Posts tagged Bestbuy at Switched

Posts with tag bestbuy

Best Buy's Blue Label Laptops Built According to Customer Feedback

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 8th 2008 at 2:28PM

Hey guys / gals, check this out. Best Buy is practically admitting that it is just now starting to "gather insights from customers and work with manufacturers to design products that address [consumers'] needs." In a rather odd release, the big box retailer is announcing two new laptops that'll be exclusive to its store: the 14.1-inch Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 and the 13.3-inch HP Pavilion dv3510nr. According to the release, these laptops were created and inspired by feedback from Best Buy customers

The Toshiba will feature a 1.2-inch thin frame, WXGA (1,280 x 800) panel, backlit keyboard, DVD burner, 5.5-hours of battery life and an $1,199 price tag. The HP (shown after the break) will include a LED-backlit WXGA display, up to 4-hours of battery life, inbuilt webcam and precisely the same retail price.

Eventually, Best Buy is hoping to expand the Blue Label series to other product lines, though there's no word on where to find these elusive input cards that it's supposedly using to pick and choose wares.

Continue reading Best Buy's Blue Label Laptops Built According to Customer Feedback

MacGyver and Steven Seagal Launch New Geek Squad Service

by Dan Reilly, posted Sep 17th 2008 at 5:47PM

On Monday, Best Buy tech-help division Geek Squad launched its new Black Tie Protection service, which covers home theater, mobile tech, gadgets, and more, in addition to computers. Naturally, the electronics retailer decided that it needed some star power to kick off its new product, so it invited three celebrity "icons of protection": Tanya Roberts of 'Charlie's Angels' and 'That '70s Show', MacGyver (aka Richard Dean Anderson, and Steven Seagal), a musician who's made some martial arts movies (or is it the other way around?).

Since Best Buy is the exclusive provider of this service, the celebs showed up at a Manhattan store in three black SUVs escorted by the incredibly intimidating Geek Squad members in their Geekmobiles, black and white VW Bugs that are the official cars of the service. Anderson arrived first on the orange carpet, yelling "hello New York!" to the crowd of media, fans, and bewildered pedestrians walking on Broadway. Roberts came second, looking great at age 52. And finally, Seagal's SUV showed up and the martial artist got out of the wrong side of the car, said hello to the host briefly, and walked quickly inside. Some onlookers looked disappointed, but then it was time for the Q & A.

Flanked by Best Buy and Geek Squad employees, the three "protectors" sat on a small stage with lighting so hot that two of them asked for it to be changed before anything started. While this may sound like diva behavior, we can attest that it really was hot as hell up there, especially if you were wearing a suit like Anderson's. Poor Mac was getting sweaty by the end. The brief Q&A session mainly featured a female audience member telling both Anderson and Seagal how much she enjoyed their work without asking a question. Awesome.

Luckily for us, we were given a few minutes to talk with Mr. Seagal – you'd call him that too if you were standing right next to him – about tech, music, and his current work. Check out the interview after the break, as well as our gallery featuring more pictures and quotes of the stars. Something, um, may depend on it.

Continue reading MacGyver and Steven Seagal Launch New Geek Squad Service

Best Buy To Sell iPhone 3G Starting Next Month

by Chris Ziegler, posted Aug 16th 2008 at 9:12AM

And now for the irony: it'll be no better a buy than what you can find at ye olde Apple or AT&T store. Best Buy officially becomes the first third-party retailer in the US to sell the iPhone in an official capacity -- 3G or otherwise -- when it launches the iPhone 3G in some 970 stores plus an additional 18 dedicated Mobile locations on September 7 for the same $199 and $299 price points found elsewhere.

Quoth Best Buy Mobile's CEO, "We had a lot of work to do, obviously, to get in a position where Apple and AT&T would feel good about Best Buy Mobile carrying it, and that's what we've done in the last 18 months." In other words, this has been a pretty persistent effort to score the third-party exclusive essentially since the original model was announced, and it's just now paying off. There's no indication on how the addition of Best Buy to the US sales mix will affect production or distribution, but at least there'll be one more place to try to find some frickin' stock. [From: Yahoo News]

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Best Buy to Sell Gadgets in Airport Vending Machines

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 11th 2008 at 12:05PM

Best Buy Putting Gadget Vending Machines in Airports

Best Buy is paving the way for employee-free retail by installing gadget vending machines in airports around the country. Travelers will be able to pick up a host of electronic devices including cell phones, digital cameras, headphones, and various power adapters from the machines for what are sure to be absurd prices. The Best Buy vending machines will be operated and stocked by Zoom Systems, the same company that has put iPod- and Sony-gadget-vending machines in varied places such as the Dallas-Fort-Worth Airport, the Las Vegas Hilton, and Macy's.

The first batch of machines will be installed on September 1, in airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Francisco. They're sure to come in handy for the forgetful traveler who is always leaving behind important accessories, but we're not sure how comfortable we would be buying an expensive piece of equipment like a digital camera from the same machines that are always eating our dollar bills when we want a Snickers bar. Even so, Zoom Systems offers a 60-day return policy, in case you, say, accidentally press the wrong button and buy the wrong color iPod.

On the plus side, a vending machine can't steal your very personal photographs. [Source: AOL News]

Dr. Dre's Headphones Bring the 'Beats' for $350

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 22nd 2008 at 12:42PM

You can't put velvet in these earcups and call 'em nice headphones! As Mr. Chappelle would likely attest, there are no better headphones in which to drop the beat into than Dr. Dre's "highly anticipated" Beats. The master of chronic himself has slapped his all-but-forgotten name onto a set of cans (which we covered a few months ago), and is now ready to introduce 'em to the world.

