Friday, January 11, 2008

Blu-ray's CES 2008 booth tour

Blu Ray Booth Tour at CES 2008Blu-ray's booth was a drastic change from their red neighbors; people were in line for swag, watching demos, playing with BD Live, and taking pictures with Homer and the huge pirate ship. We tried a little BD gaming as well, but we think we'll stick to just watching the movie. We did catch a glimpse of Panasonic's automotive Blu-ray player and 7-inch HD in dash display and let us tell you, we were impressed -- seriously you can see a difference even on a 7-inch screen.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/blu-rays-ces-2008-booth-tour/

Crapgadget CES edition, round 3: Boxing Champ

Boxing champ at CES 2008Move over, Wii boxing.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/crapgadget-ces-edition-round-3-boxing-champ/

Are Black Friday HD DVD Adopters Returning Players?

HD Dvd- Do not wantWe've heard from reputable sources at CES 2008 that people are returning HD DVD players they bought at low prices over the holidays because of all the crap that's gone down in the HD DVD camp this past week. UPDATE: We've got a response back from Jodi Sally, Toshiba's VP of Digital A/V Marketing regarding the rumors.

I have not heard of one single report from any of [Toshiba's retailers] indicating returns, in fact our meetings went well and retailers will continue to offer our HD DVD players as a choice for high definition.

Source- http://gizmodo.com/342988/are-black-friday-hd-dvd-adopters-returning-players-%5Bupdated-toshiba-responds%5D

Yoda and Darth Vader make Special Appearance in Soul Caliber IV Trailer

Darth Yoda VaderThat's right, Yoda and Darth Vader make a special appearance in this CES 2008 Soul Caliber IV trailer. Hopefully, they are unlockable characters in the US release.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ces-2008-yoda-and-darth-vader-make-special-appearance-in-soul-caliber-iv-trailer-video-

Ajoka Buckle Digital Camera Records from Your Belt, Makes You Styleless James Bond

Ajoka buckle with Digital CameraA digital video recorder with built-in micro camera and high quality recorder disguised as a belt buckle that could make Chuck Norris proud? My life is now complete. Thanks to Ajoka and their full-color, sound-enabled Buckle DVR, now you too can be an spy, a private dick and a Geek Squad technician. Yes, it looks like crap, but the specs are not bad at all:

According to Ajoka, the Buckle DVR can record 33 hours of audio and video on one 1GB microSD card, even while the rechargeable lithium battery can only last for two hours. These are the specs:

• Dimension: 2.54" (H) * 1.47" (W) * 0.60" (D)
• Video Compression︰ 3GP video format, 176x144 ,QCIF / 15fps
• Voice Recording: High quality digital voice recording.
• Internal Memory︰ No
• Micro SD card / T-Flash card support︰ 128MB to 2GB (Not included)
• Recording Mode︰ Continuous recording until memory is full or manually turned off.
• Video File Size︰ >500KB per minute

Absolutely Batworthy for $150.

Source- http://gizmodo.com/343583/ajoka-buckle-digital-camera-records-from-your-belt-makes-you-styleless-james-bond

World's smallest color SVGA display- Kopin claims

Kopin smallest SVGA display
It looks like the various companies that rely on Kopin displays for their gear could soon be soon be dishing out a round of upgrades, as the company has just unveiled what it claims is the world's smallest color SVGA display. Those possible upgrades are made all the more likely by the fact that Kopin's new so-called CyberDisplay SVGA LVS boasts exactly the same 0.44-inch diagonal size as its current VGA model, which allows it to use the same optics and housing, with the size of the connecting cable the only difference. While there's no word on any eyewear or other devices set to use the new display just yet, "select customers" looking to put it to use can apparently get their sample units for evaluation from Kopin right now.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/kopin-lays-claim-to-worlds-smallest-color-svga-display/

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Mini Phone in CES 2008

Mini phone demo at CES 2008
The Mini Phone. Just like a regular landline phone, but a little bit smaller.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/09/crapgadget-ces-edition-round-1-the-mini-phone/

iTunes downloads in UK to become cheaper

British music fans will pay less for downloads from Apple's online iTunes store after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs reached a deal with the European Commission.

