Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with product

Products for long hair?

crickets — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:04:22 -0800

Long-haired guy looking for product tips... So, I know the theory that you shouldn't wash your hair every day, and I actually like the way my hair behaves when I haven't washed it in a day or so (it has some weight, so it doesn't fly away when it's down, and it stays tighter when it's pulled back).

However, I kind of have to wash my hair every day or my scalp gets unhappy.

What products would you recommend I use to get that second-day hair on days that I've washed my hair?

Also: what products can I use for when it's down? I like wearing it down, but, unless I have a headband or sunglasses on top of my head, it falls all over the place. What can I use to keep it flowing back?

I have a key; which lock does it fit?

flabdablet — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:54:55 -0800

Is there a tool available that will tell me which version of Windows the product key on this sticker is for? This second-hand laptop came with a completely erased hard drive (it looks DBAN'd). There's the remains of a Windows OEM sticker of some sort on the bottom. The 25-character product key itself is still perfectly legible, but the part of the sticker identifying the Windows version is ripped (looks like another label was put over it and then removed, taking half the Windows sticker with it).

I'd like to put Windows back on it, but the XP Home OEM installer I guessed at won't accept this product key. Before I go down the path of trial-installing every conceivable version of Windows one at a time, does anyone know of a tool (either online or downloadable) that will tell me which version my product key matches?

How much is that [blank] in the window?

ericc — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:32:24 -0800

In this photo of the Microsoft store in Mission Viejo, there are two islands of product immediately as you enter the store. On the left is various versions of Windows 7. What is the product on the island on the right? Bonus for anyone who can identify what product might be on the other three sides of the display.

How can I find out the chain of corporate ownership starting from a company name or product name?

freecellwizard — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:05:11 -0800

How can I find out the chain of corporate ownership starting from a company name or product name? I would love to be able to take a product like "Snickers bar" or a company like "ABC Corp." and be shown a visual tree of ownership and relationships. I've seen magazine articles in the past that discuss this for specific cases, such as showing that various brands of soap all have the same owner, but I haven't been able to find a general way to figure this out.

NOTE: I'm guessing that the difficulty of getting this info varies by country due to public disclosure laws. In my case I'm specifically interested in US-owned corporations. Thanks!

Canadian definition of products for donation purposes

acoutu — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:12:14 -0800

Canada Donation Filter: Can you donate a productized service and have it count as an in-kind donation to a charity? Services are exempt from in-kind donations under CRA rules. But what about the donation of a tangible product? For example, what if a freelance writer provided a tangible product, such as a finished article in Word format? This is not a service, since it's an actual "thing". Or what if a consultant donated a report and not the services involved in developing that report? Or if a graphic designer donated a newsletter template or finished newsletter? These things could be sold on a website -- lots of consultants sell templates, ebooks, reports and such on demand.

It's unclear to me how these products would be treated under tax laws. For example, if you donate an ebook, which is a product, would that be eligible?

When I read CRA definitions, they seem not to get into how they define products, other than for capital or personal use. And certainly something like an oil change or haircut is a service and not a product. And CRA would not want volunteers to start writing off all the time they spend working in hospitals, at ticket booths and so on. But I am not talking about volunteer time. I'm talking about donation of an actual finish product. Is a report or ebook like a handmade wooden table, if there is a market value for the finished product?

When I worked for a charity some years ago, I did note that my boss did some sort of write off for donations of services by using some sort of definition of products. But I have no idea whether that was legit.

Note: If you're in the US, please note that your tax laws are different. I understand that, in the US, services can be donated at fair market value. But, in Canada, we can only donate products.

Help me be frizz-free and wavy

LolaGeek — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:30:43 -0800

What product can I use on my naturally wavy, very frizzy, shoulder-length hair while wet, so that it dries frizz-free? Bonus points if it also enhances the waviness. Extra bonus points if it helps it dry faster. My usual routine involves shampoo and conditioner, Avon Dry Ends Serum (all over, not just on the ends), blow-drying, and usually a quick pass with a straightening iron (sometimes with another smoothing spray). Even after all that, I always develop a halo of frizz as soon as I step outside (see this recent photo).

I've tried other products in the past that promised to reduce frizz, but the result is always the same, so I've just stuck with this system for the past couple years. However, I'm usually looking at products to straighten hair, and I thought maybe now I'd try to embrace the wave and go for something designed for wavy/curly hair, with which I have no experience. The last time I let my hair air dry, it took literally all day, and this was the result.

