Meh on Wine.Woot

Over the past year, I've placed eight orders from Wine.Woot.com.

The first order was for a Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir Trio. I must say, that wine was brilliant.

So, I figured I'd try it again. I ordered a Block 13 Cabernet Sauvignon 4-Pack, about $14/bottle. It was very good, and definitely worth $14/btl.

I concluded that Wine.Woot is a good way to try new wines at discount prices ... a way to learn wines. Wine.Woot had earned my trust. Over the next few months, I placed the following orders (given with my ratings):

• Colores Del Sol Argentina Malbec Trio ($14/btl) = sux
• Titus Vineyards 2-Pack ($32/btl) = particularly disappointing
• Clos La Chance Trio ($18/btl) = 1 good, 1 meh, 1 sux
  
• Roessler Winery Pinot Noir Trio ($22/btl) = sux
• Vino Noceto Sangiovese Trio ($22/btl) = I don't even recall
  
• Roessler Bluejay Pinot Noir Trio ($22/btl) = sux (think I'd have learned the 1st time)

Conclusions:

1) Don't use Wine.Woot as a way to learn about wine. It's too hit & miss. Recently, there have been few bargains, as they keep selling 3-for-$65 wines that don't save much over street price (fortunately, today has a Zin 4-pack for $55).

2) You're much better off going into any good local wine store and asking the staff for recommendations at $20 or less. I've switched to this, using a nice local wine store that's close by, and its hit rate (defined as "better than meh") is 75%.

3) I waste waaaaay too much money ordering crap online.

Now on Twitter

I'm Twittering at http://twitter.com/dandealnews

iPhone v. Concrete? Winner: Concrete

Friday night, my wife was coming home from work, and her iPhone 16GB slipped out of her fingers as she was taking it out of her purse. It hit the street, and voila:
What did I do when I saw it? Laughed! I mean, OMG it looks like it took a bullet! So of course I took a photo (with my iPhone, ironically) and emailed it to some friends.

A call to AT&T proved unhelpful, so I suggested she go to an Apple Store. They were helpful, but the replacement cost was $300. Ouch. And apparently, you can't insure an iPhone. I'm so buying her a silicone skin for this one.

Update: The Apple Store could have replaced just the screen for $200, but they didn't have any in stock, so we got the replacement phone (a refurb). A new one would have cost $500.

Update2: Courtesy Daniel H.: You can insure an iPhone, just not through Apple or AT&T. Some people use the floating policy on their home insurance, or you can use SquareTrade. I have 3 years of coverage (including full accidental damage) on mine for like $87 (via one of the hefty 30-40% off coupons they usually have). Better than the cost of replacement, and worth the extra lifetime if I decide to skip a generation before upgrading to the latest iPhone. Only caveat is it has to be within like 30 days or so of the purchase date to get it with SquareTrade.

Update3: Jim found that TechRestore fixes them overnight for $100 + $19 s&h.

BRILLIANT spam from LNT!

If you cannot see the links or images in this email, click here. Our e-mail address is changing. Please add this address to your address book: Linens-N-Things@em.lnt.com. Find out how.

Dear Daniel, Linens 'n Things is interested in your opinions. As an e-mail subscriber, we would like to get your feedback as to how well our e-mails meet your needs. Please complete our online survey. It should only take about 3 minutes of your time. Just click on the take the survey link below to go to the survey:

Thank you in advance for your comments. We value your opinions. Sincerely, Linens 'n Things

Nice timing, as LNT is out of business and liquidating its inventory.

Brilliant spam from Crutchfield

As a customer from several years ago, I received this email from Crutchfield just now. It's the smartest marketing I've seen yet related to the current economic woes.

Dear Valued Customer,

The international financial crisis is weighing heavily on all of us. As consumers, one factor that we all need to consider is the stability of the companies with whom we do business. In the current economic climate, many retailers will stumble and some will even fail. For that reason, I personally want to explain Crutchfield's unique situation.

For many years, I have been concerned about the growing credit bubble. It was obvious to me that it was unsustainable and that an inevitable day of reckoning would come. To protect our customers, our employees, and my family from the disastrous consequences of a financial meltdown, I positioned Crutchfield to withstand the worst. We became very frugal with how we spent money. We did not pay outlandish executive salaries and bonuses. We did not build fancy facilities. We did not expand our retail store operations. And we did not buy other companies. Instead, we worked extremely hard to improve how we serve our customers, while we managed every aspect of our business with excellence. Furthermore, we paid off all of our debt and accumulated cash reserves.

When shopping in times like these, you need to be certain that the retailer will be around to provide you with years of after-the-sale support. We know that you expect guarantees, warranties and promises of lifetime product support to be kept when you purchase with us - and I have positioned our company to deliver without compromise on all of these important elements. As retailers go, Crutchfield is a "Rock of Gibraltar." We have no debt, a perfect credit rating and a legacy of fiscal prudence. Therefore, we will be around to serve you as we have served millions of customers for the past 34 years and throughout the last four recessions.

