Reports by Consumers

The United States Postal Service recently announced a 10 city trial run of a free recycling program for used electronics.

Zoran demonstrated multimedia processors for both Blu-ray and HD DVD at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in January. "While we have proceeded cautiously during the format wars, planning to go as the market and our customers direct, going forward we will fully support Blu-ray," said Dave Pederson, vice president of corporate marketing.

Every year, the world's major consumer electronics exhibitions showcase apparel with built-in gadgetry and equipment that can be used to adorn various parts of the body, and predictions are made that wearable electronics is a market set to take off.

If you’re not familiar with the Harmony series of universal remotes, then my friend, you are totally missing out. These remotes are incredibly easy to program (thanks to the software based wizard programming), support nearly every consumer electronics device known to man (ok.. maybe not every but it feels that way!), and easily manages any complicated home theater setup.

Imagine your TV screen feeling warm and fuzzy like a stuffed animal. What would Elmo and the Cookie-Monster look like on a furry TV? It´s no joke: Philips has filed a patent for a screen made from fabric. Each pixel, says the Dutch consumer electronics giant, can be made out of a piece of fabric covered with hair.

The guys at MobileWhack do an excellent job of covering the digital world. They focus on consumer electronics a little more heavily than we do, and they have a dedicated flock.

I loved my Apple Newton. I bought it on opening day. Don Box ordered one (from me) immediately.

Now fuzzy self-programming will be used to help gadgets learn about human emotional response, and try to emulate it. A little robot dinosaur called Pleo will be hitting consumer electronics shelves soon.

Time to declare war, I think, on little dongly things. More of them turned up in the post this morning. I’d ordered a new optical disk drive from an American mail-order company and, because I live in that strange and remote place called “Foreign,” and also because I travel like a pigeon, I was keen to know when ordering it, if it had an international power supply.

The EFF’s Deeplinks section has a pretty alarming post about the RIAA and MPAA’s attempts to freeze the progress of consumer electronics technology and then start turning back the clock on all of us. Fair use, meet your successor: “customary historic use.”

According to a story in today's Mercury News by Dean Takahashi [Link] the hot thing in this year's Consumer Electronics Show is going to be Internet connectivity. No, he is not talking about your computer, he is talking about all kinds of devices including things like digital cameras and iPods connecting directly to the Internet to access and move data around:

Tis now the season for contemplating the number of "updated" electronic items given and received as holiday gifts during this past week. The heap of PCs, laptops, printers, VCRs, televisions, cell phones of all sizes and abilities, iPods, MP3s, BlackBerries, handheld computers and personal organizers, to name some, though hardly all, of them. What now will happen to the "old" ones these have replaced? Will they join the vast stream of "e-waste" which has now become a little-thought-about peril to the planet? If you are one of the millions of Americans who upgrades and updates electronic equipment with ever-growing frequency, please take a minute to find out what happens to the discards.

However, in other areas, I’ve seen times where the internet can be just as frustrating as Mr. Stoll found it to be. Specifically these occurred when I was trying to find information related to consumer electronics items that I was considering purchasing as well as using the internet to find lodging not covered by the major travel web-sites. In trying searches in both areas this morning, I was able to find relevant information that may influence my plans in a relatively short period of time.

Apparently, we should find out some more details at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. I may be able to consolidate and get my DVR count down from three! Oh, the dual tuner part lets you record two shows at the same time, or record one and watch one live at the same time. It’s a very good thing. My cable box actually does it, which is a feature I would enjoy more if the interface were better.

The iMac got a warmer greeting than perhaps either of the other products Apple unveiled Wednesday. Many blogs showed that the company’s move to bring the PC to the center of the living room piqued users’ interest–especially given that many analysts presumed the Mac Mini would take that role. But again, Apple seems to have fallen just short of making a slam dunk with the new product. More than a few bloggers who were excited about the iMac’s Front Row software also lamented that they wouldn’t move to an entertainment system centered on their computer until Apple offers more integration with television.

For most computer users, the effect would likely be an inconvenience at worst: Their computers will be updated with new software by then, or configured toconnect to network time servers that will know the correct time. But because not everyone's computer is networked or updated, some glitches could occur--especially in consumer electronics devices that aren't designed to be reprogrammed.

At last, a way to end squabbles over which TV channel to watch — without buying a second set. Sharp Corp. has developed a liquid-crystal display that shows totally different images to people viewing the screen from the left and the right.

HowiePro was established to post and answer common consumer questions and topics related to digital technology and consumer electronics. This blog will also serve as a forum for Howie to relay insider knowledge from industry shows and conventions.

Now these are what I’m talking about! This article on cnet.com shows the beginning of what’s to come. I know in about a year I’ll probably head toward one of these types of networked, raided, terabyte drives!

The personal video recorder (PVR), also called digital video recorder (DVR) or digital Personal video recorder, is a consumer electronics device that records television shows to a hard disk in digital form at. First introduced by TiVo in 1999. (see Tivo /Timeshifting)

To help independent senior citizens live more worry-free lifestyles, DesignTech introduced the world’s first wearable emergency phone at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). DesignTech’s 911 Guardian Phone enables you to press a single button on the miniature wearable phone to call “911″ in an emergency situation without needing to be near a regular phone. You speak directly to the emergency operator through the phone. Since you are speaking directly to the emergency operator and not to a call center, you can directly explain your emergency and get help faster. In addition, since 911 Guardian Phone does not use a call center like other emergency pendants, 911 Guardian Phone has no service fees or usage charges.

