Final Post: I'm moving!

I realized a long time ago that my tastes have moved into the gaming realm. Check me out at Alan Plays Games.

So long, and thanks for all the fishes.

Glyde.com: you piss me off

I like to think of myself as a veteran of trading sites online, especially of games. Goozex, Amazon, and Glyde.com. But now I have come to an issue that I am not sure how to approach.

About a week ago I requested to purchase a game from Glyde.com, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition. For those who do not know (and have not browsed my incredibly small blog for reviews on stuff), Glyde is a website where users can buy and sell dvds, games, and books and Glyde handles the mailer and trade process, so that neither the seller or buyer really have to interact with each other. Anyway, the game was supposedly sent and supposedly arrived at my apartment on January 18th. I checked my mailbox and spoke with the doormen and they did not see my package, nor received anything from Glyde.com. According to USPS, they dropped it off on the 18th, and Glyde uses their delivery tracking service for 1st class mail. When it gets dropped off at a mail stop, it gets marked as delivered (very important note).

For Glyde, any products that arrived have to be commented on within 3 days. However, there is no “I did not receive the package” option. Now, normally I know in this situation I have to send a complaint email. So I did and I asked them to give me a few days in case USPS mailed it to the wrong building. I was given the tracking number via email again and asked to check local buildings and the local post office. Well, I live in New York City and while it was a pain in the butt to do so, I did check with the apartments nearby and they did not receive anything for my building.

So I wrote back. And they responded to check with the local Post Office. This is also a chore, as the Post Office nowadays is only open until 5:30pm and no longer open on weekends. To compound the issue is that since I only have 3 days to report feedback to Glyde and I am on day 2, I will not be able to check with the Post Office until next week. Efforts to try to delay the 3 day window were responded with a copy paste of the previous emails.

At this point, I am trying to plan my next move. Do I file a report to USPS that someone stole my mail? Glyde says that by using delivery confirmation it means my package arrived. But it isn’t certified mail, so there’s no indication of who had actually received my package, no signature, no indication of who actually took it in, only that it was “delivered”. Should I contact the company’s local Attorney General (They are in California)? Do I contact the police? While I am fortunate that this isn’t a larger amount of money, I don’t like getting scammed.



For those who think this is too long:

1. Requested game from trading company Glyde.com

2. Company sent game to address via USPS

3. USPS reported it as “delivered” but my building manager tells me they received nothing

4. Glyde won’t give me more than 3 days to figure out what happened and tells me to check local post office on a Friday afternoon.

5. Glyde says 1st class delivery confirmation says delivered, therefore it is delivered, but it’s not certified, so I don’t know who actually took the package once it was “delivered”,

I'll figure out my next steps soon, but in the meantime, I'm not a big fan of Glyde.com at the moment.

What bugs me is the fact that they use USPS tracking as a way of determining if something was delivered. Letters, ok I can understand. But packages? At least with certified we can see who signed for it. Also, with sites like goozex, I can work something out when a deal goes sour. Customer service here is nonexistent. I'll put up the email threads shortly.

Ugh, I hate getting burned online.

To those of you still keeping track at home....

Alright, so I didn't quite die yet. I've actually spent the last few months being productive:

1. Moved to New York
2. Found a new job
3. Played a ton of Call of Duty: Black Ops
4. Played a ton of Gran Turismo 5
5. Started work on an upcoming website along with some other tech savvy bloggers.

Stay tuned.

DC2NY: The standard of traveling from DC to New York on a bus

(Disclaimer: I'll put this up at the beginning of all of my reviews for the buses:
1. This is not based on a single experience, but multiple trips from each company. I'll try to point out the highs and lows so you know what to expect.
2. You can't blame traffic on these guys. The Turnpike is a bitch no matter what you drive. Some are smarter than others, but you can't pick and choose your drivers for any of the companies. Having said that, expect the bus ride to be around 4.5 hours on a good day or late night, 5 hours or more on a Friday afternoon in traffic.
3. I'm a bit of a paranoid internet user. I don't like sharing internet connections on a bus, so I carry a datacard with me. Or I bring movies with me on my laptop. But I have tested them all at various times. And all the bus companies have had buses that had broken wifi. Count on it!)
4. Oh yeah, and I don't use a bathroom on a bus. Some buses will make rest stops. Use them.

Where does DC2NY Pick you up:
DC2NY has three locations in DC and one in NYC:
Dupont Circle is pretty easy to find, I'll post up a map and picture courtesy of google maps where the pickup spot is. Get off on the North Entrance.

The 14th and H pick up spot is a little trickier, but not far from MacPherson Square, in front of the Cafe Philips:

The drop off is at 14th and I, but I won't show u a picture of that since it's so close and it's not like you'll get lost GOING there.

