Recent Comments:
YouTube with all of the sizzle but none of the Flash {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Nov 9th 2009 5:49AM It's funnier that this gives mac users a taste of what it's like trying to run iTunes on a pc. Sucks when a company refuses to optimize a popular program for your platform of choice, doesn't it?
Walmart's $300 HP G60 laptop gets real, detailed {Engadget}
Nov 4th 2009 4:20PM Wonder if that celeron chip is soldered on? I'd pick this up if I knew I could swap it out for a real C2D proc myself, like I did with the bargain Gateway I picked up from Best Buy 3 years ago. Goddamn, has it been that long already?
Oh, and you people bitching about Walmart... really? Maybe it's different in Alaska, but minorities outnumber white people by a ratio of at least 4 to 1 here. Given that minorities make up a larger percentage of those living close to, at, or even below the poverty line, I find it hard to believe that rednecks are so abundant anywhere but in the southern states. It's cute though that you want to bitch about and look down on those who shop at Walmart out of financial necessity, but don't want to appear racist, so you go out of your way to single out the white folks. How evolved of you.
Leaked Walmart ad reveals Xbox 360 Arcade with $100 gift card, $300 HP G60 laptop {Engadget}
Nov 4th 2009 12:56AM It's real. I heard an ad on the radio tonight that mentioned the 300 laptop. The ad said "This is just one of several great deals Walmart is rolling out this holiday season, so stay tuned for more falling prices and special events," etc etc etc. Last time they did this, it was pretty stealthy and they used a semi-hidden website to promote the deals, but if they are going the radio blitz route, I wonder if it will be worth lining up that early in the AM on a Saturday. I have my eye on that 42" LCD though. It's only 60hz, but at that price, who gives a crap.
AT&T sues Verizon over 'there's a map for that' ads {Engadget}
Nov 3rd 2009 6:28PM The problem with this ad is it is wrong in at least one instance. It clearly shows Verizon offers 3G coverage in Alaska while AT&T does not, when in reality, the exact opposite is true. While you can roam on the local CDMA network here, if you do so for more then a month, you'll get a breach of contract notice. AT&T has more retail locations in this state then any other provider, whereas verizon doesn't even offer a local number portability option for service men and women stationed here. So if they can't even get their coverage map right for Alaska, where else did they screw up on those two maps?
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta details this week, EA says {Joystiq}
Nov 3rd 2009 3:18PM Could someone tell me what exactly all of this has to do with Bad Company? I've seen trailer after trailer for this sequel, but the only thing they have shown in them are scenes from the multiplayer levels. Is this just an expansion pack for the multiplayer from the first game, or is this an actual, full length game with single player missions too?
Sears Black Friday ad revealed, we'll be sleeping off our tryptophan hangovers {Engadget HD}
Oct 31st 2009 5:37PM Actually, Lowes and Home Depot are both horrible, horrible places to buy major appliances. Their delivery staff are a bunch of jokers who are literally the kings of scratch and dent. I made the mistake of buying a hot water heater from Lowes and a washer dryer set from Home depot last year, all to save about a hundred dollars versus buying them at Sears. The water heater was dropped from the truck during delivery, but the guy promised there was no damage done because there were no physical scratches or dents to the casing, so he went ahead and installed it. Turns out, gas hot water heaters have a ceramic tube the runs up inside them, which are easily shattered by strong shocks or jolts, which the guy later admitted to being aware of. When the thing didn't work after being installed, it took a weeks worth of phone calls and an intervention from the regional manager to get the GM of the store I purchased it from to apologize, in person, and refund our money completely.
As bad as that was, what happened with the washer dryer from home depot made that look like a picnic. While the guys who delivered and installed them seemed nice enough, two days after they were hooked up, they almost burned my house down. After putting out the fire that started behind the dryer, and was on its way up to the ceiling of the laundry room, I found that the dryer power cord was attached so half assed that it was grounding out on the casing of the dryer itself, which caused enough of an arc to ignite the lint coming out of the back of the dryer, as it was never attached to the outside vent. As for the washer, while it was hooked up, the water hoses were never tightened down, and were leaking just enough to cause significant water damage within months, if the fire hadn't made me take a closer look. In this case, even the regional manager hung up the phone on me, and it took 6 months and small claims court to get my money back for the units and to cover the cost of repairing the damage to my home. Even with all that, I consider myself lucky, because if my wife had touched the metal casing instead of the plastic bits when loading the dryer, she most likely would have been electrocuted.
