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Not-quite-pointless meditation on chocolate
It's cold here in the north-east, and what gives us hope during the winter are upcoming events that proverbially warm us with joy. Take, for example, Valentines Day. This is a special day, and in fact, quite the polarizing day. There are those who love it for the closeness it may bring to loved ones, while on the other hand, there are those independent (read: grumpy) types who want nothing to do with it.
Regardless, what we can all agree on, no matter who you are, is an undying love for chocolate. Perhaps it is considered "sad" to buy your own heart shaped chocolate box, and ravenously consume it on the ride home, but who cares? Then, of course, if your loved one has given you a box of chocolate, all oppressive diet expectations are voluntarily thrown out the window, giving you free reign to stuff your face, guilt free. And then there is that famously uttered phrase--a mantra, if you will--about life and chocolate boxes and never knowing what you are going to get. Can I briefly make a point: YOU DO KNOW WHAT YOU"RE GONNA GET. Just remove that thin sheet of protective foam--the illustrations and descriptions are right there! And we can't forget the post-Valentine's day clearance sales...Just walk into any local pharmacy a day after Valentine's day and behold the vast array of delicious chocolates, truffles and candies that have been marked down 50% purely because they are in a valentines day box. Nom nom nom!
And this, of course, is in addition to the mountains of chocolate we are still noshing on from the holidays. I suppose the month and a half between Christmas and Valentine's day gives us just enough time to make out with the old and in with the new. That's what the New Year is all about, right? From Daily Steals, we want to wish you a happy new year, and if you are cold--we hope we warmed you up a little bit with this not-quite-pointless meditation on chocolate.
Top Tech 2012
Plenty of new tech has showed up in the last year - enough cool new stuff to surprise anyone. 2012 was the year that the biggest tech giants- Apple, Google, Facebook, Samsung, Amazon, and the rest - began to battle it out in public. The race to produce tech that's faster, lighter, smarter, more intuitive, and just plain all-around better is accelerating rapidly, and that means an explosion of new toys for the rest of us!
What sort of stuff should we be looking for in 2013? Well, expect the tablet world to continue heating up. Apple's iPad 3 is still the total package; Apple's design and branding genius continues to inspire total awe among fanboys the world around. But there are a number of competitors on the up-and-up as well.
Samsung's Galaxy line is increasingly popular for its user-friendly design and bright, slick displays. But these to giants are the only ones in the game. The Android market is expanding rapidly, and given the open-source nature of the software, expect to see a host of new products crop up in the comings months as well.
Aside from the larger items, us gadget fiends should keep our eyes peeled for a variety of smaller items - peripherals, you might say - stuff that's designed to accentuate or increase the performance of the gadgets you already own. Battery packs and stylish cases (sometimes combos of the two) were popular in 2012 as gadgets became more and more ubiquitous. One of our favorite brands, iOttie, produced a nifty line of dashboard phone- and GPS-holders. The possibilities for personalizing your gear are now endless!
Keep your eyes out for tech of all kinds in the next year, from tablets to PCs to accessories. We're out there hunting for all the best stuff for you, so make sure you stay locked to Daily Steals all year long - we'll have the best stuff at the best prices, guaranteed.
Daily Steals Guide to Highly-Anticipated Movies
Thanksgiving through the New Year is a tremendously important time for the entertainment industry. Americans, in the festive spirit, see more movies, buy more new music, purchase more consoles and video games, and even pick up more books (the paper kind) than at any other time of the year. So when you're brainstorming how to entertain that pesky nephew or which movie to see on that extra day off, where do you look? Fear not - the Highly-Anticipated Daily Steals Guide to Highly-Anticipated Movies is here to save the day.
1. The Hobbit. The prequel to Peter Jackson's three-part Lord of the Rings epic is one of the most anticipated films of the last five years.
Starring Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman, it's sure to be a fun, family-friendly romp with plenty of suspense and excitement.
2. Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow tells the story of the operation leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden. Full of tension and uncertainty (much like Bigelow's previous picture, The Hurt Locker), ZDT is not a movie for the faint of heart. Expect to see Parks and Recreation's Chris Pratt ("Andy") take a turn for the serious.