The Union Station pickup is quite a weird one. You'll need to head up the escalators that are in the middle of the terminal area of the train station, then walk out to the bus area up another set up escalators. You'll see the area below. Note that Boltbus is also here as well as Washington Bus:

The New York spot is on 33rd and 7th. They also duke it out with Bolt Bus for this spot as well. And yes, it is in front of the adult video store.

What Makes DC2NY So Special: 
Service:
I don't know how I got into using DC2NY, but for me personally, it is my favorite service. It was started by a group of people who saw the business opportunity of having a comfortable bus system between NYC and DC. It's scary to think that 10 years ago your only choice was the Chinatown buses (shudder). The one thing I must say about the management for the company is that they are very hands on. If you take the pick up from DC you'll either see Asi the president taking your name on the list or a nicer European guy (I forget his name at the moment) do so, and they will also help you with your larger bags and place them under the bus and keep an eye on it. If you take the New York stop, you'll see the long haired Avi do the same. I've yet to see another bus company actually do that. Also, buses will take votes as to whether or not they take a rest stop. Most people choose to go straight to NYC. Except one time where it was a buncha stupid kids who wanted a rest stop. Those bastards. They also wanted to watch the Nutty Professor 3.

 
Amenities:
Another nice touch is that they give you a bottle of water, which doesn't offset the price or anything, but it's a nice touch since you will be on a bus for 4 hours. They also offer a choice of movie, which could be interesting (The Blind Side, Quantum of Solace) or crappy (The Nutty Professor 3? Really?). If you're a picky movie watcher I'd grab a book or movie instead of trusting their taste. If you just like watching all sorts of movies you'll be fine. Internet is pretty decent when it's there.  I got around 1 mbit a second with a 100 ms ping. Good for surfing, but you're not going to be streaming a movie. Also, power plugs are available on every other row of seats.

Here's another twist to DC2NY though. They have some buses that they own, but occasionally on busy weekends they will actually contract additional buses, which is why you see things like World Tours and DC Trails and the like. Some have the plugs, others do not. Service is the same, just the buses may be arranged a little differently.

Pricing:
$28 one way, $50 round trip for members if you book it online. Also, as a member, if you do at least 6 one way trips (I think it was 6), you get a free one way. They switched to a points system now with the beach buses, none of which I've used but the points should be the same.

For non-members, it's $30 one way, $55 round trip if you book it online.

If you walk up, it's $35.

The downsides (because you know nothing is ever perfect):
They don't tell you on the website, but some of the Dupont pickups that occur before Union Station pickups are the same buses. Meaning that if you get picked up at Dupont, you're not actually going yet and that adds some time to your trip. Also, especially on Fridays Union Station pickups have to wait for that other bus to meander through the crappy DC traffic from Dupont to Union Station before slogging northward towards I-95. So sometimes that 5:30 from Union Station doesn't leave until 6pm.


Conclusion (and tips):
I guess it's because I like it when people take that extra step and provide some customer service, and they do treat their customers like customers rather than cattle to stuff into a bus. They're reliable, friendly, clean, and I reward them with my loyalty.

Some tips and things to note for DC2NY:
-Book at least 3 days ahead of time if you want a specific bus time. Also, do the membership thing if you use it alot. Membership online is free and you save at least a couple bucks.
- I've never taken the beach bus. That's all on you.
-There is very little overhead space in the bus. Don't be a dick, just carry your backpack and tuck it under your seat.
-Vote to go straight there. Do you really want to spend an extra half hour traveling on top of the 4-5 hour bus ride? Movie is up to you.
-Again, wifi may not work and movie may not be what you want. Bring a book or something else to entertain yourself. 

Next up, Boltbus! Stay cheap you guys!

I'd give an excuse as to why I haven't been posting, but I have a list...

So far this summer I have eaten 120 oysters in one sitting (ACME Oyster house in New Orleans), traveled to Bermuda, beaten roughly a dozen games, dropped 20lbs, and taken Bolt Bus AND DC2NY at least a dozen times.

Also, during that time, I've had a laptop die on me and it had my original articles. I also have a potential new side project developing that I'm working on with a fellow friend and I was hording articles for that project but I've decided to start putting them here first, then potentially rewrite them on the main site at a later date. Anyway, as summer winds down I will start posting here more frequently, probably every two weeks or more. Can't say I tried this summer tho. :-P

Stay cheap.

Review of Bolt Bus coming soon...

Planning to head up to NYC in two weekends to see the significant other and I'm finishing up the Bolt Bus review. The more I stew over it, the more I'm starting to think I prefer Bolt Bus over my current favorite, DC2NY. Course, I'll have to retest that by taking them this go around.

But which one will I not try to review soon? Megabus has me a little worried. Check this out:

Megabus = Megasauna? - Apparently the AC in the Megabus didn't work. That's a scary thing for those double deckers.

Bus drivers don't know how to get to NYC - I have NEVER had this issue happen to me, and I've traveled up to NYC at least 30 times. the worst adventure I've had was the day before Thanksgiving, where it took us 8 hours to get to NYC. Why? Jersey Turnpike traffic, and it was the day before Thanksgiving.


