buyers
Latest
Etsy introduces purchase protection measures for both buyers and sellers
Starting August 1st, Etsy will refund buyers on purchases if they "don't match the item description, arrive damaged, or never arrive."
Switched On: The Blind Men and the Surface Pro
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. When Microsoft announced the Surface RT, it seemed clear that the ARM-based product -- with its precious adornments such as the kickstand and, of course, typing covers -- sought to appeal to those wanting to do more than is typically done with tablets. Microsoft, straight-faced, calls the Surface RT a PC, but with a connotation that it is trying to transform. There's less ambiguity around the Surface Pro. It has a capable Intel processor and runs virtually any Windows app. While someone from an earlier time might not recognize it as a PC turned off (especially with a closed Touch Cover), booting it up into Outlook would provide a convincing case. In the story of the blind men and the elephant, the protagonists each discover some element of the majestic animal and draw conclusions about its nature without understanding the bigger (literally, in that case) picture. Now that we know the size of the Surface Pro's elephant in terms of how much it might feed from our wallets, its relative value and competitiveness will vary greatly depending upon which assumptions prospective buyers have when considering the product.
Chinese scalpers use app for bulk iPhone purchases
Need to anonymously purchase and scramble a bunch of iPhones as quickly as possible after they go on sale in China? There's an app for that, but it's not what you think. MicGadget has a quick walkthrough of a Windows app in Chinese that iPhone scalpers in that country apparently use to purchase and obtain iPhones for the grey and black markets. The way it works is that a scalper sets up a series of users with this Windows app (which is mostly in Chinese as you can see above) that is preloaded with credit card and booking information, and alerts the user when iPhone sales go live, so they can snap an iPhone up as quickly as possible. I presume this is all legal in some technical fashion, or at least, even if Apple did want to prevent sales like this, it would have a hard time telling which online purchases were coming from legitimate buyers and which were from this software. There must be a fair amount of money in this as well -- the person who posted pictures of this software apparently wanted to hire more workers to buy these iPhones for him or her. And this is exactly the kind of tool that caused such a frenzy at the recent Hong Kong iPhone 4S sale. Apple is continuing to try to meet demand in Asia, but software like this shows the company has a little way to go. This seems like a pretty simple tool, but the fact that scalpers have operations this complex at all means that there's a lot more room for Apple's official sales to grow overseas.
iPhone 4: are you getting one?
Now that the dust is beginning to settle on Steve Jobs' WWDC10 keynote, we thought we'd ask the most pertinent question of all: who's buying this new hero mobile device from Apple? We know the company's loyal fan base will not disappoint, but what about you, undecided voter? Did that 960 x 640 IPS screen make you look upon Cupertino's wares with a new level of appreciation? And let us not neglect the iPhone's detractors here -- have they been placated by the inclusion of HD video recording, video chat and a meaty new A4 processor? Tick the appropriate box below, then visit us in the comments and let us know what you thought. %Poll-47657%
Price still swaying decisions of HDTV buyers
This day and age, consumers are a lot more willing to fork out thousands of dollars to bring home a swank HDTV than in years past, but that being said, price is still a primary concern even for those with deep pockets. According to new research from iSuppli, it found that over 63-percent of respondents making between $100,000 and $149,000 per year cited price as a "main determining factor when buying a TV." Curiously, it still found that 40-percent of buyers were heading to (generally overpriced) brick-and-mortar outlets in order to pick up their set (versus 23-percent buying at discount stores like Costco and 18-percent purchasing online). As an aside, the surveyors found that consumers saw Best Buy as having the best customer service (um, really?), while fledgling Circuit City was ranked even lower than Wal-Mart. Still, we maintain that B&M locales are great for scoping out which set you desire, but we'd certainly glance around online before paying a premium for getting it nearby.[Via New York Times, image courtesy of StarTribune]
Canadian survey sez half of HDTV buyers are clueless about high-def
Confusion amongst the general populace in regard to high-definition technology has been a problem for quite some time, and while we're not putting too much stock in the most recent survey about our neighbors up north, the results are fairly comical if nothing else. New poll findings from Nanos Research has discovered that 48-percent of the Canadians surveyed "confessed they were not at all knowledgeable about such features as 1080p resolution and pixel response times, compared to only 5-percent who considered themselves very knowledgeable." That being the case, HDTV sales in Canada still managed to surge some 72-percent last year, and around half of the participants did note that "concerns such as power consumption and toxins used in manufacturing" were very important when making their choice of HDTV. Granted, the survey was commissioned by Sharp in order to gloat about its "eco-friendly" AQUOS, but the bigger picture here is that the public at large is still a long ways away from really wrapping their heads around high-def.[Image courtesy of HomeTheaterMag]
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
