Technabob » best buy

Kindle Fire Becomes BestBuy.com’s Best Selling Tablet Online, Beats the iPad

Conner Flynn — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:34:38 +0000

I knew that Amazon’s Kindle Fire was hot, no pun intended, but it looks like it is literally on fire, pun intended. The Fire has occupied the top spot on Amazon’s best sellers list for weeks now. That’s no surprise, since it is their tablet, but it’s doing well somewhere else as well.

On Best Buy’s website, the $199 Fire now ranks higher than the 16GB iPad as the top selling tablet. Look out Apple. It is a smashing success for Amazon as the tablet has been garnering praise from both buyers and (some) reviewers. After all the price is great and you get a lot for your money.

The question is: Will it stay in the lead at these and maybe other retailers and for how long? At least Amazon has some time before the iPad 3 arrives.

[via Techcrunch]

Acer Iconia Android Tablet Hits Best Buy

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:51:56 +0000

The Acer Iconia Android tablet first reared its thin little head back in January during CES. The tablet looks promising, and if you have been waiting for it to hit stores you can now pick one up. The Iconia is an Android tablet running the Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet OS.

The tablet has a 10.1-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 with multitouch support. The tablet measures 10.2″ (W) x 7″ (H) x 0.5″ (D) and weighs 1.7 pounds. Running the brains of the operation is a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor running at 1GHz. Other features include 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a microSD card slot, and integrated WiFi.

The Iconia will cost you $449.99 (USD), making it one of the lower priced, full-featured tablets you will come across. It’s available to order right now over at Best Buy.

Did Apple Blacklist Best Buy for iPad 2 Hold Outs? [Rumor]

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:19:24 +0000

When Apple launches a new product, it really likes to be able to say millions sold or something similar once the thing has been out a few weeks. If you mess with Apple’s brag, you will get smacked down. A rumor is swirling that Best Buy messed with Apple’s sales figure mojo, and Apple has retaliated.

If the rumor is to be believed, Best Buy hit its sales quota one day and then took the other iPad 2 tablets and held them for the next day. The rumor is that Apple found out about this practice, and is not happy at all. In fact, the rumor claims that Apple has blacklisted Best Buy and isn’t giving them any more tablets to sell.

I would be mad as a consumer if I went into Best Buy and was told they were out of iPad 2 tablets if they really had them and just wanted to sell them the next day. I guess I can understand where Apple is coming from, but at the same time Best Buy wants its stores to look the best too so who wins here is anyone’s guess.

That all said, Apple’s Tim Cook may have already debunked the rumor, stating “My understanding is most of their stores sold all of their initial supply on the first night of the launch and the balance were out by the following day. I am not aware of any units being held.”

[via CrunchGear]

Roku XD Lands at Best Buy

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:03:13 +0000

I don’t like to buy stuff online. Not because I don’t trust online sellers or anything, I just don’t like to wait for stuff to arrive. I want to walk in a store, and walk out with whatever it is I want. If you are the same way and have been wanting a nice new media streamer this is your chance.

The Roku XD model with 1080p HD playback and integrated 802.11n WiFi has landed at your local Best Buy store for $79.95 (USD). It will play all sorts of streaming content like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, and lots more.

The streaming box will also support streaming music from the web with Pandora, MP3 tunes and lots more. You can even access Facebook on it. This is one of the cheaper and easier ways to get web content onto your TV in the living room.

The device is also available in BJ’s Wholesale Club, Fry’s and RadioShack.

iWatchz 6G iPod nano Watchbands Land at Best Buy

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:00:20 +0000

Geeks often like to make fashion statements that show off just how geeky they are. This is the reason for things like the Millenterprise Falcon mashup shirt that gives you +10 geek cred. Another way to show that you are geek is to wear that small 6G iPod nano as a watch.

There are tons of watchbands on the market today the will let you wear that nano on your wrist, but most all of them have to be ordered online other than a few in Apple retail stores. If you don’t live near an Apple retail location, Best Buy is getting the full iWatchz Q series of bands for the nano.

