Does it ignore covert touches?

AlliPhone

I must have this:

An alarm clock featuring Stephen Fry as your personal valet.

I think even I might not swear quite as much in the am hours if I were woken by the phrases "I am delighted you have survived another night. May I add my own congratulations to the roar of the world's approval? Thankyou, sir"

That may be the coolest thing ever.

"The world has been very anxious to hear from you for the last eight hours. Shall I inform the news agencies you're about to rise, sir?"

I'm not sure that clock would wake me up very gently. I'd most likely freak the fuck out and think some stranger was in my bedroom. Until I got used to it. And then I'd probably sleep through it.

We got this clock (husband is a fanatic for Fry and Laurie), and it's a hoot. It also has a countdown "go to sleep" function that's pretty funny.

I'm in the same boat where I have Verizon, and it would be crazy for me to switch over to AT&T mid-contract. I have a Razr, and I also have no idea how to get speaker phone. I'm sure there has to be a way...

I've heard that AT&T has the iPhone contract for another year or so, and hopefully it will be available to other carriers. A lot of the tech sites say to hold off on the iPhone because they are currently working on the next generation, and like the iPod, the newer models will be better than the first and the price will probably go down as well.

Although it was funny how people were in line for hours to get an iPhone, as if they were going to be sell out. Unlike other hot electronic items, Apple stocked the shit out of their stores.

For those of you seeking HDTV options, you might wish to consider the front projector.

Pros:
- size - up to 110" or more viewing diagonal for an immersive experience
- cost - inexpensive compared to large Plasma and LCD
- lightweight and portable - 5-10 lb. units

Cons:
- light controlled room required - night viewing is ideal
- some effort required for running wiring and ceiling mounting the projector
- add'l purchases necessary: bulbs need replacing every 2000-4000 hours at considerable expense (about $300); and you may wish to use a screen ($200-up) rather than a clean white wall
- standard definition (non-HD) channel viewing doesn't look its best, when supersized (still, it can look pretty good)

I got myself a sweet Optoma HD70 projector, and have been enjoying a nice 75" image (720p) in my little living room. Check out the amazon reviews in the link; they are universally positive (knock wood).

I recommend buying from Costco, which has the most generous return policy around (90 days, no questions) in the event you decide it's not for you (as there's a brick-and-mortar Costco in my neighborhood, it's convenient for me to return unwanted items there). Costco also tacks on an additional two years of coverage to the two-year Optoma warranty, for four years total protection. Finally, Costco throws in a screen for free, so you could potentially avoid that add'l cost (I ponied up extra for a different screen I liked, despite getting the freebie.)

Through the end of September there's a $200 rebate from Optoma on this unit, effectively turning a $900 - $950 purchase into a $700 - $750 one. This is the lowest a 720p, DLP projector has ever cost. (Review carefully Optoma's restrictions on the rebate; for some reason Best Buy and Staples are excluded as viable retailers. Also I don't know if Costco's free screen offer would conflict with the rebate.)

So the current low-end figure on this projector set-up could be:

Projector (w/ 92" screen from Costco) - $750 after rebate
Ceiling Mount - $50 - $100
Wiring - $50 - $100
------------------------------
under $1000

For that price you could, I imagine, get a 32" - 40" LCD or Plasma set -- but the projector could grant you more than double that size a picture.

Given the constraints -- the need for light control, the extra sweat to run wires and mount both the projector and screen -- front projection is not for everyone. But I think it's an option not given much consideration, as the retailers work to push the plasmas and lcds out their doors.

The dip in 720p prices is due to the current wave of 1080p units on the market. I figured in a year or two the 1080p stuff would come down enough that I'd seek it out. In the meantime the 720p gives a nice clean big HD image -- and from what I've read, this 720p unit will downconvert 1080p signals from an HD player (some of those Blu-Rays are 1080p-out only), so that an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray unit -- or else a good upconverting DVD player -- will complement the set-up nicely.

Add'l Info:

Wiring -- Check out Monoprice.com. Besides having the dirt cheapest prices for A/V and computer wires, they have a great customer rating on Reseller Ratings. Never buy an overpriced Best Buy wire again.

Mount - After considerable research, I am satisfied with my low-priced steel ceiling mount from Mount Direct. Believe it or not the line is their "PMS" line of mounts. And yet I have no complaints.

Well, how long have you had it? (More than a month?)

I can definitely see the appeal of a phone/audio/video/Net thingie. But personally, for my needs, it makes more sense to have a cheapo cell phone and Creative Zen Vision: M for music and video. I really love this thing, more than I love most human beings. I have a long commute, so video is very useful to me; I basically have time-shifted my TV watching to a much more convenient time, giving me a lot more time to get things done at home. And with 30 GB, you can really fill it up. You'd be surprised how big a 2.5" screen feels when you're basically holding it in front of your face. I don't feel like I'm watching some tiny thing at all. The battery life is great, and it has an FM tuner too. And you can get it as cheap as $150, if you're patient. The only annoying thing is that you get suckered into buying lots of accessories... the headphones that come with it suck; you'll want some sort of skin/belt clip combination, so you can carry it and so it doesn't get scratched up to hell; and it takes several hours to recharge through a USB port, so you probably want a wall outlet charger. (None of those is at all expensive, though.) And of course, it doesn't interface with iTunes. Really, though, it is a fine, fine product.

