[stockstradr]

threadkiller,
only source i’m aware of making waterproof mobile phone is Sonim. See sonimtech.com

I’m a mech engr whose specialty is mobile phone design

Please note that even with the boutique supplier Sonim, only a few of their products are waterproof to a level that surfing would require, plus none are spec’d for salt water exposure

[stockstradr]

We have our flat screen LCD hooked up to a Apple TV (latest gen), a WD TV Live Plus (latest gen), and a DISH Network HD DVR.

The Apple TV is vastly superior (due to great UI) for browsing family photos, or playing iTunes music / videos all of which must be shared through iTunes (on home server PC). Only thing better is a Mac Mini as your HTPC (but not many have the $600+ to burn for that)

We never stream pay movies on the Apple TV, because the per movie prices are outrageous, plus no 1080p.

NOTE: the Apple TV music browsing/playing UI is NOT the iTunes UI, but it has a bit of the iTunes functionality.

We find the TV Live Plus is best for browsing and viewing full HD videos in a wide variety of formats, via Homegroup Sharing, Windows 7 Media Server/Library, or true network shares (entire drives, or folders, etc) from a NAS device or home share PC. We sometimes steam movies from Netflix.

With the WD TV Live Plus, I literally dump the raw AVCHD 1080p X 30fps video files from our Canon HFS100 HD camcorder onto my network-shared video folder on our home server PC. Then I walk over to our flat screen and the WD TV Live Plus steams those in buttery-smooth quality at full high def. The Apple TV cannot do that.

NOTE: for worry free streaming speed, I have the TV Live Plus hard-wired (Cat 5e) into our home network. I recommend that if you plan to stream 1080p video.

Someone (not me) wrote a very good comparison review of those two devices on Amazon:

Get the Apple TV if:
* All (or at least most) of your music and videos are already in iTunes. The Apple TV will play everything that your iPhone, iPad, and iPod can play, but not much else. Photos can also be added into iTunes for browsing using Apple TV
* You can connect it to your home theater receiver or TV via HDMI. The Apple TV only has an HDMI video output. Optical audio output is also provided.
* You want to impress your friends by streaming and controlling your media from you iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch (AirPlay and the Apple Remote app)
* You only have a wireless network available to your home theater AND you don’t want to buy a USB WiFi adapter too.
* You want everything to “just work,” or you feel comfortable with Apple stuff and don’t want any new challenges in your life. The Apple TV is easier to use and has a simpler, sleeker interface.
* It also fun to browse 720p movie trailers through the great Apple TV user interface.

Get the WD TV Live Plus if:
* You need to connect your media streamer to your home theater rig via something other than HDMI (it can output to HDMI, Composite A/V, Component video, and digital optical audio).
* Your media is in a non-apple supported formats (MPEG-2 from DVD rips, .ts or .m2ts BD rips, AVIs, WMV, WMA, VOB, MKV, FLV, FLAC, OGG, etc.)
* You want to play 1080p high def video and new HD audio formats (DTS-HD, Dolby HD)
* You want to play media that is on USB hard disks, thumb drives, Windows media servers, or DLNA servers.
* You don’t mind paying extra for WiFi capability
* You don’t have (or need to play) protected media (m4v iTunes purchased videos, m4p protected audio, or other DRM protected media)
* You have a camcorder and want to dump its native format video onto your server PC’s shared hard drive and then browse and view those moviews (even in full 1080p HD) on your big screen LCD.

Be WARNED that the UI and the handheld remote suks on the WD media players

One other comment…

The Roku does have much higher user review ratings on Amazon than the WD TV Live Plus. Given a second chance, maybe I would try that Roku instead of the Western Digital media player.

NONE of the above mentioned devices (currently) can stream 1080p pay movies from sources like VUDU. For that you gotta get a streaming Blu-ray player (that supports Vudu) or Boxee, or PlayStation 3. I was very impressed with VUDU’s 1080p movies streamed on our Blu-ray player, but you gotta have FAST internet download speeds, and those movies are like $6 per stream.

And after all that rambling…

..what I really use MOST for my movie watching is RedBox – because it is by far the best value for movies “recently” released to DVD/Blu-ray, assuming you can put up with the 28 days delay on home video releases to Redbox

[stockstradr]

I contributed yesterday to the Ron Paul for President campaign.

I did it to honor the fact that without question he is the only candidate speaking intelligently and honestly about America’s problems and how to best fix them.

Let me guess. Those reading this thread agree with the above, yet you think he cannot win so you withhold support? Then YOU are part of why America’s political system is broken. You create the Catch-22, by withholding support by pre-judging that a decent, honest truth-telling candidate cannot triumph over the evil, corrupting machine that is the American political process.

