Update: November 6, 2009

Note:  If your email software garbles this message you can find the complete text on the OFNetwork website.

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Death of MSC Officer – COL (ret) Todd Reineck

This information was provided by COL (ret) Carol Reineck, Todd’s widow.  Please share with those who might be interested.

Thursday November 12, 2009

10:00-11:00 a.m. Celebration of Life. Concordia Lutheran Church, 1604 & Huebner Rd. 16801 Huebner Rd. San Antonio 78258.  All are invited. Concordia arranged for the service to be live video streamed at http://www.concordialutheranchurch.com

1100-1130 Greeting each other at Concordia. Then travel to Ft. Sam Houston Cemetery 1130-1230 for those who can attend committal with military honors.  Check in/register at cemetery at Ft. Sam near 1230. Please see committal guidance below.

1-1:30 p.m. Committal Service with full military honors. Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. 1520 Harry Wurzbach Rd.  When visitors come into the gate (don’t go through Ft. Sam; rather come into the Harry Wurzbach gate), visitors will be asked to park briefly and go into the office, receive a map to the location, and sign a register before proceeding. Those who can attend the committal should arrive at the cemetery office about 1230. Cemetery office 820-3891. All are invited.

2-3:30 Reception and fellowship at Concordia Lutheran Church, 1604 & Huebner Rd. 16801 Huebner Rd. San Antonio 78258. Above old worship center on second floor. 479-1477. All are invited.

Legislation (Other than HCR – see below)

Well, it seems that the “Cap and Trade” bills are moving to the forefront again.  There is, of course, the difference of opinion on the number of jobs that will be lost/created when/if these bills pass.  Here’s a perspective from FactCheck which I found interesting.  Also, I heard on one of the news programs (Fox, I believe) that there would be between 2-3,000 jobs created for a new wind farm in Texas that is being proposed.  However, the new jobs will be created in China!  Only a few jobs will be created in the U.S.  Here’s an article about this interesting program.

HCR: Health Care Reform (What Else?)

You’ve probably heard that the American Medical Association (AMA), over the objection of many of its members has endorsed the House Healthcare (Insurance) Reform Bill (HR 3962).  In addition, the American Association of Retired People (AARP) has also endorsed it.  I saw an item on the Consumers Union (publishers of Consumer Reports) website that they also endorse it.  Just letting you know.

Also in the House is HR3961, the Physician Payment Reform Act, the House’s version of S1776, the act to change the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) calculations that are currently set to reduce Medicare Physician payments by more than 21% in January 2010.  It will be interesting to see where this all goes as a similar bill failed to pass in the Senate.  At least the House is keeping this and “Healthcare Reform” separate.  This bill has a lot more words in it than the Senate version so maybe it will pass; the other one was probably too simple.  If you want to see the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports on both these bills go to HR3962 for the reform bill and to get the report on H.R. 3961 you will need to search for it by using the search box in the upper right hand corner of the CBO homepage.

TRICARE Contract Information

The second of three TRICARE Managed Care Support contract award protests has been upheld by the General Accounting Office (GAO).  This on is the award to Aetna for the TRICARE North region.  The protest was submitted by the current contractor, Health Net.  No specific details are available yet and the next steps are not yet known.

Express Scripts, the previous contractor, was awarded the new “TRICARE Pharmacy Program” contract that combined the formerly separate retail pharmacy and mail-order pharmacy contracts.  For more information see:  Express-Scripts/TRICARE.  Included in this award is an extension of the Over-the-Counter (OTC) medication demonstration program which allows eligible beneficiaries to get certain OTC medications for a significantly reduced rate thru the TRICARE Pharmacy Program with a doctor’s prescription.  For details see:  OTC Demonstration Project.

Tech Stuff

Updates you might want to consider; remember, most have been made available to correct security issues:

1.  Firefox updated to version 3.5.5.  Use the “Check for Updates” feature on the Firefox Help Menu.

2.  Sun has released an updated version of Java, the basis of lots of things done on the Internet.  This update applies to both Internet Explorer and Firefox (I cannot comment on other browsers).  The newest version is version 1.6.0.17.

