ups

It's lucky the Microsoft Surface RT is small, because Microsoft's coming pop-up stores look like they're going to be very compact.

Microsoft is planning to open 34 holiday pop-up stores in the U.S. and Canada. (The just-added two, announced this week by the company, are a Chicago and Times Square New York.) They are opening on October 26, the day that Windows 8 and Microsoft's Surface RT tablets/PCs are generally available.

I guess I was envisioning temporary full-size Microsoft stores -- like two-dozen-plus permanent brick-and-mortar stores they are operating already -- when I … Read more

What it must be to be ugly and in tech.

What it must be to be, oh, in one's late 20s or even early 30s and be ugly and in tech.

How does anyone cope? The Valley shrinks must never go home to their VC lovers.

This obvious truth is underlined by a new trailer for Bravo TV's forthcoming reality show about Silicon Valley -- which enjoys Randi Zuckerberg as one of its producers.… Read more

If you're in the group of shoppers expecting Apple's new iPhone to be delivered to your door this Friday, UPS would prefer it if you don't call them to finagle an early delivery date.

A note on the shipper's Web site, which went up yesterday, kindly asks customers not to bother service representatives about changing the delivery date of their iPhone, saying the time is set in stone.

"Apple has required that UPS deliver iPhone shipments to customers on and not before Friday, September 21, 2012," the message reads.

Another part of the message … Read more

HTC, hoping to attract new Android and Windows Phone buyers, is now offering cash back for old smartphones. A new HTC Trade-Up page has gone live online to lets users calculate how much their aging handset might be worth.

The program is essentially a four-step process, starting with a quote for your existing smartphone. Once you buy a new HTC device, simply mail in your old smartphone. Providing everything matches up with the details you reported to HTC, you'll get your refund in the form of a Visa prepaid card that's good for up to 30 days.

HTC … Read more

ARO 2012 is the latest version of a longstanding Registry cleaner and optimizer. The look is familiar, but ARO 2012 offers several upgrades over previous versions, such as improved browser cleaning and user-friendlier settings as well as new tweaks that can yield better NTFS performance, faster startups, and improved CPU utilization. ARO 2012 also backs up and optimizes the Registry. You can schedule automatic cleanings, too.

ARO 2012's installer informed us that it would scan our PC as soon as it closed. The first scan is always important with software like ARO since it establishes a baseline, and ours … Read more

Microsoft officials have gone public with the full list of its planned 32 holiday pop-up brick-and-mortar stores.

We knew about a dozen or so of these from earlier leaks. But there are going to be more pop-ups than we expected in both the U.S. and Canada.

Other than saying these stores will open "this fall," Microsoft isn't providing exact dates as to when they will go live. I asked if any of them would be open by October 26, as this is the launch date for Windows 8 and Microsoft's ARM-based Surface RT tablets, but … Read more

Amazon shook up the tablet scene with the release of the Kindle Fire tablet in 2011. With one of the most popular tablets on the market, rumors are already swirling about Amazon's next move. The release of Google's Nexus 7 tablet at the same price point of the first-generation Kindle Fire has increased the competitive climate; not to mention the seemingly never-ending reign of the Apple iPad as the king of tablets. Will Amazon make another relevant and successful tablet? Will there be three different versions of the Kindle Fire? What about 4G? In anticipation of the expected … Read more

Turning light switches on and off is a necessary, but dull, part of our lives. It doesn't have to be like that. With a $29.99 Power-Up Arcade Light Switch Plate from ThinkGeek installed, turning on the living room light will become a retro-gaming adventure.

A bright red joystick turns the light on and off. The switch plate makes classic "pew pew pew" noises when you press the buttons. This will allow you to pretend to play Space Invaders in the dark of your bedroom at 3 in the morning. … Read more

It looks like September 13 will be the day when Nintendo spills the beans about all things Wii U, including what I'm hoping is more than just the launch date and price. I'd imagine we'll also get a pretty good idea -- if not a definitive list -- of what the console's launch lineup will look like.

Nintendo COO Reggie Fils-Aime will be on hand to discuss the future of the console and explain some of the other features that the Wii's successor will be packing in. Of course you'll recall Nintendo's E3 2012 presentation … Read more