[stockstradr]

At “$82k/year” you are definitely underpaid, given the degree and cred’s you claim…but keep in mind that San Diego is a soft market for most types of engineers.

A reference point is I bumped my salary by over 20% instantly just by opening up to offers from the Bay Area, and accepting one, taking me away from San Diego.

The Bay Area is pretty hot right now. It has turned around 180 in the last six months. Local software tech companies are fighting over talent, particularly for software engineers. Big offers from Facebook are pulling talent out of Google. Then Google responds by giving every employee a 10% raise. There are countless more examples.

Now with turnaround it went from DEAD, to now I’m getting a call per week from different headhunters asking me to interview for nice big blue chip Bay Area companies. I interviewed with Google last month, for example.

There are certain types of software engineers, that are getting offers of 150K to 175K for base salary up here in Bay Area, for only 5+ years experience. It was in the newspaper recently.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17753677
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17194281
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605273596157634.html

[stockstradr]

At “$82k/year” you are definitely underpaid, given the degree and cred’s you claim…but keep in mind that San Diego is a soft market for most types of engineers.

A reference point is I bumped my salary by over 20% instantly just by opening up to offers from the Bay Area, and accepting one, taking me away from San Diego.

The Bay Area is pretty hot right now. It has turned around 180 in the last six months. Local software tech companies are fighting over talent, particularly for software engineers. Big offers from Facebook are pulling talent out of Google. Then Google responds by giving every employee a 10% raise. There are countless more examples.

Now with turnaround it went from DEAD, to now I’m getting a call per week from different headhunters asking me to interview for nice big blue chip Bay Area companies. I interviewed with Google last month, for example.

There are certain types of software engineers, that are getting offers of 150K to 175K for base salary up here in Bay Area, for only 5+ years experience. It was in the newspaper recently.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17753677
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17194281
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605273596157634.html

[stockstradr]

At “$82k/year” you are definitely underpaid, given the degree and cred’s you claim…but keep in mind that San Diego is a soft market for most types of engineers.

A reference point is I bumped my salary by over 20% instantly just by opening up to offers from the Bay Area, and accepting one, taking me away from San Diego.

The Bay Area is pretty hot right now. It has turned around 180 in the last six months. Local software tech companies are fighting over talent, particularly for software engineers. Big offers from Facebook are pulling talent out of Google. Then Google responds by giving every employee a 10% raise. There are countless more examples.

Now with turnaround it went from DEAD, to now I’m getting a call per week from different headhunters asking me to interview for nice big blue chip Bay Area companies. I interviewed with Google last month, for example.

There are certain types of software engineers, that are getting offers of 150K to 175K for base salary up here in Bay Area, for only 5+ years experience. It was in the newspaper recently.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17753677
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17194281
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605273596157634.html

[stockstradr]

At “$82k/year” you are definitely underpaid, given the degree and cred’s you claim…but keep in mind that San Diego is a soft market for most types of engineers.

A reference point is I bumped my salary by over 20% instantly just by opening up to offers from the Bay Area, and accepting one, taking me away from San Diego.

The Bay Area is pretty hot right now. It has turned around 180 in the last six months. Local software tech companies are fighting over talent, particularly for software engineers. Big offers from Facebook are pulling talent out of Google. Then Google responds by giving every employee a 10% raise. There are countless more examples.

Now with turnaround it went from DEAD, to now I’m getting a call per week from different headhunters asking me to interview for nice big blue chip Bay Area companies. I interviewed with Google last month, for example.

There are certain types of software engineers, that are getting offers of 150K to 175K for base salary up here in Bay Area, for only 5+ years experience. It was in the newspaper recently.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17753677
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17194281
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605273596157634.html

[stockstradr]

At “$82k/year” you are definitely underpaid, given the degree and cred’s you claim…but keep in mind that San Diego is a soft market for most types of engineers.

A reference point is I bumped my salary by over 20% instantly just by opening up to offers from the Bay Area, and accepting one, taking me away from San Diego.

The Bay Area is pretty hot right now. It has turned around 180 in the last six months. Local software tech companies are fighting over talent, particularly for software engineers. Big offers from Facebook are pulling talent out of Google. Then Google responds by giving every employee a 10% raise. There are countless more examples.

Now with turnaround it went from DEAD, to now I’m getting a call per week from different headhunters asking me to interview for nice big blue chip Bay Area companies. I interviewed with Google last month, for example.

There are certain types of software engineers, that are getting offers of 150K to 175K for base salary up here in Bay Area, for only 5+ years experience. It was in the newspaper recently.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17753677
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17194281
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523604575605273596157634.html

[stockstradr]

I agree CA teachers are overpaid, along with so many other fat (taxpayer funded) state/local salaries for police, firefighters..etc.

My wife only got her teaching degree in like 2007. Now she’s making 75K/year and she gets 3.5 months vacation each year PLUS her benefit package is AT LEAST $20,000/year equivalent richer than my private sector job benefits package. Plus of course CA taxpayers are funding her growing pension package.

The only thing I had better acknowledge is that her particular pay scale is a bit higher because she teaches in one of the higher paying districts in the Bay Area. She also has a graduate degree and multiple teaching “credential” certificates, each of which bumps up her pay under CA teachers pay rules.

I’m a Masters-degreed engineer with a strong 20-year resume working for big name Blue Chips, and I’m making $120K/year not including profit sharing and options. And I work my ass off for 60 hrs a week with maybe 3 weeks vacation.

I look at her salary and 3.5 months vacation and I think she’s getting a better deal than me. She’s overpaid! I would become a teacher (if CA actually was hiring teachers, which it isn’t)

I’m not stupid, so naturally I got myself listed under her FREE (to us) rich cushy benefits package (health, dental, vision, etc) not my employer’s lame (yet high out of pocket cost) private sector package. So you taxpayers are even paying for my health care package because I’m a teacher’s spouse!

[stockstradr]

I agree CA teachers are overpaid, along with so many other fat (taxpayer funded) state/local salaries for police, firefighters..etc.

My wife only got her teaching degree in like 2007. Now she’s making 75K/year and she gets 3.5 months vacation each year PLUS her benefit package is AT LEAST $20,000/year equivalent richer than my private sector job benefits package. Plus of course CA taxpayers are funding her growing pension package.

The only thing I had better acknowledge is that her particular pay scale is a bit higher because she teaches in one of the higher paying districts in the Bay Area. She also has a graduate degree and multiple teaching “credential” certificates, each of which bumps up her pay under CA teachers pay rules.

I’m a Masters-degreed engineer with a strong 20-year resume working for big name Blue Chips, and I’m making $120K/year not including profit sharing and options. And I work my ass off for 60 hrs a week with maybe 3 weeks vacation.

I look at her salary and 3.5 months vacation and I think she’s getting a better deal than me. She’s overpaid! I would become a teacher (if CA actually was hiring teachers, which it isn’t)

I’m not stupid, so naturally I got myself listed under her FREE (to us) rich cushy benefits package (health, dental, vision, etc) not my employer’s lame (yet high out of pocket cost) private sector package. So you taxpayers are even paying for my health care package because I’m a teacher’s spouse!

[stockstradr]

I agree CA teachers are overpaid, along with so many other fat (taxpayer funded) state/local salaries for police, firefighters..etc.

My wife only got her teaching degree in like 2007. Now she’s making 75K/year and she gets 3.5 months vacation each year PLUS her benefit package is AT LEAST $20,000/year equivalent richer than my private sector job benefits package. Plus of course CA taxpayers are funding her growing pension package.

The only thing I had better acknowledge is that her particular pay scale is a bit higher because she teaches in one of the higher paying districts in the Bay Area. She also has a graduate degree and multiple teaching “credential” certificates, each of which bumps up her pay under CA teachers pay rules.

I’m a Masters-degreed engineer with a strong 20-year resume working for big name Blue Chips, and I’m making $120K/year not including profit sharing and options. And I work my ass off for 60 hrs a week with maybe 3 weeks vacation.

I look at her salary and 3.5 months vacation and I think she’s getting a better deal than me. She’s overpaid! I would become a teacher (if CA actually was hiring teachers, which it isn’t)

I’m not stupid, so naturally I got myself listed under her FREE (to us) rich cushy benefits package (health, dental, vision, etc) not my employer’s lame (yet high out of pocket cost) private sector package. So you taxpayers are even paying for my health care package because I’m a teacher’s spouse!

[stockstradr]

I agree CA teachers are overpaid, along with so many other fat (taxpayer funded) state/local salaries for police, firefighters..etc.

My wife only got her teaching degree in like 2007. Now she’s making 75K/year and she gets 3.5 months vacation each year PLUS her benefit package is AT LEAST $20,000/year equivalent richer than my private sector job benefits package. Plus of course CA taxpayers are funding her growing pension package.

The only thing I had better acknowledge is that her particular pay scale is a bit higher because she teaches in one of the higher paying districts in the Bay Area. She also has a graduate degree and multiple teaching “credential” certificates, each of which bumps up her pay under CA teachers pay rules.

