« May 2009 | Main | September 2009 »
August 31, 2009
1st Dual Screen Laptop
Sure its going to be heavy, expensive and consume the battery way too fast, but I have been using two monitors in my office for almost two years and its great.
This and a netbook might be the perfect combo. What do you think?
For more information, go here.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 12:09 PM
August 28, 2009
CEDIA
It's one of my favorite times of the year. Football starts and the CEDIA Expo
This year the largest home audio/video convention will be held in Atlanta from September 9 to 13.
Every year it seems to be an unofficial theme behind many of the press releases that I receive. This year its definitely 'green'. TVs that use less electricity, light dimmers that give you feedback when when you are saving kilowatts, products that use parts that are more earth friendly to recycle.
I will keep you posted.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 10:30 AM
August 24, 2009
Sony's New Playstation - PS3 - $299.99
One thing builders and home sellers sometimes do is to offer incentives. I've heard of builders offering new cars with the purchase of a condo, and a while back, we discussed the idea of offering a Nintendo Wii with the purchase of a home.
I've also heard about builders offering flat-screen televisions, Blu-Ray players, and other video game systems. And Sony's new version of their PS3, which will ship in September, might be a good combination of those last two items. the new PS3 will have a 120 GB hard disk drive, is 32% smaller and consumes 34% less electricity than the current PS3.
Like its predecessor the new PS3 incorporates a Blu-Ray player. With most entry level Blu-Ray players currently selling between $200 to $250, for a few bucks more you can get a game console in addition to a Blu-Ray player. At $299, it's not likely to break your budget, and the Blu-Ray feature makes it attractive even for homebuyers who aren't hard-core gamers.
If you're selling a home, what do you think would make a good incentive? Or, if you're buying a home, what might make you more likely to "pull the trigger"?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 8:38 AM | Comments (1)
August 21, 2009
iTunes has 25% of Music Market
According to NPD Group, iTunes, in the first half of 2009 has a quarter of the total music bought in the US.
Other digital downloads have 10%, and CDs are 65% of the market.
I haven't bought a CD in several years, most of my music is from iTunes. Do you buy CDs or download music?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 6:31 AM
August 19, 2009
RedBox has started to rent video games
RedBox has 16000 kiosks that rent DVDs in retail stores in the United States. In my area these kiosks are in Walgreen's and WalMarts.
Starting on August 14th, they started renting games in Reno, Nevada and Wilmington, North Carlona. The game kiosks will have games for Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and XBox 360 (Nintendo DS games will be coming soon). If they are successful in these markets, I am sure that they will quickly expand to more areas.
They rent current DVDs for $1 per night, games cost $2 per night. If you are a gamer, this could be an affordable and convenient way to play new games.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 1:52 PM
August 17, 2009
700,000 Americans are dumping their landlines each month
According to an article in The Economist, "...telecom operators are seeing customers abandon landlines at a rate of 700,000 per month. Some analysts now estimate that 25% of households in America rely entirely on mobile phones (or cellphones, as Americans call them), a share that could double within the next three years. If the decline of the landline continues at its current rate, the last cord will be cut sometime in 2025."
I haven't had a traditional land line for about five years. After dropping Bell South, I first used Vonage for a few years. For about a year I used Magic Jack click here for my review on it before I went exclusively with a cell phone.
Have you cut the cord? Are you planning to? Why, or why not?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 8:25 AM | Comments (13)
August 14, 2009
Controlling your Dish Network DVR from your iPhone
If you have a Dish Network DVR and an iPhone you can set your DVR to record a program when you are not at home with your phone
On your iPhone you can:
- scan through the program guide,
- delete programs on the hard disk,
- select programs to record.
- use the phone as a basic remote control.
When using the iPhone as a remote there is a bit of lag until the command is executed.
If you are interested go to Dish Remote Access. This is a free service for Dish customers.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 2:03 AM | Comments (2)
August 12, 2009
Homer Simpson's voice on your TomTom GPS?
OK, I'll admit it, I watch the Simpson's from time to time, sometimes it is really funny.
But having Homer Simpson's voice giving you directions while you drive would, I think, get very old very quickly. If you are interested and have a TomTom GPS click here, the price is $12.95 to add Homer's voice to your GPS. Woohoo
Posted by Bob Gatton at 7:57 AM
August 9, 2009
Best Buy is selling vinyl albums in all of their stores
There is still a legion of fans out there supporting the good old vinyl records. A properly set up turntable and sound system with a quality vinyl album can sound great. Many vinyl fans claim that it sounds better than any other format. But the market share for vinyl is very small.
Or so I thought, after a successful test in 100 stores, Best Buy is now selling vinyl albums in every one of their 1000 stores. Each stores stocks about 200 albums. The demand for vinyl records must be on an upswing.
I have a turntable and several hundred albums, but they have been collecting dust in my basement for many years. Do you listen to vinyl albums?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 5:44 PM | Comments (1)
August 7, 2009
Flat Panel TV Surge Protector from Sanus Systems
There are a lot of surge protectors on the market, but Sanus recently introduced a slim surge protector that can easily be installed behind a flat panel television that is mounted on a wall. The power outlets pivot to make it easier to plug in power cords in tight situations.
The Sanus ELM203 retails for $29.99. Inexpensive protection for your expensive television.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 8:24 AM | Comments (1)
August 5, 2009
Best / Worst Drivers
Allstate recently released a list of the best and worst cities in terms of how many years the average driver goes between wrecks. I live in Knoxville, TN, which was ranked the 5th best; on average a driver in Knoxville averages 12.3 years between accidents. The worst was Washington, DC - where the average driver has an accident every 5.1 years.
Go here more information or here to download the PDF of the complete list of cities.
Where does your city rank?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 11:26 AM
August 3, 2009
Today's Trivia - Why aren't insects attracted to yellow light bulbs?
According to GE, "insect vision is different from human vision, spectrally. Insects are attracted to light in the UV part of the spectrum. Conventional incandescent lights have transmission in the UV range, and bugs can see it. The yellow pigment used to coat the GE Bug Lite filters out any light below 490 nanometers, making the light it transmits non-existent to insects."
For more info, go here
Posted by Bob Gatton at 5:03 PM
