Bob Gatton's Tech Talk

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?

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.

Shift to Smaller TVs?

"Pacific Media Associates reported that unit sales for flat panel televisions under 35" in North America jumped in February. Their Consumer Flat Panel Display Sell-Through Tracking Service indicates that a lot of buyers are shifting their purchases to the smaller, lower priced models.

]]> Total unit market share for 30" to 34" LCD televisions rose from 16% in January to 24% in February; that's nearly one out of every four flat panel televisions sold.
"The gains for the smaller sets came at the expense of mid-size models," according to Rosemary Abowd, Vice President with Pacific Media. "The 45" to 49" LCD segment dropped four unit share points from 18% to 14%, and the popular 40" to 44" 1080p segment (including LCD and plasma) lost two unit share points from 20% to 18%."
While the mid-size sales seemed to give way to smaller sizes, the larger sizes appeared untouched by the change. Both the unit market share and revenue share for models 50" and larger remained stable from January to February. It would appear that customers with the money to buy these larger sizes are not yet changing their buying patterns."

One month does not make a trend, but I called a few product managers at large consumer electronics companies and they are seeing the same shift in orders.

I think that there are a variety of reason for this shift:
- smaller sizes are getting more affordable, they are often at price points that almost make them an impulse purchase
- secondary locations, many families have a large display in the living room or family room and are now purchasing a smaller set for another location in the house..
- higher prices on gas, groceries and just about everything except consumer electronics are causing people to purchase smaller sets.
Comments?

Organizing Cables - Monster Cable-It

Does the back of your audio video system or computer desk look like a rat's nest of wires? Cables going all over the place? There are a wide variety of cable ties and wraps on the market, but Monster's new Cable-It is a new, clever solution to cable organization.

]]>

Using it is very simple:

Step 1: Snap open included the tool -- the Zipper -- and insert your cables. Close the zipper around the cables.

Step 2: Slide the Cable-It sleeve onto the zipper's pointed tip with the sleeve openings pointing downward. Grip the sleeve around the cables.

Step 3: Holding the Zipper handgrip, pull the Zipper backward or the sleeve forward away from the Zipper. Unsnap the Zipper from the end of the sleeve. You're done. Cable organization made easy.

Available in lengths from 8 to 50 feet, three diameters and three colors -- white, gray and black -- from $13 to $100. And you can cut it with ordinary scissors.

For more information go to Monster Cable It, and watch the video

What do you think? You can use zip ties or even baggie ties to organize cables, but Monster's solution is so quick and easy. Comments?

Unlimited Cell Phone Use for $99 per Month

The big guys - Verizon, AT&T, TMobile and Sprint now all have unlimited talking plans for $99 with no roaming or long distance charges. No more worries about going over on your minutes and ending up with a large bill. I currently have a 2000 minute plan for $99 dollars and have gone over several times, a couple of times very painfully - $400+.

]]> All the plans have unlimited minutes $99, but there are some differences:

Verizon: Unlimited call plan and their Mobile Web 2.0 - this gives you access to news, weather, sports, etc. Text messaging, GPS navigation and other services are extra. For $119.99 you get everything in the $99 dollar plan plus unlimited texting. For $139.99 there is a plan with unlimited minutes, texting, GPS, VCast VPak and mobile email.

AT&T and TMobile: Unlimited calling, all other services are extra.

Sprint: Unlimited call plus mobile internet and messaging: Web surfing, email, GPS Navigation, Sprint Music, Sprint TV, text, pictures, video.

It looks like the Sprint is the best bang for the buck if you are interested in services beyond calling. Of course the best value in a plan doesn't count for much if that carrier doesn't offer the phone you want or doesn't have good coverage in your area. And remember that a $99 plan does not mean a $99 bill. My current $99 Verizon plan costs me about $116 each month, if I don't go over 2000 minutes.

Are any of these plans right for you? Probably not if you usually don't use close to 2,000 minutes (or more) each month. Or if most of your calls are to and from people on the same carrier. Most carriers offer plans where calls from, for instance, a Verizon customer to another Verizon customer are not billable minutes. TMobile has a few MyFaves plans that lets you choose five numbers that you can call without using your minutes - the numbers can be landlines or with any mobile carrier. TMobile is not an option for me, they currently do not offer service in Knoxville, TN.

What do you like - dislike about your current plan? Are you going to sign up for one of these plans?

