WEEKLY WHEATIES #2510

Online Reviews, Apple, YouTube, ShadeMap

Mar 09, 2025

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Spotting Fake Reviews: A Guide for Savvy Online Shoppers
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Apple iPads and MacBook Air
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: YouTube Premium Lite
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: ShadeMap
📦 Featured Product: Camera and Light Covers

📝 Spotting Fake Reviews: A Guide for Savvy Online Shoppers

You’ve bought something online before, yes? And you’ve bought one particular thing over something else specifically because of the reviews, yes? Of course you have. We’re human, and we typically trust other humans. Especially when it’s overwhelming one way or another. Amazon is one of the most popular online stores for a few reasons. They haven’t been around this long and grown to the size they are because they’re doing something wrong. Something that means a lot to them is reviews.

Amazon was one of the first places to popularize emails asking customers for reviews. But they didn’t just willy-nilly send emails soliciting feedback. They waited a few weeks after purchase and, in some cases, cherry-picked who they emailed. If the person already left a review or may be known for leaving bad reviews, they didn’t get an email. For those that did, they wanted to make sure you had time to test the product out before soliciting a review. Not to mention, another reason to wait a while is because if you had a bad experience, you would have already left a review. Lastly, if you haven’t left a review yet, chances are it will be a positive review.

The good thing is that reviews are generally trustworthy on Amazon and probably most other sites. At least, they used to be. With the growth of the creator culture, along with incentives for positive reviews, the usefulness and trustworthiness of more reviews have been escalating. Sellers offer gift cards or review units to said creators in lieu of a review. Legally, they aren’t allowed to solicit for a positive review, but many of them do.

There are many online groups and websites where creators may request items for reviews, so there is an argument to be made that reviews aren’t as accurate or genuine in comparison. Getting a product for free, or even discounted, can persuade a review. Purchasing items can often lead to solicited reviews, too. In the past, I have reviewed items after receiving a review unit, but I have always been honest in my reviews, sharing the positive and negative points of a product. I also do not review items anymore, and I want to be clear that my Featured Product segment items are never paid reviews, nor do they include reviews of units I’ve received. Everything was either purchased by me, a family member, or a friend. In rare cases I may share something I found that I think is interesting.

Now, onto a few more notes. Typically, there are 2 types of reviews on Amazon. Genuine purchaser reviews, non-purchased through Amazon reviews, and paid reviews. Notice on all products listed on Amazon, you may see “Verfied Purchaser” next to a review sometimes. This simply means Amazon can verify that person has purchased this product through the account they’re posting on. Anyone can leave a review on any product, but the verified purchaser tag helps verify that [this person] actually uses the product. Except, you may not know if the review is paid for. Again, technically, morally, and ethically, they should state they were sent a review product, but many do not.

This is why it’s important to do your best to sort through the reviews and verify authenticity as best you can. This is also true for expensive and inexpensive products. So, where to start?

First off, check the brand. If you’re trying to purchase the generic version of a popular item, this can be the first issue to show. Typically, these items won’t last as long and may not have all the features, but reviews will help point those issues out. Reading reviews through all star ranges may help show the product’s issues, but also let you know what you may and may not can deal with.

If you don’t want to sort through reviews or are not sure if you can trust them, simply search and/or ask your friends on social media. Hearing from someone you know always will carry more weight than strangers. Looking through the reviews can be telling, though. Sometimes, the 1-star reviews are genuine, and the product just wasn’t a great fit for the person and situation. Person A bought the product because it said it could do X, and it can’t. Well, Person B bought for the same reason and noted it can do X if Y is true… So both can be right, and the product may or may not work for you in that case.

Next, using CamelCamelCamel.com you can get information on a few things that are telling. First, how long was this item listed? If it was listed within the past few weeks or months and has thousands of positive reviews, something shady may be going on. Here, you can also track the price of the item. This is important to compare the MSRP to the current ‘sale’ price. If the price hasn’t changed in a long time (or ever), and is listed at 60% off, this is another hint that something is going on.

Another great website to help with online purchases is Fakespot. Here, you can see the ‘grade’ of all reviews. I doubt there is any product with 100% genuine reviews earning an A+, but if an item has a D or lower, that’s a good indication the reviews are scammy. Again, this site may not always be accurate, but it is another tool to help! If anything, it does a great job summarizing all of the reviews, gives a graph of the number of reviews over time (the fewer spikes here, the better), and you can even chat with the site to get your questions answered based on reviews.

Lastly, one little secret on Amazon you may have not heard of: Product ‘replacement’. I’m not sure what the formal name for it is or if Amazon is even aware it exists or what. Have you ever bought something, go to your orders to look at info because you wanted to buy another one - or had an issue - and click the link but it’s a completely different item now? Except the comments all say things about what you bought, so you know it’s the right link. But now it’s a different item… Individual sellers may garner a ton of genuinely positive reviews, then switch the item to guarantee a high sell-through.

Whatever and whenever you decide to buy something online, please do your research and stay safe out there!

🗞️ ICYMI: Apple iPads and MacBook Air

Last week, Apple announced some new items available for pre-order and shipping soon. First up, the updated MacBook Air gets the most recent M4 chip, 16 GB of memory for the base model, a new Sky Blue color, a few other minor tweaks, and a price cut — it now starts at $999.

Other updates come to the iPad and iPad Air. The Verge comments on whether the update to the iPad Air is the Goldilocks-perfect combination of features and price. I still think that for the basics, this new regular iPad (now 11th generation), for $349, is the best deal in tech for tablets. Or if that still may be a tad too much, the 10th generation is on sale for $259 on Amazon.

🗞️ ICYMI: YouTube Premium Lite

YouTube, the site for uploading videos, also offers a live-TV streaming service, appropriately called YouTube TV. However, the two services are not affiliated, so things can get a bit confusing. The YouTube side of things has always offered a Premium subscription for $14/month for 1 user or a family plan (up to 6 users) for $23/month. This includes ad-free viewing on YouTube, the ability to play videos in the background, download videos for offline use, and access to the YouTube Music library. Now, they also offer a YouTube Premium Lite plan for ad-free viewing only for $8/month. If you watch as much YouTube as I do, this may be a great deal for you, too!

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

😎 POTW: ShadeMap

With the Lunar Eclipse happening later this week, I wanted to share a cool website that fits the same category. ShadeMap.app allows you to simulate sun shadows based on a location and time of day. It’s very mesmerizing and very interesting. Want to see something pretty cool? Try to locate the town that built a giant mirror to deflect the Sun.

📦 Featured Product

After talking about privacy a bit in the online space, many people may be worried about helping minimize privacy issues in their home. There are a litany of ways to do this, so I’m only sharing a couple for now. If you have a desktop or laptop, you may consider a Webcam Cover. For your phone or tablets, a Camera Cover sticker is also available.

While we’re talking about stickers, what about a set of LED Light Blocking/Dimming Stickers for those lights that bother you at night. These minimize distraction in rooms where you may want it to be dark and there’s a light or two from an appliance or piece of electronics keeping you up.