The Cheap Geek column now features cut-and-paste plus a search bar. What's the problem? I just got around to it. Look, I've been busy.
1. Father's Day is coming up soon. If you really, really love your dad, here's what you should do. Buy the Sharp Aquos LC42E77U 52-inch LCD HDTV from Sixth Avenue Electronics. Use coupon code "AFL5" to get it for $1,350.90 with free shipping. This gorgeous screen offers full HD 1080p (1920x1080) resolution, high brightness, and wide viewing angles. Then, when it's all set up, invite your dad over to watch a game on it. Or just tell him about it on the phone. There's no reason to have him over; you know how he scares the kids.
2. Radio is a continuing problem. Local station are full of commercials and have super-small playlists. Satellite radio is nickel-and-diming its customers for things like online streaming, which used to be free. The only option is Internet radio, which is free if you already have WiFi in your home. To get a world of radio stations in any room, get the Aluratek Wireless Internet Radio, which Buy.com now has for $79.99 with free shipping. This is the Home Theater Edition, so it needs to connect to a home theater or a set of external speakers.
3. I thought the days of roof antennas were over, but maybe not. Some homes don't get digital TV signals well, so the best solution is to install a powerful roof antenna. Buy.com has the Winegard HD-1080 HD antenna for $31.99 with free shipping. If you don't have cable or satellite, and rely on over-air signals, it's a smart way to go.
Almost a week after the DTV transition, about 2.5 million U.S. households, or 2.2 percent of the TV public, are without TV service, according to data from Nielsen.
These numbers are an improvement of 300,000 households since Nielsen last collected DTV numbers on June 7. At that point about 2.5 percent of the U.S. was totally unready for the switch from analog to digital signals.
The Albuquerque-Santa Fe TV markets have the largest percentage of unprepared households at 6.85 percent. In terms of actual unprepared households, Los Angeles tops the list with 225,040 homes without service, which is 3.98 percent of its residents.
Nielsen broke out its data by race and found that African Americans are most likely to be unready, at 4.6 percent. About 3.6 percent of Hispanics did not prepare, followed by 3.2 percent of Asians, and 1.6 percent of whites.
Though many people joked on June 12 that their grandparents would not be able to watch TV now, only about 1.1 percent of people over 55 are unprepared. In fact, about 4.4 percent of people under 35 are still not ready. Those numbers are an improvement of about 2 percentage points since June 7 for both groups.
Motorola today announced a new noise-canceling Bluetooth headset that uses "true bone conduction technology" to transmit voices from extremely noisy environments. By using the word "bone," of course, Moto not only makes teenage boys around the world giggle, but directly positions themselves against the Aliph Jawbone Prime headset.
The new Endeavor HX01 headset uses Motorola's CrystalTalk voice system in most situations; that software has worked well on their existing H15 headset. But the HX1's new "stealth mode" transmits your "vocal vibrations," supposedly totally cutting off outside noise - though, I'm sure, at the expense of voice quality. The Jawbone Prime doesn't actually use bone conduction in the same way; rather, it uses a bone-conducting sensor to tell when you're talking. It'll be interesting to see how well the Endeavor's approach works.
The HX1 will be available starting in July. Motorola didn't announce a price.
T-Mobile today rolled out a new Windows Mobile smart phone and a Google Android teaser. The T-Mobile Dash 3G is a T-Mobilized version of the HTC Snap, a non-touchscreen Windows Mobile phone which replaces the successful Dash in T-Mobile's lineup. The Dash was sort of a BlackBerry-without-BlackBerry, an inexpensive smart phone focused on messaging that leveraged Microsoft's decent text messaging client and terrific Exchange e-mail support. The Dash 3G is the same, but better-looking and 3G.
T-Mobile says the Dash 3G will be available in July; they didn't announce a price.
As for that teaser, T-Mobile says they'll tell us about their next Google Android phone next week. We're pretty sure it's the Google Ion, aka the HTC Magic, which our editor Mark Hachman got some quality time with recently. You can check out his hands-on here on Gearlog.
Verizon on Wednesday updated a lawsuit it filed in March to accuse more companies of making illegal telemarketing calls regarding car warranties. OnStar also joined Verizon in the suit, which now targets nine companies in total.
OnStar provides vehicle-based consumer assistance. Users received more than 400,000 telemarketing calls earlier this year, most of which were automatically answered by OnStar's equipment. Since OnStar handles emergency calls, all calls must be answered, so the influx of calls affected the system, Verizon said.
"These telemarketers continue to prey on our customers using illegal methods to reach them on their wireless phones," Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel at Verizon Wireless, said in a statement. "This litigation is aimed not just at the telemarketers, but also at those who enable their unlawful conduct with technological assistance. We will not rest until they stop invading our customers' privacy."