British consumers have been angry at paying nearly 10% more than others in Europe for iTunes content to play on Apple's hugely popular iPods.

Apple will cut prices within six months as "the direct result of talks that have taken place between Steve Jobs and (European Competition Commissioner) Neelie Kroes," Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said on Wednesday.

The deal, under which the Commission dropped charges against Apple, resolves one of several irritants in the relationship between consumers, Apple and record companies.

Apple said it has had to pay some record companies more for content in Britain and warned it would "reconsider its continuing relationship" with labels that do not lower wholesale prices in Britain to the pan-European level within six months.

"This is likely to further damage Apple's already fractious relationship with the major labels," said Jonathan Arber, an analyst at media consultancy Ovum.

Music companies are quickly moving towards dropping copy protection, known as digital rights management, in part to free themselves from the increasing power of iTunes, he said.

iPODS DON'T DOMINATE

Consumers have also complained about the failure of iTunes downloads to play on anything except iPods. But Apple may legally continue that practice, the Commission said.

"We are in favor of interoperability," said Commission spokesman Todd.

"But the bottom line is that Apple is not in a dominant position on the market, and therefore the fact that they choose not to ensure interoperability is not an antitrust violation."

The pricing problem addressed by the Commission arose because customers can only buy music from national versions of the iTunes store, as determined by their credit cards.

For example, a consumer in the UK must use a credit card from a bank with an address in Britain.

In addition, the music must be cleared for sale in that country under national copyright rules, meaning that not all iTunes content is for sale in all countries. A video available in France may be unavailable in Belgium, for example.

The Apple deal may foreshadow further Commission action against such inconsistencies.

A basic EU treaty provision assures a single market.

"The Commission is very much in favor of solutions which allow consumers to benefit from a truly single market for music downloads," Kroes said in a statement.

The Commission said its investigation disposed of its original concern that deals between the major record companies and Apple accounted for the price differences.

In April 2007, the Commission said Apple had breached EU rules by agreeing with Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group to curtail cross-border access to iTunes.

EMI said it was "pleased to have received the European Commission's confirmation that there is nothing in its agreement with Apple that restricts its iTunes stores from selling music downloads to fans across national boundaries at the same price."

The case dates back to 2005, when British consumer group Which? complained that iTunes stores in France and Germany charged 99 euro cents ($1.45) per download but Britons had to pay 79 pence ($1.56).

Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080109/wr_nm/apple_eu_dc;_ylt=ArTGQKxnucgdhybWaQWRbcsjtBAF

Intel's Amazing Laptop Spiral

Intel Laptop SpiralWhat better way to show off your company's processors than by creating a laptop spiral -- at Intel's CES booth in this case.

Yes, you'll even spot a Packard Bell somewhere in there.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ces-2008-intel-s-amazing-laptop-spiral-video-

Will laser TVs be the next big thing?

Laser TV imageFrank DeMartin, general manager of Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, was nice enough to talk a little laser TV with us just before the unveiling of the new laser TV -- we're not exaggerating about the "little" part. While it all sounds fantastic, we were disappointed that he wasn't willing to even begin to satisfy our unlimited thirst for technical details. But he was confident that a laser TV could provide the ultimate in picture quality because "laser has the ability to hit color points that no other technology can."

We understand his desire not to spill trade secrets, but any technical information beyond, "it's the best" would've been better than nothing. So while we don't know how the TV works, we do know that the principal makes sense; lasers offer the purest form of light, while at the same time use less power than other light sources. The problem of course is that the competition in the HDTV market is a fast moving target, and with the delays Mitsubishi has been dealing with, we wonder how competitively priced this new technology will be -- though Frank assured us that Mitsubishi's dominance in the red laser market will help . Frank says, "it'll be competitive with flat panel prices," and that's great and all, but price isn't the only factor needed to compete against flat panels, people like thin TVs and the laser TV isn't thin -- it's about as thin as a DLP. But regardless of being the same price, Mitsu thinks the superior picture quality will trump thin because "people want it flat, but they want it large too."

