You can add a build-your-own computer counter next to the Wal-Mart Pharmacy, the Wal-Mart Bank, and the Walmart Photo Booth. Wal-Mart will offer a selection of computer components for customers to choose from. You can have it assembled right in front of you and take it home the same day. Parts include processors, mice, keyboards, and monitors, to name a few.
Wal-Mart is known to sell prepackaged computers: a segment of their business that's not doing very well. Building computers from scratch and allowing consumers to pick and choose is a step in a different direction. Walmart will start introducing this to 1,200 of their 3,200 US locations. Dell and HP have nothing to worry about, but the mom and pop computer shops could be next on the bankruptcy list.
Do you mock the peons who merely read the Robb Report, as opposed to living it? Then you're ready for Voce, the new wireless carrier targeted at the super-high-end customer. Voce (pronounced "voh-chay") is launching very quietly (ssh) with 500 hand-picked users in the LA area later this month; it will spread to upscale department stores and boutique retailers in New York, San Francisco and LA in September.
Voce plans come with unlimited minutes, directory assistance and messaging (that's "messaging," not "massaging"), handset insurance, a starter phone and annual free replacement phones, three phone chargers, a Bluetooth headset, a 24-hour concierge service, and on site tech support. Yes, a guy will come to your office to show you how to use your phone. High quality customer support is basically what you're paying for here.
If you want to travel internationally with a Voce phone -- and oh, you will -- Voce's customer service team will match you with the "ideal wireless solution" for your roaming needs, even supplying you with special handsets for those thorny Japanese and Korean networks. You also get discounts on various high-end travel services, like luggage shipping.
Voce's four launch phones (at right) include the Nokia 8801 and three custom-colored versions of the Motorola RAZR V3, in black leather, "camel" and white. None of these phones are particularly exciting feature-wise, but that's fine because Voce is a voice-focused carrier. Still, though, I'd imagine Voce's target market would like them to throw in a Blackberry or two. (When I spoke to Voce CEO Steve Stanford last December, he mentioned the 3-megapixel camera smartphone Nokia N80 as an example of a more technology-focused handset they might release.) All the phones will be unlocked, so you can use your French SIM card when you're at your chateau.
When I spoke to Stanford, he said the service will initially use Cingular's network and that they're looking into some sort of high-speed data solution, possibly using Cingular's HSDPA system once it's built out beyond the 16 cities it's currently in. The key is for service to appear seamless, high-quality, and easy, Stanford said.
How much does this cost? Back in December, they wanted to charge $500/month. Now, they say they've changed the pricing, but they won't tell me what it is. Clearly, if you have to ask, daaaaaaaahling, it's too much for you.
I look at this Digital Clock T-Shirt and think to myself, why? It runs off of 4 AAA batteries, which are hidden in a pocket inside the shirt, and when you want the time to be displayed, you just flip the switch on. But a clock on your shirt?
Sure, people who walk by you will know the time, but how is the person who's actually wearing the shirt going to read the time if it's upside down? They'd have to ask someone else what the shirt says, which kind of defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it?
I admit that I do like the stopwatch feature. It would come in handy if you're waiting a long time on line at the store and want to piss off the cashier.
Purchase the Digital Clock T-Shirt for $59.95. Ships to the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Canada and UK/Ireland only.
Want to pamper your Mom for Mother's Day, but she's not quite as high-tech as you are? Try giving her a Bubble Bath Machine. BV Leisure, a company from across the pond in the UK, has developed a tubside battery-operated bubble manufacturer that increases your suds' potential.
Mom just has to put the machine on the side of her tub and fill it with her favorite liquid bubble bath and a bit of water, and she'll be on her way to bubble bliss.
The Machine costs £12.90 ($24.45), and you can have it shipped to the U.S. for $48.15 total. (Gift wrapping is only $7 extra!) But you'd better order soon if you want to send one to Mom, because shipping to the U.S. takes five to 10 business days.
Are you going to be in the water or sunbathing on the beach a lot this summer? Then your iPod is going to need some added protection.
The H2O Audio Series is casing for your iPod that is waterproof and wind, dust and sand safe. The cases are made of durable "elastomeric" diagonal T-seal for waterproof protection up to 10 feet.
The march of the thin phones continues. Cingular announced today they'll be selling the SLVR L2 (far left of the attached photo), the camera-less, music-free low end brother of their existing L6 (center) and L7 (at right) SLVR phones. Interestingly, they're pitching the L2 as a fashion phone for business and government users. That way, they can leverage the lack of a camera (and the presence of Bluetooth for business-friendly headsets) but still charge $206.99, or $116.99 with a two-year contract. Considering the more powerful L7 is $199.99, Cingular has clearly found a way to make the most money off the whole line. The L2 will only be available via business-to-business channels.
T-Mobile, meanwhile, started selling the thin Samsung SGH-T509 yesterday, at a terrific price: $49.99 with contract. Feature-wise, the T509 is similar to Cingular's SLVR L6: both have Bluetooth and VGA cameras, though the L6 is quad-band (the T509 is tri-band), and the T509 has a better screen and an EDGE modem (the L6 uses the slower GPRS.)
I'll have a review of the T509 up soon; for now, enjoy the phone's spec sheet from my buddies at PhoneScoop.
A couple of months ago, my mom started reading The Da Vinci Code. After a couple of weeks, she became frustrated and stopped, because there weren't any pictures to visualize what the author was conveying. Not that she couldn't understand the book; it's just that sometimes pictures can say a thousand words.
The same goes for those dreadful and bland computer how-to books. They'll go on and on about how to do something, but sometimes you get lost on the first page. If you're reading this, chances are you're a geek yourself, so you probably never need any computer advice.
Nonetheless, if computer problems ail your home, or you're looking to start your own blog or Web site, then check out In Pictures: computer how-to books based on pictures, not content! Choose from Windows XP and Palm devices to Photoshop CS2 and MySQL Basics and more!
Here's an interesting fact: The In Pictures Web site says that most computer books contain over 50,000 words. That's a lot of reading, but In Pictures books contain just 1/10 of that. An example of a page from the Palm devices book is at the right.
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