No one of course!

By Richard M. Sherwin with Bob Plunkett, Jennifer Auspitz and Christine Eads

(Edited by Susan Davis)

Washington, D.C.: I recently attended an awards dinner in which several congressmen, a senator and a major service provider CEO were honored with well-deserved Digital Patriot Awards for their contribution to technology, web freedom and their unwavering support for advances in consumer and business product innovation.

The winners were from both sides of the aisle. Two of the politicians are former CEOs, or inventors themselves.  After the nice dinner and seemingly never ending standing ovations, I realized there were some things sorely missing:

All the winners truly supported opening up more spectrum (more channels) for broadcasting, less restrictions on advancing the use of the Internet and more protection against frivolous law suits over patents that could reduce prices for consumers in everything from TV prices to Internet service charges.

But service providers still do not live up to the rules made by congress and the FCC when it comes to mobile phone bills or cable pricing.  Congress has allowed Verizon, AT@T, the cable TV service providers and even your local electric and Gas Company to charge customers for services they told congress they would never charge for.

I spoke to some consumer watch dogs (surprisingly invited to the event) and also emailed and phoned other columnists and reporters and asked whether they had any secret solutions with the recent barrage of sneaky price hikes, hidden add-on charges to consumer bills.

Here are the issues I would have liked to discuss with the award winners:

• Verizon adding a $35 surcharge for their free upgrade offer when you get a new smart phone
• AT@T and Verizon adding a $25 surcharge for activating your SIM card when you purchase your own Smart Phone
• Cable providers including Cablevision, Cox, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon FIOS snuck in  a $5 or more price hike pass-along from the various sports channels that most of the FCC and many of those congressmen allowed to get through.
• Cable providers including Cablevision, Cox, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon being allowed by the Feds to not pay for lost service because of storms, natural disasters and even their own cable issues until at least 72 hours without service. In addition, after 72 hours, you need to show proof that you didn’t have any service. I give up, how do you show proof that you had no power?
• Manufacturers whose warrantees expire on a weekend when their tech support and customer support are closed and then give the consumer grief on the first workday when the support division answers the phone or email.
• The growing number of product warrantee or tech support divisions of Internet based companies and even some hardware and software makers who don’t have any live support but require you to get help via email…even if your email is down.

Those are some of the leading complaints we’ve heard. Now let’s hear yours please:

Bytes and Pieces:

Some of the best and least known products that solve consumer technology issues….and some of our old favorites, now even better

Western Digital – My Book AV 1 TB External Hard Drive

Running out of space in your DVR? Don’t trust The Cloud for your important digital storage? No problem! All storage issues should be as easy to fix as this! Whether you are using a TiVo 3 HD, DirecTV or even Dish Network DVR, you will probably never run out space for your favorite shows again. The only external storage device offically endorced by TiVo, the My Book AV1 is really easy to install as TiVo’s system recognises the unit instantly and then the installl process takes only a few minutes.

It not only lets you record more of your favorite TV shows, you can also transfer and store videos from your compatible camcorder to free up space for more recording. Connect the drive to a game console, Blu-ray Disc player or media player, like one from the WD TV family, to smoothly stream video to your big screen TV. It’s the perfect solution for your video storage and playback needs.

Features:

• Storage Capacity: 1 TB
• Maximum External Data Transfer Rate: 60 MBps (480 Mbps)
• Host Interface: USB 2.0, eSATA
• eSATA Pin: 7-pin
• Drive Type: External
• Height: 1.9″
• Width: 5.3″
• Depth: 6.5″
• Weight (Approximate): 2.60 lb
• Green Compliant: Yes
• Green Compliance Certificate/Authority: RoHS, WEEE
• Limited Warranty: 2 Year

Sling Out Your Favorite Programs Anywhere Any Time With A Slingbox

This is a product we never get tired of  praising and still don’t know why more consumers don’t buy it. Just in time for graduation season and Father’s Day, Sling Media has the ideal gifts for on-the-go dads and graduating students heading to college or setting off on their own: the Slingbox 500 and Slingbox 350. Both offer full 1080p HD-quality, live streaming of favorite TV shows, sporting events, recorded programming and premium content to smartphones, tablets, laptops and connected devices. Deluxe features of the Slingbox 500 include Wi-Fi, HDMI and a platform for storing personal content and viewing it on the TV screen.

