chair, and make yourself comfortable in the dooyoo Lounge...
-Elise
dooyooTeam
It's Up to You dooyooers!
29/09/2009 - (08:54 AM)
One consistent theme that interests the dooyooCommunity is ratings. It's something we often hear from you about, whether it be that you thought a rating on a particular review was unfair, or that you're concerned the quality of ratings in general could be improved. We've heard your feedback and thought we would take the opportunity to give you a little of our feedback (and stats!) about ratings...
The fact is that the dooyooCommunity rates well over 95% of the reviews posted as Very Useful.
Does that really mean that over 95% of the published reviews deserve the highest possible rating? Think about it: which reviews that you've read would help you the most to reach a well informed purchasing decision? Is the review clearly structured, thorough, and interesting? Does it cover the author's own, personal experience and opinion? Does it summarise the author's thoughts of the product overall and give a clear indication to the reader about whether the product is worth the effort? Or is the review missing one of these key facets? Did you find it a little tricky to read, or that it contains too much irrelevant text, or doesn't quite give a clear opinion about the product?
Useful is not a bad rating, in fact it is a positive one! A review that's been rated Useful is a good review, which helps consumers, but might be missing that extra little bit of information or personal experience that would make it absolutely optimal. A Useful rating is also nothing for the author to complain about - on the contrary! Different people will always want slightly different things from a review and there may well be something that would be very important to one reader but not to another. A classic example is for a hotel review - if one member has a dog, a review that doesn't cover the pet angle might not be Very Useful, despite the fact that a reviewer who didn't stay there with a pet couldn't be expected to include this aspect in their review. It's simply a case of different strokes for different folks - which is great, because we're trying to provide the best buying advice for a very wide audience, so it's necessary for us to have all different kinds of reviews!
So what does all this mean?
Write the reviews you would want to read. Think about what would be important to you in a review of the product you're reviewing, if you were trying to decide whether or not to buy it. Once you're happy with your review and you've posted it, relax and be pleased in the knowledge that you've helped other consumers like yourself! The odd less-than-perfect rating is just a reflection of the fact that everyone is different, and is no reason for concern.
Read carefully and rate honestly. Think about what you would want to know about the product before you decided whether or not to buy it. Does the review cover all your questions? Was it interesting and engaging? Your decision should be based entirely on these factors, not what other dooyooers have rated the review or what you think of the reviewer's other reviews, and certainly not what the reviewer has rated your reviews in the past. Reward quality reviews with the top dooyoo rating. Read critically and rate fairly, giving reviews a Very Useful rating that don't really deserve it doesn't help consumers, and it doesn't help the dooyooCommunity either.
We know there a lot of excellent reviews on the site and we want those reviews to stand out and for excellence to be rewarded - we here at dooyoo HQ do that with Crowns, but you also have an extremely important role to play with your ratings, so make sure you're giving the top ratings only to those reviews that have really earned them!
- Your dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
28/09/2009 - (12:32 PM)
The Nokia N70 Music Edition mobile phone has been given the nod of approval by member browndoll in their latest review A good Mobile Phone. The review contains all you would expect from an excellent dooyoo review, looking at all the functions in detail and bringing to attention aspects that may make this product unsuitable for some people, and on top of that plenty of personal experience and opinion! If you are looking for a new phone this may be the one, and if it’s not there are plenty more Nokia and other mobile phone reviews where that came from. Thanks browndoll for a superb review and congratulations on taking the Crown of the Day!
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Fresh and Friendly Faces: New Guides
28/09/2009 - (11:37 AM)
If you're new to the dooyooCommunity, or have a weird and wonderful question about a detail of the site, the dooyooCommunity Guides are there to help. The Guides are dedicated members of the site, who write excellent reviews and are very active participants in the community. They are often real life experts in their categories, and are all experts in reviewing and most things dooyoo, which makes them a fantastic resource for other members on the site!
We're thrilled to announce a few new additions to our Guides team, who are all ready and willing to help you out where possible, reading, rating, and nominating reviews and answering your questions. In the Audio / HiFi category, star music reviewer DanielKemp will be looking for reviews on the best and worst technology for experiencing your favourite tunes. Stand-out beauty reviewer Gemma_C is eminently qualified to help out Sarccyslayer with the very popular Fashion & Beauty category, and as she says, she's always on the look-out for new products, so be sure to share your finds with her! Finally in the Household Appliances category, a firm favourite with consumers, azana will be eagerly awaiting your best reviews, and will be happy to give you her feedback and any assistance you may need.
All Guides volunteer their time and energy to try to help keep dooyoo running smoothly, we really appreciate their efforts and we hope that you will too!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Bugs: Squashed!
25/09/2009 - (11:17 AM)
Just a short note to say thanks to all dooyooers for being so patient while we experienced a couple of service disruptions this week. The bugs were due to some necessary server moves, but all the usual dooyoo services and features are now back up and running as usual. Wishing you a happy weekend on dooyoo!