Purchasing from Crutchfield today means you are choosing a company that will help you use and enjoy your purchase now and in the future. I hope that you'll give Crutchfield a chance to exceed your expectations. I thank you for your time and, most importantly, for doing business with Crutchfield.

Bill Crutchfield
Founder and CEO, Crutchfield Corporation

Crutchfield hit home on several points: We've got great customer service, we're financially sound, and we've weathered recessions before because we're smart businesspeople. Whether it's true or not is irrelevant. I get thousands of emails from stores a week, and I've seen no such reassurance from any other retailer. By being first, Crutchfield stands out.

Speedo Men's Warmup Jacket, Foot Locker Hoodie

I pulled the trigger on the Speedo Men's Super Pro Warmup Jacket today too ($12 via Prime). I know that I don't have enough workout gear for when the temperature drops. I didn't opt for the matching pants tho. That would be too stylin' unless I start hanging out at Satriale's.

Speaking of such cheapies, my wife loves the Foot Locker Basic Men's Hoodie ($7 shipped, expired) I bought for myself last week. She asked me why I only bought one at the time. "Because they might suck!" is always a good reason, right?

Koskin 20-Disc CD Hanger

I bought the Koskin 20-Disc CD Hanger from Meritline for $2 today. I've got a handful of wedding-related CDs and DVDs taking up room in the apartment, like our wedding video (thanks again Stuart & Brian) and wedding photo backups. Since I have a small file cabinet, this will minimize the room they'll take up.

I'd like it better if the CDs were protected from dust a bit more, though. But, $2!

How to tell if your small bank is in trouble

A worthwhile read for those who are wondering:

Forbes: How to tell if your small bank is in trouble
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2008/10/10/fdic-call-report-ent-fin-cx_mf_1010bankfail.html

Have you seen the ad for Wario Land: Shake It?

Have you seen the ad for Wario Land: Shake It? Best web ad I've seen in ages.

http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii

dealnews Redesign

Hi folks! I have just a few quick comments about our redesign.

The main reason we implemented this redesign was to remove the right sidebar on dealnews so we could use that space for other purposes, now and in the future.

This redesign was shown to the heavy dealnews users that make up our User Advisory Board. It received extremely positive ratings, far more than any redesign we ever launched. Nice.

You can compare the old and new here:


The changes may seem dramatic since we changed the very top of the page. But scroll down and you'll find that the redesign changes very little.

Changes of note:

• The category list on the right has moved to the top of the page.
• "Today's Hottest" is now a gadgety widget, which allowed us to add product images, but we can only fit the top 4 now (we had up to 6 before).
• The right sidebar has been eliminated. This gave us an area on the right to add more tools to each deal. The first is a new "Report an Error" link.
• Links to the three most recent "Feature" articles have been added to the upper right.

We removed a couple of features that fewer than 5% of our visitors use: The Ability to "hide" the big area at the top of the page, and a few alternative views of our home page (like "Tile" view). For web site stability, it's important to every once in a while remove site features that haven't proven popular. (The less code, the better.)

As you browse around, you'll find that the sidebar is still on a few of our pages. We're upgrading those pages soon.

Special thanks to the designers and programmers who worked on these changes. Extra special thanks to our readers who've given us feedback, much of it used in this redesign.

Please leave us comments, either as a follow up to this blog post or via our email feedback form at http://dealnews.com/contact.html. (Update: If you're reporting a problem, please provide your browser version and platform. The more detail the better ... for example, Firefox 3.0.2, Mac OS X 10.5 would be great.) Thanks for reading!

Babysitting cooperatives

I'm not a parent, but I am cheap, and what a great idea: Brooklyn Based found a babysitting cooperative for Brooklynites. That's FTW if you're already cash-strapped from the cost of living in NY.

In a handful of neighborhoods — Prospect Heights, Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace, and Bay Ridge to name a few — you don’t need to pay qualified adults to care for your child when you need to go to the doctor’s, work at home alone, or want a date night out. You just need to be willing to return the favor, as a member of a babysitting cooperative.

http://brooklynbased.net/everything/babysitters-for-0-an-hour/

Bill Heard locations in U.S. shutting down

Bill Heard, the largest chain of Chevy dealers in the U.S., is shutting down. Huntsville has a Bill Heard dealer (HAD! ... although it will apparently be bought out and reopened by another company). I certainly feel bad for the rank and file employees. But the sales staff and management? Everyone I've ever heard talk about Bill Heard has described it as an underhanded, downright slimy place to buy a vehicle. Here's how management handled the shutdown:

Shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday, employees at the Huntsville dealership were asked to gather. They were told that the dealership was closing and that they should leave the premises.

