Nice Idea, Poor Execution :-/
357045
I'm so sorry, but I have to be that first person that says they didn't like it. I made myself give it a chance and finish the whole thing, but I am serious when I say I MADE myself. To start, I am a fan of Young Adult books in general and have read a few Young Adult Science Fiction as well (including Ender's Game, the Hunger Games Trilogy, etc. and liked them.)

The beginning prologue was very intriguing and gave me high hopes, but once the bulk of the book started I lost interest quickly. The only point where I started to enjoy it again was at the end. Like one of the previous reviewers said, a story where the weak become the strong and fight for what they believe in and their loved ones IS a great story. However, that was the only great thing about this book and was only really emphasized in the last 3 chapters (yes, it was mentioned throughout the book, but the storyline outside of that didn't make up for it.)

However, since I don't want to be one of those reviewers who just rags on a story without giving you an honest reason why, here are the elements I did not like about it:

The back and forth story telling of the two main character was hard to follow and frankly OBNOXIOUS. I get that they are young siblings and therefor have a tendency to pick on one another, but it got old, fast. They also were immature. Once again I recognize that they were younger teenagers, but that doesn't mean almost every line needed to read, "and like... or something... so yeah... totally..." and other cliche juvenile sentences. Not all young adults talk that way, and it was more of a distraction to me when I was reading than a character development tool. It is possible to write a book from the perspective of a youth without having the writing style of a youth. To be fair, that may have been intentional and could be viewed as "good writing" because it really did seem like annoying children were writing the book, but personally I do not find that enjoyable to read.

Not only did the characters make annoying comments to each other, but they constantly repeated parts of the story that the other character had already covered, wasting the readers time as well as valuable space in the book that could have been used to develop a stronger story line.

Nothing really happened throughout the book, and still we were left with a lot of questions and no real resolution to anything. Understandably, since the story goes along with the main characters experience, we would learn about who they were and what they were doing as they learned about it themselves. However, somehow I felt like the characters seemed to learn more than we did even though we were supposed to be going along with them on their journey.

There were details that were littered throughout the book that we assumed would come back later, but then never got explained. Maybe I just missed them, but I doubt I will be reading it again to try and find them out. Not very much tied together fluidly.

I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get past the language and style of the writing. I wasn't interested until the last few chapters, and I was disappointed that were wasn't more thought put into the story line. It had such potential but fell short. Maybe the Ordinaries will fill in some of the gaps, but for an introductory book, it could have done a better job setting the stage.

I am glad to know some people enjoyed it and I wish these new authors the best of luck in their writing career, just wanted to give my honest opinion.
2578666
Before I begin, I have to say i truly wanted to like this product.  However, I have to honestly say that the idea behind the product is awesome, but fails on a few different levels.  So lets begin with the positives of this product.
  Positives
1.  The size is not obtrusive and does not block any vision.
  2.  I guess you can call the idea behind the product a positive.  You place a metal disk on back of your phone and then it attaches to a magnetized ball that is on your dash mount.
  Unfortunately this is wear the positives end for me.
  Negatives.
  1.  Its not rocket science as I was easily able to figure out how to put it together, but some may require instructions.  This only came in a small plastic container, no label, no directions, etc...
  2.  The magnet disk that is supposed to go inside of the case.  I have an otterbox case and it wouldnt work inside of the case.  I had to place this disk on the back of the case.  (again not a huge negative, but i can see how that is annoying to some users).
  3.  Mounting of the unit on the dashboard.  You are supposedly pealing back the film and letting the adhesive attach to your dashboard.  The adhesive has as much "stickiness" as the back of a piece of tape does.  It wouldn't stick and i tried in on multiple different sources.  (However, one can find another adhesive to put on the base of this mount and attach it.  You shouldn't have to do that though).

  Im giving it two stars cause I can see how this works and the name of the product is exactly what you get.  In order for this product to be awesome, the company needs a stronger magnet disk for the iPhone.  The company needs a stronger adhesive sticky pad for the car mount.  This company should include instructions for people who are not handy.