Either way, we'll have to wait until some unknown time this year to see if the laser TV can live up to the hype, but with what we know right now, we're not sold just yet.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/09/will-laser-tvs-be-the-next-big-thing/

MyVu Crystal and Shades still incredibly dorky

MyVu Crystal demoLook, we really want to live in a world where strolling around wearing MyVu's latest video glasses is acceptable, but we just don't -- which is probably why Mahalo Daily's Veronica Belmont could just barely bring herself to put 'em on when she stopped by the booth at CES.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/09/video-myvu-crystal-and-shades-still-incredibly-dorky/

WiiWare Launching this March- Developer Says

Nintendo's answer to Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store will launch within 2-3 months, says Netherlands-based Engine Software.

The tentative debut of Wii's original download service was named by Engine while announcing their first WiiWare game on Wednesday, reports Shack News.

Project Bang!, as it is currently called, is described as "a casual game type with very addictive gameplay" for one or two players using the Wii Remote.

Engine Software's previous works include High Scool Musical: Livin' The Dream for GBA, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: Circle of Spies on DS, and contributing work on the DS version of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords.

Nintendo previously said WiiWare would launch in "early 2008." The company denied comment when pressed by Shack News for further confirmation.

Source- http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141243-c,gameconsoles/article.html#

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

ATI R680 Graphics Card Is 1000X Faster Than a Cray-1 Supercomputer

ATI R680 graphic card imageJust got a nice look at the R680, the upcoming enthusiast graphics card from ATI that is, apparently, as fast as 1000 Cray-1s. We're not allowed to say exactly how fast that is, but maybe you want to hazard a guess. The details are all hush-hush but assume that what people have already written is more or less true, and this bad boy will be hitting store shelves pretty soon.
ATI R680 graphics card
Source- http://gizmodo.com/342366/ati-r680-graphics-card-is-1000x-faster-than-a-cray+1-supercomputer

The Cobra Commander USB drive

Cobra commander USB drive image CES 2008How do you make a Cobra Commander USB thumb drive? Joe Michaels walks you through the process, which includes things like Dremels, two-part epoxy, x-acto knives, J-B Weld, and of course a USB stick and a Cobra Commander figurine.

Make your own comments..

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/the-cobra-commander-usb-drive/

New Apple Mac Pro

New Apple Mac Pro imageLast year CES and Macworld coincided, leading to one of the craziest weeks in consumer electronics history.

Well it seems like Apple didn’t want to wait an entire week to get the press buzzing about them. Just this morning (on day two of CES and one week before Macworld), Jobs and team released a brand new Mac Pro for $20,000.

Source- http://www.gadgetell.com/tech/comment/new-apple-mac-pro/

10 Insane Wii Weapons

Infrared Magnum Laser Beam gunLaser beams, battle axes, shotguns and more, no weapon is too crazy for CTA Digital's Wii accessories. Check out the gallery to see them all.

Wii Gun collectionsWii Shot Gun at CES 2008Source- http://gizmodo.com/342439/10-insane-wii-weapons

Microsoft bids $1.2 billion for search firm Fast

Bill Gates at CES 2008Microsoft Corp bid $1.2 billion to buy Norwegian business search software company Fast Search & Transfer in a deal focused on helping corporations manage and sift through their own files, a growing market also targeted by Google Inc.

The world's largest software maker offered to pay a 42% premium for Fast, the second-largest search provider that lets companies comb internal corporate documents, data and other information. Fast also sets up a search engine used by companies to help consumers navigate their Web site easier.

Fast said its board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the Microsoft offer, which values the fully diluted equity of Fast at 6.6 billion Norwegian crowns, or about $1.2 billion. It has been viewed by industry analysts as a takeover candidate.

"The problem businesses have around the world is they generate lots of files and they don't know where they put them," said Kim Caughey, senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital, which holds about 203,000 Microsoft shares.

"Microsoft has had desktop search for a while, but it really does need a more corporate approach to tracking and storing."