I am going to the beach this weekend and don't want to be messing with a hairdryer after showering, while my friends are waiting to go out. Is there a product I can use that will help my hair air-dry more neatly? In order of importance, I'd like it to 1) reduce frizz, 2) enhance the waves, and 3) help my hair dry faster.

How to install Office 2007 with a key, but without the packaged software

Cool Papa Bell — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:56:39 -0800

Office 2007. PC reformat. I have a valid product key. I don't have the original packaged software. I download the trial version, but it won't accept my old product key. What now? I can't find a solution to this use case.

Sample Product Design Contract Anywhere?

gonzo_ID — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:49:07 -0800

Am looking for a sample product design contract. Know where there is a (hopefully free) one i can take apart and re-write before taking to a lawyer? starting a design collective and first project involves design and development of a business plan and some sketches of a product idea through to manufacture. i'd like both parties to be covered by and agreement / contract. there's lots of web design and graphic design agreements. whats in a product design one that the other two might miss?

Retail barcodes for tracking my shopping at home.

yoHighness — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:31:01 -0800

How do I get access to UK retail barcodes? I would like to build an application for scanning my shopping at home. I would like to keep track of my shopping for starters; but ideally (and utopically?), I would use database mashups to tell me how much energy was spent producing my food, which countries (dictatures) it comes from, how healthy it is, how ethical, could I have gotten cheaper deals etc. etc.
I am based in the UK. Bonus points for comments on how hard this would be to make (and as a mobile app?), and pointing me to similar projects. Thank you, hivemind!

Degree or Disagree?

Anonymous — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:20:02 -0800

(How) Should I pursue a career in industrial design? Over the past year, I've become increasingly interested in my own personal time (day job is completely unrelated) to designing original, improving exisiting and gernerally making products more beautiful and useful. I am smitten and stoked on industrial design. I have a couple products I am taking to market very soon, on a very small production run. The entire process is exciting, but i have no formal training in any of it.

My background: I have a completely unrelated, BS degree in a social sciences field and a medium ammount of student debt associated with that. I've got a day-job that is not relevant to product design, and is also rather dead-end-ish when it comes to pay (has some nice perks though). I have fair amount of experience working in graphic design (mostly print) and branding. I did quite a bit of freelance work in both areas over the last 3 years.

I've been looking at going back to school specifically for a degree in industrial design. There seem to be a severe lack of proper industrial or product design programs in Portland, OR (the only one that exists is with the Art Institute, and through the roof expensive, and is a brand new program with only 1 graduate...worrisome), and relocation isn't really possible right now.

I was exploring the idea of hodge-podging experience together by taking a combination of machinist and other practical fabrication classes, together with some drawing, sculpture other design/aesthetic oriented classes at my local state university, and community colleges. Is this a good idea, a bad idea, a travesty waiting to happen?

I'm mostly just exploring my options right now for furthering this interest into a career, because its something i may be quite happy at...

From anyone who works directly with, or as an industrial designer, how did you get your start? Was a degree in your field necessary? Did it make it markedly easier to get a job? Would there be any alternative degrees i should look at that would have enough crossover?

If you're an industrial designer, or work closely with them, i'd love to pick your brain over a couple emails or if you're local to PDX, a cup of coffee or a beer on me.

If you'd like to post anything off-list here, contact me at meta.meta.anon.anon AT gmail.com

(this is posted anonymously because i recently found out my current employer reads mefi, and they have no idea I'm looking to leave or return to school anytime soon)

Babies Looking in Diapers "There Is a Difference! Advertising What?"

mickeefynn — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:23:40 -0800

There is a drawing of a boy and a girl baby looking into their diapers. It's an advertisement w/ heading, "There IS a difference!" Does anyone remember what product/ service this ad was for??

[FemaleHairProductFilter] Suggest replacement for my discontinued Jon Frieda staple.

anthropomorphic — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:02:08 -0800

[female hair product filter] I've been using John Frieda's Wind Down Relaxing Cream on my hair after I shower, whether I flat iron straight or leave it curly. I've been using it for like 7 years. I think it's been discontinued. What should I use instead? I have normal hair. Not particularly dry or grease-prone or thick or thin. I'm South Asian. Any good replacement suggestions?

how to manufacture 1000+ units of new, custom fabric based product?

nolnar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:19:44 -0800

I've made a new fabric product that I hope would sell 5000+ units. For viable efficiency I need to buy manufacturing of the product or its parts. I don't want to reveal my product idea, but let's use a SLR camera bag made in sturdy fabric as an example. My product has similar materials, size and complexity. How do I go from there? background: I lack previous experience from buying manufacturing of a product. (I also don't have business experience but I'll focus on that topic later so leave that for now)

questions:
(1) Are there companies with online services that take blueprints/prototypes/CAD-designs of a fabric camera bag type of product as input and output a number of units (100, 1000 ...) of either the completed product or parts for me to assemble?

