walmart

Amazon, Wal-Mart battling over book pricing

Wal-Mart Stores has waged an online book pricing war against Amazon.com, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday morning.

Wal-Mart sent the first salvo over Amazon's bow on Thursday when the retail giant announced that it would sell ten highly anticipated books for $10 on Walmart.com. Wal-Mart said Stephen King's upcoming hardcover "Under the Dome" and Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" will be included in that grouping. Wal-Mart's prices include free shipping.

Not to be outdone, Amazon reduced prices to match Wal-Mart's pricing on all 10 titles. That was quickly followed … Read more

BOL 1086: Beating a dead parse

Mozilla is upset about the browser ballot screen because it's alphabetical, left to right, by manufacturer. That means Apple gets the prime spot. We think that's parsing the screen too closely. So we decide to parse it even more! And we also reinvent battery technology and solve America's Internet problems. And can you believe it? We even do more. It's true.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1086

False Alarm: New iPhone 3GS Not Jailbreak-Proof http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/jailbreak-iphone

Wal-Mart Strafes … Read more

BOL 1085: Amazon, I need a refill

Amazon announced same-day delivery for certain areas today, although we're not sure if you can buy wines by the glass. We also cover the BlackBerry Storm and the Motorola Cliq announcements. Guess which one we like better? And the Danger Sidekick tale continues.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) Episode 1085

Don’t change your Twitter passwords if you don’t want to lose your account http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/twitter-warns-users-not-change-log-in-data-until-further-notice-815

Microsoft confirms data recovery for Sidekick users http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-15sidekick.mspx … Read more

Wal-Mart offers Palm Pre for $79

In the market for a Palm Pre? Wal-Mart Stores is offering the smartphone through Sprint for $79 with a two-year contract.

As noted in CNET's review, the Palm Pre features a vibrant display with multitouch functionality as well as a solid Web browser and good multimedia integration. The Pre offered good call quality and wireless options include 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Palm has developed a solid OS that not only rivals the competition but also sets a new standard in the way smartphones handle tasks and manage information.

The Palm Pre took home both the Best in Show … Read more

The 404 414: Where we eat Snow Leopard for dinner

Wilson's back, but we figure everyone is tired of hearing about the Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard by now, so we shift gears and talk about Walmart shoppers instead. Behold: a new blog documenting the People of Walmart. While Wilson "Tennessee" Tang thinks this all looks pretty typical, Jeff and I are straight up spooked. It's humiliating enough to set foot in a Walmart, but what if I just need to pick up deodorant? Now I have to worry about being publicly humiliated on this blog too? And who brought that goat into the store?

After our rant is over, we move on to dissect a few upcoming movies like James Cameron's newest science fiction CGI powerhouse, "Avatar." The weird part is that James Cameron has been planning this movie for 10 years but hasn't been able to make it because the technology just wasn't there. Well, now it's here...and the movie looks like a cheesy cut scene from Halo. Next up on the butcher block is "Cirque de Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." Don't get me wrong, I love me some John C. Reilly, but a convincing vampire he is not. When was the last time you've seen a bloodsucker with curly hair?

The rest of the show devolves into the three hosts doing vampire impressions, which isn't incredibly hard to do, just follow these three steps:

Talk loudly and open-mouthed Raise the intonation of your voice at the end of every sentence Don't forget the "AH AH AHHH" at the end

If you're like Wilson and don't have anything to do over the weekend, why don't you give us a call at 1-866-404-CNET and tell us what's on your mind? We're also on Twitter, Facebook, and Meetup as well, so there's really no excuse for falling out of touch. Or, if you have a suggestion for our Weekend Throwback Episode, let me know in a comment below!

EPISODE 414 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

BOL 1048: Is Apple lying to the FCC?

Apple's letter to the FCC makes some pretty incredible claims about what Google Voice does to the iPhone's phone functionality. TechCrunch calls the claims misleading when they're being nice. To us, they sound like lies. We're also kinda taken with the Nokia laptop. Yes, Nokia is making a laptop. And, of course, the week of stars kicks off with guest host Patrick Beja.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1048

Apple answers the FCC's questions http://www.apple.com/hotnews/apple-answers-fcc-questions/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/21/the-simple-truth-whats-really-going-on-with-apple-google-att-and-the-fcc/ … Read more

Wal-Mart recalls fiery DVD players

Exploding iPhones are so earlier this week, people. The new scary consumer electronics product that might explode and kill you and your family is the cheap Durabrand DVD player exclusive to Wal-Mart. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of the device, saying the players can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.

The players retail for less than $30, are made in China, and are full of shrapnel to flay flesh from bone. OK, that last bit was hyperbolic, but still, any Durabrand DVD player bought from Wal-Mart after 2006 can be returned … Read more

Coming soon at Wal-Mart: $348 Toshiba laptop

So this isn't quite a sub-$300 laptop, but it's close and is a decent deal for back-to-school.

Beginning Sunday, Wal-Mart Stores will offer a 17-inch Toshiba Satellite L355 for $348. The model is almost a year old, so the specs aren't fantastic--3GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, Intel Celeron processor, and Windows Vista Basic--but for the price it's understandable. (Also, you'll have to wait. If you try to buy it now it will say "out of stock.")

Of course, not everyone is going to want a 17-inch laptop, but if you're … Read more

The 404 398: Where in space, no one can hear you tweet

Bad news folks, TWITTER IS DOWN! Today, we report on the subsequent worldwide meltdown in addition to stories about Wal-Mart BlackBerries, the fall of gaming magazines, and more submissions for the "Choose Justin's new glasses" competition!

All hell has broken loose in the tech world with this morning's Twitter crash. The popular microblogging Web site suffered a denial-of-service attack earlier this morning around 6 a.m. PT, but has yet to give out details or an in-depth status update. The last update said it is "defending" itself from an ongoing attack, so good luck to all the frontline GIs fighting the good fight in the trenches so that Ashton Kutcher can continue telling us facts about technology that we already know.

Earth will continue to rotate on its axis despite Twitter soiling the bed, so we bring you more stories from the Internet, including the awful news that Wal-Mart is now selling the new BlackBerry Curve for $48. So now, in addition to supporting an evil dictatorship conglomerate and taking food from the mouths of independent business owners for a 50-cent discount on a box of Tide, consumers can now pick up a cheap mobile phone so that the Walton children can put one more Benz in the garage. Cool! /rant

Be sure to tune into the second half of the show to hear more rants from The 404, but we also lament the death of classic gaming magazines like GamePro, PSM, EGM, etc. While many of them are still available for print subscription, we can't help but reminisce about the old days when you had to subscribe to them in order to get the latest tips and tricks.

So, all that, PLUS we discover the true identity of Motherboard's wily sidekick, LaserJet (thanks Hayato!) and reveal some serious (and some not-so-serious) submissions to the "Choose Justin's new glasses" competition!

EPISODE 398 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more