Chinavasion | China Gadgets BlogWholesale Electronics and the Gadget Business

Don’t you hate it, when you finally build up momentum for a product, it’s selling well and then, after you have sold a whole batch, it appears to have disappeared from your supplier’s shelves?

So do we.

To remedy this one of the very clever programmers, who has a little bit of a thing for XML, had a brainwave. Why not use RSS?

So a RSS feed was duly set up solely for stock updates, so that no matter if something went off for a few weeks, or permanently, or came back, you knew immediately.

But what exactly is a RSS feed? And why, should you, as ecommerce operators and eBay resellers care?

RSS simply stands for “Really Simple Syndication”.

What does it do? Simple, it tells you each time that a websites updates its page without you having to go to the site.

There are two parts to the RSS feed, the feed itsef and the reader. To learn more about how they work there’s a quick explanation at this page Getting Chinavasion Stock Updates by Email or RSS. But, unless you’re a regular blog reader, or you’ve got a whole raft of sites you want to keep in contact with you’re not going to want an extra device/site to visit every day just for one service.

Thankfully there is a way to get the RSS feed sent directly to your email.

Here’s how…

For Those With Gmail

Go into settings and click on the setting that says labs. You know the labs features, it’s the thing that allows you to supercharge your Gmail with all those fancy gadgets that Google Engineers have been working on.

Go down to the gadget labeled Add any gadget by URL Click Enable and then select “Save Changes”.

Go back to settings and go to the menu “Gadgets” copy this URL http://gad.getpla.net/feed/reader.xml and paste it into the box like so:

You should see a box like the one below and you should be able to go back to your inbox:

Once you’re in your inbox you’ll probably notice that the feed reader has the CNN RSS in there by default. To change that hold your mouse over the left hand side of the frame and click on the spanner that appears on the side:

Paste the URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/chinavasion/Stock-Update into the space that appears and then hit OK.

For Those Without Gmail

Go to feedmyinbox.com/ paste the URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/chinavasion/Stock-Update into the “Website or Feed URL” section Paste your email address into the “Your Email Address” section. Hit enter.

But what about when you’re on the road? Would you like to be informed then?

Thankfully that’s possible with a tool called Twitter.

Updates Through Twitter

You must have heard of Twitter before. It’s a microblogging service which limits posts to 140 characters. This makes it good for people to keep each other updated on current events, share links and that is all.

Setting up and using a Twitter account is easy and it has and advantage over RSS feeds in that tweets can be delivered directly to your cell phone as a SMS making sure you never miss any important developments.

There are two ways to set up your cell phone so it can get tweets.

The first is through Twitter. If you didn’t do it at the sign up stage then all you need to do is to go into settings, select the mobile option, put your details into the boxes and hit verify. You should receive a message from twitter and you’ll be ready to go.

But what happens if your country isn’t on the list? (China isn’t, and neither is Hong Kong or a lot of other places)Then all you need to do is to take the following steps:

1. Send the message START to the correct phone number To get that number paste this link into your browser help.twitter.com/entries/14226-what-are-the-twitter-phone-numbers-short-and-long-codes
2. Twitter will send you a message asking you to reply with your username, or sign up
3. Send your username

That’s it. Now, providing you live in a country that has a two-way code you should be able to receive twitter updates on your mobile phone.

Now all that is needed to do is to follow our Twitter stock update and you will know exacty what is going on, even if you are away from the computer.

So, what’s the next step? The next step is to check out our Twitter stock update or RSS stock updates and ensure that you are always in the loop.

How would you like to get a pair of speakers on your desk customized by the very talented artists that created these wonderful works:

For one lucky customer this might well be the reality.

You may remember the last time we had a competition.

For the 350th video we held the The 350th Chinavasion YouTube Video Treasure Hunt (Yarr) we were overwhelmed with entries and ended up sending out a whole lot of swag.

This time it’s a one time only offer because our very talented artist charges by the hour.

So, the first person to buy 15 pieces or more of the Green Speaker Set (that’s 30 speakers in total), will win an extra set customized by our very special resident artist.

If that person is you, you can send us your favorite picture, our very talented artist will sketch it onto the speakers and send it to you with your order.

Now that’s not something to be taken lightly.

So resellers, don’t delay. Get your order in now for our very cool Green Speaker Set and you might be the lucky one to take away set that has not only been thrown in for free but has been decorated as well.

One of the biggest things people look for when deciding on what to buy is a little evidence that the item is actually good and will do everything that you want it to do.

