The Thrifty Techie

Shopping for smarties.

2009-05-29T23:23:00.002-04:00

Here are some tools to shop for deals on electronics from Cnet's webware:

12 online tools for price-conscious shoppers.

Recycling your old stuff

2009-02-24T22:20:00.001-05:00

Recycle old electronics, AC adapters, etc. at any Best Buy nationwide.

Preach On!

2009-01-18T15:33:00.002-05:00

Here's a sermon...errr....article from the Wall Street Journal which is timely given these troubled time's: Cutting Monthly Bills? Turn To The Web.

Gadgets: Recession Proof

2009-01-10T23:36:00.002-05:00

David Pogue's latest article Many Ways to Plug In to Tech Savings begins states:You might think of high-tech gadgetry as something that drains your bank account — but it can save you money, too. A lot of it.

Amen. Pull back on discretionary spending by all means, but don't pull back on capital expenditures which will yield a return on your investment.

Less is More

2008-11-08T20:35:00.003-05:00

Five gadgets you can get rid of now because they're obsolete.

Printer, Scanner, landline phone, fax machine, optical drives.

Cheapskate

2008-07-10T20:20:00.003-04:00

The cheapskate blog from cnet could otherwise be called dealz, dealz, dealz!

Rick Broida scours the web for cheap gadgets. Just remember: the cheapest isn't always the best value.

Conserve, Conserve, Conserve.

2008-06-30T22:48:00.002-04:00

Drilling for more oil today will yield zero oil, but changing our behavior in simple ways can easily yield a savings of ~1 million barrels/day. Painlessly. Ultimately the adoption of more efficient vehicles in the form of smaller vehicles, hybrid vehicles, diesel vehicles and electric vehicles will allow us to decrease oil consumption while still growing the economy. As always, technology is the tool. We just have to have the will to use it.

Patience is a virtue...

2008-06-09T21:29:00.006-04:00

The new iPhone now features:

- 3G (fast) data connection.

- built-in GPS

- enterprise-grade support (e.g. Microsoft exchange)

- available in 70 countries

- starts at $199

Why don't you own a video camera?

2008-06-05T20:16:00.006-04:00

Often times we look at techies and shake our heads because we can't understand why they have that latest gadget. What does it do that's useful, really? It costs how much?!!!!

But sometimes the techies are on to something. The early adopters of digital cameras, for example were right on. Today, there is almost no reason whatsoever to use a film camera . Quality, cost, convenience, compactness... Eight years ago, digital cameras were an expensive novelty, but today, one would be pretty much a fool to not own a digital camera.

Today, I would argue that the same could be said for owning a camcorder, or more accurately, a video camera. If you weren't paying attention, until recently, video recorders were the size and heft of a hard-covered book and could cost close to $1,000. Now, a video camera that can give you passable video quality delivered straight to your computer (no more tapes! no more tapes!) is closer to the size and heft of a deck of cards and costs less than $150(!). If you have kids, or have some other event that you'd like to save to video, you'd be hard pressed to find a reason not to buy a video recorder.

Sure a high-end video-camera can still cost uite a bit, but low-cost video recorders such as the Flip which are good enuff for friends and family are the ultimate option. Why don't you own a video camera? They're too big and clunky. Not anymore. They're hard to use because there are too many wires, tapes and stuff to handle. Not anymore. They're too expensive. Not anymore. If you're dead broke, charge $150 on a credit card and pay it off over 10 years. The video you get in return should be well worth it.

Review of the Flip in the NY Times.

Cheap video camera showdown in Gizmodo.

Save the planet, save some money

2008-06-05T19:03:00.002-04:00

One myth out there is that environmental responsibility takes a financial sacrifice.

I would propose, that more often than not, environmental responsibility either requires no financial sacrifice, or yields financial gain.

The "greenest" cars aren't hybrids...

2008-05-25T08:56:00.005-04:00

...they are used cars. Read about it here.

Tax preparation: CPA or CPU?

2008-04-03T13:36:00.002-04:00

There have been a number of comparos in the press lately. Should one use a human accountant, TurboTax or a service such as HR Block?
First off, it should be obvious that the answer depends on your employment/job situation. If You're self-employed, business owner, freelancer, contractor, etc, you most likely would benefit financially and perhaps professionally by using a trusted CPA.
But if you have a "regular" job where you get a salary and your real estate consists of only your own home TurboTax should definitely be the first option. There is no math involved. The hardest part of the whole process is getting your records organized, which is something you would have to do for an accountant or H&R BLOCK anyways. Then all you have to do is follow the instructions and basically type in data from your various tax forms and receipts. The only drawback is that as you go through the step-by-step process, you'll probably find that a lot of the questions don't apply to you so there's a lot of pushing the NEXT button.
Benefits:
- TurboTax is 100% online. If you get tired of working on your taxes, you can log out and pick up where you left off.
- Federal and State taxes are filed for you electronically when you're done. (If for some reason you want to print out the forms and mail them, you can do that too.)
- Your records are stored online and you can save and/or print copies of the forms at will.
- When you use TurboTax for the SECOND time, huge time savings are realized because data entry is reduced (address, SSN, tax staus, etc are all saved from the previous years' session).

New York magazine and Gizmodo (below) have CPA vs. Turbo Tax showdowns while Cnet has a generally favorable (8/10) review for Turbo Tax
New York Magazine
Cnet
Gizmodo

Hulu: It's not ready for prime time.

2008-03-27T11:17:00.004-04:00

There's been some hype about the new video site Hulu. It's exciting because like YouTube, all the videos are searchable and FREE. Unlike YouTube, the content is from the major TV networks and major movie studios. The concept is tantalizing: This FREE service could potentially usurp cable and Netflix. But alas, it's not quite there yet. The graph above summarizes Hulu's shortcomings, despite the fact that (or maybe because it is?) FREE.

This isn't a full review, but in summary Hulu:
- offers FREE movies and TV shows to view on a computer
- links to other sites that do have the video you're looking for even if Hulu doesn't have it.
(e.g., searching for 'LOST' and 'One Tree Hill' gives you links to the ABC and CW sites, respectively.)

- The video quality is sub-DVD resolution and does not look good connected to an HDTV
- searching for 'Iron Chef' returns links to 'Top Chef'.
- searching for the Russell Crowe classic 'The Gladiator' leads to about 8 links to the not-exactly-classic 'American Gladiators'
- searching for 'The Titanic' leads to 'Wildboyz: Thailand 2'

In short, searching for stuff on Hulu is hit or miss...or miss completely.
To those using Hulu now, I say: Good Luck!

Haggling: for the Best Buy

2008-03-22T22:40:00.002-04:00

Who knew? Everyone knows that the sticker price on cars is strictly for suckers. But how about the price tags at your local electronics retailer and your local big-box retailer?
At Megastores, Hagglers Find No Price Set in Stone-The New York Times

Flash-based hard drives: Like Ryan Leaf.

2008-03-17T22:21:00.004-04:00

Jeesh. Flash-based hard drives a.k.a., SSD (solid state drives), are like the Ryan Leaf of computer tech. Flash-based drives showed so much promise, yet has delivered nothing so far for notebook computing. They are expensive (~$900 for an SSD upgrade on a notebook computer) and unreliable.

In theory, SSD's have many advantages over conventional hard drives:
- energy efficiency (due to lack of moving parts)
- silent operation
- compact size
- fast

So far, the potential benefits have yet to be realized. Performance gains have been minimal and in some cases are actually WORSE than standard hard drives. Compact size has been a non-factor so far since they're usually used inside of standard notebook casings. Energy efficiency gains have also been minimal.