Making Good Sound Taste Better - Food and Music

I have been an audio enthusiast most of my life. But I never thought about the association between food and music. Take a look at this press release and be sure to click on the MyAudioControl link.

]]> Never Listen on an Empty Stomach
New cookbook gives you the nourishment your ears need

Mountlake Terrace, WA - It's well known that a Turkey dinner causes drowsiness, but did you know that garlic mashed potatoes perk your ears to bass frequencies? "Making Good Sound Taste Better," AudioControl's new e-cookbook, provides the perfect dish to ready your ears for listening.

"There's nothing like a big batch of spaghetti before heading off to a hip-hop concert," reflects Tom Walker, President of AudioControl. "Carbohydrates are the perfect precursor to bass-heavy music, just like a caffeinated beverage will have you tapping your toe to jazz renditions of popular hits from the 80s in the elevator each morning."

"Making Good Sound Taste Better" includes recipes to ready you for a listening session filled with Jazz, Soft-Rock, Classical, 80s Punk-Rock, Ska, Hip-Hop, Celtic, New Age, Classic Rock, Country, and Blues among a number of other styles.

The e-cookbook is available for download now through AudioControls website at: MyAudioControl.

AudioControl is a U.S. designer and manufacturer of highest-quality home and car audio components, logging more than 30 years into the pursuit of perfect audio. And while the business of making fantastic products is serious, we like to inject a little humor into our product packaging, support documents, and yes, even the occasional press release.

Lutron Energy Saving Calculator

I have been using Lutron products for years and have attended a few Lutron training seminars, so I knew that dimmed lights save energy and extend the life of a bulb. But I never saw their energy savings calculator. Give it a try here.

]]>
On the lower right of the page you can change the room or settings. Under the settings button you can change the type of bulb - incandescent or halogen, the number bulbs and the average number of hours that lights are on. After making the settings you sliding the dimmer up and down will show you the percent the lights are dimmed, the percent energy savings, how long the bulb should last and the amount of money saving by dimming the lights over a five year period.

I selected:
- incandescent bulbs
- 10 bulbs
- 100 watt bulbs
- used 6 hours per day.
Dimming these 10 bulbs to 50% resulted in:
- a 40% energy savings,
- the average bulb should last 10 years,
- and the five year savings in bulbs and electricity is $559.36 (based on a $.10 per kWh and $1.75 for bulbs).

Did know how much money can be saved by dimming lights? Do you install any dimmers in you houses? Lutron, and other companies, sell everything from simple, inexpensive dimmers to whole house lighting systems.

Wall Mounted Remote Control from Universal

Universal Remote Control recently started to ship a new universal remote control - the KP-900, it can:

- control up to 255 different devices,
- send both IR (infra red) and RF (radio frequency) signals,
-be programmed on a Windows PC,

and it has a host of other features.

]]> OK, nothing new here. Universal has been making great remotes with this type of capability for years. What is new is the form factor. They basically took one of their remotes and flattened it -- it's only 13/16 of an inch deep -- turning it into a wireless keypad.

You can stick it on a metal surface (the back of the remote is magnetic), mount it on a wall (bracket included), or take it out of the wall bracket and use it like a conventional remote control.

The benefit is that on retrofits you can have keypads anywhere you want them without having to cut into the drywall and pull wires. Why didn't somebody make a product like this sooner?

It is available in white, black or light almond and retails for $500. Universal sells RF receivers if you want to control equipment in another room or behind cabinet doors. More information is available at Universal Remote Controls.

I don't think that Universal is going to sell tons of these remotes; it's a special product for a niche market. But for the right job, it could be a big cost and time saver. What do you think? Have you ever had a project where this remote could have been used?

Back Up Your Computer - Corsair 32 GB Flash Drive

I recently got a Corsair Flash Voyager with 32 GB (Gigabytes) of storage capacity. It was only a couple of years ago that a 1 GB flash drive was considered a large flash drive. 32 GB is big! To put this into perspective, it has as much storage as almost 7 recordable DVDs (6.8 to be exact) or over 45 CDs. I am somewhat of a document pack rat on my office computer, but all of my PowerPoint, Excel, Word, pictures and PDF documents, almost 13,000 files, only add up to a little less than 10 GB. And the Voyager is smaller than a pack of gum.

