Kevin Rose's CES picks

Kevin Rose, of the screen savers on the station formerly known as TechTV, has posted a little info about the products that he liked the most from CES.

Visit his link for the round-up of the goodies.

Go, read his post. Before you head over there though, check out this little gadget. It's called the Kodak EasyShare One.

The two features that set this camera apart from current models is the touch screen ability (just look at the size of that LCD), and the built in Wi-Fi support. So, now you can sit at home on your wi-fi network and email pictures to your family without doing the transfer by USB to computer, resize, email client, then send routine. It also has 256MB of internal memory, and supports SD cards for expansion (I wish it were CompactFlash). The only possible downside is that it's a relatively low 4-megapixel... but I'm not one to complain about resolution that much. For my uses, a 4 MP is just fine.

Other noteworthy CES coverage:

CNET's CES coverage blog
IGN's CES coverage (Gadgetry and Video Game Coverage)

My New Motorola V551 from Cingular

The brother and I have been looking to get new cell phones since about October when our joint contract expired. We did some research on phones and looked at different sites to see who offered the best prices on Cingular phones & plans, and here's what we found.

Buying directly from Cingular at their advertised prices is a big mistake. They're overpriced, as most retail stores will be (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.). You'll find better deals on cell phones online, as with most other electronic gadgets.

Amazon.com usually has competitive prices on phones because of the Amazon rebates they offer if you sign up for a brand new contract ( i.e. no contract extensions, no number portability... basically has to be a new contract on a new number for 2 years). You can get most phones for free, or with money back, after their amazon mail in rebates.

The problem with Amazon and all other online cell phones retailers is that you pay, and then you have to wait a few days for the phone to arrive, then activate the phone yourself. We didn't know whether this meant that we'd have to call a number to activate our phones, or whether we'd still have to take the phone to a Cingular store and have them activate it for us. Lastly, Amazon wouldn't accept our zip code as a valid area. Taylor tried to purchase one at first, and they wouldn't process our area code, so that was a no go all together. Chances are if you're in a semi-rural area, that you'll encounter the same problems.

Earlier this week, Taylor went to a different Cingular store to find out if they price matched internet deals. They said that they would. So, with that knowledge, we went and found the best deal we could get for the phone we'd chosen (Motorola V551), and we took a printout to the Cingular store. By doing this we ended up getting a much better deal (about $150 off the Cingular price) and we got the phones immediately.

On a side note, if you're gonna do the same thing and take a printout to a Cingular or other retail phone service location, look for the person that looks like they're having the most trouble answering all the questions customers have. Deal with this person. Today, Taylor got a new girl at the Cingular store and she price matched the deal for a 1-year contract, gave him an instant rebate instead of the mail in kind and gave him an ear bud and a car charger for free. I went back later this afternoon after Taylor, and had the manager wait on me. I told him what Taylor had gotten and asked for the same and he said that they weren't supposed to do that, then chided the girl for giving such a good deal. I left with a 2 year contract, no accessories, and an extreme dislike for the manager there. However, since we chose to do the retail price match, we both walked out of there with a new phone without having to pay a cent up front. The only thing we'll be paying is our cell phone bill each month and a $36.00 activation fee.