Can it still be considered self-checkout if the shopper doesn’t have to do a thing during the process? Yet another retail innovation aimed at expediting the checkout process scans and bags items so humans don’t have to. [More]
panasonic
Which Stores Will Have The Best Black Friday Deals?
By 11.17.15
How do you quantify what the “best” deals are, on Black Friday or any other day of the year? The most important factor should be whether the retailer sells stuff that you actually want, of course, and the value that those items provide for the money. Yet the sport of deal-hunting is all about the discounts, and WalletHub decided to compile raw percentages to figure out the best places to shop after Thanksgiving this year. [More]
This Blu-Ray Player Was A Fine Holiday Gift In 2007
By 10.22.15
If you’re shopping for a new Blu-Ray player, you could walk into any big-box or electronics store and pick one up for under $100. For that price, you’ll get a high definition picture and the unit may even include streaming video apps. Or you could go to Walmart, where this 8-year-old player that originally cost $499 is marked all the way down to $200. [More]
Buy A 4K TV Now If You Have Gobs Of Money And Like Kevin Spacey A Lot. Like, A Whole Lot.
By 1.8.14
If you haven’t noticed by now, we’ve basically let Meg “I’m The Boss And What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas” Marco loose on CES this week, where she’s sending on-the-ground dispatches about all things new and electronic. Her ramblings today took her to the various and sundry 4K TVs on display. So how jazzed do the TVs seem, compared to your usual 1080p resolution sets? “Jazzed as hell,” sayeth Meg. [More]
When It Comes To Curved TVs, Size Does Matter
By 1.8.14
Several TV manufacturers are showing off curved TV sets at this year’s CES. The notion is that these sets off the viewer a more immersive, theater-like experience in their homes. But after spending some time with these TVs, we can say it’s all a matter of size. [More]
Report: Panasonic Planning To Ditch The Plasma TV Market Next Year
By 10.9.13
If you’re thinking of buying a plasma TV from Panasonic, you might want to hop on it lickety-split: A new report says Panasonic is wiping its hands of the plasma business by March 2014. It’s all turning into a losing business prospect for the Japanese company and the TV industry in general. [More]
Best Buy Cancels My Black Tie Plan, Forgets To Tell Me
By 7.29.13
Reader L. had heard nightmare tales about Best Buy’s Black Tie Protection Plans, but they couldn’t possibly be true. Could they? Two years into a four-year protection plan on his TV, he found out the hard way. No, they didn’t refuse to cover his problem, or stall on sending a repair person over: they had canceled his plan back in 2011, but forgotten to tell him. [More]
Now From Panasonic: The Disposable Plasma TV Set
By 7.11.13
Kevin spent a lot of money on a plasma TV from Panasonic just a few short years ago. Like many consumers, he assumed that the company would support a product that cost four figures for more than a year. Sure, someone who can afford a home 3D system can probably afford to hire a repair technician to come out with the capacitor needed to make the set actually turn on, but should they have to? Kevin doesn’t think so. [More]
Best Buy ‘Bonus’ Means You Pay One Penny More
By 6.12.12
If you purchase this 55″ Panasonic plasma screen TV from Best Buy, they’ll throw in a home theater system for only only $150. This is an impressive deal, considering that the list price for that package is…$149.99. [More]
Pay No Attention To The Flickering Excited Pixel On Your Plasma TV
By 5.21.12
Joshua has only had his Panasonic 3-D plasma TV for six months, so it’s still well within the initial one-year warranty. It’s developed a strange problem where one particular area of the screen glows bright green, flickers, and is hot to the touch. Once Panasonic was able to find someone on staff capable of viewing the YouTube video he sent in as evidence, they ultimately concluded that a hot flickering pixel is not covered by the warranty. Really? Somehow, he expected more after dropping $1,500 on a TV. [More]
Waterproof Smartphones Make Accidental Toilet Dunkings A Lot Less Scary
By 2.28.12
For anyone who’s ever leaned over a toilet or a glass of water and heard the unmistakeable “kerplunk!” of your hard-earned money disappearing into a watery grave, you should be relieved to hear that new waterproof smartphones are on the way.
