It was right about this time last year that I bought my Asus Eee 1000HA. It was my first netbook, and I fell in love with the price and portability. Now here it is a year later, and I have a more nuanced perspective on my little black book. About a month ago the hard drive failed, and I went through a nightmare of trying to recover data (my own fault) and finding a temporary machine to use. Luckily the Eee PC was still under warranty, so I sent it back with a trusty RMA number and got a replacement hard drive for free. There seems to be evidence now that netbooks do indeed fail more often than other laptops, but the Asus brand is more reliable than most. Just my luck.

Now that I’ve got my Eee back, I’m evaluating what I still love and don’t love about it. Let’s start with the good stuff. The weight and size of the hardware is awesome. I literally put it in my bag and then wonder a few minutes later if I’ve forgotten my computer because the bag feels so light. I also love that it’s so small because it means I can carry my Eee virtually everywhere. The netbook is why I’ve lasted so long without a smartphone. (Much to Dave’s chagrin.)

Before I got the Eee, I heard some complaints about the keyboard. It’s slightly smaller than a full-size keyboard, and the right Shift key is further out to the side. Frankly, not only do these issues not bother me (and I’m a touch typist), but the keyboard response is excellent, with perfect resistance in the keys. Another pro: the six-cell battery keeps me juiced up for a reasonably long time. Operating on Wi-Fi, I get about three and a half hours of power after a year of use.

Now the not so good stuff. (more…)

With the NBCU news drowning out other Comcast conversation, I thought I’d take this moment to tally up the gifts the MSO has promised to all the good little subscriber girls and boys this year. First and most important, TV Everywhere, er, On Demand Online, um, Xfinity is scheduled to roll out before the start of Hanukkah on December 12th. Yes, that’s right, Broadcasting and Cable has discovered that the new name for the Comcast service will be Xfinity. Actually it will be Fancast Xfinity TV, but you can call it Xfinity for short. If you’ve been following along with the story so far, the new Comcast offering will let subscribers to both television and broadband service access TV shows anywhere and everywhere from a Comcast portal site. Never again be without NCIS, NCIS LA, or the upcoming NCIS Louisville, NCIS Dubuque, or NCIS Stars Hollow.

Of course, if you want to watch a lot of TV online, you’ll need to keep track of your bandwidth usage. Comcast now has a bandwidth meter in trials that should roll out to all customers in Q1 of next year. We first heard about ISP bandwidth meters back when operators started testing bill-by-the-byte models in 2008. Now that Comcast has one coming to market (with an independent third-party company validating measurements), it will be interesting to see any aggregate data collected on consumer bandwidth usage. How much are we really using the interwebs? I’ll be curious to get a look at not only how online TV affects my personal bandwidth numbers, but also how Slacker usage, Squeezebox listening, and massive photo uploading impact my meter readings.

Finally, Comcast has promised that remote DVR scheduling is on the horizon. Granted the company’s been a bit busy of late, but I’ve been checking on the feature landing page and haven’t seen any changes to note from Dave’s original report. Then again, Comcast has probably been keeping tabs on whether we’ve been bad or good. If we all stay on the non-naughty list, maybe we’ll see remote DVR features by CES.

Looking to upgrade your Verizon phone, but fear paying full price? There’s good news. First off, even if you signed a two-year contract to get your last phone, you’re eligible to upgrade after only a year. That means that instead of purchasing a full-price Droid, for example, you can get the subsidized price if you’re willing to sign another two-year contract. (Phones are even cheaper if you’re upgrading after the full two years.) Secondly, that one-year upgrade time? Turns out it’s negotiable. If you’re close to the one-year mark, at least some Verizon wireless retailers are willing to push up the upgrade date. Getting a new phone a month early may not sound like a big deal, but if an upgrade purchase figures into your holiday shopping plans, it may be just what you need to finish off your list. Just keep in mind, if you sign up for two more years with Verizon, you’d better be sure you want to stick around that long. Early termination fees have gone through the roof.