3.  iTunes released version 9.0.2 this week.

4.  cCleaner (the utility to clean up the registry and remove old files) has been updated to version 2.25.1025.

5.  Adobe released a new version of it’s Shockwave Player.  The current version is 11.5.2.602.

I may have mentioned this before, but I use the Update Checker at FileHippo to keep most of my common software items up to date.  It runs whenever I start my XP desktop and laptop and I kick it off manually on the Vista laptop as the security tools in Vista won’t allow it to run on startup.  I’d recommend it to those who want to keep their systems up to date.

Don’t forget, Microsoft’s “patch Tuesday” is coming up next week. 

My Windows 7 Upgrade Experience

I’ve not done anything ‘active’ since my last update on this topic.  The boxes sit on the shelf collecting dust while I continue to research the options and proper ways to do the updates. 

The Last Word – Searching for Missing OF’s

COL (ret) Mike McGinley is trying to locate the following retired MSC officers.  My roster is about 4 years old and I don’t have 4 of these 5 listed anyway.  If you know where they are or how to contact them please let Mike know at:  mikemcginley7@aol.com.  They are:  Johnny Walker, Tom Pozniak, Matt Carp, Tom Nalepa, and John Ward.

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If you’ve found this update useful, please share it with others.  If you received this as an email from another person, you can subscribe to your own copy at: www.ofnetwork.wordpress.com.  Contact the OFMeister at ofnetwork (at) sbcglobal (dot) net with any questions or comments.

Disclaimers

This newsletter and blog is solely for the enjoyment of its readers.  None of the information contained in this newsletter or on the blog is to be considered as legal or financial advice as the author is neither a lawyer or financial advisor.  In so far as it is possible to determine the material is correct but has not necessarily been fully researched or verified; here’s the bottom line – you use it at your own risk.  Wherever possible the source of the information for a particular article is displayed  as a reference.

Products mentioned in this newsletter / blog  have NOT been provided by a manufacturer or reseller and anything remotely resembling a review is actually just a description of personal experience or a reference to comments made by others, with citations as available.  In other words, no compensation has been provided for product comments, period.

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Update: October 30, 2009

Note:  If your email software garbles this message you can find the complete text on the OFNetwork website.

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House Healthcare Reform Bill

I’ve not read (and don’t intend to) the entire 1,990 page bill that has been put before the House of Representatives but I did find in the CBO’s preliminary analysis the following statement:

“The current proposal does not include any changes to the sustainable growth rate (SGR) mechanism for setting Medicare’s payment rates for physicians’ services. A provision of H.R. 3200 that would have restructured that mechanism added about $245 billion to CBO’s estimate of the net cost of that bill.”

I saw in one report that there’s apparently a separate bill that is going to be proposed in the House to address this critical problem.  If you will recall, a similar bill failed in the Senate last week.  I support this approach; i.e., two separate bills, as the best way to address a real and near-term problem (physician payments for 2010) and the longer term solution to Healthcare (Insurance) reform. 

Much will be written on this new bill, and the Senate’s version but I thought this particular item to be of note.

Army MEDCOM Reorganization

For those who are familiar with this organization – it’s changing yet again although this article does not address overseas medical organizations. 

The U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) is currently engaged in a four-phased reorganization designed to optimize the delivery of health care support to the Army, Soldiers,family members and all other eligible Military Health System beneficiaries. The reorganization reduces MEDCOM’s Regional Medical Commands (RMCs) and Regional Dental Commands (RDCs) from four to three in CONUS and aligns them with their TRICARE regional office boundaries.  (Source:  Stand-To website and Army Medicine website).

Save $$$ (maybe)

Are you and AARP member?  Borders Bookstores apparently give discounts to AARP members who show their AARP membership cards when they make a purchase.  This is an excerpt from the link above:  “Members save 10% on list price paperback books* and 35% on list price of AARP published titles at any Borders, Borders Express and Waldenbooks stores. Show your AARP card in stores to get the discount.
Shop online and save too. Click here to get your promo code for discounts on borders.com. Discounts will be applied at the end of transaction.”