In recent years, larger technology industry players such as Google, International Business Machines Corp and Microsoft have started to move into the corporate, or enterprise, search market. This has led to flurry of acquisition activity.

The deal would spread Fast's search technologies more widely around the world, Fast Chief Executive John Lervik said. Fast posted a third-quarter loss of more than $100 million on revenue of nearly $36 million. Its clients include Dell Inc and Walt Disney Co.

Fast shares, which were suspended all day on Monday, jumped to the bid level of 19 crowns per share and then eased off to 18.80 crowns. The bid price is 42% higher than Fast's closing share price on January 4, the last day on which it traded.

Shareholders with 37% of Fast's stock, including its two biggest institutional investors -- Norway's Orkla and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe -- have agreed to accept the offer, according to Microsoft and Fast.

The news pushed shares of Autonomy Corp Plc, a British rival of Fast, up 9%. Microsoft shares fell $1.17 cents to $33.44 on Nasdaq.

Google, the dominant player in Web search, aims to carry over its appeal with consumers into the corporate market. Its Google Search Appliance is taking aim at niche search companies such as Fast and Britain's Autonomy Corp Plc that have been viewed as possible takeover targets.

Research firm IDC said Autonomy ranks No. 1, and Fast No. 2, in enterprise search revenue.

"This industry has been consolidating for several years now," said Susan Feldman, an analyst at IDC. "Enterprise search is the missing piece in the software stack."

Feldman noted that smaller makers of software that allows companies to filter, search and analyze data, documents and information are being gobbled up by large software makers such as SAP AG, which is acquiring Business Objects SA.

MICROSOFT BID SEEN PREVAILING

"There can always be another (rival offer), but I believe Microsoft will get it for 19 crowns a share," said analyst Erik Hjulstroem at Kaupthing Bank.

Standard & Poor's analyst Matthias Eriksson said: "I don't think there will be a competing bid. The premium is too high, so I think people will be glad to get 19 crowns."

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and acceptance from shareholders with more than 90% of Fast's shares, Fast said. Microsoft expects the transaction to be completed in the second quarter of 2008.

"We think (enterprise search) will be for workers what Internet search is for consumers today," said Microsoft Business division President Jeff Raikes on a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Raikes mentioned that Fast's enterprise search is a natural fit with Microsoft's collaboration software SharePoint, a fast-growing segment of the company's Office business.

Matthew Glotzbach, Google's director of product management at its Enterprise division, said Microsoft's move does not pressure it to acquire an independent enterprise search provider, because its business is growing fast.

Google estimated that its enterprise search business has a larger market share and more revenue than Fast, which countered that it does not view Google as a significant competitor for high-end customers.

Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080108/wr_nm/fast_microsoft_dc;_ylt=AgMyG04gTaRI9o_l96vNqNsjtBAF

Lamp PC Sports Flexible OLED Display- Tactile Interface

Lamp PC OLED DisplayUnlike other computers, the Lamp PC "uses tactile interfaces people are familiar with when turning lamps on so a pull of a cord activates one of the 4 faces."

Each face can display something different, i.e. - weather, news, email, music player, etc. The whole thing works wirelessly and comes with a fold out touchscreen keyboard.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/pictures-lamp-pc-sports-flexible-oled-display-tactile-interface

Giant BumbleBee Transformer Invades the Dolby Booth- CES 2008

Giant bumblebee imageWhat set Dolb's CES 2008 booth apart from the others was this gigantic -- yet highly-detailed -- BumbleBee Transformer, which seemed to be an actual prop from the movie.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ces-2008-giant-bumblebee-transformer-invades-the-dolby-booth

Samsung's Paper-Thin LCD Displays- CES 2008

Samsung paper thin LCD displayIf you demand the slimmest in displays, the Samsung "Ultra Slim LCD TV" should do the trick. Though technical specifications aren't yet available, they do look paper-thin to say the least, boasting rich and vibrant colors.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ces-2008-samsung-s-paper-thin-lcd-displays-video-

Intel Unveils First Penryn Mobile Processors

Refreshed Centrino laptop platform aims to increase power, energy efficiency, and speed of optimized applications.

