Cell Phone Tips and Guides

2008 shopping season means tech gurus, families, business junkies and a whole lot of us will be looking for the latest buzz on cell phones leading into 2009. If you're criteria involves the hottest electronic gadgets, or maybe the lowdown on that cell phone that is haunting your Christmas list, then check out the consumer electronics guides over at TechFresh.net and cell phone aficionados at Mobiledia which is a great source for features, specs and reviews of the hottest cell phones on the market.

WhiteFence.com recently added cell phones as a category, with the ability to search by service plans and phone equipment. You can also sort your searches by several criteria including monthly price, brands, carriers and more. So you can now find deals on cell phones and cell phone service in your area at WhiteFence.

The Spread of HD

Over the last few years, we've seen a dramatic drop in terms of the price of HDTV's on the market. While only dudes lugging around jars of Grey Poupon could afford the LCD and Plasma screens at first, they've grown to be much more accessible, especially this holiday season. How far has HD really spread, though?

A new survey from Nielsen posted at MediaWeek shows that the number of HD households has doubled this year compared to last year. This brings HD penetration up to almost 25 percent of all households in the country. What seems to be the big draw? Apparently there are several factors including the huge price drop in HDTV's as well as the availability of HD content and even the upcoming digital transition.

With Christmas right around the corner and all of these factors on the table, it won't be too long before most of the country are enjoying the benefits of high defintiion. How about you? Jumped into the HD wagon yet?

What to Expect with the February Digital TV Switch

Are you ready for the February 2009 digital TV switch? Do you know exactly what to expect? Well, it's really important that you do, otherwise you might end up with a blank screen instead of watching your favorite show.

I found this great article on CNN, How to Prepare for February's Digital TV Swithch Over, that tells you the pros and cons of the digital switch. The article also tell you what you can expect if you live in a city or in rural areas. Check it out today so you can be preparted before the switch!

Busting Myths about Green

As the awareness begins to raise about going green in today's society, there becomes a need for people to find more information about how to help the environment and become more energy efficient as well. Even in my home, we try to find the best way to recycle certain kinds of material or to get rid of it in a safe, clean manner, and we can't always find the options we need. As a result, it's always nice to find more resources in order to stay informed for when those questions pop up.

A new article up at The Ithacan Online goes through a few popular myths about going green, and dishes out the facts. For instance, did you know that several of your appliances continue to use power even when turned off? Is a hybrid always better than a gas powered vehicle? Is organic always better?

To find out more about green myths, read more at The Ithacan Online. What are some of your favorite resources for green information?

Your Hot Holiday 100 from CNET and Shopper.com

Ah... I love the smell of commerce in the morning. Holy cinnamon sticks and grocery-store eggnog Batman, it's Christmas time lovely people! I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for the holidays. I've seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation probably 400 times, I bathe in the scents of clove and cinnamon, and I truly appreciate being blinded by twinkling lights every 20 feet.

Now, I'm of the mindset that there is no better place to find great deals than online. Consumers are already scrambling to fill out their wish lists, so I hopped on over to CNET and found a fantastic list from Shopper.com. So raise the sails my friends; it's shoppin time. Oh, and just as a side note, be sure to check out WhiteFence Shopping, powered by Amazon, with items ranging from computers and electronics to books, video games and more.

Holiday Hot 100 - Shopper.com

Want Entertainment? Stay Home!

It's no secret that the country is going through rough times in terms of the economy. While everyone tries to save money and enjoys the ludicrously cheap gas at the pump (seriously, take a picture because one day, you'll look back at these prices and stare in disbelief), people are staying home for things that they used to go out for regularly.

According to MediaBiz, a recent poll indicates that "more than half of U.S. adults (57 percent) said they plan to spend more time at home watching TV in the coming months rather than going out to restaurants or the movies". While this might have meant a night talking to your great aunt Muriel on the phone in another time, people have many more options to stay entertained at home these days.

Access to HDTV, movie rental services, music and more really help people connect with entertainment right in their living rooms. So, if you're looking to pinch some pennies in these hard times, start by seeing what's available for you at home. You'll be surprised by what you can do at your leisure.

Whole Foods Introduces Canola Power

43 stores in the Whole Foods family currently supplied by a facility in the Northeast, will soon become primary benefactors of canola power—as in the same canola oil used for cooking products sold at Whole Foods locations. It is estimated that by next year a generator will be up and operational to power the facility with used cooking oil at a whopping 2 million kilowatt hours per year. The used canola oil is currently being stored in 55-gallon drums.

To get the full lowdown on the Whole Foods canola revolution, visit the Boston Globe and it's recent article on this new energy alternative.

Video Streaming over XBox Live with Netflix

As of November 19th, the New XBox Experience is now available for the XBox 360 video game console from Microsoft. Bringing with it an upgrade in the system's interface, the New XBox Experience adds a variety of features, including something extra special for those of us addicted to Netflix: streaming video.

That's right, Netflix junkies, if you have an XBox 360, XBox Live and a Netflix account, you can now stream everything from their "Watch Instantly" content direct on your video game machine. This includes a wide variety of movies and some TV shows, displaying in both SD and HD formats.

The process itself is simple. Just add the movies to your instant queue once you've activated your account for your XBox 360. Within moments, your selections will show up in the 360's interface, and from there you just click play and start watching.

The service works fast and is actually terribly easy to use. Definitely worth checking out.

Wal-Mart Green? Retail Giant Eyeing Wind Energy and Natural Gas

Wal-Mart, king of the super retail industry, recently announced its intentions to buy 15 percent of the electricity for Texas facilities from a Duke Energy wind farm to the tune of 226 million kilowatt-hours a year, enough to power nearly 18,000 homes. What's more, T. Boone Picken, infamous oil tycoon, is working closely with Wal-Mart chief executive Lee Scott to possibly convert some 7,200 trucks to natural gas.

For more details, here is the official Wal-Mart announcement.

Reliant Puts the Cost of Electricity in the Palm of Your Hands

Have you ever been slapped with a $300 electric bill and wondered how you could have possibly used that much electricity? What if you could tell how much electricity you were using at any given time of the day? Would you change your habits to lower your bill?

Reliant has recently set up a house in Houston, Texas to test their new communication device called Insight. It is a new handheld product that communicates wirelessly to the utility meter and updates information every 10 seconds.

Insight will display the dollar amount of what you're spending per hour and how much the bill is so far. From there you can calculate how much your bill will be if you keep spending the same amount. This can truly help you manage your usage. I mean if I knew it would cost me $8 an hour to use the dishwasher at 2 pm as opposed to $1 an hour at 8 pm, well I would certainly be doing the dishes after dinner.

To read more about Reliant and their new Insight device, you have to read the article A House That Thinks.