-Your dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
25/09/2009 - (10:58 AM)
A fantastic review in the Make Up category has come along just in time to help out any of the dooyoo ladies who are planning a big night out this weekend. The consistently glamourous mythdata gives us all a crash course in "luschious" catwalk lashes in her review of MAC False Eyelashes. The review not only gives us a step by step guide to applying and removing these lashes but also tells us exactly why the MAC lashes are the ones to buy, despite the slightly higher price. An outstanding review, we think you'll agree!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Gremlins...!
24/09/2009 - (09:36 AM)
Morning dooyooers! There have been some furry little creatures running through our computer systems and they have caused things to go a little craaaazy! We're sorry for the inconvenience, but dooyooMiles and dooyooMail should now be back on track, and our Tech Team is working hard to everything else back to normal.
Thanks for your patience!
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week!
23/09/2009 - (11:34 AM)
There have been many excellent reviewers contributing lately, and today these five dooyooers have been selected for your reading pleasure! Hmm, where to start! How about with frangliz, she’s written some excellent reviews after a recent trip to Zurich, and if you ever wondered about The best wurst in Zurich? then you have come to the right place. fizzywizzy too has been traveling, and her most recent Crown was for Summer Tobogganing in Slovenia, sounds fun! sunmeilan and joncarey9 have both been getting right into the DVD reviews, and we’re sensing a theme with titles such as The Evil Dead, Seven, Drag Me To Hell, and Antichrist in the mix. There also seems to be a theme in markos9’s latest Crowned reviews, with him brilliantly reviewing a wide angle lense for a Telescope and Michio Kaku’s book Physics of the Impossible.
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
21/09/2009 - (01:06 PM)
Cheap and Extremely Cheerful are four words bargain hunters are always on the look out for, and this time they are directed at the Cuticura Cucumber Facial Scrub which has been reviewed and approved by one of our consistently outstanding Fashion and Beauty reviewers izzoh. Apparently the packaging isn’t fancy, but don’t let that put you off and I quote – 'it's what's inside that counts right??!' Right! Thanks izzoh, this review is an excellent start to the week.
-Hal
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
17/09/2009 - (09:10 AM)
Total Recall in a Flash is what Zmugzy is promising in his review of the Amacom USB 2.0 Flash Key 4 GB. According to our trusty reviewer, this Flash Drive is reliable, easy to use, and extremely handy. At 4 GB of storage it has plenty of space for your day to day documents, and while it may not be the biggest on the market, as Zmugzy points out, it's always sensible not to carry too much personal data around without a back up. Thanks for a fantastic review Zmugzy, it's earned you the Crown of the Day!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week: Quality dooyoo
16/09/2009 - (09:56 AM)
Massive congratulations to blueboxoffroad and loadedluke for their first Crowns, earned this week with some fantastic new reviews. Denise40 has been giving us some excellent reviews in Fashion & Beauty, but her Crown this week was for her latest review in the Sightseeing International category. We loved Smokindave's review of the Phil & Teds E3 pram this week, and he's also been busy with reviews of his oven and washing machine - all categories that consumers are especially interested in, so we know there'll be a lot of people thanking Dave at the moment! Last but not least on this week's Celebrated dooyooers List is tartlette, who has been regaling us with tales of her sightseeing in the USA, and giving us some great meal tips in the Restaurant / Cafe National category - leisure time sorted!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
dooyoo's Most Wanted
15/09/2009 - (11:59 AM)
Which products on dooyoo are attracting visitors to the site in droves this week? As usual laptops are topping the list, and the most popular is still the Dell Inspiron 1545, and the Samsung R520 is also a common choice - Apple are going to be spitting chips!
The stylin' GHD Purple IV Limited Edition Styler Hair Straightener Set is also generating a lot of attention in the Fashion & Beauty category. (Note to all those who haven't yet got their Monthly Competition entries in yet: you've only got two weeks left!)
The Babystyle Lux 3 in 1 is a popular choice amongst parents, as is the Out'n'Anout Nipper Double 360 Pushchair. Choosing a pram can be a bit of a nightmare for new parents - having the right one makes life so much easier when you're already going through so many adjustments to your new lifestyle as a sleep-deprived parent! So if you haven't reviewed your little bundle of joy's sweet ride yet, now's the time.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S930 is the king of the Digital Camera category this week, with the Samsung ES15 and Samsung L201 coming in second and third, respectively. However, the Fujifilm Finepix S1500fd is probably one to watch - it's been rated consistently 5 out of 5 stars by the dooyooCommunity recently.
And finally, how do we know that the colder weather is on the way? This Newspaper Briquette Maker jumped into the top products list! Is it already time to stock up before the winter hits?
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
14/09/2009 - (11:54 AM)
Crown of the Day today goes to norton501 for her review Its not plasticine, its real! Otto the Floss Guy. Strange as it may seem, Otto is a little man that stands in your bathroom with a roll of dental floss and a dental floss cutting fork, patiently waiting until you require his services. OK, so he’s not alive and he is made of plastic, but at least there is no need to worry about whether you should tip or not! According to dooyoo member norton501 he livens up the bathroom and the boring task of flossing, and is an excellent way to encourage young children or teens to floss. It is designed by Italian company Alessi who are known for their quirky takes on Household Products, and with a respectable 4 stars from norton501, the Otto Interdental Thread Holder could be just the product you are looking for! If you want to know a bit more about this cool company and their range of products, be sure to check out our latest dooyooMag.
