Don't wait until it's too late to take precautions to safeguard your computers and other electronic items from storm damage.

After the tornado watch and other foul weather yesterday, Tech Whiz Mike Himowitz has a very timely story today about protecting against power surges and other potential power mishaps.

According to him, you don't need to spend much to insure your hardware --- and the precious data stored within --- stays functioning through many a surge caused by weather or even the cycling of appliances within your home.

Surge protectors start at $8 and go way up from there, but just make sure you look for a few basic characteristics before you invest: 

Continue reading "Storm-proof your electronics" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Tuesday's column focused on the spread of Voice over Internet Protocol phone service, or VoIP as its better known, and the concerns behind relying on a telephone that you might not work when the power goes out or when your Internet service is interrupted.

While the popularity of VoIP has grown, I'm not altogether sure that consumers are aware of the possible drawbacks to using an Internet phone, which the column pointed out that calling emergency services can be problematic. Please remember that if you move your VoIP service, you must change your billing address AND your emergency address with your provider or your 911 call could get directed to the wrong emergency calling center.

Since I haven't tried to sign on for this service myself, I was really interested to hear from Frank Bonomo who told me about what he discovered when he jumped at a triple play offer:

Continue reading "Voice over Internet phone concerns" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

I don't have a high-def player yet, so I have to confess that my knowledge of this technology is fairly limited. Does anyone have an answer for Reader thomas' question under a prior Blu-ray post?

Will a ripped Blu Ray movie 720p play in a stand-alone hd-dvd player?

Any high-def ubergeeks out there want to help us out?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Last Sunday's Money & Life column involved Gary Brawerman's disappearing e-mail address and Comcast's slower than molasses response to his problem. If you didn't see it, check it out here.

Whenever I write about problems with a big company like Comcast or Verizon, it's inevitable that more complaints about that same company will come in. Instead of piling on in the newspaper some more, I'm just going to start posting those complaints here.

Feel free to add a good story (I'm sure the companies would appreciate it) about your experience or jump right in their and join the angry scrum.

Continue reading "Unhappy Comcast Customers" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

A new Harris Interactive survey shows that while 7 out of 10 people know that the format war is over and that Sony's Blu-ray beat Toshiba's HD-DVD, only 9 percent of non-Blu-ray player owners are planning on buying one.

This InformationWeek story cracked me up:

Harris found that nearly nine in 10 people own a standard DVD player, but fewer than one in 10 reported owning devices available today for playing HD content, namely, HD DVD or Blu-ray disc players, Sony PlayStation 3, and the external HD DVD player for Microsoft's Xbox 360. These numbers are surprising, given that more than a third of consumers overall report owning an HDTV.

Continue reading "New survey say consumers snubbing Blu-Ray" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

By popular demand... er... OK, only two of you were interested in my DirecTV encounter, but here goes.

I've been a pretty happy DirecTV customer for quite a few years now. I got a fancy TV as a gift from one of my very lovely sisters and decided that using rabbit ears would be shameful on something so pretty. I used to be a cable customer, but went cable free for three or four years after I decided I was tired of my cable bill constantly rising.

Last year, on a whim, I decided I needed a digital video recorder. I rarely ever jump on electronics on a whim since I am a bit of a Luddite, but the idea of magically recording TV shows I routinely miss because I have the memory of a gnat and forget when they're on (hello. I'm still mad that I missed the famous singing Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode) really appealed to me.

Plus, DirecTV was offering a deal on a free DVR with a free year's worth of DVR service. All I had to do was sign up and wait for the tech to bring me my DVR. Excited, I signed up. Still excited, I waited for the tech on the appointed day. Not so excited, he turned out to be a no show.

Continue reading "DirecTV customer service can bewilder" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

In this job, I end up writing about a lot of companies big and small, local and national. Many of the companies I've written about are companies I actually use in my personal life.

For those of you out there who think we pull our punches because a company advertises with the paper or we're biased in some way, think again. I've been critical of Home Depot, Verizon and BGE, just to name a few. They're the same companies I pay to: A. supply me with potting soil. B. provide me cell phone and Internet service. and C. make sure my lights come on every day. Those same companies often advertise in the newspaper, too.

It might seem I'm trying to mess with all the service providers in my life since this past Sunday, I wrote about how Verizon's triple play offer went south for one customer after DirecTV botched up the installation of her satellite TV service. Fed up after several attempts to fix the problem failed, Fawn Hartline canceled DirecTV and got whacked with an early termination fee.

If you didn't catch it, read it here. I often say, if a problem is happening to one person then it's probably happening to others. It's rare to see a truly unique problem. So it came as no surprise that I got three other e-mails that talked about encountering very similar problems with DirecTV.

Susan's was the best. Here's her story:

Continue reading "DirecTV sends another customer to collection" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

Remember when we told you that Circuit City was extending its return policy on HD DVD players?

Now Best Buy has stepped up to the plate with an offer of its own. The company is giving people who bought HD DVD players at its stores before Feb. 23 a $50 gift card.

"Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs,” said Brian J. Dunn, president and chief operating officer for Best Buy, in a news release.

The retailer will mail cards out to people who are members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased extended warranties or who bought their players online. They should arrive by May 1, according to the release.

Continue reading "Best Buy makes an HD DVD offer" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Eeesh. It looks like I won't be buying a Blu-ray player anytime soon.

I was hoping that once the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray war ended and one of the high-def formats emerged victorious, we would hopefully see prices go down soon. I was a little surprised to see that price went up instead... and so quickly after HD-DVD called it quits.

According to this InformationWeek story, four weeks after Toshiba said it would no longer produce HD-DVD devices, prices for Blu-ray players went up by $20 to $50 last month. Some of the increase was due to the introduction of expensive players with features that went above the norm, according to Darren Davis, VP of product marketing for PriceGrabber.com, a comparison shopping Web site.

As a consumer, I was having a hard time justifying $467 for a Blu-ray player (the average price in January of the top 10 players, according to PriceGrabber). Now, I figure a Blu-ray player is a mere fantasy for me at $604 (which is the average price for them in February). Most of us aren't early adopters and most of us are dealing with rising expenses for basic necessities so the fact that these high-def players are so expensive will likely price most of us right out of getting one anytime soon.

Continue reading "Goodbye HD-DVD, hello higher Blu-ray prices" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
                    

... if you bought it there within the last three months, that is.

Rumors circulated last week on technology and consumer blogs that Circuit City would offer store credit for the price of HD DVD players purchased there within 90 days.

The leading maker of HD DVD players, Toshiba, announced last month that they ceded the fight high-definition DVD fight to Blu-Ray, a format pushed by Sony, Panasonic and other manufacturers.   

Circuit City spokeswoman Jackie Foreman said ...

Continue reading "Return your HD DVD at Circuit City!" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Early adopters of HD DVD, a form of high-definition DVD technology, were dealt a blow yesterday, when Toshiba Corp. announced it would no longer make those players after March. The company had sold about 600,000 players in the United States, but a lot of the customers I spoke with, including Buddy Schwartz (above), said they had held out, waiting to see if Blu-ray would reign victorious over HD DVD.

But never fear if you supported the losing team. Do not use your HD DVD player as a doorstop or coaster.

Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas said yesterday that the stores would continue to carry new HD DVDs to satisfy customer demand. Your HD DVD player will still play the HD DVD movies you already own and standard DVDs as well, he said.

You could also buy more titles --- or cut your losses and sell them --- at used CD and DVD stores

Continue reading "HD DVDs: endangered species" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

 
Yesterday, we told you that people who own older televisions will have to buy a digital converter box to continue to watch broadcast channels after February 17, 2009. But how do you know whether you need it?

All televisions purchased before 1998 have analog tuners, according to www.dtv2009.gov, a Web site about the coupon program we discussed yesterday. It's run by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. 

Some giant screen projection televisions --- 42 inches or larger -- purchased before 2004 might have digital tuners, and most televisions sold after 2004 at major retailers have them, as well.

