When Circuit City announced back in January that it was liquidating its assets after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last fall, it was sad to see the electronics chain close its doors forever. But just like athletes and singers who announce their retirement only to keep coming back, Circuit City is rising once again. This time, however, it's an online-only presence, powered by Systemax, a Fortune 1000 company and retailer of brand-name and private-label products. (Systemax also runs CompUSA.com and TigerDirect.com.)
On the new CircuitCity.com, it's a lot easier to find what you're looking for. On each product page, you'll find photo galleries, videos, product descriptions and specs, and customer reviews. I like the Quick Deal Links at the bottom of the homepage for quick access to deals.
Speaking of deals, CircuitCity.com is running a number of them on displays, laptops, cameras, and more. For today's TechSaver Test, I'm going to challenge the site's sales on the Samsung 2043SWX 20" LCD Monitor, the Garmin Nuvi 265WT, the Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless G Router, and the Sharp LCC5255U Aquos 52" LCD HDTV.
Find out if you should do your shopping on CircuitCity.com, after the jump.
Need to add some zing to your dorm room or bedroom? Wal-Mart is offering some colorful laptops and accessories as part of its back-to-school sale.
Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop - $498 Featuring a 250GB hard drive, 3GB RAM, a 15.6-inch screen, and an Intel Celeron Dual Core T3000 processor, the 1545 is available in black, pink, red, purple, indigo, and aqua.
Logitech LS11 2.0 Speaker System - $19 With 2-inch metallic drivers, an auxiliary input jack, and a headphone jack, choose this speaker system in indigo, aqua, pink, red, or black.
SanDisk 4GB Flash Drive - $12 Store your important files in style by choosing this drive in aqua, pink, red, indigo, orange, green, or black.
Recently I got a chance to sneak a peek at Disney's new film, G-Force. No, we aren't doing movie reviews here at Gearlog, but I wanted to see if the 3D graphics were all they're cracked up to be.
Truth be told, the movie looked pretty cutting-edge. One particular scene comes to mind: It was a chase scene between special agents and the hero guinea pigs, when they "just so happen" to run into a fireworks set-up crew. Fireworks appear to fly into the audience and around the fuzzy rodents (as an epic "Carmina Burana" plays in the background). Michael Bey would be proud.
NASA released Thursday newly restored video of the Apollo 11 mission from July 20th, 1969, including video showing the moonwalk more clearly than what has been seen before. It's part of the 40th anniversary commemoration of astronauts landing on the moon for the first time.
The initial release shows 15 key moments from the mission. The video material came from a variety of sources and was assembled by a team of Apollo-era NASA engineers.
"The restoration is ongoing and may produce even better video," said Richard Nafzger, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center that oversaw TV processing during Apollo 11, in a statement. "The restoration project is scheduled to be completed in September and will provide the public, future historians, and the National Archives with the highest quality video of this historic event."
The new videos are definitely clearer. Unfortunately, an opportunity to make them sharper still was lost, it turns out. NASA concluded after an exhaustive three year search that the original tapes--not the degraded broadcast versions--were most likely erased and reused accidentally sometime in the early 1980s for satellite missions, as NPR reports. But we'll take whatever we can get, of course.
With that, we'd like to turn it over to you, our readers. What are your memories of the Apollo 11 mission? Let us know in the Comments section below.
Love your iPhone or iPod but hate the earbuds that came with it? You're not alone. To help you out, iLuv just announced two enhanced earphones that not only promise concert-level sound, but also offer playback control.
The sound-isolating iEP515 in-ear earphones include an inline remote, as well as a mic so you can use them for making calls or recording voice memos. iPhone 3GS owners can hold down the center button on the remote to enable voice control. iPod Shuffle owners can press the same button to enter VoiceOver mode and hear the title and artist of songs or move between menus. They come with three sizes of flexible tips, so you can get the most comfortable fit.
