SquareTrade

Kick off of SquareDeals of the Day and SquareTweets!

It almost feels like we’re back in school – sneaking notes.  We can’t let the cat entirely out of the bag just yet.  But since you’re our fans, we wanted to let you in on the secret.

There’s a lot going on here at SquareTrade HQ. This week, we’re gearing up to launch a series of SquareDeals of the Day! 

Raise your hand if you’ve recently purchased an LCD TV, a washer/dryer or perhaps a new wii.  Maybe you’ve been planning to buy a new laptop? 

Well, this week we’ll be offering even greater savings on coverage for things like digital cameras, LCD TVs, home appliances and game consoles.  Yup, we’ll be offering up to 40% additional savings with a new coupon each day!

So stay tuned (and don’t let Miss Othmar catch you passing this note!)

On a related note, if you’d like to be the first kid on the block that has the inside scoop, you can follow us on twitter. We’ll tweet breaking news on specials like the upcoming Deals of the Day as well as nifty things we hear are going on in the world of gizmos and gadgets.

Sorry, did you ask “What's a tweet?!”  Well, Mike Massimino has been tweeting from space. Even Oprah is becoming twitter savvy. You can also ask google. 

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TZ50 dated and tagged.

Remember that WiFi-enabled 9.1-megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50 we mentioned about a month ago?  As predicted, it'll bump up the usual Lumix price by about fifty bucks and have a mid-May U.S. launch, but what we couldn't predict?  It comes with a full 12-month subscription to T-Mobile's hotspot network.

Just to recap: the TZ50 packs a 802.11b/g WiFi connection, 10x optical lens zoom, and a 3" screen.  All the current standards - auto ISO, auto scene detection, face detection, are here.  Photo uploads, also as predicted, are locked into Google's Picasa service. 

It's a good package for $450, which puts its 3-Year SquareTrade warranty right at the $54 mark (thank you, magic sidebar widget), or a bit more if you want to add Accidental Damage coverage.

The current Lumix line really has stepped it up a notch lately, and while for our money (all $350 of it) we prefer the feature set on the TZ5 - it swaps out WiFi capabilities for a 720p Hi-Def video capture mode - if you don't want to ever worry about running out of memory storage, the TZ50 is definitely a good pick for you. 

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RED's Scarlet pocket camcorder will never go hungry again.

If you haven't heard of RED, then possibly you haven't been in the market for a $17,500 RED One camcorder that shoots digital video one gnat-wing shy of 35mm film quality.  But now they're going all prosumer on us with the RED Scarlet, a pocket HD digital camcorder with southern charm and quirks-a-plenty.

For starters, the Scarlet is all metal - no plastics - and will record files in RAW format, which is a rarity for a camera below the $20K mark, much less one that's supposed to fit in your shirt pocket.  They just unveiled it at NAB, and confirmed (but may change) 3k resolution, a PL mount and a 2/3" Mysterium X sensor, with full auto or full manual options, WiFi control, upgradeable software and modular compatibility with RED One accessories.  The 8x zoom and 4.8" screen are built-in.

Let's just say that while the Scarlet is supposed to run at a significantly lower price point than the RED One ("under $3000" is the quote), it's safe to say this kind of equipment is an investment... one you'd best protect with a SquareTrade warranty that will cost less than anyone else's and pay out in cash (within five business days) if we can't fix it.

RED's telling everybody the Scarlet is due out in "early 2009," so you do have some time to save up them pennies.  And quarters.  And Hamiltons. 

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The Samsung L120 puts a manly 10.2 megapixels in your pocket.

Okay, let's put it out there: if your camera packs a single-digit megapixel sensor, it's a wimp.  And the Samsung L120 might not be the spiffiest pocket camera to break the 10+ barrier, but it's got plenty under the hood to keep us interested.

It only just breaks into double digits with a 10.2-megapixel shot and a yeah-okay 3x optical zoom and a 2.5" LCD screen in back. Nothing marvelous there.  And we'd be shrugging out shoulders if it just had standard-issue redeye correction and face detection.  That's just shelf filler.  But the L210 has all that, and it just keeps piling the extras on... optical and digital image stabilization, 10MB of internal storage (before you start using memory cards) and an SVGA video mode.  That's pretty damn good for a $200 camera. 

And you can guarantee it'll work properly for three hassle-free years if you put a SquareTrade warranty on it... with or without Accidental Damage coverage.  Check out the sidebar widget for a quick quote.

After beholding the Samsung L210, we look at our 7-megapixel Pentax SLR from 2006 and feel shame.  Shame!

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Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TZ50 brings the Wifi to your camera.

It seems like only yesterday that we were telling you about the touch-screen Lumix DMC-FX500, and how somebody at Panasonic was running wild with the cool camera designs.  Well, today's flavor is WiFi, and it's all over the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50.

The TZ50 looses a megapixel from the TZ5 and FX500 (knocking it down to 9.1, which is plenty) to rock an 802.11b/g WiFi connection from any hotspot, but doubles up on the zoom with a 10x optical lens and has a non-touch 3" screen in back.  Once you snap yet another picture of your cat in mid-air, you can upload it to the internets from any hotspot you can find, but forget sending it directly to LOLcats.  The Japanese release, like a lot of WiFi cameras, is strictly limited to one destination... in this case, the Lumix club, though indications are you'll have more options by the time it hits our shores.  At the very least, Panasonic's CES demos allowed uploads to Google's Picasa.

That zoom and the WiFi will probably bump the price to the higher end of the Lumix scale, so a SquareTrade warranty might be a good idea to cover your investment, particularly with some Accidental Damage coverage added.  You are gonna be taking this sucker on the road, after all.

The TZ50 doesn't have an American date yet, but we'd be surprised if it lags far beyond the mid-May date it has in Japan.  That's also right around the time other Lumix models hit shelves in the U.S. of A.

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The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500 gets all touchy-feely.

What's the latest gadget to jump on the touch-screen bandwagon?  Why, that would be your humble digital camera... the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500.  And it's not all that humble, either.

What you've got here is a 10.1-megapixel point-and-shooter with a 25-125mm wide angle lens, equipped with a 5x optical zoom.  That's serious business right there.  But notice the general lack of controls in sight on the front?  That trend continues on the back, though there's still a clickwheel and Mode/Display buttons as backup.  Mostly, there's a 3" touch-screen, from which you can do things like set the Auto-focus and exposure, or adjust shots on the fly with your finger or a LUMIX stylus pen that's hidden somewhere in the casing. Damned if we can figure out where it goes on the camera.

Similar to its TZ5 cousin, the FX500 also notches up a video feature that clocks 1280 x 720 movies at thirty frames per second.  Not bad at all.

And the whole thing is eligible for a SquareTrade digital camera warranty when it arrives in May, with or without Accidental Damage coverage.  At a retail price of $400, you could cover it for three full years for almost half what a retail store would charge you.

Somebody got aggressive about camera development over at Panasonic, because we're seeing some nice toys coming from them lately.  But we're still waiting for our touch-screen HDTV.

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The new 10-megapixel Canon PowerShots all look very, very similar.

Specialization is the wave of the future, and has been for the last twenty years.  So maybe it's not so surprising that the three new 10-megapixel additions to the Canon PowerShot digital camera line are all different in very minor ways.  Except for the price tags.

The new kids in the neighborhood are the SD890, the SD790, and the SD770.  They all look the same and they all take the same resolution pics, and they all have Canon's IS designation, for 'image stabilization," which we can tell you from experience is a fairly nifty thing to have on a camera.  So picking out the one you want depends on what's most important to you in a point-and-press camera.

• The SD890 IS has a 5x optical zoom and 2.5" display, and costs $400.

• The SD790 IS only has a 3x optical zoom, but a 3" display, and costs $350.

• The SD770 IS only has a 3x optical zoom and a 2.5" display, and costs $300.

The message we're getting here is that you've gotta bump out the cheddar if you're too lazy to get any closer to your subject, kick out a few extra twenties if you're blind, or lump it if you're poor.  But seeing how they're all IS-enabled 10-megapixel PowerShots, you're going to get fairly good results with any of these babies, and it wouldn't hurt to put a SquareTrade warranty with Accidental Damage coverage on them, either.  We've seen a PowerShot take a hard fall on Edinburgh cobblestones and still take pictures, but not pictures of things we pointed the camera at.

