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$23.29

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?cid=54554& PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD_ID=830996&fp=F&siteID=oP5Nuw5q6f c-kbas_RoPUTAqfr3Ksb7wWA

Overstock.com has a few for $30 ($33 with shipping).

why get an adapter?

...is available for just $18 here. No knowledge of lock picking required. As for doors here's a trick that worked in my college dorm: 1. Standing outside of a locked door, remove the knob using a screwdriver, push the knob bolt through the door so that the knob falls to the floor inside the room. 2. Using a coat hanger bent back to make a "V" shaped hook, push the hook all the way through the door knob bolt hole, manipulate the coat hanger to turn the lock latch inside the door. It helps if you can see what you're doing through a window or if you practiced on a similar door. 3. When lock latch is released use a screwdriver to turn the knob mechanism to open the door. 4. Open the door. Put the knob back on the door. 5. Remove the hinge pins, remove the door, replace door with hippy bead curtain. Wait for resident to return and wonder where their door went.

submitted and rejected today:

Business 2.0 is running a column that speculates that the negative publicity surrounding the Google IPO may be part of a Wall Street campaign to stop more companies from using the Dutch Auction system and bypassing the banks. It quotes such people as Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com , who relates what happened to them when they decided to follow the dutch auction method for their IPO.

Suchetha

The funniest thing about this, is at the end, he ends up using a casette output converter.... the SAME EXACT ONE YOU CAN USE ON AN iPOD OR $50 MP3 PLAYER!

This is what I was thinking, but I wasn't thinking Ipod but rather a portable DVD player. It's hard to say whether this unit referenced would do DVD-mp3, I sorta take it for granted I own a stand alone player that just does it. But given the starting price of in-dash DVD players = about the same cost as the starting price of indash mp3 players, well the choice is clear.

And before everyone suggests CURRENT PRODUCTS, don't - because I've tried them all.

Have you really tried the computer-programmable ones? The philips pronto series (all of 'em) support downloaded IR codes. There are libraries of discrete codes (ie. non toggle, ON means ON) for just about every manufacturer you can think of.

Personally, I use the Pronto Neo. I like it for many reasons. A fully programmable touchscreen--I created custom graphics for it. I like that it has a decent amount of hard buttons too. Every button (both hard and virtual) can send IR codes, navigate/change "screens", start timers, and remote-specific things (turn on/off the backlight), or have a macro that does many or all of the above. I downloaded discrete codes for all my stuff. The System Off button turns everything off, period.

My wife loves it. She is greeted by simple icons. If she wants to watch TV, she touches the TV picture and then the TV, cable box, and receiver turn on, and she sees the network logos for her favorite channels. There are tabs for other channel logos (including a Kids tab that my kids use), and a tab that leads to a number pad for direct channel input.

If she wants to watch a DVD, it's similar. Push the DVD logo, push the "play" button. Which, by the way, slowly dims the lights down to 10% thanks to this and IR codes that I downloaded for it. The pause button ramps the lights up to 50% (for bathroom breaks).

Another little trick, I use the above IR-to-X10 gateway to turn on my PS/2 when someone touches the Game icon, thanks to an appliance module. Otherwise, it would be a pain becuase the PS/2 has a hard power switch on the back, and I have it mounted in a built-in cabinet with no room to reach behind it.

I also have a Music tab, which has buttons labeled "Jazz", "Ambient", etc. so you can turn on music without having to know what digital cable channel they're on. And, I don't even have to open the cabinets to turn all this stuff on or off, thanks to an IR repeater I have tucked in the surrounding bookshelves.

The complexity is MIND boggling. I will give ALL OF MY MONEY to someone who can fix the problem.

My 6-year old can fully operate my setup. If there's something specific you'd want to do with your setup, let me know and I'll tell you how to do it with the Pronto Neo (or the more expensive Prontos). No need to give me all your money.

I can provide screen shots of my setup if you want.

If M$FT allowed people like Sony to be creative with the form factor and moved their software improvements to production sooner rather than later, they could solve a lot of their sales problems IMHO.

I think that the hard drive is the most overlooked upgrade for a "power user". If at all possible, go out and pick up a 15krpm Ultra SCSI hard drive and controller for the boot partition. Use that slow ATA crap for storage of non-performance type stuff.

18 or 36 gig drives aren't exactly too expensive given the performance that they offer.

I'd second a Zire (or another cheap Palm compatible), but recommend Fitaly over a keyboard. More compact then even the smallest keyboard (since it's software only), and allows extremely fast input. The current record is more then 81 words per minute. Personally, I can input text almost as fast on my Palm as I can on my PC (Granted, I'm a slow typist). Of course, this means that you can't get away from computers completely, but it's cheap, small and flexible.

I'd probably recommend getting one with an expansion slot, so you can back up your notes in case of loss or theft. I'd also recommend you try to find an older black & white one that uses AAA batteries instead of a built-in recharger. Unless you are in extremely remote areas, I'd assume that you'd be able to find replacement batteries, and then you won't need to carry a charger. B&W also means much more life between replacement/charges. And, they're dirt cheap to boot.

