Circuit City has take to their website to give everyone a better idea of what exactly their liquidation means to consumers that have been shopping with them.

As we reported yesterday, the major electronics retailer, started in 1949, has added information on their website to clarify how exactly their liquidation sale will be handled, what it means for people who bought extended warranties through them and more.  The most important point is that sales are beginning today in some stores, but each location will be handled seperately by the liquidation managers, so don’t be surprised if you walk in to one of their stores today and the sale has not yet begun.  If your nearest location has not yet started, it should any time now as all stores should be closed by the end of March.

Possibly the best news to come out of the information they posted was that their extended warranties they sold in the stores are actually handled by a third-party company, Assurant Solutions, and they are in no way involved with the closures.  They will continue to sell new plans through out the closure period for the stores, but make sure you weigh if they are really worth the extra amount you have to pay for them, as we have warned you before.

Not too surprisingly, all sales made during this time period will be final, so make sure you check over all purchases thoroughly before leaving the store.  You don’t want any nasty surprises a week or two down the road when you finally set up whatever it is you purchased.

Gift cards are being honored for their full amount, but if you do not use them by the time of the final closures, they will be worth nothing.  Make sure if you have any laying around that you use them immediately so that you don’t lose out.

All in all there weren’t too many surprises in what they said, but good to have some actual hard facts from the company since so many rumors have been running around since the announcement yesterday.

After only two months in bankruptcy protection, Circuit City has announced they will be closing their doors for good.

According to the New York Times, Circuit City is awaiting final approval from a federal bankruptcy judge, but they may begin liquidating their 567 stores as early as tomorrow, Saturday January 17th.  With those stores closing down, the company will also close out all 30,000 of their employees.

While it may be tempting to run out and partake in this liquidation sale, do use caution.  Remember there will be no returns, it is unlikely any warranties you bought through the company will be honored after they close and, if you have gift cards, make sure to use them as quickly as possible.

While Circuit City has had a spotty reputation, it is always sad to see this many people losing their jobs, and this many more empty store fronts across the United States.

Gmail has added yet another feature, and this time it is something that will possibly keep your email box far more organized.

As someone who has always has an overflowing inbox, this is one that will ease my life quite a bit.  Just go to the Labs tab and activate “Send & Archive” and this will enable the ability to archive the emails out of your inbox as soon as you reply to them, lessening your work by one step.

The only drawback seems to be that archiving sends them to the all encompassing “All Mail” folder, so you will need to make sure to label the mails before you respond to them so that they will go to the proper label area.  You do still have the option to just “Send” and not archive, so you won’t be forced to archive everything.  As someone who does with hundreds of emails a day, this is like a dream come true.

You can read a bit more at the Official Google Mail Blog.

Steve Jobs has announced he is taking a leave of absence from Apple due to his health.

In breaking news, it has been revealed that Steve Jobs’ health is causing him to step down as Apple CEO until June of this year.  What this means for Apple as a company is unknown at this time, but he did name an interim CEO in his letter to employees, Tim Cook.

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Suspicions had been heightened when Mr. Jobs passed on giving the keynote address at the latest Macworld conference that his health was worse than first suspected..

All of us at StarterTech wish him a speedy revoery.

If you are a Firefox user, you must be a MozBackup user. There is simply no excuse not to be.

We’ve mentioned MozBackup before when we discussed How To Back Up Firefox, but I had an oppurtunity last night to use it in a way I never had before.

While migrating from a computer that has had way too many malware attacks lately, I decided to backup my laptops Firefox and use it as the basis for my new computer’s copy.  I had never done this before on a totally clean machine with a brand new Firefox installiation, so I wasn’t aware just how much MozBackup truly brings with it.  As I had opted to backup every possible thing the software offered, I knew I would have a lot to import, just not how much.

I am pleased to tell you that it brought EVERYTHING with it.  Browser history, download history, all of my extensions, passwords, cookies… every possible little thing, it came with the backup.  It was like running my laptop copy of Firefox on my new desktop in just a matter of seconds.  No hunting down my extensions, building passwords or anything else, it was ready to go.

