cords

More Americans opting to cut cord on traditional TV

While the vast majority of U.S. residents own televisions and watch them regularly, more and more people are opting to toss their cable plans and use other devices for entertainment.

A new report by Nielsen finds that those people who have elected to go "Zero TV" have more than doubled since 2007. Currently, more than 5 million people don't have broadcast television in their home, while in 2007 just 2 million didn't.

Despite these numbers sounding big, cord-cutters are still just 5 percent of the U.S. population. And, as Nielsen wrote in a blog … Read more

Get PlayOn and PlayLater for life for $59.99

If you've ever thought seriously about cutting the cable-TV cord and saving yourself a big chunk of change every month, you've probably looked at PlayOn, a PC-based media server that lets you stream tons of TV content to just about any home and mobile device.

And if you love your Netflix and/or Hulu Plus subscriptions but don't always have an Internet connection for streaming their content, you need to know about PlayLater, which turns your PC into a DVR that can record those and other sources for later viewing.

All of which brings us to this … Read more

Return of the $79.99 Roku-Hulu Plus combo deal

This is an update of a deal I first wrote about back in June. With the holidays upon us, it's the perfect time for this "rerun."

Through the end of next week, and while supplies last, Roku is bundling the Roku HD box, a six-month Hulu Plus subscription, and an HDMI cable for $79.99 shipped. Those items would normally cost you around $128 if purchased separately.

A brief personal story: we're having a bit of trouble with our cable service. For some reason, the signal from ABC has degraded in the last couple weeks, leaving … Read more

Unlace: A colorful twist on cord detangling

I had the worst case of headphone cord tangle on Friday, and wouldn't you know it? Just as I had finished unwinding and unknotting, a co-worker showed up at my desk with two samples of the Unlace, a colorful and rubbery new twistable detangler that just kicked off a funding run on Kickstarter.

If I'd had these twisties sooner, I could have prevented my most recent cord conundrum, but oh well... I'm excited to have them around for future knotty situations.

Inspired by the look of a shoelace, the Unlace comes in two sizes -- a 5-incher for earbuds and similarly sized cords, and a 10-incher for power cords and other burly cables. The longer Unlace can even be configured into an impromptu smartphone stand. Both sizes come in eight colors: white, yellow, orange, pink, blue, green, silver, and black. … Read more

Smart skivvies shock patients to prevent bedsores

A little shock now and again can be good for you, if you happen to be a bedridden patient at risk of developing bedsores and the shock is delivered through your underwear at very specific intervals.

So says a team of doctors at the University of Calgary, who recently tested their "Smart-e-Pants" on 37 patients with spinal cord injuries -- some of the most challenging patients because they can neither move nor feel when bedsores are forming.

The researchers found that by placing two pads of electrodes on each, er, cheek, and stimulating each patient's backside for … Read more

Five-deal Friday: iPads, Roku boxes, Vudu movies, and more!

Well, yesterday was kind of a train wreck, huh? Believe me that I get just as frustrated as you when a vendor suddenly jacks up the price on a product, as TigerDirect did yesterday on the Vizio sound bar. It's worse than a sellout, because it smacks of bait-and-switch tactics (even though the company's own promotional e-mail showed it at the higher price, so that accusation doesn't hold water).

Anyway, I still feel bad about it, which is why I'm giving you five -- count 'em, five -- deals today. Without further ado:

1. Wal-Mart has … Read more

Save 25 percent on a refurbished Roku box

This is an update of a deal I posted a couple of months ago.

Finding out what all the "Downton Abbey" fuss is about. The arrival of movies like "Mission Impossible III" and "Team America: World Police" on Netflix. The early debut of shows on Hulu.

These are just a few of the reasons why you need a Roku. As I've noted before, I think these little boxes are the best way to bring streaming media into your living room. They sling not only Netflix, but also Amazon Instant Video, CNET, HBO Go, … Read more

Pay TV is on the ebb as customers cut the cord

A look at the numbers shows that subscribing to pay-TV services is on the ebb. According to Reuters, more than 400,000 TV watchers have "cut the cord" since January.

First, DirecTV, which is the top satellite TV provider in the U.S., announced today that it lost 52,000 customers in the second quarter. Then the No. 2 cable provider in the U.S., Time Warner, also announced a second quarter loss today with 169,000 people leaving the service.

"Basic video subscriber losses aren't getting better," Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett told Reuters … Read more

Musical glove could improve mobility after spinal cord injury

A wireless musical glove developed at Georgia Tech not only teaches users to play songs on the piano, but may also improve the sensation and mobility of the hands of people who have suffered spinal cord injuries, researchers report.

The Mobile Music Touch (MMT) device, which works alongside a computer and a keyboard, improved rehabilitation even in patients who had sustained the injury more than a year earlier -- a point at which improvements tend to be minimal at best.… Read more