10 things not to buy in 2010

[Arkaign]

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.

I'm 33 and grew up on the middle of the internet boom, but I still like to read the paper. I like both, but as I really dislike laptops for the most part, if I'm not at my PC and I've got some time to read the daily news and whatnot, I'd rather read a physical paper than be fooling with a notebook.

 

[coldmeat]

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.

What are you going to do with all that space?

 

[SunSamurai]

Yess thats it folks! And what is THE most popular thing you should not buy in 2010?! YOU GUESSED IT!! Financial advice from a company teetering on bankruptcy!!

TELL THEM WHAT THEY'VE WON BOB!@Q!!


A NEW CAR!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SunSamurai]

What are you going to do with all that space?

Probbaly fill it with then new-fangled mp2 audio recording tracks.

 

[Arkaign]

What are you going to do with all that space?

I have a PS3 hooked up to my downstairs bigscreen, but no BR upstairs either in the rec room or in the bedroom to the TVs there, so I just use AnyDVD to make images of my discs, that way I can stream them to any of my PCs. ~30gb a pop takes up some considerable space, and it's also nice not to worry about my 3-year-old or any of the other kids that my family brings by to worry about scratching up the original discs and then freaking out when Toy Story won't play

I am also really big on keeping drive images for friends and a few clients that seem to be prone to dropping their notebooks or crashing them completely, I can just boot from a usb key with acronis and 15 minutes later have them back up and running. Whether or not they listen to me and keep backups of their important docs is up to them I keep a rolling backup (backs up only new files and changes to an existing image) of a 750GB boot drive as well, so having more backups is helpful!

 

[HannibalX]

LOL @ online backup services. Real secure. Those services are asking to be compromised. Only a fool would put their personal data on one.

 

[dullard]

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.

Wow! A whole 2 GB? My mind has been blown!

Edit: Doh! I should have read the rest of the thread.

 

[ElFenix]

The guy seems to forget that in the heyday of film camera's there were a lot of people that were satisfied to take pictures with Instamatic's and Polaroids.

i just bought pocket instamatics (even worse) and i really want a polaroid.

an instamatic reflex would be super awesome.

 

[coldmeat]

I have a PS3 hooked up to my downstairs bigscreen, but no BR upstairs either in the rec room or in the bedroom to the TVs there, so I just use AnyDVD to make images of my discs, that way I can stream them to any of my PCs. ~30gb a pop takes up some considerable space, and it's also nice not to worry about my 3-year-old or any of the other kids that my family brings by to worry about scratching up the original discs and then freaking out when Toy Story won't play

I am also really big on keeping drive images for friends and a few clients that seem to be prone to dropping their notebooks or crashing them completely, I can just boot from a usb key with acronis and 15 minutes later have them back up and running. Whether or not they listen to me and keep backups of their important docs is up to them I keep a rolling backup (backs up only new files and changes to an existing image) of a 750GB boot drive as well, so having more backups is helpful!

I was really just trying to point out that you said 2 GB, but ya I back up my movies on my external too. It's just 500gb though. I'm too poor to afford BDs.

 

[rockyct]

I was really just trying to point out that you said 2 GB, but ya I back up my movies on my external too. It's just 500gb though. I'm too poor to afford BDs.

I've got a Windows Home Sever with a pair of TB drives. It's pretty awesome. Auto backup management of all the computers in the house and folder mirroring. Plus I can log onto the server from anywhere on the internet and then remote desktop into any computer in the house. It also alerts me if a computer isn't being backed up or something is wrong with its security updates.

 

[Locut0s]

External HDs?? Sorry they will be around for quite some time. Online backup may be fine but most people feel more comfortable having the data actually in hand. I know it's stupid and a simple human failing as the data is probably more secure on the net but external HDs aren't going away. In fact they only seem to be getting more popular as the price per GB drops.

 

[lizzyKing]

no more books untill i have those on my bedstand done

 

[TJCS]

pay an annual fee to an online company to safe keep my data? Hell no.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

"Most senseless article by clueless writer" award 2010 nomination begins here

My thoughts exactly. What useless rubbish.

 

[IronWing]

DVDs - never bought a movie, have maybe two software titles on DVD
Home Phone - will keep until cell gets cheaper and better coverage
Ext Hard Drives - I'm up to three with no end in sight
Smartphone - Spawn of Satan,don't want
Compact Cameras - I love the DSLR but off compacts take great pics and are awesome for hiking
Newspaper - Haven't subscribed since 1999, price went too high
CDs - I love CDs. This year will mark the tipping point though, we now buy more music as downloads than CDs but we burn most downloads to CD anyway.
College textbooks - Not unless my life really changes
Gas guzzling cars - This is America gul darn it!
Energy Inefficient stuff - This is America gul darn it!

