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Archive for the 'Free stuff' Tag

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Showtime, NHL and History free previews coming to DirecTV, Dish

February 11th, 2010, 3:02 pm by

Free previews on TVThree free previews are coming soon for DirecTV viewers.

  • Showtime (ch. 537): Free Trial from March 25 to 28. Regular charge is $12.99 a month for 9 channels, which includes 6 in HD.
  • NHL Center Ice (ch. 769-786): Free Trial from March 2 to 8. Regular charge is $119.80 for the season.
  • BabyFirstTV, (ch. 293): Free Trial from 2/11 – 2/14. Regular charge is $4.99 per month.

Over at Dish Network, February free previews have already begun. These freebies run through most of February:

  • History International – Ch. 121. Free preview through March 3.
  • Biography Channel – Gold HD Ch. 119. Free preview through March 3.
  • Investigation Discovery Channel – Ch. 192 — free preview through Feb. 24.
  • Crime & Investigation HD – Ch. 387. Free preview through March 3.

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

2 free passes to MacWorld 2010

February 1st, 2010, 3:35 pm by

MacWorld 2010For the first time, Apple Inc. won’t be at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, which starts next week. But the show must go on, apparently.

There is a large enough cottage industry to keep running the show and it’s even attracting new exhibitors, like Brea-based Apogee Inc., which sells all sorts of Apple video-adapter accessories under a recently launched brand Kanex.

“The brand is fairly new. We want to immerse ourselves into the Mac community and plan to do so at MacWorld,” said Denise Truong, with Apogee.

The company is also giving away 2 free Expo Hall passes to the event. Just leave a comment on the Kanex blog. There’s only a handful of comments so chances of winning are pretty good. Here’s the post: “MacWorld Expo Hall Pass Giveaway: Participate to win.”

Right now, those same hall tickets cost $25 each — and $45 after the show starts. Looks like there are around 230 exhibitors including Anaheim bag maker Targus Inc., Western Digital in Lake Forest and CarMD in Fountain Valley.

And yes, show organizers plan to talk about the upcoming Apple iPad, though there is no mention that the iPad will actually be at the show.

Recent Apple news:

Posted in: Apple mania • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Star Trek goes where it hasn’t gone before: Del Taco

January 21st, 2010, 5:45 pm by

Del Taco teams up with Star TrekPassing along: A new Star Trek promotion may have me boldly going where I’ve never gone before: Del Taco.

The Lake Forest fast food joint has teamed up with game publisher Atari Inc. and to promote  ”Star Trek Online,” a new massively multiplayer online game from Cryptic Studios.  The game comes out in 2 weeks but if you want to get a Star Trek fix before then, Del Taco is offering some limited-edition freebies plus a free trial to the game.

The deal: Buy a Macho-sized drink or combo meal and get one of 4 limited edition Star Trek collector’s cups, plus a code to get a free 48-hour trial of the game.

Apparently, you can get multiple trials and use them all by logging into the Star Trek Online site via startrekonline.com/deltaco. If you get 4, they’ll toss in an extra 2 days of game play for a total of 10 days … away from work. Bonus: Buy the game after the free trial and get a Type-8 Shuttle, a virtual pet for your Starship.

The news should amuse long-time fans eager to get those limited-edition goodies. But it may also appeal to new fans who became enamored with the franchise during last year’s modernized Star Trek Movie with rebelliously dreamy Captain Kirk and cleverly sexy Uhura, Sci-Fi’s latest poster girl. Even my sister-in-law, whose favorite video genre was musicals, is now a fan of the franchise.

The game itself has been getting some good reviews by early testers who pounded Cryptic’s computer servers for a chance to play a beta version of the game.  The game, which will cost $14.99 a month to play, launches Feb. 2. (Note: Lifetime and annual subscriptions are available if you buy them soon. See Cryptic’s “Star Trek Online Pre-Release Promotions and Subscription Pricing“ release.)

As to why this post is not appearing on the OC Register’s Fast Food Maven blog? The Maven says her readers aren’t into that. Really! What does that say about Star Trek fans? Okay, I admit, I may have stepped inside a Del Taco once. It’s just so easy to overlook when there are so many great little taco dives all over Orange County. That reminds me, it’s almost time for dinner…

More info: startrekonline.com/deltaco or deltaco.com

Recent Gadgetress posts:

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • • • • • | 8 Comments »

Why is everyone in line for D-Link?

January 7th, 2010, 10:54 am by

Spotted at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas: A line for D-Link Systems in the hallway of the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Fountain Valley company is usually out on the show floor with its home networking products. Still, people were lining up:

Line for D-Link at CES 2010

Free coffee from D-Link at CESEntertainment next to D-Link's free coffee stand at CES 2010.Ahhh… Free coffee! Just what I needed…

Free music too!

Much better than the usual plethora of free bags, pens, magnets and other doohickeys that probably got thrown out after the show anyway.

For more CES 2010 coverage, visit the Gadgetress CES page at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/ces2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: news • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Verizon begins offering free Wi-Fi to its mobile broadband users

December 15th, 2009, 12:30 pm by

Free Wi-FiIf you’re a Verizon Wireless customer who pays a chunk of change each month for mobile broadband, Verizon is now tossing in access to its 11,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for no extra charge.

Verizon already offers free Wi-Fi to its FiOS subscribers, plus its DSL customers who spend $30 a month on service. See the earlier story, “Verizon offers some customers a bonus: Free Wi-Fi.”

Verizon hotspots include some Starbucks stores, Barnes & Noble bookstores, several hotels and more. There are nearly 1,000 places within 50 miles of The Register’s headquarters that offer Verizon Wi-Fi service. Here’s a link to Verizon’s hotspot finder: verizonwireless.com/wi-fi

To qualify, you need either a monthly Mobile Broadband account or a GlobalAccess plan. You also need a Verizon-supported device, which is either a USB modem, PC Card, ExpressCard, the Verizon MiFi portable hotspot, or a netbook or notebook. Here is a list of qualified devices: www.vzam.net.

Verizon isn’t the only one offering free Wi-Fi to its customers.

AT&T has been a leader of free Wi-Fi for its customers. It offers free Wi-Fi access at its hotspots to iPhone customers and home broadband users. It recently added 25,000 more hotspots around the globe. See the earlier story, “25,000 more places for Wi-Fi (if you’re with AT&T).”

AT&T also offers free Wi-Fi to anyone at Barnes & Noble stores. See earlier story, “Free Wi-Fi at Barnes & Noble for everyone!”

T-Mobile also offers certain customers free access to its Wi-Fi network.

Recent stories on free Wi-Fi:

Posted in: Cell phones • Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • | 9 Comments »

Free games for Verizon Internet customers starts Friday

October 7th, 2009, 12:28 pm by

Verizon free game weekend

If you’re a Verizon Internet customer and have kids, or like to play games yourself, set an alert for Friday, Oct. 9, when Verizon offers free access to 1,500 games on demand. After the free weekend, ending Monday, Oct. 12, the price goes back to $4.99 to $14.99 per month.

That’s four full days of free games.

The offer is for Verizon’s FiOS Internet and DSL customers. Go to verizon.net/freegames to access the games.

This is a mostly casual collection of games, which include Boggle, The Secret of Margrave Manor 2, SpongeBob Teaches Typing, Zoo Tycoon, Bejeweled Twist. You can scan the list of  games available on Verizon’s main game page at gamesondemand.verizon.net.

The catch? You can play the games on a computer as much as you want all weekend but after that, you’ll be locked out. If you do decide to pay for the service, you’ll get two weeks free. Or just head to other Web sites that offer free casual games all the time, like AddictingGames.com or EA’s pogo.com.

Like deals? Check out the OC Register’s Deals blog.

Posted in: Internet • • • • • • | Comments Off

U.S. vs. Mexico soccer game is a TV free for (almost) all

August 11th, 2009, 10:29 am by

Mexico vs. USA meet at the World Cup Soccer finals on Aug. 12, 2009.Soccer fans who want to catch the Mexico vs. U.S. World Cup Qualifier tomorrow can watch it for free … if you pay for TV service.

All the major TV services in Orange County are offering free access to Mun2, a Telemundo channel, thanks to owner Universal NBC opening up the channel to 67 million TV subscribers. Mun2 will broadcast the Aug. 12 game in English at 12:55 p.m.  Those who need Spanish can watch the same game on Telemundo.

For those planning to catch or record the game, here are the channels:

  • AT&T U-Verse – Channel 192, 193, 3009, 3010
  • Cox Cable - Channel 369, 398 
  • DirecTV - Usually on channel 410, but if you don’t subscribe to it, the free preview is on Channel 203 through 6 a.m. August 13.
  • Dish Network - Channel 838
  • Time Warner Cable - Channel 144, 843
  • Verizon FiOS TV - Channel 275 & 1643

More sports TV news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 10 Comments »

Verizon offers some customers a bonus: Free Wi-Fi

July 27th, 2009, 1:27 pm by

Verizon starts offering free Wi-Fi access to certain Internet customers.Free Wi-Fi got a boost today after Verizon began offering free access to its slew of wireless hotspots – but only to certain Internet customers. 

Those in that lucky free-Wi-Fi group include two types of Internet customers: FiOS users who spend $65 or more for Internet and get download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second, and its DSL high-speed customers who pay $29.99 or more per month for 3 mbps speeds. The offer is good for new and existing customers, but existing customers do need to register online and download special connection software.

If you are like me and didn’t realize that Verizon even offered Wi-Fi hotspots, the telecom company teamed up with Boingo Wireless, one of the first hotspot aggregators. Today, Boingo announced that it renewed an agreement with Verizon to offer Verizon customers access to its 100,000 hotspots worldwide.

There’s no mention whether Verizon Wireless customers will also get some free Wi-Fi goodness. But if Verizon follows rival AT&T’s lead, free Wi-Fi for wireless customers could be coming, too. AT&T first offered residential Internet customers free access to its hotspots early last year. iPhone and other wireless users were added last fall.

The Verizon offer appears straightforward. There’s no mention that users must buy landline service, commit to two years or sign their life away. Of course, the only eligible customers are those with the previously mentioned Internet plans — up to four people linked to the same account can use the free service simultaneously.

But Verizon users who want to utilize the free service must first sign up. Details on that are at this link. A searchable list of restaurants (includes Starbucks), hotels and other sites that offer free Wi-Fi to Verizon users is available at www.verizon.net/hotspots.

For everyone else, I suggest hitting the Wi-Fi Free Spot web site to find out where you can log in for free in your neighborhood.

Earlier stories on free Wi-Fi on Gadgetress:

Posted in: Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

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