You can probably still find books cheaper at Amazon.com but you never know.  Personally, I rarely buy books any more.  Springfield, MO has a great public library system and the largest branch is only about 2 miles from the house.  Plus, I can ‘order’ books, extend due dates, etc. on-line.  I can also order some books electronically and read them on-line or download them to my computer to read later.  I’ve not quite figured out how to get them onto my iPod yet, but I’m working on it.

Tech Stuff

Microsoft to Discontinue MSN Direct.  Starting in 2012, users of certain GPS devices will no longer get traffic updates, weather reports and other data because Microsoft is discontinuing its MSN Direct service.  Microsoft has posted a notice on its MSN Direct Web site informing users that the service will be available only until Jan. 1, 2012.

 

 

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If you’ve found this update useful, please share it with others.  If you received this as an email from another person, you can subscribe to your own copy at: www.ofnetwork.wordpress.com.  Contact the OFMeister at ofnetwork (at) sbcglobal (dot) net with any questions or comments.

Disclaimers

This newsletter and blog is solely for the enjoyment of its readers.  None of the information contained in this newsletter or on the blog is to be considered as legal or financial advice as the author is neither a lawyer or financial advisor.  In so far as it is possible to determine the material is correct but has not necessarily been fully researched or verified; here’s the bottom line – you use it at your own risk.  Wherever possible the source of the information for a particular article is displayed  as a reference.

Products mentioned in this newsletter / blog  have NOT been provided by a manufacturer or reseller and anything remotely resembling a review is actually just a description of personal experience or a reference to comments made by others, with citations as available.  In other words, no compensation has been provided for product comments, period.

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Update: October 28, 2009

Note:  If your email software garbles this message you can find the complete text on the OFNetwork website.

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Legislation of Great Import

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives that you might want to pay close attention to is H.R. 3501 (aka The Happy Act), introduced by Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) in July.  Current status is that there are two co-sponsors, both Democrats (interestingly enough) and the bill has been referred to the House Ways and Means committee.  Oh, what’s this bill all about?  It’s a tax-related bill that might be of interest to many.  Here’s the summary:  Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act – Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax deduction, up to $3,500 per year, for pet care expenses (including veterinary care).

S. 1776 – The Medicare Fix that Apparently Wasn’t

I’m sure you are aware of this, but in case you missed it.  The Medicare Physician Payment fix incorporated in S.1776 has failed, at least so far.  I checked it’s status on October 22nd and found that there were now 4 amendments, all too confusing to even think about.  But, more importantly was this story on “The Hill” website (click on link for complete story – excerpt below with specific comments highlighted by me):

‘Doc fix’ collapses, Reid tells colleagues AMA led him astray

By Alexander Bolton – 10/21/09 01:36 PM ET

A group of Democrats joined all Republicans in blocking a 10-year freeze of scheduled cuts to doctors’ Medicare payments, legislation that was considered important to getting a broader healthcare bill through later this year.  Prior to the 47-53 procedural vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blamed the American Medical Association (AMA) for giving him bad information on the number of Republicans expected to support the measure.  Reid had offered the doctors group a deal to pass the "doctors’ fix" in return for support from the doctors on President Barack Obama’s broader healthcare initiative, which is slated for the Senate floor later this year.

Reid told colleagues that the AMA said it could deliver 27 Republican votes for the legislation, according to two Senate Democratic lawmakers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Reid needs the GOP votes because at least five members of his party have vowed to vote against the doctors’ fix.  Reid said at a news conference Wednesday that he would bring up the 10-year freeze after the healthcare reform legislation is passed and will settle for a one-year fix in the meantime.  "We’ll take this up again when we finish healthcare," Reid said Wednesday, "and we’ll have a multiple-year fix for this. Right now, we’ll only have a one-year fix."

The doctor payment cuts are mandated by a 1997 law.

