Even though the DTV switchover has already taken place, consumers can still apply to get their $40 government coupon toward the purchase of a converter box. But you’ll only have until July 31, 2009 to claim your coupon.
If you rely on over-the-air television in your household, then applying for one of these coupons will greatly reduce your out-of-pocket expense for a converter box.
To apply for a coupon, households must call 1-888-DTV-2009 or visit www.DTV2009.gov before the program ends. The coupons are valid for 90 days after they are issued. They are also transferrable, so you can give them to others.
After you receive your coupon, you’re going to need to know which converter box to use it toward. PCMag Audio Analyst Tim Gideon looked at four converter boxes–the Apex DT250, Insignia NS-DXA1-APT, RCA DTA800B1, and Zenith DTT900 Digital TV Tuner–and provides tips on setting one up.
Good Night, States, it seems, are a trusting lot. These indie rockers have not only supplied Noise.io soundbanks for their songs, but if you check ’em out at Mr. Small’s in Pittsburgh this Friday you can plug your iPhone or iPod into the house sound system and jam along with the group. Noise.io, if you’ve not seen it before, bills itself as a “highly advanced sound synthesis workstation,” with a unique touchscreen interface and all kinds of features sure to make softsynth fans positively giddy. Ready for your fifteen minutes of fame? Pick up your copy at the App Store for $8.99, and then proceed to the read link to get started — but not before you peep the video demonstration after the break.
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.
If you’re unfamiliar with either Showtime’s series Weeds or HBO’s True Blood, we’ll catch you up to speed really quickly. The former is about a widowed housewife living in California who sells stolen gadgets to make ends meet for her family, while the latter is a Southern-fried tale of a Louisiana town infested with vampires plus a cute young woman who can see the future, and uses her power to predict Nokia’s product roadmap for 2010. No? Well, that’s what we thought we saw. We’ll tell you this much: we definitely spotted the G1 in both shows this week. Yes, in Weeds Andy took a call from Nancy, and boom! Android screen, while on True Blood, Eric did some evil, tanktopped talking on his own. Who knew vampires were nerds? Second shot is after the break.
Blogeee.net says, "The version we tested was a pre-production model, and only two tabs out of five available in the interface were working. The interface reminded us of the first Eee PCs–Eee Fun and Eee Tools looked like the features found on Netbooks running Xandros. The shortcuts on the screen launch things like the alarm or the calculator, which also display on any screen connected to the system."
(Credit: blogeee.net)
The folks over at the rather splendide French site blogeee.net have gotten their hands on a prototype of an Asus Eee Keyboard, a media center computer shoehorned into a keyboard.
We first saw this device at CES 2009, where Asus said the keyboard had a 1.6GHz Atom processor inside, 1GB of memory, and a solid-state hard drive. There’s a 5-inch touch screen at the side running a customized version of Windows XP, and an HDMI port for hooking it up to a hi-def TV.
Weighing about 2.2 pounds, and with Wi-Fi, two USB ports, and a memory card reader, we were impressed with the concept. There’s still no word on pricing or availability, but until firm plans are made for launch, have a look at the photos here to see what Pierre Lecourt thought of the whole thing, and click through blogeee’s gallery for still more of his impressions.
How do they fit a proper computer into a keyboard? Like this, that's how.
Get running! Nike gives you extra incentive to hit the road with an enhanced Nike+ SportBand. The device is worn like a watch and shows you your distance, pace, running time, and calories burned with just a glance. It does this by receiving information from a sensor inside Nike+ running shoes. I’ve always liked the SportBand since it doesn’t rely on GPS data and can work on treadmills as well as the open road.
The enhanced Nike+ SportBand offers a new screen with a white background to enhance visibility. It also offers an improved watertight seal, so a little rain won’t ruin your run. It now comes in a range of colors (gray with pink interior, dark gray with yellow interior, and black with red interior).
Runners with an iPod Nano, iPod Touch, or iPhone will be able to hear their running details as they go. The SportBand will be available in the U.S. for $59.
In related news, Nike has merged the nikeplus.com site with nikerunning.com, to create a one-stop destination. The company also announced it would launch a new Nike+ iPhone site optimized for mobile use.
