Bob Gatton's Tech Talk

Recycling, Selling or Donating Your Old Electronics

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:02:22 -0500

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.)

Game Over - Blu-Ray wins vs. HD-DVD

Mon, 05 May 2008 10:46:26 -0500

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.

Shift to Smaller TVs?

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:04:17 -0500

"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.

Organizing Cables - Monster Cable-It

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:54:40 -0500

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.

Unlimited Cell Phone Use for $99 per Month

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:18:50 -0500

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+.

Making Good Sound Taste Better - Food and Music

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:42:37 -0500

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.

Lutron Energy Saving Calculator

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:06:08 -0500

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.

Wall Mounted Remote Control from Universal

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:00:58 -0500

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.

Back Up Your Computer - Corsair 32 GB Flash Drive

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:56:11 -0500

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.

Picture Placer - Picture Hanging Made Easy

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:17:11 -0500

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.

Power Outlets and Wall Warts

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:09:37 -0500

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.

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

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:28:05 -0500

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.

Pulse~Link's HDTV over Coax

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:38:04 -0500

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.

One Computer - Two Monitors

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:06:12 -0500

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.

Top Tech Toys for Christmas

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:54:07 -0500

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