Heh. But seriously, if you take one thing away from my long-ass ode to front projection technology -- let it be the advice about getting your wiring from Monoprice. These guys are good and can save you tens of dollars on all kinds of wires and switches. (For example they sell a 5x1 HDMI switch for a very reasonable price.) Most video/audiophiles seem to regard high-priced Monster Cables as the snake oil of the industry.

I am massively ignorant of tech stuff when it comes to computer hardware, so I hope someone will be able to help me-

I'm ordering a new LCD flatscreen monitor that's 19" with built-in speakers to replace my older 14" one.

It's reqirements are:

Available power outlet
VGA adapter or DVI adapter
Audio source with 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack output

My question: what the hell is a VGA or DVI adaptor, and do I need one? I'm not a gamer and my current monitor is fine (I use it for work and surfing the net). My computer itself is a year old and has a NVIDIA geforce 6150 LE. My existing monitor just plugged into the power outlet and the back of my tower (the monitor is from my old Dell while the computer is a new HP) and plugged my attachable speakers into the back of the tower as well. That's what I want to do with this monitor - I don't need one of those adaptors, do I?

I'm not much of a techie, but I do know that the adapters are maybe 15-20 bucks at Radio Shack, so you could wait until the monitor gets there and see if it works without it. If not, pop down to Radio Shack or Best Buy and get what you need.

Yeah I dunno, I'd like to step in here, but it's unclear to me the ports that exist on the computer and monitor.

To confirm what you may have guessed: VGA and DVI are different means of transferring a video signal. If the ports on computer and monitor do not match up -- e.g., the computer only has a VGA port, and the monitor has a DVI port -- then an adapter would be necessary, to convert from one to the other.

Ideally you'd be aware ahead of time about what ports to expect, by either reading specifications or checking the back of the computer.

A port that would take this cable is VGA. (select photo for close-up)

A port that would take this cable is DVI. (select photo for close-up)

Okay, it looks like the model I got doesn't have a DVI connection after all, these are the specs:

Input Video Compatibility Analog RGB
Connectors D-Sub
D-Sub 1
DVI No
HDMI No

I think my computer has a VGA port, isn't that the standard one? If it takes my old Dell monitor I wouldn't think it's a DVI port.

I believe that "Analog RGB" is the same as "VGA."

So I strongly suspect that the cable you're currently using will work just fine with the new monitor.

Maybe someone a shade more techie than I can confirm, but I'm pretty sure that's right.

Newer monitors generally have DVI output, but they also usually come with VGA-style adapters. The year-old tower PC I'm using came with a 19" LCD monitor with DVI, plus adapters that made everything better.

For those overseas that must have the iPhone, some good news:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/24/i...d.ap/index.html

Thanks for the help on the computer monitor advice, everyone. Turns out it was fine - everything hooked up easy.

So I come with yet a new problem regarding technological hookups:

I have an Emerson EMV2004 TV. Long ago I lost the remote and have been using a universal RCA remote since. I just bought a new SV-2000 DVR/DVD player.

It hooked up the same way as my previous DVD player, and I've checked the connections several times. The cable inputs into the player, then goes into the DVD. The TV plays fine. The player turns on, opens, closes, etc. and it sounds like it's reading a DVD when one is in, so it seems fine as well.

The problem is that I can't get it to play on the TV screen. The player is turned on and running and nothing happens to the TV. Not a blue screen, just the TV continues to function normally, not recognizing the player. Nothing on channel 3, 4, 99, whatever. From what I learned on the Net, the problem seems to be that that the TV is not recognizing the input signal. My other player played fine (on channel three), and this one is hooked up exactly the same, to the same ports.

There is an input button on my RCA remote, but when I press it nothing happens. My TV had no problem recognizing my old player - it even did it automatically when the DVD player was hooked up, I didn't even have to press input on anything (back when I had the original remote).

So I'm stumped at to what's wrong. Anyone have an idea?

Hey, I happen to be up.

I would be baffled a bit at this point too. It seems you have a good handle on the situation, even if there's currently no apparent solution.

I would think you're most likely right to be focusing on the TV Input issue. It's conceivable that your RCA Universal Remote's "Input" button is not configured to actually change the input on the TV. Universal remotes are imperfect at absorbing a unit's remote functions wholesale; you typically get the lion's share of the original remote functions but not necessarily all of them, when instructing the Universal via the manufacturer code. So, if the remote is not actually changing the TV Input, what to do? I take it there's no "Input" button on the TV itself? If you haven't poked around the actual TV to find one, I'd recoomend that. Also, make sure that your Universal is set to control your TV (rather than other components) when you are pressing that Input button.

The other possibility that springs to mind is that the DVR/DVD Player itself needs to be told to go output its DVD function rather than its Cable TV (DVR) function.

I would also try to troubleshoot using the whatever resources the DVD/DVR player might provide: manual, tech support line, website.

Good luck, bud.

Thanks Joe Don!

No, no input button on the actual TV that I can find, just the ports.