The only caveat to this situation, as I see it, is if you backup an infected copy of Firefox.  That is why I chose to do this from my laptop copy instead of the infected desktop.  In case malicious cookies were hiding in the history, I thought it best to do it from a system I knew was 100% clean.  If you backup with malicious cookies, well, they’ll come with you.

As MozBackup doesn’t take long to run, I would recommend making this a regular backup tool.  The only drawback is that Firefox must be closed while you run the process, so you might want to do it say on a Friday night, just as you are closing down.  You’ll have all of that weeks history backed up, and you can go into the weekend knowing you’ve safely backed up all of your precious browser information.

If you were worried you wouldn’t be able to get the Windows 7 beta, your prayers have been answered.

When Microsoft originally announced they were releasing a beta version of their upcoming Windows 7, the public was told it would be limited to 2.5 million copies.  As people raced to be one of those lucky folks, their servers got overloaded and hardly anyone was getting their much desired copy.

In what appears to be a move to avoid even a whisper of bad publicity around the product that could possibly bring them out of the Vista duldrums they have been in, Microsoft has had a change of heart.  According to The Windows Blog, they have lifted the 2.5 million copy rule, and now made it a time based offer instead.  You have until January 24th to now download this test copy of the next Windows operating system.

We still stand by what we said in our original post that Windows 7 should not be installed if you only have one computer, but for those of you with an extra PC sitting in the corner, you may as well take it out for a spin.  Just remember, this copy expires at the end of July 2009.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has made it clear that the age of the Internet connected TV is definitely upon us.

It would seem that every HDTV manufacturer is coming out with a TV that interacts with the Internet in one way or another.  Whether it be streaming content from a site like Netflix, getting information from Yahoo Widgets, or even interacting with social networking sites like MySpace, there seems to be little bits of the Internet popping up all over the place.

LG

LG Electronics is going to be building the ability to stream the Netflix Watch Instantly service right into their units.  The only problem is that you are looking at a $300 boost to the price for the privilege.

Samsung

Samsung is going the extra step by allowing you to not only connect to your home network via an Ethernet cable, but they will support 802.11a/b/g/n wireless networking capabilities via a wireless USB dongle.  Depending on the placement and size of the dongle, this may cause a problem with TV placement, but we will have to see.

The new networking feature will be called Internet@TV and will allow you to use the Yahoo Widget Engine for all sorts of content like Flickr, news, weather, sports scores and so on. Also, with connection to your home network, you will be able to stream music, video and pictures from other computers in your home.

Sony

The Sony BRAVIA line doesn’t list all of the services it will be working with, but it does mention Amazon Video on Demand, Flickr, Slacker, Yahoo Widget Engine and YouTube.

Toshiba

Later this year, Toshiba will adding a lot of computer goodies to their REGZA line.  You will be able to add widgets to your TV for things like local weather, top news stories, favorite sports scores, stock quotes, pictures, videos and more.

They will also be adding support for Microsoft’s Extender for Windows Media Center.  This will allow you, via your TV remote, to control the video files on your connected computer, and play them directly to your television.  No more having to go through a third item like an XBox 360.

Vizio

Vizio seems to want to really leap out in front of the competition, and is cramming streaming compatibility for just about everything you can think of into their television sets this year.

Their sets this year will, besides putting in the Yahoo Widget Engine everyone seems to be adding, include Accedo Broadband gaming, Amazon Video on Demand, Blockbuster OnDemand, Flickr, Netfix Watch Instantly, Pandora and Rhapsody.  Controlling all of this should also be a breeze as you can see from the picture of their remote.  Who would have ever thought we would see a TV remote with a slide out QWERTY keyboard?

Conclusion

While all of this is very exciting, all of this technology is still in its infancy.  Prices this year will be inflated, and you are almost guaranteed that the 2010 models of these televisions will have major improvements over the ones released this year.  I personally would recommend not rushing out to purchase any of this technology quite yet.  Give it some time to mature, and for the prices of the included hardware to drop.

There is no doubt that this is an exciting time in the advancements of TV technology, and it almost makes you wonder why we will even need cable or satellite television providers some day.  The TV is moving in to a new age where it is not merely a way to display a signal you receive from an antenna, but in to a true, self-contained entertainment provider.  There is quite possibly a day coming where people will buy a TV and an Internet connection, and leave the programming providers completely out of the equation.

