If you’re a data and/or gadget junkie, or you know someone who is (and they’ve already got enough Ambient Devices), infosthetics has put together a guide to 20 info-centric gift ideas—like this $29 poster that maps the “genealogy of pop/rock.”
shopping
Shoppers Chill Out: Retail Sales Down 4.4% From Last Year
By 12.5.07
Reuters is reporting that retail sales are down 4.4 percent compared with same period a year ago.
What It Feels Like To Buy Pre-Cut Onions
By 12.5.07
I bought pre-sliced onions at the supermarket last time I went food shopping. Just because it was totally stupid, and i wanted to know what it felt like to buy onions someone had thoughtfully chopped for me and placed inside a little plastic tub.
Original Video: Attention Macy's Shoppers, Are You Debt Free?
By 12.5.07
We sent Gawker video wunderkid Alex Goldberg to the front of Macy’s in New York to ask shoppers if they were debt free, and if that would have any effect on their holiday spending. Overall the answer is no.
Gift Idea: Porn Star's Old Breast Implants (Autographed)
By 12.5.07
Mary Carey recently had her crappy 36-D implants replaced with a more suitable set of all-weather steel belted 36-DDDs, and “while under anesthesia she realized [the old implants] could be used to raise money for breast cancer research.” Yes, anesthesia does crazy things like that, we hear. She’s auctioning them off on eBay (up to $210 as of noon today).
Morning Deals
By 12.5.07
By 12.4.07
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Ric Romero, famous consumer reporter, wants you to know that some stores offer 10% off if you sign up for their credit card. Also, some stores will email you when they have a sale.
Sears Is #2 Holiday Shopping Destination, Still Can't Make Any Money
By 12.3.07
According to a poll cited by the Chicago Sun-Times, Sears is the #2 holiday shopping destination this year (after Walmart.) So why can’t they make any money?
By 12.3.07
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19% of 64,000 shoppers surveyed said they set up wishlists with retailers at some point, up from 11% in 2005. [source: NPD Group]
DG Launches DRM-Free Classical Music Store
By 12.3.07
The Internet always seemed like a logical sales outlet for classical music, which has long been the neglected step-child of the record labels. We’re happy to see that last week, Deutsche Grammophon launched a music store that sells DRM-free files of classical recordings—the files are constant bit rate 320 kps MP3s, and prices range “from $/€1.29 for a full-length track to $/€11.99 for an album.”
Which Is Better: "Store Cards" Or Store Branded Visas?
By 12.1.07
It has now become common for store to offer, in addition to their regular store-brand credit card, a co-branded Visa, Amex or Mastercard.
Facebook Alters Shopping Stalker
By 11.30.07
The New York Times says that Facebook will be making a slight change to “Beacon” the feature that tracks users purchases throughout the web and broadcasts them to their friends.
Late yesterday the company made an important change, saying that it would not send messages about users’ Internet activities without getting explicit approval each time.
Morning Deals
By 11.30.07
By 11.30.07
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Next time you’re bra-shopping, remember this fun fact: the band around your rib cage gives you 90% of the bra’s support. [WSJ]
What’s Wrong With Sears?
By 11.29.07
Sears’ earnings are down 99% and there’s really no denying that something is going wrong with the retailer. Same store sales, the most important indicator of the health of a store, fell 4.2 percent in the third quarter.
The Wii Shortgage Continues, Might End Next Spring
By 11.29.07
Not even Nintendo anticipated how the market would react to the Wii, which is why they’re still hard to find a year after launch, even after Nintendo almost doubled production of the console from 1 million to 1.8 million units a month, writes Wired. “Last week was Nintendo’s best since the Wii’s launch, with 350,000 sold in the United States alone. In comparison, Microsoft sold about that many Xbox 360s last month.”
