Back in January, the Federal Trade Commission filed a case against D-Link, a company that makes networking equipment and connected-home devices. It alleged that D-Link deceptively marketed its products as advanced and safe when they were vulnerable to attacks that range from stealing personal information to peeping through security cameras. This week, a judge dismissed three of the counts from the FTC’s case, noting that the agency didn’t present any consumers who were actually harmed. [More]
ELECTRONICS
No, You Don’t Need To Buy A $20K 88-Inch TV
By 8.3.17
Here’s the thing: If you have $20,000 to spare, you could buy Samsung’s new 88-inch, 4K Ultra HD TV. But you really don’t have to. [More]
Foxconn Considering A $7 Billion Flat Panel Factory In The United States
By 7.24.17
Foxconn may not be a household name, but the odds are pretty good that you’re reading this post on a device that the company made or assembled under contract for companies like Acer, Dell, and Apple. The Taiwanese company does most of its manufacturing in mainland China, but is considering building a $7 billion factory somewhere in the United States. [More]
Best Buy, Amazon Fighting To Get Into Your Home To Install Smart Devices
By 7.11.17
For years, Best Buy’s Geek Squad has offered to enter customers’ homes to install, troubleshoot, or teach people about their new electronic devices. With the rising popularity of the connected home, such a service seems all the more useful. Not one to be left on the sidelines, Amazon is getting into the installation and education business when it comes to their own connected home devices, setting up a house-call showdown of sorts between the e-commerce giant and the brick-and-mortar electronics retailer. [More]
hhgregg Files For Bankruptcy, Already Has A Buyer Lined Up
By 3.7.17
In news that will come as a surprise to just about no one, hhgregg has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The appliance, electronics, and furniture retailer had previously announced it was, closing 40% of its stores, but it apparently concluded that the best strategy was a quick Chapter 11 and sale. [More]
Best Buy Swaps Intel Mini Stores For Alienware Displays
By 3.7.17
Best Buy offers customers a range of “experiences” through an array of mini-stores, including those from AT&T, Verizon, Oculus, Samsung, and Intel. Now, the company is revamping one of those concepts, swapping out dozens of Intel store-within-a-store showcases to feature products from Alienware instead. [More]
hhgregg Closing 88 Stores And 3 Distribution Centers: Here’s The List
By 3.2.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
hhgregg, a retailer whose name we assure you we have capitalized correctly, is closing 40% of its stores across the country. The company calls this a plan to “advance turnaround,” while its stock has been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange for having too low a share price, and rumors swirl that it’s planning to file for bankruptcy protection. [More]
RFID Tag Technology In Stores Means You Can Find Exactly Where That Sweater Is
By 2.8.17
You’ve probably had this experience before: A store’s own inventory system or its website says that the item you’re looking for is supposed to be, and no one seems to know where it went. That’s why stores are increasingly turning to RFID technology to quickly locate and track in-store inventory. [More]
Candle Claims To Offer That New Mac Smell Without The New Mac Price
By 10.4.16
If you’re the kind of person who takes long, deep whiffs when you unbox a new Mac computer, one company says it has just the product to fill your nostrils — without the hefty price tag. [More]
Best Buy Closing 160 Samsung Mini-Stores, Expanding 250 Others
By 8.3.16
In recent years, Best Buy has taken to carving up some of its stores’ square footage and turning those areas into stores-within-a-store, including a slew of Samsung Experience Shops. Three years into the project, it seems the retailer is changing a few things up. [More]
Best Buy Defies Everyone’s Expectations, Is Mysteriously Not Dead
By 5.25.16
Over the last few years, Best Buy has taken the internet’s snide jokes about using its stores as an Amazon showroom, listened to them, and then stubbornly refused to go out of business. Best Buy calls its results this quarter “better than expected,” which is true, but their continuing existence is also “better than expected.” It’s the last national big-box electronics retailer standing, with $39.5 billion in revenue during the fiscal year that ended in January 2016 and growing online sales. [More]
Circuit City Is Returning From The Dead: Yes, Again
By 1.27.16
Back in 2009, the medium-box consumer electronics chain Circuit City closed. Systemax, the owner of TigerDirect, acquired the brand’s website and customer list, and kept it going until 2012. Late last year, Systemax decided to shut down its technology business, and that included selling the twice-defunct Circuit City brand. Now yet another company has acquired the brand and wants to make a go of it as physical retail stores. [More]
Diet App Claims To Help You Watch Your Weight By Scanning The Molecules In Your Food
By 1.6.16
It’s a new year, and you know what that means: new diet plans — or at least, you might be promising yourself to stick to a new diet plan. But it isn’t easy, which you know if you’ve ever sat staring longingly at the last piece of cheese on the plate, wondering whether it will totally screw up your resolution to finally lose just five more pounds. A new app and its connected smart device claims it can do just that, scan your food and let you know whether or not it’ll lead you from your chosen diet path. [More]
9-Year-Old Opens PS4 Box On Christmas Morning, Finds Block Of Wood
By 12.28.15
Christmas morning is a time for family togetherness, enjoying the delighted faces of children, and surprising loved ones with thoughtful gifts. Unfortunately, wrapping gifts and putting them under the tree until the recipient opens the box means risking a retail hazard: boxes of expensive electronics that contain notepads, bricks, picture frames, or mirrors. This is disturbingly common, and happened to a family in Massachusetts this Christmas. [More]
VTech Hack Exposed Tens Of Thousands Of Photos & Chat Logs Of Parents, Kids
By 12.1.15
The recent breach of popular children’s electric toy maker VTech compromised the personal information of nearly five million parents and children, but a new report claims the hack exposed even more sensitive information: photos and chat logs between children and their parents. [More]
Hack Of Toy Maker VTech Exposes Data For Millions Of Parents, Kids
By 11.30.15
Let’s kick off the holiday shopping season with news of a data breach that may involve some toys you’ll be wrapping in the coming weeks. Popular children’s electric toy maker VTech has announced that customer information fell into the wrong hands earlier this month. [More]
Amazon To Make Echo Available At Home Depot, Radio Shack, Other Retailers
By 11.10.15
Three months after Amazon announced it would allow Staples to offer its high-tech, sort-of assistant speaker online, the company says it will allow retailers to sell the Echo at thousands of locations across the U.S. [More]
Best Buy Adds Same-Day Delivery Test In San Francisco
By 11.2.15
Last-minute holiday shopping just got a bit easier for some Californians who simply forget to grab a gift for your electronics-loving family and friends: Best Buy is testing same-day delivery. [More]
