Scott Jangro

Hartford CT is just 90 short minutes from my house, so I went down there yesterday to support a handful of Connecticut-based affiliates who were also heading over in an effort to put a stop to SB 5481, CT’s version of the advertising tax.

To the uninitiated, this seems like a pretty intimidatng thing, to head to a state capital and face state representatives. But it really couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Here’s what it’s like. We hang out in the lobby and hallways outside of the meeting rooms.

The place is swarming with lobbyists. They are there all day long pulling legislators aside and talking to them about the issues. There were at least three lobbyists there working on this issue with us. They made every introduction.

We were among the ONLY non-lobbyist and non-government individuals in the whole place. You don’t think that makes an impact? Think again.

Here’s the crew, with me way in the background as I should be in Connecticut (I’m from Massachusetts). The folks with me are the heroes who are stepping up on behalf of the thousands of affiliates in Connecticut.

In this picture are affiliate marketers (L to R) are John Napoletano, Vincent Villano, Kevin Mardorf and his GF Jennifer, Tom Caporaso, and Scott Jangro (yours truly).

Are You From Connecticut?

If you are an affiliate from Connecticut, your livelyhood is at risk. There is somehthing you can do about it immediately.

First, make a call or send an email. Send an email NOW as the Finance Committee meeting is this afternoon. They need a stack of printed emails to wave around.

UPDATE: The bill has passed the finance committee with votes along party lines. This spells trouble as the House and Senate are both majority Democrats and will keep pushing this through barring any reason to do otherwise. You are the reason to do otherwise, so call and send letters and emails. They do make a huge difference.

Here’s a list of the CT Finance Committee members. Just tell them about yourself, where you live, that you oppose the bill, and that you are concerned that your job is in jeopardy because advertisers and merchants will terminate their relationship with you rather than collect sales tax from CT residents.

Second, keep an eye out for the next time folks are gathering at the capitol. The best way to do this is to get yourself onto the PMA email list as a CT affiliate.

I promise you, it is nothing but fun and rewarding. It’s like an affiliate marketing meetup with an occasional discussion with state reps.

Save your own ass by getting off it!

Read more here at the PMA website.

Today marks the first time a merchant closed down their entire affiliate program because of the various state legislations taking on the Advertising Tax.

If you’re an affiliate who has moved your business to another state, of if you’re sitting in a no-sales-tax state like New Hampshire thinking that you’re untouchable, you’re wrong.

This letter came from Drs. Foster and Smith to all affiliates today (bold is mine):

It is with great regret that we have to inform you that we are shutting down affiliate marketing at Drs. Foster and Smith effective immediately February 22, 2010. This closure is across the board in all states with all affiliates and is not related to you only as one of our affiliates.

We regret having to do this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that so many of you have done a great job for Drs. Foster and Smith and will be adversely affected by the loss of revenue from Drs. Foster and Smith sales. Thank you for all you have done to promote our company on your web sites. We apologize for the hardship and inconvenience that this creates for you.

The single reason for the decision at this time is the moving target of the ever-growing patchwork quilt of state legislatures that are considering nexus legislation relative to affiliate marketing and sales tax. It has become increasingly difficult to determine who is considering such laws, where they are in the process and what the ramifications are in each state. What affiliates may not be aware of is that such nexus situations do not only relate to sales tax collection, but potentially state income tax for a corporation as well.

We wish there was clarity on this issue from state to state and nationally, but there isn’t. So until this matter is cleared up nationally, we are shutting down all affiliate marketing. We apologize for any hardships this brings to you and your team. We have greatly appreciated the work that you have done on our behalf. The sudden nature of the move by California to reintroduce legislation late last week and to push for a quick vote, emphasized the ever-changing nature of this issue and our need to be ahead of such votes and decisions.

With our appreciation for your contribution to our company,

Sincerely,

Drs. Foster and Smith Affiliate Marketing Team

This isn’t just happening to NC, RI, and a few other states. It is officially happening to all of us.

