Tinkers

The holidays are a great time to find savings on current and older electronics like stereos, computers, and gaming consoles.  Most retailers will feature discount electronics to lure buyers into their stores during the holidays.  The key to saving money during the holidays is only purchasing the sale items while you’re in the store; the retailer is losing money off sale purchases, but gain that money back when you purchase other items.  Often the last year’s electronics, like gaming consoles, will be priced by the manufacturer or the retailer to sell out and make way for newer models, so be sure to hunt for bargains.

Online retailers and auction websites like eBay will also feature sales and discounted electronics, so it’s a good idea to check around online for sales as well (this is quite helpful if you can’t find the item in stores!). 

The gaming industry was revolutionized by the advent of the massively multiplayer online game; a format which allowed hundreds and thousands of users to interact with each other in the same environment.  Despite the obvious technological advancement of this genre of game, single player games found their own niche with simulated social interaction.  Video games like Animal Crossing, The Sims, and the dot.hack series simulate social interaction between the user and the NPCs (non-playable characters), and are intended for people who own gaming consoles.  In Animal Crossing you might make friends with an NPC who will later visit your house and give you a new piece of furniture for your birthday.  In the dot Hack series, you receive e-mails from your NPC friends that tell you about new dungeons and areas within the game you wouldn’t otherwise be able to find.

Single player social games are the wave of the future, and it’s possible that their popularity might even overtake the online games that are so popular today.

The summer of 2008 marked a season with several of the highest grossing box office movies ever.  Whether through coincidence or planning, it has made several DVD movies this holiday season must have purchases.  Some of the hot summer movies have been released already such as Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  Soon to be released mega-hits include Hellboy II, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and hailed by many as one of the greatest films ever, Batman: The Dark Knight. You can rest assured that most anyone on your list this year would love to add one of these awesome movie titles to their collection.  In addition to these films, it’s also a good time to catch up on past releases they haven’t gotten yet. 

The hottest system on the market right now is the Xbox 360.  The system boasts an impressive library of titles including new titles like Fallout 3, and Gears of War 2, promising to be the super hits of the holidays.  One of the best ways to buy an Xbox is in an Xbox 360 bundle.  This is a package deal which includes games, peripherals, controllers, and all the components necessary for immediate play.  An Xbox 360 bundle is a safe way for parents or spouses who don’t know much about gaming to ensure the gamer in their family gets what they want. With the economic crisis, stores aren’t overstocking this year, so be sure to buy hot items like this early while they’re still available!

One of the sacrifices a player makes when purchasing a new video game console is no longer being able to play their old games. However with the Playstation 3, almost all of your old Playstation and Playstation 2 games work on the new system, and in some cases with improved graphics. This backwards compatibility was pioneered by the Playstation 2, now returned for the Playstation 3, and has become an industry standard with other video game console producers. However, none of these other game console producers sport the sheer volume of titles available on the Playstation 3.

With several ports of Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and even Arcade titles, the breadth of games playable on the Playstation 3 is unmatched. You can pop in a game originally released in 1998, then a few seconds later, be playing a game released in 2008. Players can purchase older games for a fraction of the cost of a newer title, and still receive the same enjoyment.

When Nintendo made their newest system, the Wii, many gamers were skeptical about the Wii’s success due to their previous system, the GameCube, failing to appeal to most mature and adult gamers. But the Nintendo Wii system proved to have the innovation needed to propel it forward to the best selling system currently on the market. The Wii’s innovation is in the motion sensitive control pad, which can act as a sword for slashing, a fishing reel, or a bowling ball depending on the game. The player gains a heightened feel of immersion as their actions with the controller are reflected on the screen.

The sense of touch and control the Wii allows the player is unprecedented, and has proved to be a new industry standard for future gaming. The Wii also has several game titles geared towards mature and adult players, the aspect which the GameCube lacked.

More and more car enthusiasts are purchasing auto parts and supplies on the Internet.  This is an especially convenient way to find classic and muscle car parts, as well as competitive prices on parts for the more current auto models.  The bulk of the actual research can be accomplished online rather than having to log hundreds of miles on the road, looking high and low for the components to complete your vehicle.

It may still be necessary to make a few phone calls, but whatever you need for your car can likely be found online and be delivered right to your door.

Telecom is short for telecommunication, the assisted signal transmission over a distance for the purpose of communication.  Today, telecom involves electronic transmitters like TV, telephone, radio, and computer, but it all began with smoke signals, drums, flags, beacons, homing pigeons, telegraphs, and several other methods of communication throughout time.  Telecom was estimated to be a $1.2 trillion industry in the year 2006, which came in at just under 3% of the gross world product.

The cellular telephone has become a huge part of not only the telecommunication industry, but the world economy.  By the end of 2007, International Telecommunications Union statistics showed that almost one out of two people throughout the globe possessed a mobile telephone.

What did we do before we had all this technology?  I’ve forgotten.  It’s still a good idea to have a corded telephone around in case the cell phone network goes down and your household needs to call 911, and it’s a good idea to have a hard copy of all your phones and addresses, because batteries die at the most inconvenient times.  But technology has made our lives so much easier in so many ways, particularly in the world of work.

Whether you need cell phones, any other kind of telephone, a fax machine, storage media, a headset, or any number of other electronic gadgets, Tinker’s Goods is here to help.

Could there be a more seductive phrase than “as seen on TV”?  So much cool stuff is advertised on television, and the commercial is over before you get pen and paper to write down the website URL.  Why not shop at Tinker’s Goods for that gadget you haven’t forgotten as easily?

The other fun thing about “as seen on TV” is the sheer variety of merchandise that fall into the category.   It could mean sheet music or a pet training device or a camera.  It could be cleaning supplies or a workout or something to help you in the office.  Don’t despair if you haven’t seen that commercial again…we may have just what you need!