inventory
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Gold Capped: Unlimited long-term storage
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Check out Fox and Basil's reboot of Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! Ever see anyone trying to buy or sell a guild with bank tabs? There are people who will stop at nothing to store more stuff, especially those of us who play the gold-making game. One of the biggest challenges of making gold is, in fact, storing stuff. Bags are expensive, guild tabs are even more expensive, and there is a hard limit of 10 (for now) characters per realm. Each character has four bag slots and eight bank slots, as well as some built-in backpack and bank slots. This may seem like a lot, but what if you wanted to, for example, stockpile 10,000g worth of Hypnotic Dust, expecting it to sell for 70,000g in Mists of Pandaria? That could be over 700 stacks. Luckily, there's a simple and virtually free way to store unlimited amounts of stuff and save all your expensive inventory slots.
iPad online shipping times drop to one week
Apple's inventory of the new iPad is holding up well, especially in the US. Unlike the iPad 2 which faced shortages when it launched, the new iPad is readily available. Most US retail stores have at least one model of the iPad in stock and the online store is steadily improving shipment times. As noticed by CNET, shipping times for the iPad are now at five to seven days, down from one to two weeks. While the US is doing well, iPad supplies overseas are a bit more constrained. Online stores in the UK, Italy, France, Germany and other European countries still list a one to two week wait time for the new iPad. [Via CNET]
New iPad's online availability improves
Apple's done a fantastic job meeting demand for the third generation iPad. The company sold three million units in the first launch weekend and still has inventory in stores. As SlashGear noticed, it also narrowed the estimated shipping time from two to three weeks down to one to two weeks. This is great news for people who want to get an iPad without waiting too long for it, not so good news for scalpers looking to charge double the price of the iPad because of low supply-high demand. [Via SlashGear]
New iPad inventory shipments spotted at Best Buy, backroom eye-candy until Friday
If you somehow haven't heard, Apple's new iPad officially goes on sale this Friday. As such, it's not surprising to find out that at least one US Best Buy location has already received its stock of the Retina display-loaded slates. Thanks to an anonymous tipster, we've received photos showing short-stacks of the pads just waiting to be given new homes. If you'll recall, Apple's online store has already sold out of its arrival day shipment stock for home delivery, with newer orders now set to go out on the 19th. That said, if you haven't reserved one and have to it come March 16th, you'll likely have another option for a retail camping adventure aside from your local Apple, AT&T and Verizon stores.[Thanks, Anonymous]
The Daily Grind: Are you an MMO hoarder?
My guildies will tell you I'm a little bit OCD when it comes to my in-game MMO organization. I keep a pristine inventory, bank box, and house, assuming the game offers these features. I simply cannot log out of a game without emptying my mailbox, selling off junk loot, and making sure every stack of ore is just so. Other players game as if every MMO were an episode of Hoarders. We're not talking insects and pizza boxes here, but quest items from three expansions ago aren't out of the question ("maybe I'll use it for RP?"). In a way, I'm even a little bit jealous of these laissez faire folk, and I wonder whether they waste more time searching through their messy inventories than I do organizing mine obsessively. What about you -- are you an MMO hoarder? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Rumor: Best Buy inventory system cites March 11 in-stock date for "iPad 3" accessories
To echo the New Yorker's line about musicians and nightclub owners, Apple authorized retailers lead complicated lives. Big-box chains like Target and Walmart have to plan distribution and promotions weeks or months in advance, but with Apple's notoriously tight-lipped ways regarding new products, things can get wacky. We've gotten word from a Best Buy insider that the electronics retail giant expects to have some new accessories in stock as of March 11, 2012 -- see inventory screenshot above. In this case, the items in question appear to be a variety of ZAGG's InvisibleSHIELD device protectors... and they're showing up under a search for "iPad3." Now, you can take all this with the requisite grains of salt; retail inventory anticipation does not necessarily equate to actual stuff on the shelves. But given that this particular product has to be customized for each individual iPad model (to allow for variations in the position of camera, speaker grilles etc. between the revisions and the Wi-Fi vs. 3G units), it's intriguing. One problem though: the 11th is a Sunday, and there's little or no chance that it's the actual on-sale date of the new iPad model. Perhaps this stock of screen protectors will have time to get shelved and settled before a new iPad hits the streets on Monday the 12th.
Encrypted Text: My ganking toolbox
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. I love being prepared. I always like having the right tool for the job. My desk at the office is covered with spare parts and manuals, and my junk drawer at home is filled with cables and loose screws. And when I say junk drawer, I mean junk cabinet. I won't throw away something that could be useful later, which has me worried that my next TV appearance will be on Hoarders. Luckily, I can't be judged for all of the goodies that I keep in my rogue's bags. One of my favorite threads on the official rogue forums is the Ganker's Kit of Ganking. It's a very robust list of items in WoW that can help you kill your targets and avoid being killed yourself. I find that we're usually so focused on our normal gear that we forget about all of the other items in our inventory that can make playing a rogue fun.