They are SHUTTING DOWN AFFILIATE MARKETING.

More here and here.

Get involved.

There’s been a great movement this past week of people creating videos speaking out against the advertising tax. I think this is fantastic and few things would speak louder than a whole bunch of these videos.

Listen to these videos from affiliate marketers speaking out against the advertising tax.

source

source

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There is currently legislative activity going on in several states including California, Nevada, Virginia, Oklahoma, Vermont, and Illinois. These states are at risk for passing the ad tax in the next several weeks as these states are desperate for money, if only on paper, to balance their budgets.

If you are from one of these states, it is urgent that you make your voice heard. See the PMA website for actions you can take and to sign up to be on the email list to get more information specific to your state.

If you haven’t seen it by now, CJ has put together a very nice resource page sharing all the information they’re gathering. Commission Junction clearly has some serious resources on this issue, as I know all the networks do, but it is great to see some very visible results of these efforts.

• A US map with CJ’s own risk assessment
• A stream of updates on any activity in any state
• You can subscribe to an RSS feed of all updates

You can see from the current map that things are potentially heating up in California, Nevada, Oklahoma, Illinois, Vermont, North Carolina, Florida, and Alabama.

There are many resources available to keep tabs on the Advertising tax. This is a great one.

See the entire resource here.

Are you seeing more ads from your friends on Twitter? Several of the people I’m following on Twitter are pushing ads through their Twitter streams. I assume they’re using services like Sponsored Tweets, though they could simply be affiliate links.

First, this post isn’t meant to be critical of their activity. It’s just got me thinking about this means and how we perceive the things that our friends say and recommend online.

None of the ads that I’ve noticed have actually offended me. In fact, they were particularly relevant this past weekend. On Friday and Saturday I saw some reminders to buy flowers. Today I saw one promoting tax preparation.

But I wonder if these people are personally recommending these products? Have they used them? Or do they just have space for sale on their twitter streams?

I’m all for making a buck and if my friends are popular enough in the social media space that they can sell spots on their clothes, cars, or twitter streams for cash money, that’s great.

But to me there’s a difference between wearing an ad on your shirt or having it plastered on your car and having it appear intermixed with your ordinary conversations.

Dale Jr. wears Amp Energy drink, National Guard, Budweiser, and a dozen more ads on his clothes and cars, but I doubt he works them into his conversations. I’d bet that Phil Mickelson has never uttered the words “Bearing Point” while chatting with his buddies at the 19th hole.

That would probably become pretty annoying if he did that.

And how do we tell the difference between a real recommendation and a bought one? At what point do we stop trusting that our friends are providing completely unbiased recommendations?

After a day of Google Buzz, you’re probably starting to form your own opinions.

Many have called it a Twitter killer. Others claim that it is making a play on Facebook. Calacanis stated that Facebook’s valuation dropped in half yesterday.

Personally, I absolutely love it. Here’s why…

It is integrated with GMail. I’m in Gmail all day anyway, so having easy access to it is perfect for me. I realize that this isn’t true for many, and for them there will probably be desktop clients that integrate with Buzz. There is already an API. I predict that Seesmic will be first to market with this integration.

Conversations. If you’ve been using Buzz for the past day and don’t immediately see that the one thing that Twitter has sorely missed is conversations, then there is no hope for you. Go back to Eudora. The conversations that I’ve been involved in are fantastic. Buzz has got me in touch with people who I haven’t conversed with in months. It’s also got me talking to people who I have never even met before, friends of friends.

FriendFeed did most of this, but adoption was poor. FriendFeed does most things better actually, that I hope Google will incorporate somehow.

That’s it. It really isn’t anything more than that.

Danger!

There are a few risks to Buzz. First, it exposes your Google profile and Gmail account. This was already out there if you created a pretty URL for your profile.

Mine is http://google.com/profiles/sjangro

If you want one that doesn’t look like your car’s VIN, edit your profile and way down the bottom, you can select the pretty version:

Also, unless you explicitly set up a private Buzz, what you write is entirely public information. They are visible on your profile, and every Buzz has a “permalink” and Google is indexing buzzes.