Now, adding insult to injury, a recent analysis shows that "a large computer manufacturer" is getting around 20 percent to 30 percent of the flash-based notebooks it is shipping sent back because of failure rates and performance that simply isn't meeting customer expectations.

About 10% of the SSD notebooks are defective (compared with only 1% of standard hard drive-based notebooks). Another 10% or so are reporting performance issues with basic functions such as video streaming.

Of course we're just in the beginning of phasing in SSD drives, but here's to hoping that you don't make the mistake of buying an SSD-based computer. Here's also to hoping that I'll be writing about SSD's being like Eli Manning in the near-future...

Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD: Much ado about nothing.

2008-01-07T20:04:00.000-05:00

Most people bring in the new year with a positive salutation like "Happy New Year!". Well, no one told Warner Brothers, because the first thing they said to the HD DVD consortium was "$%&# off!"

Indeed, the top tech news as the CES 2008 gets underway is the most recent development in the Hi Def "format wars": Warner Bros/New Line drops HD DVD like Microsoft dropped Plays For Sure.

Ostensibly, this is a major development in what is ostensibly a major format war because it tips the balance of content to Blu-Ray's favor. Columbia, Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, Miramax, Warner Bros., New Line, and Sony are all committed to releasing movies on Blu-Ray while only DreamWorks, Paramount, Universal, and the Weinstein Company remain committed to HD DVD.

So which type of player should the consumer buy? The answer is obvious: Neither. Am I saying this because of the price? Blu-ray and HD DVD players are down to $199...surely not too much for even the thrifty, right? The price is fine, but the utility isn't.

First of all, if you're one of the majority of people without an HDTV, don't even bother. Your $30 DVD player will deliver a picture every bit as good. Even if you do have an HDTV, chances are pretty good that you have a 720p set. In that case, an upconverting standard DVD player will get you a picture so close to HD that you may not be able to tell the difference. Says who? Says Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Also, for HDTVs 32" or less, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between standard DVD and HD DVD or Blu-Ray.

So that leaves Blu-Ray and HD DVD useful for those with 40"+ 1080p HDTVs, right? Well, kinda. As mentioned earlier, if you own an HD DVD player, you're just praying you'll be able to see any movie given the lack of studio support. The selection for Blu-Ray isn't much better: There are about 400 titles available in Blu Ray compared to about 90,000 standard DVD titles. In other words, Blu-Ray and HD DVD display awesome resolution, crystal clear 1080p resolution pictures for a few movies/TV shows, but for 99.96% of the content out there, Blu-Ray and HD DVD players don't do a damn thing.

Bottom line, a few things have to happen before this "format war" comes to a conclusion:
1) The movie and TV studios have to get behind either Blu-Ray or HDTV or both formats must be universally supported. Otherwise the consumer is left in the lurch and neither type of format is useful at all.
2) 40" HDTVs must become common place. Before that happens, neither Blu-Ray nor HD DVD offers any appreciable benefit.
3) HD DVD and/or Blu-Ray players must drop to below $100 in price.

It is easy to see how the above three conditions may not be met for one or two years. So it is entirely conceivable that the consumer will choose neither Blu-Ray or HD DVD. In one or two years, there's a high probablity that digital delivery of movies via on-demand and internet downloads will become the choice for viewing movies at home. Netflix and LGare teaming up to offer movie streaming service and an expanded movie rental and download service is expected from Apple within weeks.

So basically, if the question is Blu-Ray or HD DVD? The answer is: Who cares?

2008: Year of the LCD HDTV

2007-12-23T09:22:00.000-05:00

My headline is certainly more accurate than this article in PC World.
In the above article, dated Jan. 2006, a Samsung rep brags that price of 40" LCD TVs dropped to "only" $3000; the insinuation being "go buy one now!".

Well, if you did, you were one of the lucky few...who had to prep their homes for "Cribs MTV", that is. Now nearly two years later, a brand-name 40" LCD HDTV can easily be had for $1300 (a 56% price drop). Admittedly, that's a long time to wait for prices to drop, so perhaps even more remarkably, the prices of name-brand 32" LCD HDTVs (720p) have dropped more than 20% in the past two months! Before Thanksgiving, Sony, Sharp, Philips and Samsung 32" LCD TVs were going for ~$900; anything under $850 would have been a steal. Now every mainstream retailer from Amazon to Circuit City to Best Buy has name-brand 32" LCD TV's for less than $750 and deals can be found for sub $700 units. If picture quality isn't critical for you, 32" off-brand (Westinghouse, Insignia, Olevia, etc.) sub-$600 prices are easy to find. Off-brand 19" and 26" HDTVs can be had for less than $400...matching the prices of CRT (tube) TVs from just a few years ago...

The widespread adoption of LCD TV's in the U.S. is now imminent. Up until recently, the 40"+ sized TVs were the big sellers...early adopters had money to burn and they didn't want "small" screens. But 2008 will be the year of the meat-and-potatoes buyer: those people that have an eight-year-old CRT (20"-30") TV in their living rooms and simply want an upgrade and don't want to empty their savings accounts. By next Christmas, that promises to be a given and average consumers should be happily carting away 32" HDTVs for $400.

I love the Kindle*

2007-12-21T20:50:00.000-05:00

* If that seems like a strange sentiment from a thrifty techie, that's because it's not my sentiment. JL was kind enough to blow $400 of his own hard-earned cash and waste enough of his own precious time to provide the following review. Note that the following in no way represents the opinion or viewpoints or thrifty sensibilities of this blog.
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I love the Kindle. I'm an avid reader, and the fact that I can download a book as soon as I hear about it is pretty sweet. The price is pretty steep at $400, and could be a deal breaker for those on a budget or for anyone who has somebody in his or her life who nags over finances. However, as a single dude with disposable income, I don't really care. In fact, I ordered the Kindle as soon as it showed up on Amazon's website, before I had even done a shred of research.

Perhaps the most endearing feature of the Kindle is its standalone nature. Unlike my iphone, ipods, PDAs, and just about every other personal electronic device I've ever owned, I'll probably never, ever synch my Kindle to my computer. It comes with a USB connector for downloading audiobooks (seriously though, who the fuck listens to audiobooks?) and other miscellaneous media, but I don't intent to use it. I'm sure people will be hacking this thing in order to make it do all sorts of crazy stuff, but as an e-book reader, it's a standalone device, which I think is awesome. Thanks to its long battery life, I keep my Kindle in my backpack, and pull it out to read when I feel like it. It may seem insignificant, but the fact that I can treat my Kindle exactly like my paperback copy of Fight Club is priceless.

Amazon's in-device Kindle store is very good, and much like the main website, it compiles your previous online book purchases in order to make recommendations for you. The store features the usual search features that you would expect, and you can read book samples and reviews before purchasing a title. No surprises there. After you click buy, it takes about a minute or so for the book to download straight to the device. Think of it as itunes for print media, which I think is exactly what Amazon is aiming to create. Connectivity is through Sprint's wireless network, so coverage area and download speeds have been great. In order to conserve battery power, I only enable wireless connectivity when I want to browse the store or purchase something.

The interface isn't as intuitive as the iphone's, but it's still simple enough. It feels pretty good in your hands, although I have accidentally pushed buttons and turned the page on occasion. The QWERTY keypad is pretty easy to use, but the keys are skewed in a weird semi-swirl pattern for some inexplicable reason, which contributes to the Kindle’s already strange aesthetic. There's a small rollerwheel above the keypad that's used for selecting and clicking menu items. As far as the display, it actually does look pretty much like paper. The e-ink technology is pretty damn impressive, and I don’t strain my eyes after reading for hours. I would have loved a touch screen, but maybe I'm just spoiled by my iphone. And speaking of iphones…

In response to all of the negative reviews that the Kindle has received (mostly from people who have never even seen one in person, no less), I have this to say. This thing is not an iphone. It's not a blackberry. It's not a PDA. It's a fucking BOOK! And as a fucking book, it functions nearly flawlessly. I would rather stab my eyes out with wasabi-covered chopsticks than read an ebook on the tiny screen of my iphone. And I will never want to carry a Kindle-sized device around with me all day for use as a phone and PDA. For all those retards who say "I can't fit the Kindle in my Pocket! It's worthless!", I say "Fuck you, Dragonmaster! You're a freak who's never been laid, and that's because you carry a paperback fantasy novel in the back pocket of your size 47 stone-washed jeans!"

There are also people who fear that Amazon is trying to destroy our way of life (I'm not exaggerating here) by replacing bound books with electronic gadgetry of the devil. But if you think about it, the transition from paper books to portable electronic books is a relatively painless one. This is akin to the transition from the walkman/discman era to the ipod era. It’s replacing one device with another device of similar size and shape that serves the same purpose, only with more data than before. This is less revolutionary than the introduction of the walkman itself (which ushered in the era of portable music), yet more revolutionary than the advent of ebooks (because no one wants to read Atlas Shrugged on a fucking computer screen). It’s simply a logical progression in media technology, much like the progression from CDs to digital music downloads. Paper books will probably always exist, albeit in smaller numbers. So to all of the old fogies out there, Amazon isn’t trying to destroy your way of life. But things do change. Get over it.

R.I.P. CDs

2007-11-12T15:58:00.001-05:00

CDs and DVDs are useless. At least as it pertains to computing. It’s one of those things that is self-evident, but not entirely obvious...yet. After all, every desktop and notebook computer sold today has an optical drive built in. I believe that 2008 will be the year where that will begin to change.
The other day I was in an older colleague’s home office and was amused to see a stack of 3.5” floppy disks. These disks have the capacity to store one digital photograph and no capacity to store an mp3 file. How quaint.
Upon my return home, I saw a stack of CD-Rs and CDs on my desk. How quaint.
The fact is that CD/DVD drive in my notebook is dispensable. The only things I have used the drive for lately are: ripping CDs and installing software. Now with music and movies and software available for download, the need for an optical drive in computers is questionable. I used to burn CDs, but that was when burning CDs was an economical way to store and transfer data. Now that 500 GB hard drives are available for under $150 and flash usb drives are available for $12, CD burning is anachronistic.
Desktops will probably have optical drives pre-installed for some time, but in notebooks where space, weight and power consumption also argue against the presence of an optical drive, the DVD/CD drive may go the way of the 3.5" floppy drive. look for sleek, compact notebooks from Apple, HP and Dell with NO CD/DVD drive...

The iMac was the first mainstream computer to forgo the floppy disk drive. Fittingly, a new Apple product may be the first mainstream device to dispense with an optical drive: Apple subnotebook rumored for January 2008

$79 iPod nano

2007-11-12T11:07:00.000-05:00

The one knock against Apple products is that they're expensive. But one of those "best-kept secrets" is that Apple's refurbished items are often a decent deal. Prices and deals vary depending on availabliltiy, but recent deals on iPods at Apple's online store are pretty good: $79 for a last-gen 2 GB nano, $99 for a 4 GB nano. iPod shuffles are on a fire sale at $39. That's pretty good, considering that a pair of Apple's earbud headphones (which come with the shuffle) cost $29 alone.... The best part is that while the goods are refurbished, they have one year warranties and are supported like-new by Apple. So if their is someone on your holiday shopping list that wants the greatest, but not necessarily the latest, check out Apple's refurbished iPods. Or you could go with a Zune.

(More) Remote Backup / Online Storage

2007-10-02T13:43:00.000-04:00

Oops. Looks like I overlooked two other favorites for online storage and backup. Carbonite and Mozy are two of the excellent and popular back up services available. Mozy offers 2GB for free and unlimited storage for $4.94 / month. Carbonite offers unlimited storage for $50 / year. Again, a small price to pay for data insurance. Automatic backup service from both Mozy and Carbonite are available for PCs. Carbonite's Mac support is forthcoming.

From:Lifehacker: Online Backup Final Round, Mozy vs. Carbonite

Palm Centro drops October 14th, 2007

2007-09-27T19:03:00.000-04:00

It's got a touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, e-mail, IM, texting, EVDO, calendar, etc. etc. It's just another mediocre smart phone...except for the price: $99*. That's the upshot.

*After $100 mail-in rebate. Requires new activation, two-year service agreement and purchase of $25 data plan or higher.

Remote Backup / Online Storage

2007-09-24T19:54:00.000-04:00

In September 2006, I lamented the sad state of online storage options:
"...Mac users get ONE gigabyte of storage for $100/year at .Mac or FOUR (4) gigabytes of storage for $200/ year. Xdrive.com will give you 5GB of remote storage for just $120 and backup.com will give you 5GB for $500..."

A quick glance shows that online storage is a much more appealing option now and should definitely be part of everyone's backup plan.

.Mac still costs $100 / year, but Apple now offers users 10 GB of online storage as part of the package. Backup.com now offers storage plans as low as $4.95/month...Still not super inexpensive, but if you look at it in the context of insurance, it's a good deal. Renter's insurance for a modest apartment runs ~$100 / year. Now with a service like Backup.com, you can insure the survival of you priceless items (i.e., photos) for ~$60 / year...not bad.

Xdrive gets the ThriftyTechie endorsement, however. 5 GB of remote storage for FREE. You can't beat that. Additional storage is available for a fee.

A year ago, online storage was a tough sell, now it's a no-brainer. Back that thang up.

Power to the People

2007-09-20T20:32:00.000-04:00

Computers once filled entire rooms. Now they fit in our pockets. How a generation formed our tech landscape. (Steven Levy/Newsweek)

Nice article. The last 30 years have been amazing. Here's to hoping the next 30 will be even more amazing...

Pocket More Green With 'Green' Hype

2007-09-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

Pocket More Green With 'Green' Hype (by Dan Gross / Newsweek) is a refreshing bit of skepticism about green initiatives in the business realm.

Although businesses' environmental interests often coincides with their business interests (i.e., saving resources and minimizing waste often saves money), it is becoming more common for businesses to tout their "green" credentials to distract attention from their other less savory actions...

In short, "seeming green" isn't the same as "being green". Example: Leo DiCaprio seems green with his new movie and his love of hybrid cars... but the irony is that your average truck-driving Joe who lives in an apartment (and not a 10,000 sq. foot mansion) is most certainly greener than any jet-setting hollywood star...no matter how green he may seem.

Be Green. Save Green. The first step to doing this is to avoid being duped. Think critically and don't always believe the hype.

