What does this mean exactly? Milo is an online service that will search the inventory of major retailers in your local area to advice you of the availability of the product which you’re looking for. In other words, it’s a multi-search engine for shopping.

I was then shocked to see them say that 95% of sales happen at real stores in the real world. That is brick and mortar shops as opposed to somewhere on the Internet. Are you surprised as well?? Crazy, right?

If you have shopped for something in the real world recently, you’ll know that the stores with the cheapest prices are also usually sold out of what you want. And when do you find that out? When you get to the store, of course.

I hate taking pointless trips! And I hate being unhappy even more! What about you?

Enter Milo, which will help you answer these three questions:

1. What’s available at local stores?
2. Which product is the best for me?
3. Where is it cheapest and available in stock?

Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it only searches 21 large chain-stores shown in the picture above. But heck, that’s good enough for me. Let’s try some searches in my hood!

I decided to look for a Nintendo Wii locally. Even this long after its release, it is still an issue to find one in stock. Let’s see what Milo can do for me.

Well, that gave me way too many choices. So, I decided to narrow it down with Wii Console instead and that brought up what I was looking for.

I selected my console which was conveniently the first item and then it loaded up local spots that may or may not have it in stock. And just as I expected, they didn’t

I decided to expand my area and search Manhattan as well but no luck. I could find it online but I wanted it NOW! So for giggles I searched California and what do you know?

That’s really not fair! But hey, Milo saved me a trip to the stores or even a phone call! Milo is currently in beta and only works in the following locations:

• New York
• San Fransisco
• Chicago
• Miami
• Los Angeles

If you try to search another location you will get this cute response.

What do you think? Do you use an online search tool to check for a product’s availability before heading out to the store? Do you shop online? If you do, I suggest checking out 5 Online Shopping Sites That Will Actually SAVE You Money.

Let us know what you think of Milo in the comments.

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When was the last time you were in a brick and mortar store checking out a book (or a video game) and wondering if it’ll be cheaper to get it online ?

I don’t know about you guys, but this happens with all the time when I’m out shopping.

Just last week, I was at this cool bookshop near my house browsing the shelf looking for a copy of Shantaram (which by the way, is an awesome read). I found it alright but for some reason, I thought the price was a bit more than I thought it should cost. I had my iPhone with me and I could Google the price up but seriously, what’s cool about that?

Instead, armed with my iPhone, I used Snaptell (iTunes Store link).

Snaptell is a cool and free application for the iPhone which uses image recognition to identify photos of books, CD/DVDs and video game covers and tells you their price at various online retailers.

So in my case, using Snaptell, I took a picture of the front cover of Shantaram in the store. Snaptell then uploaded the image to its servers and within a couple of seconds, told me that the book was available at more or less the same price at Amazon and Barnes & Noble as the bookstore I was at. Obviously, I decided to purchase it there and then, saving me a couple of days and shipping costs.

Of course, this is not the only use of Snaptell. Along with a comparison of products’ prices, Snaptell also displays other useful information: it also links to the Wikipedia entry for the product, if it exists; Google Product search results, results from eBay, Half.com and Yahoo search. If you can’t find the product you’re looking for in all those places, I’m not sure you’ll ever find it online.

So, books aren’t really your scene, eh ? Snaptell is an excellent app to have even if you’re searching the back alleys for DVDs of the latest blockbuster or yesteryears’ hits.

Snap a pic and let Snaptell work its magic. Snaptell also helpfully includes links to reviews from IMDB and RottenTomatoes and search results from YouTube. How’s that for convenience ?

Since Snaptell uploads a photo each time to its servers, the application obviously works best over WIFI but the speed is quite acceptable over cellular networks. Also, since you’ll need to take a photo, this will not work on the iPod Touch.

If books, DVDs and games are your thing AND you’re an online junkie like I am, give Snaptell a try and you won’t be dissappointed. Oh, and the Geek cred that you get will definitely be priceless.

Another good article to help you find good buys online is “5 Online Shopping Sites That Will Actually SAVE You Money” which I wrote not long ago.