I’m a Masters-degreed engineer with a strong 20-year resume working for big name Blue Chips, and I’m making $120K/year not including profit sharing and options. And I work my ass off for 60 hrs a week with maybe 3 weeks vacation.

I look at her salary and 3.5 months vacation and I think she’s getting a better deal than me. She’s overpaid! I would become a teacher (if CA actually was hiring teachers, which it isn’t)

I’m not stupid, so naturally I got myself listed under her FREE (to us) rich cushy benefits package (health, dental, vision, etc) not my employer’s lame (yet high out of pocket cost) private sector package. So you taxpayers are even paying for my health care package because I’m a teacher’s spouse!

[stockstradr]

I agree CA teachers are overpaid, along with so many other fat (taxpayer funded) state/local salaries for police, firefighters..etc.

My wife only got her teaching degree in like 2007. Now she’s making 75K/year and she gets 3.5 months vacation each year PLUS her benefit package is AT LEAST $20,000/year equivalent richer than my private sector job benefits package. Plus of course CA taxpayers are funding her growing pension package.

The only thing I had better acknowledge is that her particular pay scale is a bit higher because she teaches in one of the higher paying districts in the Bay Area. She also has a graduate degree and multiple teaching “credential” certificates, each of which bumps up her pay under CA teachers pay rules.

I’m a Masters-degreed engineer with a strong 20-year resume working for big name Blue Chips, and I’m making $120K/year not including profit sharing and options. And I work my ass off for 60 hrs a week with maybe 3 weeks vacation.

I look at her salary and 3.5 months vacation and I think she’s getting a better deal than me. She’s overpaid! I would become a teacher (if CA actually was hiring teachers, which it isn’t)

I’m not stupid, so naturally I got myself listed under her FREE (to us) rich cushy benefits package (health, dental, vision, etc) not my employer’s lame (yet high out of pocket cost) private sector package. So you taxpayers are even paying for my health care package because I’m a teacher’s spouse!

[stockstradr]

I think this is a helpful comp

http://www.sdlookup.com/Property-4BE56F4F-17161_Alva_Rd_2214_San_Diego_CA_92127

We know that area because we owned basically an identical condo to that linked above, and we dumped it at peak pricing. I’ve been watching condos pricing in that area now for over five years, because we’re looking to buy back again at the bottom to pick up a rental unit.

That’s a 1243 sqr ft 3BR/3BTH unit, sold recently for $240,000. So you have those Summmit condos falling BELOW the $200 per sq ft level.

So personally I would NOT buy the condo you mentioned for $225K, because you are at $211 PPSF.

Yes, I acknowledge that condo comp sits in the much older summit complex that is five minutes walk away.

Yet we lived in that area and we felt the older Summit properties were comparable to those newer 4S Ranch condos. In fact, some of the big Summit condos (such as unit 2214) sit right next to the mountain with nice views, and good morning sun exposure. Some are on the 2nd floor with vaulted ceilings. I would rather buy there than buy in a newer condo in 4S Ranch that has worse views, but is priced 20% higher.

Now the other alternative spin (which could be right) is that possibly the Summit Complex condos dropped this low because buyers consider the 4S Ranch to be more desirable and Summit pricing suffered as a result. You should ask a Realtor about that.

[stockstradr]

I think this is a helpful comp

http://www.sdlookup.com/Property-4BE56F4F-17161_Alva_Rd_2214_San_Diego_CA_92127

We know that area because we owned basically an identical condo to that linked above, and we dumped it at peak pricing. I’ve been watching condos pricing in that area now for over five years, because we’re looking to buy back again at the bottom to pick up a rental unit.

That’s a 1243 sqr ft 3BR/3BTH unit, sold recently for $240,000. So you have those Summmit condos falling BELOW the $200 per sq ft level.

So personally I would NOT buy the condo you mentioned for $225K, because you are at $211 PPSF.

Yes, I acknowledge that condo comp sits in the much older summit complex that is five minutes walk away.

Yet we lived in that area and we felt the older Summit properties were comparable to those newer 4S Ranch condos. In fact, some of the big Summit condos (such as unit 2214) sit right next to the mountain with nice views, and good morning sun exposure. Some are on the 2nd floor with vaulted ceilings. I would rather buy there than buy in a newer condo in 4S Ranch that has worse views, but is priced 20% higher.

Now the other alternative spin (which could be right) is that possibly the Summit Complex condos dropped this low because buyers consider the 4S Ranch to be more desirable and Summit pricing suffered as a result. You should ask a Realtor about that.

[Author]

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