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Dish will install your smart home gadgets for a flat fee
Dish is having another go at the smart home. The satellite TV provider has been offering smart technology installation services to its own customers for years, but today it launches OnTech, a service that will set up a whole range of devices for you, whether you're an existing customer or not.
After Math: When it all comes crashing
It's turning out to be a great week for falling objects. China's first space station is set to reenter the Earth's atmosphere, IBM's 50-qubit processor record was felled by Google's latest invention, the FBI and Geek Squad's cozy narc relationship has been revealed and the White House has decided it wants to be able to shoot civilian drones out of the skies. Numbers, because how else will you gauge how fast you're falling?
EFF: Geek Squad has been working with the FBI for a decade
When the defense in a California doctor's child pornography case accused the FBI of paying Geek Squad's crew to look for evidence in the defendant's computer, Best Buy denied it enjoys close ties with the agency. Now, according to the EFF, the big-box retailer's team of IT technicians are even closer to the feds than previous reports indicated. The non-profit has received the results to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) it filed last year and found that Best Buy has been enjoying "a particularly close relationship with the agency" over the past 10 years, at least.
Best Buy plans to send sales consultants to more homes this fall
Best Buy, the company that'll sell you overpriced HDMI cables and charge a premium for making basic adjustments to your TV, wants to put its sales people in more houses. The Associated Press reports that the expanded service will be free, and this fall will move beyond the five test cities where it's currently available. The retailer says that in its tests, customers spend more when a sales person comes to their homes versus what they do in stores.
Amazon's Geek Squad-like service installs your smart home gear
Geek Squad is supposed to be one of Best Buy's few clear advantages over internet retailers: you can ask for help from a real human being if you're not sure how to set up your devices. Even that edge is disappearing, however. Recode has learned that Amazon is quietly rolling out a smart home setup service that helps you get started with connected lights, thermostats and (of course) smart speakers. If you have an Echo or another Alexa-connected device, you can get a free 45-minute consultation from an Amazon staffer who'll answer questions, demo Alexa-linked devices and, naturally, create shopping lists. However, the real stars of the show are the in-person visits.
FBI allegedly paid Geek Squad for evidence
Last May, the defense in a child pornography trial alleged that the FBI used a member of electronics retailer Best Buy's tech support team, Geek Squad, to peer into the accused's computer on the hunt for evidence of child pornography. Since then, the defense's lawyers revealed that the FBI had cultivated at least eight of the company's IT handyfolk over a four-year period to serve as confidential informants, who all received some payment for turning over data. Obviously, this raises serious questions about whether sending devices into the repair shop forfeits a person's right to privacy or unreasonable search and seizure.
Geek Squad employee allegedly searched PCs for the FBI
An astute PC technician is supposed to report any illegal content they see while fixing a machine, but one employee of Best Buy's Geek Squad might have gone too far. The defense in a child pornography case alleges that the FBI paid Geek Squad agent Justin Meade to search customers' computers for illegal material, bypassing the warrant the FBI would need to conduct its own searches. A secret informant file supposedly shows that Meade was considered a source for child porn investigations between 2009 and 2012, leading to the bust in question. Attorneys for the accused, Dr. Mark Rettenmaier, want the evidence tossed out as a result.
Learning circuits and programming with the Geek Squad
If you're ever made a gadget purchase at Best Buy, you've likely heard of the Geek Squad: the retailer's in-house fleet of tech support and repair specialists. Well, helping with your hard drive issues isn't all they do. Here at Expand NY, the crew is showing off some of the tools used at Geek Squad Academy events where kids can learn about technology -- from circuits to programming and more. Being the type to roll up our sleeves, we headed over to take a look. Jump down after the break to take a look at the banana-powered piano and video game controlled with a pair of watermelons.
What's up with Engadget Expand?
We're just two weeks away from our free Engadget Expand event, taking place at New York City's Javits Center on November 7th and 8th and there's still so much to tell you about. If you can't join us in person, don't worry -- we'll keep you updated throughout the weekend with dispatches from the show floor and our livestream here on Engadget.
