Hasta La Gadget!

Good news to all folks in “The City”. Online auction and shopping behemoth eBay is launching a new same-day delivery program in San Francisco. It’s called eBay Now, and it is now available in beta for iOS devices. Essentially, eBay Now allows shoppers to make purchases from local stores and receive them on the same day after paying the $5 same-day shipping fee. eBay is still inviting San Francisco shoppers to sign up to the beta version of eBay Now.

eBay is also announcing an introductory offer to ramp up the popularity of the service. eBay will cut off $15 from your first purchase and will even waive off the $5 shipping fee on your first three purchases. eBay Now is open  between 9 AM and 9 PM, from Mondays to Saturdays, and from 9 AM  to 6 PM on Sundays. Deliveries can arrive in an hour, but the orders will have to be made at least half an hour before the store closes. eBay has partnered with major retailers including Macy’s, Toys’R’Us, Target, and Best Buy. You can sign up here.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Steampunk Xbox 360 controller pops up on eBay, Nexus 7 official cases now selling on eBay?,

Need something today, but can’t bother yourself with a trip to the store? Apparently, there’s going to be an app for that — at least in San Francisco. Local eBay users have started receiving beta invites for eBay Now, an iOS app that will allow shoppers to pick up items from local stores without leaving the house. eBay is offering beta users $15 off of their first order and free same-day delivery for their first three. Orders will come with a $5 delivery charge once the freebies are used up, forcing users to weigh the value of their time against the frustrations of local parking. The service is only available in San Francisco at the moment, but feel free to hit up the source link below to toss your name in the Beta raffle bucket anyway.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Internet

eBay Now to offer same-day shipping from local stores, launching iOS beta in San Francisco originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 16:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We all know about the ultra-rare and super-valuable Nintendo World Championship cartridges that pop up from time-to-time, but this prototype cartridge for The Legend of Zelda you see pictured below has a price tag that will make even the serious game collector cringe. Currently available on eBay, the cartridge comes with a Buy It Now price of $150,000.00. To be fair, seller tjcurtin1 is also including a factory sealed and graded copy of The Legend of Zelda, but the main star of this listing is clearly the yellow prototype cartridge.

It isn’t much to look at, but the seller says that it still works and still even saves – not bad for a cartridge that is apparently dated February 23, 1987. If the cartridge was indeed made around that date, that means this copy of The Legend of Zelda was making its way around Nintendo of America’s offices six months before the retail version released. For those doubting the cartridge’s authenticity (or the claim that it’s still in working order), the seller made a YouTube video demonstrating that the cartridge boots up just fine when popped into an NES. Check it out below.

Sadly, there don’t seem to be any differences between this prototype and the retail version that hit shelves in August of 1987. The seller does point out that he hasn’t played through it all the way yet, so there could very well be some differences which remain undiscovered, but if you’re planning on buying, you should probably keep that little caveat in mind. If it isn’t different from its retail cousin, you’re buying the prototype because it’s a prototype, and not because it provides an ultra-rare glimpse at gameplay elements that were left on the cutting room floor.

So far there have been 37 offers made on the prototype, and while a few are currently pending, most have been declined. That means there’s still time to secure this bad boy, but the seller obviously won’t abide low-ball offers. $150,000 is a lot to pay for a cartridge, and with this supposedly being the only one in the world, it’s difficult to put a value on the prototype. We’ve got some pretty serious game collectors walking this planet, however, so the seller may just make his sale by the time everything is said and done.

Legend of Zelda prototype cartridge comes with hefty price tag is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Political lobbying is often a mixed bag at best. Still, there’s a cautious amount of optimism surrounding the Internet Association, a soon-to-start lobbying group that plans to advocate for an “open, innovative and free” internet among US politicians. The unsurprising (if well-intentioned) aim is to prevent another SOPA or PIPA with more formal opposition than even the Internet Defense League can manage. Who’ll be pulling the strings is nebulous — officially, the Association will only say that former Congressional staff director Michael Beckerman is at the helm until a formal September 19th launch. That internet openness must extend to some very leaky representatives, however, as the National Journal, AFP and Reuters all claim that Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Google are charter members. None of them are talking on the record; we certainly wouldn’t be shocked if the roster is real, knowing how much Google and other partners have fought takedown laws that would bypass much of the normal legal system. We’re hoping that whatever manifests a genuinely rational counterbalance to media and telecom influences that often aren’t very interested in protecting internet-only business models or due process.

Filed under: Internet

Internet Association to lobby Washington, may tout Amazon, Facebook, Google among its ranks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s no doubt that Google’s Nexus 7 is one of the hottest tablets to ever hit the market this year. Of course, this is not just mere speculation. Just a few days ago, we said that the 16GB variant of the Jelly Bean tablet has been labeled as “coming soon” due to its strong demand. That appears to be true as well in the U.K. as it has been out of stock. If you’re looking forward to get the official case of the Nexus 7 tablet via Google Play, you’ll probably have to wait a little longer because of its “coming soon” status.

But we are now hearing reports that a few sellers on eBay are already selling the official case at an unofficial price. Interestingly, one seller was able to seal a deal for $100 – that’s five times more than its price of $19.99 in the Google Play Store. Another seller is holding up the Nexus 7 case for $54, although the bid could change abruptly. So if you are short of patience, you might want to join the bid here.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Expert: Google Nexus 7 display is flawed, washed out, CyanogenMod 10 now on the Nexus 7,