(2) Are there for fabric camera bag type of product similar services to to print-on-demand book publishing or what http://www.cafepress.com/ et al offer? That is, I input the design and the company hosts my product page, handles the customers payments and manufactures and sends out the product. I get a portion of the money from each sale.

(3) Are there detailed product catalogs with generic standard parts to buy in bulk for this type of product? Something similar to the extremely detailed catalogs of electronic and mechanical components available from many companies. So for a fabric camera bag type of product there would be standard should straps, side pockets, plastic clip-on joints and so on in various shapes, sizes, colors and materials.

Note: I know that there are various craft communities/websites where custom fabric products can be made on demand from any design by hobbyist crafters, as discussed in this thread http://ask.metafilter.com/111371/How-can-I-design-and-make-a-custom-camera-bag . But that is not viable for the thousands of units in my example.

How to protect my wall from the cat dish

kosmonaut — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:22:35 -0800

Cat fanciers: is there a convenient way to keep dried bits of food from getting on the wall next to the cat food dishes? We keep our cat's food and water dishes on the floor against a wall. Over time, the wall area near the dishes builds up a nasty spattering of dried food all over it. The wall can be washed, of course, but we'd love to have a way to keep it from getting dirty in the first place.

Rather than affixing something to the wall semi-permanently, I was thinking that it would be great if there was some product that was a platform for the dishes with a little divider sticking up in the back that would guard my wall from the dish area. It might look sort of like a little stage. A unit like this could easily be rinsed off in the sink from time to time. Does anyone know if this (or something similar) exists?

If not, then how do other cat fanciers protect against this kind of wall mess?

Photographing bright shiny things

ninazer0 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:17:24 -0800

Photographing shiny things: help my light this stuff nicely and take a good photo that isn't blurry. Some basic info. I am using a Canon Eos DSLR 400D. I only have an EFS 18-50mm lens, on-board flash and I'm using a tripod, just general house lighting with variable amounts of sunlight, and I have access to a small light-tent and various bits of shiny or mat card. I am trying to photograph large pieces of polished silver jewelery on a black background.

My problems are that I'm finding it hard to get an in-focus shot and (probably related) getting a clear shot where the polished silver isn't unevenly over and under exposed. Because I don't have any good lighting, I've been trying to use mostly natural sunlight with a reflector and light-tent, not using the flash and hoping for the best (which isn't working).

Re: blurring, I assume that the auto-focus is getting confused with the multiple shiny points and I'm about to try switching to manual focus, but I foresee a large amount of time being spent futzing around because - even though things look sharp in the viewfinder (and even after zooming in on the on-board screen), they don't look particularly sharp when I download the pix and view them on my laptop.

Re: lighting, the polish on the silver is giving me a headache. Parts of the piece look great, but others are faded, too dark, too light or blurry. I'd use the Macro pre-set but it wants to use the flash which is horrible, and I just don't know enough about f-stops and ISO's to do it myself.

Before I start over again and waste more time, can anyone please give me some helpful hints to make this slightly less painful??

Product placement question in "Changeling".

peacecorn — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:41:55 -0800

Did I encounter a modern product in the period film "Changeling"? In the film "Changeling", Jolie's character fed her kid Frosted Flakes in 1928. The packaging was reminiscent of something you might see in that era. Google tells me Corn Flakes were around then and that Tony the Tiger was introduced to Sugar Frosted Flakes in the 50's. The word "sugar" was removed later.

Is my curiosity and subsequent searching for the answer to this question a result of clever marketing? Because now I kind of want a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

Taxes and GDP

brandnew — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:58:44 -0800

How do changes to the tax rates correlate with changes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and how are those changes forecasted? Last week I read an article in the Economist magazine about the US presidential election. I don't have the article anymore, but it mentioned something about the Bush tax decrease on upper incomes having only a 0.7% effect on forecasted GDP. It also mentioned that there wasn't evidence that the Clinton tax increase made much difference either.

It would seem logical that tax rates would correlate inversely with higher GDP. However, in practice, is this really true? Does it even have an effect?

Also, how does the budget office determine how a tax change will change future GDP? Or doesn't it?

google search hits are not quite neutral

jak68 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:23:01 -0800

is there a good web site that searches or collects product reviews? when investigating a product or gadget to buy, typing in 'review xyz' into google search more often than not produces hits on that item for sale somewhere, rather than actual blog-based reviews of the item. I often have to search very deep into the google search return to find blog-based reviews of the item. (I mean indepth reviews that 'unbox' the item etc - not simply the comments on the amazon page for the item).