This is no different from Twitter, but I think that it is much more obvious on Twitter that what you’re saying is visible to the world. Since Buzz is much more intimate, you may fall into a false sense of security that you’re only talking to your friends.

If you’re not on Buzz yet, do check it out. It’s a game changer.

Are you reading these Twitter updates from Senator Brophy of Colorado today?

Looks like there is some good news coming for Colorado affiliates, even better than I talked about earlier today…

(times are based on approx 8:30 pm CT Friday Feb 5)

Senator, if you’re reading this, thank you for your support, openness, and most of all common sense!

If you’re reading this, you must know that Colorado affiliates are currently in the fight for their livelihoods.

Last night, the Colorado Senate passed HB1193, the Colorado version of the Affiliate Tax.

There were well over 100 affiliate marketers at the Capitol for the entire day yesterday (some for the entire week) talking to Senators about this bill. They’d been negotiating and working for 15 hours prior to the time the bill reached the Senate floor for discussion.

I wasn’t there, so that isn’t my story to tell. After the folks who were there wake up after an exhausting week, I’m sure they’ll share all the details.

But let me describe what I think went on from the Colorado Government standpoint.

Why are they doing this and why do they not seem to be able to think and act reasonably and logically?

What really happened in Colorado this week?

Like many states, Colorado is in a budget crisis. In Colorado, Democrats control everything, House, Senate, and Governor (who, btw, is a lame duck).

The state needs a balanced budget and the democrats have put together a package of about 15 tax bills, each bill contributing some amount of money on paper toward a balanced budget.

The Affiliate Tax bill is “worth” $4.7MM toward that budget. Again, on paper.

This, and all the other bills, would pass no matter what. Maybe with some amendments, but they would pass. The democrats would make sure of it. A non-balanced budget is not an option.

The House

This bill started out just like the other states’ Affiliate Tax bills. Standard Affiliate Tax language that would result in Amazon, Overstock, and hundreds of other merchants terminating the affiliates in that state.

However, after the largest showing of affiliates to date at any state’s proceedings on similar legislation, the Reps in the House last week and earlier this week seemed to get the fact that there’s nothing about an online publisher located in Colorado who has a server hosted in, say, Texas, who does nothing to directly target Colorado residents that constitutes “Physical Presence”. Speaking of “constituting”, this was surely starting to feel very un-Constitutional to the legislators.

They reacted by adding an amendment that essentially said that “affiliates” who promoted via electronic means only were exempt from the nexus-creating criteria in this bill. So who’s left? Good question. It’s people who promote in person to Coloradoans and point them to their website to shop at a merchant they have an affiliate relationship with. An example given by the bill’s sponsor was a church pastor encouraging his parish to go to the website to support the church by shopping through their affiliate links.

Now, anyone who knows anything about the affiliate marketing business knows that that leaves virtually nobody who meets the nexus forming criteria. But the wording of the amendment wasn’t really enough. Even though it seemed to neuter the entire bill, it still left merchants exposed to the requirements. Merchants have no way of knowing how their affiliates promote them. And one single affiliate who stands in front of a group of people and promotes their website could “establish nexus”. That’s still too risky.

But that amendment allowed the bill’s sponsor Pommer to essentially wave off the entire affiliate marketing contingent who had showed up in force. He said that every affiliate marketer who showed up there was exempt!

Note, the amendment didn’t change the expected revenue of $4.7MM. How could this possibly be? Again, having this number on paper seems to be the critical thing. Not whether they’ll actually see any of that revenue. Crazy dream world.

The bill passed a voice vote on Friday night, and it passed the standing vote on Monday by one vote. 33-32. A handful of Democrats broke ranks and even one, Rep. Rice, felt strongly enough to stand up and speak against the bill’s passage. He now has zero friends.

The Senate

Next stop for any bill on its way to becoming a law is the Senate. Affiliate marketers, knowing that the amendment wasn’t enough, shifted attention to the Senators.