But not all!

Continue reading "How old is old?" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Digital TV? HDTV? Direct TV?

After February 17, 2009, about 22 million consumers who watch broadcast television --- using an antenna to pull signals from the air --- will need a digital converter to continue watching their soaps and sitcoms on an older TV set.

But according to Mixed Signals, a report from the Maryland Public Interest Research Group, consumers can't rely on retailers for information about the transition, including the $40 coupons the federal government is giving away to help people buy converters. Check out my story about it here.

Nationally, about 40 percent of staff did not know when the transition would take place, and one in five clerks tried to convince secret shoppers to purchase a new television or a converter box with additional features that would disqualify it from the coupon program. 

Also, more than a third of stores were still selling analog televisions, which will be obsolete after the conversion without a converter. But at nearly 70 percent of those shops, sets had hard-to-read or incorrect labels.

Steve Hannan, executive director of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition, says that part of the confusion stems from a mix-up between digital television and high definition, or HDTV, which is a digital television format that offers enhanced picture quality.

Direct TV is a satellite cable provider, and no, you don't need that either. 

Here's the bottom line:

Continue reading ""D" = digital, dilemma" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Happy Monday everyone! That's about all the positive energy I can muster up today since my toes are still frozen from the bitter cold outside. I hope you had a good weekend.

I'm not sure if you caught this yesterday, but I wrote about Verizon FiOS, the fiber optic TV, telephone and Internet service.  What amazes me everytime I write about FiOS is that it repeatedly gets such rave reviews -- most recently from the smart consumer's bible, Consumer Reports -- that it makes me wish Verizon was offering FiOS TV in the city.

Then I hear stories like the one in Sunday's columnfrom Robert Hanna, who really wanted the service and ended up having to cancel because FiOS TV wouldn't work properly for him. Worse, he kept getting billed improperly for equipment he returned after he canceled, making him wish he never tried to switch in the first place. Such silly customer service missteps makes me worry that Verizon could ruin its chances to really compete against cable companies.

Anyone have any FiOS stories they want to share, good or bad? I may revisit this topic in another column down the road.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

Rejoice, football fans! Did you catch the news here?!

In its on-going dispute with cable companies about access to the NFL Network, the National Football League finally decided (after some pressure from Congress, it sounds like) to work out a deal that will also broadcast the Patriot's historic final game against the Giants on CBS and NBC so that everyone will be able to watch --- not just the lucky few who get the NFL Network.

For those who don't know, cable companies think the NFL charges them too much for the NFL Network and they want to pass the cost of adding that channel onto subscribers. The NFL thinks cable is being too greedy and should just add the NFL Network onto basic cable. Me, I think they're both too greedy and need to work this thing out permanently so that fans aren't the ones who end up losing.

Regular readers of this space know I've griped about this before when I missed Green Bay's Favrelous play against the Cowboys.

Continue reading "Under pressure, NFL caves and fans win!" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

(AP Photo)

So I missed Favrelous play last night, which is probably just as well since I wanted Green Bay to beat Dallas. Thanks to the on-going spat between the NFL and certain cable companies over access to the NFL Network, millions of people around the country probably missed this game, too.

If you're not sure what spat I'm talking about, read my good colleague Ray Frager's story, or this great MarketWatch story to understand why consumers lose in this battle about money between two already-very-wealthy businesses.

Here's the problem in one sad little paragraph from MarketWatch's story:

Continue reading "In NFL vs. Cable, fans lose." »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

OK, so hate's a strong word, but the Federal Communications Commission Chief is making plenty of noise lately about placing more restrictions on the cable television industry.

Read this story in the L.A. Times to understand why the growing dominance of cable companies in the pay TV market could trigger "new powers by the FCC to impose rules ensuring diversity of programming that could lead to lower rates."

Then read this one in the Post just to see Martin's fabulous quote on why cable might need some stern supervision.

Continue reading "Does Kevin Martin hate cable?" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)