No sympathy for Armstrong on social media

LONDON (Reuters) – Lance Armstrong’s televised doping confession has done nothing to restore his shattered reputation, a study of responses posted to the Twitter social media site showed.

“What was particularly noticeable in our analysis of the Armstrong revelation was the sheer lack of sympathy out there,” said Charlie Dundas of sports market research company Repucom.

“The tone of the discussion around the Oprah Winfrey interview highlighted the level of disappointment and anger that exists. It’s clear the public are far from ready to forgive Lance Armstrong,” he added.

In the interview, Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs on his way to his seven Tour de France titles. The Texan also said he hoped a lifetime ban would one day be lifted to allow him to compete in events like marathons.

The Armstrong interview generated 1.9 million Twitter posts between January 14-20, Repucom said. America accounted for more than a quarter of these, with Australia the second most active nation on the site.

(Writing by Keith Weir, editing by Mark Meadows)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Bachelor Recap: Sean Lowe Sets Kissing World Record with Lesley and Dumps Kacie

Amid a drama-filled night of surprises, Sean Lowe whittled his sixteen ladies down to thirteen Monday on The Bachelor.

To kick off week three, Lesley M was gifted with an entire day of Sean's company all to herself. Whisked from the mansion to the gritty streets of Hollywood Blvd, Sean surprised Lesley with a quirky museum date to peruse the Guinness Book of World Records where, interestingly enough, the Bachelor's very own dad holds a record for longest road trip ever taken. In the mood to follow in his father's footsteps, Sean proposes he and Lesley break the world record for longest on-screen kiss (3 min, 15 sec), which she eagerly accepted.

After easily earning their place in the history books, the twosome toasted to their accomplishment on a rooftop overlooking Los Angeles. Sean and Lesley proceeded to gush over eachother awkwardly before a blushing Sean gifted Lesley with a rose.

Pics: Meet Sean Lowe's Lucky Ladies!

Next up, Kacie, Robyn, Leslie H, Kristy, Catherine, Desiree, Taryn, Amanda, Lindsay, Daniella, Jackie and Tierra were selected to hit the beach for a competitive round of volleyball with two teams of six squaring off for the possibility of spending quality alone time with Sean.

In the end Desiree, Robyn, Amanda, Jakie and Lindsay win and relish in their hard-earned one-on-ones but Kacie, perturbed by the tension between Amanda and Desiree, opted to let Sean in on the drama. Unfortunately, her plan backfired as Sean questioned why she would involve herself in the girls' disagreement.

After spending time with all six, Sean gave a rose to Lindsay while Kacie was left to sweat over her poor decision that night.

AshLee was the last to score a one-on-one date with Sean but, as the Bachelor arrived to whisk his date off to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Tierra took a tumble down the stairs, effectively halting AshLee and Sean's plans for the day. Fearing she sustained a concussion, paramedics are called. Ultimately, Tierra vehemently refused medical attention and the ambulance was sent on its way-- but not before she snagged a good chunk of time snuggling with a worried Sean.

Despite being ruffled by what appeared to be a calculating move on Tierra's part to ruin her date, AshLee put on a good face for Sean when they finally arrive to the theme park. In an attempt to test her "kind, caring heart," Sean surprised his date by bringing along two other young ladies suffering from chronic illness to share in their thrilling day.

Impressed by how well AshLee took to the girls, Sean gifted AshLee with a rose and the twosome got to know eachother better as his favorite band, the Eli Young Band, serenaded them.

Video: Sean Lowe Is Most Sincere 'Bachelor' Ever, Says Chris Harrison

When time came for the final rose ceremony, Sean called for Kacie to meet him outside for a private conversation where he mercifully sent her off in private.

"I have way too much respect for you to make you stand through another ceremony when I know in my heart that we're better off as friends," said Sean before Kacie's limo whisked her away.

Back inside, Sean picked his final ten (Tierra, Leslie H, Catherine, Daniella, Robyn, Selma, Sarah, Jackie, Amanda and Desiree), sending Taryn and Kristy home.

Tune in next Monday for an all-new episode of The Bachelor on ABC.

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Bath salts bust in Hell's Kitchen

Byron Smith

Police at the scene on West 54th Street where officials had suspected a meth lab — cops found illegal bath salts instead.

Something foul is cooking in Hell’s Kitchen.