Starting on July 25th, the crunk-inducing headphones -- which Switched reviewed back in January -- will be available exclusively at Apple and Best Buy (both online and in-store), though the buying experience would likely be way more gangsta if checking out at BeatsByDre.com. Still, for $349.95, we'd recommend looking at more respected names in sound, but if your street cred is sitting at rock bottom, you may have no other choice. Thug life, fool. [Source: Business Wire]

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Hands-on With Monster's Dr Dre Beats Headphones

Best Buy Offers Up Free Electronics Recycling in 117 stores

by Donald Melanson, posted Jun 3rd 2008 at 8:18AM

Best Buy already gladly accepts cellphones, batteries, ink cartridges and other items for recycling, but it looks like you can now offload some of your larger, unwanted electronics gear free of charge as well -- if you near one of the 117 stores in the Baltimore, San Francisco, and Minnesota areas that are participating in the company's new test program, that is. According to the company, those stores will now accept up to two items per day, per household, including televisions and monitors up to 32-inches, computers, cameras and other devices not including microwaves, air conditioners. or appliances.

There's no word on any future plans for expansion of the program just yet, with Best Buy only going so far as to say that it'll "evaluate the success of the test and determine options for scaling it across the U.S." Of course, there's also plenty of other recycling options available if you don't want to wait for Best Buy to make up its mind. [Source: BusinessWire]

Best Buy Snaps Up 17 CompUSA Leases

by Joshua Topolsky, posted May 1st 2008 at 6:03PM

Apparently, not only is CompUSA rising from the dead like a horrific, zombified corpse, but now its guts are getting bought up and replaced by another retail behemoth. According to reports, Best Buy has just paid $13.5 million for 17 CompUSA store leases, ranging in time from three to 14 years and totaling 453,000 square feet. If the nightmare of CompUSA wasn't enough to haunt you in your sleep, the news that its now-defunct locations will be replaced with essentially more of the same should shake you to your very core. We imagine the Best Buy victory rap will be making the rounds again, you can jog your memory after the break. [Source: Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal]

[Thanks, Brian]

$399 Windows Eee PC Now Available at Best Buy

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 8th 2008 at 10:12AM

Wal-Mart seems to think that consumers don't want to buy cheap computers (earlier this eyar, the retailer pulled the $199 Everex gPC from store shelves and forcing consumers to go dig through its Web site to order one). Fellow big-box retailer Best Buy, however, has a different opinion. The home electronics powerhouse has just made picked up the recently released Windows XP version of the $399 Eee PC, which is now available both via its website and for in-store pickup.

We've reported on the low-cost Eee PC many times before, including word just last week that this XP flavored version was coming. That was good news for many who were looking for a cheap ultra-portable but wanted the familiarity of Windows. When we reviewed the laptop in February we found it to be capable and compact, if not quite a powerhouse. (What do you expect for $400?) The addition of Windows XP to the device should make it an even more appealing -- though slower -- option for many, though the faster version with a larger screen coming later this summer may be an even better choice ...

From Engadget

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HD DVD Responds to Bad Press Day

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 13th 2008 at 6:00PM

Yesterday was a bad day for HD DVD. We've already declared HD DVD dead in the water, but not everyone has come around just yet. Yesterday both Best Buy and Netflix helped bury the Toshiba-backed HD DVD coalition. Netflix announced that it would begin exclusively carrying Blu-Ray discs, and Best Buy will continue to carry HD DVDs and HD DVD players, but will "recommend" BluRay to customers.

The HD DVD Promotional Group released a press statement in response to the two major setbacks:

"We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail."

Obviously, some of the spark and fight has left the group when the best they can come up with is Blu-Ray hasn't pushed us off the shelves yet.

From Engadget

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Some Digital Photo Frames Sold at Best Buy During Holidays Contain Virus

by Will Safer, posted Jan 24th 2008 at 1:28PM

Best Buy's Insignia Digital Photo Frame

If you bought a 10.4-inch Insignia-branded photo frame with model number NS-DPF-10A from Best Buy during the holidays, then beware: The device may come with a virus that can infect Windows-based computers.

Best Buy has taken all the remaining Insignia-branded frames off its store shelves and has discontinued producing them. According to the Insignia Web site, "this is an older virus which is easily identified and removed by current anti-virus software." The company is also providing telephone support for any consumers concerned they have one of the infected frames at 1-877-467-4289.

(Note: Insignia is a brand name created and owned by Best Buy to create several lines of consumer electronics products for distribution through its stores. This is similar to store brands of other types that consumers typically see in everything from grocery stores to auto parts dealers.)

This isn't the first time a consumer electronics product comes installed with a little something malicious that the consumer wasn't counting on. GPS maker TomTom found out the hard way in late 2006 that a batch of its GO 910 units were infected at the factory level with a virus. And even the beloved iPod hasn't been immune, with an incident also in late 2006 where a collection of its 5.5-gigabyte MP3 players sprung up with a virus that was inserted at the manufacturing point. (That virus only infected Windows machines, as well.)

How does this happen? Typically, it's not the work of some nefarious factory employee who wants to sabotage a product line. Instead, the people who work at these manufacturing points are just as susceptible as the rest of us to mistakenly downloading a virus onto their work computers. This virus then replicates itself and ultimately makes its way onto one of the computers that is tasked with setting up the consumer electronics products destined for store shelves.

Both Apple and TomTom stated at the time that they were reviewing their manufacturing processes to prevent this from happening again and issued warnings and advice to consumers, just as Best Buy and Insignia are doing now.

Best Buy has not issued a recall of the photo frames. Since the flaw is (apparently) easy to correct, we don't think a panic is forthcoming -- or necessary.

From ComputerWorld.

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