10 things not to buy in 2010

[Mucho]

I am buying a 1TB external hard drive this weekend, and send all my CD and DVD's to the storage.

 

[Patranus]

Have fun without your alarm system if you don't have a land line.

 

[sandorski]

So I actually shouldn't buy Carbonite or Mozy subscriptions since they are more expensive than an external hard drive?


Now the writer could have made the argument that Carbonite and Mozy make backing up your valuable computer files more secure by being offsite but they certainly don't make a convincing argument based on price alone.

That is clearly the weakest link in this list. Online Backup is likely to completely Fail. Good luck accessing your Data when the Corp holding it goes Tits up.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I check out the link, but I'm going with VD. It's never a good time to buy that.

 

[shortylickens]

Normally I would say this quality of information is fine for a general purpose website, and theres no way she intended to impress nerds with her viewpoints.
But most her points are so incredibly WRONG that its bad info for everyone, especially businesspeople who's careers may depend on knowing about gadgets and junk.

 

[ultimatebob]

Compact digital cameras? What kind of stupidity is this?


Sure, dont buy the ones that cost 300+$, that would mean youre an idiot unless its an ultraslim compact, but a 150$ compact? Nothing wrong with that in the least. There is always a tradeoff of quality, quantity and portability. Not everyone wants a SLR strung around their shoulders, they want a slim compact in their shirt pocket.

I think that the $150 compact camera will be replaced by your fancy new Smartphone with a built in 10 Megapixel camera, flash, and 720p HD movie mode 5 years from now. Sure, your SLR pictures will still look better, but most camera phones will probably have a bunch of cool camera features like smile detection and multipoint autofocus built into the software by then. You'll also be able to automatically upload them to your favorite picture sharing site automatically, which will be a huge time saver.

 

[ultimatebob]

Have fun without your alarm system if you don't have a land line.

It wouldn't be hard to build an alarm system with a built in cellular modem to relay data to the monitoring center. You also couldn't disable it by cutting the phone line!

 

[Anubis]

I think that the $150 compact camera will be replaced by your fancy new Smartphone with a built in 10 Megapixel camera, flash, and 720p HD movie mode 5 years from now. Su

no it wont because even 5 years from now not everyone will have or even want a smartphone

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

How about what stocks not to buy in 2010

 

[Jeff7]

DVDs
DVD : Buy it, it's yours. No DRM (well, nothing good anyway), and you don't have to worry about a license server shutting down.

Telephone service (POTS)
Don't have one, don't need one. Skype + cellphone.

External hard drives
Versus online services? Yeah, LMK when I can get cheap Internet whose speed and latency rivals my RAID 5 setup.
Oh, and make sure it works without network drivers installed. Hmm...yeah, problem.

Smartphone also-rans
Never had a smartphone, don't need one.

Compact digital cameras
I've got a used Olympus camera that's got more features than I need, but damn the price was right.

Newspaper
<spinning newspaper>
Extra, extra! Newspapers obsolete! This story is already very outdated anyway! Read all about it, unless you already did so online!

CDs
As long as I can get the songs in MP3 or FLAC format, agreed.
If not, I'll buy the CD, then make my own DRM-free files.

New textbooks
Sure, a great plan, except when they switch to version 11 of the textbook, wherein the publisher made several very minor alterations, totally worthy of running a whole new printing.

Inefficient cars
Inefficient homes/appliances
Well, yeah. Inefficiency = long term recurring cost.

 

[lykaon78]

I'll start with newspapers because I seem to be the only person here that disagrees with this one. Call me old fashioned but there is noting better than sitting in my recliner on a Sunday morning drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. There is something about this that a keyboard, mouse, and monitor can not replace.

For the others:
DVD - I don't see the general public fully embracing Blue-ray until their prices dip. Except for Disney movie for my daughter I can't remember the last time I paid more that $12 bucks for a DVD and most were half that. Plus with my upconverting DVD player and my 720p plasma I'm quite satisfied with my picture quality with standard DVDs.

Landline - We get terrible cell reception at the house and being a paranoid freak I appreciate that my phone will work when the power doesn't. In 20 to 30 years the land line may be gone but not until then.

External HDDs - I have over 1500 snapshots (5MP) on my computer and only a third of my internal drive is full. I back my photos up on a DVD. 90% of normal users will never need a second hard drive - period.