Police raided a West 54th Street co-op and found pounds of the illegal designer drug "bath salts" in a possible drug lab after neighbors complained that apartment smelled of cat urine, sources and witnesses said.

“One officer said, ‘I don't want to go in there,” said Chelsea Blakeburn, 20, who lives next to the third floor apartment and smelled the stench.

Blackburn said that a neighbor upstairs in the five story walk up — which is two blocks from a police precinct — was the one who called authorities.

Pounds of a white substance, believed to be illegal bath salts, were found in the apartment’s refrigerator along with beakers, according to police sources.

Bath salts are a low-grade synthetic drug with effects similar to cocaine and methamphetamine.

A 44-year old man who lives in the apartment is being questioned by police, but has not been charged, police said.

Neighbors describe the man as “bizarre and strange.”

DEP has not finished testing the substance and will make a final determination.

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Series for Miami’s emerging art collectors begins Thursday

For art enthusiasts interested in bring their interest home, Miami’s Bakehouse Art Complex is hosting a lecture series for emerging collectors. The first panel, slated for Thursday at 6 p.m., features arists and curators who will talk about fine tuning your taste and learning to make informed decisions. The second session, Feb. 7, is oriented to the mechanics of purchasing. The third, on Feb. 21, explores how to manage your collection.

Moderating all three panels will be Denise Gerson, independent curator who served as associate director for the Lowe Museum of Art for 24 years. Cost is $25 per session or $60 for the series. Seating is limited; reservations are recommended.

Information at 305-576-2828; www.bacfl.org.

Jane Wooldridge

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Cuban exile mother of poet laureate Richard Blanco now in spotlight as his inspiration

At first, Geysa Blanco thought her son was kidding.

"He said, ‘Mom, I have news for you,’ " Blanco said, recalling the telephone call from her son a few weeks ago.

"Between English and Spanish, he told me that they had chosen him to write and read a poem at the presidential inauguration,” she said.

But Richard Blanco, a child of exiles who was raised in Miami and graduated from Florida International University, was serious.

The Barack Obama inaugural committee chose the 44-year-old Cuban-American civil engineer and author to recite an original poem at Monday’s inauguration.

Richard Blanco has also been speechless. “It took me 10 minutes to remember what the word for inauguration is in Spanish," he said in a telephone interview Sunday from Washington, D.C., less than 24 hours before taking center stage.

Blanco, who now lives in Maine, will become the first Hispanic inaugural poet and the first openly gay one. He is also only the fifth and youngest poet in the exclusive club of poets.

The first was Robert Frost, who in 1961 wrote a poem for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy.

Then in 1993, Bill Clinton chose the African-American writer Maya Angelou. William Miller was chosen for Clinton’s second inauguration, and Elizabeth Alexander wrote the poem for Obama’s first ceremony.

In a statement, Obama said Blanco’s work represents "the great strength and diversity of the American people."

This diversity and strength could be reflected in the story of the poet’s Cuban exile mother.

"She is a very brave woman and has worked hard all her life for my brother and me," Blanco said.

During an interview at her Westchester home, Geysa Blanco, 75, said that it still seems surreal that a woman who grew up in a sugar refinery in Cienfuegos will stand in front of the National Capitol, watching her son recite a poem for the nation and the president of the United States.

“My son said reporters might want to interview me and I said, ‘Me? What for?’ ” Geysa Blanco said. Indeed, local reporters and TV cameras have come knocking and the proud mother has given several interviews.

Geysa Blanco has also become a celebrity among her neighbors, friends and customers at Regions Bank on Bird Road, where she has worked for more than 30 years.

The roots of Richard Blanco’s writing began in 1968 when his parents fled the Communist island and went into exile in Spain. At the time, Geysa Blanco, a teacher, was pregnant and she and her late husband Carlos, already had an older son, also named Carlos.

"We decided to leave Cuba because the government was becoming more and more difficult to live under," she said. "But it was very painful for me because I left my mother and brothers behind and came here virtually alone and with nothing."

After five months in Spain, where she gave birth to Richard, they emigrated to New York.

As a boy, she said Richard always had an interest in exploring his Cuban roots.

"I always had questions about Cuba, about the family we left there," he said. On his website he refers to himself as being “made in Cuba, assembled in Spain, and imported to the U.S.”

That sense of not belonging and trying to belong seeps through his books of poetry, which often feature his family and their efforts hold on to their traditions.

When Richard was about 5 and Carlos 11, the family moved to the closest place to Cuba – Miami. His mother went to work in a supermarket and later landed her bank job.