Since January 2008, more than 2 million Verizon Wireless customers have received calls from numbers starting with 281, 614, 801, and 562 area codes.
Those who answer their phones hear a pre-recorded voice that tells them their car warranties are about to expire, and requests that they press 1 for more information. They are then directed to an operator who asks them for the make and model of the car, but if callers ask questions, the call is disconnected.
In February, St. Louis-based National Auto Warranty Services and Florida-based Explicit Media, doing business as Voice Solutions, were forced to pay a $50,000 fine for making these telemarketing calls to Verizon customers. Verizon donated the funds to actress Mariska Hargitay's Joyful Heart Foundation.
AT&T may love its exclusive agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone, but it may not be long for this world. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), along with senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), have asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether "exclusivity agreements unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely impact competition in the commercial wireless marketplace," according to MediaPost.
Kerry has also written a blog post entitled "Who Really Owns Your iPhone?" that argues these contracts limit consumers' ability to use the newest phones--something we have been saying for ages and ages.
"Today, we've got a wireless marketplace where four companies account for more than 85 percent of all subscribers. These large carriers strike deals with the companies creating the newest and most innovative phones, leaving smaller regional wireless carriers without access to the latest technologies to attract consumers," he wrote. No word yet on a response from AT&T or Apple.
Sirius XM Radio has announced that its service is now standard on 2010 Toyota Camry vehicles with the premium audio option. The service will continue to be available as a dealer-installed option on Camrys with standard audio.
In addition, Toyota plans to launch XM satellite radio as a factory option on other 2009 Toyotas, leading the two companies to predict that over one million Toyotas with XM satellite radio will be prowling the roads of America by the end of this year.
XM also announced that its NavTraffic service, which offers up-to-the-minute traffic updates for 80 major cities, will be standard on all Camrys with the navigation system option. That adds the Camry to the Corolla, Matrix, and Venza, along with the Lexus LS 460 and LS 600h L, the LX 570, the 2010 RX 350, and the upcoming RX 450h, as all having NavTraffic capability.
All XM-equipped Toyota and Lexus cars come with a minimum of three-month trial subscriptions; after that, a paid subscription is required to continue using the service--which remains the biggest obstacle to satellite radio option to date, given the plethora of HD radio and streaming Internet radio options that are beginning to hit the car scene in earnest.
Not too jazzed about the prospect of paying up to $500 to upgrade your iPhone 3G to an iPhone 3G S? AT&T; has apparently heard your complaints and announced an accelerated upgrade schedule Wednesday for customers who want the new device.
Customers who will be upgrade eligible in July, August, or September 2009 will now qualify starting Friday, June 19, AT&T; said.
In general, AT&T; provides special upgrade options to customers who pay more than $99 a month for service plans and have completed between 12 and 18 months of their two-year contracts.
Given that the iPhone 3G was only released 11 months ago, very few people currently qualify for an upgrade and would have to pay $399 for a 16GB iPhone 3G S and $499 for the 32GB device.
"We've been listening to our customers. And since many of our iPhone 3G customers are early adopters and literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible due to iPhone 3G S launching 11 months after iPhone 3G, we're extending the window of upgrade eligibility for a limited time," AT&T; said in a statement.
Under this promotion, people who pay more than $99 a month and are set to become eligible in the next few months will be able to buy the 16 GB iPhone 3G S for $199 and the 32GB for $299.
Power users running low on desktop space now have some breathing room with the introduction of AVADirect.com and GTR Tech's small form factor GT3 case. Despite its smaller size, the case uses the full ATX form factor, ensuring compatibility with a majority of motherboards and components. The case will take up only 25% of the footprint of mid-tower computer cases and will be substantially easier to transport, AVADirect.com said. In addition, the company will be selling full systems based on the new case, as well as the case itself, on their website.
Though the GT3 might be the first full ATX case in a small form factor, Falcon Northwest also offers a small, turbo-charged gaming PC running in a microATX case. Those looking for the smallest case regardless of price would do well to take a look at Falcon's offering, but if you just want something smaller than you're used to without sacrificing compatibility, the GT3 might be the best choice. For gamers looking for a little bit more space and portability, the GT3 is available for your next LAN party for $179.20 (chassis only).
If Apple kills the Palm Pre's iTunes syncing, then Pre users may have to find another way to download their music. Last night, Apple put out a thinly veiled 'support note' suggesting they'll try to break the Pre's syncing system in future versions of iTunes. Palm today declined to commit to a cat-and-mouse game of competing updates.
