Law San Fernando Podcasts
Desktop PCs getting more powerful - just in time for the holidays
LA Daily News - Technology
If you want a better desktop computer than the guy next door, now is the time to start looking and buying. In previous months, PCs from the major makers were offering 2 to 3 gigabytes of RAM with dual-core Intel and AMD processors. You need that kind of power to make the Windows Vista operating system run well. But in the past few weeks, I've seen a major uptick in desktop PC specifications - and prices. Friday's Fry's Electronics ad features an HP Pavilion Media Center M9350 PC with an AMD Phenom X4 9850 quad-core processor, a whopping 6 GB of RAM, 750 GB hard drive, DVD/CD burner, NVIDIA graphics card with its own 512 megabytes of memory, built-in wireless networking and an analog-and-digital TV tuner with remote control. The TV tuner and remote add the job of "media center" to this desktop PC. You can watch live TV, and record and share it. These PCs are also great for games, working with video from your camcorder, and just about anything that's processor-, memory- and storage-intensive. The HP costs $999.99 and doesn't come with a monitor, but if you need - or want - all that power, it might be worth spending the extra money on a PC that should add at least a year if not three to its life by virtue of being so far ahead of the majority of cheaper PCs on the market today. I've seen similar deals for HP and Gateway desktops at Circuit City and Best Buy. In the next six months, I can see PCs shipping with 8 GB of RAM, 1-terabyte (aka 1,000 GB) hard drives and Blu-ray disc burners. But for now these new media-centric PCs represent a pretty good deal for those with a spare $1,000. Use those DTV coupons I've gotten quite a bit of mail from people who have gone to www.dtv 2009.gov or called 888-DTV-2009 to get up to two $40-off coupons from the U.S. Department of Commerce to purchase DTV converter boxes. Those boxes, which enable viewers of over-the-air television to receive digital signals on their older analog TV sets, will be essential when full-power stations stop analog transmissions on Feb. 17. Remember that the coupons must be used within 90 days, or they'll expire. This week Target had a Sansonic DTV converter box selling for $49.99. That means you'll pay a very reasonable $10 with your government coupon. Most of the boxes I've seen at Best Buy, which has been very good about keeping them in stock, sell for about $60, meaning you'll pay only $20 with a coupon. Steven Rosenberg writes about technology at http://blogs.dailynews.com/click . Write to him at steven.rosenberg@dailynews.com . read less
Latest Episodes for this Channel
Desktop PCs getting more powerful - just in time for the holidays
Sat September 06 2008
If you want a better desktop computer than the guy next door, now is the time to start looking and buying. In previous months, PCs from the major makers were offering 2 to 3 gigabytes of RAM with dual-core Intel and AMD processors. You need that kind of power to make the Windows Vista operating system run well. But in the past few weeks, I've seen a major uptick in desktop PC specifications - and prices. Friday's Fry's Electronics ad features an HP Pavilion Media Center M9350 PC with an AMD Phenom X4 9850 quad-core processor, a whopping 6 GB of RAM, 750 GB hard drive, DVD/CD burner, NVIDIA graphics card with its own 512 megabytes of memory, built-in wireless networking and an analog-and-digital TV tuner with remote control. The TV tuner and remote add the job of "media center" to this desktop PC. You can watch live TV, and record and share it. These PCs are also great for games, working with video from your camcorder, and just about anything that's processor-, memory- and storage-intensive. The HP costs $999.99 and doesn't come with a monitor, but if you need - or want - all that power, it might be worth spending the extra money on a PC that should add at least a year if not three to its life by virtue of being so far ahead of the majority of cheaper PCs on the market today. I've seen similar deals for HP and Gateway desktops at Circuit City and Best Buy. In the next six months, I can see PCs shipping with 8 GB of RAM, 1-terabyte (aka 1,000 GB) hard drives and Blu-ray disc burners. But for now these new media-centric PCs represent a pretty good deal for those with a spare $1,000. Use those DTV coupons I've gotten quite a bit of mail from people who have gone to www.dtv 2009.gov or called 888-DTV-2009 to get up to two $40-off coupons from the U.S. Department of Commerce to purchase DTV converter boxes. Those boxes, which enable viewers of over-the-air television to receive digital signals on their older analog TV sets, will be essential when full-power stations stop analog transmissions on Feb. 17. Remember that the coupons must be used within 90 days, or they'll expire. This week Target had a Sansonic DTV converter box selling for $49.99. That means you'll pay a very reasonable $10 with your government coupon. Most of the boxes I've seen at Best Buy, which has been very good about keeping them in stock, sell for about $60, meaning you'll pay only $20 with a coupon. Steven Rosenberg writes about technology at http://blogs.dailynews.com/click . Write to him at steven.rosenberg@dailynews.com . read less
Tech's battle over OT pay moves to Sacramento - INDUSTRY SEEKS CLARITY; LABOR GROUP RIPS PLAN
Tue September 02 2008
SACRAMENTO - It's no secret that the typical workweek for Silicon Valley's programmers and engineers is a lot longer than 40 hours. Now, the battle over whether those high-tech workers should be treated as salaried professionals or hourly employees entitled to overtime pay has moved from the courtroom to the state Capitol. Hit with class-action lawsuits claiming it has improperly withheld overtime from some workers, the high-tech industry is lobbying for a measure to clear up a state law that exempts tech companies from paying OT to highly skilled employees. While the industry has the backing of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and at least some legislators from both parties, a powerful labor group is pushing back, calling it a corporate giveaway and bad for workers. Several Silicon Valley companies - including IBM, Oracle, Siebel Systems, Cisco Systems and Electronic Arts - have settled class-action lawsuits in recent years accusing them of illegally withholding overtime pay from some employees. The settlements have totaled more than $150 million. At issue is a state law passed in 2005 that clears high-tech companies from having to pay overtime to highly skilled employees who earn more than $36 an hour. That amounts to just under $75,000 a year. The idea was initially aimed at differentiating between hourly temp workers and salaried professionals for the purposes of paying overtime. The class-action suits have alleged that the companies misclassified workers in more mundane jobs to avoid paying overtime. They also say that the firms have failed to keep track of employees' hours to demonstrate that exemptions from overtime were in order. Tech company representatives say the suits have exploited an unintended consequence of the law by forcing them to track the hours of highly skilled professionals who make more than $75,000. Many of them are salaried. But if a software engineer or programmer works more than 40 hours in a week - not exactly uncommon in Silicon Valley - the companies must make sure that the employee's average hourly pay doesn't fall below $36. If it does, they are due overtime. Tech representatives say that means, in order to avoid being sued, companies have been forced to keep close track of employees' hours. "The only way you can prove they're exempt is by having them punch a time clock," said Roxanne Gould, a senior vice president for the American Electronics Association, which along with TechNet is leading a lobbying effort to resolve the issue. They want a clearer overtime exemption removing the need for such detailed record-keeping. "A lot of people in the valley work remotely from home," said Jim Hawley, TechNet's senior vice president and general counsel. "It's very hard to keep track of hours, and it's the not the culture of the valley." The industry has found a receptive ear in Schwarzenegger, who wants to clarify the overtime exemption as part of an economic stimulus package that would be included in the state budget. The governor and lawmakers are still negotiating a spending plan two months into the fiscal year. Several Democrats also have signaled they are open to the change, but the fact that it is caught up in thorny budget negotiations could be problematic. The powerful California Labor Federation is fighting the proposal, calling it a handout to the tech industry that could open the door to overtime exemptions for other classes of workers. "Big tech companies that have been sued for cheating workers out of overtime pay are trying to make matters worse by taking away workers' rights to that pay," the