Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
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We all know the story: Circuit City Stores spiraled down from its high point in the late 90’s to bankruptcy in 2008 and then liquidation in 2009. Systemax then bought the rights to the brand a few months later and quickly relaunched CircuitCity.com . Since then Systemax has been racking in the cash. So much cash in fact that Systemax is thinking about opening some Circuit City retail locations. Seriously. Of course they won’t be the Circuit City stores of old, but there might just be a market for these locations as there has been a void in the retail scene since all the stores shuttered, leaving Best Buy as the lone national electronics retailer with Walmart picking up the slack. It’s unknown where or how many of these locations Systemax would open but chances it would replicate the CompUSA retail rebirth with only a small number of locations in one region. We just wonder if Circuit City 2.0 could gain traction after its very public demise. Post-recession consumers tend to be a skeptical bunch. [ CBBN via CEPro ]
Posted by 010081
Tech
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
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Since we’re your go-to source for complaining about DRM (now on CNN !), I figure we should mention the latest development regarding EA’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 . Dice, the game’s developer’s, have removed SecuROM DRM from both the retail version of the game as well as the digitally distributed one (i.e. Steam). Why a Steam game even needs SecuROM in the first place (it’s merely a disc check, so…) is a question I cannot answer. It’s probably like a contractual thing or something. This comes by way of the game’s latest patch, which went live for the retail version—the Steam version is still on the way. Other things of note? Not really, just the average bug-fixes and UI fine tuning. In other news, yes, Inter beat Chelsea ! That made my day, for real.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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Samsung will soon have a bit of competition in Best Buy’s 3D TV department. A $2,899 Panasonic VT20 plasma, Blu-ray player and 3D glasses bundle will go on sale tomorrow expect not all Best Buy stores. It’s a Magnolia exclusive. What’s strange is that the $3,299 55-inch Samsung 3D is in stock most Best Buy locations, including the none-Magnolia stores. It’s not clear whether Best Buy or Panasonic decided that the product should be an exclusive. Perhaps the model will roll out to the entire chain, but that’s not been announced as of yet. VT20 plasma, however, is just Best Buy exclusive model and is the same thing as the VT25 that will be available in other retail outlets in the same bundle package and separate.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
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The Nook is soon going to have a bit of competitino on its home playing field when the Samsung E6 reader hits shelves this coming spring. Although it probably doesn’t have much to worry about. We spent sometime with the slider at CES and can’t see any reason why most consumers would opt for the $399 reader instead of the hot Nook. Sure, it has a touchscreen meant for note taking and a bit more compact screen, but those features alone cannot justify the $130 price difference. The nook is more sleek and the color screen is certain an attention grabber even if it’s a bit laggy in use. There is a chance, however, that the $399 price we heard at CES will get a cut before it hits the retail market, though. But even if the E6 is priced at the Nook’s $259 price-point when it drops shortly, it probably still won’t see the same sales numbers.