Sometimes the hardest part of repairing an appliance, is knowing how to get the machine apart so that you can get in and get to work. A professional has seen a washing machine disassembled enough times to know when to push and when to pull. Here’s a great little video with instructions on how to take apart a Whirlpool Washing Machine to make repairs yourself.
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Recall: Best Buy- Certain Insignia 26-Inch Flat-Panel LCD Televisions Due to Fire Hazard
Name of Product: Insignia 26-inch flat-panel LCD model IS-LCDTV26 televisions
Units: About 13,300
Importer: Best Buy Co. Inc., of Richfield, Minn.
Hazard: The television’s power supply can fail, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: Best Buy has received two reports of fires that included damage to the television and wall. One consumer reported minor burns to the hands.
Description: This recall involves Insignia 26-inch flat-panel LCD televisions, model number IS-LCDTV26. The model number is printed on the back of the television and the word “INSIGNIA” is printed on the bottom front. No other Insignia model televisions are involved in this recall.
Sold exclusively at: Best Buy stores nationwide, at ww.bestbuy.com, and www.bestbuyforbusiness.com from August 2005 through June 2006 for about $800.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled televisions and contact the Best Buy hotline to receive a gift card for the value of a replacement television.
Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Best Buy at (800) 233-0462 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. CT daily, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.bestbuy.com
Pioneer Leaving the TV Business
While Pioneer will remain in the home electronics business, focusing on audio products, DJ equipment and cable TV set-top boxes, they have, as reported in Twice.com, announced their intention to quit the television market by March 2010. They plan to emphasize “‘sound’ as they take advantage of extensive audio technologies and expertise developed over the years.
Pioneer said in a statement it is exiting the TV business because “recent market conditions have changed far more than initially anticipated, and Pioneer has decided to withdraw…after concluding there are no prospects for improving profitability under current conditions.” The company said it will continue to provide after-sales services even after the withdrawal from the market.
As with other Japanese consumer electronics makers, the combination of the worldwide recession and the exchange rate between the yen and the U.S. dollar and euro drove losses deeper than expected.
Study Shows Consumers are Interested in Smart, “Connected” Appliances
In the not too distant past, it was the stuff of science fiction for people to have “smart” homes – those houses that lit up and co-ordinated timers, alarms, coffeemaker and dinner each day as you awoke in the morning and arrived home at night.
Today a study by Connected Home Research Council (formerly the Internet Home Alliance), the research arm of the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), shows that the number of Web-connected households in the United States that consider the idea of a connected home “definitely appealing” has held steady since 2005.
One important finding of the study is that consumers would like their appliances to be part of this web-based system. Consumers are less interested in “automated” homes than having the appliances and electronic devices within their residences communicate and interact with one another.
“What consumers want most is an easy, seamless way to integrate their smart-home devices, their mobile device, their TV, their appliances, you name it,” said Whirlpool senior manager Carol Priefert.
Some findings from the study show that while many households have high speed internet access, not everyone is prepared to have their household appliances communicatiing yet.
Netflix and LG get Together
I have to admit that I have a fairly low tech house. We are unquestionably the last house on the block to have the thinnest HD TV, but yet we still have more clutter around the television than we should. At last count there were two remotes, the Wii with its remotes and nunchucks, DVD player (and its remote). Enough!
LG and Netflix are going to eliminate some of the clutter with new high-definition LG televisions that can screen Netflix movies directly from the Web without an external box.
The televisions, which use broadband Internet technology, will be available in four models — LCDs with 42-inch and 47-inch screens, and plasma TVs with 50-inch and 60-inch screens.
Sharper Image is Back
Remember the vibrating chair and the nose hair trimmers? Sharper Image, the company who filed for bankruptcy and closed its stores in 2008, is remaking itself and has plans for a comeback.
This time, Sharper Image will be selling a variety of home electronics under their Sharper Image name, but in independent stores nationwide, not in their own stores.
From the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas:
The assortment of products, which range from iPod®-compatible bedside stereo systems to design-savvy wireless audio components and stress-relieving sound soothers™, are designed, manufactured and sold by Sharper Image Products (SI PRODUCTS), The Sharper Image licensee for Home Audio. The Sharper Image Home Audio product line will officially debut January 8th at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (Central Hall, Booth 12838) and will begin shipping in Q3 2009.
“Modern consumers want products that provide cutting-edge technology while reflecting their own personal style. Our mission at Sharper Image Products is to create products that offer style and innovation while enhancing and simplifying our customer’s busy lifestyles,” said Lynda Rose, VP of Product Development and Marketing, SI Products. “The Sharper Image brand is synonymous with creative technology and timeless design. We’re confident that these new offerings will not only meet, but exceed consumers’ expectations.”
“We look forward to launching the other categories that we’ve licensed, including Home Environment, Health and Wellness, Men’s Gifts, Concierge and Men’s Grooming.” said Ron Ferber, President of SI PRODUCTS, the licencee of Sharper Image.
“We look forward to launching the other categories that we’ve licensed, including Home Environment, Health and Wellness, Men’s Gifts, Concierge and Men’s Grooming.”
You can read more about the Sharper Image product line, which will be released later this year, here.
LG Electronics Wants YOU!
LG electronics has been around since 1958 when it was established as Goldstar. In 1995 it changed its name to LG Electronics. It has spent most of those years as a quiet second (or even third) choice electronics option or most people. That it already changing.
Now Andrew Barrett, LG’s vice-president, marketing, for LG Electronics Canada Ltd. announces he has big plans for LG’s future in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
“It seems like only yesterday that LG was a rather ordinary, personality-less, original equipment manufacturer. “The only way LG could shake the shackles of being lesser known,” Mr. Barrett says, “was to be seen as a brand of desire.” ”
The new strategy: To seed the company’s global operations with a marketing mindset geared to a sense of style. Think red steam washing machines.