The iEP315 lacks the sound isolating design, but also offers an inline remote for controlling song playback. They allow iPhone 3GS owners to enter Voice Control mode and iPod Shuffle owners to use VoiceOver to listen to song details or move between playlists. Because they have a microphone, they can be used for phone calls or recording voice memos.
Both models will be available from the iLuv site in August. The iEP515 will list for $59.99, while the iEP315 will list for $29.99.
Starting at 1 p.m. EST today and running through August 5, 2009, you can get a free spare battery, car kit, and leather pouch with your purchase of the $600 Viliv S5 Premium Mobile Internet Device (MID) on Dynamism.com.
MIDs can be described as devices that are not really smartphones or netbooks but something in-between. The S5 features a 4.8-inch WSVGA display, a 60GB hard drive, an on-screen keyboard, and an Intel Atom Silverthorne 1.33-GHz CPU.
Back in April, Gizmodo tested the S5 and found that it's 1.5 pounds lighter than most netbooks (at 14.72 ounces), with a very responsive touch screen. Rated with a six-hour battery life, Gizmodo received four hours and two minutes when tested with nonstop WMV playback. It runs on Windows XP.
Shipments of the S5 are expected August 5, August 14, and August 24, and will be fulfilled based on order date.
Bill Gates, it seems, is set to become the world's most lovable mad scientist. In a scheme fit for the world's top supervillians, the former Microsoft head--and current full-time philanthropist--is reportedly concocting a plan to control the weather. Hurricanes, specifically.
Plans for Gates's latest patent application have leaked out--plans which involve stopping hurricanes before they hit land. PC World explains it thusly,
The idea is for barges to pump cold water from the depths of the ocean to create a sort of road block for the hurricane. Since hurricanes cull power from the water's warm temperatures, cooling the water could theoretically lessen the impact or outright dismantle a hurricane.
According to Intellectual Venture's Lab's Pablos Holman, the plan would go into effect when, "humans decide that we have exhausted all of our behavior changing and alternative energy options and need to rely on mitigation technologies."
Interesting that this information comes out as Microsoft is holding its Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans. Everyone talks about the weather, but only the super rich do anything about it.
According to a report by IDC, Apple's dropped from fourth to fifth place. The company's marketshare remained steady at 7.6 percent, but was passed by in overall rankings in the US by Toshiba, which squeaked in with 7.7 percent.
The only other PC manufacturer to drop down in the top five, according to those IDC numbers was Dell, shipping 18.9 percent less PCs than it did the same time the year prior. Apple's own stagnation is believed to be the result of recession-based spending practices.
July is National Ice Cream Month and to celebrate, photo site dotPhoto.com is discounting its photo products so that you have more money to spend on--you guessed it--ice cream!
Just enter the promo code ICECREAM when purchasing any of the following photo items for an additional discount of 5 percent off:
11 oz Black & White Mugs - $9.12 (originally $11.99 and $9.60, respectively)
Create a personalized mug with your favorite person (or animal) and saying.
Large Refrigerator Magnet - $5.23
Makes a great gift and can print smaller images, including images from camera phones.
Metallic Prints up to 45 Percent Off
Printed on Kodak Endura Professional Paper, Metallic Prints look like "chrome on paper" and are tear resistant.
All of the aforementioned photo products are now on sale through July 31, 2009.
HDTracks.com, a high-res music-downloading service run by musicians for musicians, today announced the release of the free album Jazz & Blues Experience. It's available for download at www.hdtracks.com/jazzdownload.
Jazz & Blues Experience is a seven-track collection of music from some of today's finest musicians. Works include organist Dr. Lonnie Smith's "Dapper Dan," from Rise Up and trumpeter Dominick Farinacci's "Vision," from Lovers, Tales, and Dances.
Besides offering CD and DVD audio quality downloads, HDTracks.com also has cover artwork and full, descriptive PDF liner notes. Music tracks are available in AIFF and FLAC formats, as well as MP3. Enjoy!
I admit it: I'm a proud Wal-Mart shopper. Where else can you buy MP3 players, car tires, steak, and clothes for less; get your eyes checked; pay for a haircut; do banking; and meet your favorite author? So, you can probably imagine that I'm excited to challenge Wal-Mart to my TechSaver Test.
