Get it when you want it ... Get rid of cable, create your own "On Demand"

So we cut the cord in our household 2 years ago and went cable-less. But why? With all the amazing shows that you can watch and ensure you are caught up around the water cooler, why would anyone not have cable?

Let's do some numbers ....

Digital Premier = $110

HD = $8

DVR = $15.00

Cable = $133 ... $130 for good measure

http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html

Number of hours per day that TV is on in an average U.S. home: 6 hours, 47 minutes ... 7hrs for rounding's sake.

Let's use 30 days for a month ... so 210 hours of television. Assume each 1hr block represents a show.

So you are paying $0.62 per show, which is great if you really sit down and watch 7 hours of television every day for 30 days.

Let's put some brackets around this ... let's just say I can only watch TV for 3hrs a night and because of a busy weekend schedule, I don't watch on the weekends.

Let's use 4 weeks for a month ... so 60 hours of television a month.

Now you are paying $2.16 per show. That's pretty expensive considering I'm probably watching commercials in about half of those shows I'm watching. That was a loosing proposition for me.

If we were to strip away everything and start from scratch ...

Over The Air HD (ABC, NBC, CBS, WB) = $0.00

Tivo HD DVR = $10.00 per month ($200 up front for the box)

Netflix 1 DVD At A Time + Instant Watch ($8.99) + Blu-Ray ($4) = $13

Apple TV (just because you want a little extra) = $0.99 cents to rent a TV show, $4.99 to rent a movie in HD

($99 up front for the box)

Alternative Setup = $26 bucks a month ... plus any shows I may watch, round to $30 for shows or a movie here and there.

What are you missing. SPORTS ... Sports have been the one thing that has kept many folks from cutting the cord.

espn.go.com

Live streaming of just about every game that ESPN covers.

Now how do you get that on your 100" reach through and grab someones popcorn HD screen? There are several computers that do HD straight to the back of your TV.

What else are you missing ... sitting in your living room and watching any fresh episodes of BIG cable shows like True Blood or The Big C. You get them later (on netflix or Apple TV). Stars did something different with their show Spartacus where they had it available immediately on Netflix the week it aired. More than likely cable networks will do this more often.

One could argue that to do the alternate you have to have good internet

Internet

= $60 if you are starting from scratch

= $20 if you already have it and are dropping cable television

So your savings could range from $40 (no internet at all) to $80 (had cable before and dropping it now)

Either way it's cold hard cash back in your pocket every month. A good way to be thrifty, no?

iHealth ... What's taking so long?

So back in March of 2009 Johnson and Johnson wowed everyone with the potential for monitoring your diabetes through your iPhone. Skip ahead a year and there is still no hardware from anyone that can do PMH (Personal Mobile Health). Don't get me wrong, I am an Apple evangelist through and through, but I will say that the "Made For iOS" process is cumbersome at best and only if you are a company of a certain size. Not to mention the FDA hurdles and hoops one must jump through.

Some good potentials that could really help things take off

iGlucose Meter

http://ibgstar.com:80/web/ibgstar

Seems like a solid enough product, can easily stow in a pocket / purse. And already has an app. Where's the social networking aspect?

Polar Hearrate Monitor / Nike+

http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/accessories/Polar_WearLink_transmitter_Nike

Is it me or are Nike and Polar missing the boat on this? Heart Rate is the best way to measure calorie burn, yet for some reason, we've yet to see a good product. This product only works with the iPod / iPod Touch.

Withings WiFi Scale

http://www.withings.com/en/index/?taranim=1

Fantastic ... but where is the social aspect? The integration with other health monitoring tools.

Since Healthcare is such a hot topic, why truly allow people to take their health into their hands and provide more holistic approaches to personal monitoring & diagnostics. It's not just about running. It's about the various exercises that get you to your goal "health" and keep you there.

Maybe one day all this will be seamlessly integrated with those electronic health records we've been promised for the past 3yrs.