-Hal
dooyooTeam
dooyoo Royalty: Most Crowned Members
11/09/2009 - (11:03 AM)
We have some truly excellent writers in the dooyooCommunity, and we love to be able to reward them with a Crown on their best reviews. A Crown is one of the highest honours that a review on dooyoo can receive, and also gives the recipient a bonus 1,500 dooyooMiles for their excellent work.
In the last month, Hishyeness has blown our socks off with a range of fantastic reviews in categories such as Vacuum Cleaners, Audio Output, and Printed Books, and was awarded a staggering 10 Crowns for his efforts! Second in the most Crowned dooyooers list is consistently great movie reviewer Jake Speed.
Rounding out the Top 6 are markos9, garymarsh6, sunmeilan, and zoe_page_1, who've each raked in 6 Crowns for their recent reviews. Fabulous effort one and all, thanks for all your contributions to dooyoo!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week
10/09/2009 - (01:40 PM)
Check out the dooyooTeam circle of friends to see who we're reading (and loving) this week. There's the young and talented MI9to5, the bookworm bethan157 - who was just awarded her first Crown, gamer and Amiga fan Burning_Darkness, the man with all the sightseeing tips garymarsh6, and all-round excellent reviewer eilidhcatriona. Something for everyone, enjoy!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
dooyooers, You've Been Thanked!
09/09/2009 - (09:50 AM)
We've had a new feature running on the non-members site for a while now, which allows shoppers using dooyoo to inform their buying decisions to show their appreciation for the authors of the reviews they have read. The 'thanks' button has been live for a couple of months now, and we've already been blown away by how many consumers wish to thank you dooyooers! We've added a counter to the page header on the dooyooCommunity pages and your personal profiles, so that you can follow exactly how thankful consumers are for your excellent work. In the last 30 days, the dooyooCommunity was thanked almost 30,000 times - now that's a lot of thankful people!
Wondering which categories consumers find the most useful? Our latest statistics show that, once again, the laptop category is by far the one most consumers are using (so if you haven't reviewed your laptop yet, get to it!). Also very popular are mobile phones and fragrances. Indeed it seems people are on the hunt for the best fashion and beauty products with body care, skin care, and hair care also making it into the most popular list of late.
So, from the visitors to the dooyoo UK site, and from us here at dooyoo HQ, a resounding thank you to the dooyooCommunity!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
A Trendy Crown of the Day: Fashion & Beauty
08/09/2009 - (11:24 AM)
The new month is now well and truly underway, and it's fantastic to see how many dooyooers have already been posting their reviews in the Monthly Competition category, Fashion & Beauty. Take wendz86's review, I'm not getting rid of my shadows, for example, it is a clear, unbiased, no-frills, but very informative review which is sure to help those out there searching for a solution to dark eye shadows. According to wendz86, the Nivea Visage Anti-Shadow Eye Cream is one that you can leave off your trial list, but this excellent review made it onto our shortlist and ended up taking out today's Crown of the Day! Meanwhile, looks like the search for the perfect eye cream continues...
Special mention, and thanks, also go to mumsymary for her review of the Bob the Builder Under Construction Backpack in our new Rucksack category. If you've got suitcases, travel bags, or handbags that you haven't yet reviewed, now's the time - our new categories are just begging to be filled with your reviews!
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Crown of the Day
04/09/2009 - (10:21 AM)
There are so many books out there, from old classics to modern fiction, and with hundreds of new ones being released every week, it can be really overwhelming choosing what to read next... So many books, so little time! It's at this point that Emmamac1 swoops in with today's Crown of the Day, her review of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. The review, One Man's Mission to Promote Peace, gives this fascinating autobiographical book a five star rating and describes it as "a gripping account of one man's achievement in a war torn nation... [to] inspire and change the lives of many". A great review of what sounds like a unique and captivating book - another one for the 'must read' list.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
Celebrated dooyooers of the Week
03/09/2009 - (10:10 AM)
Aspiring film-maker, and discerning film critic LaptopAcidX is all business when it comes to reviews, and was awarded two Crowns in the last week for these efforts - nice! Noodlesandwich has also dabbled in a few film reviews, but it's her book reviews that are really attracting attention from the dooyooCommunity. HarryKeogh is a real all-rounder, and we especially liked his 5 star latest review, of the Ghostbusters Video Game (Wii). Recently joined member, alf_fly has also been busy in the Video Games category recently - and picked up their first Crown this week - congratulations! Finally on this week's list of celebrated dooyooers is skin care and beauty expert, izzoh, who's recently been on holiday and gave us an excellent review of the Tramps Club in Tenerife.
-Elise
dooyooTeam
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