With a year to go until analog TV broadcasts give way to digital, the federal government on Tuesday started mailing $40 discount coupons for digital converter boxes to consumers who requested them.

Do you need one? And if so, do you really need one now?

Only consumers with older analog TVs who get their programming solely over the air — not through cable or satellite service — will need to plug their rooftop antenna or pair of rabbit ears into a converter box.

If you use an antenna to watch television, your older set won't work after Feb. 17, 2009. One year from now all over-the-air TV broadcasts will be strictly digital.

Analog TV is going away and your old television can't receive the new digital TV signal. So, if you use an antenna to watch TV, you'll need to buy a digital converter box for your older TV.
As a side note if you use satellite or cable, you aren't affected.

NEC, the Japanese electronics manufacturer, recently unveiled a new concept phone that uses fuel cell as power.

The handset is apparently named NEC Flask Phone and, at a first glance, it looks like a giant lighter that Bigfoot might really love (if he exists and if he smokes). At a second glance, things seem a bit more serious, as this device is said to pack some sort of a touchscreen that also has the role of a keypad. The phone has a transparent case that allows users to see how much fuel is consumed, thus knowing when to recharge, and it's intended to be a device that perfectly integrates advanced technology and simple but elegant design.

There are no technical details regarding the Flask Phone concept, so we don't know much about the nature of the fuel powering it or about the features the phone has to offer.

Although it seems a concept meant to be only a concept, the NEC Flask Phone might be ready to hit the market before the end of 2008, as the Japanese company is confident that such a phone can be created. Of course, there is no info on how much it would cost, nor about the countries that can get it, but if we are good fellas, this year's Christmas Santa might come with a mobile liquid surprise for us. And, why not, for Bigfoot too.

As usual I was hopping around the internet and came to a site I had never seen before. They have quite a few videos that you won't see on YouTube or other places.

No, I am not talking about Porn or adult videos, just videos that I thought were funny and that I would like to share with my friends.

The place I found was funnyjunk.com they have quite a few funny and interesting videos.

I came across this video and thought that it would be nice to send it and share it with my friends and also to save to my computer and my Sansa. Unfortunately they don't have anything to allow me to download the video into some kind of Windows type format.

After a little research, I found a way to do just what I want and with very little effort.

The first thing I needed to do was download the video to my computer. I did this using a site called

I have been making quite a few slide shows out of photos for Christmas this year. Using Nero Vision I have been making the slide shows and then burning them to DVD.

This is a great way to give out nice presents without much of an investment. But depending on the length of the show, the resolution if the photos and other things I have found that the preview function in Nero is just not enough to rely on. You really need to see them on the TV, especially with the large screen TVs now available.

The only problem is, after making the DVD and for some reason you want to make a change to the show, well, you already have created the DVD.

So you have to trash it and make another. This can get expensive.

So, instead of burning to DVD, testing it out, changing things, burning another, etc, we decided the easiest way to test them out on the big screen is to create the video and, using TiVo to Go, transfer them to the

While doing research on this new phone, we came across a lot of cool an interesting services that the Japanese enjoy that we don't have.

Check this stuff out.

Omakase Lock - Lock your phone just by contacting DoCoMo. You can lock your Phonebook and other personal data as well as the "Osaifu-Keitai" IC card function on your phone if you misplace or otherwise loose it.

PushTalk - PushTalk enables up to 5* people* (including the caller ) to participate in a single call. Calls between PushTalk compatible handsets can be made straight away as no application is necessary.

Videophone - Convey Your Feelings Like You're There in Person Videophone conveys the nuance of what you want to say better than with words only. Sharing moments in real time as they happen is one of the many ways to use Videophone.

Chara-den - Chara-den is a service where the user shows an avatar character instead of his or her own face to the recipient of a Videophone call. That avatar can then be controlled by the user.

Just when you thought you had a phone with every cool feature there is, out comes the Wellness Phone.

The prototype Wellness mobile phone from Japan's NTT DoCoMo was unveiled this week at the CEATEC electronics show outside Tokyo.

It can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. It even assesses stress levels and inspires you with a pep talk.

The phone has an inbuilt motion sensor that detects body movement and calculates how many calories you burn.

The sensor can tell whether you're walking, running, climbing stairs, or resting, and counts the calories accordingly to tally daily totals.

Hold the phone with outstretched arms, and it turns into a mini body fat calculator. A sensor at the top of the phone takes your pulse from your fingertip.

Worried about bad breath? Use the phone's breathalyzer. Blow on a tiny hole on the side of the handset for about three seconds and it will tell you.

It was announced here a few days ago that Sling Media was working with the NFL and DirecTv to produce the NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ SuperFan™ DIRECTV SUPERCAST.

I don't have DirecTv but was fortunate enough to give it a test drive today. It's pretty darn cool!

You get live streams of every NFL SUNDAY TICKET game right on your PC, via your Internet Explorer. No software to download, not special codecs needed, nothing. Just go to your Supercast page and start watching.

They have live streams of every NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ game, plus the Red Zone Channel. Real-time player and team stats and scores.
You also get highlights from every game as they happen and after the game is over.

The site works pretty well. Except that I couldn't watch my home team even though they were on an away game. But I could Sling it and watch the other games all at the same time.

Not every gadget is electronic.
When you are a guy, you know that when it’s time to “Whip it out” speed is of the essence. No one want to be too late in getting it out!

Now it looks like we have a new addition to our Christmas list, sorry if it’s not what you thought it was.

They promote it as the best knife you’ll ever have, but I just think it’s cool!
You can find it here, and no, we do not have any affiliation with them and are not making anything from promoting it.

But it looks pretty nice. Here is what they say:

Five Cool Things About This Knife

1. Accessible without reaching for it.
2. Accessible without unnatural motion.
3. Out and open in an indetectable manner
4. Out and open with one handed operation
5. Accessible even when sitting down
6. (bonus) accessible even when wearing chaps

IOGEAR just received FCC approval for a new Bluetooth hands free car kit.
No, we are not talking about their recently released GBHFK201W6 product.
Click on the photo on the right to enlarge.

This is a brand new product a GBHFK211W6. This one will come with the same type of USB charging cable and a in car charger.

But they will have 2 -AAA rechargeable batteries inside, instead of a Rechargeable Lithium Battery.

It will also be VOIP enabled and usable as a portable speaker phone for in the home, in the office, or on the road.

I have been looking for an in car cell phone, car kit, I have tried several bluetooth headsets and always find them lacking or uncomfortable.

We can't say when it will be released, but are looking forward to testing it!

What do you think? In car Hands Free kit or Bluetooth earpiece headset? Which do you prefer?

First of all, if you have not read the Mind Over Matt'er blog about what he can with his 8525 phone that the iPhone can't , you need to read it first, here, then come back to this post.

Ok, you back?

We thought that a rebuttal was needed to this post.

Here is the stated reasons that he said he can do that iPhone owners can only dream about.

1. Watch my home TV with SlingPlayer - No you can't watch your Sling Box yet.

Who would want to? Whatever you may be watching, someone at home could be watching the same thing at the same time!
So they would know when you are watching adult videos!
You can download and convert movies to your iPhone and no one would be the wiser as to what you are watching. Nothing like a good adult movie when you are out of town!