Vudu Economics

2007-09-19T20:26:00.000-04:00

Video rentals have become more and more convenient over the years. In the stone ages (i.e., the early 1990's), renting a video meant making a trek down to the local video shop – a Blockbuster if you were lucky. Netflix revolutionized video rentals in the late 1990's using a typical web 1.0 business model: bring in customers via the web, use snail mail to deliver the goods. As a result, people could rent and return DVDs much more conveniently; only a trek to the mailbox required. The business of sending videos through the mail was a simple concept, but it was indeed a killer app. With no late fees and a buffet-style ordering protocol, millions of subscribers found that in addition to being convenient, Netflix was economical too. It was a no-brainer to use Netflix.
Now with the power of Web 2.0 the trek for video rentals is becoming shorter and shorter...just a few steps to a remote control or computer. Services such as Amazon's Unbox and Apple's iTunes deliver content on demand to your computers. Cable companies deliver movies straight to your TVs. But these services all have faults: Cable's on-demand selections are limited only to specific recent releases, Amazon's Unbox and Apple's iTunes don't send movies to your TV's.
Enter Vudu. By all accounts (see links below), Vudu is a well-executed device and service. The upshot:
- movies available for rental (~$3) or purchase (~$20)
- movies can be searched by genre, title, director, etc. in a well executed, easy-to-use interface
- movies start playing instantaneously in better-than-DVD (but not HD) quality
- requires high-speed internet connection

Sounds great, right? Killer app, right? Well, no. And it's not because of the limited movie selection, which is a problem that can be fixed. The problem is an economic one: Vudu costs $399 up front just to get started. That's about 2 years worth of Netflix or about 100 movie rentals at your neighborhood shop. Suddenly the trek to your mailbox or to the corner video store doesn't sound so bad, eh?

Vudu according to Gizmodo
Vudu according to NY Times

Sell your used gadgets

2007-08-23T22:09:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about selling used stuff on eBay is that everyone wins. The seller makes some money, the buyer saves some money, and less stuff gets sent to the landfill. The bad thing about eBay is that if you're not a long-time user, you don't have a good eBay rating built up. And if you don't have a good rating built up, you won't get many bids on what you're selling. Even if you have a good rating, selling stuff on eBay is a project: write an essay about your merchandise, take pictures, upload pictures, set pricing, choose options, set shipping and handling, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Enter Second Rotation. If you have an electronic gadget you no longer want, send it to Second Rotation. Second Rotation will then send you cash. The only catch is that Second Rotation takes a cut, so you won't get as much as if you sold it yourself. On the other hand, you save yourself some time and maybe a couple of aspirin...

hard drive prices

2007-08-22T23:40:00.000-04:00

Western Digital 500 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive: $114.75 at Dell
Note: Just bought one for myself. Somehow there was an "instant" rebate and a sale and the grand total including shipping, tax, etc. was $110. Not bad.

Free Stock Photos

2007-08-19T12:38:00.000-04:00

This sounds straight-forward enough. Free stock photos from Free Range. If you are a photographer, you can also get paid by submitting photos to Free range and having them used.

25 Gadgets That Actually Save Money

2007-08-19T12:17:00.000-04:00

It's not always high tech stuff that saves time and money. The Simple Dollar

Where does the money go?

2007-08-19T11:46:00.000-04:00

Interesting data from the US Bureau of Labor statistics shows that $2194, or 5% of the average households' annual budget, was allocated to tech spending in 2005. Interestingly, this is more than household outlays for health insurance and apparel. Also interestingly, this represents a 25% decrease in spending from 1999. Talk about bang for the buck! We all benefit from more services and more powerful devices, but for less money... You gotta love tech.

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of tech spending — more than 75% — is for subscription services. Telephone, Internet, Cell Phone, and Cable / Sattelite TV.

iLife '08: for procrastinators

2007-08-07T23:53:00.000-04:00

iLife 08 wowed me, and here's why:

It made me glad that I procrastinated on organizing my thousands of iPhotos and that i procrastinated on learning iMovie.

I knew that organizing my iPhotos was a time sink so I just never got around to it. Ditto to using iMovie. Although intuitive, I could see that it would take hours upon hours of diddling to make even a short movie.

From what I've seen, I'll be using iMovie for the first time as soon as I buy iLife 08 (even though I've owned the older versions for over 5 years) and I'll be able to organize my iPhotos in the matter of an hour or two instead of half a day.

It may not be a killer app, but the time savings and modest price make it a vicious app.

Tech Zeitgeist

2007-07-08T13:29:00.001-04:00

Well it’s 7 years after the year 2000 so maybe we’re just a wee-bit late...but just only.

The past few weeks have seen the introduction of the Transformers movie and the iPhone. These technological masterpieces are the things that people have hoped for in the past and have just now come to fruition. These things – along with hybrid cars, the Nintendo Wii – are the things that people will literally wait in line for. Amazingly, all these things which were not long ago part of the realm of science fiction, while not cheap, are remarkably accessible. Technology: where the proof is in the pudding; and the pudding is delivered.

Am I overstating things? I don't think so. Think about the things that people went mad over in the last few decades: The Beatles, Cabbage Patch Kids, etc. Tech is now. Now is tech.

Good deals on cables

2007-03-22T18:36:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest retail rip-offs are cables. I'm talking HDMI cables, USB cables, Firewire cables, etc. I would think that most people know not to buy these cables at retail outlets such as Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, and the like. But this simply isn't the case, since they still are able to sell them at 1400% or 1500% markup. That wasn't a typo. Cables can routinely sell for $20-$40, but fortunately they can be found for much much less at places like eBay and Firefold. If you need a cable, do some research on the web and you can score 75% off.

An inconvenient falsehood

2007-03-08T21:18:00.000-05:00

Ostensibly, the hybrid car would be a thrifty thing. Gas is expensive, hybrids save gas, therefore hybrids save money. Right? Maybe. While it's indisputably true that hybrids burn less fuel than a comparable conventional car, what wasn't as clear were the environmental and financial benefits of owning a hybrid car.

One of my major initial questions have been answered over the past 6-7 years: How long do the batteries last?

Apparently a long time. Some people had feared that the huge hybrid batteries would have to be replaced every 3 or 4 or 5 years making hybrids of dubious environmental value; substituting one consumable (gas) for another (Nickel hydride batteries) isn't necessarily of environmental benefit. But Toyota reports that nary a Prius' battery has had to be replaced for "wear and tear". Hybrid powertrains and batteries are now of proven durability and are clearly beneficial to the environment.

Hybrids were also of dubious financial benefit for the owner, gas savings notwithstanding. Back-of-the-napkin calculations reveal:

Assuming a hybrid civic (or prius) gets 55 mpg, $3 gas, and driving 15,000 miles per year: $820 is spent on gas for the hybrid driver. Assuming a conventional civic (or corolla) gets 35 mpg, $3 gas, and 15,000 miles per year: $1285 is spent on gas. Therefore, over a period of 5 years (with $3 gas), the GAS dollar savings only amounts to about $2400.
And keep in mind that's with $3 gas. If gas is $2.75 or $2.50, the dollar savings would be even less.
Meanwhile, last time I checked, hybrid models still cost $3000+ more than an equivalent conventional model... so hybrids probably cost MORE money. If there are savings over 5 years, they would be minimal.

An interesting phenomenon was the outsize influence and attention paid to hybrids by hollywood celebrities and the press. As everyday vehicles, hybrids were a blip on the auto sales chart. Because of their dollar cost, hybrids competed not so much against other cars, but against environmental charities... (Should I give $1000 to greenpeace this year or should I spend an extra $3000 on a Prius?...)

