As all the coverage of CES shouts really loudly over in Vegas, an equally important technological drumbeat has begun in earnest, with explainers and even a government coupon program to help people (like me) who still have broadcast TVs (in my case along with digital cable), and want to be able to keep using them after the switch over to digital broadcast signals next year.
The coupon program, according to the AP, offers $40 coupons for the first 22 million homes that request them -- we'll see if that's enough, and what kind of crunch there is next Feb when TVs start going blank. AP says the converter boxes will cost $50 - $70. (Which means even with teh coupon everyone's going to have to spend the price of, say, a DVD player to get each TV switched over). I've registered. I'm the kind of guy who will use both modern tech -- running my various Apples and Windows machines through a wireless network, Slingbox, etc -- and also jury-rig an old coax-only TV with rabbit ears to see if I can milk some more life out of it in a spare bedroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment