Technology catch-all thread

[Texsox]

Or a dedicated home a/v store, but it'd be a pretty dick move to use them for their expertise and then buy elsewhere.

 

It does give the store a chance. If you never walk in, they have zero chance. To be fair, I think you should be smart about it. Pick a slower time. But most store owners I know, while frustrated by customers walking out without buying anything, are far more frustrated when customers never come in. They recognize there are other purchases that the customer may make later that they would have also lost out on if the customer never stopped in.

[That funky motion]

I use Abt for everything. Great customer service and will match any price. The only problem is they one have one location.

[BigSqwert]

I use Abt for everything. Great customer service and will match any price. The only problem is they one have one location.

And they don't sell chicken.

[That funky motion]

And they don't sell chicken.

 

 

[HuskyCaucasian]

It's CES week!

[Chisoxfn]

I actually like Best Buy if only because they are the only place I know of that still offers 0% financing. I use that on nearly all my big-ticket purchases. As far as I know, that's not something I can get from Amazon.

 

 

 

This doesn't sound right. I just returned a DVD to Best Buy last week with no problems at all.

Best Buy will charge sales tax so Amazon will give you about a 7.75% discount.

 

Note: Technically you are still responsible to pay the sales tax, however, 98% of the population does.

[Chisoxfn]

That quote was talking about software, not unopened dvds. I'd be hard pressed to find a place that happily lets customers return open software. That's been the norm for ages.

 

That article about the fall of Best Buy was just b****ing about bad customer service. Next article that guy writes should be about the demise of Wal-Mart then. What an asshat.

 

And I agree about the 0%. Also, is Amazon going to be able to show me the picture quality of HD televisions? There's no way I'd buy a tv online without seeing it vs at Best Buy who will pricematch anyway.

 

That article was s***.

The article was dead wrong regarding the returning of DVD's. I returned an unopened video game the other day with no issues. As long as it is unopened it can be returned. That said, if the customer service rep told him that nonsense, that is a problem in and of itself because you shouldn't have to make a stink to have your item returned.

 

And the author is completely wrong. I buy a lot of stuff on amazon because it is cheaper, utilizing Best Buy as a showroom. If BestBuy went out of business, I would feel less comfortable making major purchase items.

 

Note: I rely a lot on the ratings/reviews I see online regarding picture quality, but I still want to see the tv in person from a "looks" perspective.

[Chisoxfn]

Walmart can justify bad customer service with keeping employee costs low and thus their prices low. Best buy can't. You notice when a place is thriving or on the verge of death. Even when crowded, walking into a best buy now you can just tell that it's dying. The fact that I had a hard time finding a cheap keyboard for a mac that wasn't a hello kitty keyboard, when i could go to target and get one easily is a testament to this fact. They just don't provide anything easily. I don't have time for their bulls***, mostly.

I was able to buy my phone cheaper at Best Buy (thanks to there reward zone card) and it has a better return policy than the phone had I bought it through Sprint. I like Best Buy. It has its problems but I like it. I also bought a couple video games over the holidays at prices that couldn't be beat anywhere.

 

And to make things better, I got a gift card for $100 bucks there for Christmas (after I had bought the wife and I new cell phones) and I was able to go into the store and apply the $100 to my previous purchase, which was pretty sweet (with them crediting $100 back onto my credit card).

[Iwritecode]

Best Buy will charge sales tax so Amazon will give you about a 7.75% discount.

 

Note: Technically you are still responsible to pay the sales tax, however, 98% of the population does.

 

I know about the sales tax but typically when we are purchasing a big-ticket item, it's because the one we had a home broke and we need a new one. TV, fridge, computer, washer/dryer, etc...

 

We usually don't have the money to pay for it outright and don't want to put it on a credit card. The 12-month or 18-month no interest deals work out great for us.

[Y2HH]

It's CES week!

 

Where 95% of what they show will never be sold.

[iamshack]

Where 95% of what they show will never be sold.

Yeah, I kind of view this the same way as I view the concept cars at the car show...it's a miracle if any of it ever actually reaches the market.

[bigruss]

Yeah, I kind of view this the same way as I view the concept cars at the car show...it's a miracle if any of it ever actually reaches the market.

I would say out of simple observations that yea you won't see many if any direct products from concept car shows sold. But the designs, features, etc will be used heavily later on. All those stylings on the outside of concept cars are pretty much what you will be looking at in buying a car a few years down the road, or at least that's what I feel like I've seen in the past 8 years or so (lived near Detroit for 5 years so car shows were huge and newspapers would have full sections on what was there. I remember many of those stylings now being adapted to standard cars today).

[iamshack]

I would say out of simple observations that yea you won't see many if any direct products from concept car shows sold. But the designs, features, etc will be used heavily later on. All those stylings on the outside of concept cars are pretty much what you will be looking at in buying a car a few years down the road, or at least that's what I feel like I've seen in the past 8 years or so (lived near Detroit for 5 years so car shows were huge and newspapers would have full sections on what was there. I remember many of those stylings now being adapted to standard cars today).

