Even after shutting down 155 retail stores and announcing plans to cut around 17% of its 43,000 employees, Circuit City couldn't avoid the dreaded bankruptcy court. Today, the Virginia-based company (along with 17 affiliates) petitioned for Chapter 11 protection in Richmond as it attempts to survive under the crushing pressure from Best Buy / Walmart. Beyond that, details about the outfit's future are unclear, though Best Buy has reportedly stated that it "might take over stores that distressed rivals close." Please, no.

[Via Bloomberg, image courtesy of AFSmith; thanks Daniel]

It's hard to say if Amazon's recent fire sale of the Dash Express was an indicator of all this, but Dash is making some serious changes, regardless. Reportedly, the outfit has slashed 50 employees -- or around two-thirds of its workforce -- which will leave 30 workers who will operate primarily in engineering and support. According to now-CEO Rob Currie (who has replaced founder Paul Lego by Lego's choice), Dash "wanted to launch its device in the retail channel, but the economic changes made it rethink its business focus." To that end, Dash will actually cease making and selling its own hardware, and instead it will "license its platform to makers of automobile on-board navigation systems, smartphones, netbook-style mobile internet devices and other consumer electronics." So, what does it all mean? It could mean that the connected Dash platform is on the way to an automobile or cellphone near you, but we suppose only time will tell. As for existing Dash owners? Continued software updates and an online Dash Driver Network has been promised.

We were fully prepared to start harshing on VHS as a dead-end technology that never went anywhere during its time in retail (as a joke, of course), and out of nowhere, a bona fide tear slowly ran down our left cheek. Today, friends, is a day worth remembering. Today truly marks the end of an era, as so far as we can tell, JVC really was the only company still producing standalone VCRs. Of course, the outfit will continue to serve customers with a need to play back VHS tapes by offering up DVD / VHS combo units, but those looking for a shiny new slice of retro in 2008 will be out of luck after remaining inventories dry up. All told, over 900 million VCRs were produced worldwide, with 50 million of those boasting a JVC label. We simply couldn't think of a more fitting way to put the iconic VCR (which just turned 30 in 2005) to bed than by hosting up a poll and soliciting your input -- here's hoping the videocassette lives on in your domicile in one form or another, even if it's just the resident dust collector.

[Via Impress]

RealNetworks, the company you love to hate, is back with a new product sure to capture the attention of Hollywood and its MPAA thugs. For $30, RealDVD plans to do what DVD Jon enabled years ago -- namely, making digital copies of your DVDs. Unlike Jon's illegal DRM stripping software, RealNetworks' approach lays on additional DRM allowing you to make a single copy, only, playable on the machine doing the rip -- up to five additional Windows PCs can be authorized at a cost of $20 per.

Real thinks that the use of the additional DRM coupled with Kaleidescape's legal victory -- a ruling that seemingly authorizes users to copy DVDs for their own personal use -- will help it escape the wrath of the MPAA. Not that RealNetworks has ever been afraid of a fight as demonstrated by its 2004 scuffle with Apple when it began offering software that allowed iPods to play Real's DRM'd content. Good thing too because we're pretty sure that shutting down the planned start of RealDVD's sales at the end of this month is the number one topic around the bunny-juice dispensers at the MPAA offices this morning.

[Via cnet]

If you hadn't heard, Apple stopped producing the original iPhone at around the 6 million mark, clearing out stock worldwide and paving the way for the iPhone 3G to take the stage and carry the banner without the baggage of an older sibling cluttering up store shelves. This old EDGE unit was slow, GPS-less, closed to developers and way overpriced, but we still loved it dearly... but seriously folks, one slightly-used iPhone going cheap: $199 OBO.

It'd be absolutely spectacular to actually see one of these admittedly ambitious municipal WiFi projects actually work out every now and then, but instead, we're seeing the nails start to sink into yet another citywide WiFi coffin. This go 'round, the network blanketing most of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is on the verge of sending out its last signals unless the city can devise a plan in short order to take it over from EarthLink, who unsurprisingly wants out on the double. Unfortunately, we don't have a great feeling about the system's future -- history has a way of forecasting, you know?

[Via CNET, image courtesy of Stippling]

Hope you weren't really counting on getting yourself one of those Pegasus 210s. In a sudden announcement made today, Dominic Wong and David Langton of Deloitte & Touche LLP were appointed as Joint Administrators of Rock Group Plc. In layman's terms, that means those fellows will be attempting to achieve a sale of the now-defunct company. Reportedly, the failure of Rock is "partly attributed to the cash flow difficulties faced as a result of stock misappropriation by a former employee," though further details were omitted. As it stands, the admins are currently negotiating with potential suitors in order to place the outfit in more capable hands, but there is still a possibility that no one will bite. For more information on how all of this could affect you (you know, things like warranties and whatnot), check out the full release in the read link below. 'Tis a sad day folks -- Rock is dead (at least for the moment).

