Hill Top Information Technology

The next time you need to connect your $200 Sony Blu-Ray player or $300 Xbox 360 to your $700 Sony Full HD 1080p 120Hz  TV, consider buying the $1,096 HDMI Cable from AudioQuest.  Think about the Dielectric-Bias System that reduces distortion and 100% Perfect-Surface Silver conductors for improved signal clarity, and the Direct-Silver-plated HDMI connectors that provide a simple connection and durability.  Consider it carefully, then laugh out-loud and buy the $6 one instead.

OMG, really?  $1,096 for a 3.3-foot HDMI cable?  Why??  Because Monster Cables was monopolizing the ridiculously overpriced and under-performing cable market?

Once upon a time, I used to be in the Audiophile business.  Audiophiles are the people who take their music very seriously and sometimes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their equipment (CD players, amplifiers, speakers, wires).  I’ve even known a few to buy the $6,000 power cord for their turn-table because it sounded that much better than the $4,000 one they already owned.  And believe it or not, it actually can make a difference (if you can hear it).  So if anybody was going to spend $1,096 on that HDMI cable, it would be these guys (or videophiles).

But they don’t.  Why?  Because it’s the signal going through the HDMI cable is “digital”.  That’s important because traditional “analog” audio signals are sensitive to their environment; things like light-ballasts, vacuum cleaners, old electronics, and even electromagnetic waves from other cables can make the audio sound bad.  None of that happens with digital.  Digital is ones and zeros, on and off.  Another way of thinking of digital is you get 100% or you get zero percent, there’s no in-between.  In fact, most Audiophiles hate digital because of the absolute rigidity of the digital signal.

So if there’s no in-between, then why all the buzz about extra-special digital cables?  Because uninformed people are taken advantage of.  My advice to anyone is that before dropping thousands of dollars on equipment, give us a call, or somebody you trust with tech, or Google it at the very minimum.  Do a little fact-checking.

Via: Geekologie

How can this window sticker hurt you?

It tells criminals a lot about you.  The pedophile now knows you have three children.  The killer who’s going to break into your house now knows they have to murder two adults, three children, a dog, and a cat.  When I point this out to people, they always respond with “I’ve never thought of it that way before.”  Criminals aren’t necessarily creative, but they do see things differently than most law-abiding citizens.  If they find a weakness, they are likely to exploit it.  The best defense is information security.

The Prescott Daily Courier reports “Phone, web scams clogging local law agencies“.  The article contains a laundry list of stories about local people getting scammed, and they’re in good company.  Everybody gets fooled, even multi-million-dollar corporations.

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself. Continue reading »