  Disclaimer:  I received this product at a discount for a fair and honest review on amazon.com
1403963
Great idea, but it falls down in the execution.  I bought this to convert my sorority pin into a pendant.  The gold overlay looks cheap, and the bale is ENORMOUS, so the pin looks dwarfed (and it's isn't really that small), plus the huge size of the bale means the pin flops back and forth on the vertical loop.  I tried it with a larger pin and it's a little better, but still floppy.
3980056
The concept is great, but the execution (at least at my house) is weak. I bought a WeMo switch to also go with this starter set to expand the capabilities of it. I'm fairly adept technically and yet I'm struggling to get both the bulbs and a switch recognized by the iOS app. Therefore I can't use it as advertised.
It could be my WiFi, but I have over two dozen other items successfully connected to it with no problems. I've spent a bit of time on the forums and have yet to call Belkin for tech support but I can just tell this is not a fully baked product. I'm still excited by the possibilities and will continue to work on it as a 'tech challenge' but I can't rely on it to do what I set out for it to do.
If it wasn't for the fact that it was on sale I would be forced to return it and wait until they make it a more polished product.
4863909
The idea behind this is great, and it seemed to work fine for one use, but I don't know if I will continue to use it in the future, for a couple of reasons.

1) Maybe the straps on my backpack don't work as well as other, but it won't fit right on the strap. I have an Osprey 36L Kestrel  womens pack and the strap is a little curved around the shoulder, which makes it almost impossible to fasten completely around strap.
2) Because of the incomplete fastening, there is exposed velcro on the edge which scraped against my arm if I am wearing short sleeves, or will snag the material and rough it up a bunch. After once use I noticed that the seam on one of the edges has ripped out, probably from trying to tighten it as much as possible to get it to wrap all the way around.
3) Again, because of the shape of my pack strap (and the shape of me) the holster has to be placed really low on the strap so that I can use the chest strap, which then is a little bit in the way of my arm when the camera is attached. It also seems kind of impractical to have the holster any higher because it starts to interfere with the curvature of the strap going up over my shoulder, and is super uncomfortable.

I really wanted this to work, because I did love having my camera so handy, rather than having to take off the pack to dig out the camera for a shot. I also got lots of envious glances from other hikers with their cameras hanging around their necks, bouncing around. It did take a while to get used to having it hanging from my strap - mostly it was the fear that it was going to get smashed if I fell, which has nothing to do with the holder, only my questionable balance. If any women out there have tried this and have any suggestions I'd love to know because I really wanted this to work!
4533435
At least 1 of the 2 magnets keep going off contact, thereby flapping around awkwardly... I just put my iPhone and a credit card in it.. The design is just not good enough or it is not tested enough.. I wished the magnets were larger in size so as to not lose the hold... The idea of the product is excellent, but the execution is poor!!!
4548876
Great concept, poor execution. Blender really doesn't work well. Items are forced to top of cup away from blades. Poor engineering.
291632
I got this for my office, for a bit of distraction and activity while pondering something.  I liked the possibility of setting it up for more participants.  But, sadly, I'm more frustrated than entertained. Made of cheap plastic, just low-quality pvc, it also has poor overall build quality.  The pieces don't quite have a way of matching up, partly because the ends aren't straight, so you have to experiment in order to make sure everything is straight.  The door attachments are a bit big and not very tight on the door, so I can't shut my door if this is on. Which sort of defeats the goal.  I took it off and had it hanging on a bookshelf, but then a light shot knocked over the already very unbalanced hoop, it feel to the ground and one of the plastic hooks/stands broke entirely off.  Add to this the fact the hoop isn't straight. It comes folded up, presumably solely for packaging, with only very cheap and small plastic tabs meant to keep it aligned once folded. Well, it isn't tight in the hinge and so droops quite a bit off horizontal.

The ball is nice. Inflated rubber, comes with a cheap pump. I thought they forgot including a needle, but then I saw there's a tab on the top of the pump handle where it can go. It's a hard tab to open, but does make for good storage. You have to have a little finesse with the ball because it wants to deflate while the needle is in, and if you stop pumping does so quickly.

This is almost a good idea but just really bad materials and structure makes it less than worthwhile.
3554984
Great idea but mediocre execution. First time my kid dropped my phone the back part of the case cracked away from the rubber seal around the edge. I superglued it, and then the next day noticed the other corner was cracking away. So I superglued it. Now the FRONT is cracking away, so I'm replacing the case. I like the idea of the ring on the back, but this particular case is not ideal for people who are hard on their phones (or who have small children using their phones to play Pokemon Go).

