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A checklist for buying your first HDTV
'Round these parts, we expect most everywhere to own, or at least be familiar with, an HDTV. Still, there's a first time for everyone, and for folks just now looking to hop on in and see what this whole "high-definition" thing is all about, ExtremeTech's Joel Durham Jr. has a quick 'n dirty guide of things to do before tossing a set in your vehicle. Granted, a few of the tips seem glaringly obvious, but really, buying a new (or first, in particular) HDTV isn't always a simple process. What's your size requirement? What's your budget? What technology do you prefer? Do you have the wiring scheme all planned out? Can you afford to pull another all-nighter? If you've been wondering where to start when thinking of bringing a new set into your crib, you should definitely give the read link a look -- at worse, you can say you're a seasoned veteran for already knowing the dos and don'ts.[Image courtesy of Radioru, thanks Jeremy]
Age of Conan economics 101
You'll be spending a lot of time chopping peope in half in Age of Conan, and will likely get very good at it, but at some point you might want to learn a thing or two about making and spending money as well. Thankfully, the official site has provided a guide that is sure to help Hyboria's budding economists in their quest for coin.In truth, for the most part it's a fairly basic look at some familiar systems that are in the game. The currency will consist of gold, silver, copper and tin, and you'll be able to buy/sell/trade with both NPC merchants and other players. A crafting system is mentioned but no details are given. The most interesting aspect of the guide is the Tradeposts. These will be similar to the Auction House seen in so many other MMOs, but with key differences. It will combine marketplace, mailbox and bank in the one interface, and items can be listed for sale straight from your bank. It is stressed that this is not an auction -- there is a set price, with no bidding involved. Tradeposts will be available in both regular cities and player cities as well, which is great for anyone with a dream of a self-sufficient outpost. Check out the full guide for the rest of the economy details.
Officers' Quarters: Gold rush
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Once your guild purchases all the bank vaults you need, your bank will start accumulating gold without a clear purpose for how to spend it. As the donations and requests from members roll in, it's up to us as officers to decide. The author of this week's e-mail is concerned about the way his fellow officers are using the gold.I recently became a low-ranking officer in a guild after demonstrating utility in knowledge, generosity, and helpfulness to my guildmates. When this occurred I decided to take a proactive approach to the guild and began lobbying for a new guild tab to open up to the lower ranking members. Everyone seemed supportive of this until I started digging into the financials. It seems as if the current state of the guild is members deposit, and the main officers withdraw it fairly quickly. For example in the last week or so 11 members (including myself) deposited a total of about 37 Gold while 4 officers withdrew over 50 Gold.
Preparing for 2.3: Pre-patch farming, part 2
The other day I listed the items that will be used in new recipes after the patch. I did miss a few things, but with your helpful comments, I've updated the original article to be more complete. I'll mention again that it's difficult to make predictions on what will sell the best, but nonetheless I've decided to list some of my thoughts on the subject below.
GarageBuy 1.1 adds performance improvements, new image views
I don't eBay nearly enough to use a completely separate application just to browse through it, but if you do you'll probably be interested in GarageBuy, a free download from Iwascoding. They also make GarageSale, an eBay buying-and-selling program that I've heard good things about, but GarageBuy is committed specifically to browsing around eBay. If you want to browse for auctions without using eBay's old school (and frankly, clunky) interface, GarageBuy might be just the ticket.They've just updated to version 1.1, with a whole lot full of new features. There's a new view that features a cool color-coded price tag (to tell you whether you're winning the auction or not), a countdown timer to show remaining auction time, and a slick little sliding thumbnail view for the auction's images. Plus, there's a whole bunch of other performance improvements.And the best part is: it's all free. GarageBuy is freeware (and if you like it, check out GarageSale) over on the website.[via Macworld]
Wii Warm Up: What are ye buyin'? or What are ye sellin'?
When you're out waggle-stabbin' some pseudo-zombies, how do you handle your business affairs? Do you prefer to gear up, or cash in?
Wal-Mart cracks the whip on prepaid phone purchases
There's plenty of us who aren't exactly fond of commitments, especially those multi-year types that wireless providers try to rope you into whenever they drop a snazzy new phone. But if you're looking to snag a prepaid GoPhone / TracFone for the entire family, you may have to take your business somewhere other than Wally World. The world's largest retailer is cracking down on "entrepreneurs" (read: notorious phone hackers) who are buying the subsidized handsets "by the hundreds to resell for profit," by reducing the amount of prepaid mobiles one can purchase from three to two. While "two national carriers" voiced support for Wal-Mart's decision, the only confirmed provider was said to be Cingular, who certainly doesn't stand to profit from selling prepaid devices sans (pricey) prepaid air time. While the company hasn't exactly figured out how to stop tricksters from circumventing the system by purchasing multiple units at varying registers, at least the restrictions give parents with teenage triplets (or quadruplets) a valid excuse to delay their gratification.
An unbiased guide to buying a plasma
Buying a plasma can be more daunting than (did I get that right Steve and Marc) purchasing a new car. There are so many new players in this market, plus generally accept second-tier manufacturers like Samsung and LG are major players in this field. Brian Mitchell has posted a rather nicely laid out guide to buying a plasma TV over at eCoustics forums. He gives a shopper the option of choosing the set based on model number, viewing distance, resolution, or even price range. Sometimes these sets come with different proprietary technology like LG's XD Engine or Samsung's DNIe and even those are explained. If you are in the market for a plasma TV, take a look at this guide to get a rather nice idea what's currently available. For a complete overview of the different type of HDTVs available, you may want to peep our HDTV Buying Guide: Choosing the right kind.[Thanks, Brian and nice work]
Congratulations, you don't have an HDTV. Here's your cookie
I read an interesting piece on Bit-tech today, in it the author goes to great length to tell the world how well off he is without an HDTV and how he doesn't really need one even for the Xbox 360 that he doesn't have yet. Why buy an HDTV?, there's hardly any programming and the games look just fine on the TV he proudly bought 6 years ago.First, there are several things I agree with him on. There has been much misinformation spread about how HDTV works, whether or not you'll see a benefit to your next generation games without an HDTV, etc. Anyone who tells you they can't tell the difference between Xbox and Xbox 360 games no matter what the TV, is blind or simply trying to attract attention. Comparing screenshots of ports is only relevant if you are planning on buying your next gen console to play last gen games. Also, there is somewhat limited HDTV programming available, especially in England where the writer appears to be from, which besides being overrun by wolves is also only just recently starting to have HD broadcasts become available.With all that, you might start to think, why should I buy an HDTV? Here's why.