3. Les Miserables. This old classic hardly needs a description. In the time of the French revolution, a prisoner struggles to start a new life.
Is that a wildly underwhelming description for what's sure to be a momentous movie? Absolutely. But we'll let you take in Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman on their own. Just don't catch tuberculosis.
Holiday Season - Foods!
Winter is a harsh mistress. In the long, dark months ahead, keeping your body well fed is crucial to maintaining a balance in your emotional and personal lives, especially in the turmoil of the escalating holiday season. Most people don't realize how big an impact proper nutrition can have on one's general well-being. We don't actually know anything about nutrition, but because we like to feel helpful, here are the foods that we think you should be noshing on for the next few months.
1. . A puzzling choice to being the list perhaps, but hear me out.
Eggnog tastes extremely good, and it is made from milk and eggs, both things that are widely considered to be healthy. Eggnog is frequently made with alcohol, a drink that reputable science shows helps you relax and be happy. And as if you needed more reasons, you can throw a cinnamon stick in it for bonus style.
2. Stew. We wrote about stew (http://www.dailysteals.com/blog/post/165)
a while ago, remember? It's hearty food for the dark of winter, and you should never be too far from it. Stew should be so dense and filling that, if you filled a sock with it, you could stop a mugging. It's a great meal for a family (kids pumped full of nice, warm stew fall asleep faster than you can say "Who wants dessert?"), but it's an even great meal for the hungry bachelors and bachelorettes - make a pot and eat it all week!
3. Kale. We don't know what kale is, but Google seems to think it's healthy, so - eat up.
4. After you've spit out your mouthful of kale, find yourself some challah bread. Challah is an eggy, sweet Jewish bread, typically made for holidays or sabbath. Jew or gentile, it's deliciously light and chewy when made correctly. Though challah is at its best when it's taken, steaming, right from the oven, it's a superior form of bread in any setting.
5. Fruitcake. Though some of you may be thinking that it's unwise to include two kinds of dessert on a seven-item listen, you've spoken too soon: fruitcake is not actually meant to be eaten. This is because it tastes like garbage and has the consistency of nearly-dry concrete.
Imagine wrapping painfully sugary dried fruit in tortillas and then submerging the whole thing in water before letting it dry, and you've got fruitcake. If your sock full of stew doesn't stop that mugging, just wave one of these suckers at the villain and he'll be begging for mercy.
6. Hot cider. Hot cocoa is delicious and all, but let's be serious here- cider is for adults. It's fruity and light; when it's hot, it turns that amazing clear shiny color and feels like drinking lightning. Added
bonus: dump some cinnamon in that cup. Cinnamon is what makes the winter worth living anyway.
7. Our last choice? Duh. Christmas cookies. No matter what creed or denomination you subscribe to, tasty is tasty. 'Nuff said.
Like our taste in food? Check out our Pinterest board
(http://pinterest.com/dailysteals/awesome-food/) to see what we've been salivating over recently.
Unique Holiday Gift Ideas
Let's be honest, shall we? Your family and friends have enough mugs, ties, and t-shirts. People barely have time to read the books they buy for themselves, let alone the ones you're thinking about buying for them. You've subjected everyone to your musical tastes enough times in the car to know that gifting another copy of Stryper's Greatest Hits is liable to cost you a couple of loved ones.
So what do you get for those you love? Here are some tips.
FOR YOUR PARENTS: The obvious choice for the older generation is some cool, fun, user-friendly tech. Tablets are a great choice, as are mp3 players – the intuitive interfaces are fun and easy. Or you could go the old-fashioned route and buy them one of those snake-in-a-can gags just to see how they take it.
FOR YOUR SIBLINGS: Sibling relationships come in two varieties: devoted, loving compassion, or take-no-prisoners Spy-vs-Spy hijinx. If you and your brethren fit the first category, might we suggest a fragrance? You can check out a few at the Daily Steals Cyber Week store to find the right fit for your sibs. If you're more the second category, you could forgo buying them gifts and just equip yourself with a Victorinox pocket knife to make sure you maintain the upper hand.