With a Slingbox connected to their TV at home and SlingPlayer running on their compatible set top boxes, laptop, tablet or smartphone, dads and grads can access live, recorded and on-demand programming without an extra cable/satellite-TV subscription.

Slingbox provides a way to watch your TV in a variety of ways, wherever you happen to be:

• While on a business trip
• On a big-screen TV at a vacation home or second residence
• In the garage, backyard, or by the pool
• Watch all your favorite content from just about anywhere: in the dorm room, apartment, in the library or on the commuter train

Both the Slingbox 500 and Slingbox 350 deliver live and on-demand streaming of all of your favorite TV shows, sporting events, recorded programming and premium content to your mobile and connected devices in up to Full 1080p high-definition resolution. The Slingbox 350 is available at the entry-level price of $179.99.Priced at $299.99, the Slingbox 500 introduces new features, including Wi-Fi and HDMI, that make set-up anywhere in the home clean, simple and straightforward as well exclusive features including My Media, SlingProjector and SlingSync for personal media storage and playback on the living room TV. There are no monthly subscription fees.

TiVo Mini Is Mighty But Lacks WiFi Capabilities

The TiVo Mini and the TiVo Stream are other ways to save money by not having to buy a set top box for every room in the house. Though these products lack a WiFi capability, so you have to tether them to a router, the Mini is still a great addition to the award winning 4-tuner TiVo DVR. Connecting a TiVo Mini to a TV makes it easy to watch live TV, recorded shows and access web entertainment, schedule a recording or start a show in the living room and finish it on your Mini in another room. Mini delivers the intuitive, easy-to-use TiVo experience you know and love.

Features:

• Connects to any 4-tuner TiVo DVR (including Premiere 4, XL4 or Elite) through your home network to let you watch live TV or recorded shows

• Access your 4-tuner TiVo DVR to schedule recordings, Wish List® searches and Season Pass® recordings

• Provides access to movies and music from Hulu Plus, Pandora,®  Spotify,™ YouTube™ and other broadband content providers*

• Streams music and photos from any home network and the web

The TiVo Stream adds flexibility to your TiVo experience by letting you stream shows to mobile devices in your home, or wirelessly transfer shows and take them to go. For all Apple OS portable devices (and Android soon), you can stream your recorded shows from your TiVo Premiere series DVR simultaneously to multiple mobile devices where you can:

• Watch a show on a mobile device as it’s being recorded
• Wirelessly transfer shows to mobile devices
• Transfer a one-hour show in as little as 15 minutes

Zboost  System Boosts Your Cellular Signals, Improves Reception

The zBoost SOHO cell phone booster extends a Cell Zone™ for multiple users and all devices operating on 800 and 1900 MHz frequency bands… zBoost SOHO boosts signal up to 3000 square feet, making it perfect for your home or office. Taking advantage of a newly expanded spectrum that the U.S. government opened up.

Features:

• Increases indoor signal coverage-up to 3000 sq. ft.
• Supports multiple users simultaneously
• Compatible with all U.S. carriers and mobile devices using 800 & 1900 MHz (except Nextel/iDEN or 4G, 2100MHz phones)
• Increases voice and data transmission
• Decreases dropped or missed calls
• Extends phone battery life (uses less power when signal is stronger)

With an estimated 20 to 30 million Americans working from home at least one day a week, today’s moms and dads need to stay connected to work. Many families are saving money by just using their mobile phone as the main telephone connection.  And smartphones are a necessary tool for young adults whether they’re headed to college or out on their own. Research from the CDC found that 44% of people between the ages of 18 and 30 live wirelessly only, meaning voice and data signals are essential to staying connected. With reports showing more than 65% of smartphone owners are between the ages of 18 – 29, it is not surprising that 73% of college students said they would not be able to study without some form of technology and 38% of those students said that they could not even go more than 10 minutes without checking their laptop, tablet or smartphone.

