Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy on Feb 19th, 2008. What a ride. A brand known for innovation, cool products and great customer service couldn't keep up with the pace of innovation, differentiation and rigor needed to build and market today's sophisticated products. Not only did the company suffer from bad publicity and lawsuits related to their flagship product  read more »

We just posted an "everything you ever wanted to know about daylight saving time," page. The reason we think this is important is because there are a lot of devices all the way from enterprise servers to camcorders that are going to change time on the wrong date this year. Before you start complaining, just remember that getting the sun to set an hour later really doesoffer some real benefits. It saves energy because more people are outside and not using lights and appliances. It also cuts down on traffic accidents and even reduces crime. That said, it's s  read more »

Keep your eye out for firesales on HD DVD players. If the price gets low enough these players might still make excellent standard definition DVD players. For example, the Toshiba HD-A30 has an HDMI 1.3 port and upconverts to 1080p. You might even be able to pick up a player that comes bundled with some discs.

New York Times Technology Writer David Pogue has, untill today, remained a creature of mystery to me. I've spent many a long, sleepless night pondering the motivations of a man so deeply committed to gadgets and gizmos, a man who strives to inform the masses of new inventions, trends and business in the tech market. He is humorous, yes, intelligent, of course, but who is the real David Pogue, I ask, and when, oh when, will he reveal his true self to me?  read more »

While reading  Etan Horowitz's new tech blog for the Olando Sentinel I came across a reader's comment that mentioned another fallout from next year's digital TV conversion and that is all those analog-based TV audio receivers. I've had many multi-band radios that have had a TV band that let you listen to the audio portion of a TV show. All those old radios will stop receiving analog TV signals next year. They'll all have to switch to digital receivers for TV audio. Just in case you want to read more  read more »

According to Greenpeace electronic disposal is responsible for 5% of all waste worldwide. And thanks to the hypercompetitive cell phone market and cool-obsessed tech consumer, e-waste is also the fastest growing component of worldwide waste, with users upgrading their electronics more frequently then ever. I know. I had no idea either. It turns out most Americans didn't. That's 'cause the majority of e-waste is sent to China and India, and despite China's 2000  read more »

What's the big deal about closing another round of funding? So many companies have received funding over the last two years so that's not a reflection of the viability or success of a venture. In fact, Erick Schonfeld over at Techcrunch just posted a nice article on venture funding of new-age (web 2.0, web 3.0 whatever you want to call them) consumer internet companies. Wow, so many companies  read more »

San Francisco hosts the GeekFest of the week, Supernova 2007, with a warm up starting today and the big deal starting tomorrow. There's also a bake-off of hot new start-ups call Connected Innovators - Michael Arrington of TechCrunch moderates and Geek VC, Paul Kedrosky is rumored to be one of the judges.  read more »

It was opening day at CTIA today and no one was fooling around. I have to say this show is a lot easier to deal with than CES; much more manageable and less crowded. You could actually get a chance to check out the products at the booths and lunch in the press room didn't vanish at 11:45.

Speaking of the press room I ran into a Becky Waring, an old colleague who has a degree from MIT and has been writing a lot recently for PC World. She just finished a roundup of new wireless routers due to be published soon. One thing she told me that I wasn't aware of is how WiFi networks ca  read more »

The self-proclaimed online tech gossip rag, valleywag, coming to you straight outta S.V. (Silicon Valley represent), is pissed at greenpeace and other long-haired hippy environmentalists about coming down hard on Apple for their apparent lack of greenness. Man, are they pissed. Apple forgoes an online rant, replying to the environmental smackdown by announcing some new green initiatives, reminding us that Steve and Steve were once hippies themselves.

 read more »