"We lived three generations in one house, my husband’s parents, my husband and I, and Charles and Richard," the poet’s mother said. "Sometimes it was hard because grandparents are not accustomed to the modern ways of young people.”

Today, she laments that those family members are gone. “I wish Richard’s father and grandparents were here to enjoy this day,” she said.

Richard Blanco did get to visit the homeland his parents yearned for when he was growing up.

"Everyone thought he wasn’t going to speak Spanish and was going to feel uncomfortable," Geysa Blanco said of her relatives on the island. "But they were surprised because he picked yucca in the fields, jumped in the canals and danced a lot, just like everyone else.”

That trip as a young man would shape the poet’s future work, his mother said. "I think that’s where he caught the bug to write about his roots," she said.

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Notre Dame hoax tip was emailed: Deadspin.com editor

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The tip that led to the revelation that one of the most widely recounted U.S. sports narratives of the past year was a hoax came to the editors of an online sports blog as many of their news tips do: an unsolicited email.

That email led Deadspin.com assignment editor Timothy Burke on the hunt of a story that exposed the heart-wrenching tale of standout Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o's dead girlfriend as a fabrication, Burke said on CNN on Thursday.

Te’o sprang to national prominence last fall when the senior co-captain was seen heroically leading the Fighting Irish to an underdog victory against the Michigan State Spartans within days of learning his grandmother had died. Moreover, it was widely reported, Te’o's girlfriend had died of leukemia just hours after his grandmother’s death.

From that point, Te’o's narrative was a prominent feature in coverage of the team, which has a dedicated following and whose games are televised nationally each week.

Notre Dame went on to an undefeated regular season, culminating in a berth in the national championship game, which the Fighting Irish lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide on January 7.

“We got an email last week at Deadspin.com that said ‘Hey, there’s something real weird about Lennay Kekua, Manti Te’o's allegedly dead girlfriend. You guys should check it out,’” Burke said.

The email prompted Burke and co-author Jack Dickey to begin searching online for background on Kekua. “So we start Googling the name Lennay Kekua. We can’t find any evidence of this person that wasn’t attached to stories about her being Manti Te’o's dead girlfriend.”

Their investigation led about a week later to a 4,000-word expose, published Wednesday under the headline “Blarney,” that painstakingly debunked the story of Kekua’s existence. The story went viral online.

Within hours of its publication, officials at Notre Dame, one of the most powerful institutions in college football and U.S. collegiate athletics overall, held a hastily organized press conference to assert that Te’o had been duped in a hoax perpetrated by a friend of his.

The girlfriend, who called herself Kekua and claimed to be a Stanford University graduate, was merely an online persona who “ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia,” university spokesman Dennis Brown said in a statement.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said the university learned of the hoax from Te’o on December 26. Te’o answered questions forthrightly and private investigators uncovered several things that pointed to Te’o being a victim in the case, Swarbrick said.

Deadspin’s Burke said he remains skeptical of this being a hoax perpetrated on Te’o rather than by Te’o.

“Ask yourself why and what incentive a person would have to execute such a lengthy, time-consuming and expensive con that would involve multiple people and essentially consume his entire life just to screw around with a guy that he knows?” Burke said on CNN.

Deadspin.com said the woman whose photograph was frequently shown on TV and in news reports about Kekua was actually a young California woman who had never met or communicated with Te’o. The website declined to identify her by name.

On Thursday, TV newsmagazine “Inside Edition” said the woman in the photograph was a 23-year-old marketing professional in Los Angeles named Diane O’Meara. Inside Edition, which is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution, said O’Meara was a former classmate of one of Te’o's friends. It Aredid not give the friend’s name.

In the expose published Wednesday, Deadspin.com said a friend of Te’o's named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was “the man behind” the hoax.

Outside Tuiasosopo’s home in Palmdale, California on Thursday, a member of his family who did not identify himself told reporters, “Please, we have no comment. Please respect that.”

The Te’o hoax is the latest black eye Notre Dame’s legendary football program has suffered in recent years.

In 2011, the school was fined $ 42,000 by an Indiana agency over the death of football videographer Declan Sullivan, 20, who died in October 2010 after a hydraulic lift he was using to record practice toppled over in high winds.

