Hasta La Gadget!

Anyone that calls the UK home will know that Tesco is a retail behemoth and, like many other supermarkets, has turned into a one-stop shop for everything from a pint of milk to the latest video game releases. It’s grown into much more than a store, however, running an MVNO (although it sometimes gets confused about hardware) and the subscription-based video streaming service Blinkbox. Last year, Tesco let its wider digital ambitions be known, acquiring both a music streaming service and an e-book publisher. We’ve now been told these companies are the primordial soup from which its new online content emporiums will spawn later this year, known as Blinkboxmusic and Blinkboxbooks, respectively. And who’ll be responsible for these new ventures? Well, they’re somebodies — Gavin Sathianathan, who was previously Head of Retail (EMEA) at Facebook, will head up the e-book offering, while Mark Bennett, formerly Head of Digital & Cross Channel at rival super-supermarket Sainsbury’s, will run the musical endeavor. Tesco also announced that former Blinkbox exec Scott Deutrom is taking the reins of Clubcard TV, a new ad-supported video streaming service currently being tested. So, what’s next for Tesco, apart from world domination? If industry trends are anything to go by, a mobile OS, most likely.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Telegraph

Source: Tesco (Blinkbox)

Soon after it’s unveiling, the Intel-based RAZR i showed up in Clove‘s listings with a SIM-free price of £342, and now it looks as if a few more outlets are pushing pricing details to the world. Expected to storm the UK in October, the phone should ship to Virgin Media customers for around £23 per month on its Premiere Tariff, while T-Mobilers will be able to score one for £0 to £31 per month depending on the contract. All told, not too shabby for the world’s first 2GHz Atom-backed Android phone, and if you’re eager to push all of this iPhone 5 stuff aside, at least you know precisely how many quid to save up between now and next month.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

UK pricing begins to filter out for Motorola’s Intel-powered RAZR i smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another development in the UK market for e-readers, tablets and e-books as Amazon and Barnes & Noble move closer to launching more of their services and devices in the UK and Europe: the retail giant Tesco has purchased Mobcast, a digital bookseller co-founded by pulp fiction writer Andy McNab. Tesco tells TechCrunch that the price of the acquisition is $7.2 million.

Tesco notes that Mobcast has a catalog of some 130,000 books, but the main idea behind this acquisition for Tesco, already one of the biggest booksellers in the UK, will be to give Tesco its own digital book distribution platform, including cloud-based storage for the books. “They provide excellent end-to-end service, from injecting the material from publishers all the way to retail to customers,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch.

One of the big benefits of Mobcast, which first entered the market in 2007, is that it is available across all major mobile platforms. Tesco also already sells the Kindle from Amazon among its wide range of other consumer electronics.

The deal comes on the heels of Tesco buying movie and TV streaming service blinkbox in 2011 and Internet radio service WE7 in June 2012.

“We want our customers to have the widest choice in digital entertainment. We are already one of the UK’s largest booksellers and Mobcast will help us offer even more choice for the large and growing number of customers who want to buy and enjoy books on their digital devices whenever and wherever they want,” said Michael Comish, CEO Tesco Digital Entertainment, in a statement announcing the deal.

Mobcast co-founder and CEO Tony Lynch (understandably, given how huge Tesco is) points to how this will give Mobcast much wider exposure in the UK market: “We are delighted the products that Mobcast has developed will now be used to introduce the joys of eBook reading to more book lovers in the UK,” he said.

Given that the site was co-founded by bestselling author McNab, it seems like a perfect fit for Tesco, a purveyor of mainstream titles. McNab highlights the cloud-portability element of the deal: “As an author I always thought the ability to carry your library around and read on all your personal devices would be a huge benefit to all. We have developed a product that makes this possible, and being acquired by Tesco ensures that this original vision will be available to as many people as possible.”

What’s not clear is how this deal will affect existing business for Mobcast, which works with operators like Singtel, Everything Everywhere (T-Mobile and Orange in the UK) and Nokia to power e-bookstores.

Nor is it clear yet when Tesco will integrate all of its current catalog on to the Mobcast site, and whether the platform will be used for more than just books. Or whether the acquisition will mean that Tesco will pre-load the app on to devices that it sells, rather than simply using it as a part of its already-extensive e-commerce operation, which includes online ordering and delivery of groceries, electronics, and much more, which it uses to complement a massive, Walmart-style physical operation.

We are asking Tesco and Mobcast about these details and will update as we learn more.

Motorola may have pushed some of its earliest Android 4.0 updates to the Verizon-centric Droid RAZR, but it hasn’t forgotten those who call the international, HSPA-based RAZR (the XT910) their own: the phone’s first wave of over-the-air upgrades to the new OS should be rolling out now, going by GSMArena‘s tips. Who exactly is getting the upgrade isn’t obvious, although at least one owner on Tesco’s network has the visual evidence to suggest the UK is part of the first batch. We can vouch that at least a few Canadian RAZRs are still making do with Android 2.3. Never mind the unconfirmed claims of carrier-related delays for the update, though — we’re just glad that both Americans and the rest of the world will likely be on the same page before too long.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola starts Android 4.0 upgrades for international RAZR owners originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The name Tesco is famous not only in the UK, but in many other countries around the world for offering lower prices of everyday items and groceries while you shop in a comfortable environment. I myself tend to get my weekly grocery shopping done over at Tesco, as the kind of goods that they have on offer tend to be fresh, not to mention being easy on the wallet. Well, here is an idea that the retail giant might hope to pioneer, that is, opening the first interactive virtual grocery store in Gatwick’s North Terminal, making it the UK’s first of its kind.

After all, what is worse than returning home from holiday to an empty fridge? Yes, I know, some of us do empty the perishable contents of our fridge before we leave for a holiday just in case there is a permanent blackout or brownout for a week or so, leading the contents of our fridge to rot and basically making your whole house smell like a skunk. Hence, when we return and open the fridge, there is nothing much left to chew on or eat, which is where this interactive virtual grocery store comes in handy.

Opening up the store in Gatwick will see the implementation of interactive digital displays to get your virtual shopping experience up and running, where passengers who pass through the North Terminal are able to browse products as though they were in a physical store in one sense, and this experience is culminated in the convenience of home delivery to boot. A quartet of interactive fridges in the virtual store are there for your perusal, and there will be half a dozen sites that are strategically positioned around the departure lounge for passengers to use.

Each of the ‘fridge’ can be scrolled using your hand, and you can browse through the products simply by touching the screens, followed by scanning the product barcodes in order to add them to your basket. More than 80 products are featured, and hopefully the Tesco staff will fulfill your order with fresh, unspoilt items by the time your order arrives at your doorstep!

[ Tesco announces interactive virtual grocery store at Gatwick Airport copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]