Cellular technology had been in development since the early ’50s, but cellphones didn’t become commercially available until Motorola’s DynaTAC 8000X gained FCC acceptance in 1983. The DynaTAC had 30 minutes of talk time, 8 hours of standby and memory for 30 numbers. It was also big enough to club that punk kid with the Flock of Seagulls haircut without getting blood on your favorite tweed jacket (you know, the one with the elbow pads). And the worst part is that you would have paid $4,000 for the privilege, $8,589 when you calculate for inflation. Needless to say, spending $200, or even $400, for the latest smartphone doesn’t seem like a bad deal comparatively. [Image via TUAW]
The point is this: We all like to complain about the price of our gadgets, but the truth is that factors like increased competition and better manufacturing technologies have made the gadgets we buy today seem like extreme bargains when put in a historical context. Let’s take a look at some more examples:
In contrast, the Samsung BD-P1000 was one of the first Blu-ray players to hit the US in 2006—and it debuted for around $1000. That same year you could buy a Blu-ray player in a PS3 for under $500. Today, basic Blu-ray players can be had for less than $100. That’s a 90% drop in just three years.
Computers Then and Now If the Apple II was too rich for your blood, you could have gone out and purchased the base model Atari 800 with up to 48K RAM and a 1.8MHz MOS 6502 processor for $1000 ($2,946). Want a floppy drive with that? No problem, that will be $600 ($1,767) extra. I’ll even throw in a black-on-white dot-matrix printer for $450 ($1,326). If you are looking for something in the budget range, the original Radio Shack Tandy TRS-80 with 4-16K RAM and a 1.77 MHz Zilog Z-80A processor starts at $600 ($1,767).
If you have a little more money to burn I could hook you up with the TRS-80 Model II with 64K RAM, 12″ monochrome monitor (40×24 or 80×24 text), and a built-in 500K 8-inch floppy drive for $3899 ($11,485). To put things into perspective, $11,000 is about what some silly gamer would pay for a top-of-the-line Alienware ALX X58 desktop with all the bells and whistles—including an overclocked Core i7-975 Extreme processor, dual 1.792MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 GPUs, 24GB of RAM, and 2 x 256GB SSDs (with 2TB of additional storage), not to mention a 30-inch high-def LCD monitor.
As you’ll see later on, in the late 1970s, many computers cost the same as new cars.
Gaming Consoles Then and Now If you were gaming at home in the late ’70s, chances are you had the Atari 2600. It was the first console to feature plug-in cartridges and it cost $200 ($589) at launch. All in all, that figure is comparable to some configurations of the Xbox 360 and PS3 at launch, but it is important to consider that the latter consoles do more than just play games, acting as movie players, music decks, telecommunications hubs, all of which would have meant buying separate, expensive, primitive components back then.
Cassette Walkman vs MP3 Players The cassette tape reigned supreme 30 years ago; for most music lovers today, it’s all about the download. Difference is, you can get an iPod shuffle that holds about 1000 songs for $79 (and many other MP3 players cost far less). In 1979, a cassette Walkman that could only play one Supertramp album at a time cost $200 ($589).
Televisions Then and Now Television price records from the period around the late ’70s are spotty at best, because then, as now, pricing was ultracompetitive. But it is clear that most people would have to be content with a 25-inch set (and it was probably encased in a 2-ton ornate wooden shell). According to tvhistory.tv, color console models like a 25-inch Sylvania cost $530 to $850 ($1,561 to $2,503), and a 19-inch JVC “tabletop” model at $560 ($1,650). On the other hand, black-and-white models like a 22-inch Motorola console ran about $260 ($766).
Other Popular Gadgets How much did other gadgets cost in the late ’70s?
• Clothes Washer/Dryer: From $199 and $219 respectively ($586 to $645)—that’s fairly comparable to today’s lower-end models. Although, if you are on a budget you can easily find models that are significantly cheaper.
• Microwave: From $169 ($498)—today many standard microwaves can be had for $60 or less.
• Dishwasher: From $259 ($763)—today you can easily find basic dishwashers for $300 or less.
