Hasta La Gadget!

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze is proposing a plan to turn around the ailing electronics store as part of a $10 billion buyout. He’s proposing the retailer slashes prices to compete with online rivals like Amazon, while offering Apple Store-levels of customer service. He’s concerned that the current closure and size-reduction policy will spell the end of the business, which is rumored to announce another round of closures shortly. It’s yet to be seen if his plan, which would mean running Best Buy at a loss for several years, would be accepted by the company’s management, who are meeting to discuss the proposals at the end of the month.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Best Buy founder wants slashed prices, Apple-style customer service in $10 billion rescue plan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Many wonderful things have come out of the US Military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—or DARPA—incuding the internet. But none are as insanely awesome as its new CAAT (Captive Air Amphibious Transporter) which is essentially a tank that floats on water thanks to its oversized inflatable treads. More »

Kaspersky Labs discovered a new computer virus recently dubbed Gauss that targeted banking systems and financial information. According to Kaspersky Labs, the virus has infected over 2,500 computers, primarily located in Lebanon, and targets specific banks and financial institutions such as BlomBank and Credit Libanais. Now, web-based tools have been released that allows anyone to check if they’ve been infected by Gauss.

Kaspersky detects the virus by checking systems for a font that’s included when the virus infects a computer. The font, Palida Narrow, could be a play on words of Paladin Arrow, according to one Kaspersky Labs researcher. While the virus is primarily used for gathering financial information, there are parts of the code that obfuscate other abilities.

The information that the virus gathers isn’t limited to sensitive banking details, however, with the malicious software also targeting web browsing histories and passwords. The virus also creates a detailed snapshot of the targeted computer’s hardware, designed to help aid any future attacks. The origins of Gauss aren’t known, but experts believe it could be a state-designed virus due to the specific banking institutions it’s targeting. It could be an attempt to gather the financial activity of a group like Hezbollah or the Iranian government.

Even stranger, after the virus was first discovered by Kaspersky Lab back in July, the remote systems used to control it were abruptly shut down. The makeup of the virus also shares features with other espionage related viruses, further backing up the belief that it’s a state-designed effort. Other security experts, however, believe it could simply be the work of coders and criminals that have copied state designs.

[via The Washington Post]

Researchers develop Gauss detection tools is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Don’t have $300 to spend on Parrot’s AR Drone that you’ll most likely crash into a wall five minutes after take off? Consider Brando’s minuscule alternative. You’ll be sacrificing onboard video cameras and the ability to pilot it with your iPhone, but you’ll be saving yourself $250. More »

There’s been no shortage of tantalizing details coming out of Apple and Samsung’s big legal spat in San Jose, and that trend shows no sign of slowing down.

Case in point: Samsung’s legal team filed a document (first spotted by AllThingsD) the other day that shed some new light on the two companies’ smartphone and tablet sales over the years. The data was put together by the Invotex Group (who also whipped up this handy PDF chart outlining what Apple thinks it deserves in damages), and it appears they’ve left no stone unturned.

Take a look at this little guy, for instance.

Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff going on there — 24 of Samsung’s smartphone models are under fire in this case, and there’s sales data here for each of them. In case you don’t quite feel like poring over the entire thing, here it is in a nutshell: Samsung sold a total of 21.2 million of those accused smartphone models between June 2010 and June 2012 which works out to $7.5 billion in sales revenue over the two years.

Surprisingly, the top selling Samsung smartphone is the prepaid Galaxy Prevail, with 2.25 million sold during the timeframe in question. Boost Mobile must be mighty pleased.

Apple’s numbers on the other hand are a fair bit more imposing — the Cupertino company has sold over 85 million iPhones since the device made its debut back in 2007 (netting Apple a cool $50.7 billion in revenue), but that’s hardly a fair comparison to Samsung’s figure because of the timeframe involved.

Apple’s financial calendar doesn’t match up terribly well here, but from Q3 (July) 2010 to Q2 (April) 2012, Apple sold over 60 million iPhones. This still isn’t the most accurate number — the provided sales numbers don’t account for every single one of Samsung’s smartphones — but it’s still a considerable difference between the two. Samsung’s Android devices may be taking over the rest of the world, but it’s still got a hell of a fight in front of it here in the states.

Things get even more interesting when we turn to look at tablet performance. Apple has sold a total of 34 million iOS tablets since 2010, raking in $19 billion in revenue as a result. Meanwhile Samsung’s Galaxy Tab sales haven’t been quite as amazing — the Korean electronics giant shipped a total of 1.4 million Galaxy Tabs, Galaxy Tab 10.1s, and Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTEs between October of 2010 and March of this year.

Again, it’s worth noting that the portrait this data paints is missing some crucial pieces, like the handful of tablets that Samsung has released since March. There’s a small silver lining to be found here though — as Zach Epstein over at BGR points out, Samsung’s average revenue per tablet during that period was just shy of $450, compared to roughly $353 in revenue for each accused smartphone it sold.