Show for Week of 7-12

Hosts: James and Graham

Guest: Tatch Kilgore

Producer: Graham

 (Edited and Recorded using Garageband)

Download the Show here. (Right Click, Save File As)

Show Notes:

Some of our dumpster diving success stories:

zroya
 
@dumpstertech My favourite dumpster find was about 100 genuinely great PC games for $100, back in 1999. Would have been over $1000 usually

Randy: Model M Keyboards, 25 inch TV, Stereo System, Good Chairs, Memory and Cables Galore. Also a Laser Jet 4 that still works today.

Tatch Kilgore also had a story or two.



In News:

Borders opens e-book store
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20009839-93.html

Twitter @earlybird to take on Woot?
http://support.twitter.com/groups/31-twitter-basics/topics/111-features/articles/208505-what-is-earlybird
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20009801-248.html

Evo vs. iPhone video author keeps his Best Buy job, but doesn’t want it back
http://www.androidcentral.com/evo-vs-iphone-video-author-keeps-his-best-buy-job-doesnt-want-it-back

App Inventor for Android
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/app-inventor-for-android.html

Run Android Apps on Your Windows PC
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2366186,00.asp

-The iPhone 4 Antenna Debacle
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/25/iphone-4-antenna-woes-contextualized-by-dude-in-the-know/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2

http://gizmodo.com/5576839/wireless-expert-on-iphone-4-antenna-problem-tests-we-got-a-problem

-Documents reveal that Dell knowingly sold defective Optiplex PCs
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/documents-show-that-dell-knowingly-sold-defective-computers-mis/

-OnLive gaming service goes live, latency tested (I’ve also played on it); results uneven at best
http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/07/08/051248/OnLive-Latency-Tested?art_pos=6

And of ofcourse Tatch Kilgore' Video:

Also Tatch's Twitter: @thatasianguy1

Hey Guys!

I hope that everything is going well over in DT land. I just wanted to add another question to the hopper. I heard from the BBC that the Kenyan government was forcing people to register their individual cell phones, allegedly in order to overcome issues that were arising due to people using their cell phones for allegedly criminal activity (shocker shocker). However, this becomes more interesting because apparently in some parts of Africa people are conducting business over these cell phones, such as managing bank accounts and so on and so forth. In some cases, villages are actually buying a single cell phone by pooling the funds of all the villagers.

So, this is my question. If I'm a developing country with minimal to no infrastructure outside of, say, a capital city, and I want to provide long-distance access to information and services, etc, which makes more sense to you guys: Encouraging cellular phone use, landline use, or cable-based internet given different costs relating to infrastructure, electricity and security (including both the ability to protect that infrastructure as well as the ability to censor/monitor/block information being passed out).

My name is Linus Leonard, and I mailed you about a year ago regarding dumpstertech-worthy backup solutions. Thanks for your on-air reply!

I saw you wanted suggestions for your next episode, and I was wondering if you've actually found anything useful in dumpsters, particularly computer related stuff? I have a few times. A few days ago I saw a huge Chieftec fulltower in the electronics bin at my appartment complex. I fished it out and gutted it for the following components:

- Pentium 4 2,66 GHz Northwood (I used to have wet dreams about this puppy back in 2002)
- Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce 7600 w 256MB
- Sound Blaster Audigy
- 70cm long round IDE-cable

The kicker is, they all seem to be working fine and aren't dusty nor smelly. Now that's what I call dumpstertech! Free stuff rocks!

Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
Linus Leonard

Can you believe it the Nook is now $150 (well if you want one with out the 3G radio) and $199 with 3G. Plus the Amazon Kindle 2 is now $189.99.

Thats a great price point for both E-readers and we are really hoping, this will help also drive down the prices on Ebooks, if there is more market penetration on the readers themselves.

Now for some shop news:

 James and Graham  plan on recording a new episode next week.  If you have any subjects you want them talking about, please leave a comment on this entry.

Thanks!

Despite all the hype of Apple's Ipad, there are still cheaper and lighter e-readers availbile. And Barnes and Noble feeling the heat, has offered this little incentive to try to get your attention.  Buy a Nook for $259.99 online, at a Barnes and Noble store, or even a Best Buy store and get a free $50 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Not quite the $199.99, or $149.99 price most of us would like to see, but it's still cheaper than an Ipad, and it now is incentive over their direct competitor the Amazon Kindle 2, still priced at $259.99. 

Keep your eyes peeled, We don't think the Ebook reader wars are over, despite what Apple may think.

There have been several moves in my family as of late. (Big reason why there hasn’t been a pod cast lately, sorry about that) And a few of them have involved changing or setting up new Internet services.