Today, despite the expiration of US tax credits on the popular Prius, it probably pays in the long-run to buy a hybrid both for financial and environmental benefits. But the point is exaggerated in this Toyota Prius commercial. I think Toyota overplayed their hand here. They now have a very convenient truth in their Prius: It's great for the environment and you pocketbook. But by being overzealous, they have contributed another piece of false advertising.

Thoughts on Apple's "Thoughts on Music"

2007-02-11T12:53:00.000-05:00

Steve Jobs posted a surprising, but not shocking treatise on music DRM (Digital Rights Management) on Apple's website on February 6, 2007.
Much has been made of Steve Jobs/Apple's recent treatise of DRM'd music. Specifically, many pundits (ahem, Molly) seem to be wary of Apple's denouncement and are taking a cynical stance on it; it's hard to believe that Apple would be taking a pro-consumer stance on this issue.

I personally believe Mr. Jobs/Apple's declaration against DRM at face value simply because the consumers' interest and Apple Inc's interests are aligned in this instance.

Thanks to CNET's Buzz Out Loud podcast
, we know that consumers benefit from un DRM'd music. No need to explain anything further here.

What is a little less obvious is that Apple would ALSO stand to benefit from repealing DRM at this stage in the game. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Being "trapped" in Apple's fairplay isn't the main reason for stellar iPod sales:
Over the past few years the vast majority of iPod sales were to first-timers. Furthermore, the vast majority of repeat iPod buyers only have a few dozen DRM'd tracks on their iPods. The conclusion that Apple has reached at this time is that they DO NOT NEED DRM to be successful in the PMP market. Apple's near-monopoly is not due to their DRM scheme at this time. People aren't "locked in" to Fairplay. They're "locked-in" to the iTunes' and iPod's convenient interface. Sure, Apple's market share will drop, but it will drop DRM or not; there's no place to go but down when you're at 80% market share. Besides...Apple has other ways to lock consumers into iPods: hook-ups in many new cars, numerous accessories, NIKE + iPod, etc.
By dropping DRM, the iPod platform opens up and becomes more inviting to people on other platforms...people who made the mistake of purchasing a Dell DJ or Rio player, for example.

2. People aren't stupid - DRM is restraining iTunes music sales. People still buy CDs to rip onto their computers because they don't like buying DRM'd music. The stats bear this out: fewer than 2 billion digital tracks sold while more than 20 billion tracks sold on CD in 2006.
Apple currently holds the proverbial large slice of a small pie. Apple wouldn't even mind getting a smaller slice if the digital download (dd) market increases in size. Let's say hypothetically that the dd market increases to 10 billion tracks sold annually and Apple "only" captures 5 billion tracks of sales. Apple would benefit from $250 million in gross margin in this scenario (assuming they net 5 cents / itunes track). That's a number even a company the size of Apple can not ignore.
At this point in time, the easiest way to grow the dd market (and iTunes sales) is to drop DRM. Apple is keenly aware (as noted in Stevo's recent keynote) that iTunes competition isn't Napster or Zune. It's Amazon, Target, and Wal Mart's CD sales. Dropping DRM is the competitive advantage that iTunes needs at this point.

There are a few other reasons for Apple to drop DRM, but the above are a few key points that behooves Apple to drop DRM for their own benefit...as well as the benefit of music lovers everywhere.

Power drain

2007-02-08T20:26:00.000-05:00

Cnet gives a brief rundown on power consumption of a few common household appliances.

Here's a summary:
Assuming $0.10/kwh:
42 inch flatscreen TV: 5hrs on per day - $18 - $90 per year depending on the model.
Tivo: $30 per yr
Wireless router: ~$5 per year
refrigerator: ~$50 per year
washer $15 - $50 per year

Kodak: we make cheap ink!

2007-02-06T23:11:00.000-05:00

I've been waiting for awhile now for someone to break the HP/Canon/Lexmark stranglehold on world-wide inkjet ink supplies. While everybody is griping about high gas prices and Exxon's record-breaking profits, the really expensive liquid in our lives goes un-noticed: printer ink. Gas is $2/gallon. What's printer ink at? $1000/ gallon?
Well there's very good news coming our way. Printer ink prices are coming down, and we don't have to invade a middle eastern country to do it.
Kodak is unveiling a new line of printers ranging from $150-$300. The big news is that the printer cartridges will range from $10-$15, or about half the cost of HP/Canon/Lexmark's inks. Depending on how much you use your current inkjet printer, the Kodak printers could be a good buy. For me, it will make sense to simply dump my current hp printer and buy a Kodak. The new printer will pay for itself in about 18 months with the savings from the lower priced inks.

Don't buy that new gadget

2007-02-05T22:49:00.000-05:00

...unless you really need it. Just because it's the latest thing doesn't mean it's the greatest thing. An article at Yahoo Finance/the street addresses this topic:Do You Need a Better Mousetrap.

iPhone

2007-01-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

The rumors were right and yet they were wrong. A video iPod, iPhone, and ultraportable laptop were all anticipated from Apple. But I don't think a single person expected that they would all be built into one slick device. In summary the iPhone is:

true web browser & true e-mail

iPod w/ music, photos, movies, TV

phone & text messaging

Aside from the true web browsing, all of the above are already available for other smart phones (e.g. Windows Mobile), so it isn't such a big deal right?
Well maybe, maybe not. The rationale behind the iPhone's design is solid, but let's see how well it really works. If it functions as advertised, the interface would add value to all of the above functions. If this is the case, it will be a home run.

Sidenote Rules

2006-12-18T20:08:00.000-05:00

The utility Sidenote
for Mac OS is an absolute must. It is a little "drawer" that opens when you mouse over to the left edge of your screen. You can then type notes, drag and save images, etc. It supports multiple notes, but doesn't clog up your screen like the built-in Stickes app. As the clincher, it's guaranteed to fit your budget: it's freeware. So be thrifty, but don't be cheap. Throw a donation to the developer if you like it.

Feed The Pig

2006-12-11T23:19:00.000-05:00

How is it possible to save money? Feed the pig.

"Show me the money!"

2006-11-17T19:55:00.000-05:00

That's not likely to be what you say to a prospective employer at your interview or your boss at your job, but Payscale.com might change that. The site prompts you for basic info: job title, location, experience, etc. Then, with free registration, you can find out what other people like you make. Payscale does indeed show you the money.

Crashing

2006-11-17T18:46:00.000-05:00

I've no problem crashing at a relatives' home or a friends' home while travelling. But a strangers' home? Yeah I'll consider it. Thanks for the tip, D. Go couch surfing.

2006-10-30T21:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a brilliant commercial. It basically makes the point of this blog very concisely. Some might argue that it should've been a bunch of Priuses coming at you at the end, but still, the ad is very very well done.

Are you paying too much for rent?

2006-10-06T15:25:00.000-04:00

Looking for an apartment? Wondering how much to spend for rent?
Rentometer is for you.
There's a line between being cheap and looking for apartments in the 'hood and being thrifty and just making sure you're getting a decent deal in the neighborhood you want to live in. Rentometer can help you whichever side of that line you're on. Simply type in an address, the type of rental (1br, 2br, etc), the rent you are paying/willing to pay and see actual rents nearby pop-up on a googlemap style map. If you've heard of better tools, let's hear 'em.

2006-09-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

Some Phones Are Just, Well, Phones - NY Times
400 GB 7200 rpm internal hard drive for $99 - Hard drive prices are falling like a brick. Or is it bricks that fall like hard drive prices?

