Last month, PC Magazine reviewed the 58-inch HP Pavilion md5880n rear-projection TV. Because of its good image detail, great sounding speakers, uniquely located A/V inputs, and slick menu system, it was awarded an Editors' Choice.
Its list price of $3,499.99 would make anyone cringe, until Gearlogger Dan Costa was informed of a great deal from TVAuthority.com. This online digital TV retailer is selling the md5880n for a jaw-dropping $2,295. Overall, you'll save $1,200!!
A deal like this won't last forever. Head over to TVAuthority.com.
Basically, MVNOs buy lots and lots of minutes from the few big companies who own cellular towers - primarily Sprint, Verizon and Cingular. Then they resell the minutes with their own brand, their own customer service, and sometimes their own phones. (The company an MVNO buys their minutes from, by the way, is an MVNE - a mobile virtual network enabler. I know, it's like these things were named by mobile virtual psychotherapists.)
MVNOs are big, and they're getting bigger. They're also where a lot of the competition and innovation is in the cell-phone world. But they suffer from a truly incomprehensible moniker. I put the question to you: what's a more memorable way to describe these cell-phone companies that don't own their physical networks?
Thanks to PCMag.com News Reporter Bary Alyssa Johnson for this report!
Exmovere LLC unveiled a Web-based Bluetooth-enabled biosensor wristwatch dubbed "Exmocare," which is designed to help provide elderly care assistance for individuals 65 years of age and older. (You know, for those "I've fallen and can't get up!" moments.)
Exmocare allows family and other caregivers to monitor an elderly individual's physiological and emotional health status in from afar, and get this--in real-time! The "wearable sensor system" offers automated reports on the elderly individuals' vital signs including pulse, heart rate and motion. It can also assess up to ten different emotions including relaxed, worried and agitated. So does this mean that the RI-MAN Humanoid Robot will be out of a job?
Each Exmocare wristwatch runs on Windows, Windows Mobile, and/or Windows Pocket PC software. (Sorry to those Mac grandparents!) The device collects information on the wearer every 30 minutes and automatically alerts caregivers of any abnormal activity. Data is transmitted wirelessly via home PC, GSM Bluetooth-enabled cell phone or GPS car kit (which keeps tabs on the wearer's location and vehicle speed). Which means if grandma is driving too fast, you'll know about it before the cops do. Family and friends can opt to receive alerts via e-mail, SMS or Instant Message.
For caregivers who place higher priority on work and play than on face-to-face interaction with Grandma and Grandpa, Exmocare offers an "Exmonitor" program for Windows PCs. The program "allows you to effortlessly monitor your loved one from your Windows taskbar at home or at work," according to the company Web site.
On a related note, the Exmocare service could potentially be implemented in a hospital setting in order to help nurses and doctors monitor their patients more efficiently (some food for thought).
Jeez, online movie sellers move FAST. Apparently, Movielink didn't move fast enough. On Monday, I reported that Movielink partnered with Sonic Solutions to offer on-demand DVD burning. However, this offering may take six months to reach the market, because Movielink is in discussions with movie studios regarding content availability.
CinemaNow, Movielink's rival, decided to cut to the chase and launched a download-to-burn DVD service, beginning today. But, this service didn't just appear over night. CinemaNow bust their butts for a year to make it happen.
The Burn To DVD service lets you download a film and then burn it to DVD. There are 101 feature films available for download & burn, including Barbershop, In Good Company, Scent of a Woman, Prefontaine, Hide and Seek, Cheech And Chong's Next Movie, Paula Abdul's Get Up and Dance, All the Pretty Horses, and Godzilla. Not only do you get the film, you also get all the deleted scenes, interviews and other extras you would find on the DVD, not to mention DVD artwork and labels. Now that is COOL.
How It Works: "To watch the movie or burn it to DVD, you will need CinemaNow's easy-to-use DVD Burner software. CinemaNow DVDs work with any standard +R or -R blank DVD. Once you have completed the burn process, you can play CinemaNow videos on almost any DVD player" [from CinemaNow.com].
The Downsides: The converting process can take anywhere from 2-5 hours, which is to be expected. After that, the burning process takes just 10 to 15 minutes. For now, CinemaNow only allows one burnable copy per purchase to protect against piracy.
Many cultures use bamboo to make houses, fences, bridges, furniture, canoes, martial arts weaponry, and toilets. Bamboo is even a healthy snack for pandas.
So why not construct an LCD monitor out of bamboo, too?
The latest ECO-friendly PC Monitor from Playengine is the Bamboo TFT Monitor ($473.31). It dons a 19-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 1024, 16.7 million colors, and is plug & play.
But why bamboo? Why not pine, sycamore, or ebony? According to Playengine.com, "Bamboo can regenerate faster than wood and is typically harvested within 6 to 12 months...The bamboo is coated with paint which features anti-pest and anti-rot effects and the monitors are easily cleaned due to their unique fibre. In addition to this, the texture of bamboo offers warmth in the winter and coolness in the summer."
Your teenage child will probably see his or her social status go down the tubes, but parents should rejoice at Wal-Mart's latest attempt at a social networking website. Similar to MySpace and Friendster, Walmart's Hub is their way of capturing the attention of teens besides selling cost-effective goods. Members or Wal-Mart "Hubsters"(No, I'm not kidding) are free to express their individuality by creating their own page with pictures and videos. After your teenage child stops laughing in your face, you can tell them the wonderful news about how the site is highly sanitized, where Wal-Mart screens all content, tell parents what their kids are doing, and forbids users from emailing one another. MySpace should be quaking in their knees.
Wal-Mart has already tried a build-your-own computer counter and plans on opening up a Wal-Mart bank in their stores. Sure, Wal-Mart stores provide jobs for the community and more affordable goods for consumers, but at what costs. Casinos provide jobs too and look what they've done to the areas around them. Thankfully, the online community has nothing to worry about.
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