Currys launches 'Knowhow Movies' VOD service / money-pit
Today, Dixons Retail plc (Currys, PC World) and Rovi launch a UK-based VOD service under the retail giant's Knowhow paid-support brand (think: Geek Squad with more overcharging). You'll be able to buy and download movies and TV to your Windows PC or stream them to a Mac using Rovi's DivX technology with adaptive streaming. The platform is promised to swell to include smart TVs, Blu-Ray players, tablets, consoles and smartphones through 2012. You'll be able to register up to five devices with the service and switch between them as you wish, as long as everything's connected to the internet. Selected movies are available to rent for around £3 ($5), or can be bought in SD/HD for £13 ($21) / £18 ($29). Just as an FYI for consumers planning on signing up: most of the titles are available to buy on DVD for around two-thirds of that price, if you can bear to wait a couple of days.
Best Buy slaps Blue Label on Sony and Toshiba laptops, packed to the exhaust vents with extras
That fancy new Toshiba E305 we checked out back in January is up for pre-order now, and it's brought along a friend from Sony (the VPCSC1AFM/S) to join the Best Buy-exclusive Blue Label party. In terms of specs the two machines are practically identical -- both boast a 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hybrid hard disk, a Blu-ray drive, WiDi (and an adapter for your TV from Netgear), and a WiMAX radio. The big differences between the two PCs are price and size, with the 14-inch Toshiba weighing in just under 5 pounds and costing $900, while the Sony squeezes in under the 4-pound mark for $950. Considering the wealth of extras, including a year of Kaspersky anti-virus, 90 days of Geek Squad support, and an extended two-year warranty, the Blue Label machines are actually a pretty good bang for your buck and cost about $100 less than comparably equipped systems from their respective makers. If you don't care about things like Blu-ray or WiMAX, and distrust the Geek Squad though, you could save yourself some cash by skipping on these pre-configured models and going with a customized rig from Sony or Toshiba directly. PR after the break.
Best Buy charges $30 for PS3 firmware update, laughs all the way to the bank
In case you hadn't noticed by now, Best Buy's Geek Squad isn't always the most scrupulous sort, but their latest attempt to upsell consumers is truly off the charts. We've confirmed for ourselves that the Staten Island, NY store is offering 120GB PS3 Slims for $329.98, explaining away the surcharge as their fee for a firmware upgrade. In case you've never booted up a PS3 yourself, let us explain the sheer ridiculousness at work here: a system update requires about three button presses, and some discs prompt you automatically. Hell, if you want to play online or access the PlayStation Store, you don't even have a choice -- ever since Other OS got Sony's goat, firmware updates have been mandatory across the board. Still, it's hard to say no when Best Buy employees are this polite -- when we explained to a rep that we already had a PS3, he graciously offered us an update anyhow... for just $29.98.
Zeitgeist attendees comped with Google TV gift bag: Sony Blu-ray player, Dish Network and free installs
We suppose one way around Google TV's initial reliance on IR blasters to communicate with some set-top boxes is to just give away everything necessary for a good experience -- Sony HDTV, Google TV (it's unclear whether the first two are separate or one item), six months of Dish Network service and a free installation from Best Buy's Geek Squad -- which, according to AllThingsD, is exactly what the 600 attendees of today's Google Zeitgeist event received. That even the great minds of our time presumably require a custom installation just to get everything going may not be a great initial sign for the product, but as the post points out, Aaron Sorkin probably isn't used to plugging in his own HDMI cables anyway. With those 600 units in the wild and a retail release presumably around the corner, we should see some first hand reports leaking out just about any time now. Update: Search Engine Land reports users actually received 3 months of complementary service from Dish and a Google TV-equipped Blu-ray player from Sony, not a an HDTV -- which certainly makes more sense than suddenly tossing new flatscreens into random households.
Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video)
Ah, there it is, UK's first-ever Best Buy store, officially born at 7am local time yesterday. Naturally, we had to be there to witness such magical moment for Britain's consumer tech market -- the Brits had longed for an injection of energy and professionalism to the seemingly slacking chain stores. Many would agree that DSGi's two main brands -- Currys and PC World -- are on the naughty list, even after their recent relaunch. From what we saw today, it looks like Best Buy's already heading in the right direction. Let's start with the front-line employees. Most of these Blueshirts provided genuine technical answers rather than bluffing their way out, plus we were given product recommendations with no desperate sales pitch as commonly seen in other stores. When we revealed our identity to one of the sales reps, he confirmed that they were trained to not force random products onto customers -- quite the opposite culture to his old days at DSGi (assuming he was telling the truth). We sure did appreciate this new-found shopping freedom in gadget stores, but did the other customers feel the same way? Find out what we heard after the break.%Gallery-92099%
Some Geek Squads to start driving plug-in Mitsubishi i-MiEVs
With the amount of use Chuck gets out of his "Nerd Herd" mobile, plus our own anecdotal sightings of Geek Squad vehicles around town (see what we did there? Science), we'd say that they're ripe for EV replacements, and what better than the hard-to-pronounce i-MiEV from Mitsubishi to do the job? As announced at the LA Auto Show on Thursday, a few Best Buy Geek Squad locations in California are getting access to the cars in January, with minimal fleets that will expand to the other stores over a few years. For now it's going to be an experiment, and primarily urban, but we like where this is headed. As in, "not to our house, because we're perfectly adept at setting up a wireless network, thanks."