Intel unveiled today the first Penryn laptop processors, a follow-up to the Penryn desktop processors that began to appear late last year. They mark a refresh to the fourth-generation (Santa Rosa) Centrino laptop platform and should begin to appear in new laptops next week.

The refreshed Centrino platform uses the Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset, which supports the new Penryn processor, wireless components, and graphics subsystems.

Intel will introduce hardware support for Microsoft Vista's DirectX 10 graphics later in the first quarter of 2008. Intel will also introduce an upgraded Centrino platform (codenamed Montevina) later this year.

Greener Chips
The five new Penryn mobile processors --one Extreme and four mainstream--use Intel's new 45-nanometer microprocessor architecture, which is more energy efficient than the previous 65nm architecture. They still bear Intel's Core 2 Extreme and Duo branding with clock speeds ranging from 2.1-GHz to 2.8-GHz. Although clock speeds are not considerably greater than those of the current processors (codenamed Merom), Intel has increased the L2 cache size in three of the five processors to 6MB. That's up from 2MB and 4MB.

Penryn's new instruction set, called Streaming Single Instruction, Multiple Data Extensions 4 (SSE4), can greatly improve some application tasks. Adobe, for example, is updating the next version of its Premiere Pro video-editing application with SSE4 support.

Applications optimized for SSE4 will be the ones that enjoy Penryn's speed boost. "If you look at raw power from Merom to Penryn, the performance gain isn't going to be huge," says Intel spokesperson Connie Brown. "If it's something that relies on SSE4 instruction set, it's in the double digits."

The mobile Penryn processors also have more power-down states including energy-efficient "Deep Power Down." The 45nm architecture is currently lead free and will be halogen free later in 2008.

Coming Soon: Penryn Notebooks
Notebook manufacturers, such as Fujitsu, will begin releasing new mobile Penryn-based laptops as early as next week. Fujitsu's first three Penryn models will be the 15.4-inch A6120, the 15.4-inch-E8410, and the 17-inch N6470. Fujitsu's senior director of mobile product marketing, Fujitsu Computer Systems Paul Moore says that Penryn's larger cache will result in faster performance.

AMD announced earlier today that its new Puma platform, including the new Turion Ultra processor (codenamed Griffin), will become available in the second quarter of 2008. It will also have hardware support for DirectX 10.

AMD will also launch ATI PowerXpress for the Puma platform, which allows users to switch between integrated and discrete graphics dynamically without rebooting their notebook.

However, Intel beats AMD with the availability of a 45nm architecture. AMD doesn't expect its 45nm components until later this year.

In addition to the five mobile Penryn processors, Intel announced four Xeon server processors, three quad-core desktop processors, and four dual-core desktop processors. No definitive word yet on whether Apple will announce Penryn-based Mac laptops at the upcoming Macworld Expo.

Source- http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141097/article.html

LG shows a KS20 clone with WiMAX

KS20 Clone with wimaxLooks like a KS20, does it not? Ah, but looks can be deceiving!

Gearlog says this bad boy has been gutted to use WiMAX in addition to GSM, a combo that won't likely be welcome on Sprint's XOHM network. Here's where it gets interesting, though: an LG rep went on record saying that it would be a pretty trivial matter to swap out the GSM silicon for CDMA, which would make Sprint far warmer to a hookup. The same cat went on to say that they'll be doing seamless handoff between WiMAX and GSM / CDMA networks, which is going to be a pretty critical feature as XOHM builds out -- a buildout that could take many, many years. LG, Sprint, let's make this happen, k?

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/lg-shows-a-ks20-clone-with-wimax/

Panasonic 150-inch Plasma TV Revealed

Panasonic 150 inch Plasma TVThis humongous 150-inch Panasonic plasma display is touted as the world's largest. Featuring 2160 x 4096 resolution and 1080p support.