I think the buses are handy, but again, regardless of who you take, you're still bound to the rules and conditions of the road. I would avoid taking the buses:

• Day before New Years
• Day before Christmas
• Day before the 4th of July
• Day before Thanksgiving
• Day before any Federal Holiday, really.

In reality, any time where people with cars would think about driving a car is usually a bad time to take the bus. Chinatown, DC2NY, Vamoose, Bolt, or Mega, you'll all be in roughly the same crappy traffic. So don't be dumb.

Check out the bolt bus review shortly, Otherwise look at my old review, which covers nearly all modes of transportation from DC to New York in the archives.

Selling and Buying stuff online: Glyde.com

(UPDATE: New Drama with Glyde. Bottom Line, don't use them yet until I figure out how they deal with missing packages. http://ppgeek.blogspot.com/2011/01/glydecom-you-piss-me-off.html)

I don't quite remember how I got to know this site, but I think it was through some other game traders. Glyde's whole premise differs pretty significantly than that of goozex, which I had previously reviewed (check my archives!).

It's a pretty simple concept for buying and selling:

Selling is simple:
1. List your games/dvds/books online
2. Glyde will send you the package you need to send the product out to the user
3. Wait a couple days
4. Profit with money!!! No points, nothing in the way of cold, hard cash!

Buying is just as easy...


1. Select a game/dvd/book that is listed that you want to buy
2. Glyde will send your request to the seller who will send you the product
3. Wait a couple days
4. You get it!

You will get your money in an account on the site, which you can withdraw and have them directly deposit into your account, or you can use it to buy other products on the site. No points system, and they guarantee all transactions.

I've done three transactions so far with them (possibly a 4th one coming up) and my experience so far was this:

1. The selling process is VERY easy.

But there is one caveat: You can change the price the system wants you to list it at, but there is a high/low limit.
WTF? Really? I mean, I appreciate Glyde telling me it's "above the market price", but it is my item and I should deservedly list it at the price I want to list it at. Generally, this price range is fairly reasonable (I think around 10% upper and below the market price wherever they may find that price at ), but for older or more obscure items, I feel like I should be able to list it at the price I want to since they are so hard to find.

They send you a prepaid mailer and you simply put the game or item in it, then mail it out. It'll arrive to the buyer and in a few days, you get credit for the item you sold. Easy.

Downsides?
1. They take a painful cut. Oh man, for selling a copy of Modern Warfare 2 for example:

They charge 1.25 for the mailer, I can understand since they pay for the mailer AND for postage and tracking. But here's the kicker: They also charge shipping and handling when you BUY something.

Let's take Modern Warfare 2 for example.
As a seller:
-You list the game at $34.50
-Glyde takes a cut of $4.70
-You get $29.80

As a buyer for that very game:
-The game is listed at $34.50
-Glyde charges you an extra $3.47 for shipping and handling.

That means Glyde gets 8 bucks (over 20%) of every transaction total. Shipping and handling I understand, but damn.

In any case, I use it because it's VERY easy to do transactions, there are a fairly large number of people using it, and I can use that money to get other stuff on the site, reducing the painful feeling of reaching for my wallet. Also, I find myself now getting games off of Goozex.com and selling them on Glyde. Helps me mitigate those points which are now steadily creeping up to around $500 worth of credit...


In any case, I recommend Glyde.com, but I'm still a little miffed about the pricing and the amount they charge. These guys really rely on internet traffic for them to survive, and I would think Amazon would be smart to adopt their system for buying and selling used items. Taking advantage of Amazon traffic could be huge for these guys. But still, I like them now the way they are :-)

I have a pretty thorough review of Boltbus coming up, I just need to get some time to clean it up a bit. Also, I'm still gaming pretty damn hard. In the meantime, stay smart and stay cheap.

A minor note...

I figured I might as well throw in some random tech related stuff, since, hey, this is my freakin' blog.

Darryl Gates died today. For those of you who aren't older than 20, he is considered the founder of the SWAT team concept and former LAPD Police Chief, and lent his name also to the Police Quest Game SWAT (which then started the SWAT series, etc). Rest In Peace.

Also, my childhood neighbor, Mr. Miller, had passed away recently as well. Sad.

I really need to stop playing Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, by the way. That game is just a time waster.

Quick hit: HDMI Cables

A while back, a friend of mine asked me about buying a new PS3. One of the topics that came up was HDMI cables. I'll save you the conversation but it basically boils down to this image (click to embiggen):




1. Buy your HDMI as cheap as possible.
2. Ignore anyone that is trying to tell you to pay more than $10. Or even $5. I got mine for $2. WITH SHIPPING.


Interesting post. Keep an eye out for my newest article, a full article length review on Bolt Bus! In the meantime stay cheap and smart.

