As a personal finance junkie and lover of all things tech, it's not often when these two hobbies/passions connect (except when I tweet that it's a good thing I don't have $500 to spend on a new iPad.)

WallStats, which makes some great infographs on finance and the economy, is going after one of the most controversially priced technology products: HDMI cables.

In this infograph, WallStats is singling out Monster Cable for their pricing, but while they may have created the high-end cable market, Monster is hardly the only company to charge higher prices for their cables.

Check this out.

I've always had a ton of ideas, you know that.

Mentioned previously, I had the idea for a podcast about the best podcast in the world — Leo Laporte's this WEEK in TECH. It'd be pretty meta, chatting about the actual podcast, the panelists and their takes on the tech news of the week.

Coincidentally, this was right around the time that my friend Noah Wolfe was looking to launch a D.C.-based tech podcast, which eventually became Tech Blab, featuring myself, Dave Weinberg and Noah.

So in addition to Tech Blab, Noah and I launched TWiTWiT — aka this WEEK in this WEEK in TECH.

It's a short (5-9 minute) podcast, where we go back and forth with thoughts on this week's episode and talk about our favorite panelists. (His is Leo, mine is obviously John C. Dvorak).

We've done 10 episodes so far, but the real pickup is just beginning.

Last week, Jason Calacanis — Internet entrepreneur known for Engadget, Mahalo, TechCrunch50 and often a panelist on TWiT — sent out this tweet to his 80,000+ followers:

GENIUS: This Week in This Week in Tech. The show about the show This Week in Tech! http://www.thisweekinthisweekintech.com/ #twit

That gave us a nice pickup, both in downloads and subscriber numbers. But Calacanis wasn't done, sending out this tweet a week later:

Listening to "this WEEK in this WEEK in TECH" brilliant! @leolaporte http://bit.ly/6zgTjG #twit #twist #oaf #facebook #wow

He's timed both of these tweets perfectly, driving people to subscribe the day that we record the show, just in time to deliver the new episode the next day.

While we're still waiting for Leo to directly say something on the air about us (hopefully the next time Calacanis is on he'll bring it up), it's always nice to hear that your idea (and of course the execution — Noah does all the hard work editing and posting) is both genius and brilliant.

Have you subscribed to TWiTWiT yet?

I love Redbox.

It's the most convenient way to watch a movie, on a whim, without getting into any long-term contracts or recurring fees and at a great price. They even have an iPhone app for reserving movies before you go to pick them up.

Unfortunately, the movie studios hate Redbox. It's too cheap. We don't make any money off of it. It makes DVDs worth less.

Just how bad is Redbox for the movie studios? It's going to destroy the entertainment industry, says a new report (via NewTeeVee).

This loss in revenue will lead to a slowdown in movie production, crops will wilt, the earth will turn to salt, etc. The study says that Redbox is disrupting the home video industry in four ways:

• DVD sales are cannibalized
• Customers will want lower rental prices from other outlets
• The perceived value of movies will be harmed
• Redbox’s sale of discs into the aftermarket conflicts with other retail channels

Redbox’s kiosks also will send shock waves throughout the industry and could lead to the loss of 9,280 jobs, $35.4 million in contributions to health and welfare funds being cut, and a reduction of $30 million in tax revenue.

What a load of bullshit. I'm not even going to explain why these accusations are totally off-base. The real story here is that, time and time again, the entertainment industry is too busy fighting the last fight and looking for a scapegoat for its problems.

There's a reason why Redbox is so popular — it's cheap and convenient. But it's a business model that will only last for so long. Look at Netflix; they know that DVDs will become the minority and Internet streaming will become the norm.

Netflix is looking to the future. Redbox, I'm sure, is too. So why are the movie studios always stuck in the past?

I have an argument that I am going to make about why net neutrality is a bad idea as it is currently being pushed through Congress.

It's controversial, will definitely stir up some comments, and — in my humble opinion — a win-win situation for both service providers and customers.

But I can't write it right now. It'd be like a major brain dump, into a post, with no coherent path to lead you through.

So I'm not going to write it. Right now.

But I will soon, since I want to be able to discuss it on next week's episode of TechBlab. You know, the podcast where I make fun of Blogger Bob, the guy who writes on the TSA's blog, and end up getting called out by a listener — and the TSA themselves!

While you're waiting, listen to the episode. It's a good one. And let me know what you think.

Click to play

Even before we got our first iPhone (Debbie's 2G), I've been talking about the major impact an app like Vonage could have on the device.