So if you like your TVs as big as a queen-sized bed, capable of displaying an elephant in actual size, you may now begin your five-year wait for it to become available, if you can save your money fast enough.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ces-2008-panasonic-150-inch-plasma-revealed-video-

Bill Gates announces the death of (network) TV at CES

Bill Gates announces TV deathThe death of TV, really? Quite possibly, yes. Microsoft didn’t say that of course, but if you put all the pieces announced tonight together, you come to a pretty obvious conclusion rather quickly. Network TV, at least as we know it, will die.

Here are the puzzle pieces, see if you come to the same conclusion I did:

IPTV
At tonight’s CES 2008 Keynote, Microsoft made a big announcement: they’ve got 1 million set top boxes for its Mediaroom. This is 6 months ahead of schedule for Microsoft. They’ve done this pretty quietly now, but at this rate they are adding 2 IPTV subscribers every minute.

Making TV yours
Let’s say you love Nascar and follow a particular driver. With Microsoft’s partnership with NASCAR, your Mediaroom can enhance your viewing pleasure by filtering content about your favorite driver. Maybe instead of following the cars around the oval, you get to see how your team does in the pits. Sports are the easiest to make a quick connection on how powerful this kind of added value TV is but how about politics? Microsoft is working with CNN for election coverage, again with Mediaroom filtering content to your taste.

Xbox live
With their 10 millionth user, the Xbox gaming community is huge. But it is more than that, tonight Bill announced a new partnership with MGM, ABC and the Disney Channel to bring content to the Xbox live community. The Xbox live community access to on-demand content is growing by leaps and bounds

Advertising
Back in May, Microsoft bought online advertising firm AQuantive for a whole heap of cash ($6 billion). Bill reiterated again tonight how committed Microsoft is to becoming an advertising company as well -ala Google.

Here is how I piece this all together. Consumers have become DVR addicted, proving they want on-demand programming. There are just so many hours in a day to watch TV and consumers show a preference in getting to chose that content. Microsoft is getting dangerously close to moving away from network content, perhaps servicing their own ads where there used to be the networks or local stations. Microsoft will one day not need programming from the major networks, heck I bet threading together a “today’s best” YouTube channel would get more viewers than some stations. With all these pieces Microsoft has the potential to be even more powerful. With advertising support, Microsoft could even become a studio of sorts.

Many of the concepts aboves are still in “scenario"stage and on display at Microsoft’s booth.

Source- http://www.gadgetell.com/tech/comment/bill-gates-announces-the-death-of-network-tv-at-ces/

Nintendo Torpedoes The Wii Grey Market

Wii grey market thumbnail picsTwas the month before Christmas and all through the land,

Not a single retailer had one Wii on hand...

More like the year before Christmas, actually. An entire year where not a day went by that hundreds of electronic and gaming retail employees didn't have to negatively answer the same nagging question. "Do you have any Wiis in stock?" Even though the console sold relatively briskly in the year following its launch, getting your hands on one meant you either won a contest, knew someone who worked for a retailer, shadowed UPS trucks or were just plain lucky.

As the holidays season started heating up, things looked bleak for parents and gamers looking to get their hands on Nintendo's tiny, motion-controlled console. Rumors of chip shortages ran rampant, and I personally was certain that the eBay grey market price for the hot gift item would far meet if not surpass the highest numbers seen during the initial late 2006 release window.

Miraculously that never happened. At the very last moment, in a series of moves that gained them criticism from fans, Nintendo managed to pull together enough supply to curb the often ridiculously inflated eBay demand before it was too late.


Rising...Slowly

As you can see from the chart, back in early November the Wii was selling for a relatively modest price on the world's largest online auction house. While $350 is still $100 than the retail price of the system, the markup isn't quite as painful as it could be. Then the Christmas panic sets in.

By November 21st the price had spiked to $459...nearly double the retail cost of the system, and with a few fluctuations the price stays solidly about the $400 mark. Perhaps consumers hoping to avoid the Black Friday rush 2 days later were trying to get a leg up on things, causing the price to reach this high of a point. Either way, things were looking pretty grim for parents and fans hoping to get their hands on a Wii without getting fleeced by eBay resellers - until one day.

Reggie Spreads The Word.

