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Posts with tag walmart

Engadget HD

Time Warner Cable to Push Services in 700 Wal-Mart Locations

We've certainly seen companies use the well-trafficked floors of Wal-Mart to springboard certain products and / or services before, but this one has us scratching our noggins, for sure. Apparently Time Warner Cable has secured a deal that will allow it to market its cable, broadband internet access and digital phone service in nearly 700 Wal-Mart locations.

Reportedly, customers can sign up for any of the provider's services from within the store (at "Connection Centers"), but here comes the curious part: after they leave, they're required to either phone up TWC in order to complete the transaction and get their service(s) hooked up or wait 24-hours for the carrier to contact them.

In essence, what we've got here is a bona fide marketing push -- from what we can tell, nothing about this process makes things noticeably easier for the customer than just phoning up Time Warner Cable from the comfort of their own home. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

From Business Wire via EngadgetHD

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Engadget HD

Gibson Sues 'Rock Band' Creators, Wal-Mart, and Other Retailers



Legendary guitar company Gibson filed a patent-infringement suit against Viacom and Electronic Arts, the makers of 'Guitar Hero,' alleging that 'Rock Band''s unique controller and gameplay are currently covered by a Gibson patent. This news doesn't come as too much of a surprise. Earlier this month, Gibson alerted Activision that its 'Guitar Hero' game infringes on earlier Gibson patents, despite Gibson's licensing deals with 'Guitar Hero.'

Gibson also went on to file suit against retailers Toys 'R' Us, GameStop, Amazon, Wal-Mart and Kmart in order to halt sales of the hugely popular game. 'Rock Band' has been out for about six months now and the 'Guitar Hero' has been around for years, so we're wondering what took Gibson so long.

From Engadget and The Wall Street Journal

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Engadget HD

Ex-Ramone Sues Apple and Wal-Mart



Richard Reinhardt, or, as he's more commonly known, Richie Ramone, is suing just about every company under the sun that offers digital music downloads, including Apple, Real Networks, and Wal-Mart. The former drummer of the seminal 1970s-1980s punk band The Ramones is even going after the estate of Johnny Ramone, the band's late lead guitarist.

What's Reinhardt's beef? According to reports, the suit claims that was no agreement for the digital distribution of the six songs Reinhardt wrote as a member of the Ramones. The songs in question are "Smash You," Human Kind," "I'm Not Jesus," "I Know Better Now," "Somebody Put Something In My Drink," and "(You) Can't Say Something Nice."

Over the four years and three albums, none of the six songs Reinhardt wrote were singles, and yet the guy is demanding $900,000 in back royalties and an injunction against future distribution of his work. Is he out of line? Given the rising stock of Apple and its ilk, we say good for Reinhardt!

From Beta News and AOL Music.

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Engadget HD

Wal-Mart Woos College Kids with Facebook

Wal-Mart Targets College Kids with FacebookWal-Mart is now targeting college students via the quickly expanding Facebook social networking site. Wal-Mart has created the "Roommate Style Match" group on Facebook and plans to keep the app operating through October 31st.

The application asks users a series of questions about taste and style in addition to goals for college and their personal space. The quiz then provides a general style type (such as Free Spirit, or Late Nighter) and ties that to recommendations for specific items at the Wal-Mart store.

College students spend a significant amount of their income on dorm room decor and electronics, an average of $1,112.62 for a freshman. Wal-Mart is using Facebook and earth-friendly initiatives to more aggressively market to that audience, one usually more wooed by the less-scandal-plagued and more metropolitan Target.

From USA Today

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Engadget HD

Wal-Mart Sells $300 Earth-Friendly PC

Wal-Mart's Green Minded $300 PC
Wal-Mart is prepping for the back-to-school season with the Everex IMPACT GC3502 PC, a $298 PC running Vista Home Basic. Now don't get too excited as this computer comes without a monitor and is woefully underpowered for all but the most basic computing tasks. If you just want to read a few web sites, send some email, and maybe do a little word processing, the Everex might not be a bad choice, especially if you just so happen to be a cash strapped college student.

The cheapest PC available through the mega retailer keeps costs down by eschewing the more popular Intel or AMD in favor of the energy efficiency focused VIA C7-D running at 1.5 Gigahertz. And just in case that doesn't mean anything to you, the C7-D is the world's first carbon-neutral processor. Emissions-reducing practices are used during production, and extreme power saving features keep power requirements low during actual usage. Any carbon emissions are offset by VIA's involvement in regional reforestation and alternative energy projects. Another cost saving replacement is the use of Open Office instead of Microsoft's productivity offering. Open Office certainly isn't a Microsoft Office killer, but for word processing and the occasional spread sheet it's hard to go wrong.

Otherwise, this is a fairly complete and standard package for a budget PC. A 80 Gigabyte hard drive, a DVD burner, 1 Gigabyte of RAM, on board audio and video. And of course keyboard, mouse, and speakers.

The low price is made even more impressive considering the absence of "crapware," "bloatware," or "craplets." Whatever you want to call them, these pieces of promotional and trial software are how many manufacturers keep PC costs down by selling "ad space" on your computer's desktop. Recently, however, users have been revolting against the practice. Dell has begun offering de-crapified PCs, and now Everex has proven that computers can still be cheap with out it.

From BetaNews

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Engadget HD

Wal-Mart Expands Electronics Offerings


Today Wal-Mart threw a grenade Best Buy's way with the announcement that the retail behemoth is adding a boat load of new electronics. On the TV side, more Samsung models will be available, as will sets by Vizio in the 26- to 42-inch range (this includes the 42-inch, sub-$1,000 Vizio VP42). Home-theater-in-a-box systems from both Sony and Phillips will be offered and stores will now have a "camera bar" where shoppers can get a hands-on with some of the new digital cameras also being added to the retail giant's tech offering.

Most surprising, however, is the addition of Skype Internet phones to Wal-Mart stores. Skype is a technology that lets you make phone calls over the Internet for cheap (or free to other Skype users) and, though popular with the early adopter set, it is still far from ubiquitous. If anyone can help the cause, it's Wal-Mart.

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From USA Today


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