5 Geeky Gifts Under $50

As the clock winds down on holiday shopping, here are a few more gift ideas for the geek in your life. And if your loved ones don’t like them, they can always take the return money and buy the latest whiz bang thing after CES in January. (Dave and I are both going, by the way.) Just keep in mind that half the products announced at CES never make it to market, so maybe these gifts are their best bet after all. At $50 or less, they shouldn’t be too hard on your wallet. 

Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB HDTV Antenna

Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB HDTV antenna

Now that OTA TV is making a comeback, it may be time to invest in that HD antenna. The Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB gets good reviews from users on Amazon, and it rings in at a manageable $37.84. Some locations will have a hard time getting OTA signals no matter how good the antenna, but this should boost the chances of a decent signal, and some high-quality, freebie television watching.

iPod Building Block Speakers

iPod Building Block Speakers

Shaped like Legos, but apparently without the commercial naming rights, these iPod docks are a cute, kitschy way to broadcast tunes locally. The iPod Building Block speakers are reportedly compatible with the iPod®mini, iPod®Touch (1st Generation), iPod®nano (1-4th generation), iPod® (3-5th generation), and iPod® Classic. Pick a color (no red or blue in stock, unfortunately), and the speaker dock is yours for only $21.99. 

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Redbox Instant Sets Rates

While Verizon and Redbox’s joint venture may be running a bit behind schedule, the Netflix competitor teased us today with program details. As expected, Redbox Instant will stream video from a number of distributors to a variety of mobile and television devices —  including smartphones, tablets, connected Blu-ray players, and Google TV. The all-you-can-eat movie-centric … Read more

Gamestop Offers $50 Console Trade-In Bonus

gamestop creditAs my most recent Xbox 360 (4GB model) has been collecting dust, given its noise pollution and annual tax, I’ve been contemplating switching the hardware up for another PS3 or handheld PS Vista ($250). And that was my plan when I arrived at Gamestop to redeem their $50 PS3 or Xbox 360 console credit bonus. While Gamestop rarely offers great trade-in values, it’s always extremely efficient. But the extra 50 bucks brought my $200 console up to $125 — which is quite reasonable considering how long I’ve had it, including the last year it’s been banished to storage. Yet, before the helpful clerk could bring my new PS Vita Assassin’s Creed bundle out from the back, I noticed Gamestop now offers a healthy selection of tablets including the 32GB Nexus 7 and entire range of Kindle Fires.

amazon kindle fire hd

My current iPad 3 hasn’t been able to replace a laptop and I find it too bulky to comfortably use on the couch, so my plan has been

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TiVo’s Tebow Ads Hit, DVRs Return To Walmart

As TiVo allows me to skip commercials, I’ve yet to see their new Tim Tebow ads on television. Fortunately the company has begun posting the spots on YouTube. And, overall, they’re cute but relatively innocuous — with more lines given to child actors than Tebow and, sadly, TiVo product sees very little screen time. In fact, … Read more

Aereo Headed to Smart TVs

At yesterday’s VideoSchmooze conference in New York, Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia told the audience that his company will soon release more applications for the 10-foot television experience. Aereo is planning to launch apps for a variety of smart TVs shortly, and for adjunct TV devices, including the Roku. Aereo has a private channel for the … Read more

LifeProof frē iPhone 5 Case – Not All That?

lifeproof-fre-backAfter much anticipation, the Lifeproof frē ($80) arrived at Best Buy last week. Like its predecessor, this iPhone 5 case is designed to protect your smartphone from dirt, water, and drops… in a much more svelte form factor than the fairly well known ruggedized Otterbox line. Yet, while Lifeproof’s marketing materials are compelling, I don’t have much confidence in the reality.

My case survived the recommended one hour water test, sans phone, and I expect it would have done fine job protecting from splashes at the kitchen sink or in the rain. But there’s no way I’d be comfortable fully submerging the iPhone 5 — given the case’s construction, including an issue with the bottom corner that didn’t have a flush seal (below right) despite realigning the O ring. Also, speaking of construction, while the frē is certified to survive 6′ drops it’s less rugged feeling and thinner than the competition — so they’ve presumably achieved this feat via superior engineering,

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TiVo Gains Customers, Signs Tebow

TiVo’s out with their quarterly earnings and things are looking up after a profitable quarter, with continued patent litigation/licensing success and subscriptions growing 44% year-over-year… largely thanks to Virgin Media’s success in marketing and deploying well over a million TiVo units (versus seeing any significant gain via that awful “new” DirecTV solution). With other foreign and second tier US cable providers on deck, we expect TiVo’s footprint to expand and the company predicts reaching a point of recurring profitability in fiscal 2014.

On the retail front, assuming my math is correct, it looks like TiVo is averaging 10,000 Premiere DVR sales per month, these last three months… but also averages about 5,000 monthly cancellations or boxes that no longer generate revenue. So while this is TiVo’s best net subscription performance in four years, they’ve still got work to do. Which is why their marketing department has recruited Tim Tebow to get the word out via a multimillion dollar advertising campaign. Yet he’s a highly questionable brand ambassador given his poor presentation skills (above), status as a backup quarterback who can’t throw, 

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