Holeeee crap.....hello 2010, you certainly got a jump on me.

Alright, so long story short, I can sum up why I haven't been posting with a single picture (my gamertag is Nissan288):



I am both proud of this score, and extremely depressed. I think my total game time is somewhere north of 200 hours now. This combined with my new found weightloss regimen (I've stopped eating all red meat like beef and pork and I'm going to the gym 3x a week now) has sucked all my free time.

Obviously much has changed in the geek world. Ipad, new Android phones, 3D Hdtv (wtf?), and new games to play have come out. I haven't noticed myself since I've been playing MW2.

I have a new list in the coming year of things I'd like to research and look into:

-A New Phone (No, I'm not getting an Iphone. Android phones look promising, I'm also playing around with developing an application for it, again, related to Modern Warfare 2)
-Selling games and movies (I've amassed a fairly large collection from Goozex, and I'm finding some good sites to sell them. I'll review them soon.
- Traveling between DC/NYC/Philly Revised. Much has changed. DC2NY now has new buses that I've ridden in, new locations have opened (Union Station DC FTW), and new bus routes have opened (Megabus to Philly!).
-Other random crap. I found an article I half finished that I'll push out shortly on a rant of mine.

All in all, it's a good time to be cheap. See you guys soon, hopefully this weekend....

I might be cheap as all hell, but I'm (probably) not gonna do Black Friday

Sorry if I haven't been able to blog the past few weeks, work has been crazy still. And now for Thanksgiving, somehow I wound up in Miami....where it's sunny and 80....:-)

Anyway, it's that time of the year again.....

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!


Uggghhhh. I don't like Black Friday. See one of my first posts as to why.
I'll admit tho, I will try to make it out there tomorrow morning. But only for one thing and one thing alone: Pants.

Yes. I need new jeans. Old Navy has a deal on Black Friday where you can get the new Lego Rock Band for free if you buy $20 worth of stuff, which isn't hard at Old Navy. If anything, you could go to an old navy, then take the game to Gamestop and sell it to them for $25, and you just got yourself a free pair of pants.

And that's pretty much it. Well, maybe somewhere else depending on where I get dragged to with my friend here in Miami...

A bit of a warning for those of you who go out or are planning on spending themselves into the red this year:

-Compare online before you buy in store. Some things are actually cheaper online than on black friday. Blu-Ray players and bluetooth earpieces come to mind.
-It's a good Black Friday for video games. Gamestop has a 360 Elite with 3 good games for 300, or PS3 120gb with 3 good games for 300. While you could get this on Amazon (or something close to it), you could have this one RIGHT NOW.
-Avoid big box retailers like Walmart. With so many people fighting for so few items, it's just not worth the hassle.
-Go in groups with friends and keep cell phones on to keep track of each other.
-In regards to the friends, make sure they are the kind of friends that do not like shopping. That means they'll get what they need, pay for it, and leave. No hanging around and dealing with the crazy people.
-If you can't deal with it, just stay at home. Is it really worth getting push around and waking up at an unGodly hour just to save 30 bucks?

More to follow later. Happy Tofurkey day!

Gaming prices have hidden costs

Sorry for the lateness in posting. Work got insane and I had end of the year deadlines for work....

So just recently Walmart had this crazy deal for a Microsoft Xbox 360 for $200 plus $100 giftcard. People were talking about it all over the internet. Great deal but it brings to light one of the issues I have with the 360 which is both a good and bad thing: buying seperate components.



Let's compare the game consoles:



Wii

With the wii, there is only one version and one version alone. You do not get a hard drive, wireless is built in, that's it. Very simple and straightforward. $200 nets you the standard gear and lets you fully enjoy all your crappy minigames.



PS3

Yes, there are multiple version of the ps3 in the beginning, which was REALLY ANNOYING, and certain versions had variations, such as the number of usb ports, flash reader, and I think the very first one did not come with wifi. I'm ignoring the backwards compatibility at this point, as I think Sony has dropped the idea as a feature, even though I still use mine to play PS2 games on a regular basis. However, they did not cripple their systems to monetize them later. The one without wifi cannot ever have wifi built into it, same with the usb ports (although you can buy or get free usb hubs), and the hard drive can be swapped out for any 5400 RPM notebook hard drive. They cut out features to save on cost. At this point though, I think the only difference between the newest version of the PS3 is simply hard drive size. But you can buy the smallest version and it'll play your games and do stuff just fine for $300 even.



360

This is what bugs me: they sell different versions with different features and allow you to upgrade your slightly inferior systems at a price. Take a look at the Arcade unit. It has no hard drive to store data, so your save games need to be on a card and games will take longer to load instead of being installed to your console, no wifi to connect so you'll need to have a cable actually plugged into your hub/router. Both the Wii and PS3 have wifi, why not the 360????



