Reports by Consumers

The decision will have implications not only for file-sharing, but for any company that creates technologies that can be used to copy copyrighted materials, including companies that make TiVo players, next-generation scanners and digital cameras," says Ghosh, who helped draft an amicus brief filed by Intellectual Property and Technology Law Professors in support of Grokster.

AS IF SPOTTING A COMET that's heading for earth at some future date, Forrester Research is predicting an ad-spending downturn to hit in 2007, when more than 50 million U.S. households will be using either digital video recorders or video-on-demand services. Helping to fuel the coming downturn, according to Forrester's survey, authored by analyst Eric Schmitt, television advertisers are frustrated with standard 30-second advertising because of audience fragmentation. In 1960, the average U.S. household had access to 5.7 channels; today the same home has more than 100. Secondly, ads are becoming more expensive, Forrester found. Between 1995 and 2003, the cost to reach 1,000 TV viewers in prime time increased 68 percent.

Global Advertising Strategies says ethnic minority spending spending on financial products and services will increase by 94% in next 4 years. More than 13% of the 105 mln households in the United States do not have any banking services. Among Americans who do not bank are immigrants, ethnic minorities, the youth, widows, divorcees without credit histories in their own names, and people who have filed for bankruptcy and are re-building their credit-worthiness.

I’ve personally seen this very scenario happen to several friends of the family who recently puchased new PCs. These are not dumb people, mind you. These are regular PC owners that rely on their computers to manage their business, keep track of personal finances or just edit family video clips. Have we come to the point where we now expect every PC user to become an expert in Spyware or Viruses? What percentage of time to do you spend on your PC just keeping it working by running all these necessary programs like SpySweeper, Ad-Aware and then another backup program or imaging solution? I can’t think of another product in my life that requires more upkeep than my PC. When is enough….enough?

While I am a Certified Financial Planner, I no longer serve individual clients. I do give financial planning seminars and the occasional speech, but I don'’t sell financial products. If you’re a member of the public and looking for an advisor I recommend visiting the Financial Planners Standards Council, where you can search for a qualified planner by city or postal code.

It’s important to know this amount before you even start looking. Then do your research. Check websites, dealerships, and Consumer Reports magazine. Look for reliability and repair ratings as well as safety advice. The website www.edmunds.com offers pricing information and advice on buying a used car.

When I last worked for another company, they used Microsoft Outlook and Exchange and were pretty insistent that certain staff people publish their schedules openly so that others could know where they were and where there were schedule openings. But they did not buy PDAs for staff so we chose and purchased our own.

DesignTechnica has reviewed the Sharp Zaurus SL-C3000. There are a number of PDA fans that consider the Zaurus PDA as one of the most underrated PDAs out there. The Linux operating system is always cited as one of the many positives of this line of PDAs.

Capture ISBN/UPC Codes - When I am out in meatspace shopping in "brick and mortars" or "metal and styrofoams" I like to use my picture phone to snap shots of ISBN numbers(books) or UPC codes(other products) for things I want to price compare online.

Tentatively called the 'PocketDish', this portable DVR will be able to record shows from your TV satellite service as well as store other audio and video content.

Has anyone tried this? Washing your keyboard in a dishwasher? Google Search.

A decade or so ago one of Pournelle’s kids spilled an Orange Crush into Dad’s rig, a review Northgate with one of the famed Northgate keyboards. Jerry popped it into the dishwasher, and it came out fine.

According to UPI, "the affected vehicles, most of which were sold in the United States, are the Tundra pickup trucks and Sequoia, Landcruiser Prado and 4Runner/Hilux Surf SUVs built between May 2001 and December 2003."

Wow - this is one beautiful Media Center package - a 40 inch LCD screen and a Media Center PC all integrated into one component. The Elonex Lumina features a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor, 1GB of memory, and a whopping 400GB hard drive. I’m just drooling thinking about this wonder. Of course if a single feature breaks down on this system, you’ll have to return the entire system back for repair… bummer. So the final verdict?

Smart marketers of all types should be watching the developments in home cleaning and maintenance technologies. Time, effort and money saved by increased home care efficiencies can be redirected into other products, services or experiences.

Because consumer electronics devices are delicate and prone to failure. You never know when a failure might hit you, but you can bet anything you like that it will be at the worst possible moment. And by then, I'm sure, you will not care about the few hundred extra euros you paid for the additional guarantee, just to get your computer back in shape, and most importantly get access back to your DATA. Compare that amount to the cost of a new computer, or to the time spent trying to rescue your information.

If you want a GPS for both hiking and driving use, then a handheld unit would be the way to go. Some handhelds even have accessories to allow them to be installed in an automobile. But don't rule out a PDA. More on that in a moment. For driving only, there are GPS receivers made just for vehicle use.

Prices for automotive GPS start at around $250 US. These provide turn--by--turn guidance. Spend a little more than that and you get voice guidance. These are larger than handhelds in order to accommodate a screen large enough to be seen while driving. They are powered by the car's electrical system and because of this, they can only be used in a vehicle.

