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Monday, April 5, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
3D Ebooks Could Be Reality In Several Years' Time
Like pop-up books from our childhood, South Korean scientists are working on 3D ebooks that animate the stories when tilted— though 3D glasses are a must, so far. It won't be incorporated into the next Kindle though.
Kim Sang-cheol from South Korea's Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology claims "it will take a while to market this technology to the general public," but in the meantime they're also looking at ways to use their research on smartphones or in the hospitality industry.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
What Would Best Buy Do With Radio Shack?
The reports are swirling today that Radio Shack is "exploring strategic alternatives" for the company, the most intriguing of which is a possible merger with Best Buy. But what would that mean, exactly?
Beyond all of the financial implications for both companies—it seems to make sense on paper—there's the question of how Best Buy would use The Shack, and what impact that'll have on customers. Any merger of this sort, if it happens at all, wouldn't come for months at the earliest, so this is all highly hypothetical. But if itwere to happen, here's a few changes you might expect:
The Money's In Mobile
Best Buy started rolling out Best Buy Mobile back in 2007, and the sub-brand has already been incorporated into every store. But smartphones and tablets and smartbooks are going to be huge business this year and beyond, and the 70-plus standalone Best Buy Mobile storefronts, mostly in malls, aren't going to cut it. The broad reach and typically smaller size of Radio Shack stores make them ideal candidates for Best Buy Mobile rebranding.
Component Constraints
Radio Shack's always been a the place to go for that specific battery or cord that you need. It's a haven for the granular component, the maker gear for home hacks, in a way that Best Buy just isn't—Best Buy Mobile even more so. This breadth of product may be something that's lost in the transition. Then again, what if Best Buy was instead influenced by RadioShack? You could get a hybrid store to appeal to consumer geeks and modder geeks in one. What would it look like? A mini Fry's.
Cutting the Cables
Along those worst-case-scenario lines: this could be the end of cheap Radio Shack cables.
Geek Squad, Ho!
We don't like the Geek Squad. There, I said it. But it's still a big-time profit driver for Best Buy, and you'd better believe every former Radio Shack will be plastered with Geek Squad signage. And since the smaller store fronts won't have room for a special Geek Squad section, there's a good chance each purchase would be met with an annoying referral from a bored sales clerk. Fun times!
Pricing Power
Radio Shack's profits have taken a beating from wireless carriers. But Best Buy and Radio Shack combined would have significantly more pull, and would be able to dictate better terms—for themselves. Whether you'd see any of those savings is up in the air, but since (now that Circuit City's dead and buried) Best Buy's biggest competition is cut-rate operations like Walmart and Amazon, chances are you would.
Again, if anything does happen it'd be a ways off. But if Best Buy gobbles up Radio Shack—which could very well happen—it looks like we may lose more than we'd gain.
Paul Rand: A Designer's Words
A good book of inspiring thoughts.
Take a look!
Excellent Game Trailers
Over the past decade, gaming companies have invested heavily in new forms of technology and multimedia platforms. The idea of game trailers as beautiful pieces of art, design, and advertisement can be seen in the following works.
DSi XL Now Available
The third redesign of Nintendo's newest handheld system launches across stores throughout the country today, though its entry is notably one of the least-heralded in Nintendo history.
The DSi XL is a little over 50% bigger than the existing DSi models. In Japan, it was marketed as a gaming system that could be more easily used by older gamers. In the US, there's a different angle, literally.
During the US launch announcement, Nintendo's executive VP of marketing said that having bigger screens will allow people to let their friends watch as they're playing a game on their XL.
Additionally, Nintendo will soon launch digital books for purchase over the "DSi Ware" store, and the XL model will offer the most amenable viewing experience for reading these books.
However, unlike the DS Lite and DSi, the launch of the XL is muted. Sales are not expected to spike as much as a typical new hardware release. Even in Japan, the prime market for the XL, initial sales were about half that of the DSi.
Additionally, while Nintendo usually counts on existing customers to provide a lot of sales for redesigned models, the XL may be a different story. People who already own a DSi and have purchased downloadable games will not be able to transfer them over or redownload them on a DSi XL.
In a Kotaku story, Nintendo said it is working on a potential fix to this problem but is not making any guarantees.
The DSi XL is available for $190 ATM.
