CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- If you haven't recently considered alternatives to the way you use technology, prepare to be amazed at what is now possible:
* With an iPhone, smartphone or iPad, you can easily read the Charleston newspapers using free applications. You also can view the newspapers' websites, check out photo galleries, read blogs posted by reporters and editors, and participate in live chats. You can get the content you want when and where you want it.
* Television stations began broadcasting exclusively in a digital format in June 2009. So what? Well, a reader points out that if you live in Charleston, it is possible to receive 15 television channels over the air (in other words, free!) with a modest investment in a digital antenna. In Huntington, it is possible to receive 20 channels over the air.
* If you own a computer and are willing to buy a few cords and fuss with wiring, it is possible to bypass a bill for cable TV, subscribe just to an Internet connection, and get most television shows over the Internet.
I was skeptical about this. But after I bought a new laptop, someone pointed out that it has a slot for a High-Definition Multimedia Interface, or HDMI, cord. Then I noticed that my TV also has an HDMI slot. I bought a cord at Radio Shack, studied the TV manual and checked out the laptop's control panel. I watched the WVU-Cincinnati basketball game on ESPN.com via the Internet, through my laptop.
Unfortunately, you can't get many live sports events controlled by ESPN and its affiliates over the Internet without paying.
A lot of video entertainment is available for free online. Hulu offers streaming video of TV shows and movies. The big TV networks also make many of their shows available. Suddenlink, West Virginia's largest cable provider, posts lots of free video content on its website. Go to www.suddenlink.net and click on suddenlink2go to check it out.
* My nephew was showing me his iPad and mentioned that the model he owns only accesses the Internet using WiFi (meaning, free -- it doesn't generate a monthly bill). I asked him how often he gets a connection, considering the fact that he travels all over the country and WiFi is not universally available.
"It works everywhere I go," he said. He showed me a credit-card sized Verizon Wireless transmitter, known as a MiFi card. It creates up to five WiFi mobile hotspots wherever a wireless phone would work. He runs his iPad and smart phone through it, thus eliminating the need to purchase an iPad with a data plan or a phone data plan. He pays one low monthly fee to Verizon Wireless.
"For those that travel a lot and live by themselves, you can even replace your home Internet connection with a MiFi card," he said. (However, the quality of streaming video may not be satisfactory).
On Wednesday, Randy Barberis, director of marketing for Cabela's -- the outdoor gear retailer -- said the company started as a catalog business and still has a lot of catalog shoppers. However, "how our customers shop is changing," he said. "Today we discover a new (marketing) channel about every 30 days."
Six months ago I may not have believed that. Now I know it is true.
Reach George Hohmann at busin...@dailymail.com or 304-348-4836.