This story from the USA Today caught my attention. Apparently theives have taken to doctoring the VINs on high priced sport utility and luxury vehicles and pass them back and forth across the Canadian and US border. They create duplicates of foreign vehicles with valid VINs and sell the cars at auctions, to individuals, and to dealerships in the US. This story details one persons experience with a phony H2 that came to Detroit via Canada and turned out to be stolen from Florida.

Apple Computer is recalling 128,000 batteries that were shipped in its PowerBook G4 and iBook G4 laptops over the past eight months, marking the second time since last summer that it has issued such a warning.

In a report filed with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company said that it has identified a new crop of batteries that may have the potential to overheat. Apple will replace all of the batteries in question, which were shipped in 12- and 15-inch models of the PowerBook G4 and 12-inch versions of the iBook G4 delivered between October 2004 and May 2005.

A three-tonne humanoid figure made out of electronic waste is being unveiled on London’s South Bank.

Evidently my crime was copying the photo and specs for the DAC I was selling from Onkyo's Web site. Copying manufacturer info from their Web site to my eBay listing is something I have done in almost all of my many eBay listings and no one has ever complained. And I know that dozens of other people do the same.

Not only did eBay purge my listing, but they threaten to suspend my account If I "relist this or any other similar items on eBay"! What is a similar item? And why should that get me suspended? If I had the time and money I'd sick my own lawyer on eBay! I think Meg Whitman and eBay are getting way too big for their britches and plan to tell them so.

Style-wise, the LifeDrive is one of palmOne’s simpler devices. No sexy curves and sharp corners, just all straight lines and rounded corners (the perfect match for my PowerBook, if I may add). The outer sheath is aluminum, as far as I can tell. There’s a huge palmOne logo embossed at the back, and the speaker grill takes up the rest of the back. It actually looks kinda boring, IMHO. I like the stylishness of the T3, for example, with its subtle curves and rounded corners.

I'm really wanting to go to bed here. Can someone come over and take a shift mopping up the water while the dishwasher runs?

Not to be confused with the Great Appliance Failure of 2004, the sequel includes not only the dishwasher, but the dryer AND the riding lawnmower. Oh, and not to be outdone, the Busy Van II is in on the failure action as well.

The consumer electronics industry has done a remarkable job spreading confusion about video in general, and HDTV in particular. Time was when you could go to the store and just buy a TV with confidence. You could choose a big one or a little one depending on your room size and budget. But those days are gone. Now we’ve got DTV, SDTV, EDTV, HDTV, RPTV, DVI, DLP, LCD, LCOS, plasma, progressive scan, component video, S-video, composite video, etc. With all the alphabet soup, it seems only video engineers can buy a projector or TV and know what...

As part of their “Microsoft-Free Home” series, ExtremeTech put together a particularly interesting how-to on building your own Linux-based HTPC, complete with DVR capability. For the non acronym-savvy in the audience, what the really means is building a computer that you can use for home entertainment, movies, music, the works, based on Linux, and that has the same capabilities as your Tivo or ReplayTV. Sound hot? I thought so too-all for free, and all based on Linux. So if you were thinking about dabbling in Linux for one reason or another, this is probably a great project to get you started.

I’m still waiting for this product to be available for purchase. But while waiting, I discovered a nice review at CNet of the Logitech Harmony 880 universal mega remote control.

You reach it by a ferry which butts its way through the waves like a ping-pong ball in a dishwasher - you can duplicate the experience at home by eating a large meal of underdone fish and lightly-boiled eggs, then performing a somersault in a car-wash.

So I was delighted to crack open the Minneapolis Star/Tribune this morning to this article (free reg required) about what my hometown consumer electronics behemoth is doing. It says in part, "In response to customer complaints, Best Buy Co. Inc., the world's largest electronics retailer, promised Friday to eliminate mail-in rebates within two years. Best Buy's rivals, including Circuit City Stores and CompUSA, are expected to follow suit." Crack open the champagne!

Boy, this is small. Like really small. Sony's new 'world's smallest and lightest' high-definition camcorder with full HD resolution based on HDV 1080i should fit comfortably in your hand. The only issue you'll have is to not lose it! This camcorder's introduction is in response to the growing demand for HDTV. With more broadcasters transmitting high-definition content, the demand for HD has been steadily increasing. In fact, the Consumer Electronics Association estimates that nearly 15 million HDTV sets will be in US households by the end of 2005...

Already, Europe is setting environmental standards for international commerce, forcing changes in how industries around the world make plastic, electronics, toys, cosmetics and furniture. Now, the EU is on the verge of going further — overhauling how all toxic compounds are regulated. A proposal about to be debated by Europe's Parliament would require testing thousands of chemicals, cost industries several billion dollars, and could lead to many more compounds and products being pulled off the market.

