Technologizer

Best Buy Does Digital Movies

Monday, November 2, 2009

What happens to Best Buy when all of the content we rent and buy comes to us via the Internet rather than on shiny discs we buy in stores? The company won’t go the way of Tower Records or the Virgin Megastores, but it’ll surely miss the money it made selling CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray. [...]

Best Buy to Lump E-Readers With Other Random Stuff

Friday, October 9, 2009

2 Comments

Clearly, Best Buy doesn’t know what to do with all those e-readers that it plans to stock, because they’ll soon be thrown into a section that contains electronic Rubik’s Cubes, digital pens and — wait for it — Sharper Image products. Dealerscope reports that Best Buy’s creating a new retail section called “Gadgets and eReaders,” located [...]

Best Buy, Verizon Team on New E-Book Reader

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

5 Comments

Move over, Amazon Kindle. Best Buy and Verizon have unveiled a new e-book reader Wednesday that will sell for $399 and is built by iRex Technologies. The reader like the Kindle would be able to purchase content over the 3G network, and will be sold in about 100 of Best Buy’s locations by October. Barnes and [...]

Microsoft to Best Buy Salespeople: Windows Good, Macs Bad!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

2 Comments

Over at Ars Technica, there’s an interesting piece on training materials prepared by Microsoft for Best Buy staffers making the case that Windows 7 PCs are preferable to Macs. Most of the points in Windows’ favor that the materials raise are true; it’s just that anything that might tend to favor the Mac is left [...]

Keep Your Old PS3, and Best Buy May Reward You

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

2 Comments

With every upgraded product launch, this is bound to happen: A few unlucky and ill-informed customers buy the old product, just before the upgrade is revealed and released. They complain, hoping to exchange their outdated product for the latest one. If this happened to you with the Playstation 3 Slim (unlikely if you’re a regular around [...]

Best Buy Doesn’t Want to Sell Me a 52-Inch HDTV for $9.99. Reasonable Enough.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

15 Comments

Early this morning, Best Buy had a deal on its site that was not merely a best buy but a mindbendingly, impossibly cheap one: a well-reviewed, high-end 52-inch Samsung LCD HDTV for…under ten bucks. $9.99 to be exact. Here, I’ll show you:

Best Buy’s Interesting, Imperfect Experiment in Customer Service Via Twitter

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

2 Comments

Over at Zatz Not Funny, blogger (and frequent Technologizer commenter) Dave Zatz has blogged about Twelpforce, Best Buy’s interesting experiment in aggregating the knowledge of hundreds of its “blue shirt” staffers into one Twitterstream of advice for Best Buy customers. Dave points out that some of the blue shirts’ tweets (both on Twelpforce and their [...]

A Pre for Under a Hundred Bucks? Good Deal!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

3 Comments

[UPDATE: As noted in the comments, Best Buy is saying this is an error. I still think we'll see a $99 Pre before too long, though...] PreCentral.net is reporting that Best Buy is living up to its name by offering Palm’s Pre smartphone for $99.99 with a two-year contract–no rebate paperwork required. That’s $100 less than [...]

Let’s Hope Best Buy Helps TiVo Sell More Boxes

Thursday, July 9, 2009

8 Comments

Beloved-but-beleaguered DVR pioneer TiVo has found itself a ally: Best Buy. The two companies have struck a deal that will see TiVo boxes heavily marketed in Best Buy stores, reports Brad Stone in the New York Times. The relationship will put Napster (owned by Best Buy) on TiVo’s set-top boxes, and let Best Buy deliver [...]

Memo Reveals Windows 7 Upgrade Details

Friday, June 5, 2009

5 Comments

Best Buy customers who purchase PCs preloaded with Windows Vista between June 26 and Oct. 22 will receive free upgrades to Windows 7, according to a company memo obtained by Engadget. Further, Best Buy will begin taking pre-orders on Jun. 26 for paid upgrades, according to the memo. Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade copies will cost [...]

5Words for Friday, June 5th, 2009

Friday, June 5, 2009

1 Comment

Lotsa Pre news this Friday… Pre is rife with Google. An interview on Pre design. Pre/Sprint exclusivity: how long? Don’t use Mac/Linux Chrome! Acer’s Android netbook runs XP. So does this Chinese phone. T-Mobile’s G2 known as MyTouch. Best Buy’s Windows 7 plans. FTC takes down rogue ISP.

Not the Way to Start Your Palm Pre Launch

Friday, May 22, 2009

4 Comments

The Boy Genius Report claims that Best Buy will only receive about 4,250 Palm Pres for its launch on June 6–a pittance considering the retailer has at least 1,000 retail locations set to offer the device. If these initial shipment numbers are true, each store would receive four units, far less that what you’d think [...]

5Words for May 20th, 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

0 Comments

Busy day for phone news… Best Buy’s instant Pre rebate. Unsubsidized, the Pre is $549. Various small Google Reader tweaks. iPhone sales double over 2008. BlackBerries are selling well, too. Acer to make Android phone. Virgin America offers Wi-Fi everywhere. Dell shows an Android netbook. Hulu preps for UK launch. Will Google partner with Twitter? Pandora’s paid app is cool. Do you drive while texting?

Is Napster Worth Five Bucks? Is it Worth Anything?

Monday, May 18, 2009

5 Comments

I’ve blogged before about subscription-based music services, an idea that the tech industry has poured millions into, and which rationally makes sense–but which has never caught on with teeming masses of consumers. Today, Napster–which is part of Best Buy these days–is trying again, with a new plan that offers unlimited streaming and five MP3 downloads [...]

5Words for April 17th, 2009

Friday, April 17, 2009

1 Comment

I want a million followers! Pirate Bay: Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Annoy Amazon, lose Kindle books. Report: Best Buy plans downloads. Voting on Facebook policies begins. Slim new Sidekick does Twitter. Office 2010 gets public beta. Kutcher’s a Twitter follower millionaire. This e-paper display does color.

5Words for March 17th, 2009

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

3 Comments

Happy Saint Paddy’s day, everybody! Sneak peek: Dell’s Adamo notebook. Macworld’s iPhone 3.0 wish list. Three More HTC Android phones. Nine-hour MSI Wind netbook. Comcast passwords exposed on Web. Super-fast game download service. Boxee does an iPhone remote control. Best Buy takes on Walmart. Rough February for Macs, iPods. HP adds long-life batteries. Nintendo victorious in remote lawsuit. Vatican: Serious about the Internet.