The bands are cool and made from silicone in several colors. Best Buy will carry all of the colors and the bands will sell for right under $25. You will be able to walk in and go home sporting your geeky watch.

addOn: OnStar Coming to Every Vehicle

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:12:19 +0000

Think back a number of years ago when OnStar first launched. The ability to talk on your cell phone without actually having to hold a cell phone was really novel. Of course, this was back in the days before Bluetooth was as common as it is in cars today. OnStar was one of the first systems that offered this hands-free use and it will do a lot more too.

OnStar can track your car if it gets stolen, unlock the doors, call 911 if you crash, and tell you how to get somewhere with navigation capability. The catch for most drivers was that OnStar was only offered on GM vehicles until now. OnStar has announced at CES today that it has a new add-on mirror (called addOn). The rearview mirror replaces the normal one in your vehicle and adds in those cool OnStar features like automatic 911, navigation, Bluetooth hands-free calling and others.

The mirror will set you back about $300 (USD). I would assume that the addOn system can’t do things like unlock your doors since it isn’t integrated with all the electronics in the car. OnStar addOn will be coming to Best Buy this spring and to other retailers later this year.

Microsoft (Mis)Educates Best Buy Employees About Linux

Lambert Varias — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:00:54 +0000

A Best Buy employee recently posted screenshots of what he claims is part of a training program about Windows 7. The screenshots show some Windows vs. Linux comparisons. You probably know where this is going. The employee is overclock.net forum member GodofGrunts, and here are some of the screenshots he posted:

Now I have never used any Linux OS, but even if it’s true that there are fewer major software that are compatible with the system, I am pretty damn sure that there at least 2 Linux apps that provide video chat – Skype and Pidgin. As for the printer and scanner compatibility GodofGrunts adds, “I’ve yet to see a printer that doesn’t have a driver. You might have to download it from the products website though (gasp!).” GodofGrunts also adds that there are Linux distros that offer official technical support, contrary to what the table above indicates.

I like how Microsoft lists “Free downloads” as one of Windows’ strengths when in fact people can legally own a Linux OS for free; same with Linux programs. Is Windows free? Is Microsoft Office free?

Again, I don’t have sufficient knowledge about software so I can’t comment on that claim – note that the training program doesn’t really claim that Windows is safer than Linux – but this forum lists a couple of advantages that Linux is supposed to have over Windows. If this training program is really being used to “teach” Best Buy employees, it means that Microsoft is just breeding technological ignorance.

Why can’t they just talk about how Linux systems aren’t that user-friendly? At least that’s still somewhat true. The original images that GodofGrunts posted were taken down by Photobucket because of bandwidth limits, but you can go to Electronista to see some of the other screenshots.

World’S First Portable HD Radio From Best Buy has Typical World’S First Price

Lambert Varias — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:21:18 +0000

Best Buy’s Insignia is the world’s first portable HD radio, allowing users to enjoy high quality digital FM radio on the go.

Meh. Who am I kidding? Best Buy is selling it for $50 (USD)! You can buy an mp3 player with a built-in FM tuner for that price. I also think that it’s too big for a radio player. Wait a couple of years and HD radios will be smaller and cheaper.

Besides, the Zune HD will have a built-in HD radio receiver, so if you’re going to buy a portable HD radio player, I think you’ll get more bang for your buck with that.

[via Engadget]

Best Buy Makes Impulse Easy at Airports

Alisha K. — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 12:45:13 +0000

Airports are terrible for impulse buys. Not only are the flights themselves often boring, thus tempting you to stock up on more entertainment than you need, but airports offer everything from food and booze to books and electronics, and it’s all often marked up into the stratosphere. Best Buy has been working to make that experience infinitely more intoxicating with their airport vending machines.

Best Buy Express has been out and about for a while, but this is the first time I’ve seen pictures of the vending machines in the wild. Yes, vending machines… but instead of cheap plastic crap, at the Best Buy machines, you can purchase expensive plastic crap gadgets at airports without emptying your wallet. That’s right: instead of the usual airport markup, the machines are stocked with items at Best Buy’s typical prices.

Clearly, the vending machine that sells digital video cameras is meant for the person who can’t spend a vacation without thinking of the YouTube videos. Maybe biting the bullet and buying a few cameras and handheld game systems will teach us all to double-check our bags before we leave for the airport.

[A Blog of Sorts via GoNintendo]