2006-09-27T07:19:00.000-04:00

Google to Push for More Electrical Efficiency in PC’s- NY Times

Techie Cred? Maybe not. Thrifty Cred? Definitely.

2006-09-25T14:11:00.000-04:00

So you wanna know about my cred, huh? OK. Here's a run-down:
PORTABLES:
My phone is a Sanyo SCP-4700 from 2003. It packs a vintage teal electroluminescent lcd display, backlit buttons, a handy red led indicator (see pic) to warn me of voice mail. It has more than a dozen built-in ring tones (including hits like Pachelbel's Canon), speaker phone, etc. The features go on and on, really. The size is handy too. It's far more solid than your RAZR! It's pretty amazing to consider all this was free after I signed on with Sprint PCS.

My iPod is a 3G 10GB from 2003. Received as a graduation present, it's still going strong.
COMPUTERS:
My wife and I have two computers. A 12" iBook G4 800 Mhz/640 purchased new in the fall of 2003. We also have a 15" G4 iMac purchased used off of eBay in the fall of 2005.
HOME ENTERTAINMENT:
Still rockin' an Aiwa 3 disc, dual cassette shelf system. (For the kids out there, the dual cassette decks were for dubbing tapes...sort of like copying MP3 files) We've got a Cyberhome DVD player/burner and a 20" Panasonic CRT standard definition TV. No TiVo or DVR.

That's it! How does your set-up rate?

Starbucks Raises Prices, Australia supplies Cocaine

2006-09-22T16:47:00.000-04:00

Any successful drug dealer knows to raise prices when demand is high. Accordingly, America's favorite drug lord Starbucks is raising their coffee prices citing mounting expenses involved in their trade. While Starbucks' professional-type patrons have deep pockets, Dunkin' Donuts is giving away coffee hoping to drum up demand in the 'hood, apparently.

Meanwhile a new player is delivering a high-quality product called Cocaine. In a not-so-subtle move, Cocaine is simply delivering more bang for the buck with 280mg of caffeine per serving (see graph above). In addition, Cocaine contains lots of vitamins and dextrose; probably to take the edge off the inevitable crash.

Here's a user's guide to America's favorite drug.

CFL bulbs: A bright idea.

2006-09-21T21:39:00.000-04:00

We hear about the environment a lot these days what with hybrid cars, global warming, and alternative energy sources regularly in the headlines. Often times thinking about the environment means making tough sacrifices such as spending thousands of extra dollars on a hybrid car in order to save gas, or sitting and listening to Al Gore drone on for 90 minutes about melting glaciers.

Sometimes being environmentally correct is very easy, however. That's what makes the compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL) story so remarkable. It's the rare technology that's economical in every sense of the word, saving money, time, and electricity.

CFL technology has been around for years as an energy saving alternative to the "regular" incandescent lightbulbs. Despite using about 75% less energy than equivalent conventional bulbs and lasting ~8x as long, CFLs were "prohibitively expensive" for consumers, costing several dollars per bulb (compared to a buck for four regular bulbs). Thus, they weren't popular.

Today CFL bulbs still deliver energy savings but at much lower initial cost than in years past. Thanks in part to a push by Wal Mart these light bulbs are now much cheaper and should be used by everyone. Although these bulbs are still about 10 times more expensive than conventional bulbs (which is to say, just $2 or so) they are one of the best investments that everyone can make. The energy they save over just a few months of usage pays for the cost of the bulb. After that, it's all gravy. The bulbs last for many years which means no changing bulbs and no buying new bulbs. And over the lifetime of the bulb one could save about $40 worth of electricity. Good for the wallet and the environment.

Switching from conventional incandescent lightbulbs to CFLs may seem like a mundane action – frankly you may not even notice the $4 monthly savings on your electricity bill – but the energy savings can be enormous given that it is the type of action that everyone can take part in. 100 million CFLs used instead of regular bulbs would reduce green house gas emissions as much as taking a million cars off of the road.

Lightbulbs. So boring, yet so amazing. Next time somebody shows off their Prius or wants to make a movie about saving the spotted owl, tell 'em you've got a brighter idea: you're gonna go change a lightbulb!

update: feature CFL article in Fast Company.

biodegradable iPod dock

2006-09-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

Props to flickrflick151 for this resourceful idea. =)

What do you want?

2006-09-18T16:01:00.000-04:00

There's a lot of great tech stuff that's in development. What things are you looking forward to? WiMax? WiFi calling? On-demand or downloadable TV content? RFID?
Maybe you're a dreamer and you want teleportation? Or maybe Microsoft Vista?

Hey, at least I'm asking. It's more than I can say for Sprint offering streaming movies on a cell phone for $4. Surely you have some better ideas?

new iPods: analysis (September 12, 2006)

2006-09-14T16:05:00.000-04:00

I've just finished digesting the Apple announcements from and I'm now ready to egest, so here it goes:

The iPod 5.5G w/ video and 2G nano were solid updates and were unsurprising. Apple made incremental, important improvements (+ screen brightness, + battery life, + storage capacity) and added search by alphabet functionality. There was no surprise in that Apple continues to add value to their iPod line incrementally while eschewing price drops, using engineering and brain power to prop up their revenues. Incidentally, the biggest surprise for me in their new iPod announcements was that they DID cut the price of the 30 GB iPod w/ video to $249. Meanwhile, he attention that Apple paid to developing their entry-level / ultra-portable shuffle proves that they are intent on canvasing the PMP market.

Pricing scheme:
iPod shuffle 1GB: $79 ($79 per GB)
iPod nano 2GB: $149 ($74.50 per GB)
iPod nano 4GB: $199 ($49.75 per GB)
iPod nano 8GB: $249 ($31.13 per GB)
iPod 5G 30GB: $249 ($8.30 per GB)
iPod 5G 80GB: $349 ($4.36 per GB)

Of course, all the new iPods look slick, but anyone that still dismisses the iPod as faddish or merely fashionable is missing the shrewd positioning of the current iPod line:

5.5G w/ video - the 80GB model may be more expensive than the upcoming microsoft Zune (can't tell because pricing hasn't been announced, and may have been disrupted by Apple's release) but trumps the Zune's 30GB capacity by quite a bit. Meanwhile the 30 GB iPod is the cheapest iPod ever and undercuts Zune's pricing. In short, the two new 5.5G iPods are Zune's rock and a hard place this holiday season.
iPod nano - best value for a small-sized mp3 player.
iPod shuffle - interesting because it's so cheap. It serves as an entry-level iPod. Also will sell to iPod and iPod nano owners because the sheer (lack of) size adds a lot of utility. Leave on in your car, or keep it on you despite the fact that you already have a PDA or phone that can also play music, excercise with it, etc.

Summary: iPod continues market leadership with class leading design, solid specs and value.

We can never forget 9/11/2001

2006-09-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

Few tech blogs will address the 5 year anniversery of the most heinous act of our lifetimes. But remember that the heroism on the plane that crashed in Shanksville,PA was made possible by Americans' trusty cell phones and that hundreds of lives at the WTC were lost because of failures in basic radio technology. As we go forward, preventing such future attacks depends on the interactivity of human effort and technology.
Those events of 9/11 transcend tech issues, of course. But tech had a direct bearing on the events of that fateful day.

Remote Backup

2006-09-07T15:41:00.000-04:00

I had a bad dream the other night: my apartment burned down. The fire chief at the scene calmly informed me that no one was hurt and the cats were OK (whew!). My computer, however was toast. "That's OK, I backup...", I said coolly. Then he held up something that looked like a big chunk of General Tso's chicken: It was my external hard drive - which I back up music, photos and half of my brain to - fried to a crisp. Nooooooooo!