How do you normally research about the product you plan to buy? Online or physical store? Share with us in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Gadget Reviews

Whether you’re buying a new mobile phone, MP3 player, speakers or digicam, one of the first things you usually want to know is what other people who have used the product have to say about it. In most cases, a real feedback from someone who have used the same gadget before is far more valuable than what you get on the sales page. So what are the best websites for gadget reviews ?

TestFreaks – Features include: expert and amateur reviews, gadget images, rating scores (i.e. general user score, expert score, design, value for money, features, ease fo use, performance etc.), side-by-side comparison, and price comparison. [Original article]


ExpoTV – Over 250.000 of short and unbiased consumer video reviews. [Original artcile]



Swotti – Swotti scans web (blogs, review sites, forums etc.) for product mentions and gives you a lsit of quick opinions about it. Quite useful if all you’re looking for are quick summaries and not interested in details. [Original article]

Fix Gadgets

Where do you go when your gadget breaks? Google works well but only if it’s something popular, like iPods for example. For less popular devices you might need a more specialized source. So far I am aware of two websites that can be of great help.

The first one is recently mentioned SafeManuals. With nearly 900.000 user manuals this is the first site you should visit. Go and get the owner’s manuals for the device. However if you already have one and still can’t find the fix then ask about it on FixYa. FixYa is a free tech support community for troubleshooting and fixing electronic gadgets. Ask questions, browse HowTo guides, search huge databases of previously answered questions and so on.

More on FixYa …

Sell Old Gadgets

Want to get rid of that old cell phone or digicam and get some cash for it ? Of course you can always post on eBay. But if you’re just too lazy to go through all this auction hassle then BuyMyTronics (original post) is for you.

These guys will buy pretty much any used (or broken) gadget and most importantly give you a good price for it. Quick and simple. You can check out how much they will pay for your gadget by going to their website. There are no fees here, you’re only responsible for shipping.

There is also a website called SellMyOldCellphone, it does the same thing but only for mobile phones. Check out our SellMyOldCellPhone review here.

That’s all I’ve got for gadget sites. If you are aware of another good website that should have been mentioned let us know in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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1- Compare Product Prices with PriceGrabber

I’ve tried many comparison shopping sites and can confirm that PriceGrabber is one of the best ones. Simply search for the product you want to buy and PriceGrabber will list all available retailers starting from the cheapest. If you’re not clear about what exactly you want to purchase, then you can browse products by categories and filter them further by specs, features and brand. Products can also be sorted by user ratings and reviews.

2- Compare Banks with FindaBetterBank

Looking for a new bank account? Wondering how your current bank account stands against account offerings from other banks in the area? Find A Better Bank is the one and only tool you need. It’s very thorough and can help you locate the best bank account for your needs in a matter of minutes.

So how it works?

Enter your zip code, indicate the features that are important to you and provide additional details to help them estimate yearly banking fees. Done. Now you have a detailed comparison of nearby banks, sorted from best to worst.

3- Compare Cell Phone Contracts with BillShrink

There are so many cell phone contracts out there that it’s almost impossible to find out whether you’re getting a good deal. BillShrink is a new service that can help you with this. This handy website first asks you about your usage preferences and requirements (i.e. average daily talk time, whether you need data plan, SMS usage etc.). Then it compares over 100 mobile plans and finds the best plan for your needs. I am quite surprised that we haven’t seen something like this earlier.

The whole procedure takes about 3-4 minutes. Read more …

4 -Compare your Rent with RentoMeter

RentoMeter is a web based rent comparison service. Here you can find out whether the amount you’re currently paying for your rent is a rip-off or a bargain deal. Rentomoeter compares the amount you pay to an average rate for the similar apartments in the neighborhood area. It will also give you a mapview of nearby apartments including their rates. Check out the RentoMeter in action here.

5- Compare Budget Airlines with SkyScanner

One of the few budget flight search engines that can actually find you the best ticket. I tested it both in Europe and Asia and can confrim that it actually WORKS! It’s also the only budget airline search tool I am aware of that works for inter-continental flights. SkyScanner only searches among budget airlines so you won’t see any pricey tickets here.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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