federation wrote in a flier it passed out in the halls of the Capitol last week. "Eliminating overtime amounts to a major pay cut for families already struggling to make ends meet." Labor Federation executive secretary Art Pulaski added in an interview that he believes tech companies are exaggerating the burden of tracking employee pay. "If anyone should know how to keep records," he said, "it's them." But the governor and others fret that the threat of class-action lawsuits could drive high-paying jobs to other states, where such rules don't exist. "Because of the confusing nature of the law, employers in high tech have been inundated with lawsuits," said the governor's spokeswoman, Lisa Page. "Our proposal clarifies the law so unnecessary lawsuits stop and we can keep these jobs in California." Contact Mike Zapler at mzapler@mercurynews.com or (916) 441-4603. read less
Discs, tapes and the big digital shift
Sat August 23 2008
To receive high-definition digital television broadcasts, you need either a digital-ready TV set or a digital-TV converter box for your current analog set. But what about recording programs and playing back DVDs and VCR tapes? It gets complicated. If all goes according to plan, analog TV broadcasts from full-power stations will cease in favor of digital-only signals next Feb. 17. I say "if," because I don't think the non-cable and non-satellite viewers of America are anywhere near ready for the end of analog TV. For those with analog TVs, if you haven't done so already, you can get up to two government-issued $40 coupons for DTV boxes, bringing their price down to $20 per box. Go to http://dtv2009.gov or call toll-free 888-DTV-2009. I've heard about plenty of problems from readers who have received the coupons and purchased DTV converter boxes for their older TVs. Hooking up the boxes and using them to watch TV is fairly simple. The antenna plugs into the DTV converter box, the box plugs into the TV's antenna input. Then you tune your TV to Channel 3 and use the DTV box to tune the digital channels. But what do you do about your VCR and DVD player? For the VCR, I'd plug the DTV converter's antenna output into the VCR's antenna input, then the VCR's antenna output into the TV's antenna input. Then tune both the VCR and the TV to Channel 3. Did you get that? Yep, it's complicated and convoluted. Most DVD players don't have an antenna (or RF) output. If your TV has either composite video (one RCA jack) component video (three RCA jacks) or S-Video (a round, multipin jack), you can connect one of those plus two additional RCA jacks for stereo audio to your TV. That will work if - and I do say if - your TV is new enough to have those kinds of inputs. I have an older TV with none of those, only an antenna input. To make everything work, I use my VCR's extra video and audio inputs to plug in my DVD player. Then I turn on the VCR and tune it to the proper input to watch a DVD. It's not elegant, but it works. When analog TV turns off in February, you'll need a DTV converter box in order to record programs on your VCR, even if you have an HDTV set. And you won't be able to program that VCR to record different stations at different times, since it will be tuned to Channel 3 all the time. You can record, but you'll have to tune the channel on your DTV converter box. Steven Rosenberg clings to his last days of easy VCR recording at http://blogs.dailynews . read less
Digital HD TV opens new world
Sat August 16 2008
After fixing my father-in-law's DirecTV HD receiver (unplugging and replugging the power cord was all it took), I stood in awe of all that is Olympic glory on his 46-inch Sony Bravia LCD HDTV. NBC transmits the Beijing Games - and just about everything else - in glorious 1080i resolution. It can be seen with that same detail on even the smaller 22-inch Vizio set we picked up for $350 last week at Costco and are now enjoying at home. No cable or satellite needed. In my neighborhood, over-the-air digital TV is, for lack of a more sophisticated word, awesome. First, two clarifications: Some readers pointed out that the resolution on all current digital TVs is so good, you don't have to worry about being too close. After more than a few minutes in front of the giant Sony, I agree. Viewing angle, however, is another matter. The LCD sets aren't particularly kind if you're not in the "sweet spot." Too far to one side or too far down and your view dims. But after hours of swimming, gymnastics and the commercials wrapped around them on the