Nokia Booklet 3G slips to $199 on contract ‘through the holidays’

Few people were debating that the $299 on contract price for Nokia’s Atom-powered Booklet 3G was a bit steep, but now it has fallen more in line with its closest competition thanks to a price drop at Best Buy Mobile. From December 13th “through the holidays,” the Windows 7-packin’ machine (which we just recently reviewed) will be available for $199.99 with a two-year AT&T Data Connect plan. Of course, there’s a good chance you’ll regret the decision to jump on this when the next-generation Atom hits at CES (which is happening, right Intel?), but hey, Santa’s got to do what Santa’s got to do.

[Thanks, Hary]

Nokia Booklet 3G slips to $199 on contract ‘through the holidays’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rocketfish WirelessHD Adapter snips an HDMI cord for $600

When Belkin killed its FlyWire, it also put a serious hurtin’ on the hopes of wireless HDTV ever truly taking off in the near term. Granted, the device was horrifically overpriced, but it was easily the most well-known product in the fledgling sector. Now, however, it seems that a few other players are sneaking into the limelight, with Philips recently introducing its sub-$1,000 Wireless HDTV Link and Sony pricing its DMX-WL1 for the everyman. Today, Best Buy’s own Rocketfish has introduced its WirelessHD Adapter, a two-piece set that enables a single HDMI device to be connected to an HDMI-enabled HDTV sans cabling. You simply plug your source into one box and your HDTV into another; so long as the two are within 33 feet of one another, 1080p content can be slung without wires. It’s up for order right now at $599.99, which — amazingly enough — is actually more expensive than that 30-foot Monster HDMI cable you were secretly eying.

Rocketfish WirelessHD Adapter snips an HDMI cord for $600 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cyber Monday deals roundup: Core i7, HDTVs, SSDs, free Droid Eris

In Soviet Bulgaria, we don’t have Cyber Mondays, but from what we’ve been told this is a pretty bargainous time of the year. HP starts us off with a pair of coupons on its dv8 Core i7 notebook, one of which drops the 18.4-inch laptop to just $899. There are also deep 50 percent discounts on its printers, but only the Photosmart Premium All-in-One remains after the two cheaper models sold out. Click the Logic Buy link below to get in on the action. Amazon has the older Modern Warfare at $29.95 and Uncharted 2 at $40 flat for the PS3, Garmin’s nuvi 260W at a cent under $115 (or half price), and plenty of discounts on DVDs, gadgetry and even clothing. Best Buy keeps pace by offering the same price on the Garmin nav unit, as well as 10 percent discounts on Apple’s iPod range. Walmart is kicking off a whole Cyber Week with a Sony Bravia 32-inch HDTV priced at $398 and a $249 Nintendo Wii Value Bundle, which includes Wii Sports, sporting peripherals, and a choice of free game. If you’re more interested in computer components, Newegg’s $30 mail-in rebate on the 120GB OCZ Agility SSD will net you the drive for $289, our favorite of a plethora of deals at the online store. And finally, Dell is offering the Droid Eris for free when taking out a new Verizon Wireless account, which is at least $30 cheaper than you can get it anywhere else. Time to get clicking!

Read – Amazon
Read – Best Buy
Read – Dell
Read – Logic Buy
Read – Newegg
Read – Walmart

Cyber Monday deals roundup: Core i7, HDTVs, SSDs, free Droid Eris originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee PC 1201HA now on sale in the US

A little later than mid-November, sure, but ASUS has finally unleashed to the US masses its 12.1-inch Eee PC 1201HA. Available at Best Buy for a penny under $330, it’s got all the standard affairs: 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520, 1GB RAM upgradeable to 2GB, 160GB HDD, WiFi, and a touted 6 hour, 38 minute battery life. The catch here is Windows XP — sorry 7 lovers, but if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, there’s always Chrome OS.

ASUS Eee PC 1201HA now on sale in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Hero, Samsung Moment now $100 on Sprint courtesy of Best Buy

Leaning back and forth between the $100 HTC Eris on Verizon and the $179 HTC Hero on Sprint? Well, your decision just got a bit more difficult, as Best Buy has now kicked off a new holiday promotion that’ll net you a chin-less Sprint Hero for the same hundred bucks as Verizon’s Eris. If you prefer, you can also now snag a Samsung Moment for the same price, but each will of course have to be paired with a new two-year activation, and you’ll have to take the plunge before the end of December — although there’s at least a decent chance there will be another discount / price drop by the time this one ends.