Now, let's take the $200 arcade unit, with the $100 discount. You'll need an additional $60 to $120 for a hard drive to install games, save files, etc. In addition you'll need another $100 for a wifi adapter unless you can plug it in to your router. Also, you'll need to shell out another $50 for online service. It's not cheap, and it might be worth it, but it's not the homerun people have talked about. Also, be on the lookout for cheap systems on craigslist and the like. Recently Microsoft has banned many users for pirating games, rendering their systems unable to connect online at all to download patches, new content, or play online. So that cheap 360 elite with controllers may not be a good deal for you...

I'll try to get another post up soon, I'm stuck here an extra day, possibly two, and I'm not going anywhere with 2ft of snow everywhere outside. Stay smart, stay cheap.

Why rebates suck and HDTVs are mad cheap now

The comic above pretty much sums up my feelings about rebates. I've been seeing them a lot lately and it's been pissing me off. Back in the day, I used to do them for a lot of things, from computer parts, to tvs, lcds, everything.

The concept behind a rebate is simple (I'm using an example from a purchase I made):
1. Pay the MSRP now for a keyboard, which is 90 bucks (old school Logitech MX Cordless Duo Elite Keyboard and Mouse...props to my bro for that one)
2. Store gives you a rebate or the package comes with a coupon for 30 bucks.
3. Send the manufacturer (in this case Logitech) the coupon along with the cutout of the barcode on the side of the box and your reciept to show you bought it.
4. Wait 12 weeks
5. Company sends you check for 30 bucks
6. Cash it in and you saved 30 bucks from your original purchase!

Why does this work? Companies will often do this to give you an incentive to purchase their product over a rivals. They know that their product will depreciate over a certain period of time so the value of the item will be less later anyway, so they'd rather have you you to pay the current amount and give you back that difference later just to claim a sale. This is the economical explanation at least. However, this isn't the best way to make money obviously since it cuts into your company's bottom line. That's where there darkside of the equation comes in, as according to this article from consumer reports, 40% of all rebates are never claimed. Companies take advantage of these people to make some of their money back. So what do they do to try to fluff out their margins on this? A couple things:
1. Make the time frame really short on the consumer end. Sometimes you only have a window a week or two to send it out. Let's face it: we have more important things to do.
2. Make some weird or somewhat difficult requirement. Or maybe you threw out the box and therefore lost the UPC code. After all, who keeps the box after they open something? Sometimes you have to go online and fill out a form to print out to send along with your coupon.
3. Make you wait a really long time and hope you forget about it. This goes back to the 40% number, but it could even be more sinister. Seriously, some companies will say that they've "lost" your paperwork and hope you've forgotten it until after the deadline has passed.

A few years back the Wall Street Journal did an experiment to try to buy different items and see if the rebates come back. You can find the article here. The result? Out of 5 rebates, only ONE worked without requiring intervention by the reporter. Check out the graph below from the article:




Sucks huh? So what can you do to protect yourself?
1. Don't play the rebate game. When looking at prices for stuff, ignore the rebates. You don't want to deal with the hassle and whatever money you might save you might not get.
2. Do the rebate ASAP. The longer you wait, the more likely you're gonna lose out on the money.
3. Keep track of your rebates in a spreadsheet. That way, when the time is ticking, you'll know when you need to call them and pester them about your rebate.
4. Keep copies of EVERYTHING. Document, document, document.

I stay out of the rebate process nowadays. Getting too lazy to try to save that much, plus I don't deal well with customer support. But it's still an option if you think you can pull it off. And sometimes, well, it's hard to say no to a $100 rebate on something you really want, like an external Hard Drive.

A quick note about HDTVs: DAMN THEY ARE CHEAP. I thought 800 was a good price point for a mainstream priced 42 inch tv. But I'm starting to see mainstream brands (toshiba, sharp, etc) start to dip into the Vizio price range of 600-700. Crazy.

I'll get around to writing more articles soon. Having a bug (NOT THE FLU), and Uncharted 2 out for the ps3 does not help things. Also, Modern Warfare 2 comes out next week. And I preordered the Night Vision Goggle Edition. I kid you not. Until the next article (hopefull next week in between games of MW2), stay smart and stay cheap.

Freegeeking: how to get free stuff online

Alright, so it's been a month off, sorry. Work is busy, blah blah blah. Also, Uncharted 2 is coming out, and I need to get ready for Modern Warfare 2. I also got into Tom Clancy's EndWar, a game where you control units with your voice. And yes, it's as cool/geeky as it sounds.

Anyway, I have a fairly quick article. A random thing I've been doing lately is getting free stuff off the internet. Some websites or companies do giveaways or after completing a survey they give you free stuff online. While it does sound kinda gimmicky/cheap, there's some pretty random freebies out there...