• Stereo System: $299 ($884)—options vary of course, but that’s what a typical AM/FM/8-Track/record stereo system cost. Today there are a ridiculous number of devices available to play and stream music in the house—many with their own included speakers and amplifier, not to mention wireless connectivity and vast internal music and video storage—that cost less than half that.
• Calculator: $25 ($73)—Calculators come attached to everything these days but in the late ’70s, if you wanted to score an original TI-30, it would have set you back a few bucks. Today’s TI-30 models cost $20 or less. [The People History]
Cars Then and Now Cars exist on a different plane than consumer electronics. Due to a different system of manufacturing, R&D and labor, prices have not steadily trended downward—in fact, quite the contrary. For example, The People History gives us a good idea about the price of specific cars 30 years ago—including models that are still in production today. One of those cars, the Toyota Corolla, is listed at $3,698 ($10,893). Today, a Toyota Corolla starts at around $15,350. On the higher end, the Chevy Corvette ran about $12,313 ($36,270) in 1979. Today, a base model Corvette sells for around $45,515.
Still, if you have been thinking about getting a new vehicle, this might be the best time in 30 years to do so. According to Comerica’s annual Auto Affordability Index, cars are actually more affordable now than they were in 1979. Plus, the economy is forcing automakers and the government to offer all kinds of incentives which are pushing prices even lower. [Image via Free By 50]
By now you are probably getting the idea—being a tech nerd is cheaper than ever. Sure, new technology is going to be expensive, but that is a consequence that most early adopters are willing to accept. The good news is that, for the most part, manufacturers are charging much lower early adopter premiums when compared to 30 years ago (and charging them for a shorter period of time). With fierce competition and advanced manufacturing driving down the price of new technology at a blistering rate, it takes less patience than ever to reap greater and greater rewards. So quit yer bitchin’! [Top Image via RetroWow]
Gizmodo ’79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born.
After stocking up on premium networks with HBO and Starz, Comcast’s On Demand Online project has added its first broadcast TV partner, CBS. One of the worries regarding TV Everywhere / On Demand Online has been what it would mean for free streaming portals like Hulu, with broadcasters potentially shifting content behind pay-tv walls to keep people from dropping cable and satellite TV subscriptions. CBS has been the notable Hulu holdout, although it has also pushed forward with free streaming on its website, including March Madness and even upping the resolution of its Flash video to 1080p. Further conflicting the issue? 17 more cable networks (A&E, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, E!, The Style Network, G4 and FEARnet) have also announced plans to join the 5,000 subscriber trial.
Just like the previous agreements, it appears customers should expect access during the trial to reflect a lot of what CBS and the others already offer through standard VOD but now with more placeshifting goodness. While media execs watch the bottom line, we’re just hoping the stated CBS strategy of “open, non-exclusive distribution of our content in a consumer friendly way” (from the press release, available in full after the break) could push Hulu to add more HD, or at least unblock the PlayStation 3 & Windows Mobile.
PC sales worldwide are expected to fall 4 percent this year as businesses cut back on IT spending and consumers, as they move towards more mobile devices, buy fewer desktops says research firm iSuppli. And not since the dot-com bust of 2001 are PC sales expected to be so slow, says the firm.
“An annual decline in unit shipments is highly unusual in the PC market,” says Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, for iSuppli. “Even in weak years, PC unit shipments typically rise by single-digit percentages.”
PC sales are expected to fall to 287.3 million units this year from 299.2 million in 2008. iSuppli had earlier forecast a 0.7 percent growth for the year. In 2001, PC sales had fallen 5.1 percent worldwide.
Poor sales of desktop computers is taking its toll on the overall industry. Desktop sales are expected to fall 18.1 percent this year to 124.4 million from 151.9 million in 2008. Entry-level servers, which iSuppli includes in its definition of PCs, also are expected to suffer a decline, says the firm.
And in news that should surprise no one, notebook sales are expected to grow 11.7 percent to 155.9 million units. Notebook sales will exceed those of desktops on an annual basis for the first time ever in 2009, says iSuppli.
“Mobility is winning out in the PC market,” says Wilkins.
