Less is More

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

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

Patience is a virtue...

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?

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.

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

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?

I love the Kindle*

* 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.

$79 iPod nano

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.

Palm Centro drops October 14th, 2007

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.

Vudu Economics

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

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

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.

25 Gadgets That Actually Save Money

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

Where does the money go?

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.

Kodak: we make cheap ink!

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.

iPhone

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.