Sennhesier Noise-Canceling Headphones for $93

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

DealNews is a website which reports on good deals found online (their tongue-in-cheek slogan is “How to go broke saving money”). And in today's update, they mentioned that SelectRebate offers Sennheiser’s PXC-250 noise-canceling headphones for $93. A press release on Sennheiser’s website gives this description:

With excellent sound reproduction and the active noise compensation system NoiseGard™, which can be switched on whenever it is needed, the dynamic closed PXC 250 tops the range of Sennheiser mini-headphones. Soft ring ear pads ensure a high level of comfort without unpleasant pressure. The extremely thin, ultra-lightweight voice coil is a guarantee for high efficiency and generous volume, both for low-impedance portable players and for high-impedance inflight entertainment systems. A special adapter is included for use on planes. […]

Considering that I have some airline trips coming up (for Thanksgiving and Christmas), the built-in noise-canceling appealed to me. And, $93 was also a good price — the lowest on PriceGrabber is $130. So, I ordered a pair :). Interestingly enough, the DealNews entry mentioned free shipping through a coupon code, but that must have already expired since it didn’t work for me. Even so, ground shipping was only $5.

Sam’s Club for Digital Prints

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I was chatting with my friend Paul at the Dallas Camera Club meeting this evening. And, we got to talking about digital prints since both he and I have digital cameras (a Nikon Coolpix 5700 in my case and a Canon EOS-D10 in his).

And since it’s a digital camera, I haven’t had much need for prints. But, I have had some prints made for some of my better shots. In those cases, I went to dotPhoto. They’re an online store with reasonable prices and — unlike some other online print shops — they also offer matte prints (which I prefer).

In any case, Paul mentioned that Sam's Club actually does digital prints as well (I was aware of their film processing, but it didn’t occur to me that they might do digital). Apparently, you can just bring in a CDR or even a memory card (including CompactFlash) and they’ll make prints. Paul mentioned that they have a self-serve kiosk but that it can actually be faster sometimes to just go up to the counter — either way, it only takes about an hour or less.

dotPhoto’s prices were some of the best that I could find online (such as $2 8x10s, if they’re running a special), so I had a general idea of what Sam’s prices should be. So, I was pleased to hear that their 8x10s are regularly just $2 — and that’s especially tempting considering that it’s only an hour for processing (as opposed to at least a few days with online print shops).

Paul also mentioned Dry Creek Photo which has professional-printer “profiles”. As I understand it, you can download a profile specific to the digital printer that Sam’s Club or other processors use. Then, you can adjust your image on your screen at home, “print to” the profile (I’m guessing that it’s a faux printer driver) and then take that file to Sam’s Club. And, since all color correction was done on your local box, you can decline color correction on their end.

Being that Sam’s Club takes pride in their low prices, I do have my doubts about all this ;). But, at $2 per 8x10, I think ’ll give it a try. And, if it doesn’t turn out how I’d like, I’ll just go back to dotPhoto.

Black Adder on PBS/KERA

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I’ve heard good things about Black Adder (a British sitcom) but my local PBS station wasn’t airing it. So, for about a year now, I’ve had a TiVo Wishlist for “Black Adder” (TiVo Wishlists record shows based on characteristics such as keywords in a show’s title).

My TiVo also has a To-Do section where it lists upcoming programs that will be recorded. I check that from time to time and a couple days ago I noticed some Black Adder episodes in there! It looks like they’ll be airing on Sundays at 12:30am. This Sunday (11/9) is Series I — Episode 1 (“The Foretelling”) followed by Series I — Episode 2 (“Born to Be King”) the following week.

I’m especially pleased that the series is starting from the beginning so that I won’t be at the disadvantage of missing out on reoccuring jokes from episodes past. Of course, I’m not even sure if I’ll like the show, but I’m willing to give it a try. And, with Rowan Atkinson, how bad could it be? :)

Arrested Development on Fox

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

I first heard about Arrested Development through a promotional trailer sent to my TiVo. Arrested Development is a half-hour dark comedy on Fox which premiers this evening at 9:30/8:30c. Laurel Krahn, who writes for TVPicks.net, says this about the show:

Jason Bateman stars in this strange dark comedy. It’s received a lot of rave reviews and no wonder: it’s different than any other half-hour show on the air right now. Bateman and his son are the sanest members of a rich family. Quirky show with lots of voiceovers and I suspect it’s either so different that it’ll be cancelled real quick. Or else some of the schtick (like the voiceovers) and characters may just wear too thin too quickly. Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi are very good in this. Well worth a look.

Fox doesn’t hesitate to emphasize that Jason Bateman plays the lead. And, though I’ve heard his name before, I don’t think I’ve seen any of his previous movies or shows that he’s been in. However, I think it’s a good sign that David Cross is in the show — he’s a 30-something comedian with a certain cynical view of the world. I wouldn’t say that he’s just another jaded comic, but he definitely looks at daily life with a grain of salt.

Ron Howard is one of the executive producers, if that means something to you — sure enough, Howard introduced the trailer. But, I’m still not sure about what role an executive producer has in a television show or a movie. In any case, perhaps this is a good sign for some people or a not-so-good sign for others — he was also the executive producer of Sports Night, Felicity, and The PJs (none of which were shows that I particularly liked).

But, Arrested Development looks interesting and I’ll give it a chance. It's on this evening (Sunday) at 9:30/8:30c.

Century Media — 20% Off Sale

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From their newsletter, I’ve learned that Century Media is having a 20% off Halloween sale through midnight on Sunday (11/2/2003). For those not aware, Century Media is one of the foremost metal-specializing music labels. And, before you recoil from a “music label”, rest assured that they’re not members of the RIAA :).

Back in college, I used to muse about whether I preferred Century Media or Nuclear Blast as a record label (both were prominent metal labels of the time). But, Century Media bought Nuclear Blast a couple years back, so CM is now my one-stop metal emporium.

So, after checking reviews at Metal-Rules, I’ll probably stop by Century Media’s online store and pick up a few discs between today and tomorrow. And, with most of their discs already priced around $10-$12, the 20% off makes their prices even better.

A word of caution: last time I ordered from Century Media — which was admittedly back in February 2002 — their online store didn’t quite have their act together. At the time, I placed an order for about ten discs and it took about five to six weeks to get them all shipped to me.

And, it would have been one thing if they sent out an automated e-mail explaining that some of the titles were backordered, but they didn’t even bother with that. Still, it’s been about about eighteen months since then and I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they’ve improved their methods.