Style implies taste, and taste can be tricky. Consider Scarlet, the LG TV with the brazenly red back panel. “When your positioning is based on style … the TVs can’t just be a black box that looks like everybody else’s TVs,” he says. The reaction to the Scarlet has been polarizing. “There were some who absolutely loved it, and others who were appalled by it and never wanted to see it in their home,” he says.
Two weeks ago Mr. Barrett was tapped by LG HQ to lead the company’s just-announced global sponsorship for Formula 1 racing.
“There’s a social style, a social status, a premium-ness that sits around F1,” he says, expressing how he believes the style-technology harmony of the racing circuit makes a perfect match for the style-technology focus of LG. Think Monte Carlo and yachts and celebrities and cerulean vistas. “We think we’re the Monte Carlo of consumer electronics,” he says.
The job grows bigger. Any day now the company will announce a broadening of Mr. Barrett’s marketing responsibilities to encompass what he will define only as a “significant portion of the world’s geography,” reporting to the chief marketing officer for LG worldwide.
Made in China – PR Problem?
“Made in China” I search for this phrase daily now as I shop for my family. When my son was only three, he would search for it on his toys and we would all joke about how everything we owned was made in China. Now I’m trying to avoid these imported products. I, like so many Americans have become leery of China’s goods. Tainted milk and fish have marked all Chinese products and so even high quality small electronics are being avoided. Tim Somheil of Appliance Magazine writes more:
The appliance industry sources huge numbers of small electrics, consumer electronics, and even white goods out of China. The vast majority are high-quality appliances, well made, certified to international safety standards, and—because they’re made in China—they offer a cost advantage that enables the consumer to get a better product for the price.
Of course,it is a vast overgeneralization by the public to associate well-made appliances with tainted milk, but that association is reality.
China—for the good of all the enterprises that manufacture consumer goods within its borders—desperately needs to take a more honest approach. When there’s a crisis involving Chinese-made products, of any kind, the country needs to embrace that problem immediately and publicly.
Consider how pleasantly surprised consumers would be if they saw China demonstrate willingness to take ownership of a crisis, without hesitation, and provide full disclosure on the problem’s cause and scope.
And consider what the impact would be if offshore consumers saw this approach consistently. The credibility of the government as a spokesperson for the “Made in China” brand would grow—and China would get real credit from the public for its considerable product safety efforts.
Maybe the best possible scenario in the next few years is to move many consumers’ perception from negative to neutral. That’s still a huge step in the right direction for all manufacturers with “Made in China” stamped on their products.
At this point I really have very little confidence in the integrity of Chinese manufacturers. I’m no longer incredulous when I hear of a problem product out of China – instead I sigh and hope for the safety of those effected.
Nokia’s Smart Home Solution
Is this an idea who’s time has come?
The Smart Home.
The new Nokia Home Control Center, a Linux-based platform that will control your house’s resources via your mobile phone.
According to Nokia, the platform is open allowing third parties to integrate their own smart home solutions and services; its core consumer value is the plug and play experience across all solution areas with high security levels built in. All solutions based on the platform can be used through a smart phone or PC locally or remotely. Consumers can monitor and control their electricity usage, switch devices on and off, and monitor different objects, such as temperature, camera, and motion. In future, entire systems within the home can be connected to the Nokia platform, including security, heating, and ventilation systems.That way, you’ll rarely come across an incident where some new smart home tech you bought doesn’t actually work with your main controller. NHCC works with Z-Wave, ZigBee and KNX, three of the most common command languages for home networks.
Further, Nokia has started working with a number of companies to define and create a solid basis for building the next generation of products that will introduce a new kind of mobile access to intelligent systems at the home. These collaboration partners include Danfoss, Delta Dore, Ensto, and Meishar Immediate Community (MIC) and Zensys. The Nokia smart home partner program is structured around five key areas which mobile access will open up, creating new opportunities for the next generation smart home. These are security, energy efficiency, wellness, construction, real estate, and smart home solutions.
The Nokia Home Control Center will be launched some time in 2009.
Stop Playing Games and Save Energy
We’re all trying to save money these days. Using less energy by turning off lights and lowering your thermostat are goo ways to cut down on your energy bill, but here is a small step that can help you save a little more – Turn of your Wii, or Xbox when you are done playing.
Video game consoles nationwide use about as much electricity in a year as every home in San Diego combined, and can significantly add to consumers’ electric bills, according to a new report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Much of this energy use is consumed by machines that are left on, but not in use.
“If you leave your Xbox 360 or Sony Play Station 3 on all the time, you can cut your electric bill by as much as $100 a year simply by turning it off when you are finished playing,” said NRDC Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz. “With so many struggling in today’s economy – it’s important to realize there are simple steps gamers can take to lower their energy costs. And if manufacturers make future systems more energy efficient, they’ll be doing the right thing for consumers’ pockets, for our clean energy future, and for the environment.”
Looking at the “big three” video game consoles – Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft XBox360 and Nintendo’s Wii – the report measured the amount of power they use when they are active, idle and turned off. It found these systems use nearly the same amount of power when you are playing them as they do when you leave them on and walk away. The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 also operate as high-definition video players. When they are used this way, the consoles continue to operate at nearly peak energy levels, even after the movie ends, unless the device is turned off.
National video game energy use is growing as more and more homes have these devices and additional features are added. The report offers solutions for individuals to cut their game console-related energy costs and offers recommendations on how manufacturers can dramatically improve the efficiency of the next generation of consoles that are being developed. NRDC is working with the leading video game hardware and software designers to help make these improvements. In particular, NRDC is working to make sure users will be able to automatically save their settings and place in the game before they shut down the systems.