Full Disclosure: I work for Motorola (which makes the Droid), but not the mobile phone division.

My favorite digital photo sites have some new surprises for 2009, and I’ve checked out a couple of new-to-me sites with holiday goodies too. If you’ve stocked up on digital photos all year, here are five gift ideas that take advantage of your personal image archive.

QuickMix Scrapbooks

Digital scrapbooking site Scrapblog has introduced new QuickMix kits to take some of the work out of making your own photo creations. In theory these kits are going to cost money in the future (there are still plenty of no-cost features on the site), but for right now the QuickMix packages are all free. Choose a themed kit (several holiday choices), upload or import photos, and Scrapblog generates a digital scrapbook for you. You can then customize the finished product any way you like – with more photos, digital stickers, etc. – and order prints or gifts. For a 25% discount on keepsake books, calendars, greeting cards, and postcards, type in coupon code HOLIDAY25 at checkout.

Mosaic Moo Frames

If you’re familiar with Moo for printing business cards, take a look at what you can do with Moo for the holidays. The company is selling a new Mosaic Frame that you can fill with custom Moo mini cards. Since all mini cards are the same size, this frame is one you can update easily with new photos-on-cards at any time. Available in white or black for $39.99.

Skinit!

It seems the Skinit folks are everywhere, and now they’ve partnered up with Snapfish to turn your photos into skins for cameras, phones, laptops, music players, and PDAs (?!). In case you didn’t get the custom-made Flip Mino, now you can add your own after-market, personalized imaging. Skins are not only removable, but supposedly scratch-resistant. Use coupon code PHOTOSKINS20 for 20% off skins at Snapfish through Monday. Or check out pre-made designs at the Skinit site.

A Starring Role

If you’ve got any kids to buy for this year, check out the CenterStage books available on Shutterfly. Pick from Spongebob, Dora, or Diego, upload the kid’s photo and basic details (name, age, etc.), and presto! You get back a personalized storybook with the little tyke in a starring role. Books run $39.99 each, but you can get them for 25% off through December 2nd.

Give the Gift of Photo Scanning

The best gift I ever gave my dad was a digital photo frame filled with old slides I’d scanned from his Peace Corps days. I still highly recommend this as a gift idea, but if you don’t have the time, or access to the old slides/negatives/photos you need, there are now a few places that offer scanning as a service. ScanCafe is one of these, and it offers photo restoration to boot. Consider wrapping up a ScanCafe gift card this year. At 29 cents per scan, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of even a $25 card.

And as a bonus, if none of the ideas above strike your fancy…

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While I avoided the lines at 4:00 in the morning, I couldn’t resist stopping by the local King of Prussia Mall later in the day yesterday to see how Black Friday was shaping up. Frankly, the mall wasn’t as crowded as I expected it to be, but there were still more than a few folks in the Sony Style store, and the Apple Store could have used traffic cops to keep the hordes at bay. Of the Sony products available, one customer rep I spoke to said the laptops were getting the most attention, specifically the VAIO NW and recently launched VAIO CW series. I asked about the Sony Reader products and was told they were being more heavily promoted at a kiosk elsewhere in the mall. Blu-ray players? Not doing so great, unlike last year. Despite the discounted price, this stack of Sony BDP-S360 players didn’t get one interested passerby in the time I was there.

Meanwhile at the Apple Store, it was difficult to move a foot without running into another body. According to the employee I spoke to, the hottest sellers of the day were the Nano and the iPod touch. I also got a quick glimpse of the new mobile payment system in action. Actually, I overheard one clerk asking another where to find the cash drawer he’d just opened with his iPod, so possibly there are still a few kinks being worked out. However, everyone seemed happy with their gadget shopping experience, and I even convinced a guy behind the roped off area to give me a close-up shot of the iPod he was using to ring up orders. Unfortunately, the shot’s blurry because I didn’t have time to adjust my camera settings before I had to move on.

