Cable

Cable vs. Internet - The Battle Gets Serious

"Dry land is not a myth. I've seen it." (Kevin Costner, Waterworld). "I don't know what the big fuss is about. I saw that movie nine times." – Chip Douglas (The Cable Guy, 1996)

Click Away – A big screen TV, cold beer, bag of chips and the remote and you have a happy man. For many, television is a mild, easy escape from the realities of the day. But a growing number of people exercise all their fingers, surfing for their content. Source – Columbia Pictures

If you wonder why the number of people who are overweight today is on an alarming increase, all you have to do is look closely at TV viewing habits. Yep! We're watching more content…especially TV. Across the country, folks are stretched out on the couch with a beverage and empty-calorie snack.

The Council for Research Excellence found:

The average TV time per day for an individual was 353 minutes (nearly six hours)
The average computer time was 142 minutes (about 2-3/4 hours)

Add to that the fantastic results turned in by movies this past year, and it's no wonder your behind is…aaahh spreading.

For some reason, people love their TVs. Of course, the tight economy and need for a break in this "always-on-world" may help drive our need for the screen.Read more

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Belkin Easy Transfer Cable for Windows 7

by jessica on Thu, 2009-10-08 12:15

With Windows 7 becoming available later this month, many will be buying a new PC. If you're planning on purchasing a new computer, Belkin makes it easy to transfer all your files, music, photos, user accounts and more from your old PC to a new computer running Windows 7.

Belkin's Easy Transfer Cable was designed specifically for the Windows Easy Transfer utility from Microsoft. The uninterrupted transfer process is simple and a post-migration report gives you all the details on what files were transferred. Please note that the device does not support the transfer of software programs.

Setup is easy too. All you have to do is install the software, connect the cable, then follow the on-screen prompts. You're then ready to move files between the two PCs at speeds of up to 480Mbps. You can estimate the transfer time of about 7,500 songs per hour to your new computer.

The Easy Transfer Cable will be available on October 23, 2009 for $39.99.

Protect Pets from Cable and Wire Hazards

Protecting computer, home entertainment and other cables and wires around the home from your dog or cat is important for the devices, but most importantly, your pet. There are many inexpensive tools that will prevent pets from chewing on wires and playing with cables.

Here are some tips to keep dogs and cats cable and wire safe:

- There are numerous products on the market today for covering household wires to keep your pet - and even small children - from chewing on them. An extremely inexpensive and convenient product to protect your wires is the split wire loom - flexible and durable plastic tubing with a slit down the side allowing for easy insertion of a cable bundle.

- You can also cover any wires that are accessible to your small pet with spiral cable wrap – plastic wrap that keeps wires tightly bundled and also protects them from being chewed on by pets. Spiral cable wrap is also available in many colors to match a room’s décor. Read more

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Monster Announces SuperThin Cable for HDMI

by Justin Hubbell on Sat, 2009-06-13 00:30

The new Monster SuperThin Cables for HDMI are the first "fruits" of a recently announced collaboration with RedMere, a leader in advanced silicon chip development. Monster SuperThin Cable for HDMI products will be available in 4-, 8-, and 16-foot versions in the DigitalLife line of products (DL HDMI HSMI-4, DL HDMI HSMI-8, DL HDMI HSMI-16). Monster's Core line of cables for HDMI will also offer a SuperThin cable design in 1, 2, 4 and 5 meter lengths.

Thanks to the RedMere MagnifEye Active technology, the HD signals are boosted in the cable itself; thus, thick copper wiring is no longer needed, making this cable very light and thin. The SuperThin Cables have a 3.5mm diameter and are approximately 65% thinner than normal HDMI cables. These SuperThin Cables are perfect to accompany you super-thin TV!

Prices and sizes:

Digital Life SuperThin High Speed Powered Cable for HDMI for (SRP) 4ft. $89.95, 8ft. $99.95 and 16ft. $119.95.
Digital Life SuperThin High Speed Powered Cable for camcorder; Mini HDMI to HDMI 8ft. (SRP) $99.95.
Monster's Core Line of SuperThin Powered Cables for HDMI 1m $79.95, 2m $89.95 4m $99.95, 5m $119.95.

HDMI 1.4 Gets Official!

by Justin Hubbell on Fri, 2009-05-29 00:30

HDMI 1.4 will offer the following enhancements: Ethernet channel, audio return channel, 3D over HDMI, 4K x 2K resolution support, a micro HDMI connector (around half the size of the existing HDMI Mini plug, 19pin) and an automotive connection system.

With that said, there will be 5, yes five, different types of HDMI 1.4 cables:

Standard HDMI Cable – supports data rates up to 1080i/60
High Speed HDMI Cable – supports data rates beyond 1080p, including Deep Color and all 3D formats of the new 1.4 specification
Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet – includes Ethernet connectivity
High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet – includes Ethernet connectivity
Automotive HDMI Cable – allows the connection of external HDMI-enabled devices to an in-vehicle HDMI device

The HDMI specification 1.4 will be available for download at www.hdmi.org no later than June 30th, 2009. Until then, you can grab the full press release here.

iPod and iPhone Content on the BIG Screen with ezGear Video Cable

by jeff on Thu, 2009-04-16 11:42

The BIG screen being your 16:9 ratio HDTV home television. In our home we use the Apple cables to watch our iPod and iPhone content on the television. These cables are great for traveling with kids too. ezGear has an April special for $29 for this cable made for your iPod or iPhone. The cables that provide the same function from Apple are $49 on the Apple Web site. ezGear is an effective, affordable solution for this cable.

We call the video on the iPhone the electronic babysitter. You can go anywhere with the kids and to ask them politely to sit down and be quiet, but that doesn't work as well as handing a handheld video machine over – especially one with games! When traveling, we simply buy the kids some of their favorite content from the Apple iTunes store, and it becomes a plug and play solution. Most new cars with video solutions also come with the proper connections for this cable set. It is worth the money to buy these at this price.

More information is available at www.ezgear.com/iPod/ezGearVideoCable.html.

Belkin Switch-to-Mac Cable

by Joe Stewart on Sun, 2008-12-07 00:33

We've seen recent reports that new MacBooks are likely 33% of US notebook sales. Many of these are moving from PC to Mac. In addition to actually running Windows applications with something like Parallels, VMWare Fusion, or Crossover Mac getting all the existing data swtiched over is important.

The Switch-to-Mac Cable helps transfer more than just files like pictures and documents. Belkin says that the Migration Assistant also can transfer Outlook mail to Apple Mail, Internet Explorer settings into Safari, and pull My Music into iTunes.

Available now in the US, priced at $49.99.