OK. Not the worst dream ever, but real-life remote backup options aren't exactly sweet dreams either. One could spend hours backing up stuff to CD or DVD and then mailing them to a friend or storing it at a bank or... something.

The alternative is online storage. Mac users get ONE gigabyte of storage for $100/year at .Mac or FOUR (4) gigabytes of storage for $200/ year. Xdrive.com will give you 5GB of remote storage for just $120 and backup.com will give you 5GB for $500.

It's a pretty hefty price to pay for such a little amount of storage. I could pay for 5GB of remote storage and it will be just enough space to save my (small) collection of digital photos. Meanwhile my music, documents, calendars, pets, etc. would all go up in flames or drown in a flood etc.

A FREE utility to turn your Gmail account into a 2.5 GB virtual remote hard drive can be had at rjonna.com. But again, it's a piddling amount of storage.

Does anyone have any suggestions for remote backup and storage solutions?

Free audiobooks

2006-08-28T15:06:00.000-04:00

Literary works that are in the public domain are available for free at LibriVox. Read more about the project: Public Domain Books, Ready for Your iPod

GPS navigation

2006-08-28T14:51:00.000-04:00

A headline in the New York Times' Technology section caught my eye becasuse it was ostensibly right up my figurative alley. For the Frugal, a G.P.S. Receiver With Fewer Frills talks about the Tom Tom One a basic, self-contained navigation system for your car. At $500, this TomTom could definitely save you enough time to make the unit price worth your while...but traffic reports and weather are extra through Tom Tom Plus and would incur cell phone data charges...
Which begs the question: Why do you need this device when similar services can be delivered through cell phones/PDAs? No sale for me. I'll stick with directions from Mapquest or Google Maps Mobile. Of course the latter would require me to get a compatible phone...

Cameras, TVs, and external hard drives.

2006-08-26T22:46:00.000-04:00

Here's the NY Times' Damon Darlin's take on what to think about when preparing to purchase digital cameras, TVs and external hard drives. Bargains Are Near; Just Keep Waiting

2006-03-22T15:29:00.000-05:00

CONC: Apples and Oranges

Windows Vista delayed
There was once a time when the Mac OS and Windows were direct competitors; two creatures fighting for survival in the
same niche. But that was around 1992.

Mac OS and Windows have since evolved into two distinct animals. One is a cat and the other is a dog (no derogatory connotations intended). Windows has long tended to the needs of IT and the business user while Mac OS X's strengths lie in home computing and media management. The characteristics of both creatures overlap, but they have different strengths and weaknesses and will continue to coexist for a long time. Now if you're saying that the cat will become man's best friend...
That's a different debate ;-)

CONC: xenophobia is alive and well

2006-03-08T09:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it was depressing to see the "Buy American" rah rah rah attitude over at GM's Fastland blog. So I had to go over and put the smack down:

This is in response to those of you who are trying to make GM's problems a U.S. vs. Japan thing:
Many of GM's current problems were caused by the "Buying American" mentality. Think of the millions of of Delta 88, Cavalier, Park Avenue, and Bonneville buyers in the 80's and 90's... We bought those cars partly out of "duty" - it certainly wasn't the quality - and look what it got us... GM complacency and more mediocre cars. Tough love from us here in the Fastlane forum and the rest of America is the only way GM will get out of this mess. It's working. GM's making the best cars that I can ever remember now, but it's only because of the competition and people NOT buying GM cars out of duty any more.
No more free pass for GM, means GM having to make good cars, means GM will eventually turn around the business or fail trying.
It's 2006 folks, wake-up and do not buy "American" if it doesn't make sense for you and your family. Auto manufacturing jobs will be lost whether you buy GM, Toyota, or Hyundai. I can't save them and neither can you. A final thought:
"Technology, not necessarily outsourcing, is displacing American workers...Even China is losing manufacturing jobs because the number of people required to make goods is decreasing as a result of technologies that make factories more efficient" - Frank Reich Former U.S. Secretary of Labor

CONC: Day of the digital book may be dawning

2006-02-27T21:34:00.000-05:00

eBooks. They're going to take over the world. Just not very soon. My post at Masimumnews follows:

For a portable electronic reader, the E INK screen is as much a problem as it is a solution. It solves the problem of letting human eyeballs read electronic documents for long periods of time. At the same time it poses a problem because it’s functionality is limited (currently) to static, black & white images precluding it’s use in a multi-tasking device. An E INK device that could display web content, video, and photographs is not possible.

Since E INK’s functionality is limited, pricing power for such a device is limited too. Sony doesn’t have a prayer for a successful product if they’re selling this device for over $100. It’s simply not very useful - it’s functionality would be limited to reading novels/non-fiction books, magazines/newspapers (without pictures). Period.

The upshot is: success of E INK will not be achieved as a stand-alone consumer product (portable or otherwise). These E INK displays must get cheaper and thinner so they can be integrated on to existing products which have other functionality (such as the back-side of a video iPod or as a notebook computer’s 2nd screen). Once that happens, it will be a home-run because the killer apps (newspapers, books, journal articles, instruction manuals, textbooks, PDF’s, etc. etc.) will already be in place.

CONC: Rupert Murdoch sez digital video is small time.

2006-02-07T09:43:00.000-05:00

I replied undeer the headline "...at the moment"

CONC: Dell kills DJ

2006-02-07T09:03:00.000-05:00

It's official now. I posted under the headline: "Couldn't turn up the volume on the DJ"

V cast - useless and expensive

2006-01-31T15:01:00.000-05:00

Let me preface this entry with a disclaimer: I just turned 30, so my understanding of technology is beginning its slow and inevitable decline.
That having been said, I can not believe how useless V casts' music download service is. We're in the midst of a media revolution which is allowing people to acquire music (M) without leaving the house (iTunes, Napster, etc.) and videos (V) without leaving the house (netflix, iTunes, Google, etc.) and now Verizon is giving us the 'privelege' of being able to download M&V on our phone so that we can in fact get M&V outside of our homes again because presumably it was an inconvenience to be able to obtain M&V at home. I must be getting old, but to me it seems awfully nice to not get up off my duff ("duff" is an older variation of butt for you youngsters) to get M&V. Back in the real old days, we actually had to go to a store to buy "CDs" or a Blockbuster to rent videos, so old-fashioned me thinks it's great to have M&V download access at home.

Alright enough of the self-depracating "old" talk. Let's cut to the chase which is that Verizon's got a loser on it's hand with V cast. First of all, the commercials promoting the merit of V cast's music-on-demand are laughable.
Exhibit A: commercial showing pre-game locker room of a hockey team getting psyched-up for their game because one of the kids downloaded a song and played it on their phone. Is this phone really loud enough to pump up a hockey team? I don't think it could pump up a ballet troupe. Strike 1

Exhibit B: commercial showing a girlfriend angrily rushing away from a boyfriend and rushing to get away in a taxi. The boyfriend whips out his V cast and downloads a smooth R&B track, plays it and soothes the girl making her feel better.
Ha Ha Ha. How long does it take to download a song? by the time the song is downloaded, the girl would be gone. Strike 2 What angry girl can be soothed by a song being played through a phone speaker? Please send me her number. Strike 3

Alright. So since when have commercials made accurate claims about their prodcuts? But in watching these commercials the sad thing is that these were among the more plausible uses for V cast...