]]> OK, I can have all of my documents on a flash drive that fits into my pocket. What happens if I lose it? Couldn't someone have access to my financial records and other sensitive information? No -- because Corsair includes TrueCrypt, a program that encrypts your files so that they can only be opened with a password. (Note: TrueCrypt is an 'open source' - free software program.)

How tough is the Voyager? I dropped it from the top of a five story building onto a concrete sidewalk, and the fall didn't faze it. Next, I ran over the flash drive with my car. Except for scuffing the rubberized case, the Voyager took it in stride. Corsair claims that the Voyager's MTBF -- Mean Time Between Failure -- is 1,000,000 hours, which is more than 100 years (I wonder how they get this number?).

So now I have a backup of all of my documents on a small secure flash drive. Any downsides? A couple:
- Writing your files to the flash drive is a little slow.
- The Voyager is a bit thicker than some other drives. When plugged into one of the front USB ports on my computer the Voyager blocked the neighboring ports.

The retail price is $249.95. For more information go to Corsair Voyager.

Do you back up your computer on a regular basis? Would it help you if you could have all of your documents with you?

Picture Placer - Picture Hanging Made Easy

Have you ever ended up with multiple holes in your wall when you try to hang a picture? Or when trying to hang two or more pictures in a row, they ended up not being aligned - the top of the frames were just a bit off. The Picture Placer is a simple tool that takes the guess work out of where to place the nail or hook.

]]> Picture Placer has two pieces:
- a part that goes over the top of the picture frame and
- an arm that has a notch for the frame wire. The arm slides into the first part.

Put the first part on the top of the frame and then hook the frame wire in the notch and slide the arm into the first part. Slide the arm up until the frame wire is taunt. Now position the picture on the wall and gently press. There is a point on the Picture Placer arm that puts a small dent in the wall where you should put your nail or if you are using hooks, the dent is where the bottom of the hook should be.

Simple, easy to use and only $7.99. For more information go to Picture Placer and watch the video.

Do you have tried this product? Or do you have any tips on picture hanging?

Power Outlets and Wall Warts

Wall Wart = the power supply that plugs directly in the wall outlet. Often used for cell phone chargers, external computer drives, digital camera chargers, electric razors and other consumer electronics.

]]> Do you ever a problem with plugging in another wall wart or power plug because a wall wart is blocking the outlet? I know that this is not going to go down as one of the world's great issues, but I recently came across a few clever products that help solve this problem.

The first one is from 360 Electrical. Its a replacement for a standard wall electrical outlet, but each of the sockets can rotate 360 degrees. If a wall wart is blocking the other outlet, rotate the wart to expose the second outlet. Available in white, ivory, almond and black - $10.00.

The next product is a power strip where some of the outlets are on swivels. The Tributaries T12 has surge suppression and noise filtering. 8 of the 12 outlets on the T12 can swivel 90 degrees. Rotating an outlet or two allows you to stagger the wall warts - $120.

The third is the PowerSquid, they have several products - some include surge suppression, some don't. All have a cord and a plug for the wall outlet and either 5 or 6 short lengths of cable (tenticles) with outlets. From $18 to $60.

I have been using a Power Sentry power strip. It is four feet long and has 12 outlets, each outlet is a about 3 and 1/2 inches apart, plenty of room to for the warts. I put this under my desk, it works well for my situation. $50.

Have you ever had a problem finding an open outlet because of a wall wart? Have you tried any of these products?

Oh, and speaking of things electrical, there's a pretty cool prize in HGTVPro's Product of the Day Sweepstakes. During Rugged Month (i.e., March), you could win a Panasonic Toughbook (among other things).

Magic Jack - Local and Long Distance Calling for $20 a Year

Recently I received a Magic Jack sample. It is a small - about 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches by .75 inch - box with a USB port on one end and a telephone jack on the other. Simply plug the USB into your computer, download a small software application from Magic Jack, plug an ordinary phone into the Magic Jack and start making calls.

]]> I was making calls within a couple of minutes. The calls were clear, at least equal to the Vonage service that I normally use. I did have a problem with one call, I was downloading a large document, during the download the call broke up a little, but returned to normal when the download was complete.

The Magic Jack features:
- three way calling
- caller ID
- call waiting
- call forwarding
- 911
- voice mail

The Magic Jack currently works with Microsoft Windows XP and Vista based computers, I tried it on a computer that has Vista Home Premium. There is a beta download for Macs but you have to download the update on a Windows based computer.