"If Apple chooses to disable Media Sync in a future version of iTunes, we just think it will be a direct blow to their own users," Palm spokeswoman Lynn Fox said. "We just think it would be unfortunate if they were to choose to do that."
Pre users would be able to keep the current version of iTunes, which works with the Pre, transfer music to their phones by dragging and dropping, use Windows Media Player to sync, or "we can look into other options as well," Fox said.
Other options already available include the third-party Missing Sync product, which syncs music and videos from iTunes without using Palm's own workaround.
The review embargo for the iPhone 3G S broke today, and all the journalists who have been holding on to their devices since last week can finally post their opinions. This year, Apple gave a relatively broad range of publications early access to the new phone; we've found a whole lot of reviews from three countries so far. We'll add to this post as we find more.
The general consensus is that the 3G S has some useful new features, but that it's not a blockbuster upgrade. The new phone is faster and has better battery life than the 3G. The improved camera and video editing capabilities are a big deal, and voice commands work well. But the phone loses points for still not supporting multitasking. Frustratingly, only CNET's Kent German seems to discuss the iPhone's phone performance and reception, which has always been one of its weak spots. He's not impressed with the phone's call quality.
We don't have our 3G S yet - we're getting ours along with the rest of you, on Friday. We'll have our independent view early next week.
Would you let this man direct you from Point A to Point B?
Homer Simpson is the latest "celebrity" voice to join the TomTom GPS voice lineup, the GPS maker announced on Tuesday. Users can visit the TomTom site and download the voice for $12.95, or €9.95 in Europe.
As you might expect, the voice of Homer (actually voiced by Dan Castellaneta) provides some occasional commentary, such as: "Take the third right." "We might find an ice cream truck! Mmm...ice cream."
TomTom already offers seventy official voices for its navigation devices, although user-based uploads can add more.
"Celebrity voice downloads are one of the many features TomTom offers to our customers to personalize their driving experience," said Jocelyn Vigreux, president of TomTom, in a statement. "With Homer Simpson's voice helping them to navigate their trip, TomTom customers will not only travel safely and with less stress, but will also be highly entertained along the way."
The voice was licensed by Locutio Voice Technologies and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising (Fox Licensing).
Here's a little something to read while you wait for your iPhone software download to begin.
1. If you like this deal you better hurry, because it only lasts till the end of the day. DealsClick is selling refurbished Microsoft Xbox 360 systems for $124.99 with $4.99 shipping. That's the lowest price I've seen. The Xbox has a 20GB hard drive, and this offer comes with a 90-day warranty, so you don't need to worry about buying a refurbished product. You'll also get a wireless controller and a headset. The ticking countdown clock on the site is hypnotic. Feel the pressure, console gamers: this won't last for long.
2. Now something for the PC gamers: Beach Camera is selling the Logitech G9 Laser Mouse for $54 (with free shipping), but a $30 mail-in rebate brings the actual cost down to $24.00. That's a great deal for a mouse this customizable. Change the grip and the weight to fit your gaming style. You can even use the onboard memory to create five user profiles.
3. Computers never have enough USB ports, but this deal from Buy.com can help. Get a Cables to Go 7 Port USB hub for $29.99 with free shipping. But wait, if you pay with PayPal you get a $10 instant rebate, bringing the price down to $19.99. Now that's a deal. These are all USB 2.0 ports, so you'll get the fastest connection possible.
What do gaming icons Richard Bartle and Ralph H. Baer have in common? They are meeting at the Games Convention Online in Leipzig to usher in the first trade show of its kind.
In case you didn't already know, Richard Bartle is the co-author of the text-based multi-user dungeons (MUD) and one of the pioneers of the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) industry. Ralph H Baer, on the other hand, helped bring gaming to the home with the Magnavox Odyssey console. He also created the first light gun game for the home.
The Games Convention Online will bring these two minds together and show audiences how far gaming has come. They will be there from July 31st to August 2nd and will have an open exhibition "From Pong to Ping: The History of Online Games" that will tell the story of gaming in four epochs.
The race to release new Android handsets has been a slow crawl, indeed. The deluge of new phone utilizing Google's open-source operating system has yet to surface in any way, beyond the multitude of promises from a number of phone and netbook manufacturers. T-Mobile, however, is reportedly working on its own follow up to the first--and still only--Android handset in the States, the G1.
According to The Wall Street Journal, more details about the handset--set to be called the myTouch 3G--will surface next week. Like its predecessor, the new phone will be designed by hardware manufacturer, HTC. The myTouch 3G will reportedly look a lot like the HTC Magic--with a touchscreen and no physical keyboard and a smaller body than the iPhone.
The phone's software will also feature some update, including a voice-activated search function. More details next week--probably.
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