In 2010, Elizabeth “Lizzy” Seeberg, a freshman at nearby St. Mary’s College, killed herself ten days after accusing a Notre Dame football player of sexual battery. Her family began questioning the campus police department’s reluctance to gather evidence and a 15-day delay in interviewing the accused.

After a federal investigation into the matter, the school agreed to revise its policies on sexual misconduct.

(Additional reporting by Dan Burns, Dana Feldman, David Bailey and Mary Wisniewski.; Editing by Vicki Allen, Greg McCune and Andrew Hay)

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Gayle King Reacts to Oprah Winfrey Interview with Lance Armstrong

ET's Rocsi Diaz chatted with Oprah Winfrey's best friend Gayle King on Sunday, where the CBS This Morning co-anchor revealed that Lance Armstrong wasn't the only one with a lot at stake during last week's interview.

RELATED: Biggest Celebrity Scandals

"I've only seen [Oprah] nervous twice -- Michael Jackson, back in the day that was live, and with Lance Armstrong," Gayle said at The Daily Beast/Newsweek bipartisan brunch. "She knew that there was a lot at stake. She knew that people would be watching her and she knew that people would be watching him."

Those nerves may have brought out the best in Lady O, as Gayle revealed Oprah's preparation leading up to the sit down. Gayle told Rocsi that Oprah looked at every interview that Lance has done, read the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report and three books all in one week.

On the day of the interview, Oprah issued a series of rapid-fire yes or no questions, in which the retired cyclist confirmed that he had blood transfusions and used the banned substance erythropoietin (EPO) during his career -- particularly during all seven of his Tour de France victories.

RELATED: Lance Armstrong Movie Already in the Works

"You know it's a good interview when you're done and you get in the car and you say, 'There's not another thing I wish I would've asked him,'" said Gayle. "That's pretty good, and that's how she felt."

The brunch was a part of the festivities surrounding the Presidential Inauguration. Other attendees included Eva Longoria, Star Jones, Kerry Washington and Rosario Dawson.

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Oaf of office

WASHINGTON — Will the real president please stand up?

Vice President Joe Biden committed one of his trademark gaffes over the weekend when he said at the Iowa State Society inauguration ball: “I’m proud to be president of the United States.”

The real president, Barack Obama, took his oath of office to a second term as the nation’s 44th commander-in-chief yesterday at a ceremony in the White House that lasted less than a minute.

Chief Justice John Roberts administered the 35-word oath before a small gathering in accordance with the Constitution, which mandates that inductions take place on Jan. 20.

Getty Images

SAY WHAT? Vice President Joe Biden, wife Jill watching, is sworn in yesterday by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a day after saying he was “president.”

Reuters

TWO PROUD: President Obama gets a hug from daughter Malia and a big smile from wife Michelle yesterday after the White House oath ceremony.

A public audience couldn’t take place this year, however, because the date fell on a Sunday and public institutions are closed.

Obama took the oath with First Lady Michelle holding her grandmother’s Bible and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, looking on. Sasha, 11, congratulated her dad after he took the oath.

“Good job, Daddy,” she said, hugging the president.

“I did it,” Obama replied.

His daughter then said, “You didn’t mess up,” an apparent reference to when Obama took his first oath in 2009 and had to repeat it a day later after Roberts tripped over the wording.

Obama will repeat the oath at a ceremony today at the Capitol, where about 800,000 people are expected to descend on the National Mall for the event, fewer than the 1.8 million four years ago.

The inauguration will be followed by a luncheon, parade and two official inaugural balls.

Biden was also sworn in during a ceremony at his residence at the Naval Observatory. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath before about 120 of Biden’s family and friends.

Biden was sworn in at 8:21 a.m. because Sotomayor had to make it back to New York for an afternoon book signing, he said.

Biden’s guest list indicated he might have an eye on the 2016 presidential campaign — with Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, which holds the first presidential primary, in attendance. Iowa holds the first caucuses.

As Obama again takes office, the public’s opinion of the country’s direction is the lowest that a president has seen on his inauguration day to a second term in 40 years.

A small majority, 51 percent, have a negative view about how the country is doing, compared to 49 percent with a favorable view. At least that positive number is six points higher than in November.

gshields@nypost.com

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Three-generation family businesses share their secrets of success

In 2009, when Larry Zinn took over as sales manager for the Infiniti dealership that his father owned, he had a great idea: retrain the sales staff in a team approach and offer customers complimentary add-on services for the first year.

