TechSaver Test: OfficeMax Promotions

Brother-MFC-490cwOfficeMax, like Staples and Office Depot, provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document services, tech products, and office furniture to consumers and to businesses. What’s great about the company is how it caters to the back-to-school crowd, with promotions like the Back-to-School for Pennies event, where students can get popular school supplies for just one penny at any OfficeMax store. In addition, OfficeMax will introduce an exclusive in-store promotion starting July 26, lowering its prices on more than 100 items (70-page, one-subject notebooks; crayons; rulers; protractors; and more) through September 6.

On OfficeMax.com, you can get daily deals, shop in the clearance section, and view the retailer’s green product offerings. This week’s promotions on OfficeMax.com include up to 40 percent off on printers, up to 25 percent off on external hard drives, and specials on software.

For today’s TechSaver Test, I’m challenging OfficeMax’s promotions on the following items: the Brother MFC-490cw Inkjet All-in-One, Seagate 1TB External Hard Drive, Intuit QuickBooks Pro 2009, and HP Pavilion dv4-1431us.

For an office-supply store, no one would expect to find products that are lower than Walmart’s or Amazon’s. But OfficeMax’s prices are actually not too bad.

Find out the results, after the jump.

Death By iPhone: Apple and China’s Cultural Time Bomb

Last week, a 25-year-old communications worker died in an “apparent suicide” after losing track of a prototype iPhone built by Foxconn, his employer, for one of the most secretive companies in technology. It was only a matter of time.

First, a recap: Sun Danyong’s death came after a case of prototype iPhones he was charged with shipping to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino ended up short by one. Sun couldn’t produce the device and claimed not to know what had happened; security officials at Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone and Sun’s employer, didn’t buy his story. At all.

In the days following the incident, Sun quite possibly went through hell. He confided in his university friends—he had just graduated—that his house had been searched repeatedly and without announcement, that he had been endlessly interrogated, that he’d been held in solitary confinement, and even that he’d been outright tortured by security guards. Soon after, he was found dead at the base of his apartment building, having fallen 14 stories. He died, one way or another, for a phone. Yeah, no, you’re right: This is fucking crazy.

A common snap response is that this is just symptomatic of poor labor regulations in China, a sentiment seemingly backed up by Foxconn’s tellingly honest statement on the issue:

Regardless of the reason of Sun’s suicide, it is to some extent a reflection of Foxconn’s internal management deficiencies, especially in how to help young workers cope with the psychological pressures of working life at the company.

They’ve since suspended one security guard without pay, and turned over the investigation to police. But to put this incident in that broad context isn’t useful, either to explain what happened or to know how to deal with it. To a certain extent, Apple does own Sun’s death, and it’s almost shocking that something like this hadn’t already happened.

Apple’s history of secrecy is long and storied, but hardly seen as scary by itself. We spend a lot of time trying to crack it for stories, and just as much laughing at how extreme it is—even Apple’s office employees in California are constantly monitored by cameras, forced to pass through absurdly complex security gates on a daily basis, carrying prototypes in black cloaks and flipping on warning lights in rooms when the cloaks are removed from the devices of idolatry.

But there’s a lot at stake for Apple, so to an extent their paranoia is understandable: keeping a device like the iPhone secret keeps their strategy out of competitors’ view, and more importantly ensures an all-out media eruption when it goes public on schedule. There is no more secretive company in tech, and there is no device more important to keep secret than the iPhone.

Apple’s also had, since the early days, a punitive attitude towards those who betray them. Stories of Steve Jobs not giving his best friend and early employee Dan Kottke pre-IPO stock because of disagreements, or banning difficult journalists from having access to the company’s products or briefings come to mind. (Disclaimer: But not all.) I’m hardly saying that killing is in the character of the company, but there has sometimes been a price to pay for crossing Apple.

This ethos becomes dangerous when combined with billions of dollars and the dubious values at Chinese manufacturing companies like Foxconn, which’ve placed profit above human rights in the past. —Note: Foxconn is headquartered in Taiwan, but does the vast majority of manufacturing in China—specifically at the 270,000-employee plant in Shenzhen.

Foxconn may be huge, but they’re not unique, and if they can’t keep Apple’s hardware plans quiet, it’s easy to imagine another manufacturing conglomerate stealing their contracts worth untold billions. It’s a scary and very real threat to a solid business relationship, and a subtly tyrannical one.

But the stakes are much higher at Foxconn’s campus (to use a generous word) than at Apple’s. If an Apple employee leaks a product, he could lose his job, and Apple would lose what amounts to some free advertising—after all, leaks aren’t a bad way to build buzz either. If a Foxconn employee does the same, he endangers thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in contracts and a vital relationship for his company. That’s an unrealistically, recklessly high responsibility to ask each employee—Sun and his alleged torturer—to shoulder. Imagine yourself in Sun’s shoes: You have just lost a prototype of the world’s most coveted gadget, built by the world’s most unforgivingly secretive electronics maker. Would you like your life to be hung against the balance of billions of dollars, in a country with lax labor laws and a history of running its citizen over with tanks?

But wait, Apple says, let us be clear:

We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect.

They require every last line worker to keep secrets worth billions of dollars; they require Foxconn bosses to make sure these employees keep their mouths shut; they require that suppliers treat their workers well. Of those, requirement they’re most willing to talk openly about also sound the most like an afterthought, and to “require” something doesn’t necessarily mean you really expect it.