[Thanks, Daniel]

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HTC Hero, Samsung Moment now $100 on Sprint courtesy of Best Buy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FLO TV Personal Television now on sale for $250, should be in cereal boxes soon

Look, we fully understand that someone, somewhere put a lot of time and effort into designing a $250 handheld that does nothing but watch pixelated mobile TV for a lofty per-month price, but seriously, there has to be better uses of one’s time. The 3.5-inch FLO TV Personal Television is on sale today at Amazon, Best Buy and RadioShack, though we suspect that the $249.99 up front price will probably keep most potential buyers at bay. Six months of service are included, but afterwards you’ll be paying at least $8.99 per month (and a rate that low requires a three-year contract) to keep the signals flowing. If we’re being honest, this thing is still more useful than Celio’s REDFLY, but that sure ain’t sayin’ much.

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FLO TV Personal Television now on sale for $250, should be in cereal boxes soon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy stocking Nokia’s Booklet 3G on November 15th

We knew good and well that Nokia’s Booklet 3G was coming to Best Buy sometime “during the holidays,” and now we’ve got something a bit more precise to share. Starting now, Reward Zone members can waltz into their local store and place a pre-order, while public availability is pegged for November 15th (though we already know that a select few have ’em in stock). As we’d heard, the 2.76-pound, Atom-powered netbook will be sold for $299.99 with a 2-year AT&T data contract or $599.99 straight-up. Oh, and if you’re looking to get your order in early, we’d recommend printing out that image above just so you don’t baffle anyone with your otherworldly request.

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Best Buy stocking Nokia’s Booklet 3G on November 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola DROID goes on sale a little early at Best Buy Mobile

Looks like the DROID invasion is starting a little early — we were just sent these pics of Motorola’s beastly Android slider on sale at an unspecified Best Buy Mobile somewhere deep within America’s heartland. Or perhaps it’s lurking around the fringe of our nation’s coasts. In either case, we’re told BBM reps can sell you a DROID as of today, so it might be worth checking out if you’re not psyched to hit up your local Verizon store at 7AM tomorrow. And do let us know if the DROID ERIS is available, will you?

P.S.- Just got a tip that Wal-Mart is now selling ’em early too. The DROIDs are loose, people. Gather your valuables.

P.P.S.- Target Mobile Solutions, which operates kiosks in California Target stores, has opened the floodgates too — but the catch is that you’ll be paying $249.99 for a new activation, $50 more than Verizon after rebate. Thanks, Tony! (Update: we’re hearing it’s back down to $199.87 now — nice!)

[Thanks, Mike and Jesse]

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Motorola DROID goes on sale a little early at Best Buy Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy partnering with CinemaNow to stream first-run DVDs to ‘all web-connected devices sold’

Can you live without physical media? Are you ready to buy into owning a license without any physical property to show for your purchase? We hope so ’cause that’s the future. Today Best Buy will announce confirmation of its rumored partnership with CinemaNow in a deal that will stream first-run DVDs directly to consumers. Better yet, according to an AP report, the software required to access CinemaNow’s video library “will be included on all the Web-connected devices sold in Best Buy’s more than 1,000 U.S. stores.” If taken literally then wow, just wow… that’s a lot of devices. However, since Best Buy sells Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, and there’s no way that Apple’s going to let a retailer tamper with its devices, we think the AP‘s wording is a bit ambitious.

The idea here is simple: pay once for a DVD then eventually be able to play it on any device be it a television, Blu-ray player, PC, smartphone or some other connected device. The new Best Buy-branded service will launch “early next year” according to Chris Homeister (yes, that’s his real surname), as Best Buy gets “into this business in a big way.” Remember, Best Buy already announced a streaming Netflix deal and partnerships with TiVo and Napster that will be launching early next year as well. And we’ve already seen Sonic Solutions, CinemaNow’s owner since last year, bunging its 1080p-capable CinemaNow service into every connected-device imaginable — even 3D content for 3D Vision-ready displays. The whole concept sounds very much like Disney’s Keychest which already sounded very much like the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (or DECE) consortium. Hopefully Best Buy will clear up the details later today when this gets really official. The future is now — too bad US broadband is so yesterday.