Some salesmen who were used to selling the same way for decades up and quit. But that didn’t deter Larry from insisting a new sales culture and value proposition for new car buyers was necessary. “I was persistent with everything I’ve believed we needed to do going forward. People were going to embrace change or move on,” says Larry, 28.

The resistance quieted, however, after Larry recruited young salespeople and had them trained in the new advantage program. The new approach helped push sales volume up 72 percent. "We had a lot of success with it,” he says.

Larry Zinn’s experience is not unusual for family-owned businesses that survive into a third generation and employ new tactics to keep from becoming obsolete.

Nationally, family-run businesses account for nearly 35 percent of the largest companies including Ford, Koch Industries, Hilton, Wal-Mart, Loews and Ikea. In South Florida, family-run businesses are particularly prevalent and account for a majority of the largest Hispanic companies, including Goya, Bacardi, El Dorado and Sedano’s Supermarkets.

But while more than 30 percent of all U.S. family-owned businesses survive into the second generation, only about 12 percent are passed onto the third generation, according to Family Firm Institute, a Boston-based association for family enterprise professionals. Those that do survive have a few intriguing commonalities: an ability to stay relevant, think bigger and take a long term view.

“They try to figure out where they want to be in 10 years and take steps to make that target,” says Wayne Rivers, president of The Family Business Institute in Raleigh, N.C.

Most third-generation family businesses, particularly those in South Florida, were started by a scrappy entrepreneur who saw business ownership as a way to provide for the family. Those businesses include grocery chains such as Sedano’s, restaurant operators such as Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine and airport concessionaires such as NewsLink.

Typically, in those businesses, the founder brought his kids with him to work, put them in the kitchen, the stock room, the sales floor, and taught them on-the-spot business lessons. Those kids eventually came to work full time and helped the company evolve beyond a seat-of-the-pants start-up into a more sophisticated business with processes and systems.

Now comes the third generation, who are more likely to have received formal business education before they return to the company. Often, they are able to leverage that training and move the company forward dramatically. But the succession also comes with challenges. They must keep the respect of longtime employees and show the same dogged commitment to seeing their company succeed, even after having already grown up enjoying the fruits of its success.

In successful third-generation businesses, the senior generation often stays on to ensure that commitment, adopting a role as mentor or advisor while creating an environment where younger family members can take on real responsibility, says Rivers, who consults for family businesses. “They get out of the way, let the next generation make their own mistakes, and gracefully exit when it’s appropriate.”

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10 awesome new (and old) things you need to know about in 2013

We’re just three weeks into 2013 and it’s surprising what a difference a year can make. RIM (RIMM) is on the rise as Apple (AAPL) is getting crushed, Samsung (005930) is supposedly generating Apple-like hype, and connected home appliances outshined smartphones at CES. It’s a brave new world indeed, but here are 10 awesome new (and old) things to keep you grounded in 2013 while you put 2012 behind you and try to forget Gangnam Style ever happened.

[More from BGR: Samsung’s latest monster smartphone will reportedly have a 5.8-inch screen]

1. Digg: Digg? In 2013? Yup — it’s back and it’s awesome.

[More from BGR: Paid apps are history]

The old Digg is dead and a fantastic river of curated news can now be found in its place. The site has done away with user submissions and the unending sea of obnoxious comments, leaving behind a platform that is infinitely better than its predecessor.

Topics covered range from technology and business to world events and interesting morsels people are unlikely to dig up on their own.

The redesigned site is fantastic and clean, the iOS app is terrific, and I consistently discover great stories there long before they being to gain steam elsewhere on the web.

http://digg.com

2. Evernote: There are a few Web services that I regularly recommend to friends and family where after I do, I get a note a few weeks later with the question, “How did I ever live with this?” Evernote is among those services.

In a nutshell, Evernote is a Web-based service that lets users create and organize notes that automatically sync across all their computers, smartphones and tablets. Despite its popularity on tech blogs, I still find a lot of people who have never heard of the service.

The beauty of Evernote is that everyone uses it in his or her own unique way. It can be used to house Web page clippings, store ideas as they come to you, keep recipes in order, hold to-do lists, make grocery lists, or perform any number of other functions.

http://evernote.com/

3. BlackBerry 10: Whether it ends up being RIM’s comeback catalyst or its last hurrah, BlackBerry 10 is going to be a big deal in 2013. Investors are excited, BlackBerry fans are excited, and we’re excited.