FOR YOUR KIDS: First choice is obviously a huge lump of coal, just for the sheer fun of teaching someone a lesson. But, if you feel they've been good enough to warrant disposing of some income, how about buying them an artisan-sharpened pencil? Aside from being a dangerous weapon, it's a great way to say “I love you, but go do your homework.”
FOR YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Hopefully your hubby isn't the type that needs to be impressed – if you have to prove your love for them, we recommend you create some sort of elaborate lawn display for them. In fact, the only acceptable gift is this hilarious camera mug. (Close second place: the Death Star Tea Ball.)
FOR YOUR IN-LAWS: It's hopeless. Our strategy is usually just to sneak some syrup of ipecac and play sick. Our thoughts are with you.
The DailySteals Black Friday Store - Open Now!
You may have noticed that the Daily Steals site premiered a special section today - the Black Friday store! Swaddled in a swanky all-black background, we're presenting the biggest and best deals of the whole year for a limited time in an easy-to-navigate format. We've got some hometown favorites returning for a second-at-bat. Plus, for the rest of the year, shipping on all items is free! Let's take a peek at a few of the cool items we've got up at the moment.
Right off the bat, the Remington Personal Groomer is more than worth its meager $3 cover charge. This bad boy comes with attachements for longer or shorter trims as well as a linear nose- and ear-hair trimmer.Lightweight, compact, and totally safe, pick one up to give to that uncle whom you never know what to get.
A couple rows down, there's the ever-lovely and svelte Veho M4 portable speaker, a little prize with a big sound. Two speakers give it a full, stereo sound from USB, SD, or Bluetooth signals. It fits in your hand for easy transport and even comes with a carrying case! We've got it for $20, a full 85% off list price - save yourself $100 and snag one before they run out.
If you're looking for mobile computing and tablets, we've got your back.For the Mac diehards, we've got the iPad 3 w/4G for only $449. In the Android world, the Motorola XOOM 2 and the Motoroal Xyboard are both avilable for 53% off; if you're more a laptop person, check out the Sylvania 7" Netbook for a rock-bottom $40.
These are just a few highlights, so make sure you head over to the store and check out some of the crazy stuff we've got - Wii Zumba, a chilled beverage tower, the Samsung Galaxy Camera, and tons of other treats. And remember, these are all limited-time and limited-quantity deals, so get 'em while you can!
Crucial Do-Not-Miss Thanksgiving Stuff
Thanksgiving weekend is quite literally right around the corner and naturally the biggest question on everyone's mind is: how the heck will I amuse myself during my miniature vacation? Well, friends, never fear. Daily Steals has got your back.
CRUCIAL DO-NOT-MISS THANKSGIVING STUFF
1. Eat! This is a bit of a no-brainer. But seriously, it's the one time of the year where you should be able to eat yourself into a semi-serious medical condition before lapsing into a coma. Meat, potatoes, cranberries, different salads, stuffing, gravy and of course, pie. (If you ask nicely, Master Thief might even give you his mother's top secret recipe for Jello-and-Ginger-Ale Salad.) Try and avoid stuff like rutabagas, broccoli, and anything that doesn't have marshmallows on it.
2. Watch football! Seriously, even if you don't like sports, watch some football. The games on Thanksgiving are a cultural event of the year and you'll be missing out on plenty of water-cooler talk if you skip them.
Think of it as an American ritual: getting stuffed and then watching beefy guys in spandex beat the snot out of one another. If you want to participate but really can't stand football, World Wrestling Entertainment is an acceptable alternative (same spandex quotient).
3. Surprise change-up: SKIP BLACK FRIDAY IN-STORES! Seriously, have you seen the footage? People sustain serious physical and mental trauma out there. It's like Lord of the Flies meets the California Gold Rush multiplied by a Great-Depression-era run on the banks. You just ate all that food - why bother getting out of the La-Z-Boy to wander around a crowded store? Plus, anyone who's ANYONE knows the BEST deals are online... Oh, were you wondering where to look? Well, you know that Daily Steals has great deals everyday, but I'll just say that Black Friday at DailySteals.com will not soon be forgotten. Not to mention that there's little danger of losing a limb when you shop online.
