Choice (Chippendale, Australia) articles from March 2002

Choice (Chippendale, Australia) archives from March 2002

Free to Choice subscribers ...(www.choice.com.au)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Hi, I'm Linda Magee, manager of CHOICE's website, www.choice.com.au. Contrary to what you might expect, I'm not a computer nerd. Far from it. I'm a perfectly normal mother of teenagers (if you can have teenagers and still be normal), with a...

Health fund placed in administration. (Update).(Private Health Insurance Administration Council administrator for Goldfields Medical Fund)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The Private Health Insurance Administration Council (PHIAC) has appointed an administrator for Kalgoorlie-based Goldfields Medical Fund (GMF). If you're a member of this fund, don't panic: at the time of writing the fund was operating as...

Help with your family tree. (Choice cuts).(genealogy software)(Software Review)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Researching your family tree is complex, with many scattered pieces of information to pull together. Genealogy software can help out by collecting names, dates, photos and sources in an organised format, letting you view the results as charts,...

Want to choose your energy provider? (Choice cuts).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Until now, where you lived determined which retailer you bought your electricity and natural gas from. Since the beginning of 2002, households in NSW and Victoria have been able to choose from a number of electricity and natural gas retailers....

Made a good deal? (Can You Help?).
March 1, 2002... Have you negotiated a good deal with your financial institution, insurance company or adviser for your mortgage, bank account, insurance policy, credit card or investments? We'd like your help with a story about haggling for money...

Alternative arthritis treatments. (Choice cuts).(Cochrane Collaboration research)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... There's a big market for complementary therapies for arthritis. Conventional treatments don't work for everyone, and even when they do, their side effects -- especially gastric irritation and bleeding -- can be serious. Unfortunately,...

Ultra-slim, fast? For how long? (Choice cuts).(meal replacement products)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... More weight loss products offering a quick fix: ULTRA SLIM and SLIM FAST are based on meal replacement -- you replace two meals a day with two of their products, follow their eating plans and you're on your way to a slimmer, healthier you. ...

Reader car reviews. (Can you help?).
March 1, 2002... If you're in the market for a new car, you want as much information as possible on the models you're interested in. Brochures and websites let you compare specs and features. Crash test results tell you how weft a model protects you in an...

Correction. (Choice cuts).(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2002... WASHING MACHINES CHOICE, Jan/Feb 2002 We called one of the Best Buys the Hoover Boss 600MB. Its correct name is simply the HOOVER 600MB.

More on `safety switches'. (your letters).
March 1, 2002... I'd like to comment in reference to the letter from Joan Desira on safety switches and socket covers (December 2001). I'm an electrical engineer and in my industry we don't use the term `safety switch'. This name often gives a false sense...

Letter of the month. (your letters).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... We want to hear from you -- your experiences help our research and often let other readers know about scares and rip-offs. To thank you for writing to us, Your Letters awards a prize of a CHOICE book to the `Letter of the month'. This month's...

Thumbs up.(satisfied customers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... * After complaining about a number of billing irregularities and errors, Ben van Heusden of Coolaroo, Victoria, is very happy with his internet service provider OZRAMP's response: an offer to switch to a different (and cheaper) plan with a...

Dieting: Hollywood-style: according to the stars, it's not fat that makes you fat. It's carbohydrates. Is this really true? How does it work? And what about all those other options for getting in shape? (Food: loosing weight).(reducing diets)
March 1, 2002... All Hollywood's at it. Friends stars Matt Le Blanc and Jennifer Aniston swear by it. You can reportedly add to the list ex-Spice Gerri Halliwell, Minnie Driver, Sandra Bullock, Catherine Zeta-Jones, even Madonna and Cindy Crawford. It's the big...

Painkillers: with so many painkillers on the market these days, choosing one is enough to give anyone a headache. Here's some help with the choice. (Health: painkillers).(Cover Story)
March 1, 2002... There are well over 100 over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers available, and it helps to know what the different active ingredients do, who should and shouldn't take them, and what conditions they're suitable for. This article covers...

Direct debit trouble. (hip pocket).(cancelling direct debit plan on your credit card)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Direct debits on your credit card can be difficult to cancel; don't agree to them willy-nilly. Kylie Wingrave of Sydney told us about the trouble she had stopping a company from debiting her credit card: "I'd been a subscriber to a...

