Given that $100 at Wal-mart is essentially as good as cash, we can only imagine how titillating this offer may seem for Blu-ray holdouts. Announced today, the mega-retailer will be offering a $100 gift card with the purchase of any Blu-ray player from June 8th through 14th -- and yes, Sony's PlayStation 3 is included.
IIn case this wasn't enough to maybe-possibly get the general public to actually pay attention to the format, Wally World will also sell "select" BD titles for $15 starting on the 8th. Since the format war ended earlier this year, we've seen report after report proclaiming that Blu-ray adoption just wasn't taking off here in America, but with a theoretical net price now close to $200 (albeit for a few days only), we can certainly see the masses taking notice at long last. [Source: Reuters]
The most interesting bit of info gleaned from Wall Street Journal tech guru Walt Mossberg's recent review of the iPod Touch is that Apple confirmed to him that some initial Touch units shipped with defective screens. Anyone keeping up on their iPod news recently has certainly read the reports of users complaining that the screen used in the iPod Touch is far inferior to the one used on its half-brother, the iPhone -- the main complaint being an infuriatingly dim screen (see above video). According to Mossberg, Apple claims the problem affects only a small amount of new iPod Touch owners and that a fix is in the works. Apple didn't say exactly what that fix would be, or how many scorned customers a "small amount" is. Mossberg reviewed two units, neither of which demonstrated the dimness problem.
Overall, Mossberg is a fan of the Touch -- as he is of almost anything Apple -- though he does take the device's battery life to task, which he claims does not live up to Apple's claim of 22 hours, but is more like 17.
Love him or hate him, comedian Bill Maher makes some pretty amusing observations about the recent iPhone price cut in this clip from his HBO show, 'Real Time with Bill Maher.' As he sees it, Apple didn't cut the price of the iPhone, it repealed the nerd tax!
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