Classy til the end.

Time Warner DVR v. TiVo

This dude's complaints about the Time Warner DVR (versus TiVo) are spot-on:

ZDNet: How I dumped my DVR for a terabyte TiVo

Apple tax break! (not)

I got an email blast from Apple this week regarding the sales tax break in the State of Alabama. A sales tax holiday is a big deal on a Mac, since the cheapest new Mac costs $1,099 (outside of the Mac mini).

However, the fine print from Apple's promo says:

The transaction does NOT qualify for the exemption if:

• The CPU costs more than $750 before tax.

Tune in for Apple's next promotion, where they give away a free Porsche 911 with every new MacBook purchased from an Apple Store for under $1,098*.

* Offer excludes student and government discounts, theft, typos, and other loopholes we haven't thought of.

TripAdvisor's Golden Rule?

I think I've discovered how to use TripAdvisor for hotels.

I'm at the Hilton Boston Dedham tonight. It's very close to my appointment for tomorrow morning. (I'll be talkin' deals on FOX25 Boston sometime around 7 am ET, woohoo!)

I must say, this Hilton is absolute crap. It's old. It smells funny. And there's more.

I checked in to the hotel, entered the room, went to the bed, moved a pillow, and this is what I saw: buffalo wing sauce. Fresh buffalo wing sauce. Mmm ... except that it wasn't mine. I pulled the sheets, wondering if I'd find a welcome platter of steaming hot buffalo wings in the bed. Nope, but I did find dirt. Black dirt. At least, I hope it was dirt. It was certainly dirty.

So, I called the front desk and asked -- as nicely as I could -- for a new room. Why, he asked? The bed was dirty, I said. No apology, he gave.

But hey, maybe this new room will be a diamond in the rough, right? I get to the next room, I check the bed. I find a BIG FAT TOENAIL CLIPPING on the top of the bed. Yuck!

Now, why does all of this make me feel like I've unlocked a TripAdvisor secret level? After all, most of TripAdvisor's ratings were positive. TripAdvisor even gives this hotel 4 stars (of 5) for cleanliness.

I think that TripAdvisor's secret is, if the hotel's rating is lower than 4 stars (of 5), then the hotel sucks. I've stayed in dozens of the hotels rated on TripAdvisor, and this rule seems to be the golden rule. Reviewers gave this nasty Hilton a 3.5 rating out of five.

Of the other Dedham hotels, The Residence Inn, which was booked, rates 4 stars. It's booked solid, and I couldn't get in. Hmm, I wonder if they serve buffalo wings?

p.s. Darn you Paris Hilton, it's impossible to Google for anything containing "Hilton". Thank God for SafeSearch!

Update: Western Digital's My DVR Expander

A quick update to my blog post, Western Digital's My DVR Expander. Within 24 hours after hooking it up to my Time Warner DVR, the DVR stopped recording shows. Nothing. Nada.

Unplugging the external hard drive (a.k.a. My DVR Expander) fixed it. That was almost a month ago, and I haven't yet had time to troubleshoot and experiment.

However, I followed the directions, it showed itself by all indications to be working (i.e., the capacity jumped and no error messages were given), and even so, it doesn't work. I suggest avoiding Western Digital's My DVR Expander product for now until I come up with more.

Using a Mac mini as an HTPC

I'm well underway using my Mac mini as a home theater PC (HTPC).

Background: After finding myself connecting my MacBook Pro time after time to my 46" Samsung LCD TV to watch videos, I decided to dedicate a computer to the task. I looked hard into buying an Antec case like the FUSION or NSK2480 and building my own PC, but there's a problem. I'm lazy.

So I purchased Apple's cheapest refurb Mac mini a couple of months ago (then $479, currently $679). As always, Apple's refurbs are indistinguishable from new ones. I added a new Logitech MX Air Wireless Air Laser Mouse (I paid $100). I still need to buy a wireless keyboard, but since I use the keyboard rarely, I haven't done so yet.

A Mac mini has some real negatives as an HTPC. The main thing is, it has DVI out, not HDMI. Also, there's no internal expansion, so things like a built-in TV tuner have to be done via FireWire or USB. And the only reasonable way to increase storage is to add an external hard drive like the NewerTech miniStack, a problem I'll have soon enough. Last but not least, like all things Apple, a Mac mini (even a refurb) is generally more expensive than a comparably-equipped BYO HTPC, especially if built via deals on dealnews.

But it's also got some real positives. It's TINY. It's incredibly tiny compared to Antec's HTPC form factor, and yet it still fits in a built-in DVD reader. (That means that I can toss my upconverting DVD player.) It's completely silent, with no noticeable noise whatsoever. It has optical audio output, although I haven't set that up yet.