[Thanks, Peter]

Today is a very sad day in our little world. It's been reported that Arthur C. Clarke, among the most influential visionaries in technology and a personal hero of Engadget readers and editors both, has died in hospital care at the age of 90. Along with his many written works (such as the infamous and immeasurably influential 2001: A Space Odyssey), Clarke was possibly best known for conceptualizing the geostationary communications satellite -- clearly one of the most important technological innovations in history.

Arthur, you'll be dearly missed.

Just months after Sony hauled its RPTV production business off to the graveyard, the firm is now bidding a fond farewell to the Trinitron CRT. Believe it or not, the first Trinitron became a reality in 1968, and here we are some 40 years later shedding a tear as LCDs and OLED displays steal the thunder. Reportedly, the firm has moved some 280 million units worldwide between televisions and computer monitors, but we suppose all good things must eventually come to an end. So long, Trinitron -- it's been a mighty impressive run.

[Via Slashgear]

Although Netscape was once a mighty pioneer in the world of internet browsers, it didn't take long for Microsoft's Internet Explorer to overtake it and squash its dreams of market dominance. Granted, we highly (and we stress "highly") doubt any viewers reading this now are relying on Netscape Navigator as their primary browser, but seeing it finally bow out is a bit surreal. According to a post on the Netscape Blog, support (and subsequent updates) for it will no longer be provided by AOL (disclosure: AOL is our parent company's parent) after February 1, 2008. Sure, old versions will still be available for those who just hate to move on, but the team is suggesting that any remaining Netscape users (a show of hands, anyone?) make the leap to Firefox, and they even point you in the direction of a Netscape theme should you find yourself uncomfortable with change. Rest in peace, dear Netscape -- it's about time that last heap of dirt was finally flung.

[Via BlogRunner]

The rough-and-tumble economics of the display business claimed another victim today, as Fujitsu announced that it will exit the market in March. We hadn't seen a lot from the company's Aviamo line of plasmas since they first debuted in 2006, and it looks like there's a reason -- according to the short press release issued by Fujitsu today, "the pricing and profitability of this segment has compressed beyond the point which our company could realize a satisfactory return on investment." Hmmm, that explains why it spun off Shinoda Plasma a while back, no? Fujitsu says it will continue to sell displays in Japan and provide service and support to customers for the foreseeable future, but that what it really wants to do is paint "concentrate...on our core business of heating and ventilation equipment." You keep living that dream, guys.

[Thanks, Bruce S.]

Days after we first reported that CompUSA could be shutting down for good very, very soon, the WSJ everybody is reporting that the beleaguered big box retailer has been sold to Gordon Brothers Group for liquidation, which will occur shortly after the holidays. Somehow we don't think it'll be too missed, but Carlos Slim's in some pain today -- we didn't realize dude put $2 billion into the chain since the late 90s. Check out the Best Buy victory rap after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

MovieBeam is calling customers today and telling them that the datacasting HD movie service is ceasing operations as of December 15th, with certain customers eligible for a refund on the hardware. It's been rocky going for the company since spinning off from Disney a couple years ago, with a series of investments and acquisitions along the way, but none of the owners ever really managed to make the limited-selection, high-DRM, wonky-quality movie rental business model really work. Although we're always sad to see another gadget fade into that sweet night, something tells us we're not going to mourn for long.

[Thanks, Dustin]

So we've heard enough banter about CompUSA being on its last legs and possibly shuttering completely after closing more than half the chain's stores earlier this year. Well, chalk this up to rumor (in fact, rumor with prejudice if you must), but we're privy to a high-level internal email competitor Best Buy recently circulated which claims to have it on authority (but not "verified") that CompUSA's holiday revenue is half what it was last year (which, as commenter Hans points out, might have to do with those store closures), store-restocking shipments are not being scheduled past February, and additional liquidators are being called in to help manage closure of the 103 remaining stores. Sure, it could be a sneaky misinformation campaign -- or it could be the truth. We gave CompUSA a ring, and their PR team has yet to respond to the claim; but for what it's worth, if we weren't already hearing this kind of thing elsewhere (or didn't believe it plausible) we wouldn't waste your time.

It's not a huge surprise, but Apple's gone ahead and posted a note confirming that Leopard will not support Classic, even on PowerPC machines. Of course, Intel Macs have never been able to run Classic anyway, so only like Hypercard user groups and the three printshops still running QuarkXPress 4 will be affected by this. But this does mark the end of the road for the venerable and oft maligned OS, which ushered in the mainstream GUI era with the 128K Mac in 1984 and remained the default boot on all new Macs until OS X 10.1.2 was released 18 years later in 2002 -- prompting Steve to stage a melodramatic mock funeral for OS 9 at that year's WWDC. Still, the old warhorse managed to hang around for another five years, and we're a little sad to finally see it go. Check a vid of Steve's funeral after the break.