The company's motto is "Always Low Prices," which is a pretty bold statement. Its "rollbacks" are what the store refers to as significant savings. I wanted to look at some of these new rollbacks on electronics and determine whether Wal-Mart always has the lowest prices. Today's test will feature the Acer Aspire One (10-inch), the Kodak EasyShare M1033, the SimpleTech 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive, and the Philips Home Theater Audio System w/ Upconverting DVD Player & iPod Dock.
Find out if it's smart to shop at Wal-Mart, after the jump.
We feared this day, and yet here it is: Apple has blocked the Palm Pre from syncing with iTunes 8 with its latest iTunes 8.2.1 update, according to Engadget Mobile.
Apple's Software Update says in the install dialog that the new version "provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices," as I confirmed (see above screenshot from the iMac I'm typing this on). That's about as pointed as it gets without saying it straight out.
It's up to the individual Palm Pre owner how much of a drag this is. There are other ways to get music onto the Palm Pre, obviously, and this is less of an issue now that Apple has finally removed DRM from its iTunes Store music tracks.
"If Apple chooses to disable
Media Sync in a future version of iTunes, we just think it will be a
direct blow to their own users," Palm spokeswoman Lynn Fox said last month, responding to Apple's support note that had essentially threatened this exact course of action. "We
just think it would be unfortunate if they were to choose to do that."
Sony Ericsson has landed a big carrier pick-up on AT&T with the C905a Cyber-shot, an 8.1-megapixel camera phone. It features face detection, auto-focus, a Xenon flash, PictBridge printer support, and GPS tagging--and that's just for the camera portion alone.
The C905a also has a 2.4-inch LCD screen, a slide-out numeric keypad, a 3G data radio, and support for various AT&T media services including AT&T Navigator for voice-enabled, turn-by-turn directions.
The Sony Ericsson W518a Walkman phone, meanwhile, drops the camera to 3.2-megapixels and loses some of the C905a's advanced photo features. But it features Advanced Shake Control, which lets users shuffle, skip, or control volume for music by flicking their wrists. It also offers over-the-air music purchases from Napster Mobile and eMusic Mobile.
Both phones will drop on July 19th in AT&T stores and wireless.att.com. The C905a will cost $179.99, and the W518a will cost $49.99, both with two-year contracts and after mail-in rebates.
Sick and tired of video game companies reusing old IPs? Do you dream of the day when your game will make it big? Well, you have a chance, starting right...now.
Game retailer GameStop and the Guildhall at Southern Methodist University and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) announced the launch of the Indie Game Challenge. Professionals and kids working out of their parents garage are being asked to submit game betas and pitch videos between July 14th and October 1st.
Twelve finalists will be announced on January 15th, 2010 and will receive a chance to pitch their ideas to the executives at Sony, Nintendo, EA, Capcom, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Namco/Bandai, and THQ.
"Our entire industry is dependent on the cultivation of new, cutting edge game developers who continue to stretch the boundaries and imaginations of gamers," said Mike Hogan, senior vice president of marketing, GameStop Corp. "By joining forces with The Guildhall at SMU and AIAS we hope to stimulate a new generation of game developers and reward them with cash awards and scholarships."
Today's external storage options lets you back up everything on your computer, and take all your files with you easily.
Yesterday, Hitachi announced some extra-tough portable hard drives. Today, Verbatim announced a line of SureFire external drives that offer both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 connections and don't need a power cord. They get all the juice they need over the FireWire or USB connection, so that's one less thing you need to pack when taking your files with you. The package does come with a power cord, however, for systems that won't charge devices over USB.
The SureFire line comes in 500GB ($179.99), 320GB ($139.99), and 250GB ($109.99) capacities. They have durable aluminum shells, yet are still light enough to carry (under a half-pound). All three models come with a black carrying case and work with Windows and Macintosh computers.
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