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Audio: Where to Recycle Old TVs
Tweet Share on Facebook April 21, 2009 CommentI called up my local Goodwill store the other day and asked if they still took an old but working TV as a donation. Sometimes, I was told, but not just now. It seems they've got more than they can handle these days.
I'd bet it's because of the transition to digital television. The switchover has encouraged many of us to buy modern, flat-panel sets. Millions old TVs sit unused as we ponder if we should donate them to Goodwill, which might not even want them.
Where to Recycle Old TVs
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I spoke this weekend with WTOP about how we can recycle TVs. Many manufacturers will take back their old models for free. Otherwise, consumers usually must pay to recycle TVs, which normally can't be done for a profit.
Even trashing them is less of an option. More and more municipal haulers and landfills won't take TVs because of their hazardous waste, which is a particular problem with tube models.
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Rock Band and LEGO Partner for Huge, Weird Videogame
Tweet Share on Facebook April 21, 2009 Comment (80)Two big videograme franchises are joining to bring us LEGO Rock Band. Yep, hardcore rockers will get a taste of the wholesome family humor of LEGO's games -- or is that wholesome families will find a safe medium to cut loose their young rockers?
In other words, this new title spells mass market. It's a weird pairing, no doubt, but I think it can hit a huge middle. That's assuming the partners get it right for the game, which is due by the holidays for major game consoles.
Here's how the companies describe this version of Rock Band:
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Apple iPhone Apps Have Huge Lead Over BlackBerry, Android
Tweet Share on Facebook April 20, 2009 Comment (11)BlackBerry and Google's Android face a tough fight to catch up with the iPhone App Store. Apple has grabbed nearly three-out-of-four developers writing software for smartphones, says a piece at ReadWriteWeb citing data from mobile analytics firm Flurry.
ReadWriteWeb cautions that Flurry's data is based on developers that use its tracking software. Few BlackBerry developers so far do, but that itself is a red flag, a Flurry analyst suggests. Adds Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb:
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Shoppers Happy to Pay Extra for "Green" Gadgets
Tweet Share on Facebook April 20, 2009 Comment (1)Why manufacturers are greening all their gadgets: Most shoppers would pay a premium for consumer electronics that do less harm to the environment, according to a survey from the research firm Compete. “2009 will be the year that 'green’ becomes profitable, not just trendy," says Compete's Elaine Warner.
That's all believable and an opportunity for selling. But the survey's specific results seem less believable, saying more than a third of consumers would pay up to a quarter more for a product. Some 5 percent would pay 75 percent more, and another 5 percent would pay twice the price for something green.
Consumer intentions, noted Twice magazine in writing about the survey, don't necessarily translate to action "on the sales floor or checkout page."
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Consumers in Washington, D.C., to be First to Test Mobile TV
Tweet Share on Facebook April 20, 2009 CommentThe first consumer test of new mobile TV broadcasts will launch this summer in Washington, D.C., says a group that represents TV stations. The consumer test will come on top of industry trials that will launch in the coming weeks in Atlanta and Seattle, as well as one that launched last week in Raleigh.
There announcements underscore how quickly mobile TV is coming. It's relatively cheap to get the broadcasts up and running, and TV stations are moving ahead at a fast pace.
That means that there won't be a chicken-and-egg problem in getting the mobile signals into place, unlike with the original digital and HDTV broadcasts. "We are ready to be the chicken," says Anne Schelle of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, the broadcaster group that is promoting the new technology.
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Apple Trounces Windows for Being Easy and Enjoyable
Tweet Share on Facebook April 17, 2009 Comment (5)No surprise that Apple tops another survey for customer satisfaction. Maybe some surprise at the margin Apple has over its closest Windows competitor, according to the latest data from Forrester.
Apple earned an 80 percent rating in Forrester's "customer experience index" versus 66 percent for the highest-ranked Windows PC maker. The gap was 17 points for being easy to work with and 15 points for being enjoyable.
Also surprising, perhaps, was that it was discount PC maker Gateway that topped the chart among Windows PC makers. There wasn't that much difference among the Windows group, though, with Dell at the bottom with a 58 percent rating.
That suggests it's Windows at fault more than the hardware companies.
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Google's Android Will Take Off Soon, Say Company Execs
Tweet Share on Facebook April 17, 2009 Comment (2)After what's been a slow start, Google's software for cellphones should be taking off soon, say company execs. Android should have a "very, very strong year," CEO Eric Schmidt told analysts yesterday. He added:
There are announcements happening between now and the end of the year that are quite significant from operators and new hardware partners in the Android space, which I won’t preannounce except to say that they really do fulfill much of the vision that we laid out more than a year ago.
That vision is getting stale. After appearing to good reviews on one phone last year, the software has hardly been seen. Little was said at a big electronics show in January, and only a little more at a wireless show a month later.
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Time Warner Cable Backs Off Metered Internet Pricing, For Now
Tweet Share on Facebook April 16, 2009 Comment (4)Poor Beaumont. The Texas town is the remaining outpost for Time Warner Cable's test of higher charges for heavy Internet downloading. The company said Thursday it wouldn't expand the controversial trial to other cities. At least not for now.
The surprise capitulation came after withering criticism on the Web and from politicians. Unlimited downloading could have cost users $150 a month under the plans, with lesser charges for other levels of Web use.
"It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans to roll out additional tests on consumption-based billing," Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt said in a written statement.
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Mobile Digital TV Launches in Raleigh
Tweet Share on Facebook April 15, 2009 Comment (2)The other half of the digital TV transition got its launch this week in Raleigh, N.C., where bus passengers can watch broadcasts from a local station. It's the first U.S. market to get digital TV on-the-go.
It also suggests broadcasters are on schedule to get the new signals up and running in about 20 markets by year's end. Station owners have high hopes that the digital broadcasts can draw new customers and revenues. Besides TV programming, the digital signals can also carry data such as weather and traffic reports.
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Move Over Netbooks: Nettops to Also Surge This Year
Tweet Share on Facebook April 14, 2009 Comment (3)One of my favorite new classes of PC is poised to take off: Cheap all-in-one desktops that are just starting to appear. Asus, Dell, Acer and others have announced models with built-in LCD screens that could make great family hubs.
Most have announced initial models at prices of $600 and up. But sales will boom when prices dip to $400 or so, which could happen by year's end, say analysts at DisplaySearch. The market is drawing a raft of new players who've seen the surge of interest in netbooks.
Nettops are essentially netbooks turned on their side. The wave of the inexpensive desktops hitting the market has DisplaySearch nearly doubling projected sales to about 6 million this year. The firm had predicted sales of about 3.4 million just a few months ago.