AAFES Does Gift Cards

The Exchange Online Store at www.aafes.com, www.usmc-mccs.org and www.navy-nex.com began accepting AAFES gift cards at the end of September.  Online redemption requires users to simply enter the AAFES gift card number as it appears on the back of the card and a unique pin code (also on the card).  While only authorized military shoppers can redeem an AAFES gift card at a BX, PX or even online, any American can send an exchange gift card by calling 800-527-2345 or logging on to www.aafes.org and clicking “Gift Cards/Certificates for Our Troops” icon.  From there, AAFES gift cards, ranging in values from $10 to $500, can be addressed to a specific Soldier, Airman, Sailor or Marine or sent to “any service member” through the American Red Cross, Fisher House Foundation, USO, Soldier and Family Assistance Center, Air Force Aid Society or Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.  (Note:  According to the AAFES website, gift cards cannot be used for special orders, Military Uniform purchases or Exchange Online Mall purchases.)

Free Food!

Two nationwide restaurants are offering free meals to veterans on / around Veteran’s Day.  As they’ve done in years past, Golden Corral offers a free buffet to the veteran (but not guests) on Monday, November 16th between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.  It’s available to everyone who has served in the U.S. Military (active, reserve or guard) and no identification is required for the service member.  Applebee’s offers veterans and active duty free meals from a selected menu while they are open on Veteran’s Day.  You must show proof of military service (list of acceptable documents on the website) to get the free meal.

Hardware Discounts?

I’ve received an email from a normally reputable source that indicates that Lowe’s and Home Depot are both giving 10% discounts to veterans and active duty at any time but this may be dependent upon the individual store manager.  It never hurts to ask, just make sure you have some proof of service to show them if they give you the thumbs up.  Both of these stores usually advertise and  give the 10% discount around Veteran’s Day so watch for it in your local paper and save up your household projects for a couple of weeks.

Healthcare in America

Here’s a good article, albeit a bit long (click on the “printer format” to get it all on one webpage) about American Healthcare.  I don’t personally agree with all of his conclusions but I do agree that ‘something’ needs to be done to make healthcare affordable, available and answerable to all (legal) Americans.  See:  “How American Health Care Killed My Father” by David Goldhill.

Tech Stuff

Firefox updated.  Mozilla has released an updated version of Firefox.  The current version for most people would be 3.5.4.  You can update from within the browser by going to “Check for Updates” on the Help Menu.

Fraudulent Email (allegedly) from FDIC.  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of a fraudulent e-mail that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC.  The subject line of the e-mail states: “check your Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage.” The e-mail tells recipients that, "You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with as a failed bank, thus, taking control of its assets.”  Click HERE for more information.

Got a Blackberry?  Is it secure?  US-CERT is aware of public reports of a new software application called PhoneSnoop. This software allows an attacker to call a user’s BlackBerry and listen to personal conversations.  In order to install and setup the PhoneSnoop application, attackers must have physical access to the user’s device or convince a user to install PhoneSnoop.  US-CERT encourages users to only download BlackBerry applications from trusted sources and to password protect and lock BlackBerry devices.

My Windows 7 Upgrade Experience

October 21st.  I ran the Windows 7 Upgrade advisor on the XP and Vista laptops and found that the same caution appeared on the XP laptop – it won’t be able to run the Aero feature.  However, the Vista laptop checked out OK on this part; which makes sense since it runs the Aero feature of Vista already. 

Of bigger concern is the Intel Wireless connection on the XP laptop has a caution symbol beside it and the note is that I’ll need to download a new driver from the Intel website.  However, the Intel website scanner indicates that I have the most current driver and that this product is no longer supported!  Could be a problem but we’ll see.  Also, on the XP laptop the Bluetooth adapter may be a problem.  Another one of the mixed messages from the W7UA as some parts seem to be good, both hardware and software, and some seem to be non-compliant.  This is going to be exciting!  Also, the touchpad could be a problem as the current drivers are not Windows compliant but there are Vista / Win7 drivers available.

The Vista laptop seems to be in good shape and it’s Intel wireless connection is OK but it’s also a newer model.  Most everything else seems to be OK.  I’d start my upgrade with this one as it seems simpler but it’s the wife’s computer and I cannot take it out of service for very long without some serious verbal beating about my head and shoulders. 