They all ship starting next month.

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Leap Year Sales catch some decent air.

We know you're thinking an extra day in February is just The Man's way of making you put in extra hours at the office, but it's also a handy excuse for big box stores to put things on sale. 

Best Buy doesn't have much other than the Vaio/Inspiron sale from three weeks ago and a bogus "$700 Off" home theater package that requires a $200 Geek Squad buy-in to save money on a TV that's already on sale elsewhere.  Circuit City, on the other hand, has a handful of electronics deals we like... such as a Philips DVD Player (non-HD, no-Blu) going for only $30... or $50, if you're lazy and don't mail in the rebate.  They've also knocked 33% off the price of the Garmin c340 StreetPilot GPS, or there's the TomTom ONE going for $167... down eighty bucks from normal. 

CC's desktop computer bundles and laptop sales are pretty joke-worthy ($30 off a $1000+ comput er just doesn't do it for us), but they are offering free 1GB memory cards with certain digital cameras, and some truly great deals on DV camcorders.  We particularly like the $270 they chopped from the price of the Canon HV20 HD Camcorder, putting it down to $730.  Not bad for a best-in-class device. And that's how you discount something.

Speaking of which, you can get 20% Off your SquareTrade warranty for any of these things (or anything else) from now through March 2nd... and that's on prices that were already about half what Circuit City would charge you.  That includes Accidental Damage coverage, too, if you want it.

Just use Coupon Code: MARCHSALE on our checkout page.  And do it while you're at work, too, just to stick it to The Man.  He deserves it.

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Sony Cyber-shot W300 puts insane 13.6 megapixels in your pocket.

Been itching to photograph God?  Didn't think 12.1 megapixels on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC W200 could really do him/her justice?  Worry no more!  The Sony Cyber-shot DSC W300 just got a release date, and brings a ridiculous amount of image definition to the point-and-press camera with 13.6 megapixel shots and an ISO up to 6400.

You might ask why you need that much megapixelage in a pocket-sized camera when, technically speaking, anything at 7 or 8 megapixels is publication-quality.  Or you might start to wonder about all the noise that'll creep - nay, gallop - into your shots in anything less than broad daylight.  Possibly the W300 has compensated by including the W200's Super HAD (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD design, allowing more light to pass to each pixel to increase sensitivity and reduce noise, but we haven't seen a full, official spec list yet.  That said, we do know it'll have the Super SteadyShot optical image stabilizing technology, 3x optical zoom, face recognition and a 3-megapixel burst mode.

It's dated for May, tagged at $350 (about fifty more than the W200), and eligible for a SquareTrade digital camera warranty with optional Accidental Damage coverage.  Check out the widget in the sidebar for an instant quote, and don't forget to make God say "cheese."  Hopefully she/he won't blink.

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Cheap Digital Cameras at Circuit City!

We were just starting to go into a post-PMA malaise when we noticed a few nice digital camera deals over at Circuit City.  Thanks, CC... you're always there for us.

If you read (and believe) the advertising, they're knocking up to 15% off a wide selection of point-and-press and SLR cameras, but the truth is there's bigger and better to be had if you just poke around a bit.  For example, we found a Nikon CoolPix S51 for fifty bucks off Circuit City's normal asking price (sending it down to $178), which is more like 23% off.  That's not bad for a lightweight 8.1 megapixel camera with image stabilization. 

They also took fifty bucks off the price of the Canon PowerShot SX100 IS, an 8 megapixel SLR, which puts it at $250.  Its advantage?  A 10x optical zoom over the CoolPix's 3x, plus optical image stabilization, face recognition, and a distinct sense that you're not messing around.

The other advantage is that through February 10, you can get 25% Off your 3-Year SquareTrade digital camera warranty if you use Coupon Code DCAMSALE4 on the checkout page.  That includes Accidental Damage coverage, if you choose to add it. 

Of course, we're still salivating over the Panasonic TZ5, but it won't be out before the coupon code expires, and maybe you're an instant gratification person, anyway.  Whatever takes your fancy, Hypothetical You!

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