Credit card reform: banks the losers for once. (hip pocket).(recommendations of Reserve Bank of Australia)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... You're probably aware by now of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) proposal to deprive banks and other credit card providers of a large chunk of the more than $1.2 billion in fees they annually charge shopkeepers for processing credit card...

Bye-bye, AAI. (hip pocket).(Australian Alliance Insurance to cease offereing new policies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Australian Alliance Insurance (AAI) has stopped offering new insurance policies under the AAI brand. The company will now concentrate on its Australian Pensioners' Insurance Agency (APIA) business and specialise in serving the needs of...

The best thing since sliced bread? If you're umming and ahhing about buying a breadmaker, you'll be positively drooling for a slice of the action when you read what your fellow Choice readers have to say. (Test: breadmakers).
March 1, 2002... When we asked you to tell us about your experiences with breadmakers, we weren't expecting to be inundated with almost 250 letters and emails. Nor were we expecting such warmth and passion when you wrote about them -- clearly you love the...

Risky business? How much of a gambler are you with your savings? Here's how to choose investments that match your tolerance to risk. (Money: investment risk).
March 1, 2002... You've saved a nest-egg and now you're thinking about where to invest. Can you afford to lose some of the money you've saved? If your answer is `no', you probably shouldn't take too much risk with it. What kind of investor are you and where...

This product may contain traces of ... (food bites).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... More and more foods carry a warning that they `may contain' ingredients such as nuts and eggs. Rather than helping people with allergies it just makes life difficult -- you can end up avoiding all sorts of foods you probably don't need to, on...

Alcoholic essences update. (food bites).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In March last year we highlighted the dangers of alcoholic food essences -- many have a high alcohol content, are available in large bottles and are cheap and easy for underage drinkers to buy. This warning followed the death of a...

Coming to a supermarket near you ... (food bites).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Pre-boiled and peeled eggs! While it's not as out there as the pre-peeled oranges a colleague once saw on sale in London, at $2.39 for four vacuum-packed eggs, how much is a minute or two of your time worth?

Nutrition tip: garlic. (food bites).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Eating garlic may improve your heart health, but you've got to eat a lot -- two to four cloves a day -- to have an effect. And it seems the effective bits are also the smelly bits, so odourless garlic isn't the answer.

How much is your car to repair? The cost of repairs from a minor collision still varies enormously among cars of a similar size. (Drivelines).
March 1, 2002... Each year, NRMA INSURANCE picks a number of models new to the market and crashes a pendulum device into their front right-hand corner. This simulates a 15 km/h crash into a fixed barrier or a collision into the rear of another car at about 30...

Good pocket pictures: twenty APS and thirty five 35 mm compact cameras on test. (Update: compact cameras).(Buyers Guide)
March 1, 2002... The good news is all the cameras in this test are pretty good performers, but those at the top of the list will give you better photos than those at the bottom. You'll also need to decide what specifications suit your needs and whether...

Stick blenders: some can handle harder foods, some only soft -- choose the right type for your cooking habits. (Test: stick blenders).
March 1, 2002... They're useful for pureeing cooked vegetables, soups or sauces; blending, say, mayonnaise, fruit smoothies or milk shakes; and some can also manage other tasks -- chopping dry ingredients, from nuts or carrots to breadcrumbs or herbs, whipping...

Dryers: how much to pay? Are expensive dryers worth the money? (Test: clothes dryers).(Buyers Guide)
March 1, 2002... We randomly selected four expensive dryers to compare to our usual selection of models costing around $500 or less. The expensive models generally dry clothes fast and their filters are very easy to clean, but their energy efficiency's nothing...

Recalls & bans.(Directory)
March 1, 2002... If you find a recall or ban not on our list, please let us know. Companies often rent 1800 numbers for a couple of months after the recall is announced. If the number given is no longer operating, phone the manufacturer or retailer direct. ...

What's new at www.choice.co.au.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Trading shares online We look at some of the main online brokerage websites to find out what they offer, how easy they are to use and what costs you can expect. The sites don't provide individual financial advice so if you're a novice, use...

Hard Word.(Illustration)
March 1, 2002... WE KID YOU NOT CHOICE reader Rod was quite relieved there were no children included with the table set: "We don't have enough room to accommodate them!" While that's bad news for anyone expecting to find a child or two in the box, you...