October 28th.  All 3 copies of the Win7 upgrade disks have arrived.  I’m itching to get started but want to read a bit more about the process for upgrading from WinXP particularly after reading several articles about the ‘upgrade’ process.  Here are the links if you are interested:

• If you, or someone you know, has purchased the student version: Flawed Student Version of Win7 Now Fixed
• It’s not as easy as folks first let on, apparently:  Windows 7 Upgrade Scenarios
• Then there are these two articles:  Some Win7 Upgrade Answers and What’s the Deal, Microsoft?

If you have had the opportunity to do this upgrade, particularly from and XP system, let me know.

The Last Word

Something to ponder, and laugh with and this (not for the squeamish).

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If you’ve found this update useful, please share it with others.  If you received this as an email from another person, you can subscribe to your own copy at: www.ofnetwork.wordpress.com.  Contact the OFMeister at ofnetwork (at) sbcglobal (dot) net with any questions or comments.

Disclaimers

This newsletter and blog is solely for the enjoyment of its readers.  None of the information contained in this newsletter or on the blog is to be considered as legal or financial advice as the author is neither a lawyer or financial advisor.  In so far as it is possible to determine the material is correct but has not necessarily been fully researched or verified; here’s the bottom line – you use it at your own risk.  Wherever possible the source of the information for a particular article is displayed  as a reference.

Products mentioned in this newsletter / blog  have NOT been provided by a manufacturer or reseller and anything remotely resembling a review is actually just a description of personal experience or a reference to comments made by others, with citations as available.  In other words, no compensation has been provided for product comments, period.

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Update for October 20, 2009

Note:  If your email software garbles this message you can find the complete text on the OFNetwork website.

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S. 1776 – The Medicare Physician Payment Bill

The bill lingers in the Senate awaiting a vote. 

Sen. Lincoln has submitted an amendment (SA2693) but the only comments I found on it were in the Congressional Record, as follows: “SA 2693. Mrs. LINCOLN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 1776, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the update under the Medicare physician fee schedule for years beginning with 2010 and to sunset the application of the sustainable growth rate formula, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table.”  and “Paragraph (3) of section 115(a) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5225) is amended by striking “$1,244,000,000” and inserting “$251,244,000,000”.”  Good Grief! to quote a famous cartoon character.  This appears to be some sort of technical correction rather than a change to intent of the bill itself.

Of course, there is this from The Hill website:  “Reid Offers Doctors a Deal” (excerpt below)

“The White House and Democratic leaders are offering doctors a deal: They’ll freeze cuts in Medicare payments to doctors in exchange for doctors’ support of healthcare reform.

At a meeting on Capitol Hill last week with nearly a dozen doctors groups, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Senate would take up separate legislation to halt scheduled Medicare cuts in doctor payments over the next 10 years. In return, Reid made it clear that he expected their support for the broader healthcare bill, according to four sources in the meeting.”

Yes, these two items (S. 1776 and the “Doctor Deal”) are directly related.  Again, so much for open and transparent government.

Buying Windows 7

I found a listing on Amazon.com for the “Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User)” for $149.95 (free shipping, no tax).  That’s less than $50 per PC if you have 3 PCs, and less than $75 if you have two.  Since a single PC upgrade is $119.99 by itself this seems like a pretty good deal if you’ve got more than one PC not taken advantage of any of the other deals.  If you can shop at the military exchange the same products, for the same prices, are available thru the on-line store (and probably in the brick/mortar store on Thursday).  BTW, the Family Pack is listed as “while supplies last” whatever that means.

My Personal Windows 7 Upgrade Experience

October 20th.  Ran into my first apparent glitch today and the product is not yet in my hands!

I went to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor (W7UA) website and downloaded and ran the most current version of the Advisor, version 1.0, on my 6 year old Dell desktop.  The W7UA is no longer listed as beta and seems to run a more comprehensive scan of the PC with amore comprehensive report that includes both an analysis for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the new OS.  I saved the file (W7UA creates a report that opens in a web browser) and dated that version today, October 20th.  Previously I saved a version on October 9th when I last ran the beta version of the advisor.  By comparison, that report was 4 pages long and the newest one was 10 pages (5 for the 32 bit version and 5 for the 64 bit version).  Lesson learned:  go and fetch the latest version of the Upgrade Advisor before you start the upgrade itself.  I plan to download and run it again before I actually do the deed

