If You Ever Wanted to Get a Hickey...

...now is the time. Hickey (Hickey Freeman's cooler sibling) is having a crazy Presidents' Day Sale now through Feb 22. You can score up to 75% off an assortment of their styles, like this update of the classic navy blazer. Check out the sale here.

A Survey That Fits

So in a previous incarnation, I was in market research. I bring this up because I need some help now with a quick survey I wrote. I am using the data to help facilitate an employment opportunity. The survey is completely confidential and regards your experience with customer service representatives.

Please participate here.

In return you will receive my lifetime gratitude absolutely FREE! Everyone receives this unique gift. It is my way of saying, "thank you". (That last part was supposed to be George Carlin-esque.)

A/V or Not A/V? It's not even a relevant question.

A lot of people try to cheat nowadays with Home Theater in a Box systems (HTIB) for the home theater setup. Not me. Personally, I am an A/V Receiver guy. The prices in the A/V market have been coming down so substantially, that you need to begin to question whether plunking down $200 to $300 on a cheap HTIB is a better value than doubling down on an A/V receiver (and separate speakers of course). And the chances are, you probably already have a set of speakers you can use if you do not feel like the added cost of a new set right now. Most A/V units now push a 7.1 surround, but your old 5.1 seakers will work just as well until the coffer you emptied for the perfect value receiver gets refilled (screw my 401k, the cookie jar is calling).

I have been waiting for the right time to buy a new A/V receiver that pumps out a truly high end HD format for a respectable price. The Onkyo TX-SR606 was the latest target of my A/V envy, despite it only moderately improving upon the game-changer that was the 505 last year. But now Sony just put themselves back into my line of sight with the new STR-DG920. Check out Cnet's video below or check out the full review after the jump.



If the Sony is not for you here's Cnet's Matthew Moskovciak with a nice roundup of the latest in the A/V category. The time to buy might be right now. And it starts and ends with A/V, not HTIB.