Honestly, who would want to watch TV on a cell phone?

The same clown who bought a Sony Watchman or a Casio handheld

Overstock.com does advertise on TV, but rarely. Take the %savings with a grain of salt, it is not from FMV, but off of MSRP. For computer products, MSRP is never updated.

Still, things are cheap there, and they always beat Amazon on books and such, as long as they have it.

It's really miss-named. It may have started as overstock stuff, but they maintain a comprehensive inventory.

or is that two words?

I've never used them, but I know they carry older machines for low prices. They also carry not so old machines for not so great prices.

The best game soundtrack is definitely Halo. The launch menu, for example, is like a bunch of Tibetan monks doing their prayers or something. It's so serene, it's scary. And the in game music just pulls you into the game, chews you up, and spits you out. MS did a real sweet job of putting this together (Yes, I know MS bought Bungie software for this game). Here's a demo of the game if you want, 134 MB, PC only. You also need the latest version of DirectX (9.0b).

Soundtrack is available at Amazon, Buy.com, and Overstock.com

Samples of all the tracks can be found at buy.com, but overstock.com has it for cheaper.

I considered a USB coffee cup warmer for my husband until I read that it only keeps coffee lukewarm. I also considered the WFS-1 wifi detector, which is far superior to the Kensington model, but I nixed that because it doesn't distinguish between open and closed networks.

If we were filling stockings for grown-ups, I'd have gotten a bunch of Cyberguy Power Strip Liberators, which double your outlet access and are only $2.39 each. I have some and love them.

I was going to get my puzzle-loving brother-in-law a Shmuzzle Puzzle, but the U.S. rerelease, which had been scheduled for Dec. 3 on QVC has been postponed indefinitely. Canadians can buy them over the counter.

Some of the geekier presents I ordered for my nieces and nephews, all of whom are of course brilliant:

• Harry Potter Wizard Chess and Chess for Juniors for 8 year old.
• Skyrail Suspension Marble Run for artistic 9yo and engineering 5yo.
• Smart the Dog LEGO set for 9yo (also considered Motor the Monkey set.
• Techno Blocks, "the world's only preschool remote-control construction toy", for my 5yo engineer.
• Terry Pratchett's delightful Bromeliad (fun for ages 5 to adult) to begin reading aloud and then leave behind.
• Grow-a-Frog kit for 8yo naturalist.
• Geometric and creative Images coloring kit for artistic 6yo.
• Cattus Petasatus [Cat in the Hat] and a Latin dictionary for a sister-in-law.
• 500-in-1 electronic project lab for grown sister-in-law because you're never too old to learn. (Note the large discount over the Amazon price.)
• Disney's Princess Magical Dress Up software to encourage my 6yo niece to wrest the family computer from her 8yo brother (although that may be futile, since we're also giving him a Real One Arcade subscription).

Slightly less geeky gifts:

• Family Classics 50 Movie Mega Pack 12-DVDs at only $29.99

Here is where I mentioned this exact thing before.

On another note, there is a Windows Tablet available for just above $1000, here. Reconditioned Gateway tablet, inluding wireless keyboard/touchpad - nice looking, to me. Not sure if I yet buy into the tablet idea though - maybe it's my lack of money that keeps me safe from myself.

-bZj

Link

Overstock.com. $28.79 USD... nice, real nice.

Well, I'm sure everyone can think of plenty of things to spend $10.05 on at Amazon.

But if all you really want is the book, try overstock.com

I'm going to take this opportunity to pimp Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, as it discusses how images of distorted and recursive perspective like this reflect the nature of our consciousness and perception of our environment, among many other related topics.

overstock.com

Even less at Overstock.com only $16.99 + $1 shipping at overstock

$9.99 Spanking new from Overstock.com, if you really want to pinch ze pennies. Cheapskate!

Tiger Direct charged $40 and Wal-Mart $80 for shipping

What? I ordered an 1ghz p4 emachine several months ago for $299 at overstock.com, and the shipping was $3.95. And it came with Windows XP preinstalled.

Check out this and then say that firewire is expensive. I bought one and it works great.

Just got one myself. $80 at overstock.com, includes 16MB of compact flash. 128 MB is $35 on PriceWatch.com, and (apparantly) $40 on eBay. Oh, you wanna know what it does? =^)

It plays MP3s, plus records movies, plus takes pictures. Color LCD shows ID3 tags, and can play back the movies and pictures. Movies can be as long as will fit in the card. Technically does well at everything, except that the sensor is crap, so the movies are low quality. On the other hand, they're recorded at 20 fps (very smooth) and it's cool to be able to listen to music, then switch over and grab a movie clip. You can delete one to make room for the other.

Uses standard Type I compact flash. It's too small for IBM's micro drive, but flash is cheap nowadays. And if you have a notebook, you can get a PCMCIA adapter, and move stuff on and off very fast, and drivers are already built into everything. If not, you can prolly get a PCMCIA reader cheap that works with Linux.

www.overstock.com - Overstock.com... lots of good stuff for cheap with a flat rate on shipping of $3.95 no matter how much you put in the box

flamingoworld.com - Great place to find coupons and such