Consumer content

How Best Buy can learn from B&H Photo

This is how you sell tech gear:

Yesterday I walked into B&H Photo in New York, which claims to be the country's largest non-chain camera store, and asked one of the many sales representatives if he was an expert on tripods. He smiled and responded: "It's a ball and three legs so you really don't need to be an expert."

I told him I needed to upgrade my tripod and he showed me how to get more life out of my old one. A few weeks ago, a B&H sales person … Read more

Microsoft offers free month for Xbox Live users hit by outage

Xbox Live members affected by a recent outage of the Cloud Saved Games feature will be treated to an additional month of membership on the house.

Xbox Live's Cloud Saved Games lets members store their saved games online so they can play them on a different console and pick up where they left off. An outage that hit Xbox Live on Friday also took the Saved Game feature offline, according to gaming blog site Joystiq.

Microsoft apparently spent most of the weekend trying to resolve the problem. And as of early Monday, all issues had been fixed, Microsoft spokesman … Read more

Power on: Intel's cable TV box could debut at CES

Intel may offer a peek at its rumored cable TV set-top box to people attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.

An unnamed source inside Intel said that the first working version of the chipmaker's set-top box will be shown at Intel's CES event on January 7, according to tips received by TechCrunch. A video distribution industry source familiar with Intel's plans also told the blog site that the rollout of the new service will start "soon," but couldn't provide a specific date.

TechCrunch's source further said that Intel is … Read more

Zynga puts PetVille and more out to pasture

Say goodbye to PetVille, FishFille, Mafia Wars 2, and a slew of other games from the folks at Zynga.

The video game studio has reluctantly pulled the plug on 11 of its gaming titles, as detailed by blog site TechCrunch.

The list of casualities encompass some of the company's most popular games, most of which were playable online through Facebook and a few that were available as iOS or Android apps.

PetVille - Shut down as of yesterday. Mafia Wars 2 - Shut down to new players as of yesterday. FishVille - Shut down December 5th. Vampire Wars - … Read more

Spotify's 2012 dominated by Gotye, Rihanna

Spotify has rounded up its 2012, and revealed that Gotye, Rihanna, and David Guetta had huge years on its service.

According to Spotify, the most popular track this year was Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" both in the U.S. and worldwide. Fun's "We Are Young" and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" rounded out the top three most popular songs in the U.S. this year.

Spotify then turned its attention to artists, and discovered that Rihanna was the most popular female artist this year. David Guetta took … Read more

Ouya game consoles now on their way to developers

Developers who ordered an Ouya game console should soon find one in front of their doors.

The folks at Oyua confirmed today that 1,200 developer consoles have been shipped and should reach eager buyers in the next few days.

Created this past year, Ouya is an attempt to bring gaming back to your TV. Designed to hook up to your television, the Ouya console plans to be home to a platform of Android-based games built by interested developers.

The console itself is the brainchild of Julie Uhrman, a video game industry veteran who wanted to lay the groundwork for … Read more

Nook Media draws $89.5M Pearson investment

Barnes & Noble's Nook Media unit has pulled in a fresh cash infusion, this time from book publisher Pearson.

The two companies announced today that Pearson will invest $89.5 million in cash in Nook Media, the B&N subsidiary that oversees the Nook e-reader, tablets, and digital store. The transaction will give Pearson a 5 percent stake, valued at approximately $1.789 billion, according to Barnes & Noble.

When the deal is finalized, Barnes & Noble will own just over 78 percent of Nook Media, Microsoft will hold just under 17 percent, and Pearson will have the … Read more

Apple's Christmas gift -- app downloads jump 87 percent

Apple certainly enjoyed a jolly Christmas, at least to judge from its App Store downloads.

Data out yesterday from mobile analytics firm Distimo revealed an 87 percent jump in iPhone and iPad app downloads on Christmas Day as compared with the average for the month. Sales from all those downloads rose by 70 percent on December 25.

The iPad seemed to be an especially popular gift this season, according to Distimo. App downloads for Apple's tablet lineup grew by 140 percent on Christmas compared to the monthly average, while revenue for iPad apps shot up by 83 percent.

Among … Read more

China tightens the screws on Internet users

The Chinese government is once again imposing new restrictions on Internet use.

A decision approved today by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress institutes an "identity management policy," according to China's official Xinhua news agency. Such a policy requires Internet users to use their real names when registering with an online provider or mobile carrier.

Though most Chinese Internet users already use their real names to sign up for online accounts, the new policy makes it the law.

Li Fei, deputy director of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the Standing Committee, did acknowledge … Read more