The Senators have probably rarely if ever seen such a large turnout by a group of interested parties on any given bill. This was surely a week for the history books in the State of Colorado. They couldn’t help but get the message that there are a LOT of business still at risk.

But they were going to pass this bill. It was needed to balance the budget.

However, it seems that they did continue to negotiate to further appease the online-only affiliates and strengthen the amendment that exempts any affiliate who does no physical promotion in the state.

We are yet to see this amendment, but word from the people on the ground in Colorado is that it is well worded to remove the risk from the merchant advertisers. Onus is on the Department of Revenue to identify any affiliate that they are engaging in nexus-forming activity and they will apparently have 30-day notice. Further, merchants will have 30 days after being notified of this affiliate’s activity to remove them from their program.

As expected, the Senate passed the bill onto Appropriations with the above amendment. The amendment hasn’t made its way into the bill yet, there is apparently some process to get that added.

And it isn’t over yet. It still has to get through the Governer, but nobody expects him to veto this. Especially with the amendment language added that exempts electronic-only affiliates.

What Will Merchants Do?

If the amendment bears out and all the above is true, I have a hard time seeing any merchant terminating their entire Colorado affiliate base unless (a) they are taking a strong stance to make a legal point (like Amazon probably feels they must do to support their case in New York), or (b) they are simply misinformed.

Given that the Colorado State legislature was going to pass this bill and all the other tax bills by hook or by crook, this seems as close to a win as we could possibly expect.

The incredible showing of affiliates in Colorado didn’t get the bill killed, but it was changed almost to the point of killing it from our perspective. I’m not going to call it a win until it’s over, but so far it is far from a failure, and folks calling it a failure on twitter and blog posts immediately after watching the hearing live on the internet last night seem to have jumped the gun.

Keep up the good fight Colorado. You guys are so awesome.

And everyone else in a state that has sales tax, pay close attention and prepare. You could be next.

Yesterday, the State of Vermont introduce an Affiliate Tax bill of their own, Bill H.661.

Title: An Act relating to Taxation of Certain Internet Sales
Sponsors: Jeffrey Wilson (D), John Rodgers (D), and Megan Smith (D).

(Vermont Legislature Directory)

There’s no word yet from inside sources on how real a threat this is. It may have strong support (like Colorado) or no legs (like New Mexico, Mississippi, and Virginia).

Stay tuned, and if you are from Vermont, be sure to register your support at the PMA to receive exclusive alerts on how you can help prevent this in your state.

Well, it could be worse.

The Colorado Finance Committee had a hearing on Senate bill 2927 today.

According to Rebecca Madigan, who was there to testify on behalf of the PMA, more than 100 affiliate marketing supporters showed up in force. Rebecca herself almost didn’t make it due to flight issues. After a day of planes, trains and automobiles, she did make it in time to testify thanks to a late start. Sometimes it is good that the wheels of justice turn slowly.

In spite of the strong showing, the bill did pass motion to the next phase of review:

However, the fight isn’t quite over. This particular committee voted (6 yes to 5 no) to recommend that the bill be moved to the next phase of review (the process changed in the morning, still getting details on that). However, two of the 6 ‘yes’ votes have serious questions on the bill and want to learn more. We are trying to figure out the next steps and then will communicate directly with the Coloradoans who have helped out so far. Another letter may be in order!

If you are from Colorado and want to be in the loop on next steps, register for free on the PMA website.

Are you a website owner?  Have you seen the new “Reader” feature in Safari 5?

Basically, it allows your visitors to view a cleaned up version of the page you’re viewing.

They can view your website without your formatting. Without your ads.

Haven’t seen it yet?

Here’s what it does.

Here’s my blog…

And here’s my blog with the “Reader” feature, got by clicking the “Reader” button in the address bar, where there’s normally an RSS link.

It’s a nice cleaned up page, easy reading.  As a frequent blog reader, I think this is great.  If you’re cluttering up your website with ads, distractions, and poor design decisions, you’re putting you first and me second.  With this, in spite of you, I can read what you have to say.