Things I've gotten for free in the mail:
-Toilet Paper
-Granola Bars
-Cereal
-Shampoo
-Soap
-Letter Opener
-Tools
-Toothpaste
-Shaving cream
-Chewing gum
-Coupons for frozen dinners, candy, and soda, and a Whopper burger

Checking http://gizmodo.com/search/dealzmodo and checking out the lowest section (entitled 'Hobomodo'...har har) will show you the most of the free stuff or you can also book mark http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/forums/freebies/. Dealzmodos usually happen weekdays around 3pm, while the forum is constantly updated and useful for the most up to date freebies.

Often these sites will ask for personal information and your address. I'd like to point out that most of these will ship to a P.O. Box. Also, I have an email address dedicated to SPAM. *hint* *hint*.

The downside to this stuff is that they'll usually ask you for phone number, email address, and mailing address to spam you verbally, electronically, and physically via USPS. But I haven't had any serious issues so far. Basically, use your common sense: General Mills is probably okay, but some random european website for gum might be a little shady.

Anyway, it's obviously not something to depend on for stuff, but an emergency toilet paper roll is always appreciated, and I have a section in my kitchen cabinet dedicated to freebie snacks, which come in handy.

In any case, I think I'll post up the random stuff I get in the mail as I get them just to let you know. Hopefully before I've eaten it.

The next article will come soon I promise. In the mean time, stay smart and stay cheap.

Gizmodo Gallery, cheap things to consider

Work has picked up again, and i've been busy. And much has changed

Right now there are a few things to think about for geek gadgets:

-With the PS3 now at $299, I think it's a great buy. Easily upgradeable blu-ray, great games, big roomy hard drive, and wireless, you can't get the same at that price with a 360. Speaking of which, I am still waiting to get one to play 360 games....

-On the computer side, expect prices to drop for PC hardware coming this fall. ATi just released a brand new high end 3D card, which has a tendency to cause prices for existing hardware to drop. In addition, Intel has released its new CPU architecture, which would also have the same effect for CPU prices. Also, Quad Core for under 100 bucks, though, I'm not sure Quad Core is what everyone needs right now....

-Gaming wise, there are a lot of new games on the horizon, the biggest of which is Modern Warfare 2. Expect to find discounts on a lot of other games during the holidays to give them a fighting chance at this behemoth of a game. Again, there's always Goozex...

I'll be heading to check out the Gizmodo Gallery this Saturday in NYC, should be a fun time. Stay smart and stay cheap. Look out for the next article on freegeeking soon.

FreeGeeking (a first in a multipart series): TV

Hope you guys have had a lovely Labor Day. I got my outdoor fix of Whitewater Rafting in the Poconos, drinking in Philly, and a pretty sweet weekend in NYC. Anyway, with my regular trips to nyc, my gaming habits, and my food habits, my girlfriend (an investment), I've had to become an even smarter geek when it comes to saving money. You can find many websites like the consumerist or lifehacker, both of which I follow for random little tidbits. I also have some of mine which I'll add here too, as part of a little series I would like to call FreeGeeking. Enjoy.

How to save money the Geek (and legal) way (part one of many): TV.

The Internet is your friend. As people start to watch less and less tv and start doing more online, TV shows are starting to take notice and are going online. If you are scraping for cash, ditch the cable and keep the internet and check to see if your favorite shows can be streamed online. You can watch them any time, and if you have a PS3, 360, or wii, you can put them on your tv and it's like nothings changed:



-I was surprised that youtube has a lot of full season tv shows on it now, although most are pretty old. Everything from the old school class Star Trek series to Anime like Code Geass (both seasons and dubbed or subbed) and even the original 90210 series. I'd recommend youtube for older stuff, anime cartoons as they have a lot, and a few newer shows. Course, in the end, you can entertain yourself for a whole night on the failblog clips alone.


-Hulu is probably the one to beat right now. A small sample of shows ranges from Heroes, The Office, Lost, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, Family Guy, Gossip Girl, The Hills, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Burn Notice, and Battlestar Galactica. Needless to say, virtually any show you watch on tv now is available on Hulu.






-Also, another great alternative is Netflix. For as low as 5 bucks a month, you can have a dvd a month with two exchanges and a few hours of streaming netflix (also available on 360), or 16.99 a month for 3 dvds at any time and unlimited streaming. Netflix has TV shows via dvds of most of the popular tv series, and my friends have been watching all the seasons of Law and Order: SVU on the 360 by streaming the past few weeks. Depressing, but a good show nevertheless. The only downside to this is that obviously the tv show had to have a dvd collection of it released, and netflix opted to pick it up.

-Finally for me there's sites like mysoju.com, which provide access to Asian tv shows like drama and anime. You couldn't even get this on regular tv if you wanted in the first place. It's a little grey area in terms of legitness, but it uses existing streaming sites to provide tv shows. I am not into Jdrama or Kdrama, I swear. Along those lines, there are streaming sites that offer up to date tv shows but those are almost always over night shops and disappear by the time they get popular. And there's always bittorrent.... -_-;;

More to come in my next post. Stay smart and stay cheap.