 

[AMCRambler]

This list is retarded.

SLR cameras are wicked expensive, very bulky and they don't increase the picture quality. All they do is ensure that what you see through the viewfinder is what the lens is going to capture because you're essentially looking through the lens. For 9 out of 10 people its not worth the extra $200.

The online storage thing is confusing as hell too. External hard drives are bad because you'll eventually have to move all your files to another one? But they're cheaper BY ALOT. Lets say my external drive lasts 5 years. Not out of the realm of possibility since it only gets used when I'm backing stuff up. At $55 a year for five years we're talking $275. That would buy me way more storage in the form of external hard drives then the stupid online service. The only advantage of an online service being I won't have to move things off the drive when I need to upgrade? What if the online service goes under? I'll still have to buy a hard drive to store my data. LAME

I agree. This author is a tool.

 

[shortylickens]

This list is retarded.

SLR cameras are wicked expensive, very bulky and they don't increase the picture quality. All they do is ensure that what you see through the viewfinder is what the lens is going to capture because you're essentially looking through the lens. For 9 out of 10 people its not worth the extra $200.

The online storage thing is confusing as hell too. External hard drives are bad because you'll eventually have to move all your files to another one? But they're cheaper BY ALOT. Lets say my external drive lasts 5 years. Not out of the realm of possibility since it only gets used when I'm backing stuff up. At $55 a year for five years we're talking $275. That would buy me way more storage in the form of external hard drives then the stupid online service. The only advantage of an online service being I won't have to move things off the drive when I need to upgrade? What if the online service goes under? I'll still have to buy a hard drive to store my data. LAME

I agree. This author is a tool.

Actually, they DO increase image quality. But your other points are correct.
Wait, no, not entirely. They are not wicked expensive, and they are not a set 200 dollar more. In fact one of the best P&S cameras ever made (Panasonic LX3) is a little more expensive than the most basic SLR you can find (Nikons D40). While the image quality of the D40 may be superior, the neat little features of the LX3 make it more desirable to amateurs and also professionals who need a good backup camera.

You need to spend a little time at www.dpreview.com.

 

[Kelemvor]

Actually, they DO increase image quality. But your other points are correct.
Wait, no, not entirely. They are not wicked expensive, and they are not a set 200 dollar more. In fact one of the best P&S cameras ever made (Panasonic LX3) is a little more expensive than the most basic SLR you can find (Nikons D40). While the image quality of the D40 may be superior, the neat little features of the LX3 make it more desirable to amateurs and also professionals who need a good backup camera.

You need to spend a little time at www.dpreview.com.

I love DPreview. Been spending lots of time there as I just bought the Canon T1i. Can't wait until it gets here.

 

[Jadow]

I still get the weekend newspaper. Something about the ritual on Sat and Sun morning I like too much.

 

[immy85]

havnt bought a newspaper in a few years now

 

[HannibalX]

I vote this author is an idiot. How about the top ten websites you shouldn't visit in 2010?

#1: Yahoo Finance

Agreed.

 

[Tequila]

Lolz at that article. The first thing I bought in 2010 was a point and shoot camera. While I don't subscribe to a newspaper I still pickup the WSJ once or twice a week. Sure I watch streaming video but I till buy DVDs. I have all seven seasons of NCIS and five seasons of Lost and the commentary that comes with them are priceless.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

This was written by a college drop out with no knowledge of the tech world.

 

[SunSamurai]

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.

PaS digitals have the advantage of being cheap. Unless every 11 year old gets a contract with xBell for their smartphone (the only type that really comes close to any reasonable picture quality) then I dont see it happening when ma and dad can just pay 150$ once and get a much cheaper phone plan.

 

[actuarial]

The online storage thing is confusing as hell too. External hard drives are bad because you'll eventually have to move all your files to another one? But they're cheaper BY ALOT. Lets say my external drive lasts 5 years. Not out of the realm of possibility since it only gets used when I'm backing stuff up. At $55 a year for five years we're talking $275. That would buy me way more storage in the form of external hard drives then the stupid online service.

That doesn't even include the costs of requiring top internet speed (which you may not need given your other internet uses), as well as a lot of bandwidth (which are increasingly getting capped).