A couple years ago, I was able to setup price for life with Qwest on my DSL. This involved agreeing to a 2 year service agreement, but meant that they would not change the price of Monthly service once the agreement was up. Pretty neat, eh? Well turns out they stopped offering this a few months back. Instead they cloned the Comcast model, one which I had to opt into once I moved out of Qwest service area and was given no alternative had to go to Cable Internet with Comcast.

The model is this: For a promotional period, usually 3 to 6 months, the rate is discounted, typically when bundled with other services like Phone, or Television, then after that it jacked up incredibly high. Sometime almost double the promotional rate.

In my case, I was only able to get a discounted promo price, if I bundled My TV, Internet, and Phone. Well I first off had no desire to have a home phone; both my fiancé and I have never wanted yet another phone number we could be reached at. I have a Google voice number I use to give out to business I know who sell my number to telemarketing and a personal cell phone.  And if my cell number is given out to advertisers I remind them of Federal call restrictions on calling cellular phones, and they stop harassing me.

Secondly, I have to pay more, for an additional service I didn’t want, just to get my other services cheaper. What the hell? Where is the sense in that? Others I’ve talked to have said this is the game with Comcast, and at the end of the promo time period it’s best to call them up and ask to cancel the unwanted services, they in turn will offer to extend the promo pricing for another 3 to 6 months, at the end of said time you will of course repeat this process.

Why can I just have what I want, at the advertised price? If I agree to a contract? Why all the games? Why must I bundle unnecessary services. I of course will call them and cancel the home phone at then end of my 3 months, and I’m sure we will do a round of this dance. But are they really banking on the customers who don’t have the time to play this game? And not make the phone call to customer care. Are they the ones Comcast makes all there money on?

Say what you want about Cell phone service providers, but most of them will let you switch to current promotion pricing, as long as you agree to a contract extension. Why not ISPs/Phone/TV providers?

Also is it really fair that the ISP, is also the provider of TV and Phone these days? The Internet is quickly becoming the alternative to television with products like Netflix, Itunes, and Hulu (let alone alternative content like Blip.tv); And Skype is certainly an alternative to the home phone. Do I really want the Content distribution company, also regulating by ability to use the competition? This of course leads back to the issue of Net Neutrality in general, in both a pricing issue and free market of content distribution. But this issue is worsened in a case like mine where there wasn’t even any other competition. Qwest wasn’t available where my new home is, nor any other ISP. So my only choice was Comcast, is that right? No competition means they can charge whatever they like and get away with it. All this model does is hurt the consumer.

This entry is certainly food for thought, and please let me know what you think by either leaving a comment or clicking the Contact Us menu option.

Thanks,

~Graham

Sprint Nextel, through its Virgin Mobile brand, has announced a pretty big shift in its business model by offering new prepaid plans that begin at a mind-blowing $25 a month. Starting on May 12, three new Beyond Talk plans will include unlimited messaging, email, data, and web, as well as 300 minutes ($25), 1,200 minutes ($40), or unlimited minutes ($60) of talk time. And that ain't all -- BlackBerry data service can be added for an additional $10. Of course, you'll be paying full price for your phone, but at least the selection is indeed better than the usual pre-paid fare, including the Blackberry Curve 8530 ($300) and LG Rumor Touch ($150).

Source: Engadget

Sorry but with Graham buying a house this last week, and some other personal stuff going on with James we just couldn't get a show together.

So very sorry!!!

But here is a great deal on a computer to lighten you up:

The Dell Studio Hybrid is just $299.99 Today!

This is one of our favorite PCs, it's small and really power effeicent uses about 1/4 the power of a standard desktop, and makes a great Home theatre PC with the Blueray upgrade.

Plus this model comes with Windows 7!!!

Check it out by clicking the Picture for the Link or here!

Been playing around with this little guy today for work. Not a bad little player. Then I saw they were on deal of the day at Microcenter for just $15.99. Thought I would mention it. Click the Picture for a link to the deal, or just go here:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0327318

It's a just a great work out player. And having a disply sure kicks the snot out of the $60 fruity competition with no screen.

Hosts: James Zirbes and Graham Lovhaug

Guest: Loren Lovhaug

Producer Graham Lovhaug

Download the MP3 Here! (Right Click, Save File As)

Loren, Graham and James all took a trip to the Apple Store to check out what all the hype was about. After all it's not everyday Apple releases something that less than $1000 and isn't an Ipod or Iphone.

We talk in detail about our intial impressions of the devices and also some of the competition this device has coming.