Visiting Consumer Reports

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By: leelefever on December 13, 2005 - 6:10pm
I first met Anne McKay and Daniel Harrison at a annual conference called the "Online Community Summit".  They both work at Consumer Reports and I had been looking for a time to take Anne's invitation to visit the headquarters.
 
We hopped on a train this morning to Yonkers from Grand Central Station to meet Anne and Daniel. 
 
Along with doing a quick talk about online communities, we got a tour of the headquarters, which is where all the testing occurs, except cars.  What an amazing place- it's filled with experts on TV's, paints, washing machines, speakers, mattresses, treadmills, cameras- you name it.  They put a group of products through the paces and then rate/rank them, all for the good of us consumers.
 
The artificial butt to the right is used to test couches by sitting on them millions of times.  Often, they have to create their own machines to do the testing.
 
One of the most fascinatng parts was the anechoic chamber, which is used to evaluate speakers.  It's a room designed to be devoid of any sound and is the perfect example of deafening silence. I know why Daniel says he can't be there long- it's a freaky place.
 
We owe a big thanks to Anne and Daniel for lunch, a great tour and introductions to interesting people.

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