Hasta La Gadget!

The guys at Re-Char, a small startup that makes carbon-negative products, were faced with a problem. They wanted to ship products to Kenya, but the options available were wasteful, costly, and not nearly as efficient as simply manufacturing near to the customers. To do it, in a place with little industry or infrastructure, Re-Char designed something new—a fully functioning, off-the-grid factory inside a shipping container. More »

It’s been a rough year for Best Buy — it’s shuttered dozens of stores, seen its founder step down and even lost its CEO, Brian Dunn. Still, the big box retailer hasn’t given up hope, and today chose a new chief executive, one Hubert Joly. Until Sunday afternoon, Joly was responsible for Carlson, a hospitality and travel outfit that operates hotels and restaurants in over 150 countries. If you’ve eaten at a TGI Friday’s, you’ve patronized Joly’s old firm. Best Buy seems optimistic, according to the Wall Street Journal, noting that Joly has a knack for turning around companies in trouble. Still, Best Buy will have to get along without its new head honcho until September — the new boss is French, and is apparently waiting on a visa. In the meantime, Mike Mikan will continue to serve as interim CEO, presumably helping the board of directors sift through Richard Schulze $10 billion rescue plan.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Best Buy names Hubert Joly as new CEO, will take on leadership in September originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 01:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to a leaked screengrab hosted up at MacRumors, Apple retail shops now have the authority to price match carrier and rival retail discounts on iPhone. Specifically, the note informs employees that prices from Best Buy, “carriers,” Radio Shack and Target can be matched, with $49.01 seeming to be the savings across the board. Curiously, places like Wirefly, Amazon, Negri Electronics and even Walmart aren’t mentioned, so we wouldn’t recommend trying to work the price down based on ads seen from any of those. The note also mentions the iPhone 4 and 4S exclusively, and we’re fairly sure this sort of goodwill won’t ever been applied to iPad, Mac hardware or pretty much any other Apple kit. Of course, crazier things have happened. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, and will update this article should it choose to reply.

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple reportedly price matching iPhone discounts from carriers and other retailers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A ripple went through Face.com’s developer community three weeks ago when the company was acquired by Facebook. After all, what earthly reason would the social network have for continuing third-party developer support of the product? None, as it turns out — API support for the firm’s mug recognition software will be dropped in early August, and its iPhone app, Klik, is now gone from the App Store. Despite recent assurances to the contrary (pictured above) Face.com pulled the plug in order to devote its resources to Zuckerberg and Co., according to an email it sent to developers. Naturally, the sudden reversal has inflamed that group, with prominent members tweeting language like “boycotting” and “months of work wasted.” There’s a sliver of hope, however, for forlorn developers — at least one member of the community says he’s been granted an API extension through October. In the meantime, developers will likely be venting — and won’t even be able to track that rollercoaster of emotions anymore.

Face.com kills developer APIs and Klik app three weeks after Facebook acquisition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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