A few points to consider:
- your computer must be on to make or receive a call, but if your computer is turned off incoming calls can be forwarded or go to voice mail.
- you can not make calls to land lines and cell phones anywhere besides the US and Canada, but you can call anyone in the world if they are also using a Magic Jack (Magic Jack has announced that an international calling program is coming soon).
- It does not work with dial-up or satellite internet connections, you need to have cable or DSL broadband service.
- Magic Jack does not supports its use for faxing. According to Magic Jack's web site, it works 'sometimes'. I did not test the Magic Jacks faxing capabilities.
- There is an extensive list of area codes available, but not my local area code - Knoxville, Tennessee (865). The closest area code available was Nashville (615).
- You cannot port or transfer your current phone number. After picking an area code you will be assigned a new number. Magic Jack is planning on offering this feature soon.

The cost for the Magic Jack and one year of service is $39.95, service each year after the first is $19.95.

For more information go to Magic Jack.
What do you think? Have you tried it? There are some limitations, but $20 a year for local and long distance is a bargain.

Pulse~Link's HDTV over Coax

A couple of weeks ago I was in Las Vegas attending the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. Its a big show, about 130K attendees looking at products in almost 2 million square feet of exhibits. I was there for all four days of the show.

]]> At the show I found TVs that were bigger, smaller portable electronics, but nothing really stuck out as a 'wow' new product. The thin LCD TVs from Hitachi and Samsung (both about 1.5 inches deep) were interesting, but more of a product refinement than a breakthrough.

I did take a look at a technology that might develop into a wow product - Pulse~Link's HDMI over coaxial cable chipset. This chipset will allow manufacturers to make products that can send an HDTV signal over the existing coax cable in a home. This could be great for retrofits. Get an HD source from one part of the house to a television in another using the coax cable that is already in the walls. One of the first products using Pulse~Link's technology will be from Gefen. And the Gefen product will feature the ability to send a IR remote control signal back to the source, so you can change the channels on your HD cable or satellite or control your Blu Ray or HD DVD player.

According to Gefen, their HDMI over coax solution is scheduled to ship this April, price has not yet been determined. I will keep you updated when more information becomes available.

Will this type of high definition over coax product be a problem solver or of interest to you?

One Computer - Two Monitors

Last fall I got a new computer for my office. It is a nice Dell, nothing too extravagant, but the graphics card does support two monitors. Several weeks ago I bought a second monitor, I now have two Westinghouse Digital 22" widescreen monitors. Both are mounted on my office wall, so they don't use any space on my desk. I used OmniMount 75/100 CL cantilever wall brackets, I can tilt and swivel the monitors or pull one monitor closer to me.

]]> So far I really like it. Before I installed the second monitor I was constantly:
- minimizing - maximizing windows,
- shuffling between tabs.
Now I can easily:
- drag a document or browser from one monitor to another,
- compare two versions of the same document,
- copy and paste a reference or quote from one screen to an article on the other,
- have a customer's contract open on one screen while composing an email to that client,
- or, keep up with sports scores while checking email.

A Microsoft study claims productivity increases of 9 to 50%. I don't know if I am working more efficiently but many tasks do seem to be easier.

Having two, or more, monitors is nothing new. Check out this link, this is a friends set up from 2004. You could enjoy the benefits of multiple monitors by getting one large monitor, but really large monitors are still fairly expensive. I got my second 22" LCD monitor from Target.com the day before Thanksgiving for about $170.00.

Are you constantly minimizing - maximizing windows or shuffling between tabs? Have you tried or thought about trying multiple monitors?

Top Tech Toys for Christmas

Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) did a web poll on what the technology products were topping peoples wish lists. The results are

]]> 1. HDTV - 15.2 percent
2. Sony PlayStation 3 - 13.7 percent
3. Nintendo Wii - 10.8 Percent
4. Xbox 360 - 10.2 percent
5. Personal computers - 9.8 percent
6. Digital camcorders - 5.6 percent
7. Digital cameras - 4.9 percent
8. Mobile phones - 4.5 percent
9. Blu-ray DVD players - 3.5 percent
10. HD DVD players - 2.9 percent

For the complete article, check out CompTIA.

I would have thought that cell phones would have been higher on the list, and I am a little surprised that GPS Navigation systems didn't make the top 10.

Topping my wishlist is a new digital camera, but the models that I am considering are a bit on the expensive side. The only way that one will end up under my tree is if I buy it.

Whats on your list and why?