As a website owner, why am I not up in arms?

I know, I know, my readers can read my page without ads. But that’s ok.

Because to provide this information, Apple is using my RSS feed. This is content that I make available for syndication.

And by the way, this is what my blog has looked like for years in RSS readers.

(Actually Apple appears to do some extra cleaning up of the RSS feed to remove ads, tweetmeme stuff, etc.  I’m guessing they’re scrubbing it by removing anything that isn’t on the website or is served from a third party.)

Want to Stop This Travesty?

If you don’t want people to do stuff like this with your content, then don’t syndicate it. It’s that simple. If you don’t offer RSS or Atom feeds, then this simply won’t work.

Or switch to partial feeds instead of full feeds.  The “Reader” feature won’t work with partial feeds either.

Safari Reader doesn’t work without full RSS feeds available for the given page.

So that’s how you stop Safari’s Reader. And how to bite off your nose to spite your face.

Or you can chill the heck out.  Your readers have already been doing this for years in their feed readers. They want to read the way they want to read, in a browser, in Google Reader, in NetNewsWire, and now Safari 5’s Reader.  So let ‘em.

(RSS ads don’t work anyway. Other smart people have figured that out years ago.)

If they care enough to click over to this special view to read what you have to write, you should be happy. Isn’t that why you wrote it?  And they probably weren’t going to click on an ad anyway.

Post from: Jangro.com

How to Block Safari 5’s New “Reader” (And Bite Off Your Nose)

For the first time in as long as I can remember (maybe forever), I have stopped drinking coffee for the past 4 days now.  With only a few missed days here and there, I think I can safely say that I’ve been drinking coffee every day of my life for the past 20 years, and a lot of it at that.

After reading some fitness books that don’t so much bash on coffee, but expound on the virtues of tea, I’ve decided to switch to tea for a while.

I’m not giving up on caffeine, though this will result in less consumption.

Though when I do go an entire day without any caffeine, it doesn’t seem to affect me. I hear that some people do experience headaches and other adverse effects.  Not here, thankfully.

The health benefits of drinking tea are what have attracted me to it, the antioxidants attacking the free radicals and all that (sounds very scifi), but I also wonder if I stand to benefit from drinking less coffee as well.  I do suspect that it may be contributing to some GI issues (stop,TMI).

So, this week, I’m drinking Numi Jasmine Green organic tea.

I’ve learned a lot about coffee over the years, but I have to admit, I know next to nothing about tea.

Perhaps I’ll have to lean on my friends over at American Tea Room (in the affiliate program, specifically) to help get me started.

Post from: Jangro.com

Off Coffee, On Tea

My little girl just turned 13.

(pause for dads to shudder)

She’s been waiting for at least two years for this day to come so she could get a cell phone, which she did of course.

Dad the gadget freak would have bought her one long ago if it wasn’t for her mother.

me: “Why can’t she have a phone again?”
her mom: “SEXTING!”

Oh, ok.  (what? 7th graders do that?)

For at least a year now, I’ve been witnessing this growing up as posters of animals in her room get replaced by the Jonas Brothers, then just Nick Jonas, now Justin Bieber.  Yes, my daughter is a “Belieber”.

It’s starting to freak me out a little.

American Idol has turned from her liking the girls with the best voices to the cutest boys.

Her aunt got her a Twilight movie for her birthday and we watched this.  I’ll tell you, it’s a bit uncomfortable watching as she and her step-mom talk about which boy they like the best.  Then her favorite boy spends the rest of the movie running around half naked.

And Lady Gaga…what???  If I have to hear Alejandro or see the Alejandro video one more time, I think I’m going to throw up.

Rant over. Now I feel better.  No I don’t. Someone tell me it’s all going to be ok.

Never mind, I know you’re lying.

Please, can I have Hannah Montana back!