On December 14th, Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aime held a conference call to address the growing problem of Wii shortages, detailing the companies plans to get customers matched up with systems by any means necessary. First came the raincheck system, which allowed customers a chance to pre-purchase the machine at GameStop stores across the country, with the understanding that they would be guaranteed a system by the end of January.

Then he announced that seven retail outlets - Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us and Circuit City - would have the coveted consoles in stock that weekend, revealing that stores had been stockpiling the systems for a massive, last-minute flood.

While the rainchecks met with varying success due to limited ability, the flood of systems that weekend had a huge effect on the eBay market.

Wii sold thumbnail pics
Bursting The Bubble

On December 17th, according to my data seen on the chart above, 11,016 Nintendo Wii consoles were sold on eBay, for an average price of $368 - the first time the price had dropped below $400 in a month. As Crecente noted in a previous post, eBay was positively slammed with Wiis, bringing the average price down and significantly lowering the normally high auction success rates on the console. Folks looking for a huge payoff still made a little dough of course, but nothing like the windfall they were expecting when they rushed out over the weekend to snag the systems for profiteering purposes. By the time Christmas Eve hits, the consoles are dollars away from the lowest price since November started.

Conclusion

As of this writing I cannot say if this was a calculated move by Nintendo to thwart the profit-hungry eBay grey market or simply a happy side-effect of a last-ditch effort to save face in the eyes of consumers worrying about where the product they wanted to purchase was, but Reggie's press conference and the subsequent console flood neatly nipped in the bud what could have been a terribly expensive Christmas for families looking for a little motion-controlled joy. Whatever the case may be, the end result is a small victory for the hardworking folks out there more worried about the smiles on their children's face than the thickness of their wallet.

Nicely done Nintendo.

While Nintendo declined to comment for this story, back during Fils-Aime's December press call he did address the issue of Wii gouging.

"We are always very disappointed if we see retailers that are pricing the Wii or any of our products above the MSRP price."

How kotaku collected the graph data:
To track eBay sales for the Wii I once again used a website called Terapeak, which is of of the most trusted eBay market research tools available. I looked at data for the US eBay site each day utilizing the keyword "Nintendo Wii" in the Video Games/Systems category. I set the price range for $200 through $10,000 to weed out any artificially inflated auctions as well as any fake buying guide auctions. Keep in mind that the results are still in part tainted by systems including games and extra controllers, but I believe the method I used obtained the most accurate results, all things considered.

As for the numbers sold chart, I used the same data, taking note of the "Items Sold" statistic for each day in the period.

Source- http://kotaku.com/341510/nintendo-torpedoes-the-wii-grey-market

Monday, January 7, 2008

Pioneer Kuro 9mm Plasma TV Concept Vs. iPhone

Pics Only-

Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft- CES 2008 Feature

Bill gates with guitar last day at MicrosoftAside from just relaxing, Bill Gates has a lot planned for his life after Microsoft, including getting in shape, spitting rhymes with Jay-Z, and more.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/ces-2008-feature-bill-gates-last-day-at-microsoft-video-

E Announces 3 New Walkman Phones- CES 2008

Sony Ericsson W760i, Z555i, W350i mobile phonesIt's official. Sony Ericsson has showcased three new Walkman phones, to be made available by the second quarter of this year. SE made the announcement at the on-going CES 2007, Las Vegas yesterday. Amongst the phones that were displayed include W760i, w350i and the Z555i.

The W760 is said to be a slider phone equipped with quad-band GSM/EDGE as well as tri-band 850/1900/2100 HSDPA radios for 3G roaming. Cool features like SensMe to turn off alarms and taking calls by just waving the hand over the phone/ Preloaded Google maps, Track ID and shake control are some of the features we can expect from the model.

While the W760i comes with a 3.2 MP camera, the W350i features 1.3MP, and other features that we saw in SE Walkman phones already present in the market. Word has it that the W350i will be a flip phone. The Z555i is a clamshell design and comes with a hidden OLED exterior display, shake control and stereo Bluetooth.

Source- http://www.tech2.com/india/news/mobile-phones/ces-2008-se-announces-3-new-walkman-phones/25311/0