Any Holiday Sales Thread

afterlife2

afterlife2

Audioholic Warlord
B&H Photo Video has 16GB NVIDIA Shield Streaming Media Player w/ Remote on sale for $143.20 now -> $149. Shipping is free. Thanks thegreatwb

Newegg also has 16GB NVIDIA Shield Streaming Media Player w/ Remote on sale for $149. Shipping is free.

NVIDIA also has 16GB NVIDIA Shield Streaming Media Player w/ Remote on sale for $149. Shipping is free.

Amazon also has 16GB NVIDIA Shield Streaming Media Player w/ Remote on sale for $149. Shipping is free.

Best Buy also has 16GB NVIDIA Shield Streaming Media Player w/ Remote on sale for $149.99. Shipping is free.

 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
NewEgg has a Seagate 8TB USB 3.0 external hard drive with free shipping for $140 + tax if you sign up for their spam.

But I really wanted to show you guys something else. This isn't an audiophile gadget, but is awesome nonetheless. I'mma teach you guys how to perform a little telephone sorcery. Here's how to get nearly free phone service in your home while severely irritating telemarketers for great amusement and public service.
  • Step 1: Buy this Obihai OBi200 VoIP adapter on sale with promo code for $33 (normally $60, expires 12/17). This lets you plug VoIP service into your home telephone wiring and use your existing land line phones, fax machine, etc.
  • Step 2: Sign up for a free Google Voice account. This gives you a free local telephone number and free domestic calling. A few years ago Google considered discontinuing this service, but instead re-purposed it for Google Hangouts. The OBi200 box employs the ObiTalk service to interact with the voice calling features of Google Chat basically to give you free VoIP phone service.
  • Optional step 3: Be advised that Google Voice does not offer 9-1-1 services. Apparently there are fees involved in 9-1-1, and Google ain't paying them. If you need 9-1-1 service you'll have to subscribe to a separate paid VoIP provider. ObiTalk recommends a few cheap ones, or this guy recommends netTALK for $3.33 / month for (from what I can see) unlimited domestic calling.
  • Step 4: Buy a year subscription to the Jolly Roger Telephone Co. landlubber + Google Voice service. An annual subscription costs $8.88.
  • Step 5: Add your Jolly Roger telephone number into Google Voice.

This will make all notorious telemarketers, robo callers, and other nuisance callers have their time wasted by a chat bot. When caller ID shows a known telemarketer's number, the Jolly Roger landlubber service will automatically answer the call for you and waste the caller's time. If an unrecognized telemarketer makes it through and you answer the regrettable call, all you have to do is hit the star key on your phone's keypad to let Jolly Roger take over. When the call ends, you'll be emailed an amusing recording of the call. All calls to your VoIP number will trigger an email to be sent prompting you either to blacklist or whitelist the number.

The landlubber service also includes the ability to conference a bot in on your mobile phone. This takes a little practice to pull off though. It might be easier just to ask them to call you back, then reject and blacklist them when they do. Jolly Roger is offering a beta voicemail replacement service, currently included with the landlubber service. If you forward calls on busy / no answer, then any call you reject or ignore on your mobile will be sent to Jolly Roger for the caller to demonstrate he's not a robo dialer. Caller is greeted courteously and professionally if human, or directed to a conversation with chat bots if the Turing test fails.

You don't have to have the OBi200 VoIP gadget to have Jolly Roger waste the telemarketers' time. I just thought $33 for unlimited phone / fax service in your home for life (maybe) was a steal.

Here are more examples of telemarketers arguing with bots for your amusement.
 
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psbfan9

psbfan9

Audioholic Samurai
  • Step 1: Buy this Obihai OBi200 VoIP adapter on sale with promo code for $33 (normally $60, expires 12/17). This lets you plug VoIP service into your home telephone wiring and use your existing land line phones, fax machine, etc.
  • Step 2: Sign up for a free Google Voice account. This gives you a free local telephone number and free domestic calling. A few years ago Google considered discontinuing this service, but instead re-purposed it for Google Hangouts. The OBi200 box employs the ObiTalk service to interact with the voice calling features of Google Chat basically to give you free VoIP phone service.
  • Optional step 3: Be advised that Google Voice does not offer 9-1-1 services. Apparently there are fees involved in 9-1-1, and Google ain't paying them. If you need 9-1-1 service you'll have to subscribe to a separate paid VoIP provider. ObiTalk recommends a few cheap ones, or this guy recommends netTALK for $3.33 / month for (from what I can see) unlimited domestic calling.
  • Step 4: Buy a year subscription to the Jolly Roger Telephone Co. landlubber + Google Voice service. An annual subscription costs $8.88.
  • Step 5: Add your Jolly Roger telephone number into Google Voice.