Price and other Updates

Alright, this is going to be a quick update. I've spent a week of August on vacation for my best friend's wedding, and work is hard...I need to finish my brief article on mooching online, but give me some time. I blame video games.

My girlfriend just bought a Panasonic U12 Series HDTV (42 inches) for roughly $650 for her mom.

Not a bad choice, especially if a bunch of AV Guys approve: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1139625

Probably not the best for a pro setup, but it works if you just want an overall good setup. As you can see, tv prices are dropping, and hopefully this will continue through the fall for another few weeks. If you want a tv, now is the time to get one.

Other changes:
-Goozex.com is now supporting the trading of blu-ray and dvds! Now I'm using my points to buy blu-rays that I've wanted, like Dark Knight, Iron Man, and The Watchmen. Quite handy.
-In terms of bus trips, I've confirmed that DC2NY now has both electrical outlets and wifi, so if you're up in Dupont or closer to Dupont than the Metro Center, it might be a better choice. Sadly, I'll be taking the chinatown bus to Philly tomorrow for a rafting trip, then NJTransit for New York >.<

Pray for me. Shop smart and cheap.

Buying a PC

So a good friend of mine recently asked for good brands to buy a new PC.

I didn't tell him at the time (tho he'll know now) that I bristled at the thought of buying a new computer. What I mean is, buying a machine already pre built by a company like Dell, Acer, HP, Fujitsu, etc. I'm not saying that they don't work but I am saying this about prebuilt machines:

• You are forced to choose the parts that they provide to you and the boxes are tough to upgrade. Don't need that 6GB of RAM for an additional $120, or that 2nd Disc drive for an extra $30? Too bad, it's part of the package. If there's a cheaper 3D card out there that you'd rather have, you gotta stick to whatever they give you. Also, that tiny box might not fit that new 3d card you want to upgrade, or that motherboard might not support a faster processor when it comes out, leaving you in the lurch.
  
• They build in the cost of labor and services and warranties that you might not need. Sure, it might seem nice that they threw in the 1 year service warranty, but they take it out by adding the cost of that warranty and the labor to put your machine together in the total price of the machine. Generally, and I do mean this generally, 20-30% of the cost of a pre built machine is labor alone (wholesale prices for parts aside).
  
• Their tech support sucks. You know something is fishy when Leonard from Missouri speaks like he just spent all of five minutes learning English. And I'm not criticizing or being prejudice about this either. A lot of those call centers do not have the abilty to really help customers out by expediting the process, or giving actual tech help over the phone. They're just there to process the warranties if they are deemed worth it. (Funny story: in college I worked at a helpdesk and whenever we called in machines, oftentimes they tech supports would ask our Indian ITs for scores of the cricket match of the day, as they were not able to do that at their call centers)

Bottom line is, you're often paying extra for what "they" think you need. There are some benefits to this though.

• They *think* they know what you need, and for the most part, are pretty close. Most of you (and some of my friends) are not hardcore computer gamers, so you don't need the fastest 3d card out there, or the fastest memory and cpu chip to burn through your game. Your dual core machine will do just fine chatting on Gtalk, checking email, opening Word documents, and watching Youtube clips all at the same time without any problems. So these companies will aim for system specifications that will satisfy the customer without breaking the bank: solid systems that will do what most people need it to do.
  
• I (and others like me) are not your personal IT (Jean I am looking at you). Because you paid for their services, they will help you fix your problems, even if it means sending you new computer parts to replace the broken ones. You've already paid for it after all in the initial cost. Furthermore:
  
• You do not care how computers work, you do not want to know, and for the most part, you don't need to know. I compare this to a car: most people do not want to know how a car works, they just want it to work. But others like me are curious and we take a much more hands on approach. This takes the worry off of your hands. Pick what you like, and they'll put it together for you so all you need to do is plug it in and turn it on.

That's all and good, you say, so what or where should I look for my next pc?

I must admit, I have trouble at this myself. Partially because I build all my computers by hand, so I pick the components up for cheap from the internet and put the thing together myself. However, I had to find a pre built one for my girlfriend, as I did not have the time to put one together for her. Luckily we found a sweet deal for a Dell machine, one that had everything she needed, except for a 3d card which I bought and jammed in their to make it an even sweeter machine. There's no shame if you buy a mostly prebuilt machine for dirt cheap and just change a few things to make it even better ^_^.

If you are looking for decent packaged machines, I have very limited experience, but I can make my recommendations.