So there you go... all that just to save a couple hundred bucks. Consumerist and Consumer Reports websites are both filled with stories just like mine. Sears, on the other hand, has been a CR best buy retailer for decades because of their customer service, and the Kenmore brand they sell is routinely in their top picks. I have been a fan of Sears since I was 4 years old, thanks to their Christmas Wishbook, but it wasn't until I became a home owner that I really started to appreciate them.
How would you change Sony's PlayStation 3 Slim? {Engadget}
Oct 31st 2009 3:42AM I have to agree with High. I love my new Slim, and Uncharted 1 and 2 have both robbed me of a social life lately, but I'm going to be buying Modern Warfare II for the 360 when it comes out because the online implementation for the PS3 is an absolute joke. I signed up as much as was necessary to get the firmware updates, and that is it because I could not believe how much of a pain in the ass the online setup was versus the 360. It's been said before, but it deserves saying again: Yes, PSN is free while Live is 50 dollars a year, but the difference is, Live is worth every penny.
Other then that, I can't think of anything else that needs changing. People say the BD drive is slow, but it works fast enough for me, and like others pointed out above, it loads a huge game like Uncharted 2 seamlessly, without requiring an install either. I hope other game studios are paying attention to Naughty Dog's example here. All in all, besides my quibbles with the online service, I'm really happy with my purchase, and don't have to worry about being locked out of a specific game or DLC thanks to the bullshit exclusivity rivalry MS and Sony have going on.
Sears Black Friday ad revealed, we'll be sleeping off our tryptophan hangovers {Engadget}
Oct 30th 2009 2:10PM Friend of mine who is a GM for a big box chain said Black Friday's have been getting less and less exciting because manufacturers and retailers are already slashing their once wide profit margins on big ticket items. They are still making a profit of course, just not an Apple-esque profit. Anyway, a few years ago it was ok to lower the prices below the profit threshold and sell a few hot button items like TV's at a loss, as they'd easily recoup that from all the additional spending shoppers would do on regularly priced items. But thanks to the internet, we now are mostly smarter consumers, and are only interested in the super cheap items, of which there is a very limited selection already, and know we can get the other things we used to buy in-store cheaper online. Since the only thing people are buying are those big items that are actually costing the stores money to sell, Black Friday quickly lost it's charm to the bottom line-minded managers, and so the days of Big Deals are pretty much gone and buried.
At this point, the only reason to camp out overnight (3am? Who are you guys kidding? If you want to actually have a shot at the big items, the line starts forming around 6pm the day before. Amateurs.) is for items that are hard to find, like the Wii was a few years ago. Like you pointed out already, you can get almost every single TV advertised in this pdf for the same if not very close price online with Amazon or Newegg. Personally, I can't think of any must-have item this year that's worth freezing my ass off for, but it's not even November yet so it could happen.
Jay-Z is a gamer; likes Madden and, uh, you know, stuff like Madden {Joystiq}
Oct 29th 2009 4:07PM Why the renegade edition? Easy: after playing the demo at BB, I really liked having the controller on a table in front of me, playing it in the standing position. Dunno why, helps me concentrate I guess. I have nothing like that at my house, so I was going to buy the rocketfish branded dj stand from BB for 30 bucks (the one the demo was sitting on, for those who saw them) and just get the standard edition of the game. 119.99 + 29.99 = 149.98, or 150 bucks.
But then I saw Fred Meyer was offering a coupon for 30 bucks off anything in the electronics department 150 dollars and over, so with that coupon, the renegade pack went from 199 to 169, instantly. So for 20 bucks more, I got a much better looking table that also turns into a carrying case, and a slightly cooler looking turntable. Had there not been a coupon, no way in hell would I have paid 200 bucks for it, however. Anyway, it's a great game, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it so far. Still holding out for those RZA tracks though.
Nintendo officially announces large-screen DSi LL, hits Japan Nov. 21 {Joystiq}
Oct 29th 2009 5:20AM One word: Why?