Post from: Jangro.com

My Little Girl Is Growing Up, Cell Phones, Twilight, Alejandro

It is widely believed that interval training is a vital component to a good workout regimen, if not downright better than pure cardio endurance training. (Not to start a holy war or anything.)

I’m no fitness expert, but I’ve been reading more and more that interval training is simply better for fitness and fat-loss. Apparently, you can get the same benefits from intense interval training in a fraction of the time you need to spend on endurance running in the “heartrate zone”.

Same benefits in 2 hours vs. 6 hours a week? Sign me up!

I’ve said it a million times before, and I’ll say it again. I’m a geek, and I need hi-tech. So naturally, my first stop was on the iPhone app store looking for an app that helps me keep track of intervals. I also want to keep using nike+ to track my workouts if possible. Thankfully, Nike+ is one of the few apps on the iPhone that will work in the background (like the native iPod app and the phone app), so it occurred to me that I could get an app to help me manage intervals while still tracking my run on Nike+.

ITGO – Interval Training GO

I quickly found the app called ITGO (website | appstore) (which is short for Interval Trainer GO). It is a fantastic app that will alert you via sound cues and vibrations that it’s time for a fast or slow interval.

I bought it for $2.99.

It is perfect for the type of training that I want to do, which is a jog-sprint over and over again. You set it up for the length of the rep and the fast and slow ratio. The default was great for me, one minute reps, 2:1 ratio slow to fast.

With those settings, every minute, I’d run 40 seconds slow and 20 seconds fast, for 20 minutes.

You can also set up different playlists for the slow and fast portions, which may seem gimmicky, but it was really fun and motivational.

Check out the video to get a good look at how the app works.

Integration with Nike+

But how does it work along-side Nike+?

Perfectly! (Thank God, because it would have been a deal-breaker otherwise.)

After getting ITGO setup, the basic process goes like this.

1. Start a basic workout on Nike+ with no music.
2. I start jogging at this point as Nike+ is keeping track.
3. Go to the home screen and launch ITGO. Nike+ will keep running in the background. (Yay multi-tasking on the iPhone before its time!)
4. Start ITGO, and tap the timer to start the intervals.

Your slow interval will start with the slow music (if you’ve set that up), and will alternate back and forth slow to fast to slow… according to your settings.

All the while, Nike+ will quietly keep track of your runs. And since Nike+ takes over the lock screen, if you lock the phone with the top button and bring it back again, you’ll actually see the Nike+ progress info, which is fine as you don’t actually need to see the ITGO screen as you’re getting audio and tactile feedback with every interval change.

Perfect.

Here’s my 20 minute interval workout from this morning on Nike+:

My slow pace was 10-11 min/mi and my “sprint” pace (what others would probably consider a “run”) was in the 6-7 min/mi range.

It all averaged out to a 8′17″ mile over 2.5 miles in 20 minutes. A pretty awesome workout.

Post from: Jangro.com

Interval Training with Nike Plus on the iPhone

A number of people have commented that after changing the color wheel, their red and blue colors are reversed. This is a different color wheel and a newer model set than is documented here, but, some report that by removing a jumper on the color wheel, the problem is resolved.

The jumper is as shown in this picture, below the yellow/white label.

Thanks to Tref for the picture!

And if you’re unsure about what a jumper is, read this.

Post from: Jangro.com

Reversed Red and Blue After Changing Samsung DLP Color Wheel

This guide will tell you how to reset the lamp counter on your Panasonic DLP television. This procedure is necessary to reset the indicator lamp that tells you that it’s time to replace your lamp.

After you have changed the lamp on your Panasonic DLP Television, you want to be sure to reset the lamp counter, or timer on the television. You really should only do this after you have replaced your DLP lamp. See here for information on replacing the lamp in your Panasonic DLP.

What does this mean? All lamps, lightbulbs, etc., have an expected life in hours. DLP televisions have an internal timer that tell you how many hours your lamp has operated. On some televisions you can actually view the number of hours; in others it is merely to display a “replace your lamp” message. On the Panasonic it is the latter.