Buying from us gives you a greater chance of that than some of our competitors, thanks to:

• Extensive testing
• Thorough descriptions
• The 12 month manufacturers’ guarantee
• User reviews

However, sometimes you want just a little bit more, and thankfully there are reviewers out there that have put our products through the wringer to help the buying decision that much easier for you.

So what do they have to say about our gadgets? Let’s take a look.

1080P HD Camcorder with Touchscreen and 5x Optical Zoom By AcekillerPC

Chinavasion Customer Rating:five star average from 29 customers.

When it comes to value for money you don’t get much more than the 1080P HD Camcorder with Touchscreen and 5x Optical Zoom. Coming with 1080P resolution, HDMI output and connectors, 5X Optical Zoom, Motion Detection and Touch Display it has quickly become a favorite with our resellers.

When Patara got it she was impressed with how intuitive the interface was, how easy it was to get to everything and how much stuff came in the box.

But don’t just take our word for it, paste this URL to read the review for yourself: youtube.com/watch?v=2mfpVuZhOIc

Solar Battery Charger for iPhones, iPods, and USB Devices By TheIAppleReviewer

Chinavasion Customer Rating:five star average from 6 customers.

Apple products and solar chargers are hot right now (excuse the pun) so it’s no surprise our Solar Battery Charger for iPhones, iPods, and USB Devices has been a hit with customers.

It’s small enough to fit into your pocket/purse without dislodging anything but powerful enough to keep anything up to a laptop running.

Mario from TheIAppleReviewer also discovered you can synch files with the computer while charging via computer.

See his review here: youtube.com/watch?v=AJOii6kRqzA

MPEG4 Digital Video Camcorder With Optical Telescope Zoom Lens By JoeTech

Chinavasion Customer Rating:five star average from 9 customers.

A video camera with 8x optical zoom for under US$100, how could you go wrong?

Customers and Joe from JoeTech didn’t think you could, Joe even discovered that it takes reasonable indoor photos with a nice clean light.

Read his experiences here: joetech.com/2009/01/01/chinavasions-zoom-video-camera-gets-in-close/

Wireless Keyboard + Touch Pad by Dan From Redferret.net

Chinavasion Customer Rating:five star average from 6 customers.

The home theatre is evolving. Computers and gaming systems are increasingly becoming parts of the home entertainment system. This means that the old remote is no longer enough.

Enter the Wireless Keyboard + Touch Padwhich isn’t much bigger than a standard TV remote but has a fully working keyboard, mouse and mouse buttons worked inside.

According to Dan from Redferret it works just as well as some competitors that are twice-three times the price and doesn’t take up nearly the same amount of space.

He says it can even take over typing (but not scrolling) duties if you are running a PlayStation3 (Firmware version 3.15).

Read his experiences here: redferret.net/?p=18877

LevelUP – Quad Band Dual SIM QWERTY Gaming Cellphone by MobileWhack

One of the newest additions to our cell phone line up will probably appeal more to the older gamers out there.

Let me explain…

This cell phone comes packed with everything you’d expect to see in an unlocked cell phone two SIM cards, camera, quad band coverage etc as well as having a NES emulator and fully working D-Pad onboard.

Our very own Michael Wong raves about it in the blog LevelUP NES Emulator Phone Could Be Old-School Gamers Greatest Gift and Steve Anderson from MobileWhack was almost as impressed.

Read all about what he thought here: mobilewhack.com/levelup-quad-band-cell-phone-review-you-wont-believe-this/

Super Cool Mobile Phone Wrist Watch by JoeTech

Chinavasion Customer Rating:five star average from 17 customers.

While we have added many Cell Phone Watches over the past two years this one continues to hold a soft spot for us.

It looks good, is a solid performer and costs less than US$110, now that’s some combination of attributes.

Joe from Joetech was suitably impressed managing to do more with the camera than we thought was possible.

Read about his thoughts here: joetech.com/2009/02/04/dick-tracey-i-have-your-cell-phone-watch/

YouBentMyWookie.com

What do people need for Christmas? Gifts!

And what’s the point in giving a geek a pair of socks when what they really want is… something they can use?

You Bent My Wookie thought so too so grabbed a whole raft of things from Chinavasion to try, including:

Read their experiences here: youbentmywookie.com/holiday-guide/ybmws-ultimate-holiday-gift-guide-go-go-gadets-galore-7852

So check out these reviews, take a look at the products and find something that you’d try out further. And if you’re a reviewer, get in contact with us ut at content@chinavasion.com with your name, place of review and see if we can work together.