Lately I’ve been using my iPod in conjunction with some hour long natural sound tracks (I like raindrops) from the iTMS. They really help me relax and lessen my anxiety. Here’s the deal though. On the iTunes Music Store, any track longer than 10 minutes is only available if you buy the album. Since these tracks are about one hour, it’s one track per album. So that’s about $8-$10 a track. That’s a pretty penny.

Which leaves Sony in an interesting position, because its PS3 is steering clear of the OS, and heading for the chip-set. The PS3 will use the Cell chip, which was jointly developed by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM to be a 'supercomputer on a chip'. The new chip-set will initially be released in the PS2 (it does millions more calculations per second than current game technology), and then Sony will begin integrating it throughout its consumer electronics products -- which Sony desperately needs since its CE division has lagged behind since the introduction...

In addition to providing the security services, it would also take care of basic tasks like de-fragmenting the system and taking backups of files on the hard disk. Most of these tasks are often either ignored or forgotten by the user. The service would also be very useful to the non-technical users of the computers who often have to rely on expert help to get their computer protected from external threats.

A software problem is causing some Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid cars to stall or shut down while driving at highway speeds, according to a published report.

Toyota spokesman Sam Butto told the newspaper the auto manufacturer identified a "programming error" in the computer systems of 23,900 Prius cars last year and sent owners a service notice advising them to bring the cars into dealers for an hour-long software upgrade.

Online shopping received a substantial boost on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state governments may not prohibit residents from ordering directly from out-of-state wineries.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court said that Michigan and New York had enacted protectionist laws that unconstitutionally discriminated against wineries from other states.

Americans looking to shed those extra pounds should choose Weight Watchers International Inc. over low-carbohydrate rival the Atkins Diet, according to the latest issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

A big bad point, the emergence of this kind of device. It takes up to several hours to do the job. But well, with this, no more need to get back to home to resume your phone call.

From Monty comes an article about some states’ plans to turn the gas-tax into a per-mile-driven tax. The reasoning is that hybrid cars drive the same amount, but pay less in gas-tax so the states lose money for road maintenance. I counter-argue that all those gas-guzzling H2’s and such on the road will counter that.

SUPER MAN RETURNS!: Oscar-nominated documentarian Morgan Spurlock, whose fast-food exposé Super Size Me gave McDonald's a serious case of indigestion, is targeting something smaller for his next project: the nation's minimum wage. For the June 15 premiere of his new FX ducu-series, 30 Days, Spurlock and his fiancée, Alexandra Jamieson, relocated to Columbus, Ohio, for a month and lived on $5.15 an hour. "It's so impossible," says Spurlock. "There were days when I'd work 18 hours and make $90." During the experiment, the human...

The Campaign's purpose is not only to raise awareness about the toxins in cell phones, pagers and PDAs but to divert these toxins from our landfills while reducing the need for open-pit mining which produces the gold, copper and other materials used in cell phone manufacturing. Because cell phones contain lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic they are to be classified as hazardous waste by the EPA.

Korean manufacturer Pontus recently introduced a couple of new GPS handhelds, the HNA-3520 and the HNP-3510. Details are a bit sketchy at the moment (or rather, a bit Korean) but we do know that both models have a 3.5-inch LCD screen, and the HNA-3520 adds a built-in TV tuner and MP3 player.

In the article, Kris Oser reports that the traditional female categories (including jewelry, watches, furniture and appliances) show the expected growth online, but also that the more traditionally male-dominated categories saw growth in spending by women. Specifically: “women account for $55 billion of the $96 billion spent between 2003 and 2004, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.”

Today, anyone with a PC or blackberry can blog their way into the content production arena. TIVO/DVR's and RSS are just two of the technologies that consumers are beginning to harness in a big way to choose and grab the content they wish to consume. That Simpson's episode? I TIVO'd it last week and then watched it on my laptop on a cross-country plane ride. That Maureen Dowd article? My RSS Reader grabbed the article for me AND 12 bloggers' commentaries on it ... providing some nice reading on my blackberry.

You listen to them about toasters, search them out to buy dryers, order special reports before you buy a car, now Consumer Reports rates diets.... Thanks Ken Leebow for the tip.

Of course they have: their GE Profile Arctica™ ENERGY STAR refrigerators (graphic at top of post) use 53% less energy than models manufactured before 1993. And don't forget that GE snapped up Enron's wind turbine division in the wake of the latter's chimeric crash, an aquisition even the most fossile among investors can't help but see as smart.

The even better news is that Kurzweil is now turning his amazing inventive mind to other products for the disabled, including -- you guessed it -- captioning systems for the hearing impaired. According to FSB, "By 2010, he envisions pocket-sized reading machines as well as tiny gadgets that that will translate spoken words to text for the hearing impaired -- essentially providing subtitiles for the world." You can bet that if Kurzweil gets a hand-held real-time captioning system to the market by 2010, he won't be able to resist...

Much praise to Harry Eagar at the Maui News for this excellent article on the gasoline market in Hawaii. Maybe it will be enough to coax a few more people to testify at the PUC hearings on the gasoline price cap as they happen across Maui this week, maybe not.