Cable companies and satellite providers need to start getting very, very nervous.

The beta version of Windows 7 has officially been released, but it is certainly not for everyone.

The vast majority of people like to be on the cutting edge of technology.  If its shiny and new, then they want it.  With the official announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that the beta version of Windows 7 is now available, there are sure to be many people rushing to try it out, but the question is if this is for you, the average computer user.

The shortest answer to this is a resounding “no”.

To expand on this, I have always likened changing versions of Windows on a PC to trying to change the table cloth on a table AFTER you’ve set the dishes.  It is inevitable something is going to break.  Especially with a beta version, meaning a version that is unfinished and almost certain have bugs, you are definitely going to run into problems with your existing programs and drivers.

There is also the issue that this beta has a limited life span that expires at the end of July 2009.  So after you’ve gotten this on your PC, you’ve gotten things to run somewhat correctly, you will have to either revert back to your previous operating system or pay for a fully licensed copy of the final version of Windows 7.

If you are someone with only one PC, then I definitely, and vehemently, do not recommend you try doing this.  Sure it may be tempting to run the new system, but if something goes wrong during the upgrade, you could very well end up with a dead computer.  Even with multiple PCs in my life, it is doubtful I am going to try this because I can’t think of one machine that I am willing to sacrifice to this test for one reason or another.

For now we suggest you remain content with whatever you have because it is probably working.  If you really want Windows 7, you can try it, but we highly suggest you wait for the finished product.

The brave ones amongst us can find the beta version here.

It look like AT&T may be following in the foot steps of Sprint by offering their customers in home cell phone base stations.

According to a report on Ars Technica, AT&T has been asking in a customer service survey if they would be interested in a femtocell base station for their home.  A femtocell station is a device that allows your cell phones to communicate with an in home device that connects to your Internet connection, and then transmits all of the data over that line.  The best known example of this technology so far in the USA is the Sprint Airave, but it is still relevantly unkwnon.

The exact wording of the question being asked of the customers may give some idea of why AT&T is finally pursuing this service line.

AT&T’s new product is a small, security-enabled cellular base station that easily connects to your home DSL or Cable Internet, providing a reliable wireless signal for any 3G phone in every room of your house. The device allows you to have unlimited, nationwide Anytime Minutes for incoming or outgoing calls.

While the Sprint Airave has the ability to service the more common CDMA phone band, the fact this specifically mentions 3G makes you wonder if this might be an effort to boost sales of the iPhone 3G more than anything.  Many people have by passed getting the iPhone because of a lack of 3G service in their area, but if they could now get full advantage of their phone at least in their home.

While this is obviously a technology that helps the phone companies by taking some strain off their networks, and helps them not have to build more towers, they still end up charging you for the physical device, and then they charge you a monthly service fee for being provided with a service… that helps them and works off of your Internet connection.  There is no doubt that as a Sprint Airave user myself it is nice to finally have five bars in my house, but the math doesn’t always add up as to why I pay so much more to use my own phone.

There is no information on when testing might begin on the AT&T devices, but apparently they are already in use in the homes of their employees.

The placeshifting leader, Sling Media, is prepping support for Apple’s iPhone at long last.

With it’s beautiful screen, and ability to stream media from other sources, it seemed like that Sling Box technology was a natural fit for the iPhone, but yet we weren’t seeing an appearance of an application for it.  However, it does seem that good things come to those who wait as they have finally announced that we can expect a release in the first quarter of 2009.

For those unfamiliar with what a Sling Box does, with just a few cables, and two little infra red emitters, you are able to login to your player from anywhere in the world, and watch your home television.  Say you are on a trip to South America, but you want to catch up on your soap operas while you’re away.  If you have an Internet connection, you can be watching your home television in a matter of moments, and even accessing yoru DVR, setting up future recordings and more.

This is not the first mobile device Sling Media has released an application for, but it is probably one of the most anticipated.  The application will be free to use during the beta test, but will cost $29.99 when it officially launches.