Vizio, I can confidently say high-definition digital television, from where I'm sitting, is great. Another reader e-mailed that most broadcast stations transmit not in 720p but in 1080i - a resolution that can be seen on most all TVs out there, 720p and 1080p models included. After we brought home the Vizio TV, I hurried to Fry's and bulked up on the necessary cables for plugging in our VCR and DVD player. Worried about digital reception, I sprung for a $12 "rabbit-ears" antenna meant for both analog and digital signals. Once I had the Vizio wired, I stuck with my decade-old $5 VHF rabbit ears from Radio Shack. Never mind that all HDTV signals are in the UHF band. I had the new antenna at the ready, but I wanted to see how many stations I could get with the old aerial. After hitting the "on" button, the Vizio automatically began to search for stations. We live in the flat part of the San Fernando Valley and have good analog reception - except for the lower VHF stations (channels 2, 4 and 5), which are a bit snowy. When the Vizio finished scanning, I had crystal-clear digital signals from every broadcast station except for KCOP Channel 13, which we could get in analog only. I'm pretty burned out on "Seinfeld" reruns, so I'm OK with that. But I bet a little tweaking of the rabbit ears, or using the $12 antenna that's still in the box, could bring in Channel 13. Best of all, the digital signals of KCBS Channel 2, KNBC Channel 4 and KTTV Channel 11 came in with perfect clarity. Hello, Olympics! Going from analog to digital, we've now got 60 channels to explore. A few of them might even not stink. Read more about digital TV at http://blogs.dailynews.com/click . E-mail: steven.rosenberg@dailynews.com . read less
Ready for digital? Get a good fit
Sat August 09 2008
With analog television broadcasts ending Feb. 17, leaving only digital TV for over-the-air viewers such as myself, I'm ready to buy a digital set now so I can start enjoying high-definition programming as soon as possible. We'll be replacing a 13-inch color TV we bought used over a dozen years ago with a flat-panel LCD model. When we're not watching TV, the analog set, a VCR and DVD player hide behind cabinet doors. Any new TV must fit in the same space. That means a lot of measuring. I don't want to buy a TV, get it home and find it doesn't fit in the cabinet. That limits our choices. We can fit a 22- or 24-inch digital set in the space, but a 32-inch model won't work. Not that there's anything wrong with that. When we're watching this new set, we won't be more than 8 feet away from it. The closer you get to a bigger TV of equal resolution, the more likely you are to see pixilation of the image. So before you look at TVs, use a measuring tape to determine how far you'll be from the set - and at what angle. Taking these measurements will help you decide between the screen sizes as well as the different resolutions of the sets. The most common digital-TV resolutions are 720p and the more expensive, more detailed are 1080p. What do those numbers mean? Briefly, the number 1080, for example, means 1,080 lines of vertical resolution. The "p" stands for progressive scan, which means the image is not interlaced. A progressive scan delivers the image to the screen in a single pass, while the interlaced image is delivered in two passes, theoretically yielding a less-smooth picture. Luckily, almost every TV today features progressive scan. And if you're planning to get a Blu-ray DVD player, you can enjoy television in full 1080p resolution. That means you'll get a 1920x1080 pixel image on screen, yielding 2,073,600 total pixels. That's a lot of pixels. Chances are you probably don't need them. Many experts even have trouble choosing between 720p and 1080p sets of the same size. If you're tech-obsessed, you might want to spend the extra money on 1080p, but the average TV viewer will enjoy even Blu-ray discs at 720p without buyer's remorse. And while TV broadcasters theoretically could transmit at 1080p, none of them do. On cable and over the air, it's pretty much 720p all the way. Most of the sets that measure 40 inches or above in diagonal screen size deliver 1080p resolution. I've seen quite a few 42-inch 1080p LCD TVs in the $900 range. The smaller screens almost all feature 720p resolution. I've seen quite a few nice TVs at prices from $350 to $500. Steven Rosenberg awaits the end of analog TV broadcasting at http://blogs.dailynews.com/click . Write to him at steven.rosenberg@dailynews.com . read less