It's also hard to turn the ringer on and off, but that's a minor annoyance compared to the fact that it broke.
850116
Good idea -- poor execution.  First, the Tongs don't open wide enough.  It really doesn't do as good of a job of chopping salad mix as just ordinary kitchen shears.  Second, it is super bulky and takes up a lot of room.  Third, it is difficult to clean.  Fourth, it is not that sharp and requires a lot of effort.  Overall, I should have sent it back, but I'm hoping I'll find some use for it.  Darn -- I really wanted to like it.
272097
I think the idea is good, and with a little re-work these good be a great item.
They are a little smaller than I imagined, and since the peak height is only about 7 inches or so (if that), any book that is over about 7-8 inches just tips over backwards.  The ledge that is built in (the rolled bottom) doesn't really hold the book.  The crease is quite snug, and a book with any kind of thickness just doesn't fit in it, so you kind of end up putting the bottom of the book in your lap.  The bookmark - can't quite figure out how anyone would use it.  If you put it in the book as a marker, what are you supposed to do then?  The book and the pillow can't really go anywhere together, not even rest on a table together.

The material (I got the burgundy) is actually quite nice, and the tassel is a nice quality.  I did try this just by putting the book (hardback about 8" x 7" x 3/4" thick in my lap, and just laying it up against the pillow, but honestly you could do that with any sofa pillow.

Not worth the money, in my humble opinion.
441151
I have an iPhone 4. The dock connector plug did not fit at all.  Only one side would fit in with the other side protruding.  It was not wide enough to cover the dock connector hole so dust would get in even if it did fit.

The headphone jack pin didn't fit snugly in the headphone jack.  When I turned the phone upside down, it would fall out.

Great concept; poor execution.

Unfortunately, it is now sitting in my garbage less than 5 minutes after receiving it.
1856399
These things are good in theory, but they seem to be really poorly made.

I purchased them so that I would be able to tell when the laundry is free in the basement of my apartment building, one for the washer and one for the dryer.  I took them out of the box and started the process of updating and pairing them with my network, which took waaay longer than it should.  I had an especially large amount of trouble with one of them, which took several tries to get the the update to stick.

They are now installed in the basement, and one of them works sometimes, but the other can rarely be found by my phone.  The wifi router is just through the ceiling above the sensors, so that is not the problem, they seem to just lose touch after a while.  I've tried resetting them, moving them, nothing seems to help.  They really just seem to be not very good.

Additionally, the android app is just really, really slow and poorly coded.  It is difficult to get any settings to stick, and really hard to tell when things are running or not.  It needs to be entirely re-coded.

When it does work, it is nice, and I love the integration with IFTTT, but it takes constant work to keep it running, and it's a shame it isn't more stable.
4219772
Very nice idea, nfc, nice keyboard (there's an ok trade off between non-clickability and thinness) but the ergonomics don't cut it:
1-they answered a question on amazon saying that you should use this laying flat on a table. But even then, the screen would be flat on the table, you should get something to prop it up. Or it should have some form of kickstand or origami like folding thing.
2-if you use it like a slide out keyboard phone: you can rest the (rather heavy) phone on your extended index fingers, and type with your thumbs. But this is awckward and uncomfortable for more than a few words. Plus I have small hands and the keyboard, which takes the whole area, is too big for me, plus having indexes extended below the phone holding it make it very difficult to type the keys on the extremes of the keyboard.
I don't want to kill this really innovative product, fine quality and original, but it's really missing something. Like a kickstand or hinges so the phone stays in place when you hold the keyboard, or some form of support that does this. Or a real killer would be a slideout version of this. But as it is, it's hardly useful IMHO.
Wait for V 2.0...
4214707
Great idea but poorly executed. One side is nice, full and fluffy as expected, the other has much less hair, which is also shorter, so it looks bizarrely smaller and flatter..The band is comfortable and they certainly feel warm, hence 2 stars, but overall they are not wearable.
3894407
This is a cool idea (in theory).  Execution leaves much to be desired.  I installed the 1st one only to find the cheap plastic swing pin that holds the door on was broken.  Since I had already cut a hole in my screen, I opted for a replacement rather than a refund.  The door on the second one wasn't broken, however, the frame appears to be off by about 1/16 inch, causing the 2 halves to not want to seat properly.  The screen material in the swing door is really flimsy also.  I honestly don't expect this door to last long at all.  I would have preferred to pay double for a higher-quality part with stronger materials, metal swing pins and more overall durability.  You get what you pay for I guess.  In this instance, I paid $17 for a headache.
4285349
Great concept, terrible execution. App fails to open my door 99 % of the time and even then its only after I force the app to close and reopen.

I don't know how many times Ive gone for a run, come back, tapped the door and nothing. I got this for the convenience of not needing to take a key with me on a run.

Jokes on me...

I spend at least a couple minutes trying to get the door to open. Tap, doesnt open. Open app try to connect and open doesnt find the lock. Force close app, reopen try to connect and it will take no less then a minute to connect, if and I repeat if it does connect. I have given up and used the garage a couple times.

Ive tried recalibrating, doesnt change anything.