Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft, it seems, has been suffering a bit of a genius shortage as of late. The company is reportedly contacting Apple store managers in hopes of staffing its soon to be opening retail locations. According to a number of anonymous sources, Redmond has started offering some current Apple retail employees a significant raise and in some cases has agreed to pay moving expenses.

“Once hired,” explains Apple blog, The Loop, “the ex-Apple employees are then contacting some of the top sales people in the Apple retail organization offering them positions at Microsoft retail.”

Microsoft announced earlier in the year that it would be opening a number of retail locations across the country to help push the release of Windows 7. The stores have taken more than a few cues from Apple’s example, right down to the “Guru Bar.”

Mobil-Tee-Vending has taken its T-shirt vending idea from conception to execution, while making each step of the way count. It has not reinvented the wheel, but have found a better way to provide a service to the $30 billion/year T-shirt market – the innovative new way of selling t-shirts, not just from a typical vending machine, but from a machine that makes an impact. An impact based on its eccentricity, style, design, and quality of the product sold. Mobil-Tee-Vending brings to the table a new and effective way of selling product to consumers in a modern computerized era, in which consumers are looking for a quick, easier, and more efficient way of getting what they want when they want it;

Do you run a brick-and-mortar store that primarily sells media? Yeah? Then lean in real close, we’ve got a little trend that you may have overlooked. The physical media you carry — be it films, music, or games — is going digital and moving on-line for direct-to-consumer downloads. Still, Dutch gaming-house Nedgame has a statement on its website saying it will not be selling the UMD-less PSP Go. It lists six reasons framed in a way that makes them sound like they’re fighting for the rights of the consumer. However, as a seller of gaming media that boasts two new store openings on its home page, the primary beef likely stems from the shop’s inability to sell physical media to the download-only PSP Go. Maybe a search on the tag Blockbuster could help with expansion planning?

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

PSP Go refused by game retailer as Blockbuster fiddles originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fine folks at GameSpot called around in San Francisco to find that many of their local GameStops and Best Buys have been selling the PS3 Slim, but some have already sold out of their first shipments. Our own calls to a few New York GameStops showed that they’d sold out of their first shipments as well (so much for that September 1 ship date, huh?) and were expecting their next shipment early next week. We also know plenty of folks who’ve had no trouble scoring one online, but who knows how long that supply will last. How about you, any luck tracking down this not-so-elusive console? Personally, we’re still waiting on the go-ahead from our main man Kevin Butler to believe any of this is true.

[Via PC World]

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Filed under: Gaming

PS3 Slim already sold out at many a retail store originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interested in handling the Zune HD and other such goodies ahead of time? Microsoft’s first two retail stores are now hiring, and if you’ve always dreamt of being a “retail associate” now’s your chance to stand on the front lines. The job will require at least some geographical proximity to the Scottsdale, Arizona or Mission Viejo, California store locations, a love for technology, and the memory to remember all those Windows 7 SKUs, but those are just small hurdles — the honor and courage will have to come from within.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

First two Microsoft retail stores now hiring originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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