Grocery Store Grab
A local man was shopping for food at a supermarket on Broadway last Thursday at 8:15 p.m. He had his $3,000 Sony laptop and official financial documents from the Royal Bank of Canada in his bag, which he placed in his shopping cart. He told police that he stepped away for a brief moment, and when he turned back, his bag and its contents were gone. The police are reviewing security camera footage from the store.

Home Health Swindle
A man reported a theft to police after Chase Bank called to alert him of suspicious activity on his checking account. The 92-year-old Upper West Side resident discovered someone had stolen four blank checks from him and two of them had been cashed. They were both made out to the man’s home health aide, who works for a visiting nurse service and did not have permission to take or write the checks. Police are looking for the 30-year-old suspect, who has already gotten $2,000 from the forged checks.

Missing Motorcycle
A local woman parked her 2001 black Vespa scooter on the corner of Central Park West and West 83rd Street at around 11 p.m. last Sunday night. When she returned on Tuesday morning to move it for alternate side street cleaning, the $4,000 scooter had vanished. There are no witnesses or security footage of the area.

Subway Chase
Police apprehended two 36-year-old men last Friday night after an elaborate chase. The men had forcefully grabbed the pocketbook of a 26-year-old woman as she was exiting the 1 station at West 79th Street. Witnesses saw the men flee, then hide in Riverside Park. When police approached them, they fled again, leaving the purse behind—which was worth about $100—but they were both arrested shortly afterward.

Homecoming Surprise
A 24-year-old woman and her roommate were shocked to find their apartment burglarized after they had both been away for the weekend. The woman told police that she had been gone from Friday to Sunday, and when she came home to her West 81st Street second-floor apartment, she saw that someone had entered through the kitchen window, which had been closed but not locked. The perp made off with her $350 TV, a DVD player and a suitcase, as well as her roommate’s entire stash of jewelry.

Right there, whenever you like, on your browser, iPhone or iPad. Yes.
Let’s be real: Nobody but Nielsen families watches TV on a television set anymore. I bet so few people watch “TV” TV that only a few of you understood my killer Nielsen family joke!

To be honest, who has time to sit around and watch the tube? Most of it’s not must-see; if it is—trust me—some bar in Williamsburg has a theme night for it. Not to mention how totally unhip it is to actually watch TV these days. We all know kids these days are watching the Internet just like the rest of us. If you are watching TV, it’s likely you’re using a DVR to do it, which is sort of what Aereo is about.

All the way back in 2009, Vishesh Kumar and Sam Schechner reported in the Wall
Street Journal, “The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a new type of digital video recorder from Cablevision Systems Corp., [which set] the stage for wider use of the technology.” That, of course, was the good ol’ Cablevision DVR Plus; much lauded for not requiring a small object in a room but derided for being unfathomably
slow in the beginning. When Cablevision launched their bright idea, a slew of networks sued them too. Cablevision hired a lawyer and won their case—no spoilers, but Aereo just hired the same one.

The original defense rested on the fact that DVR Plus members were basically doing the same thing TiVo lets you do: recording content that anybody with an antenna and a TV has free access to. Every recording was saved to an individual’s own private virtual DVR storage. It’s very much like when Universal and Disney sued Sony
because the Betamax was considered an evil piracy device. Aereo is is likely to use the Cablevision defense because their whole system works by allotting members their own private pair of micro-antennae located on the company’s Brooklyn rooftop— in effect, you’re paying Aereo to hold on to your antenna for you.

Like millions and millions of my contemporaries, to me, the Internet equals an Absolutely Everything Machine. If it’s not on the Internet, I don’t know about it. Even if it is on the Internet, if it’s not in the cheap-to-free price range, I actually do not want it. Aereo’s $12/month price is not bad at all. If you add in the price of monthly Netflix and Hulu Plus accounts, the price tag for your TV diet is still way less than my grandfather pays for cable. After an extended Beta, Aereo launched for New York residents on March 14th. New users get a 90-day free trial. Their website looks nice and the video quality is just fine when you’re watching it live—that’s right: live streaming video.

All this actually-on-the-air-right-now content reminded me of what a huge letdown it was back in the day when there was “nothing on!” But with Aereo, I flipped ahead in the guide a bit, set it to record 30 Rock, did things, came back at 9 p.m. and was actually giddy! To think, my very own, brand-new episode of 30 Rock saved snug in my 40 hours of DVR storage space on the Aereo cloud and—What?! Under the Recordings tab, I found
a friendly, devil-red line of text that read: “Not recorded: System error.”

I felt feelings then that I hadn’t felt since I once forgot to put a new VHS tape
in for the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale. There’s bound to be issues at first. And an episode of Seinfeld and an airing of the Addams Family movie recorded just fine later on.

Broadcasters need to stop and take stock of their industry. Here is another example, of many, of a business model showing us that the future of television is not allergic to revenue. But still, these clunky old brands are so afraid of reality that they’ve become incapable of taking all this money I’ve got sitting around.

Services like Aereo could be a non-candy lifesaver for these guys. All of the ingredients are there: TV, Internet, willing consumers and money. And think of how much more in touch networks would be with all the data available from a web audience. Instead of spending cash picking on the new kids, legacy media outfits might consider a few smart investments.

Don’t be afraid of working together to make life easier for consumers.
How do you get your sitcoms? Think the plaintiffs are right? Let us know at nypress.com!
Follow @44carib on Twitter, just because.

By Kristina Diggins-Reisinger

Any vintage style devotee, shopaholic or foodie would feel right at home in Nolita. Boutiques, chic shops and eccentric bars and cafés line the streets. In the midst of this trendy neighborhood, I found CNET’s Hands-On Holiday Guide, a tech-centric pop-up shop for the gizmo whiz in your life.

