Tech Gadgets Banned in the USA (New Tech In US, Already In Use Globally)

News Factor ^ | 10/04/2006 | Elizabeth Millard

[Dallas59]

There's no doubt about it: foreign technology can whet your appetite. Super-lightweight laptops from Japan, feature-packed smartphones from Europe, and shiny, gotta-get-it devices designed in India, South Korea, and Taiwan are but a few of the items that currently reside on tech's cutting edge. But chances are you will never see those gadgets on store shelves here in the U.S.

A trip to the typical U.S. electronics store suggests many Americans would gladly shell out some extra cash for high-end lightweight products. Smaller, lighter, and more-expensive laptops are occupying an ever-increasing amount of shelf space. Even if a larger percentage of Japanese and European consumers reach for higher-end products than their U.S. counterparts, a small percentage of Americans could still spell big sales.

Why, then, do some innovative products never make it to our shores?

[Myrddin]

I walked through Walmart last night and found the quality and prices of HDTV monitors and TVs much more palatable. I still won't buy one. I only watch one program on broadcast TV each week (during the season of new showings). Otherwise, the TV is just a monitor for my wife and kids to watch DishNet, play DVDs or play video games. Until DishNet and DVD are providing content that justifies the expense of the HD monitor, I'm content with my analog TV as a monitor.

I have been giving some serious consideration to a new LCD computer monitor in 16:9 or 16:10 format. That would make the widescreen DVD format display perfectly. It could also be used on my HDTV tuner. The latter use is limited to the ONE HDTV station on the air in town.

[Jim Noble]

In fact, how they managed to get themselves out of the mess we're in now is a mystery because, on paper, they should've had more difficulty (government-run suppliers, different languages, etc.).

Cell phone service in the rest of the world is better because it is regulated better.

With a single standard and mandatory coverage, you can rely on your cell.

I live in a poor cell service area. Which carrier you should get is a matter of constant debate, because none of them are good and whose signal is best depends on the weather.

The proliferation of standards makes each company dependent on questionable business practices to survive.

[DB]

http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/martin_cooper.htm

http://www.cellular.co.za/cellphone_inventor.htm

I'm not too far off the mark.

[DB]

It is much better because most of the world's advanced societies are more densely populated than in the US. The US is a big place where many of us like to live away from the cities.

Another reason is because in many places cell phone service is the only communication service that works.

[Gaffer]

Less diesel cars in this country is a good thing to my mind.
Ever been behind a damn diesel in heavy traffic? I don't care if they cleaned the emissions or not; they still stink...

[Glenn]

Sadly the average American VCR clock

That is a design problem. Not a user problem.

[Gaffer]

The "cell" idea was originally generated by a guy working for
Bell, AT&T or affilate thereof. If I remember correctly it was in the 60s or early 70s.

[Gaffer]

One word......Beta.........

[DB]

Post 43 has links.

[glorgau]

The key to the cellular concept is small cells with spectrum re-use; prior to coming to grasp engineering- wise with determining what were accetable C/I issues in the radio link the thought was to assign dedicated frequnecies over a large area and avoide interference. WIth cellular, that interference is managed though something the system RF designers call 'frequency planning', and sometimes mismanaged, leading to problem areas and 'released' (Ericsson terminology) calls.

Yep, I used to work at the Motorola Systems Infrastructure group. They keep changing the name though. The Chicago suburbs were THE place for cellular technology. ATT had their engineering group in a southern suburb, and Moto in a northern suburb. The joke amongst the engineers was calling it ATT North and Motorola South because the top engineers switched between the two as a sort of arbitrage towards higher pay. i.e the fastest way towards promotion was to work at another and get hired back 3 steps higher over the heads of the people that stayed. ;-)

Worldwide cellular standards were defined between the engineers there. Matter of fact, even though I haven't worked in the field for 10 years, I'm still seeing stuff being rolled out that was in development and planning stages back then.

[Dan Evans]

That hasn't been my experience each time I fly to the good Old Continent. And I travel there often - 3-4 times a year at least.

Maybe the competition from wireless has inspired the phone companies to get their act together. European phone companies have been notorious for bad service.

The Euros are soaking with jealousy for the US and they love to brag when they perceive that they do something better than us. But often times these claims are inflated and never countered because -- why bother?

A few years ago, a European country, (Denmark, I think), was claiming to have a better standard of living than the US (based mostly on bogus "quality of life" issues. Some Brits got tired of it and did a comparative study showing that Americans, in net worth, income, and most every way you can measure it, are far better off than the Danes.

[RayChuang88]

Too bad you're using Dish Network instead of DirecTV--DirecTV is in the process of rolling out a huge increase in the number of HDTV channels available through satellite, whicn would justify the investment in a true HDTV set. By the end of 2007, most of the USA will be able to pick up at least 40 HDTV channels through DirecTV including any local channels that offer it.

HDTV is particularly awesome watching sports, especially the NFL football games and NHL hockey games. I've seen Fox Sports Net Bay Area's HDTV broadcasts of the San Jose Sharks and it's the next best thing to being there, mostly because widescreen allows for better perception of the strategy of how the players move on the ice.

[GingisK]

I prefer to separate from a server or a big laptop. Besides, few "calculator programs" have all of the functionality of a decent calculator. They can be solar powered as well, allowing me to operate without a wall plug nearby.

[BrooklynGOP]

$500? No way, I'have seen dvd/divx players for under $100 at circuit city 2 years ago.. They are under $50 now.. lol.

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP642-DivX-Certified-Progressive-Scan-Player/dp/B000204SWE/sr=8-1/qid=1160331926/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0395164-1272755?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

[Myrddin]

When I first moved into the current house, the view of the sky for DirecTV was blocked by a 90 foot tall cottonwood tree. The DishNet path was clear. I took the path of least resistance. I had been a DirecTV customer in San Diego. That said, the least interesting thing to me on TV is sports. If I could delete all the sports channels and get a credit on my bill, I would be a very happy camper. If that is the essence of HDTV broadcasting, then I probably won't bother until one of my analog TV sets dies. Replacement is a satisfactory motivation.