Hasta La Gadget!

First there was an alleged Toys R Us ad, and now we’ve caught wind of what’s claimed to be a Best Buy spot showing the Nintendo Wii getting that long-desired $50 price drop, down just below the two Benjamin mark. Easily Photoshopped image? You betcha, so we’ll just have to play wait-and-see as the evidence seems to mount up — it’s been a long time coming, after all, we wouldn’t be that surprised given the oncoming holiday season and the recent downward trend in demand.

Filed under: Gaming

$199 Nintendo Wii spotted in Best Buy ad? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re sure that none of our stunningly attractive, gadget-expert readers would ever think about walking into an electronics retailer and asking the opinion of the teenagers in blue shirts and name tags. But, we also know that there are plenty of other folks out there who do, and when they do they’re told to buy Samsung HDTVs a whopping 58 percent of the time. There’s certainly nothing wrong with Samsung sets, but there are certainly plenty of options out there, too. These numbers come from the always quotable J.D. Power and Associates, which also found that salespeople are becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend. We’d never hope to be able to get inside the head of one of those doing the recommending, but as always we would recommend reading a few reviews and going to the store to see what you like best — after you ask to turn down the lights and use the right cables, of course.

[Via PC World]

Filed under: Displays

58 percent of salespeople recommend Samsung HDTVs, 100 percent like big commission checks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, nobody’s saying Linux is perfect for every consumer (or even most), but Microsoft’s “training material” for Best Buy employees casts the open source operating system in a bit of a bad light — and isn’t exactly accurate. A few of the humorous tidbits in the Linux comparison guide include mentioning World of Warcraft as incompatible with Linux (despite great support for it under WINE), calling Linux’s safety reputation a “myth,” and describing Linux updates and upgrades as difficult and time consuming. The availability of Windows Live Essentials as a “free download” is also quite laughable — Linux has endless free alternatives to Microsoft’s Live Essentials, and many of them are better than what Microsoft offers. Not to say there hasn’t been the odd consumer that was burned by purchasing a Linux-running netbook, but we’d say there are enough tangible benefits to Windows for Microsoft to avoid misinformation when talking down the open source competition.

[Via technabob]

Filed under: Software

Microsoft’s training materials teach Best Buy employees how to trash Linux originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you were wondering when you’d be able to get your hands on the Nikon D300s and its 720p/24 movie mode, the answer is… yesterday, apparently. The cam was spotted (along with the lower-rent D3000) at a big box Best Buy, and a bit of testing was performed — an admittedly limited bit, but there’s only so much you can do when the cam is bolted to those annoying six-inch tethers. The updated video recording mode was the thing that underwent most scrutiny, and while the new auto-focus seemed to work reasonably well (if slowly — and noisily) on stationary objects, swinging the camera back and forth resulted in the same jelly-time sloshing effect we’ve seen on the D5000 and D90 before it, as seen in the video embedded below. Maybe its time for that 12.3 megapixel CMOS to hit the gym and tone up a bit, Nikon.

Continue reading Nikon D300s spotted and tested at Best Buy with its little brother, still does that jelly video thing

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Nikon D300s spotted and tested at Best Buy with its little brother, still does that jelly video thing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Sony PS3 Slim turns up at Florida Best Buy

Filed under: Gaming

Sony PS3 Slim turns up at Florida Best Buy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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