This will make all notorious telemarketers, robo callers, and other nuisance callers have their time wasted by a chat bot. When caller ID shows a known telemarketer's number, the Jolly Roger landlubber service will automatically answer the call for you and waste the caller's time. If an unrecognized telemarketer makes it through and you answer the regrettable call, all you have to do is hit the star key on your phone's keypad to let Jolly Roger take over. When the call ends, you'll be emailed an amusing recording of the call. All calls to your VoIP number will trigger an email to be sent prompting you either to blacklist or whitelist the number.

The landlubber service also includes the ability to conference a bot in on your mobile phone. This takes a little practice to pull off though. It might be easier just to ask them to call you back, then reject and blacklist them when they do. Jolly Roger is offering a beta voicemail replacement service, currently included with the landlubber service. If you forward calls on busy / no answer, then any call you reject or ignore on your mobile will be sent to Jolly Roger for the caller to demonstrate he's not a robo dialer. Caller is greeted courteously and professionally if human, or directed to a conversation with chat bots if the Touring test fails.

You don't have to have the OBi200 VoIP gadget to have Jolly Roger waste the telemarketers' time. I just thought $33 for unlimited phone / fax service in your home for life (maybe) was a steal.

Here are more examples of telemarketers arguing with bots for your amusement.
If I didn't have Ooma this would be ideal. Where are you getting the promo code? I'm on on Neweggs spam list and it's showing up at $59.99
 
speakerman39

speakerman39

Audioholic Overlord
If I didn't have Ooma this would be ideal. Where are you getting the promo code? I'm on on Neweggs spam list and it's showing up at $59.99
I have an Ooma as well. It only costs me $4.09 a month! Works like a charm. I use it every single day.


Cheers,

Phil
 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
If I didn't have Ooma this would be ideal. Where are you getting the promo code? I'm on on Neweggs spam list and it's showing up at $59.99
It's on this page about 60% down the page in a red section. For me, the promo code also appears on the product page, and the base price without code is $49.99. Are you signed into Newegg with the same account you used to subscribe to the spam?
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
afterlife2

afterlife2

Audioholic Warlord
BestBuy.com has 4TB WD Easystore External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive (WDBKUZ0040BBK-WESN) on sale for $79.99. Shipping is free or select free store pickup where available.


Yamaha RX-V681BL 7.2-Channel 4K A/V Receiver w/ Bluetooth $300 + Free Shipping

Amazon.com has Yamaha RX-V681BL 7.2-Channel 4K A/V Receiver w/ Bluetooth on sale for $299.95. Shipping is free. Thanks technogy
 
afterlife2

afterlife2

Audioholic Warlord
Another bargain for 248$. Not really a sale, but highly praised for the performance and price: https://www.amazon.com/Acoustech-H-100-Front-Firing-Subwoofer-High-Gloss/dp/B0006DNW6U
  • Powerful front-firing subwoofer adds room-filling bass to home theater systems
  • 150 watts RMS continuous power output and 500 watts peak output
  • Heavy-duty 12-inch long-throw woofer produces deep, distortion-free bass
  • 24 to 200 Hz frequency response; 40 to 150 Hz crossover frequency range


249$ Extends a bit lower: https://www.amazon.com/Bic-Acoustech-PL-200-II-Subwoofer/dp/B074131NKS

  • Front-Firing 12" Long-Throw Powered Subwoofer with state-of-the-art BASH amplifier
  • 1000 Watts Dynamic Peak Output, 250 Watts RMS Continuous
  • Frequency Response: 22Hz - 200Hz, adjustable crossover & volume controls
  • Sensitivity: 110dB @ 30Hz
  • 12" Poly-injected, with high power magnet and long excursion surround

 
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psbfan9

psbfan9

Audioholic Samurai
It's on this page about 60% down the page in a red section. For me, the promo code also appears on the product page, and the base price without code is $49.99. Are you signed into Newegg with the same account you used to subscribe to the spam?
I signed in and got the price. As I said, I'm pleased with my Ooma, but I wanted to tell a friend about this. Thanks!