The show kicks off on January 30th and BGR will be there live to cover all the action as it unfolds.

http://global.blackberry.com/

4. Outgrow.me: Kickstarter and Indiegogo are great crowd-funding sites for entrepreneurs, but they’re also very trendy right now. For every awesome product on each site there are dozens of, well, not-so-awesome products.

Outgrow.me makes it easy to view the best products these two sites have to offer using a great design that is easy to navigate.

As an added bonus, Outgrow.me addresses one of the biggest problems among crowd-funded products. Since a lot of great (and well-funded) products don’t ship on time, the site has an option to only view items that are “orderable” today.

http://outgrow.me/

5. Windows Phone: Look, Microsoft (MSFT) has been giving it the old college try for more than two years now, but things are getting serious in 2013. Maybe.

Windows Phone 8 is a supercharged version of Microsoft’s initial reimagining of the smartphone experience. It’s faster, smoother, more versatile and it supports better hardware.

There are two great flagship Windows Phones on the market right now — Nokia’s Lumia 920 and HTC’s Windows Phone 8X — as well as a number of solid low- and mid-range options.

http://www.windowsphone.com/

6. Jawbone UP: Fitness gadgets are getting trendy now, but I’ve yet to see anything that looks more appealing than Jawbone’s second iteration of the “UP” bracelet.

The simple device is worn on your wrist at all times (it’s waterproof, so you can even shower with it) and it tracks your daily activity including your sleep. It’s paired with a fantastic app that features a gorgeous UI and plenty of great functionality.

UP’s companion app tracks your steps, calorie burn and sleep to create a “Lifeline.” You can also track the food you eat by scanning barcodes, taking pictures or inputting items manually, which helps you keep tabs on your calorie intake.

The kicker for the Jawbone UP over rivals is the fact that it doesn’t include wireless connectivity, believe it or not. Yes, that means you have to take the band off, pop the cap and connect it to your iPhone’s audio jack to sync, but it also means the battery lasts between nine and ten days on a charge.

UP is only compatible with iOS for the time being, but Jawbone says it’s working on an Android app.

http://jawbone.com/up

7. Republic Wireless: Did you know you can get unlimited smartphone service for $ 19 a month? Really, truly unlimited calling, messaging and data for $ 19 a month?

We’ve been testing Republic Wireless’ $ 19 unlimited smartphone service for several weeks now and so far we’re impressed. The service is not for power users — there’s only one smartphone available right now (Motorola’s Defy XT) and you won’t have access to 4G data speeds — but anyone looking for basic smartphone service at a ridiculously low price would be remiss to not give Republic Wireless a look.

http://www.republicwireless.com/

8. HTC: It’s time to get acquainted with the little smartphone vendor that could.

HTC (2498) took a beating in 2012 while Samsung and Apple grew bigger than most could have imagined. HTC might not have billions of marketing dollars to constantly slap consumers in the face with ads, but it has a ridiculously talented team that churns out one gorgeous smartphone after another.

With hardware that is second to none and handsets ranging from affordable low-end phones to premium flagship devices, HTC is a brand to watch in 2013.

http://htc.com/

9. Wirecutter: Founded by former Gizmodo editor Brian Lam, Wirecutter is “a list of great technology.”

The site is basically a gadget buying guide without the stomach-turning, Google-gaming, SEO machine aspect. Instead, it’s simply a collection of technology products the site’s staff enjoys. Imagine that!

Wirecutter is definitely a site worth checking out and this is a good place to start.

http://thewirecutter.com/

10. Skype: Sure, everyone knows about Skype on computers and smartphones. I never use it on either. Instead, there’s another aspect of Skype not everyone knows about: Home phone service.

Using compatible handsets, Skype can be set up to work just like any other VoIP home phone service. The only difference is that Skype is much, much cheaper than comparable offerings. Unlimited calling within the U.S. and Canada can be had for less than $ 2.60 a month plus $ 30 each year for a phone number.

In other words, a year of Skype service costs a little less than two months of Vonage or cable company phone service.

I’ve been using Skype for my home phone since last May and I couldn’t be happier. The quality is excellent, on par with similar offerings from Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, and the price can’t be beat.

I should note, though, that dealing with one of Skype’s retail partners — eBuyNow — was an awful, awful experience. They took forever to get back to me when one of my handsets died and after two months of trying to get a replacement, they just ended up refunding my entire purchase. If you choose Skype for home phone service, buy your handsets elsewhere.

http://skype.com/

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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