Dell halts online sales of Streak 7 tablet, turns toward a new mobile future
You might wanna pause for a moment of silence, because it looks like Dell has just discontinued its Streak 7 tablet. As the folks over at Streak Smart recently noticed, the Android slate has mysteriously disappeared from Dell's website, replaced only with a note to confirm that it's no longer available online. Dell, which axed the smaller Streak 5 back in August, provided us with the following statement: Dell remains committed to the mobility market and continues to sell products here and in other parts of the world. Streak 7 delivered a unique experience for customers who wanted a larger screen-size yet the freedom of staying connected to their personal and professional content while on the-go. It continues to be available in many markets through retail, distributors and carrier partners such as Optus in Australia. A 10-inch version of the tablet, Streak 10 Pro, is currently offered in China, offering the ultimate digital divide between work and life. The Venue and Venue Pro devices, as well, continue to earn accolades for performance, design and functionality around the world. We also recently launched the Latitude ST, a 10-inch Windows 7-based touch-screen tablet designed for vertical markets such as education, finance and healthcare in November of this year. We remain committed to expanding our reach beyond PCs with a targeted set of open, standards-based mobility solutions and services designed for commercial and mobile professional customers. So Dell isn't leaving the mobile space entirely, and it doesn't look like the Streak 7 is completely dead, though based on the above statement, it certainly seems to be on its way to pasture.
Radio Shack inventory screen pegs iPhone 5 for Sprint
Could it be? Are the rumors true? If this screenshot, apparently culled from Radio Shack's inventory system, is any indication, Sprint will indeed be among the carriers offering the iPhone 5. That lines up just right with previous reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, slating the phone to hit the Now Network in mid-October. There's no indication of actual dates at this point, but if Sprint's getting Apple's next-gen iPhone, we're guessing we'll hear more about it on Tuesday.[Thanks, Anon]
Did a white iPhone 4S just pop up in AT&T's system?
Judging from the clandestine screenshot you see above, it most certainly seems like that's the case. A helpful tipster sent us this tasty morsel, from AT&T's internal system, listing the "iPhone 4s White" beneath a handful of already familiar Apple handsets. Could it be? Is Cupertino actually planning on bringing a white version of its next iPhone out at launch? We're afraid only time will tell.
Apple removes shipping times for many online items
Apple's online storefront includes shipping times that give prospective customers an idea of how long they'll have to wait before an item arrives on their front door. Many Apple products no longer have an estimated ship date and are labeled as being "In Stock". The only products with a ship date are those with limited availability. In the past, these shipping dates were used to estimate product inventory and guess when new products may be released. Earlier this week, savvy customers noticed the ship dates for the iPhone 4 slipped from 24 hours to 1-3 days. This kicked off a round of speculation that Apple was clearing inventory of the iPhone 4 before the launch of the iPhone 5. Likely tired of these rampant rumors, Apple has removed these ship dates leaving customers and rumormongers in the dark about product inventory. [Via AppleInsider]
LG Display cuts spending targets for 2012, amid sagging LCD demand
LG Display has decided to drastically cut its expenditure target for 2012, in yet another sign that the LCD market is going through some tough times. Today, the manufacturer announced that it will spend only three trillion won (about $2.8 billion) on its production facilities next year -- a 33 percent decrease from its previously revised budget and LG Display's lowest expenditure target since 2009. The company also said that it has no plans to build a new LCD plants in 2012, suggesting that it may already be facing excess panel supply. Analysts are predicting that demand will remain subdued throughout the end of 2011, though LG Display CFO James Jeong had previously said he expects things to pick up by the beginning of next year.
ERPLY's mobile credit card reader handles NFC payments on an iPad, obliterates the check-out line
It may look like nothing more than a glorified chip clip, but that dongle at the bottom of this guy's iPad is actually ERPLY's new credit card reader -- the latest addition to a growing field of NFC and mobile payment devices designed for small and large businesses. Once attached to an iPad's charging port, the peripheral will send a user's encrypted credit card information to ERPLY's point-of-sale and inventory management software, allowing customers to purchase products on the store room floor and giving retailers the ability to monitor transactions and stock flows in real time. Available for $50 (with a transaction fee of 1.9 percent), the reader is also equipped to handle both NFC and traditional card payments and, after processing a purchase, will automatically send a receipt to consumers via text or e-mail. At the moment, it's only available for the iPad, though iPhone users should be able to get their own version within the next three months. Swipe past the break for more information, in the full press release.
