wal-mart

Wal-Mart unveils disc-to-digital service powered by Vudu

Wal-Mart Stores debuted a service today that executives say will encourage DVD ownership while also giving consumers ubiquitous access to their film libraries via the cloud.

The megaretailer announced that customers can bring their DVDs into their local Wal-Mart, and pay $2 to get access to each title via Walmart.com's cloud service, powered by the UltraViolet platform. The $2 only supplies a user with access to a copy in standard definition; a high-definition copy will cost $5.

Dan Rayburn, an analyst who has covered streaming media for more than a decade, broke the news about Wal-Mart's announcement … Read more

Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Phone free at Wal-Mart with contract

Windows Phone buyers eyeing the Nokia Lumia 710 can now pick one up for free at Wal-Mart, with the usual two-year contract thrown in, of course.

The only Nokia Windows Phone currently available in the U.S., the 710 is being carried by T-Mobile, which has been selling it directly for $49.99. T-Mobile customers can choose from an assortment of plans with a variety of data options, ranging from 200 megabytes to 10 gigabytes per month.

Equipped with a 1.4-gigahertz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera, and 8GB of storage, the 710 offers a 3.7-inch … Read more

Man accused of trying to buy microwave with $1 million bill

We all seek solutions to our financial issues.

Some turn out to be imperfect. Take this one, tried recently by a gentleman who allegedly walked into a Wal-Mart in Lexington, N.C., in order to buy a microwave, a vacuum cleaner, and other unspecified items.

You see, his inventive notion was to proffer a $1 million bill and claim that it was perfectly legal tender.

The way the Winston-Salem Journal has it, Michael Anthony Fuller, 53 was merely being asked to pay $476 for his electronic and other items.

Presumably, he imagined that he would received $999,524 in change … Read more

When Black Friday Texans went nuts over video games

I've never been tempted to fight the hordes on Black Friday, for I feel sure the hordes would win.

Yet the stories you hear about Black Friday craziness can never match up to the actual footage. So I am grateful to Mashable for discovering this piece of footage from a Wal-Mart in Mesquite, Texas.

These supposedly sane human beings are fighting, clawing, crawling over each other in order to get hold of what seem to be DVDs and video games.

The boxes at which they are grabbing like lions tearing at a deer carcass say "$10 while supplies … Read more

Pepper-spraying shopper gets to Wal-Mart gadgets first

Some say that the competitive spirit in America had died.

Those people are surely turning a blind eye to the places where Americans are showing that winning still is truly everything.

Last night, for example, at the Wal-Mart in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles, there were reportedly many shoppers ready to vie for the finest electronic bargains.

The way the Los Angeles Times disseminates it, one lady shopper showed that she would not be defeated under any circumstances. She allegedly got out her pepper spray and showed the rest of those wusses who was Queen of the Electronic … Read more

Netflix feeling the pain

The father of the iPod creates a cool home thermostat, the Obama campaign joins Tumblr, and Netflix reports its first drop in customers in nearly two years--and it's a doozy.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

HTC phones major security alert

The next iPhone will be unveiled tomorrow, Facebook partners with Websense to check for malicious links, and a major security vulnerability in HTC Android phones reveals a huge amount of personal data.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Wal-Mart, T-Mobile offering data-centric phone plans

Wal-Mart and T-Mobile USA said today that they would be jointly offering a new phone plan that caters to data- and text-hungry customers.

The retail giant and wireless carrier will sell a no-contract $30 plan that includes unlimited Internet access, text messages, and 100 minutes for phone calls. After customers exceed their allotment of voice minutes, the charge is 10 cents a minute.

The new plan goes after a specific demographic of customers who no longer view their cell phone primarily as a tool for voice communications. Instead, they are more apt to uses text messages, instant messaging services, or … Read more

Vudu tops Amazon movie store in share, study says

Wal-Mart's Vudu movie service surpassed Amazon's digital movie offering in the first half of 2011, according to a new research report.

As part of its Screen Digest Media Research program, research firm IHS today said that Vudu jumped from just 1 percent market share during the first half of last year, to 5.3 percent by the end of the same period this year in the United States. That number puts Vudu on top of Amazon, which went from owning 4 percent of the market with its movie service last year, up to 4.2 percent this year. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1528: Is Apple killing its own app business? (Podcast)

Amazon and Vudu both launch full-featured Web apps for Apple's iPad to avoid the "Apple tax" and, in Amazon's case, so that they can actually have a link to their store in their mobile experience. Is Apple accidentally driving people toward a device-agnostic tech future? I hope so! Also, Nokia is out of North America, we're planning our visit to the Star Trek resort, and more Bronies than expected listen to BOL!