Diamond Refund?
I've participated in class action lawsuits before, but now I came across another one. De Beers is paying out money as the result of a settlement, and I want my piece of the pie! Here's the story behind it.
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I've participated in class action lawsuits before, but now I came across another one. De Beers is paying out money as the result of a settlement, and I want my piece of the pie! Here's the story behind it.
My Canon A75 camera died. It was a slow death, but sad nonetheless. It started with the LCD displaying the live image poorly, and vertical (or was it horizontal?) lines appearing on pictures taken when the camera was displaying the image poorly. It ended with the camera displaying no live image, other than a fleeting image of a ghost.
The new camera I chose is the Canon SX100 IS. The selection was based on my desire for image quality, AA batteries, a "mega zoom" and the availability of a deal. (Retail price is $300, it's regularly available for $240. Staples had it for $200, I used a $30 coupon and 3 ink coupons, bringing the final price down to $160.98 + tax or 172.25.)
One of the drawbacks: it uses SD (secure digital) memory instead of CF (compact flash). This isn't terrible per se, just frustrating because I already have 1-1.5 GB worth of CF. Of course, with the larger images from the higher megapixel camera, that amount of memory wouldn't have been enough anyways. Plus, each of my cards is only 256 MB.
When I bought the camera, I bought a 2GB SD card. It was a fairly high speed card, on sale at Staples for $30, so it wasn't a total rip-off, but better deals have been known to exist. In fact, an excellent deal on very high quality memory was brought to my attention this week. The deal originated with Adorama, but was also available from other retailers like B&H Photo.
What's the deal? An extremely fast 4 GB SDHC card (with card reader) for $50, before $30+ rebate. (The rebate amount goes up the more you buy.) In the end my brother and I ordered together (2 for me, 1 for him). Special pricing brought the cost down to $46.95 each before $110 in rebates, for a final cost of $10.28 per card.
Compared to the $82.54 I spent on my first 1.25 GB of CF (an INCREDIBLE deal back in 2003), this is very cheap. (25% of the cost for 640% of the memory!)
I successfully returned the $30 SD card to Staples, in a different store with a different tax rate, so I "made" $0.42! (Net memory cost: $10/07/card.)
Other drawbacks of the camera: negs:
low-light questionable quality
slow recharge of flash (4-5 sec?)
pop-up flash - good & bad
no zoom during video recording
My next job is to determine which (if any) of my old card readers can read SDHC. The built in SD slot in my Dell Inspiron 6000 could NOT read the SDHC card, but after installing the Microsoft hotfix, it can now. Unfortunately, the hotfix didn't help my my multi-card reader.
The next device that needed updating was my Treo 700p. I was aware of an update for it for a long time, but under the "if it ain't broke..." theory, I hadn't installed it. Unfortunately, this meant it lacked the capacity to read SDHC cards. I found the update website, only to discover that they had pulled the desktop install. The only supported method was via SD card - which I have already returned. Fortunately I had downloaded the desktop update already, and with my breath held, I installed the update via the desktop route. Initially it failed to even detect the phone. I hypothesized it was due to my use of a USB hub. (I had this happen before with a HotSync on a different hub. The current hub allows me to HotSync.) After I connected the USB cable directly to the computer, it recognized the phone and started. At one point the install seemed to have died, and I was asking myself why I didn't just round up an SD card for the easier install when it finished successfully! SDHC is now recognized, and a bug/error I used to get when deleting large quantities of email (via the "Delete Old..." feature in VersaMail has gone away.
Effective next February, anyone who does not subscribe to cable TV or satellite TV and relies only on an antenna (on the roof, or rabbit ears), will not be able to receive reception without a converter box, as the TV industry is switching from analog to digital signals.
The US Government is providing $40 coupons to be used towards the purchase of these converter boxes.
To request a coupon, consumers can apply online at http://www.dtv2009.gov starting Tuesday. The government also has set up a 24-hour hotline to take requests, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).