switch

Remember the 1982 tune "TV Party"?  Black Flag saw the humor in television addiction, but on February 18th, 2009, some people could be singing the song's last few stanzas without a hint of sarcasm.  Less than a year is left before the switch from analog to digital signals takes place, and ten percent of American households remain unprepared.

Close to half of over-the-air households reject post-transition pay TV and plan to receive free, over-the-air digital television by buying a converter box or digital TV set according to the Association of Public Television Stations study. About 43 percent of over-the-air households said they would purchase a converter box or a digital TV between now and when the transition takes place on February 17, 2009, compared to 12 percent who would sign up for a cable or satellite service.

The government is now offering $40 coupons that people can use to apply towards the cost of a converter box that will allow analog TV to work when the switch to digital television takes place next year.

A good number of U.S. TV watchers are not aware that analog signals will change to digital in 2009, according to Leichtman Research Group's "HDTV 2007: Consumer Awareness, Interest and Ownership" report.

The M45 supercomputer provided by Yahoo opened its ports to its partners at Carnegie Mellon University, where the initiative should help boost research that benefits the broader Internet community.

Best Buy has a lot of 'splainin' to do about the company's in-store look-alike Websites with different prices than what the customers found online. The company will have the opportunity to defend itself in a lawsuit filed by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Growing consumer disappointment with Windows Vista, coupled with the need of major businesses and government agencies to begin assessing long-term computing needs, seems to be forcing IT professionals to consider non-Microsoft alternatives for their operating system and office suite applications.

Microsoft received a swift punch to the gut from an Indian state government looking to lower education costs by encouraging its school system to switch to Linux-based computers.