May 12, 2008
Recycling, Selling or Donating Your Old Electronics
More and more consumer electronic products are being sold every year, some of it with relatively short lives. Many folks get new cell phones and MP3 players every few years. And with the transition to digital-only broadcasts in February next year, there will be more and more old analog TVs that will no longer be used. (yes, I do know that you can buy a converter box so you can still use your analog TV after the transition, but many are purchasing new televisions.)
You shouldn't just throw away these products. Besides filling up land fills, many contain toxic materials such as lead, cadmium and beryllium.
OK what do you do?
Sell
Your trash might be someone else's treasure. A couple of years ago I ebayed over 30 pieces of old audio video and computer equipment. I really was amazed how much some of the stuff went for. It didn't end up in a landfill and I put a few $ in my pocket.
Donate
For computer equipment you might want to check out The Cristina Foundation. For over 20 years they have matched companies and individuals that that have unwanted computer products to charities, schools and public agencies that can use them.
Goodwill, The Salvation Army and other local non-profits often welcome donations of electronics products. I always call before I lug it.
If you donate or sell a computer, you should use a 'disk wiping' program to totally erase files and programs from the hard disk drive. There are many of these programs available (some are free). Try searching 'disk wiping' on google or download.com
Recycle
The best source of information that I have found for where to recycle your old electronics is the Environmental Protection Agency. Click here for an extensive list of links for recycling and donations.
Or do a google search for your town and recycling. Searching "Knoxville Tennessee Recycling" generated multiple places where I could take unwanted computers and electronics in my area.
What do you do with your old electronics?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 2:02 PM | Comments (0)
May 5, 2008
Game Over - Blu-Ray wins vs. HD-DVD
In January Warner Brothers announced that they would stop supporting HD DVD and sell Blu-Ray movies. Then in February, Toshiba threw in the towel and announced that they would stop shipping HD DVD players. The format war is over, Blu-Ray won.
I have both a Blu Ray and an HD DVD player and they both work reasonably well. There will be no more new movies for the HD DVD player, but I only spent $99 on the Toshiba HD DVD player, and I got five free movies HD DVD movies from a Toshiba mail in rebate. It is a decent player, I don't feel too bad about making the purchase.
I have a few friends that have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for a winner in this format war. Several have purchased a Blu-Ray player in the last few weeks, but Blu-Ray players are still a bit pricey - $399 and up is the typical street price. After Christmas there were a few sales for entry level players at $299.
Now that the format battle is over are you going to purchase a Blu-Ray DVD player? If you have an High Definition television what are you waiting for?
- cheaper players? If so, what is the price price are you holding out for? Under $300,under $200, under $100?
- better players with more features? If so, what features?
- more movies on Blu-Ray?
- cheaper movies?
or, you don't care about higher resolution movies on a disk. High Definition programs and movies from cable, satellite or from an antenna are what you are interested in.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 10:46 AM | Comments (6)