IFI Smart Tag Finds Lost Keys, Phones, Tablets

Lost keys, left behind smartphones, and misplaced purses are now a thing of the past with the new iFi Systems Smart Tag, an easy to use device that electronically

connects with Apple or Android devices with a tiny electronic key fob.  Easily paired with a compatible smartphone or tablet, the iFi Systems Smart Tag can instantly alert a user if a cell phone is separated from keys by more than 30 feet.  And the Smart Tag can be used to trigger a smartphone to beep when it’s been misplaced.

With smartphones valued at hundreds of dollars and the private data stored inside worth even more, consumers must be on high alert for loss and theft. A survey done by Strategy One Research U.S in 2010 showed that 19 cell phones go missing in the U.S every 10 seconds.

A user can easily pair a smartphone to the small and discrete Smart Tag and be automatically notified when the two become separated. The iFi Smart Tag acts as a two-way loss prevention pager via Bluetooth technology, alerting the users when one has moved too far from the other.

Easy Pairing in Seconds – and Instant Notification

After downloading the free “iFi Smart Tag” app (available for free from the Apple App store or Google Play marketplace) and pairing it with your iOS or Android device, the Smart Tag can be attached to almost any item you want to protect and form a security zone between your tagged item and your device.  If the iFi Smart Tag or cellular device moves outside of the security zone of about 30 feet, a security alarm will sound to alert you of potential loss or theft. The app also sends a Google map notification of the tag’s last GPS location and time of separation.

The iOS iFi Smart Tag is designed to work with Apple iOS 5 and higher, and is compatible with the iPhone 5, 4S, iPad3, and iPad Mini models.  The suggested retail price of the Apple iOS compatible Smart Tag is $34.95 (Model T4.0 iOS).

The Android iFi Smart Tag works with Android 3.2 and higher, including the latest Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 with Bluetooth low energy technology.  The Android compatible Smart Tag, at a suggested retail price of $39.95 (Model T2.1 Android), includes a 3 volt Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery

DISH Networks Hops Out of Your House Now

Winner of the International CES 2013 “Best of Show” award, Dish Network’s Hopper with Sling includes DISH’s unique PrimeTime Anytime™ and AutoHop™ feature. The Hopper enables the consumer to watch their Dish Network content anywhere. The Hopper is accompanied by small Joey™ receivers that connect to TVs throughout the home, creating a whole-home entertainment experience that allows customers to watch a show or game while moving from room-to-room.

DISH Anywhere and Hopper Transfer apps

The DISH Anywhere app enables customers to watch live and recorded TV from their Hopper anytime, anywhere on Internet-connected iOS and Android devices.

The Hopper Transfers app enables customers to move DVR recordings from the Hopper with Sling to an iPad for times when an Internet connection is not available, such as in flight or on the subway. An Android App is due soon.

DISH Explorer

For iPad users, DISH Explorer is an intuitive, second-screen app that makes it easy to discover the most popular shows on TV, engage on social media and control the Hopper without interrupting the viewing experience.

Netgear’s Neotv Max Out Duels Roku, Boxee And Google TV

While Netgear may have been the last out of the box in the growing smart TV set top box market, its entry is quite impressive. While including Internet TV Apps like Pandora, Netflix, Hulu Plus, VuDu, You Tube, and many more, it also has the easiest to use Sling Box App of any set top box. The NeoTV Max lets you watch your cable TV channels on any TV in the house even if you don’t have cable in that room. It also includes the capability to watch your home computers wirelessly and also play personal video, photo and music files from USB storage devices or DLNA media servers directly on your TV. While it presently does not have Amazon video or HBO to Go, it does have the best remote of the top set top boxes available.