[real-eyes] Fw: article on saving money on technology
- From: "V Nork" <ginisd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:10:14 -0800
Hi, this article was written primarily for a sighted audience, but lots of it
can be relevant to us, I think, Ginny
Subject: article on saving money on technology
Copyright New York Times Company Jan 8, 2009
It's a new year, all right, but economically, it still feels a lot like the old
one.
Seems that everywhere you look, things are being downsized: companies,
paychecks,
parties, trade shows and on and on. People aren't just tightening their belts;
they're
punching new holes in them.
Writing about tech at times like these is, therefore, sort of a strange job. It
entails
reviewing products that are often expensive and definitely elective. At first
glance,
it would seem that spending on electronics would be one easy place to cut back.
But technology giveth, and technology taketh away. You might think of high-tech
gadgetry
as something that drains your bank account -- but it can save you money, too. A
lot
of it.
Herewith: a few suggestions for using tech to save money. These aren't new
ideas;
the press has covered all of these technologies before. But when every $100
counts,
it's worth dusting them off for another look. (The savings estimates below are
typical,
but of course your mileage may vary; it all depends on what services you're
paying
for now.)
CUT THE TV CORD, PART 1 Plenty of 20-somethings and college-somethings are doing
this already: they're canceling their cable or satellite TV service. (You can
always
have service reinstated once your finances recover.) Instead, they watch TV over
the Internet.
At CBS.com, ABC.com, NBC.com and the various cable networks' Web sites, you can
watch
regular, up-to-date TV shows, on demand, completely free, with excellent video
quality
and only a couple of 15-second ads an episode.
For example, the major networks offer the four most recent episodes of 20 or 40
popular
shows: "Lost," "The Office," "Saturday Night Live," "Heroes," "30 Rock," "How I
Met
Your Mother," "CSI: Wherever," "Survivor," "The Bachelor," "Desperate
Housewives,"
"Ugly Betty" and on and on.
Or visit Hulu.com, where thousands more episodes are gathered into a simple,
easy-to-use
virtual TV, including episodes from series of years gone by.
The sacrifice: You have to watch TV on your computer screen (unless you hook up
your
PC to your TV, which is not simple). Some shows still aren't available except
from
illegal downloads. And, of course, you need high-speed Internet (a running theme
in this column). The savings: $500 to $1,200 a year.
CANCEL YOUR MOVIE CHANNELS Can't bear to cut all your cable service? An
HBO/Showtime
package is probably adding about $20 a month to your cable bill. If you're in it
for the dramatic series and boxing matches or whatever, great. But if you're in
it
for the movies, you can do much better.
Consider Netflix's irresistible deal: for $9 a month, you can watch unlimited,
on-demand
movies, brought to you by the Internet, from an ever-growing library that
already
has 12,000 films.
You can watch on your Mac or PC, of course. But the Netflix on-demand movie
software
now comes built right into equipment that's already connected to your TV: TiVo,
Xbox
360, the $100 Roku Netflix box and certain Blu-ray disc players from LG or
Samsung.
More are coming.
You've probably never before experienced unlimited, on-demand movies; it's a
heady
treat. (That same $9 a month also lets you check out one Netflix DVD at a time,
by
mail. That's good, because the on-demand movies aren't very recent.)
The sacrifice: You're also losing the nonmovie stuff on HBO, the dramatic series
and so on; then again, why not get those on Netflix DVDs? The savings: $132 a
year.
CUT THE TV CORD, PART 2 TV over the Internet generally looks great, but isn't in
high definition. So why not get yourself a hi-def antenna for your roof or even
your
bookshelf -- and enjoy free over-the-air hi-def TV forever?
The sacrifice: Some technical setup. Fewer channels. The savings: $500 to $1,200
a year.
ELIMINATE YOUR CELLPHONE CONTRACT The average American's cellphone bill is about
$73 a month. Over the life of your two-year contract, that's about $1,750. If
you
talk more than your allotted minutes in a month, they hit you with punitive
per-minute
overage fees; if you talk less, then you're throwing money out the window.
It's a no-win game. Unless, of course, you don't play it -- and instead sign up
for
a prepaid cellphone.
These phones and plans, given names like TracFone, AT&T GoPhone, Verizon InPulse
and T-Mobile Prepaid, let you pay for cellphone service by the minute, not by
the
month. There's no contract, no commitment, no credit check (or even ID check),
no
penalties and no chance of "going over" and getting a shocker of a bill.
These plans aren't just for no-credit teenagers anymore. They're fully
legitimate,
they rely on the same cell networks as regular plans, and the per-minute rates
are
reasonable. The only reason you haven't heard of them is that the cell carriers
don't
even mention them in their marketing. They'd much rather have your $1,750.
On some plans ("Pay as you go"), you buy minutes in advance, usually in $25 to
$100
chunks, either by calling a toll-free number with a credit card or by buying a
refill
card at a phone center or convenience store and plugging its code into your
phone.
("Hey honey -- I'm going to run out to the 7-Eleven for a Slushee and some
minutes.")
On others ("Pay by the day"), you just pay a flat 10 cents a minute, plus $1 for
each day that you actually use the phone. The rest of the year, you pay nothing.
The sacrifice: If your cellphone is your primary phone, and you use it for
40-minute
socializing marathons, traditional plans may be more cost-effective. The
savings:
$900 to $1,500 a year.
ELIMINATE YOUR HOME PHONE Home landline service is also declining; once again,
the
Generation Y'ers are leading the way. Some of them are saving money by using
their
cellphones exclusively. And when they have to call overseas, they use free
computer-to-computer
"telephone" software like
Skype
, iChat and Google Talk. These programs are incredibly easy to use, and the
sound
quality is excellent.
If you shudder at the thought of cutting your landline entirely, here's a less
extreme
option: sign up for T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home Talk Forever plan. It's intended
specifically
for people who don't want to lose a home phone line altogether.
The deal: unlimited nationwide calling from your home phone for $10 a month. (It
works by carrying your calls over the Internet, but you won't notice any
difference;
you keep your existing phone and phone number.) The sacrifice: This service is
available
only if you also have a T-Mobile cellphone. Although if you have T-Mobile
coverage
in your area, that might be worth investigating; T-Mobile cell service is less
expensive
than its rivals'. The savings: About $250 a year.
BUY REFURBISHED COMPUTERS You can find refurbished computers and other
electronic
gear advertised on the makers' Web sites, offered at hundreds of dollars below
retail
price -- but you'd never buy one, right? After all, who wants a used computer?
Actually, though, "refurbished" doesn't mean used; it usually means "returned,
sometimes
without even having been opened." Products are returned for lots of reasons.
People
change their minds, get the same product as a gift, whatever.
In any case, a refurbished machine has been brought up to brand-new standards by
the manufacturer -- and, in fact, is inspected and tested more than a brand-new
item.
Aficionados consider refurbished gear one of the great secrets of the tech
world.
The sacrifice: Some companies, like Hewlett-Packard, issue a shorter warranty on
them (90 days instead of a year). The savings: On a computer, from $300 to
$2,000.
In all of these examples, the point is to look hard at some of the new
technologies
that, until now, you may have ignored because it's a hassle to switch. The money
you save could be your own.
[Author Affiliation]
DAVID POGUE E-mail: pogue@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[Photograph]
Tv Shows Like "30 Rock," with Alec Baldwin, Can Be Viewed Using Hulu.Com.
(Photograph
by Hulu.Com) (Pg.B8)
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