I wonder if the Obihai comes natively with 'Premium' features similar to Ooma Premier. I just paid $99.00 (year) for Ooma Premier...


It shows up as expired but it's not an uncommon price for Obihai OBi200. I've never gotten around to testing mine, but I think I paid like $24 a year ago (I may be having senior moments).

https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?src=SearchBarV2&q=Obihai+OBi200&searcharea=deals&searchin=first
$24.00?! Hmm. I wonder if there are advantages to Obihai that I don't get with my Ooma.

Thanks, guys!
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
This may have changed but if I recall correctly Obihai/Google Phone do not support 911 services.
 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
I signed in and got the price. As I said, I'm pleased with my Ooma, but I wanted to tell a friend about this. Thanks!

I wonder if the Obihai comes natively with 'Premium' features similar to Ooma Premier. I just paid $99.00 (year) for Ooma Premier...

$24.00?! Hmm. I wonder if there are advantages to Obihai that I don't get with my Ooma.

Thanks, guys!
Newegg sold out of the OBi200 the evening I posted that. I'm not familiar with Ooma. Does Ooma let you plug in your choice of VoIP service provider, or is Ooma its own provider as well as a hardware vendor? The Obihai devices let you choose your own VoIP service(s). Their primary focus is Google Voice, but other services can be added as well. @sholling is correct that Google Voice does not support 9-1-1. Otherwise, you do get standard calling features like *69 to return a call, *72 for call forwarding, *73 to cancel forwarding, etc. The OBi200 will let you stack up to 5 providers, so you can use a secondary paid provider (perhaps with limited minutes but which allows 9-1-1 dialing) as a backup or for international dialing or whatever. The web interface of the OBi200 contains a bunch of Elvish nonsense, so I assume someone who speaks telephony would probably find the Obihai devices more flexible for their evil purposes.
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
Newegg sold out of the OBi200 the evening I posted that. I'm not familiar with Ooma. Does Ooma let you plug in your choice of VoIP service provider, or is Ooma its own provider as well as a hardware vendor? The Obihai devices let you choose your own VoIP service(s). Their primary focus is Google Voice, but other services can be added as well.
I've had Ooma for about 10 years and it's a proprietary system. The original boxes were sold as a one time outlay with no fees or annual costs for as long as your device lasted. State imposed fees and taxes are passed on to later customers in the form of an annual fee for the service but I'm still grandfathered into the original fee-free plan. Honestly, with unlimited cellular minutes, I hardly ever make a call via the Ooma but it works just fine and does support 911 as long as you supply your address on your 911 page on their website.
 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
I've had Ooma for about 10 years and it's a proprietary system. The original boxes were sold as a one time outlay with no fees or annual costs for as long as your device lasted. State imposed fees and taxes are passed on to later customers in the form of an annual fee for the service but I'm still grandfathered into the original fee-free plan. Honestly, with unlimited cellular minutes, I hardly ever make a call via the Ooma but it works just fine and does support 911 as long as you supply your address on your 911 page on their website.
I see. Biggest difference I see is that Ooma supports 9-1-1, but Google Voice allows simultaneous ringing. A caller dialing one number can ring multiple locations -- home, mobile, work, and more. Looks like that's a premium feature for Ooma. That's the feature that allows Jolly Roger's landlubber service to work. So if I have an emergency I'll probably die, but at least I'll have the satisfaction of screwing over some telemarketers on my way out.

Actually, mobile phones can call 9-1-1 even without a phone plan. Not counting the one I keep on me and the one welded to my wife's hand, there are probably a half dozen or so old mobile phones lying around the house, including one my daughter keeps charged to watch YouTube videos and Skype her maw maw. I'll have to make sure my family is aware of that bit of life hackery.

Google Voice also lets me specify do-not-disturb hours for each of my linked destinations. It's a little cumbersome to set up, but it works. You have to go to Settings, launch the legacy Google Voice service, go to Settings again, edit each phone number, go to Advanced Options, and add the inactive hours. And the hours can't span across midnight. You have to do nn:00 PM to midnight, then add a second range from midnight to nn:00 AM. But it works, anyway.
 
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