Still working on your Christmas shopping? If you’re going online to buy those gifts, you need to be aware of the sites’ wildly varying cutoff dates for placing orders in time to get them under the tree on the big day. [More]
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Digital Delivery Allows Companies To Ship Broken Products Without Refunds Or Returns
By 11.19.13
Not so long ago, if you bought a book with missing pages — or a DVD that skipped, or a CD or video game that wouldn’t play — you took it back to the store and got an exchange or a refund because obviously the manufacturer did not intend to provide you with an incomplete or broken product. The relatively new era of digital media delivery has improved upon this by allowing content providers to patch files and fix errors, but it’s also allowing companies to knowingly release inferior and/or broken products, often without giving the consumer any way to seek redress. [More]
At Target, A “Free” Gift Card For Reserving A PS4 Actually Costs $25, Can’t Be Used For PS4
By 11.18.13
Everybody wants a piece of the valuable pie that is the new PS4, so how do retailers distinguish themselves from each other and make sure you buy the console from them instead of another store? For one, Target offered what at first seemed like a pretty good deal: Reserve a PS4 from Target and pay $25 to do so, and receive a $25 gift card when you pick up the system. Sounds great, right? Maybe not so much, as we’re hearing from some very dissatisfied readers. [More]
My PS4 Just Arrived And I’m So Freakin’ Excited — Oh, Wait, It’s Broken… What Now?
By 11.18.13
All those months of waiting like a kid on Christmas, expecting a shiny new, preordered PS4 to show up on your doorstep, ready to play. But for some of our readers, those hopes were essentially dashed on Friday when the PS4 did show up — but it was dead on arrival. We’ve heard from a few of you stuck with these $400 pieces of plastic, and it sounds like you could be in for a frustrating wait. [More]
Yeah, People Are Doing That Thing Where They Pay Too Much For New Gaming Consoles On Ebay
By 11.15.13
As the sun does rise in the east and set in the west, people who didn’t pre-order are destined to panic and consider paying too much on eBay for the newest video game console. This time it’s the Sony PS4 whose disappearance from retailers both online and bricks-and-mortar has resulted in a slew of overpriced consoles popping up on eBay. [More]
Dallas Cowboys’ Dez Bryant Plays Santa, Buys PS4s For Local Walmart Shoppers
By 11.15.13
Last night, folks around the country lined up to get their hands on the new Sony PS4 gaming console when it was released at midnight. Among them was Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, who got into the holiday spirit a bit early by footing the bill for several other shoppers’ consoles. [More]
Microsoft Promotes Xbox Game With Footage From PlayStation
By 11.7.13
With Microsoft and Sony both releasing next-gen gaming consoles in the coming weeks, the push is on for each company to convince consumers that its console is the bee’s knees and thus worth plunking down several hundred dollars to purchase. What better way to sell the public on the awesomeness of your product than by accidentally uploading footage from your competitor’s console? [More]
Microsoft Promises That New Kinect Is Not (Always) A Crazy Spying Machine
By 11.1.13
With the new Xbox One console only weeks away from launch, Microsoft is doing its best to quell concerns that the new Kinect motion and voice sensor will be spying on users and storing important, sensitive information. [More]
Sony Sues United Airlines For Polluting The In-Flight Air With Copyrighted Music
By 10.24.13
Have you been on a United Airlines flight and soothed your nerves by listening to a Britney Spears or Michael Jackson provided by the plane’s in-flight system? According to a new lawsuit from Sony Music, that music was being played without permission. [More]
Home Depot Denies Rumor Of PlayStation 4 Kiosks
By 10.16.13
Considering that gaming consoles do a lot more than just let you play games and that bricks and mortar retailers are increasingly looking to rent out floorspace to cut costs and maybe improve foot traffic, it doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility that Sony would be setting up PlayStation 4 demo kiosks in Home Depot. But it just isn’t so, says the home improvement chain. [More]
Foxconn Admits To Working Unpaid Student Interns Overtime To Push Out PS4
By 10.10.13
Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturing firm, is at the center of controversy once again after admitting to pushing student interns to work overtime in advance of the release of the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4 gaming console. [More]
Walmart Offers All Of The Hottest Technology From 2006 At Slightly Discounted Prices
By 9.23.13
The retail archaeologists known as the Raiders of the Lost Walmart tirelessly search the world’s retail outlets for the finest and longest-buried antiquities. What ancient wonders did they turn up this week? Why, it’s a cache of seven-year-old digital cameras and ancient MP3 players offered at only slight markdowns. [More]
New LG TVs Will Be Telling Marketers What You’re Watching
By 9.5.13
Your co-workers, friends, and maybe even your loved ones might not know you obsessively watch marathons of House Hunters International, but your TV soon will, with LG and others looking to launch Internet-connected sets that tell third-party marketers about all the horrible TV shows you watch. [More]
Sony & Viacom Closing In On Deal To Make Networks’ Content Available Via The Internet
By 8.16.13
I’m no weathervane (or AM I?!?) but it seems the wind is shifting in the land of TV content and Internet streaming. Sony and Viacom are reportedly close to a deal that would allow network programs from MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and the like to be carried on a system Sony’s working on. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Find Surprisingly Recent Minidisc Player
By 7.30.13
Earlier this year, Sony discontinued their Minidisc format. We didn’t report on it at the time because the real news may have been that Minidisc players, the most portable music format of the ’90s, were still in production. The format never quite took off unless you like to record and bootleg concerts. [More]
Microsoft Decides Maybe It Doesn’t Want To Ruin Xbox One, Removes Restrictions
By 6.19.13
Well that was fast. Not even two weeks after Sony announced its upcoming PS4 gaming console wouldn’t have the insane restrictions on used and resold games that Microsoft had instituted for its new Xbox One device, reports say the boys from Redmond have decided that maybe some of their policies weren’t exactly the greatest ideas. [More]
As Expected, Sony Backtracks A Bit On Restriction-Free Games For PS4
By 6.11.13
Last night, Sony delivered a mammoth kick to Microsoft’s rear-end when it announced that the upcoming PS4 would not put any restrictions on how users share games for the new console. But this is obviously too good to be true 100% of the time, and now Sony is having to clarify what it meant. [More]
Take That Microsoft: PS4 Will Not Restrict Used Games, Won’t Require Internet Connection, Also $100 Less Than Xbox One
By 6.10.13 — Updated: 6.11.13
While Microsoft got all the press on Monday morning for announcing the availability of its upcoming Xbox One console, Sony finished the day at E3 with a huge middle-finger to Microsoft, confirming it won’t stop you from selling, buying or giving away your used games (at least the ones on disc). [More]
