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At least Best Buys still has its cell phone business.

On the heels of a disappointing quarterly report and today's resignation of CEO Brian Dunn, it's easy to think the entire company is doomed to follow in the steps of fallen electronic chains Circuit City and CompUSA. Yet its mobile devices business -- cell phones in particular-- has been impressively resilient during its recent troubles.

The cell phone business, which Best Buy has spent time and money building up, represents one of the rare bright spots in the company. Over time, Best Buy will likely be more heavily … Read more

Best Buy is on the same track that two former train wrecks were on, CompUSA and Circuit City.

Today, Best Buy reported a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of $1.7 billion and announced it is closing 50 stores.

The basic pattern that CompUSA (closed brick-and-mortar stores in 2007) and Circuit City (closed stores in 2008) followed was: first select stores were closed, then more were closed, then all stores were shuttered or sold off.

Is this Best Buy's fate? And why? Below I try to offer some reasons for Best Buy's troubles based on my own experience and … Read more

Thermaltake has a new Level 10 product and it's just as avant-garde as its Level 10 case.

Like the radical case, the Level 10 M Mouse is created jointly with BMW's design consultancy, DesignworksUSA. It's the first of a new series of gaming peripherals from this collaboration and it will be launched early this year.

Judging from the images that have been released, its open design--with a perforated surface that allows some ventilation for those with sweaty palms--is unlike any mouse we have seen. Its main selling point is that users can adjust the height and the angle of the mouse body by turning a screw. … Read more

Deutsche Telekom is trying to raise money to keep its T-Mobile USA unit competitive following AT&T's failure to acquire the unit.

The German telecom giant is looking to drum up billlions in cash by issuing bonds and possibly selling T-Mobile's cellular towers, says a story in today's Financial Times (registration required).

Deutsche Telekom is in line to pick up $3 billion in cash and $1 billion in spectrum space and roaming rights from AT&T as a break-up fee. But that still may not be enough to help T-Mobile compete against its three larger … Read more

It will be a white Christmas for T-Mobile USA subscribers looking to buy the Samsung Galaxy S II.

On Tuesday, the carrier announced that it will soon offer the smartphone in a second color: white. It started selling the black version of the slick smartphone in October. T-Mobile said it will offer more details about where and when the white Galaxy S II will be offered in the "coming weeks." But T-Mobile promised it will be available in time for the holidays.

The Galaxy S II is one of T-Mobile's top smartphones. The device runs on Android … Read more

Apple surprised many when it introduced quad-core processors into its MacBook line for the first time in February. But a Commodore 64 packing quad-core?

For the uninitiated, the Commodore 64 Keyboard PC was introduced back in 1982 packing a MOS Technology 6510 1MHz (yes, that's one megahertz) chip running the Commodore kernal accessed via BASIC commands.

That model competed with the Apple II and Atari computers.

Well, a lot has changed in 30 years. After resurrecting the Commodore name in April of 2010, the company came out with an Intel Atom-based design in April of this year. That's … Read more

Apple's much-anticipated new iPhone was unveiled today at the company's headquarters in California. And for the first time in iPhone history, three of the four major U.S. operators will be offering the latest version of the device.

AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless will each begin selling their version of the iPhone 4S on October 14. Apple and its carrier partners will begin taking preorders for the device on Friday. Even though the announcement of the new iPhone 4S may have disappointed some fans because it was not the hoped for redesign known as the … Read more

The same group that hacked NBC News' Twitter account on September 9 and sent tweets about a bogus attack on Ground Zero apparently grabbed hold of USA Today's Twitter feed today and fired off a clutch of messages.

The taunting tweets from someone claiming to be The Script Kiddies asked if Twitter had the courage to suspend the group again and encouraged Twitter users to vote for the next account to be hacked.

"Fox News, Wal-mart, Unilevel, Pfizer, NBC and now USA Today. who's next? Vote now!" read one of the tweets.

As of this writing, it seemed USA Today had regained control of its feed.

"Again, @usatoday was hacked and as a result false tweets were sent. We worked with Twitter to correct. The account is back in our control," said one message. "We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion caused to our readers and thank you for reading @usatoday," read another.

There appeared to be no Twitter account for The Script Kiddies.… Read more

From 1989 to 2001, a company called Used Rubber USA operated a retail store, offering cool gear to city-dwelling hipsters, on the corner of Fillmore and Haight streets in San Francisco. The company still turns old tires into book bags, wallets or belts and other merchandise--now online only.

Recycling used tires isn't a new idea, and now a study shows that most auto repair shops recycle tires rather than send them off to a landfill.

The organization Car Care Council has been urging auto repair shops to recycle more vehicle parts and engine fluids, in a consumer education campaign … Read more