Is there a website that collates or collects or links only to reviews? OR, is there a way to get google or some other search engine to only hit on blog-based (not including commercial stores like amazon) reviews of the product?

Neck / spine cooler?

querty — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:22:25 -0800

Saw this upcoming new product on TV late at night one time . . . . . . I think it was on one of those half-hour geek product shows. It was being marketed as a lightweight electric neck cooler thing that wraps around your neck. It looked something like this, but thinner and has a long bottom part that touches and cools your spine; so it looked more like a 'T' shape with the top part of the 'T' wrapping halfway around your neck.

I think the product has an actual name, does anybody know what it's called? If so and if it's available, where would one get a hold of this? And does it actually work?

"Successful businesses evolve! No really, they do..."

eleyna — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:19:17 -0800

What are some good examples of companies that changed their business, changed their product line, or changed their focus? Significantly? I need some examples like this:

Motorola started out with car radios and ended up in the cell phone business.

Apple started out with computers and evolved into digital music players, phones, lifestyle, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Genetic distance - Why angle rather than magnitude of difference?

PuGZ — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:18:57 -0800

Why is it that the genetic "distance" between two populations would be determined by the angle between their position vectors rather than the magnitude of their respective displacements? That must have been a mighty confusing question. Essentially, I've got a problem very similar to the one represented here and I'm wondering why is it that the angle has been chosen rather than the magnitude of the difference between the vectors?

This has been bugging me for ages and settling it in my mind will help me continue with this assignment. Thanks, mefi :-)

Recommend a brand worth researching

JaySunSee — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:43:17 -0800

MeFites, please recommend a specific brand (a product or service, not a company) with easy access to key market information such as market size, market share and competitive scope. I've been assigned a major project for my marketing class and I'm looking for some fresh ideas from the hive mind.

P.S. Bonus points if the branded product/service is socially conscious/environmentally friendly/jaw-droppingly weird or cool.

Advise a tomboy about some skincare essentials.

Scram — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:10:49 -0800

I received a $75 gift certificate to a fancy-schmancy LA beauty shop for Christmas, and could use some help to get the most bang for my gifted buck. As part of a Secret Santa ritual, I was lucky enough to win a $75 gift certificate to Larchmont Beauty, which is a well-stocked and somewhat pricey shop selling a big range of skin care, bath supplies, hair goo, candles, etc. The girly girls among you would know exactly what to do with this, but me, I don't know from product. I wash my face with soap and water, occasionally slap on a mudpack from the drug store. I pat on some powder. That's it.

I'd like to feel confident breezing in and picking a few high quality items that will last a while, do my skin some good, and be a pleasure to use. I don't need anything for hair, I get all that at the salon.

So I reckon I'm looking for your favorite facial moisterisers, scrubs, cleansing lotions, decadent hand creams. I tend to like unscented things or very pure but not cloying floral, citrus and herbal scents. Old fashioned products appeal, concoctions that have been made the same way for decades and are solidly reliable rather than trendy.

I'm thinking of splurging on a tube of Dr. Hauschka's rose day cream just because I had a sample once and thought it smelled and felt great... but I am counting on you to talk me out of this and suggest something more suitable, because I have normal-to-oily skin, not the dry skin it favors, and because it costs more than gold.

What's a clueless dame to do? My gift certificate, and future lack of chapping, is in your hands.

Crafty Girl deals with Box Store

ikahime — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:52:55 -0800

I've got a product that has attracted the attention of the big boys - how do I make sure they don't rip me off? Recently I was contacted by the buyer for a national chain of clothing/interior doo-dads stores. They are interested in buying my product for a test run, and then perhaps buying the rights in the future for the product to be produced elsewhere. They want a sample. I would like to send them said sample. BUT...they have a reputation for blatantly ripping off artists and having their work copied by Chinese manufacturers with no compensation. Do I need a copyright statement? I don't want a miss a potential opportunity, but also don't want to get ripped off. How do I protect myself?

Didn't properly season my new cast iron cookware. Now what?

stuart_s — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:22:44 -0800

I bought a cast iron skillet. Rubbed it with oil. 300 F oven for 1 hour. I neglected to clean it in soapy water prior. What has been indelibly burned into my skillet? Should I go to the emergency room now or should I save time and just start start organizing my affairs? If it makes a difference:
1)purchased cheap from a closeout store
2)no discernible grim, dirt or residue