Hosted through Sunday, Nov. 13, the four-dimensional guide found a temporary home at Openhouse Gallery. The place was packed with electronic gurus and customers drooling over walls lined with the latest toys accompanied by helpful explanatory note cards for technological amateurs like myself.

CAMERAS

When I entered the shop, I was met with an array of featured cameras, including the Canon EOS Rebel T3i, the Nikon D3100 and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V. The Canon Rebel was on the pricier side, starting at $659.99. This finely tuned piece of machinery boasts excellent video capabilities as well as high image quality. When shooting stills and video, however, the Rebel’s controls can be frustrating to operate, and it’s not terribly fast for spontaneous shooting. This wouldn’t be a good option for parents like myself looking to capture those first steps.

Conversely, the Nikon D3100 has a markedly smaller viewfinder but features excellent photo quality and well laid-out buttons and controls.

The one that nabbed CNET’s editor’s pick, however, was the Sony Cyber-shot. While considerably more affordable at $269.99, it boasts shooting features including face detection and image stabilization.

According to the experts, one key piece of advice this holiday season if you are buying a camera is to ditch any obsession with megapixels. Most cameras on the market today have more than enough megapixels to get the job done. Instead, opt for a cheaper body but a higher quality lens. Buying an expensive camera and putting a cheap lens on it is like buying a Lamborghini and putting a four-cylinder engine in it; better to buy a Honda Civic and add a souped-up V-8. The lens is what focuses light so your pictures are crystal clear.

ENTERTAINMENT 

For the in-home entertainment field there were three clear frontrunners: Apple TV, Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim and Sony PlayStation 3 Slim. Apple TV lets you stream all of the movies and TV shows available on iTunes to your HDTV on a pay-per-view basis. It offers Netflix, streams content from any iOS device or computer running iTunes and costs about $349. The Apple TV, however, won’t work with older, pre-HD TVs.

A mammoth product in terms of features, the Xbox Slim, at $299, includes a sleeker design, much quieter operation, a better cooling system, touch-sensitive power and disc tray, 250GB hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi and five USB ports. The new Xbox, however, doesn’t warrant a purchase if you already own a working older version.

The Sony PlayStation 3 Slim, also $299, won editor’s top pick and is sure to indulge your gaming needs with all the best features of the Xbox Slim plus a Blu-ray and DVD player.

COMPUTERS

If you are looking to splurge for your loved one this season with a fancy new computer, the first question to ask yourself is, how often do they travel? If they seem to be out and about quite often, a laptop with a screen that has added weight might slow them down. Pick one with more compact dimensions, around 13 inches in length, but skip the Netbook, since your smart phone isn’t significantly smaller and still offers all the same functions.

CNET editor-at-large Brian Cooley’s presentation encouraged consumers not to fear the death of the PC. Tablets and smart phones are an adjunct, but people are still using PCs as their home base.

CNET’s shop featured laptops including the Apple MacBook Pro 2011, Dell XPS 14z and HP Pavilion dm1z. At $1,700, the MacBook Pro offers incremental updates to its processor and, according to the CNET experts, has the best trackpad and gesture controls of any current laptop. The Dell XPS 14z is attractive with its unprecedentedly thin body and packs all the punch of a 14-inch laptop in a 13-inch body, with plenty of configuration options.

Winning the editor’s pick was the HP Pavilion dm1z, a far more affordable laptop at roughly $400 than its competitors that features a better touch pad and updated processor.

SMART PHONES 

Okay, let’s talk smart phones. Android vs. iPhone: which is better? While the iPhone offers tons of music and a simple, intuitive interface, Android offers more control. When buying a smart phone as a gift, remember to think about the tech ecosystem the person is already submersed in. Chances are, if your sister owns an iPod, iPad and a MacBook, she is going to want to stick with the iPhone so she can easily transfer data between devices.

At her talk, CNET’s Jessica Dolcourt discussed the hottest smart phones and highlighted the Droid Razor, which was released on 11/11/11 and is, for a limited time, being sold for $111.11. The Razor is a 4G phone with HD display, 8 megapixel camera and splash resistant screen, in case someone spills the eggnog.

The iPhone 4S will run you about $299, but aside from its faster processor and upgraded camera, there isn’t much there that the iPhone 4 didn’t already have. The editor’s pick was the Galaxy Nexus, featuring a huge 4.65-inch HD display and a slightly curved face intended to hug your cheek when holding the phone to your ear, which offers impeccable speed.

TELEVISIONS

LG advertised its latest TV with the phrase, “Seeing believes.” Their new LG Cinema 3D TV offers 2D and 3D conversion functions, smart TV and a magic motion remote. Like a mouse for a smart TV, the remote lets you drag, flick and select your preferences without the hassle of using multiple buttons and arrow keys.

Other featured televisions were the Samsung PN51D7000 and Sony Bravia KDL-46NX720. The Samsung, at $1,200, offers outstanding overall picture quality, with excellent black-level performance and extremely accurate color. Key features include built-in Wi-Fi, comprehensive picture controls and more apps and streaming services than competitors. At $1,099, the Sony Bravia produces deeper black levels than any LED-based TV tested and includes built-in Wi-Fi as well as an Internet suite that streams services and widgets.

Visit www.cnet.com for more information on these and other products. Happy shopping!

A CNET techie, one of many, helped shoppers in Nolita decipher the best gadgets for the holiday season at a pop-up shop at the Openhouse Gallery. Photo courtesy of CNET