Editorial: Bring on the ads, Amazon

Editorial Bring on the ads, Amazon

Huge week for Amazon, last week. But all that Kindly goodness was nearly upstaged by lock-screen ad nonsense. When I searched on the keyword “amazon” in my RSS tech folder, Friday and Saturday of last week looked like two big parade floats: “OMG, there are ads on the new Kindle tablet!” and “Praise the heavens, you can disable the ads!”

Tempest in a teapot, those ads. And Amazon took the wrong approach to removing them.

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Editorial: Bring on the ads, Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Is the Most Expensive Penny in the Universe [Space]

This is the most expensive penny in the Universe. It’s now on Mars, after an exciting $2.5 billion ride. Previously, the most expensive Lincoln penny in history was a 1943 copper-alloy cent that was sold for $1.7 million in a 1996 auction. That’s peanuts compared to the cost of putting this coin up there, however. More »

Spotify gift cards now available at Target in $10, $30 and $60 values

If any of you tuning in from the US have ever wondered why you can’t buy a Spotify gift card for the internet radio lover in your life, well, you can quit pondering: Target is now selling Spotify credits in its brick-and-mortar stores — a first in the US. The cards are available in $10, $30 and $60 amounts, which translates to one, three and six months of service, respectively. As you can imagine, you need a Spotify Premium account to redeem them, so make sure whoever you’re buying for has a subscription or at least intends to sign up. Still, we have to say: a month of ad-free radio and offline playback could make for a nice last-minute gift, even if the lucky recipient chooses not to hang around after the included free days expire.

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Spotify gift cards now available at Target in $10, $30 and $60 values originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZTE-made Concord arrives at T-Mobile and Walmart, caters to the starter crowd at $100 contract-free

ZTEmade Concord arrives at TMobile and Walmart, caters to the starter crowd at $100 contractfree

T-Mobile wants to offer as much of a lure to smartphone newcomers as to power users who might spring for its truly unlimited data, and the ZTE Concord might just be the right kind of bait. The truly 2010-vintage Android 2.3, 3.5-inch screen and 2-megapixel camera won’t get anyone’s pulse racing, but a $100 contract-free price is hard to ignore — even for the sort who’d otherwise be looking for a just-does-calls flip phone. Accordingly, the carrier plans to put the Concord in front of audiences that would rarely care to set foot in a dedicated cellphone store. Walmart is selling the phone today for those comfortable with a Walmart Family Mobile plan. If you’d rather show fealty to T-Mobile itself, you’ll have to swing through a Target store on or after August 26th.

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ZTE-made Concord arrives at T-Mobile and Walmart, caters to the starter crowd at $100 contract-free originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Play gift cards hit Target, GameStop, and RadioShack

The official Google Play store for digital media such as apps, music, and books, has been given a collection of real-life gift cards. This set of gift cards appears in $10, $25, and $50 denominations, and is able to be used on digital media only – no hardware or accessory purchases here! These gift cards will be available immediately if not soon at RadioShack, Target, and GameStop.

The gift cards you’re seeing here are made available by Google for those of you looking to grab your kid, sibling, friend, or associate something simple and relatively free of commitment. Just like the iTunes gift cards that’ve been appearing in holiday gift cards for years now, the Google Play gift card line is set to be a giant force in holiday gift giving. In other words, Apple will be making a double-effort from now on to make sure they’ve got rack space above Google’s new offering.

These gift cards are able to purchase songs, movies, and TV shows instantly from the Google Play store online or through your Android-toting device. You can also purchase Android apps as well as eBooks galore from Google’s vast library of titles. These cards work to not only rent movies and TV shows, but to buy them as well – but purchases of TV shows and movies only work on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean devices so far – so watch out for that!

These cards are set to appear at the three retailers listed soon – they may already be in stores if you’re lucky! Google adds, once again, that “Google Play gift cards cannot be redeemed for Android app subscriptions, magazine subscriptions, or hardware and accessory purchases. Refer to the Google Play Gift Card Terms and Conditions for more details. Content subject to availability by country.” Remember that bit!

[via Google]


Google Play gift cards hit Target, GameStop, and RadioShack is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Google Play gift cards officially announced, now rolling out to Target, RadioShack and GameStop

Google officially announces Google Play gift cards, now rolling out to Target, Radio Shack and GameStop

We’ve seen hints of them in the Google Play app and some pretty clear evidence of them in the wild, and now Google has finally officially announced the availability of Google Play gift cards. Those are available in $10, $25 and $50 denominations, and will be rolling out to Target, RadioShack and GameStop retail stores in the United States over the next few weeks (no word on availability outside the US just yet). According to Google, they’ll also be available on Walmart.com later this month, but not in Walmart stores for the time being. As you’d expect, the cards can be used to purchase anything on Google Play, including movies, music and books in addition to apps (or in-app items).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google Play gift cards officially announced, now rolling out to Target, RadioShack and GameStop originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy, Walmart, Target, more join forces for MCX mobile payment, deals provider

Best Buy, Walmart, Target, more join forces for Merchant Customer Exchange mobile payment, deals provider

Mobile payments make strange bedfellows, so it’s perhaps not all that surprising that a group of high profile retailers have teamed up to bring the world the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). The list includes such biggies as Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Sears, Lowe’s and Shell, among others. The venture is set to offer up a mobile-commerce app that will provide payments and deals on “virtually any smartphone.” Details are still pretty scarce, though the MCX’s official site promises more info on the offering soon, including further details on deals and additional company names. In the meantime, there’s a press release after the break.

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Best Buy, Walmart, Target, more join forces for MCX mobile payment, deals provider originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Target axes non-iPad tablets until holidays

If you head to a Target store anytime between now and somewhere around the end of October, you’re going to have a tough time finding yourself a tablet that isn’t also an iPad. SlashGear has learned from several tipsters (including two Target employees) that they’ll not be carrying any tablet computers, other than the iPad, until late in the year, much closer to the year-end holiday season. This of course includes the ill-fated Kindle Fire which you’ll no longer find online and is being blown-out on the end-caps at Target stores nationwide.

Online sales of tablets from several well-known tablet manufacturers such as ASUS, Acer, and Sony, will continue while in-store sales will be completely cut off at all or nearly all Target stores in the USA. This comes not least of all, we must assume, because of less-than-stellar offline sales over the past few months. We spoke with one employee earlier today on the subject, and though he wished to remain anonymous due to the nature of the subject, he was quite open about the situation:

“We had [tablets] out for a while, the iPad is still out, but they wont be out now at least in this area now until Christmas. … We sold just a couple back when they were out here, some Acer tablets, they sold to people who specifically were real anti-Apple, other than that not much [as far as tablet sales go.]” – Anonymous Target Employee

This should come as no surprise for a couple of reasons to SlashGear readers, first of all because Target made a statement on the Kindle lineup back in May:

“Target continually evaluates its product assortment to deliver the best quality and prices for our guests. Target is phasing out Kindles and Amazon- and Kindle-branded products in the spring of 2012. We will continue to offer our guests a full assortment of ereaders and supporting accessories including the Nook.” – Target

Above: Target’s previous tablet selection in-stores circa Spring 2012

Before that, we’ve had a discussion or two about the placement of non-iPad tablets as well. Take a look at the news bit entitled Target Android tablets lifted above iPad 2 and Target is finally selling some Android tablets as well. Peek at the timeline below to continue on with the Target news back several weeks as well.


Target axes non-iPad tablets until holidays is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.