The procedure for resetting your lamp is a little bit tricky. This is intentional so that you don’t do it accidentally.

1. Turn on the television.
2. Press the volume down button on the TV display (not the remote!)
3. While pressing the volume button, press the “split” or “PIP” button on your remote.

If it works, you’ll see a message like this, an the lamp indicator light will turn off. Success!

Enjoy your new lamp!

Post from: Jangro.com

How to Reset the Lamp Counter on your Panasonic DLP Television

This guide explains how to change the lamp in your Panasonic DLP television matching the part number TYLA1000 or TY-LA1000. This lamp replacement is compatible with at least a few dozen Panasonic models. See the list at the end of this post to see if yours matches.

How do you know when it is time to replace your lamp?

The sure sign that your lamp needs replacement is an indicator like this on your display. (yeah, NSS.)

However, you may determine that you need to change it sooner, either if the lamp won’t fire up at all (and therefore no message can display), or you find that the picture has dimmed significantly over time.

The best bet is to get a backup lamp BEFORE you need it. Lamps will die. They’re supposed to. They have a life expectancy of several thousand hours. This can be 1 to 10 years depending on your television viewing habits and other factors.

What lamp to buy?

There are two options when buying a replacement lamp:

1. Lamp and Housing
2. Bare lamp

Replacing the bare lamp requires some pretty involved procedures, possibly including the use of wire cutters and a soldering iron. That’s pretty serious stuff, and beyond the scope of this document. But if you feel comfortable with that, go for it. You also run more of a risk to end up with a lamp that is not from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and may be an inferior product.

The safest bet is to go with the entire lamp and housing kit. It is much easier AND much faster. And it’s a 5 minute operation instead of an hour. This will matter if your lamp dies in the second quarter of the Super Bowl. Then what’s a quick change worth to you?

You can purchase the full lamp and housing at PartStore.com. I’ve had really good luck with those guys.

Replacement Instructions

1. Turn power off and wait until the power lamp stops blinking. This gives the lamp enough time to cool down and the fans to stop.

At this point, the safest thing is to wait at least an hour for the lamp to cool off sufficiently. If you do not wait, you could get a serious burn.

Forced Cooling: Some Panasonic models have a forced cooling feature. After the power button is turned off, during the time when the cooling fan is still in operation (within the first minute), press the VOL+ button on the television and a solid triangle button on the remote at the same time for at least 5 seconds. In this mode, the cooling fan will operate for 10 minutes. the lamp indicator will flash red five times every five seconds.

2. Unplug the set from the wall.

3. Remove the front cover on the television by placing your fingertips under the cover and pulling up from the television.

4. Loosen the lamp cover screw and remove the lamp cover.

5. Loosen the lamp housing screw with a screwdriver. Pull the unit out by the handle. (See picture to the right.)

6. Carefully insert the new lamp. Use caution to not touch the face of the lamp. Oil and residue from your hands can heat up and shorten the life of the lamp. Press the lamp firmly into place. There are connectors that must seat properly.

7. Tighten the screw on the lamp.

8. Replace the cover and tighten cover screw.

9. Replace the front cover.

10. Reset the lamp counter by following the instructions here: Reset Panasonic DLP Lamp Counter.

Compatible Models

The lamp and procedure described in this post is compatible with the following Panasonic television models.

PT-43LC14, PT43LCX64. PT44LCX65, PT-44LCX65-K,
PT50LC13, PT-50LC13-K, PT50LC14, PT50LCX63, PT50LCX64, PT52LCX15, PT52LCX15B, PT52LCX35, PT52LCX65, PT-52LCX65-K, PT60LC13, PT60LC14, PT60LCX63, PT60LCX64, PT60LCX64C, PT61LCX35, PT61LCX65, PT-61LCX65-K, TY50LC13C

Post from: Jangro.com

Panasonic DLP Lamp (TYLA1000) Replacement How-To

My GE Advantium Microwave Oven’s lamps burn out way too often. While it looks difficult to replace the one that lights up the inside of the microwave, it is actually very easy.