In what appears to be a last-minute effort to play catch-up, Microsoft and Verizon have put out a call for developers to code for their mobile platforms.
Verizon is planning a July 28 conference in San Jose, California, to attract software developers to its mobile platform. And Microsoft announced that on July 27, the company will start accepting mobile application submissions in advance of its launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 in the fall.
The companies appear to be responding to Apple, which announced this morning that its iPhone App Store, now only one year old, has surpassed 1.5 billion downloads and is serving 65,000 applications.
“The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release. “With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”
Though press releases are inherently boastful, Jobs is correct that Apple is well ahead of its competitors in the mobile software space. The company launched its application store in July 2008 with the release of the iPhone 3G. The App Store’s consumer friendly interface, which makes purchasing and downloading applications as easy as downloading songs in the iTunes Store, is benefiting software developers, some of whom have become rich thanks to explosive sales of their apps.
Other tech giants, including Research In Motion, Google and Palm, followed with announcements of their own mobile-application stores, but their launches were underwhelming compared to Apple’s. For example, Palm’s application store had only 30 apps after its first week; Apple’s App Store opened with 500 applications ready for download.
“The OS wars have finally begun,” said Michael Gartenberg, technology strategist and vice president of Interpret, in a June interview with Wired.com when Apple launched its new iPhone 3GS handset.
Verizon is the latest to join the application-store fray, which is an uncharacteristic move for the telecom giant. Historically, the company has not given developers control over pricing of their apps. But now, Verizon promises to provide a lucrative and simple process for its developers, Verizon vice president Ryan Hughes told GigaOM. However, the company has not disclosed details of its revenue-sharing program.
How will Verizon compete with Apple? The company is adopting a “platform agnostic” philosophy, hoping to aggregate mobile apps from four developer communities: Windows Mobile, Palm, Android and RIM’s BlackBerry. This way, developers can code for whichever platform they wish. And they can decide whether to share their software with Verizon, which would provide APIs and tools to make the software compatible with Verizon phones.
The idea, then, is for developers to maximize profit from a single application by selling it to not only BlackBerry customers, but Verizon subscribers as well, for example.
Though Apple is ahead of its competitors in numbers, it does not mean the company is going to stomp rivals into nonexistence, Gartenberg said. Rather, many companies can compete and still co-exist in the new smartphone OS space.
“At the end of the day, for Palm to succeed does not mean that Apple has to do badly, and likewise for Apple to succeed doesn’t mean that Palm is going to go out of business. There’s going to be a lot of room in the market for several players here,” Gartenberg said. “What’s hopefully going to drive a lot of this stuff forward is who gets the developers, who gets the exclusive apps and who gets the additional functionality beyond the out-of-the-box experience.”
Do none of the gazillion iPhone cases currently on the market suit your fancy? Are you still looking for a holster that’s really built to take abuse? Look no further, as the handcrafted EXOvault is an all-metal sheath that can be ordered in aluminum, brass or titanium. Beyond that, details are surprisingly scant, leaving us to assume “what you see is what you get.” Be sure to make clear what kind of iPhone you have when ordering, and be extra sure to have $95 / $95 / $300 (respectively) in liquidated funds available before pulling the trigger.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Even though the DTV switchover has already taken place, consumers can still apply to get their $40 government coupon toward the purchase of a converter box. But you’ll only have until July 31, 2009 to claim your coupon. 
So your MacBook cost $1500—boo hoo. Thirty years ago, when the 
Cellular technology had been in development since the early ’50s, but cellphones didn’t become commercially available until Motorola’s 
The cassette tape reigned supreme 30 years ago; for most music lovers today, it’s all about the download. Difference is, you can get an iPod shuffle that holds about 1000 songs for $79 (and many other MP3 players cost far less). In 1979, a 
Cars exist on a different plane than consumer electronics. Due to a different system of manufacturing, R&D and labor, prices have not steadily trended downward—in fact, quite the contrary. For example, 
PC sales worldwide are expected to fall 4 percent this year as businesses cut back on IT spending and consumers, as they move towards more mobile devices, buy fewer desktops says research firm iSuppli. And not since the dot-com bust of 2001 are PC sales expected to be so slow, says the firm.