• If you want a Mac, stop reading this article and go get one from Apple. You'll be overpaying of course, but we can't stop you there if you're hell bent on conformity.
• If you want just the cheapest system possible with limited support when the parts fry, go Dell. Really? Dell you say? Yes. If you shop Buxr.com or Dealhack.com, there are discounts and specials run by Dell all the time for a decently spec'd system. You can read reviews on their systems frequently on cnet.com and other sites to make sure you're getting good value and reliability. However, I'd like to point out that they recently recieved the lowest score out of all the major computer companies for tech support, so your mileage may vary.
• I like Gateway. REALLY?! WTF? Gateway?!?! Yes, and calm the hell down. We all know Gateway was awful back in the day. They were so awful they were actually put out of their misery by Acer, who bought the brand and basically made everything a hellua lot better. Their systems are pretty good, due to the fact that Acer has been around for a very long time in the background before they started to take over companies like Packard Bell. Acer is actually now the 3rd largest in computer desktop sales after Dell and HP. AND their tech support isn't half bad.
• I don't know how I feel about HP. They make printers, yes, but PCs? I unno, my Uncle works for them, and he owned a Sony Vaio, so...... O_o
• Oh and on that same topic, Sony can kiss my ass. I got screwed over a while back trying to buy an lcd when this girl sold me a Sony Vaio one that had a proprietary video cable....WTF.

Dual Core vs. Quad Core: Is four better than two? Not always. Would you really want four ears?

This topic made me want to slap someone in the face until I could see my prints on their skin. For those of you of the less technical world, you might remember the dark days when most computers had one CPU where all of the computer's thinking was handled. Then came dual core, where your machine thinking was handled by two brains. Then quad core. Now there are FOUR brains running your system. That's good right? Not necessarily. With two cores, it meant the two brains could share work easily. I get one piece, you get the other. Things get more complicated with four cores. Coordinating between four different brains requires applications to be developed with four cores in mind. Most applications aren't being programmed to take advantage of four cores yet. In addition, most people would not be taxing the system enough to merit four cores. Does your computer really run THAT slowly? Odds are, you probably have a virus hogging up most of the resources.

But what about buying a quad core now to prepare for the future?

This is about when I resume my slapping. Why would I get a quad core now for something to happen in the future? Why should I bother paying a premium for my quad core now only to really take advantage of it in a year or two? By then, even faster quad cores would be out, and my quad core would be even cheaper! So no, those of you who are thinking like this, someone needs to rub your face into your monitor and go "NO."

If you bought your quad core for $200 now and in two years show me an app that takes advantage of quad core, I will go out and buy an even faster quad core than yours for half the price you paid. In the mean time, I would be sitting pretty with a cheaper and just as fast dual core, possibly even faster per core than your four.

So there you have it. I got some steam off my chest, and you just got smarter and an entertaining read. For those of you who are reading this for my traveling advice, I am planning on trying to take a plane back and forth a weekend from DC to NYC and back for $130 round trip. Will I make it? We'll find out soon! In the mean time, stay smart and stay cheap.

Pricing updates

So it's been a while since I've bought a lot of my bigger ticket items, and it looks as though things are changing....

Hard Drives
Hard drives have kinda leveled out for now in terms of price. You can get 1 Terabyte of storage nowadays for under $90 easily. A simple lookup on NewEgg proves this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014%20103530090&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE


For those of you without the technological know how to install your own hard drive or make your own enclosure, external hard drives are just as close price-wise:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150414%20131021336&name=1TB%20and%20higher

Not bad at all. I might start building my new rig soon..


HDTVs
For the longest time, I was convinced I got a great deal. And I have. I love my tv to death ^_^. It's discontinued right now, so you couldn't get the thing anymore if you wanted to unfortunately. Prices for 42 inch 1080p lcds are still hovering around 900 for brand name models, but I've seen some go as low as upper 600s for knockoff brands. I'd recommend finding as many reviews as you can for a tv you want to buy. Also, it seems like if you are okay with a 40inch tv the prices drop $100 off automatically.


Video Games
Haven't bought any new games in a while while simultaneously trading for a lot. Save myself some money while supporting my habit. I am a little pissed however, due to the fact that there are mysterious scratches on the disc of my favorite game at the moment...not caused from the ps3, but from me leaving the disc out....


Headphones
I don't know what it is with DC, but I can't find a decent electronics store in my area (Best Buy STFU). My last running headset broke (note: Skullcandy headphones suck), so I've picked up a set of Phillips clip ons for 18 bucks. Not bad, but they make me nostalgic for my old Sony ear clips, the newest version of which looks like this:

Plus side, you can get them for $15 on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-Q22LP-Headphones-Interchangeable-Headphone/dp/B00008VIX2/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_1


Bottom line? The longer you wait, the better off you are for anything electronic. As time goes on, newer models of things comes out, which makes the older things cheaper. Or newer models could be made both cheaper and better.

New posts? Video Cards, MMORPGS for cheap/free, and more gaming. Got a request? Just ask.

Till next time, stay smart and stay cheap.

Update to traveling between New York and DC....

What was supposed to be a 40 minute or so flight from New York to DC took fscking 3 hours due to being stuck at the airport at JFK...then combined with an hour long taxi back to my house in DC made for a very long trip....


Jet Blue? I don't like you :-(