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?

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.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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.”

“Were it true, the FCC would have plenary authority to regulate consumer electronics and computer devices.”

In reaching its holding, the Court noted that the All Channel Receiver Act of 1962, which mandated that television sets support UHF signals, reflected that FCC did not have authority over receiver equipment. And in the Communications Amendments Act of 1982, Congress authorized the FCC to impose performance standards on consumer electronics, reflecting that it does not otherwise have general authority to do so.

The FCC exceeded its authority by requiring consumer electronics makers to help restrict copying of digital TV broadcasts, a federal appeal court rules.

Sites like Amazon.com and ePinions pioneered product rating systems. In some categories, these ratings have become essential to a product’s success: more than 60% of consumer electronics purchasers report that they consult online ratings before making a purchase decision!

My only problem with Sound ID is that the products don't seem to be out there yet. The site doesn't say if/when they will be available, or where you will be able to get them. On a quick Internet search, all I could find were (very positive) reports on the prototype model, including a two-year-old report from the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show on Geek.com. But that's just my usual gripe about the terrible marketing we see in the hearing industry -- even the manufacturers who seem to get everything right, especially with the design...

On the balance, we are witnessing the demise of the PDA as a separate device. That is what the numbers show in the field of consumer electronics. Within a few years, those who can afford to purchase a PDA will buy a smartphone that can its special content into hard drive space provided by the networks.

Sony is supporting Blu-ray disc technology along with most consumer electronics makers including Samsung and Matsushita.

Sony is the main backer of Blu-ray Disc, a format that has picked up the support of many major consumer electronics makers, while HD-DVD counts NEC and Toshiba as its main backers. Both formats have been designed to hold high-definition movies, and both are being promoted as a replacement for current DVD-Video, which cannot support high-definition TV.

I thought this was really interesting. ITFacts.biz breaks down some interesting statistics about consumer electronics showing that 75% of US homes have DVD players. Other statistics include:

$125.7 bln of consumer electronics will be sold in 2005

Best Buy recently announced that they are phasing out the use of rebates over the next two years. I couldn't be happier. I think those things are such a blatantly deceptive marketing ploy. Sure the price is lower, but you have to read the fine print and jump through a bunch of hoops to get it. It was getting out of control. I'm glad Best Buy has taken notice and is making a change. Hopefully, other consumer electronics...

Matsushita, the owner of the Panasonic Brand, has unveiled four new portable digital-music players in an effort to boost its presence in a market that is dominated by Apple’s iPod MP3 player. The world’s largest consumer electronics maker unveiled two models with built-in flash memory–one capable of storing 512MB of data and the other twice the size at 1GB–and two that work with SD (Secure Digital)...

In MGM v. Grokster, the Court will decide whether copyright holders can veto consumer electronics and computing innovations that upset the content industries' prevailing business models, even where the technology's non-infringing uses provide substantial benefits to consumers. The question is whether consumer demand for new and better products will drive technological development, or copyright owners' demand for control will retard it.

Navigating and searching cable TV, let alone dealing with a variety of devices (how many remote controls do you have?) and sources for content, is still in the Stone Age, and will be for years. Katzenberg mentioned how Moore's Law is helping improve the quality of high-end animated features with better tools, but there's isn't a Moore's Law equivalent for the user interface, especially in the tangled consumer electronics world. The solution won't come from any single vendor, but from many different groups working on similar problems over decades....

Best Buy Co., the nation’s biggest consumer electronics chain, said Friday its fourth quarter earnings rose thanks to a February sales surge but offered a disappointing forecast for this quarter. It also said it will phase out using mail-in rebates over the next two years, bowing to customer complaints. Its shares fell more than 5 percent.

The service was previewed in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, showing how users can download specially formatted content to their PCs and then transfer it to devices running Windows Mobile software. For the final launch the service has been updated to allow subscribers to select specific content to be downloaded each day, Microsoft says. Users can also turn on an automatic deleting feature that vets files according to how long they have been stored on their PCs, it says.

Sony has plans to use XMB across their line of consumer electronics products (such as some of their newer TVs) to hopefully create differentiation and hence product margin improvement in an increasingly hyper-competitive consumer electronics market. Can you imagine trying to sell your products at BestBuy? Here’s a row of 20 LCD TVs which all look pretty much the same. Take your pick… as the eye searches to find the cheapest one.

Be gentle, I'm the new kid. Engadget Podcast.23 03.21.2005

Okay, the complaint. I live in a medium sized city in the Midwest. We are too small for Best Buy and Circuit City, but big enough for Office Max, Radio Shack, Wal Mart, Sears, . . . etc. When I need something at the last minute, technology wise, Office Max is generally the only game in town. I do not know how they do their distribution, but they seemed to have pegged our market as "too clueless to know the difference."

A blogging consumer reports on his new Nikon 4300:

My new Nikon 4300 arrived today, and I have been testing it out. I am really very happy with it, simple to use and good quality pictures. I will post some pics I took.