Gadgetopia

The Wal-Mart You Don't Know: While not terrifically geekish, this is a good story about Wal-Mart, a company that is affects us geeks more and more everyday. From Linux desktop computers to iTunes competition to RFID adoption, Wal-Mart is a retail force that will push its way into any market ...

Wal-Mart blogs revealed to be done by PR firm's employees: I can't say this is Earth-shattering news. A public relations firm has revealed that it is behind two blogs that previously appeared to be created by independent supporters of Wal-Mart. The blogs Working Families for Wal-mart and subsidiary site Paid ...

Wal-Mart to launch online music service: There's nothing anyone can sell that Wal-Mart can't sell cheaper. Wal-Mart Stores is looking to its core customer base with its new online music service, offering a library of largely country music songs for less than the 99-cent per download industry standard.

How Many Lightbulbs Does it Take to Change the World? One. And You're Looking At It.: We tend to slam Wal-Mart when we think they're evil, so we should probably pat them on the back when they do something good. And this is very good, because incandescent bulbs are evil, ...

Wal-Mart turns to bloggers to gild its image: Wal-mart is sending "excusive" information emails to hand-picked bloggers to try and inject their side of stories into the blogosphere. [...] Wal- Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting ...

Wal-Mart to write own name on notebooksThe Wal-Mart juggernaut rolls on. Now they're getting into hardware. Wal-Mart Stores is developing a plan to launch its own brand of PCs. The retail giant plans to begin offering notebooks under its own brand name during the first quarter of 2004, according to ...

Wal-Mart looks to expand radio tagging: Wal-Mart continues the march to the alter of RFID. Discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores today said it hopes to expand use of its electronic product tracking system to its top 300 suppliers by January 2006. [...] Currently about 140 suppliers are working to implement the ...

Gloves come off as Wal-Mart, critics slam each other on Web: A Web war is on between Wal-Mart and their critics, with new Web sites popping up all over the place. The brawl between Wal-Mart and its union critics is escalating as groups on both sides, fighting over whether the ...

From the "You Get What You Pay For" department, C-Net is reporting that Wal-Mart may be selling HP Pavillion ze2308wm laptops this Christmas season for the low-low price of $398. Wal-mart pulled a similar stunt last year, but since then I haven't heard any rave reviews about the quality of ...

Wal-Mart Plan Could Cost Suppliers Millions: More information on the RFID plan that Wal-Mart is forging ahead with. "Wal-Mart said in June that it expected its top 100 suppliers to adopt the technology by the end of 2004 and the rest of its suppliers to do so in 2005. In ...

I got an email on Wired Rants and Raves a while back (the last one in the list). Just found it, five months later. Reading it again, I believe it even more strongly. The article "The Games Wal-Mart Doesn't Play," (Dec. 2, 2002) quotes: "It's almost impossible to get a ...

Hack Attack: Turn Your Old PC into a Webapp Monster with gOS: This is a review of the linux distro that comes with Wal-mart s ultra-cheap PC. The screenshots make it look pretty good. ince Wal-Mart began selling a $199 PC running a free Linux distribution—called gOS—with a hearty dose of ...

While not new, today I got to try first-hand the Fuji Aladdin 2000 Picture Center at a local Wal-Mart. I'd used Wal-Mart's online photo services before, and have always been impressed at the simplicity and cost ($0.26 per print), but I was frustrated that I had to wait 7-10 days ...

Report: Wal-Mart to exit VHS business, free space for DVDs: The death of VHS tapes happened awfully suddenly. [Wal-Mart's decision to stop selling VHS tapes] comes after an announcement from Target that it will phase out VHS sales by September. Best Buy and Circuit City no longer sell VHS tapes, ...

Report: Toshiba making funeral plans for HD DVD; Wal-Mart to go all Blu: And just like that, the format war is over. Throughout the battle with Blu-ray, Toshiba and the HD DVD Promotions Group had fought aggressively to defend HD DVD, even as Warner Bros. abandoned ship. But that strong ...

Taken in the local Wal-mart parking lot. (Best picture I've ever taken with my phone.)

I went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart today (yes, I know it's a juggernaut, but I've been assimilated), and one big reason for RFIDs occured to me. I got up to the counter with what turned out to be $118 worth of groceries, and I was faced with the prospect of ...

I've been a Sam's Club member for a while. My dog food comes in 50-pound bags. I only buy toilet paper about twice a year. All good things. I really started using the membership when our local Sam's Club got a 1-Hour Photo center, and I got a digital camera. ...

Coke Enters the Music Business: Wal-Mart, iTunes, Microsoft, and now Coke? Coca-Cola is launching an Internet music download service in Britain next month, the first consumer brand to jump into Europe's crowded Internet music market, the company said on Monday. The soft drinks maker said that in January it will ...

Defense Department drafts RFID policy: First Wal-Mart requires their adoption, and now the Department of Defense. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're coming faster than you think. "The U.S. Department of Defense will give radio frequency identification technology a massive boost with a new policy requiring its suppliers to use ...

Christian video games a nascent boom?: Awesome. I wanna part the Red Sea. So far, games such as "Spiritual Warfare" and "Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land" have drawn a loyal following by combining biblical themes with mild action. Users can travel through biblical lands, solve puzzles based on ...

RFID Privacy Workshop @ MIT: There was a conference at MIT a week ago on how to handle the RFID privacy issue. With workshops like "Enhancing RFID Privacy through Antenna Energy Analysis," how can you lose? The goal of the RFID Privacy Workshop is to bring together RFID technologists, boosters, ...

Has anyone else tried the self-checkout systems at Wal-Mart? These are systems where you scan items yourself, then put them in the bag. The system compares the weight of the item in the bag with what the system has on record. If the correct weight doesn't go in the bag ...

Wal-Mart Adds SuSE-Based PCs As Linux Offerings Grow: They've sold Lindows machines for a while now, but this is good news for the Linux camp. "Walmart.com has added the SuSE distribution to its PC lineup, and PC consumers can now purchase the Linux-based machines for under $300. The Microtel-designed systems ...

Recently I was looking around for a sport watch to replace my $10 Wal-mart disposible model that had died and on which I spent $3 on a replacement battery that was unable to resurrect it. That's a post for another day. Anyway, I ran across the Ironman Triathlon Data Link ...

Industry Feeling Presence of the 800-Pound Google: I don't think this will actually happen in a million years, but it's fun to think about. Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet. Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores ...

I can't find a page to link to for this, but in Wal-Mart last night I saw a DVD in the magazine rack. Apparently you can get an "issue" of E! on DVD for $4.96. I don't exactly know what this consists of, but from the case it appeared to ...

RFID: Taking Away Your Privacy One Product at a Time: RFID are little radio transmitters that can be embedded in products. These comments are worth thinking about. "Earlier this year, Wal-Mart issued a mandate that required its top 100 suppliers to include RFIDs on their merchandise by 2005, bringing new ...

WalMart.com - Music Downloads was formally announced yesterday, and in typical Walmart fashion, they are undercutting the big boys in price -- 88 cents a single and $9.44 an album. But the service leaves much to be desired, as they will specifically exclude not only Mac users, but also the ...

EZ-D: The 48-Hour, No Need To Return DVD!: We've talked about disposable DVDs before, but I saw them for the first time in truck stops on my way to Colorado last week. They were $5.99 each, and could be watched for 48 hours before a chemical coating on the surface ...