Update: It’s official. The agreement will allow customers to “buy or rent” from CinemaNow’s library of content on “connected consumer electronics” sold through Best Buy retail stores or BestBuy.com. New titles will “often” (note the qualification) be made available day and date of the DVD release. The service will also leverage digital copies to bridge the physical and digital stream worlds. See the full press release for all the detail.

Show full PR text
Best Buy Co., Inc (NYSE:BBY) and Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ:SNIC) today announced a strategic relationship that will result in a new Best Buy customer offering in its growing line-up of digital entertainment products. The new on-demand movie and entertainment service will be powered by Sonic’s Roxio CinemaNow[TM] and will allow consumers to have access to buy or rent a vast library of premium content.

To power this offering, Best Buy has entered into a multi-year agreement in which Best Buy plans to license and deploy Sonic’s Roxio CinemaNow[TM] technology and services platform to make on-demand digital content delivery a standard feature on connected consumer electronics devices sold throughout U.S. Best Buy retail stores and BestBuy.com. Under the terms of the agreement, Best Buy acquired warrants enabling it to purchase shares of Sonic Solutions common stock.

Best Buy, one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in the world, has a strong track record of bringing innovative technologies to a broad audience through its consumer-focused marketing, education, and Geek Squad services. To foster the consumer appetite for obtaining on-demand premium content electronically, Best Buy intends to embed the Roxio CinemaNow technology on a wide array of devices – web-connected television sets, portable media players, PCs, Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes, and mobile phones – from a variety of manufacturers. Best Buy expects to undertake a marketing program to educate consumers about the increased convenience, flexibility, and choice digital content delivery affords.

With the new Best Buy service, consumers will have access to buy or rent an extensive library of premium content including new movies, TV shows, independent films, and older catalog movies, which they will be able to access on devices in the broad ecosystem. It is anticipated that new titles will often be available on the same day they become available on DVDs in retail outlets. Together with their Studio partners, Best Buy and Sonic plan to also collaborate on new service and content offerings, including those that leverage digital copies to bridge physical disc sales and electronic sell through.

“Best Buy is in a great position to expand the market for on-demand home entertainment,” said Thomas Gewecke, president, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. “The combination of Sonic’s platform with Best Buy’s expertise in selling consumer electronics, video content and technical services creates an opportunity for a wide variety of exciting new consumer offerings.”

“Our relationship with Sonic Solutions allows Best Buy to quickly establish a strong position in the digital delivery of video entertainment,” said Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy. “It also enables us to make deeper and more meaningful connections with our customers and expand our relationships with content owners and hardware vendors to create compelling new home entertainment solutions.”

“With Best Buy’s ability to drive in-store promotion and education, consumers will come to quickly understand and appreciate the convenience, flexibility, and control that digitally-delivered video entertainment affords them,” said Dave Habiger, president and CEO, Sonic Solutions. “With Best Buy’s focus, we expect on-demand entertainment to quickly grow into a mass market activity, with digital sell-through and rental becoming a significant new revenue stream for content owners.”

Roxio CinemaNow includes Hollywood-approved digital rights management, encoding and adaptive delivery technologies, and secure device-optimized playback of premium entertainment. Roxio CinemaNow’s cloud-based media services power devices which consumers can use to seamlessly enjoy video entertainment anytime and anywhere across the broadest range of devices. The Roxio CinemaNow ecosystem includes PCs, connected TVs, set top DVRs, Blu-ray Disc and mobile media players from leading manufacturers such as Archos, Dell, HP, LG, Microsoft, Nintendo, Pioneer and TiVo and is powering internet movie delivery for Blockbuster.

ReadAP report
ReadNew York Times

Best Buy partnering with CinemaNow to stream first-run DVDs to ‘all web-connected devices sold’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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250GB PS3 spotted in Best Buy backroom, making trouble

It’s not quite as delicious when Sony (in a rare move) has actually confirmed its console for a release to market, but just because we know the 250GB PS3 is landing in the US on November 3rd doesn’t mean we can’t derive any enjoyment at all by the fact that it’s been spotted at a Best Buy in Houston, all primed for the shelves. Since the shipment’s obviously already been made, we suppose we’ll be seeing a few instances of early stocking of the console over the next couple of days, unless Best Buy has considerably cleaned up its act when it comes to launch dates — doubtful!

[Thanks, anonymous ]

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250GB PS3 spotted in Best Buy backroom, making trouble originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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