So how much will all this uselessness set you back? $15 / month + $1.99 / song.

R.I.P. Dell DJ

2006-01-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

In September '05 I wrote:
"...Since apple is selling their iPods at a higher volume than all their competitors...they could really put the smack down on competitors by selling iPods at a discount and absolutely flatten the competition...Apple could move millions of units at a thinner margin which would force Rio, Creative, and Dell into a very tight spot; letting them choose between moving hundreds of thousands of units at razor-thin margins or maintaining pricing while watching unit sales slide towards zero.
... Apple has now lowered the boom on the competition with the nano. Look at the competitions' products at $199 or $249. Sony and the others have to be sweating bullets. Their products at those price points are very simply, a cut below."

Since I wrote that, Apple sold 14 million iPods in about 3 months. All their competitors combined sold (by my estimation) sold around 5 million units. There had to be casualties. Rio has apparently exited the mp3 player market and Dell has suddenly and unceremoniously apparently stopped selling DJs.

CONC: flash-based notebooks

2005-12-06T14:49:00.000-05:00

Flash drives will make hard-drives obsolete.

CONC: GM bankruptcy is a good thing.

2005-12-04T16:55:00.000-05:00

In response to a post on The Truth About Cars

re: A Rose by Any Other Name

Mr. Farago,

Neither you or I hold an M.B.A., but we can still discuss business
qualitatively. Any pundit (including you or I) knows that GM and Ford
need to make more desirable cars. But it's a tricky business
proposition when one has high fixed costs like too many factories,
overpaid laborers and overpaid retirees.

It is that it relatively easy for other companies to have niche
successes compared to GM and Ford. Murano: success! Mini-cooper:
success! xB: success! Let's say, hypothetically, that GM engineered,
manufactured, and marketed the entire BMW line-up. It would be a
colossal failure. GM would be bankrupt withiin a week (rather than in
a few years).

The fact of the matter is that the Chevy Cobalt, which is relatively
cheap, solid, pleasant, and bland will sells more units than BMW's
entire line-up for the simple reason that there are many more
mainstream car buyers than there are well-heeled driving enthusiasts.

My point is that GM is in a terrible position. In order to make more
desirable cars to various consumer niches they would have to make
smaller runs of cars. No can do.
If they continue to make bland M.O.R. cars, their market share will
continue to slide because of all the niche cars nibbling at the edges.

Basically I take issue with your simplistic assumption that by
engineering better, more refined cars, more differentiated cars GM
and Ford will sell more cars / make more money.
The fact is that the scale of GM's car sales are (still) so mind
boggling that I think they have no where to go and are trapped by
their cost-structure. If they make cheaper, shoddier cars, their
sales will obviously slide. Less obviously, if GM upgrades their cars
and charges a corresponding premium for those improvements, their
sales will also slide! And if they are selling nicer cars at a
premium, but tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands fewer units,
they can't possibly pay for all their fixed costs.

The question isn't even "what should GM do?" it is "what can GM do?"

again, I'm not an MBA so I don't know exactly what bankruptcy allows
for. But if it allows wholesale liquidation of factories and allows
them to layoff AND stop paying about 15% of their assembly line
workers, then that may very well be the best thing that they can do.

Commentary ON Commentary (CONC)

2005-11-08T23:51:00.000-05:00

I've been posting comments to comments made around the web. That last post (Prius = dirty diapers?) was a reply at an economist Brad DeLong's blog. As many of you know, I'm a tech head and often post on cNet with their "talkback" feature. Some of my recent thoughts on bundling and the viability of portable video. More CONC on the way. Like it or not.

Prius = re-usable diapers?

2005-10-30T10:52:00.000-05:00

I'm still a skeptic of hybrid cars. Not because of the minimal gas savings (if we were paying European or even CNDN prices, the fuel savings would easily cover the cars' price premium), and not so much because of reliability (although the proof isn't yet in the pudding; these cars just haven't been around long enough).

The main question that I have, which has not to my knowledge even been touched upon let alone addressed in the lay-media is: What is the environmental trade-off of saving gas with a hybrid car?
Using re-usable diapers was an "environmentally correct" alternative to using disposable diapers...until one thinks about it. There is in-fact a trade-off. By using cloth diapers, one lessens the plastic load in landfills but increases the amount of polluted freshwater. There is a (somewhat) similar trade-off when using a hybrid car. One doesn't magically save gas when driving a hybrid. One cost is the large NiMH battery involved. What is the environmental cost of manufacturing/recycling/disposing of this battery? Is this cost equal or less than the cost of burning a few thousand gallons of gasoline?

I'm not anti-hybrid. I'm anti- driving/buying hybrids without a critical look...

NFL Ultimate Power Rankings. Yes, I've got time on my hands.

2005-10-27T10:29:00.000-04:00

WEEK 8. Like power rankings, but I won't change them from week to week; I'll only update them when week 14 comes around to narrow down who will go deep in the playoffs.
Also unlike power rankings, I start from the bottom up. Gotta start with the obvious - the riff raff, the dead fish in the water, so to speak... Come back and look at this list in late December. It should be good for a laugh =)

SEASON IS OVER FOR:
sf 49ERS - gb PACKERS - az CARDINALS - no SAINTS - ny JETS - hou. TEXANS - ok RAIDERS

NOT GOING ANYWHERE AFTER JAN. 1
mn VIKINGS - mia. DOLPHINS - sl RAMS - atl FALCONS - tb BUCCANEERS - kc CHIEFS - nsh TITANS - cle BROWNS - bal RAVENS - det LIONS - buff BILLS

THE REAL DEAL - PLAYOFF CONTENDERS (not in any particular order)

SEAHAWKS - it doesn’t take much in this division, and they have enough.
PANTHERS - stronger than the buccaneers and probably stronger than the falcons.
BEARS - they aren’t an elite team, but they should RUN over their division.
REDSKINS - solid
COWBOYS - solid
EAGLES - mushy
GIANTS - oatmeal

BRONCOS - an elite team
CHARGERS - may be victimized in wild card race finishing 9-7 or 10-6.
JAGUARS - will pounce for the division title. They have a cake schedule!
COLTS - should be solid wild card. You heard me. WILD CARD
BENGALS - good
STEELERS - better
PATRIOTS - their schedule gets much easier after going 2-3 against some of the elite teams in the league. It is concevable they could be 12-4 at the end of the season, and they can easily be 10-6.

NFL Power Rankings - Dig It!

2005-10-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

Are you tired of looking at the NFL "power rankings" on ESPN.com and NFL.com? A given team's ranking swings wildly up and down from week to week according to their performance on the previous one or two sundays... They might as well be "Bandwagon rankings"; they jump on the badwagon then jump off. Then they repeat. I myself am addicted to them. It's a ritual for me to log-on every Tuesday during the season to check on whatDr. Z and Mr. Carucci and ESPN have to say every week. But does it matter who is #1 or #5 or whatever in week 2? Or in week 10?. We should want a PowerRanking that lists who is going to the playoffs and who's going deep in the playoffs. It is hard to say who these teams will be early in the season, but here at the midway point somebody should try. Fox Sports is attempting that this year with some sort of mumbo jumbo formula that takes into account teams' full season performance, so we know there are people who want to take more into account than a teams' latest drubbing of the Texans or manhandling of the 49ers...

blogging via e-mail

2005-10-06T23:07:00.000-04:00

This is simply a test to see if I can edit the blog via e-mail.
WooHOO! Success!