USA Today reports from the 2012 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where the Panasonic Eluga and Eluga Power were on display. Running on Android, the Elugas look to be nice and thin, not some plunky piece of deep-diving plastic. [More]
Photos: Behind The Scenes At CES 2012
By 1.10.12
In a few hours, the folks at the Consumer Electronics Show will fling open the doors to the Las Vegas Convention Center and a crowd the size of a small city will begin gawking and toying with the latest in doodads and whatsthats. But for the second year in a row, me and my trusty camera phone were able to convince someone I had a reason to be on the show floor so I could snap a handful of last-minute preparation pics before anyone caught on to my antics.
[More]
Panasonic Has No Idea Why Your 3D TV Keeps Adding Phantom Channels
By 12.1.11
Josh really enjoys having a 3D television in his home, and spent a lot of money for the privilege. About six months after purchase, the set began adding phantom channels to his lineup. Not a catastrophic problem, but not a problem that’s easy to ignore when you dropped more than two grand on the TV set less than a year ago. But Josh is apparently the only one on the planet with this problem, and while Panasonic can’t figure out the cause, they’re not about to send Josh a new TV or even send someone out to his home to fix it, even though his service agreement states that’s sort of what they have to do. [More]
Why Does Digital Camera Repair Cost More Than Just Buying A New One?
By 10.14.10
Dan writes that he was very happy with his Panasonic camera, a point-and-shoot with a nice zoom lens. He would have been happy to pay $100 to get it back in working order and avoid buying a new one. Alas, this was not to be. Since a special part needed to be ordered from Japan, Panasonic wanted $488 to repair a camera that originally cost $300. Dan is better off buying a new camera–which won’t be a Panasonic. [More]
Panasonic: If We Had Actually Helped When You Called For Support, Your TV Would Be Under Warranty
By 6.17.10
James has a sweet Panasonic 42″ plasma screen TV. He writes that the device has an exciting new feature: it now refuses to turn on. Back in January, he called Panasonic support, who were able to help him unplug and reset the TV a few times. That helped, but it broke for good back in May. Now Panasonic says that his warranty is up, but they totally could have helped him if the set had broken closer to the end of this one-year warranty. Say, two months after the warranty ended in November 2009. Also known as January–when he originally called Panasonic about the problem. [More]
Panasonic & Best Buy Really Want To Sell You A 3-D TV
By 3.8.10
Okay, so Avatar was a big blue dud at the Oscars last night. But that still doesn’t change the fact that the 3-D spectacle has made more money than some small countries. And with Alice In Wonderland raking in over $100 million in its opening weekend, the U.S. movie audience has shown it’s willing to embrace 3-D. That’s why Panasonic has teamed up with Best Buy to push its new line of 3-D TVs. [More]
E.E.C.B. Forces Best Buy To Finally Replace Defective TV
By 8.10.09
It took an Executive Email Carpet Bomb to convince Best Buy to replace Bryan’s Panasonic LiFi LCD Projection TV after it ate through four lamps. Bryan had purchased Best Buy’s extended warranty, which contains a no lemon clause that promises a replacement after three failed repairs. Best Buy conveniently insisted that replacing the broken lamp did not count as a “qualified repair.” Bryan first escalated his complaint through normal channels; when he had no other choice, he launched the mighty EECB.
Watch Out For Panasonic's Proprietary Battery Cameras
By 7.27.09
Many of Panasonic’s cameras will only work with official Panasonic batteries—the newest models require “an embedded security ID chip,” while older models have been issued a firmware upgrade that locks out third-party vendors. This is already pretty obnoxious, but what makes it even worse is Panasonic can’t keep up with demand, so the batteries they insist you buy for your camera aren’t available.