Think about it. For us Vonage users, with a mobile app, we could:

• automatically forward our landline to our cells while on the road
• get access to all of our digital voicemails and transcriptions
• see our latest inbound and outbound calls
• even make calls on our cellphone through our landline number

It'd be an amazing app. But it's not even close to the one we got. Yes, I know you can do most of these things by visiting their website, but it's slow, not mobile-friendly, and does more than an app needs to.

Instead, Vonage puts out a Skype-like mobile calling app, targeted at non-Vonage users who want to be able to make calls over WiFi (and now 3G). So you have to buy minutes to make calls. And can't do anything whatsoever related to your landline account.

It's totally pointless. Why would Vonage ignore their current users by making an app that doesn't do anything useful for them at all?

Well, there may be a legitimate excuse. But it's a total cop-out. And I doubt it's the actual reason they used to justify making this pointless app.

The ideal Vonage app sounds a lot like Google Voice. You know, the app that currently has Apple/AT&T/Google under scrutiny from the FCC. Being able to have "one number to manage them all" is great for users … not so much for telecom providers. Especially if it's not their number.

Considering they've never been an especially cash-steady company, Vonage doesn't have the ability to get caught up in a legal mess. But it's a dumb argument, since all of the app features are currently available — just in an annoying, non-usable fashion.

I don't know who to blame for this, so in a spirit of fairness, not only will Vonage take blame for being wimps, Google, Apple and AT&T also need to be called out for causing this situation.

Tech Blab episode 2: Dave's Not Telling

Click to play

For a guy out of full-time work, you'd think I'd be updating my blog more often, right?

Maybe it's because I don't have a topic — beyond me — or because I'm managing my other blog, Automatic Finances. (Reality check: it's mostly because I'm always looking for a new theme for this site, even though I know writing more content is way more important than a new theme.)

But, I need to blog here. And I have stuff to blog about. Like, I'm on a new podcast — Tech Blab, co-hosted with my friends Dave Weinberg and Noah Wolfe. You can download the first episode here or subscribe via iTunes.

In recording this podcast, I've found out at least 3 things about myself:

1. I am naturally skeptical about some things, like "game-changers" or anything that gets a lot of hype. I want to believe, but reality keeps me grounded.
2. There's a reason why I like John C. Dvorak. It's much more fun to take the counter-argument than go along with the crowd.
3. Debbie is right that I have a tendency to be a low-talker. Crap.

But I think I've also figured out why I don't update this blog as much as I should or could. For one, there's way too much already happening in the tech echo chamber, and I'm not one to just re-hash what others are saying or try and engage in the massive conversation.

Second, even though I enjoy writing, there's a reason I've pegged myself as a multimedia journalist — audio and video publishing is more exciting (and easier to comprehend) than only text. So maybe I need to do more multimedia here. Even if it just makes me feel better about myself.

So, that'll be my goal for this site: to produce more content, both audio and video. The 24 video recaps were fun, but that whole having-a-kid-thing threw off my timing and sleep.

Stay tuned.

This is what happens to your renewal notices when the magazine goes digital only.

For more, follow me on Twitter, sign up for email updates, RSS, or videos.

I'm amazed at the progress the technology and entertainment community has made when it comes to the restrictions on digital music.

Instead of locking everything down like they used to, labels are starting to open up to DRM-free music. A visit to the Amazon MP3 store shows that tons of huge artists are making their music available without digital right management. It's a huge leap from where it was even 3 years ago.

But we're falling into the pattern again — this time, with digital video. Services like the iTunes store and VUDU are offering up some great video, but it's all locked down.

What's frustrating is that we, as consumers, seem fixated by the distribution method these services are using — and not that we're repeating the battle for digital rights. It's not like digital distribution is new; cable has been offering up a crappy selection of content for on-demand viewing forever.

The 'next' format war isn't downloads vs. discs; it's locked down video vs. DRM-free.

The promise of digital media is the freedom that you have to use it. The distribution method is a nice bonus, but it's not the most important aspect.

Complete story: Why Digital Copies (Not Downloads) Really Matter

I need your help.

Here's what I want to do:

• Setup a NAS or "home server"-type product to store all of my movies, maybe managed through iTunes?
• Stream them to clients throughout the house — probably Apple TVs, so podcasts can come through too
• Not use my iMac as the server

What's the best way to set this up?

I was thinking Drobo, since it can run an iTunes server – but it looks like it can only do music, not movies.

I like the idea of an Apple TV because I can watch my podcasts (at least the HD ones) on the plasma.

But, I'm open to all suggestions.

Little help?