Also, from a software standpoint, it works really well out of the box with no setup required. Front Row, Apple's media navigator, is free and an extremely simple interface to access my videos and music, so anyone can use it. Just stick your content into the appropriate folders (e.g., "Movies" or "Music") and it's ready. And since it's a Mac, things like setup, file sharing, and so on are all quite easy for Kari or for guests to access. You can use the iTunes Store for video and music (although as I've mentioned before, iTunes is dead to me). It even came with an Apple Remote, which is the only remote you need when using Front Row. (The Logitech Air is needed for things like Hulu.) Lastly, if I really want to use Vista's media center features, I can install it, since this is an Intel-based Mac.

The negatives weren't a big deal to me, although setup without HDMI took longer (two cables instead of one) and I'm not happy with the DVI-to-HDMI conversion (explaining that begets a whole 'nother blog post). As for no TV tuner, I have hi-def cable from Time Warner, so I didn't plan on watching cable TV via this device (even if if there is a CableCARD solution out there). It's solely there to archive all of my DVDs (so they work as video-on-demand), watch Hulu and other online video, and playback MP3s. However, it should be said that no HDMI and no internal expansion make a Mac mini an inviable HTPC for most home theater enthusiasts.

As easy as setup was, it took me a while to get around to setting it up, then it took me a while longer to add content to it. But now that I'm using it, I'm quite happy being able to hit one button on my Onkyo receiver and having my HTPC and all of its content available instantly. Now, I want to start reading up on what other people are doing with their HTPC Macs to see what I'm missing out on.

More to come.

Folding Charcoal Grill

If you have an apartment with a small patio, you'll understand. Once you're done with this Notebook Portable Grill, it folds flat for storage. At $70, it's not cheap. However, it's not a lot more than a 18.5" Weber Kettle Grill, although it is 20% smaller in cooking surface.

Of course, there's no Weber grill that folds into something 1.5" thick. Nice.

Why iTunes is dead to me

Why is iTunes dead to me? Here's my "A-HA!" moment:

1) My wife and I watched Juno for the first time last night. (Loved it.)

2) Kari mentioned how much she loved the music and wants the soundtrack.

3) Today, I checked prices on Juno - Music From The Motion Picture from Amazon and from iTunes:
* Amazon: $8.99
* iTunes: $11.99

4) Amazon is DRM-free, meaning I'll never be given that annoying prompt about re-licensing this music when I upgrade machines.

Every time I check Amazon, it costs less than iTunes. When you see Amazon's daily specials, which we list regularly on dealnews, they're far less. In fact, they're so cheap that they make entire albums into impulse purchases. And they're DRM-free, they work perfectly on my iPhone, and Amazon's downloader even puts them in my iTunes app.

I have over $100 in credit at iTunes, since I usually stock up when iTunes Gift Cards go on sale. I'll take your best offer.

So long, iTunes. Pardon me if I don't wish you luck on maintaining your monopoly.

Hill Country BBQ = $$$

I lunched at Hill Country Texas BBQ today (30 W 26th St). Quite decent barbeque, with excellent brisket, good jalepeno cheese sausages, good pork ribs (although a tad dry), good corn pudding, and a good red BBQ sauce. Their sweet tea was a little odd because it had a mint flavor (real mint, but still didn't seem right). It's the best BBQ I've had in NYC by far, but that's compared to Jake's in Brooklyn (which is very average).

The problem? $72 (before tip) for three people for lunch! HOLY FRICKING PAYOLA. I'm used to Big Bob Gibson's BBQ in Decatur, AL ... better food at about half the price.

Western Digital's My DVR Expander

I purchased the Western Digital 500GB My DVR Expander eSATA External Hard Drive yesterday and connected it today to my Scientific Atlanta 8300-Series DVR (from Time Warner). Worked like a charm. Don't get me wrong, the Scientific Atlanta 8300 is a piece of garbage compared to a TiVo. But I went from 65% full to 15% full, a 4.3x increase if my math is right. Woohoo! I can finally let the DVR record niche shows I like to watch occasionally like Colbert Report and Deadliest Catch.

I paid 150 clams for this privilege, though, $50-$70 more than what a 500GB eSATA HDD should cost. Ouch. However, when I researched expanding my DVR, it seemed that there wasn't consensus on whether any ol' eSATA HDD works on my DVR model. I really didn't want to have to buy a HDD that I'd have to return, so I waited until dealnews stumbled on a deal for this model, which is intended for DVRs. I might have pissed away $70, but I might have saved myself lots of time and trouble. Any brave souls out there that have gotten any ol' eSATA to work?

And may I add ... OMG, I picked budget shipping from Buy.com, and I got this item next-day. WOW.