Damn you, Russ.

Edited January 10, 2012 by iamshack

[Y2HH]

I would say out of simple observations that yea you won't see many if any direct products from concept car shows sold. But the designs, features, etc will be used heavily later on. All those stylings on the outside of concept cars are pretty much what you will be looking at in buying a car a few years down the road, or at least that's what I feel like I've seen in the past 8 years or so (lived near Detroit for 5 years so car shows were huge and newspapers would have full sections on what was there. I remember many of those stylings now being adapted to standard cars today).

 

Still not nearly the same.

[StrangeSox]

A concept car is meant to be an expensive, not-necessarily-practical design study to generate interest in the brand and showcase new design possibilities, even if the likelihood of a specific design detail or function making it into a production vehicle is relatively low.

[bigruss]

Still not nearly the same.

Never said that

[bigruss]

Damn you, Russ.

I'm bored at work today

[chw42]

I'm looking to get a new phone. I'm kind of torn between the Galaxy S II and the Sensation 4G (Sensation already has ICS). The only thing that's stopping me from already deciding is the fact that the Sensation has an S-LCD screen, not an S-AMOLED.

 

So for any of you that have had phones with both types of screens, is there a big difference? I know the AMOLED is far better with contrast and viewing angles and the S-LCD is slightly better in sunlight. But from daily use, do you notice anything that stands out?

Edited January 12, 2012 by chw42

[Steve9347]

I'm looking to get a new phone. I'm kind of torn between the Galaxy S II and the Sensation 4G (Sensation already has ICS). The only thing that's stopping me from already deciding is the fact that the Sensation has an S-LCD screen, not an S-AMOLED.

 

So for any of you that have had phones with both types of screens, is there a big difference? I know the AMOLED is far better with contrast and viewing angles and the S-LCD is slightly better in sunlight. But from daily use, do you notice anything that stands out?

The AMOLED is about 100x better looking.

 

EDIT: and that's coming from a guy who doesn't have one, but has friends with them.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Steve9347

[chw42]

The AMOLED is about 100x better looking.

 

EDIT: and that's coming from a guy who doesn't have one, but has friends with them.

 

I also learned yesterday that the Sensation gets a lot of dust under the screen, which never happens with an S-AMOLED since the screen is fused with the glass.

 

Yeah, I'm definitely leaning towards the Galaxy S II. I can't stand dust under a screen, especially if I'm going to spend $400 on a phone.

[BigSqwert]

I also learned yesterday that the Sensation gets a lot of dust under the screen, which never happens with an S-AMOLED since the screen is fused with the glass.

 

Yeah, I'm definitely leaning towards the Galaxy S II. I can't stand dust under a screen, especially if I'm going to spend $400 on a phone.

I had an EVO and now own a GSII. Go with the GSII for sure.

[chw42]

I had an EVO and now own a GSII. Go with the GSII for sure.

 

I didn't feel like spending $500 on a GSII. So I bought an unlocked Galaxy S Vibrant for less than half the price. ICS and the price was too much for me to say no.

[Balta1701]

Link

Online retailer Zappos.com is asking its 24 million customers to reset their passwords after a cyberattack, according to a posting on the company's website.

 

"We were recently the victim of a cyber attack by a criminal who gained access to parts of our internal network and systems through one of our servers in Kentucky," says the posting, which was sent out as an e-mail from company CEO Tony Hsieh to Zappos employees on Sunday.

 

The company said it had expired and reset customers' passwords and would be sending an e-mail with further instructions to all its customers. It also posted password reset instructions on its website.

 

Zappos said that hackers gained access to customers' names, e-mail addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, and the last four digits of credit card numbers and encrypted passwords.

 

Full credit card numbers and other payment info were stored on a separate server which was not hacked, the company said.

[Balta1701]

Wikipedia is now the biggest name out there planning to go dark on Wednesday in protest of the proposed internet copyright legislation sitting in front of Congress.

 

Get whatever you need to research done on Tuesday.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Research In Motion pushing for sale to Samsung

Research In Motion is currently weighing every single option it can think of in an effort to reverse a negative trend that is approaching a boiling point for investors. Reports that RIM is currently in talks to license its software to other vendors are accurate according to our trusted sources, though we have been told that RIM is most likely leaning toward an outright sale of one or more divisions, or even the whole company. The front runner, we have been told by a trusted source with knowledge of the situation, is Samsung, which might be interested in RIM for a number of reasons.

 

One of the biggest assets RIM has is BlackBerry Messenger, and it would be a smart way for Samsung to differentiate itself inside the Android ecosystem. HTC has its Sense suite and it recently bought into Beats by Dr. Dre. Samsung could buy RIM, or a part of the company, and integrate not only BBM but also several other enterprise features into Android to make its devices an even bigger threat to competitors. This could also help Samsung better differentiate itself on the software and OS level, pulling more control into its hands and away from Google.