Smartphone Also-Rans - I disagree on this one. Apple has carved out a nice existence for a long time with a small 10%ish band of PC users. No reason to think a Palm or Google smartphone couldn't survive with a similar marketshare.

CDs - most inteligent thing in this article

New college text books - This is idiocy. If your professor requires a new book - you buy a new book. Then someone else can buy it used. Without the chicken you never get the egg.

Cars/Appliances - Assuming the price of oil continues to climb she is probably correct. Same with appliances and the cost of power.

 

[DivideBYZero]

How about what stocks not to buy in 2010

Yahoo.

 

[tboo]

I still get magazines. I need something to read while Im floating food boats.

 

[ultimatebob]

no it wont because even 5 years from now not everyone will have or even want a smartphone

Yeah... but those old fogey's will probably still be buying DVD's and newspapers

 

[ultimatebob]

I still get magazines. I need something to read while Im floating food boats.

An iPhone is amazingly useful for that, and easier to sneak into the bathroom at work

 

[Anubis]

Yeah... but those old fogey's will probably still be buying DVD's and newspapers

i don't consider 33 old (which ill be in 5 years) and i have 100% no desire to ever own a smartphone unless work forces me to get one

 

[kalrith]

Sorry, I'll keep buying my external drives.

This. As soon as I can get 1.5TB of online storage for life for a one-time payment of $81, I'll change my mind.

Edit: I don't buy DVDs any more, but that's because I buy BDs instead. I only buy them for movies I know I'll watch year after year (like Christmas specials, Star Wars, LOTR, etc.).

I still buy CDs, because I haven't found a good source of lossless audio downloads (and don't tell me that 256kbps is good enough).

I agree with others about the compact digital cameras. I want something that I can fit in my pocket and use on ski trips, at restaurants, etc. If that's not a compact digital camera, then it'll be a cell phone and most definitely not an SLR.

An exception for trucks should be mentioned under gas-guzzling vehicles. As long as there is stuff to be towed and payloads to be carried, there will be a large market for gas-guzzling trucks. I'm sure they will become more efficient in years to come, but people certainly won't choose a Prius over an F350.

 

[PricklyPete]

just got a CD and a DVD for xmas (well, a BD, but same logic)

not storing my pr0n on mozy. external hard drives it is!

Exactly.

 

[Jeraden]

Part of that article states:
"Verizon Fios cable service charges $5.99 a month to download unlimited movies."

Is that true? I have fios tv... never knew there was even a movie download service period...

 

[mb]

Part of that article states:
"Verizon Fios cable service charges $5.99 a month to download unlimited movies."

Is that true? I have fios tv... never knew there was even a movie download service period...

I didn't even notice that before. Not only is the list stupid, but she is incorrect about this.

First of all, it is $9.99 a month.
Second, it's old movies, crappy movies, and old crappy movies. See for yourself.
New releases are $4.99 *each* using VOD.

http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2009/coming-soon-epix-on-verizon.html

 

[Arkaign]

External hard drives? WTF? For those that need them (not everybody, obviously), they're freaking awesome. Show me an online service where I can copy ~100gb of data up or down in less than 15 minutes? No better way to quickly move data around from home to office, etc. Also fantastic for backups.

Now I'll agree that a lot of people without extensive audio/video/software collections could do without a big external and just stick with flash sticks and online storage, but I'd be willing to bet that most of AT community uses ext. HDs, and bigger is always better I'm gonna pick up a 2GB soon.

 

[hanoverphist]

It wouldn't be hard to build an alarm system with a built in cellular modem to relay data to the monitoring center. You also couldn't disable it by cutting the phone line!

ive installed many cellular alarm systems for well sites, some with a monitoring service and some using auto dialers. pretty neato stuff. kind of pricey for personal use tho. the owner here used a system we replaced in his vacation house, it calls him if the temp drops down to a certain level. it also calls him if his power goes out lol.

 

[jlee]

Their list is dumb.

 

[ElFenix]

I'll start with newspapers because I seem to be the only person here that disagrees with this one. Call me old fashioned but there is noting better than sitting in my recliner on a Sunday morning drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. There is something about this that a keyboard, mouse, and monitor can not replace.

i can easily burn 30 minutes a day reading most of the paper. taking a computer into the john just doesn't work as well.

 

[DaWhim]

just bought a P&S camera to go with my DSLR. my new P&S camera takes good HD video and crazy zoom (22x optical zoom, check out ZS3), that's why i get it.