More shopping photos below. Anyone else have stories of braving the stores yesterday?

Thanksgiving weekend is a time for turkey, travel, and television. Beyond the requisite football, we get the start of TV holiday specials – a mix of sentimental schlock and comedy classics. If you’re watching online, the options are wide-ranging. Here are a few to get you started.

Hulu

Hulu for the Holidays is underway, with new content showing up every day from now through December 25th. The selections aren’t necessarily holiday-related (21 Jumpstreet?), but consider the newly available shows and movies to be Hulu’s gift to you. If you really want a T’giving connection, the site also has a collection of Thanksgiving Moments; everything from SNL, to Friends, to Jerry Springer. After all, nothing says let’s be thankful like watching family brawls that don’t involve your own kin. One note, however, beware the company’s new protectionist policy if you plan on embedding whole libraries of holiday moments from Hulu. NewTeeVee tells us several start-ups have gotten letters of complaint for embedding large amounts of Hulu content. Now where’s that TV Everywhere spirit?

YouTube

YouTube is obviously the place to go for amateur holiday videos, but beyond the how-to clips and family antics, there are some gems mixing “old” TV and new. For example, check out last year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade RickRoll. It’ll make you laugh and hold you over until next year’s march through Midtown.

Amazon VOD

The selection in Amazon’s Video on Demand department is a bit patchy, but if you’re looking for holiday specials, there are some decent choices thrown into the mix. Rentals for $2.99 are a good bet for entertainment lasting just about as long as the holiday weekend. You can purchase videos too, but they average around $9.99, and for the most part, the movies available don’t seem to warrant the cost.

Netflix Watch Instantly

Netflix has added some nice flicks to its Watch Instantly category recently. Specifically, if you want to entertain the kids this weekend, relative new releases like Bolt, Wall-E, and Bedtime Stories are all available. Best of all, you can monopolize the big screen with your own stuff and plop the little ones down in front of the laptop. Now that’s something to be thankful for.

There’s nothing like the holiday season to get you in the gadget shopping mood. However, even if you’ve done all your homework on what to buy, sometimes it’s hard to avoid the impulse purchase, particularly when there are so many shiny toys in all the store windows. Earlier this year, gadget site Retrevo launched its Real Time Review feature to simplify the research process. Now, the company has added on a mobile component. See something you’re tempted to buy? Text or tweet it to Retrevo (texting is new; tweeting is not), and you’ll get a near-instant response with information on whether the product is a strong buy, a recommendation on a fair price to pay, and a range of prices for the product available online.

Testing the mobile feature out myself, I was shocked at how quickly I received a response to each query. Return messages are short, sweet, and to the point. Retrevo relies entirely on quantitative data for its reviews, which means you don’t get any nuanced product information (like reliability comparisons between netbooks and other laptops). However, you do get a quick snapshot on any given device. The price recommendations are particularly helpful. Should you pick up a product at the store to avoid shipping costs, or is there a better deal online? Retrevo can tell you.

There are three ways to try out the Retrevo mobile service:

1. Send a text message to 41411 with the word retrevoq followed by the make and model of the device you’re researching. Ex: retrevoq Apple iPod Touch
2. Tweet a message to @retrevoq. Ex: @retrevoq Apple iPod Touch
3. Send a direct message on Twitter. Ex: dm @retrevoq Apple iPod Touch

I’ve followed Retrevo for years and am amazed at how the company continues to grow. The quantitative analysis you get from Retrevo is a useful twist on information that other CE sites provide. I’d love to see a mashup of features from Retrevo and the Rojas/Block-backed gdgt site. And speaking of partnerships, a Retrevo exec does say there are some partner announcements on the way. In the meantime, the site seems to be doing quite well enough on its own. Retrevo is projecting six million uniques in December, which would double last year’s number.