The Raging Tech

I Got a New Gadget - Now What?

It would be ageist for me to assume that a lot of older folks aren’t getting into the new technology as much as the younger folks. As time passes, I think more and more people are realizing that older generations are receptive of new technology if they receive them as gifts, because technology is usually a significant amount of money spent.

That being said, a lot of you probably received new technology gifts this holiday season: iPods, iPhones, mp3 players, cellular phones, video games / systems, PDAs, and more. I won’t be the one to volunteer to teach you all the nifty things your new toys do, but one of the first things a new “iGift” needs is a protective case. You may have a warranty on your item, but you don’t want it to get all scuffed and scratched up, right?

PDOstore.com has the latest iphone accessories and hard / leather cases for your new tech gadgets this season! There has been an incredible number of these “i” gadgets sold this holiday, and PDOstore has the gear you need to protect your “i”! Also of note, they don’t just sell cases; they sell chargers and other accessories, too.

Why Guitar Hero Rocks My Face Off

Guitar Hero is one of the coolest video games I’ve ever played. Now I haven’t played tons and tons of video games, so that may not be saying much to you. But as a below-average gamer, this game really appeals to me as much as it does my hardcore gamer friends. I’m more of an analog gamer myself, and I think as I get older I’ll still keep playing both board and card games as well as video games.

Guitar Hero basically does for guitars what DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) did for dancing: absolutely nothing. But it does take people who wish they could play guitars like rock stars and make them feel like they’re progressing in some sort of skill as they play along to some of their favorite songs. I admit, I don’t like every song on each edition of this game, but I do really enjoy the classic rock and some of the modern songs too. There’s really something in there for everyone, which makes it an awesome party game.

Retailing on eBay: Become an eBay Store Owner

The other day I was on eBay checking the auction for the Nintendo Wii I listed. It was up to $202.50 with six bids (three bidders) and only two days left! Normally all the bidding takes place at the end, so I intend to make a lot more than that on it.  It occurred to me that I’ve been paying a lot in eBay and PayPal fees when an item on eBay sells, and I decided to look into how much it would cost to have a monthly store on eBay. As of this writing, it’s only $15.95 a month - which is more than you pay in seller fees if you list much at all.

For that monthly fee, it’s a steal: you get 30-day fixed-price listings for only a nickel each! Plus you get a store to showcase all your auctions and items for sale. You can even make an item a permanent one, by setting it up to auto-renew at the end of the 30 days. Your listings will get slightly less exposure, but if you’re using my free wholesale sites that I’ve linked you to so far, you should be able to find exciting inventory that you can move fast on eBay and that won’t be a problem.

Today’s wholesale drop-shipper is a doozy!  They are a consumer electronics wholesaler in China - the shipping is a little high because items ship to the US from Beijing, but you can usually find insane electronics bundles. The bundles make the item more expensive, but for what you’re getting it’s a pretty amazing price. I have sold two Sony PSPs from this site and made a small profit. Unfortunately, the profit margin in video games is slim pickings for most of the year except around Christmas when you can charge a little more for game systems on eBay without gouging people too badly.

Holiday Gift Ideas

I’ve got a few top picks for gift ideas this holiday season, and because this is my blog and there’s not a darn thing you can do about it, I’m going to share them with you!

Everyone loves a time-tested favorite, and they’re usually the safe way to go when you’ve got someone you’re unsure what to get. You might want to avoid cliche gifts that the person has expressed time and time again that they despise. For example, fruit cake. I hate fruit cake, so please don’t get me any. I enjoy cologne, socks, dress clothes for work, gift cards, and cash from the people who don’t know what I want. For a woman, you might try similar items (maybe perfume instead of cologne) because most of those are pretty unisex. Be careful that your gifts don’t portray an offensive message: for example, if you know someone with a weight problem, don’t buy them Slim Fast.

Gift baskets are an excellent way to be a safe gift-giver and a customized gift basket can show thoughtfulness. The basket can be filled with gourmet foods, baby items, items with a theme such as items from Texas. You could get gift baskets with men’s items or Christmas gift baskets for women. A personal favorite of mine would be a basket full of chocolate stuff, but since I’m diabetic, it has to be sugar-free chocolate.

For those closer to you, you probably already know when they drop hints if they are eye-balling something special. This season’s holiday hits will likely include: The new Verizon  LGVX 10000 iPhone-wannabe phone, Apple iPod Touch, Apple iPhone, the new iMac, HD-DVD players, X-Box 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii & DS Lite, HDTVs, and the usual huge assortment of digital cameras and mp3 players.

When you go out shopping, check sites like Google Product Search to try and get the best prices. Do your research online, find the best price, and then go out to the store and see the item in person before you purchase online.

Peace in the Media Services

Finally — it’s October, almost 8 months since we started having serious issues with Mediacom at our new place. For the uninitiated — we had problems with our cable company, Mediacom, where we couldn’t watch our TV and use the internet at the same time. We were finally told the only way to obtain the quality of service we were expecting was to get a second line put in to the house.  We ditched their TV service and switched to Dish Network with an awesome HD package and a DVR (sort of like a TiVo). When we did that, we tried to get Verizon DSL, but failed. So we went back to cable internet. And we only had it for about three days before it died. Completely. The wait time to get a tech out to fix it? 6 weeks. Completely unacceptable! Eventually, we were able to cancel our cable and get the DSL.  I haven’t looked back for a moment with any regret.

Now we have silly “problems,” like trying to manage the space on our measly 250 gig DVR by deciding what shows get to stay, and which ones have to go. I’ve been recording Star Trek: Enterprise in HD, which comes on everyday, multiple times a day. But I’m watching them and deleting them to free up space. I did figure out I can just protect what I don’t want it to overwrite and it will automatically delete unprotected things to make room.

Our DSL is fast, and I haven’t had any problems with it (knock on wood) and zero days of downtime! They don’t seem to throttle our bandwidth when we push its limits with BitTorrent downloads, and there aren’t many ports blocked off. We opted for the wireless DSL router, which saved any sort of configuration hassle to get it up and running. We can even connect to it with our Nintendo DS handhelds and play people online in Mario Kart! The Wii also connects to it, which is cool because it lets us play YouTube videos on the big screen.

I went over to my friend Nathan’s last night. He had purchased an HD-DVD player and twelve HD-DVDs (I presume on credit; that’s a heck of a lot to shell out at once). We watched “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” and “Scorpion King” on his roommate’s 61″ plasma tv with some sort of awesome surround sound system.  I say I’m impressed, because I am, but probably less so than I would be if I didn’t own my own big screen with HD satellite programming.

All in all, it’s nice to have all that, even if it is just “stuff.”

The Return of the Innernets!

That’s right, someone finally turned the wheel and opened the floodgates on the series of tubes that is the innernets to my house. Mediacom came out last week and re-installed our cable modem so we could be back online. Boy, the Nintendo Wii sure is a lot more fun when you have internet access.

Strangely, and this may be due in part to its recent absence, I’m still watching more TV than I am getting online. I’m not sure if that’s the onset of lethargy, or just not being used to it. No one talks to me on IM anymore except my mom and my coworkers, and the occasional long-lost pal. It’s not as interesting to me anymore to just sit and browse for hours on end and read random sites. I usually just subscribe to RSS News Feeds and check those every so often, listen to music, and check my email, then get off and go watch some TV.

But that doesn’t sully the fact that I’m pretty happy to have the internet back at home. Now I can IMDB movie stars with the greatest of ease.