DR. KEN’S MOUTHCARE PRODUCTS
Manufacturer:
Dr. Ken’s, Santa Monica
Description:
A line of dental care products made with all natural ingredients, including green tea
Price:
Ranging from $1.99 for a pack of gum to $6.99 for a bottle of mouthwash
Dr. Ken’s has jumped on the green tea bandwagon. Touted as benefiting cardiovascular health, enhancing immunity, promoting weight loss and even protecting against diabetes and cancer, green tea products are sold by chains such as Starbucks and Jamba Juice. Now dentist Ken Nussen has created a line of all natural green tea-enhanced mouth care products and claims beneficial effects on the mouth and gums.
It may be trendy, but the taste of the breath strips, the mouthwash and the toothpaste doesn’t pack much of a punch. And the breath freshening, whitening toothpaste loses its flavor within the first few minutes of use.
In general, Dr. Ken’s doesn’t wow more than brand names such as Colgate or Crest.
Sarah Filus
NETZERO THIRD GENERATION DIAL-UP
Manufacturer:
United Online Inc., Woodland Hills
Description:
Internet connection comparable to lower-tier DSL broadband Internet speeds
Price:
$14.95 per month
United Online promises “dial-up as fast as lower-tier DSL broadband” with its new NetZero HiSpeed 3G dial-up service.
The software can be downloaded from NetZero’s Web site and installed on any computer. But in a recent test of the service under normal operating conditions, HiSpeed 3G didn’t live up to its promises.
The connection speed averaged 37 kilobits per second. Other dial-up services provide speeds of up to 46.6 kbps. Typical DSL speed is 256 kbps, although it can fall to 60 kbps. But that’s still higher than NetZero’s average. A slight increase in speed can be achieved for a tradeoff of quality in the pages being viewed; in other words, a slightly faster download rate is possible albeit with lower resolution. NetZero is convenient, though no DSL box or cable modem connections required, just a phone jack with a modem-equipped computer.
Aarthi Sivaraman
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