I saw that in the 10-9 report my video card was listed as being able to run “Windows Aero” (the fancy graphical interface) but the most recent report stated that “The current graphics adapter won’t support the Windows Aero interface.”  Uh-oh!  Maybe not so good.  So, I went to the NVidia website (my graphics adapter is a GeForce 6800 with 256MB of RAM) and looked for the latest driver software.  It turns out that I am running the latest version – for Windows XP.  There is a different version, albeit the same version number, for Vista and Win7.  I wonder if this is the problem or if I will be forced to purchase a new graphics adapter.  I did poke around in the NVidia website to see if there was a list of Win7 compliant adapters and found mine listed on such a list.  But, there was not further detail such as “Runs OK but won’t support Aero interface.”

But wait!  There’s more to this story.  While finishing my comparison of the two reports I notice in the hardware section of both reports that the NVidia GeForce 6800 is “…compatible with Windows 7.”  So, is the issue in the driver?  That is, do I need to be running the Vista/Win7 driver to make all things well?  Don’t know until I try as I cannot load this driver on my XP machine.  It was also interesting to observe that the NVidia Drivers are listed as also earning MS’s “Compatible with Win7” status.  (Confused yet?  So am I; however, given that the video drivers are listed as good and the video hardware is listed as good I’m guessing there’s it’s the latest version of the software, as mentioned above, that is the problem.)  More on this topic when I actually do the upgrade.

All the other items on the list are good to go and the new report provides a more comprehensive software list than the beta version did although it does not list all the software I am running.  Some items to now:

• It was nice to know that the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor itself has earned the “Compatible with Windows 7 logo.” 
• Some older, and frankly unused, items of software are listed as “Known Issues: You may experience issues running this program on Windows 7”).
• A few are listed as “We don’t have compatibility information about this version of the program” but there’s a notation that an update is available. 
• One, Microsoft ActiveSync version 4.5 is listed as “Not compatible: This version of the program will not work on Windows 7.”  This is the software I used to use to sync my Windows Smartphone to my computer.  Since I de-commissioned my Smartphone (another story) I don’t need this software.  There is a newer version for Win7 if you are using the same software for a Windows Smartphone.

I’m going to check my XP laptop using the W7UA and see what discrepancies, if any there are with that system as it’s my test machine for the Win7 upgrade.  I’ve also downloaded the latest version of the “Windows Easy Transfer Wizard for Windows XP (32 bit) to Windows 7” so I’m ready to install that when needed.  If you are not sure what that is and why it’s needed, here’s what the download website says:  “This software installs Windows Easy Transfer on a computer running the 32-bit version of Windows XP so you can copy your files, photos, music, e-mail, settings, and more to a computer running Windows 7.”  According to the literature I’ve read so far, it’s not perfect but it’s better than a manual install of all the settings.  Another alternative is Laplink’s “PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant” which apparently also has some warts but does work a bit better than the MS version as it also moves programs.  And, it’s available until October 22nd for $15.00 (on-line download), 50% off the regular price.  I read an article on ZDNet that mentioned this product that leads me to believe my ‘upgrade experience’ will be better for this small investment.  I’ll let you know.

 

The Last Word

Is the News Broken?  Read this article and judge for yourself.

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If you’ve found this update useful, please share it with others.  If you received this as an email from another person, you can subscribe to your own copy at: www.ofnetwork.wordpress.com.  Contact the OFMeister at ofnetwork (at) sbcglobal (dot) net with any questions or comments.

Disclaimers

This newsletter and blog is solely for the enjoyment of its readers.  None of the information contained in this newsletter or on the blog is to be considered as legal or financial advice as the author is neither a lawyer or financial advisor.  In so far as it is possible to determine the material is correct but has not necessarily been fully researched or verified; here’s the bottom line – you use it at your own risk.  Wherever possible the source of the information for a particular article is displayed  as a reference.

Products mentioned in this newsletter / blog  have NOT been provided by a manufacturer or reseller and anything remotely resembling a review is actually just a description of personal experience or a reference to comments made by others, with citations as available.  In other words, no compensation has been provided for product comments, period.

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