Home insurance

Home insurance provides compensation for damage or destruction of a home from disasters. In some geographical areas, the standard insurances excludes certain types of disasters, such as flood and earthquakes, that require additional coverage. Maintenance-related problems are the homeowners' responsibility. The policy may include inventory, or this can be bought as a separate policy, especially for people who rent housing. In some countries, insurers offer a package which may include liability and legal responsibility for injuries and property damage caused by members of the household, including pets.

Closed community self-insurance

Some communities prefer to create virtual insurance amongst themselves by other means than contractual risk transfer, which assigns explicit numerical values to risk. A number of religious groups, including the Amish and some Muslim groups, depend on support provided by their communities when disasters strike. The risk presented by any given person is assumed collectively by the community who all bear the cost of rebuilding lost property and supporting people whose needs are suddenly greater after a loss of some kind. In supportive communities where others can be trusted to follow community leaders, this tacit form of insurance can work. In this manner the community can even out the extreme differences in insurability that exist among its members. Some further justification is also provided by invoking the moral hazard of explicit insurance contracts.

In the United Kingdom, The Crown (which, for practical purposes, meant the Civil service) did not insure property such as government buildings. If a government building was damaged, the cost of repair would be met from public funds because, in the long run, this was cheaper than paying insurance premiums. Since many UK government buildings have been sold to property companies, and rented back, this arrangement is now less common and may have disappeared altogether.

The iPod Stereo Pool Oasis with built-in massager

I remember back in my day when a we just had normal blow up chairs in the pool. Normally they were the kind you have to lay flat on too. Now all these crazy kids have their new fangled technology tossed in. They can’t just have a normal blow up chair, no, they need speakers and cup holders. Well this blow up gadget would definitely make for a relaxing day out at the pool. Especially since you’ll have you tunes handy and playing right by your head.

It also has a vibrating massager that targets your lower and upper back as well as your thighs and calves. It has a spot to hold your iPod or MP3 player that will keep it safe, it stores it within a built-in waterproof dock. There’s an attached remote that fits into the armrest to control the massager, but no such remote to take care of the MP3 player. Which means you’ll have to either deal with a song or brave taking it out of the waterproof area to change the song. To keep the lounger powered it requires 4 AA batteries. It’ll cost you $199.95 from Hammacher and Schlemmer.

LED Earphones respond your music

For those that can’t be merely satisfied with plain boring earphones, these will definitely stand out from the crowd. There’s no chance of blending in when you have a set of earphones that not only have LED lights that shine, but they blink to top it off. It’s kind of like wearing a target on your chest, just begging people to stare right at you. They’d also make for a great way to make it easier for people to see you at night, of course it’d only work if they’re in front of you. I wouldn’t advise substituting the reflectors on your bike for a set of these.

These are just normal earphones, despite that they have lights, they’ll still work with any old MP3 player or iPod. They claim that they’re quite comfortable, but in all honesty, they don’t really appear to be all that comfortable. The lights don’t just randomly blink, they pulsate along with the beat of your music. Indicating to the world just what kind of mood you’re in, whether it be a slow song kind of day or a fast beat day. They’re fairly cheap too, despite that Chinavasion claims that these are exceptional quality. You can pick them up for source.

concept oven cooks with lasers

We already discussed an oven that cooks via USB, and we would be remiss in our duties at Coolest Gadgets if we did not report on other advancements in oven technology, such as this particular oven that cooks with lasers.
That’s right, lasers (just imagine the hands doing quotes like Dr. Evil). In fact, this oven uses a combination of three lasers to cook your food, which are specifically under your control. So if you want your pizza cooked at 350 degrees, you can make that distinction. I’m not really sure how that distinction is made, though. I mean, do you just use one laser for Jiffy Pop and three for a turkey?
I would imagine that complications will arise when cooking with lasers, which is why this oven has a “specially designed ventilation system”. I’m guessing that this system fans away the odd scents that occur with laser cooking. Then again, I really don’t know much about cooking with lasers. Man, that sounds like some futuristic cooking show. “Hello, everyone, and welcome to Cooking with Lasers. Today we’ll be blasting a pot roast”.
That is about all my sources tell me about this particular oven, which is still a concept for “Cooking in the Futur”, an Electrolux competition. Personally, I think it is a neat idea whose time has come, and I hope designer Ludovic Peperstraete wins some sort of award for this.

hologarm phone's it's tru ?

Sure, we loved the iPhone with its complete touchscreen interface, so you can imagine the excitement when a holographic interface finally comes out. Yes, I am fully aware that a holographic interface sounds too good to be true, and the Trou Hologram phone isn’t, at least, not yet.
I’m sure we all love the basic concept photo behind this, with the 3-D hologram of the car sitting on the screen. Just imagine how cool it will be when you turn your mobile around and can see the car at nearly every angle.
Still, holographic projectors have been known to eat up lots of power, so that is definitely one obstacle for the small projectors on the surface of the display. I’m sure there are many other things that prevent our science-fiction visions of a holographic future from becoming reality.
So until Princess Leia can send “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi” as a text message, keep your fingers crossed on this one.
Now it is the time on Coolest Gadgets where you comment. How long will it take before holograms on our cellular phones become reality? Are we looking at 10 years? How about 20 years? Chime in and let me know what you think.

E-LEAD Bluetooth Lazy Pad

The E-LEAD Bluetooth Lazy Pad is a terrific product for those who want a combination Bluetooth and mouse for their laptop or netbook. Don’t ask me why you want that, but someone people prefer that remote action, I guess.
For those who like wireless action, then you will enjoy the Bluetooth feature. Of course, some of you may have laptops or netbooks that don’t come with Bluetooth, Fortunately, you can connect to the keyboard via USB. The battery in this keyboard is a 500mAh that is capable of up to 8 hours of usage.
I see a small problem with this product. You will notice in the middle of the keyboard is some sort of crease, but the frame doesn’t look like it could fold in. Also, if this is a keyboard and mouse, how does the mouse work? Is it arrow keys? That’s pretty limited if that is true.
I also think that this Lazy Pad is misnamed. I have no idea why E-LEAD Electronics has named their product the Lazy Pad, because I see nothing slothful about it. After all, if we are going to call this Bluetooth keyboard and mouse a Lazy Pad, does that mean that every remote control device or mobile is inherently a product of a lazy culture?
Sadly, I think that it is true. Yes, our gadgets and electronic devices make us lazy. I can’t stand it when some product comes out with some name which describes our culture too well.