(Unless you're REALLY doing it wrong.)
4. Once again - EAT! Did you just wake up under your dining room table with a turkey leg in one hand and what looks like a pie dish full of whipped cream next to your face? Who cares, it's still Saturday - you've got 48 hours to digest all this anyway!
Pre-Black Friday Hourly Facebook Contest
Daily Steals is just as excited about the holiday season as you are.Here in New York we get the real deal: snow, hot chocolate, walks in Central Park, and a kind of bitter cold that makes you wish climate change would hurry up already. The stuff of dreams.
Which is why we're bringing you a dream come true: from now until Black Friday, we're giving away a new item EVERY HOUR of the work week on our Facebook page. There are tons of ways to win: share, like, comment, sign-up, and more. Each day we'll announce the winners from the day before and pass out new items to the lucky ones.
We're giving away tablets, gadgets, winter gear, stuff for the home and office, toys, maybe even a box of tissues - anything we can lay hands on! On Monday we gave out just the first taste; since then, we've passed out earbuds, heavy-duty travel mugs, an iPhone ClockDock, an ultra-swank gel-fiber pillow, and even a Kindle! It's the season for giving gifts, and we think you deserve a few for yourself. (Plus, we've got WAY bigger stuff on the way.)
Stay tuned to our Facebook page each day to win cool new stuff from Daily Steals: http://facebook.com/dailysteals.
So Long, Sandy!
Last Monday, Hurricane Sandy swept the Atlantic Coast, lashing New York and New Jersey with strong winds and flooding before turning west. Thousands of residents' homes and cars were irreparably damaged by flood waters, and many were evacuated or left without heat and power for days.Though luckily our office and warehouse facilities didn't suffer any major storm-related damage, many members of our team had property destroyed by the storm.
At Daily Steals, we don't let hell or (literal) high water come between us and our deals. But last week, many of the warehouse staff were without power or gasoline, at home with kids whose school was canceled, stuck behind flooded or damaged roads, or otherwise unable to get to work. What were we to do?! We couldn't let these orders just sit on the shelves - people were waiting for them! Waiting,
So on Wednesday, we assembled a posse, saddled up the horses, and set out for the warehouse. There we sorted, printed, and packed thousands of orders to be shipped off as soon we could get them out the door. And because the warehouse was out of power - you guessed it - we worked in total darkness.
At first it was a little eerie wandering around a cavernous warehouse where the only light came from a faint, distant skylight. It felt a little like a Discovery channel special on spelunking (after a while we dug out headlamps and lanterns), or maybe an outtake from Ocean's Twelve or something. But after a while, our eyes adjusted and we got down to business. A dark warehouse has a certain "holy-cow-I'm-in-the-Batcave"allure to it that, let's face it, is not unexciting.
Now that the immediate danger of Sandy has passed, our hearts are with all those more severely impacted by the hurricane; we hope for the speedy recovery of all affected. After some long days and more than a few worries, the Daily Steals family is thankful to have all our staff (and power) back online.
Sushi and Saki - Office Event!
The Daily Steals team loves office get-togethers. In the past, we've tasted wine and beer, played table tennis, and eaten a truly momentous amount of candy. This week, we were back together to try out a culinary phenomenon called - wait for it - "sushi."
What is this alien delicacy? Who eats seaweed? Isn't wine made from grapes? Whyever wouldn't you cook your fish? Can I put ketchup and/or maple syrup on this? Can someone please teach me how to use these strange round sticks? These were some of the tough questions in the air.
As we dug into platters of sushi, pickled ginger, and wasabi, we discovered that fish and seaweed is actually a pretty tasty combo.
Rolled, piece-style sushi we enjoyed is different from the original Japanese dish, which is much more likely to look like... well, uh, like hunks of fish on rice.
We also sampled several kinds of sake, Japanese wine made by fermenting rice and sugar. We tried both warmed and chilled sake - plus, we got to bust out our wine glasses, which always makes us feel special.
In any case: we chowed. As always, it's exciting to share food with coworkers, many of whom it turns out share your exact insecurities about drinking sake from the wrong glass, or of accidental overenthusiasm regarding the wasabi.