The oven has two halogen lamps in it, both identical. So you can purchase one or more replacements knowing that (a) they will burn out eventually, and (b) the lamps you purchase can be used in either location in the oven.

Replacing the lamp on the bottom is easy and obvious. Unscrew the single screw holding on the cover and you can access the lamp.

Replacing the lamp inside the oven is not difficult, but it is not at all obvious. That’s the focus of this how-to.

To get to the lamp, you need to remove the grate/air vent at the top front of the oven.

IMPORTANT: Before starting, you should unplug the microwave oven!

To remove the vent, you must remove the two screws at the top left and right corners. There are three screws up there, but you only need to remove the outermost two.

Before pulling off the cover, take note of how it is flush with the front of the microwave. It is easy to put it back on and not have it seated fully. The cover will pull right off, releasing from the top. Tilt it down towards you.

With the cover off, you can see a metal plate. The lamp is under it. To lift the plate, you need to remove three screws and two smaller covers that are covering the electrical components.

First screw on the left side:

Two screws on the right side holding down the plate and two covers.

Once the screws are removed, remove the cover shown in the above picture. That will expose another smaller cover that you can slide out by pulling it to the left.

With those covers removed, it looks like this. Even though the microwave is unpugged, be careful not to touch any of these electrical components.

Now you can lift the plate and locate the lamp. The lamp is in a shiny metal cover that you need to pinch to remove. (See the video for more detail.)

The lamp cover and lamp look like this once removed. To remove the lamp itself, slide it in the direction of the arrow.

Replace with the new lamp. It doesn’t matter which side faces down.

Reverse the steps to put it all back together!

Post from: Jangro.com

How to Replace the Lamp in your GE Advantium 120 Microwave Oven

A reader asks, “How long does a DLP lamp last?”

Under normal conditions, standard DLP lamps should last 7000-8000 hours. Your own lamp and television watching habits will vary, but if you watch TV…

• 2 hours a day, your lamp could last for more than 10 years
• 5 hours a day… 4 years
• 10 hours a day… 2 years

8000 hours. That’s a lot of Law and Order!

There are some things that could decrease the expected life of a lamp, such as widely varying room temperatures, poor ventilation around the television set, electrical spikes, as well as other factors.

Be sure to see this post on how to make your DLP lamps last longer.

DLP lamps are expensive, but considering how much viewing you get they don’t really seem to cost that much. A $300 lamp that lives a full life will cost merely $0.03 to $0.04 per hour!

And since there’s nothing worse than losing your lamp in the middle of the big game, you should consider getting yourself a back up lamp if your current lamp is getting up there in hours.

Post from: Jangro.com

How Long do DLP Lamps Last?

The projector lamps in DLP televisions can run upwards of two or three hundred dollars. So it goes without saying that when a lamp goes out it’s painful in the pocketbook. It is also painful that your television can stop working in an instant, without warning.

Here are a few tips to keep your DLP lamp lasting as long as possible.

“Dynamic Mode” may cause your lamp to run at a higher wattage. Some television sets, like Samsung DLPs have a “Dynamic Mode” which makes the picture look more, uh, dynamic. I think this means brighter, which certainly coincides with the information that can be gained from Samsung documentation that says this mode runs a lamp at 120W instead of the standard 100W. This can’t be good for a lamp!

Don’t plug your television into a switched outlet, like a power strip, where you use that to turn the set off and on. All projectors, and a DLP television is no exception, have fans that run for several seconds after the unit is switched off to cool the lamp down. Many cable boxes have power outlets in them to automate turning the television on and off. This is bad as well.

Don’t turn the TV on and off frequently. On and off cycles put a lot of wear and tear on the electronics of a television set, and particularly a high temperature, high powered lamp. If you know you’re going to be watching the television again soon, leave it on.

Be nice to your DLP lamp and it will hopefully serve you for several thousand hours.

Post from: Jangro.com

Three Ways to Make your DLP Lamps Last Longer