Gold Capped: Inventory balancing in TradeSkillMaster
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! TradeSkillMaster is the most powerful addon used to automate crafting and batch posting, and today, we'll be learning how to fine-tune the number of items created based on your selling history. Generally, when you started using TSM, you set up a default number of items for each trade skill group that you wanted it to keep in stock. For example, I told it to: Always craft enough scrolls that I had two on the auction house when they were profitable. Always craft enough of each meta-gem cut to ensure that I always had three on the AH when they were profitable. Now when I hit the Restock Queue button in enchanting or jewelcrafting, it queues up enough stock to bring my inventory levels to two scrolls or three gems. What if I invested in some recipe I sell a lot more of, though?
T-Mobile G2x sheds 'out of stock' badge, immediately goes on sale
All of your G2x-toting friends are gleefully downloading the long-awaited Gingerbread update, while you sulk in the corner because they've been out of stock for over two months. Time to don that party hat, Sir Frowny, because it's now your turn to share in the joy and have the last laugh. T-Mobile's online store not only has the G2x in stock, they're free -- at least until Thursday, that is. The price tag seems to be a generous olive branch extended by the carrier for those who've been immeasurably patient in buying the fanciful device. Sure, you may be a tad late to the celebration, but think of it instead as making a grand entrance.
Acer lowers forecast for tablet, notebook shipments, blames limping European economy
Acer had high hopes for 2011, but it looks like its expectations may have been a bit too optimistic. Today, the company issued revised forecasts for shipments of its tablet PCs, predicting to move between 2.5 and three million units by year's end -- down from the five to seven million it projected earlier. Acer chairman J.T. Wang expects current quarter notebook shipments to dip by ten percent from their Q1 levels, before stabilizing or slightly increasing during Q3. According to the new-look firm, these downward revisions are largely due to lagging economic growth in Europe, though its Asian and US markets "remain healthy." European inventories are expected to decrease to normal levels by the end of this month, which should allow the company's market share to rebound during the second half of this year. It's certainly not a dire outlook, but it's probably not the start new Corporate President Jim Wong was looking to get off to, either.
The Tattered Notebook: What I hate about public quests
As I was working on getting back into the swing of things in EverQuest II after the prolonged downtime, I had a moment of anger as I was waiting to start a public quest. For those not familiar, EQII's public quests are similar to those in other games, but there are only two, and they run at rather lengthy, and predictable, timers. So I flew over to Storm Gorge first, only to arrive seconds too late and miss out on the chest. I flew back to the Ring War, only to find that I had 40 more minutes before kick off and the only other person there was an Ogre Shadow Knight standing AFK with the angry mood emote. (Why on earth anyone finds that animation cool is beyond me.) "No problem," I thought, "I'll just use the time to peruse my bags and find my Frost Giant illusion that goes so well with the event." I tapped on my "B" key, and then something horrible happened...
HTC Trophy checks into Costco's inventory system
Every time we're ready to file the Verizon's HTC Trophy under 'myth', it peeks out to say hello. In this particular case, the evasive Windows Phone was caught in Costco's inventory system offered for $150 -- around the starting price we'd come to expect for it being Verizon's very first WP7 device. Unfortunately we aren't any closer to uncovering the Trophy's planned release date, but seeing it in the computer with a price attached gives us greater hope that we'll find it stocked on store shelves sooner rather than later. [Thanks, Anonymous]
Addon Spotlight: Customize without hassle with AdiBags
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week, AdiBags steals my heart, you little minx, you. Welcome to Addon Spotlight, the second most amazing column on WoW Insider next to The Lawbringer. Coincidentally, both columns are written by the most handsome writer, if I do say so myself. Don't tell my raid, but I'm drafting this article during our fights. They don't really need an add tank on heroic Maloriak, do they? Naaaaaaaaaah ... This week's addon is my new darling inventory addon called AdiBags. Many people have already heard of and are using AdiBags with good reason. Take the wonderful interface of a Baggins-like mod and combine it with the robustness of Arkinventory married to simplicity. Personally, I couldn't be happier. Well, I could be, but not about addons!
The Daily Grind: Should inventory space be infinitely expandable?
MMO inventories may not be the single biggest source of frustration in MMOs -- or even in the top 10, depending on the player -- but every online gamer has butted his or her head up against their limitations at some point. As virtual vacuums, our characters are Hoovering up all the junk, tokens, armor, weapons, livers, scrolls, twigs, fishing pole, fish, plankton, and lit torches that lie in their paths. Because of this, our bags are often full to bursting and our backs sore to aching. Some MMOs give players a fixed amount of inventory spots (such as LotRO) and that's that. Some games like RIFT allow for the collection of bigger bags, while others like Fallen Earth challenge players to keep tabs on weight management as well. However MMOs handle it, inventory space is constantly one of those things of which players can't get enough. So should inventory space be infinitely expandable? Are we to a point that the limitations of backpacks are no longer welcome in MMORPGs? Or do these limitations still have a good purpose (beyond the coding headaches that an infinite inventory would give to the dev team)? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