Walmart to rival Best Buy's Geek Squad with own in-home install crew
We've never truly been at ease with that Geek Squad crowd. Something about "the people" they hang with and "the places" they hang at just worries us, so we're pretty thrilled to see another mega-corp stepping in to take the place of the now-deceased Circuit City FireDog crew. Starting sometime before the holiday season, Wally World will be partnering with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies in order to offer in-home installation to customers buying anything from a wireless router to a HTIB. The service plans will be sold on prepaid cards ranging from $99 to $399 in value, and each install includes a "preliminary consultation and a tutorial after installation is completed." Granted, it may be a bit tough to get the dude looking to spend $5 on a new plasma to spring for such a service, but hey, it's not like competition is a bad thing. [Via Hot Hardware]
Engadget cruises with the Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle (with videos!)
Little more than a month after getting our sweaty, gloveless mitts on the Zero Motorcycles Zero S we received an offer to ride yet another high-tech wunderbike: the Brammo Enertia. Naturally our first reaction was excitement -- excitement only slightly dampened by news that we'd again be using the gridlocked NYC streets as our test track. But, we risked life, limb, and the ire of many a taxi driver to get some impressions of the latest electric motorcycle to hit the streets, and grabbed some video action of it all too. Read on for the lot.%Gallery-65555%
Geek Squad home theater setup horror story
This tale might not keep the kids up nights, but all those who enjoy properly adjusted and configured AV setups may want to avert their eyes. Over at Big Picture Big Sound the tale is told as one kind soul ended up cleaning the mess left at a friend's house by a Best Buy Geek Squad installer. At least in this case, $325.11 wasn't enough to get the center channel audio properly set up, subwoofers connected or a worthwhile surround sound connection. That still leaves the swapped rear channels, stretched cable TV & DVDs and total lack of basic convenience configurations as obstacles to a setup the friend expected when scheduling a tech visit (for the second time) to her house. Most of you probably take pleasure in setting things up yourself, but this might be worth forwarding to friends and family so they'll either do the same, or remember to double check everything before the installer leaves.
Caption Contest: PC fixer destroys Geek Squad Beetle, phones for tech support
Comically enough, we already knew that Geek Squad employees took a few liberties with their company car, but this is a debacle. Can you imagine how enraged the poor sap is who was expecting this fool? They probably took a vacation day just to stay home and overpay for some potentially dodgy PC fixer to remove a virus. For shame.Chris: "Late at night -- well after their shifts end -- testosterone-crazed Geek Squad and Firedog employees meet in alleyways across the nation for dangerous games of chicken that all too often end in tragedy."Paul: "Did you unplug it and then plug it back in? Look mom, I'm a little busy right now..."Joe: "Geez... it's called multi-tasking!"Darren: "Hey there Brad from Circuit City! About that job ad on Craigslist..."Don: "But sir, the GPS said I was going the right way."Sean: "Naw, really, I just scuffed up the paint on the bumper and lost the hubcap, the MRI disk is still secure."Nilay: "Hello... is it possible to retroactively buy that $29.95 PRP plan?"Josh F.: "So I think we figured out the problem with your laptop. Looks like someone dropped it."[Thanks, DS]
Nerd grudge match: Geek Squad vs. Apple Genius
You've seen the Geek Squad with their fancy Volkswagens, spiffy ties and shiny, orange buttons. You've also seen the Apple Geniuses walking around with their crisp T-shirts, swell ID badges and all that knowledge. They're both cool (for professional nerds), but who's happier? According to Glassdoor Blog, it's the Geniuses. They make more money on average and spoke better of their work environments in recent satisfaction surveys. Plus, who wouldn't choose to wear jeans and a T-shirt to work over a shirt and tie?Actually, I kind of like the Geek Squad uniforms. They're a cross between Men In Black and Waldo from the Hot For Teacher video. But ... nerdier.