(As an aside, who’s to say that the case didn’t leave China with all the devices, and through the many handlers in the shipping and airline companies, ahem, lose a little weight during the complicated transit? And why weren’t such valuable prototypes delivered by hand? Art museums do this, and they don’t even have industrial spies to deal with.)

Rightly or not, Sun was the only guy Foxconn felt it could hold accountable for the mess it found itself in, a judgment which probably cost him his life, and which his employer felt tremendous pressure to make. But this scenario could have easily been foreseen, and the matter of how much human risk Apple calculated it could take before a 25-year-old man ended up dead is at least as important a question as how they respond to it.

[Photo from Southern Metropolis Daily and The Brisbane Times]

Toshiba’s Stainless Style 720p HDTV redefines kitchenware

Oh sure, outfits have claimed to ship kitchen-friendly TV sets before, but Toshiba just made ’em all look silly with the introduction of the 19LV612U. Less formally known as the first member of the Stainless Style TV series, this 18.5-inch set packs a built-in slot-loading DVD player, integrated ATSC / NTSC / QAM TV tuner and a 1,366 x 768 native resolution. Oh, and then there’s the seductive stainless steel coating, which makes it fit in impeccably well with your modern day dishwasher, refrigerator and microwave oven. Other specs include 300 nits of brightness, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, five millisecond response time, HDMI / VGA inputs, a headphone jack and VESA mount support. It’s expected to ruin meals regularly starting this September for $349.99

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Toshiba’s Stainless Style 720p HDTV redefines kitchenware originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pity the poor carriers? I think not

Apparently, wireless carriers like Verizon Wireless aren’t feeling a lot of love at the moment. Not only does it have to deal with its ever restless customers, but also it is under fire from members of Congress and rural operators who claim that the major carriers’ exclusivity deals hinder competition and innovation.

Though Verizon has agreed to shorten the exclusivity deals to six months, rural carriers like Cellular South still aren’t pleased. So now, Verizon is taking its case directly to the American public. On Thursday, the carrier released a letter that its CEO and president, Lowell McAdam, had posted to the New York Times.

In a classic case of “it’s never about what it’s about,” McAdam doesn’t mention carrier exclusivity; rather, he argues that the big, nasty carriers really aren’t so big and nasty after all. He also invites government officials and the media to rely on facts when reporting on the industry.

Originally posted at Dialed In Podcast

HTC Hero review

The HTC Hero has been an object of lust for some time now for gadget enthusiasts. Even from the earliest days of leaked hardware shots and blurry demo videos of its UI, smartphone fans seemed to agree that the company had finally achieved what has been missing in the world of Android. Namely, a polished and attractive device — polished enough to go head-to-head with the iPhone — that kept its open source heart. So, here we are months later with an actual, bona fide Hero in our midst. Yes the reports were true, it is a beautiful device, both inside and out (though of course opinions differ on that chin). But does being a beautiful device mean Android is about to move to a bigger stage? Is HTC’s spit-shine enough to overcome some of the hurdles that have plagued the platform? That question — and more — is answered in the text below, so read on for the full review.

Continue reading HTC Hero review

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HTC Hero review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s Blu-ray MegaChanger hits the streets next month with new ES standalone

Sony CX7000ES Blu-ray changer

When we first got our hands-on the 400 disc MegaChanger pictured above we’d hoped it would be out a little earlier; but never the less the wait is almost over as Sony officially announced plans to release the BDP-CX7000ES in August, for the hard to swallow price of $1,900 — about $400 less than rumored. The good news is that it does just about everything we can think of, like handle any Blu-ray Disc, DVD or CD with ease, and of course works with the latest codecs delivered via bitstream or LPCM. Now if you just have to have a Blu-ray changer, but wish it was half the price, you can wait a few more months for the BDP-CX960 for $800. You will however have to be willing to forgo things like RS-232 and IR-in, as well as the ES badge. Also shipping in August with the ES MegaChanger is the BDP-S1000ES. This standalone Blu-ray player is at the top of line and for $700 you get just about every feature and spec Blu-ray has to offer, as well as built-in WiFi and a DLNA client. The full details of all three are in the release after the jump.

Continue reading Sony’s Blu-ray MegaChanger hits the streets next month with new ES standalone

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Sony’s Blu-ray MegaChanger hits the streets next month with new ES standalone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony adds $700 Blu-ray player its ES line

Sony’s Blu-ray megachangers may be the big news today, but the company also announced a single-disc high-end Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1000ES ($700, August release date).

It’s the least expensive Blu-ray player in the Sony ES (“Elevated Standard”) line and comes with a few premium features like integrated 802.

An iLuv for all Apple audio devices

(Credit: iLuv)

I’ve always been reluctant to buy accessories for my iPhone 3G. This is because most of them are designed for a specific model of the phone (or the iPod) add would be useless when I move on to another. However, now there’s something that will fit …

Retro Game Alert: Monkey Island on the iPhone

The start of point-and-click adventure games to go?

(Credit: LucasArts)

As a gaming system, the iPhone has had its share of praises and attacks, but it’s hard to challenge the appeal of retro titles on the system. With a perfect version of Myst under its belt, the iPhone’s …

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Wal-Mart beats Best Buy with $298 laptop

Is $299 too much for a laptop? Wal-Mart has answered Best Buy’s $299 laptop challenge with a $298 offer.

$298 Wal-Mart laptop

Wal-Mart’s $298 laptop.

(Credit: Wal-Mart)

“For the first time, a 3GB memory laptop from a well-known brand has ventured below $300,” Wal-Mart said in a statement Thursday.

Starting July …

Originally posted at Nanotech – The Circuits Blog