Hasta La Gadget!

We had a sinking feeling those promotional prices over the holidays wouldn’t stick once Santa had done his duties, but rather than ratcheting price tags back up entirely, it has decided to permanently reduce the retail price on its standard VUDU movie set-top-box by half. As of now, prospective buyers can snag a box for $149 (down from $299), while the more capacious VUDU XL is dropping from $999 to $499 (and that’ll include a gratis home theater connectivity software package). Also of note, the rack-mountable VUDU XL2 is stooping from $1,299 to $799 for those who prefer that form factor. So, these stickers low enough for you? Or are you really planning to wait ’til Christmas 2009 to score an even more special deal?

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

VUDU permanently cuts retail price of movie set-top-box in half originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Here’s a tip: you should probably research the bill of materials before pricing the item you’re building to sell. In an effort to calm down potentially irate early buyers, Tesla Motors Elon Musk has issued an email confessing that it had no idea actual production costs for the $92,000 Roadster would run closer to $140,000. The automaker is hoping the changes in “manufacturing approaches, the car’s drive train, heating and air conditioning system, wiring and even the supplier of body panels” will lower production costs to somewhere between $90,000 and $100,000 soon, which certainly gives a little insight into the $128,500 starting price of the recently unveiled Roadster Sport. In order to recoup some of the losses, Tesla is asking pre-orderers to pony up an extra six large for a high-speed charging cable and custom wheels — both of which consumers were expecting to be included in their original purchase price. At any rate, the firm is aiming to get build costs down to $80,000 by summer, with profitability following close behind. And you thought the automotive problems began and ended in Detroit.

[Via Edmunds]

Filed under: Transportation

Tesla admits to underpricing Roadsters, still hopes profitability is near originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

LG and Chunghwa Picture Tubes already confessed to being involved in a scandalous LCD price fixing conspiracy, and now the US Department of Justice is laying down the hammer on four of the dirty-handed executives. Chang Suk Chung (LG), Chieng-Hon “Frank” Lin (Chunghwa), Chih-Chun “C.C.” Liu (Chunghwa) and Hsueh-Lung “Brian” Lee (Chunghwa) have all entered plea agreements which will see them serving a “term of imprisonment” as well as paying a criminal fine and assisting the US government in its ongoing TFT-LCD investigation. ‘Course, those pleas must all be approved by the court, but it’s pretty safe to say these fellows will be spending a least a moment or two behind steel bars. Fun, fun.

[Via DigitalTrends]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

LG, Chunghwa Picture Tubes execs to serve jail time for LCD price fixing conspiracy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It’d be a gross understatement to say that we weren’t remarkably excited about the HP Firebird 803 when we caught wind of it last week, but now you can safely say that our emotions have settled down after hearing the price. Granted, the $1,799 starting figure for the Firebird 802 isn’t totally unexpected — after all, the Blackbird 002 went for upwards of three large — but we still see the sticker as a touch high given the weaker innards and the lack of upgrade options. Those of you who vehemently disagree can certainly hand over your wallet starting on January 9th, or you can wait for the boxes to hit unnamed retail outlets in February.

Filed under: Desktops

HP Firebird gaming towers with VoodooDNA to start at $1,799 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments