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A Shopper Without The PriceSCAN Toolbar Is Like Bill Gates Without A Monopoly
Electronics | Oct 23, 07
Sometimes, in this wacky free market world of ours, you could use a little competitive advantage, and that’s why we created the PriceSCAN Toolbar.
The PriceSCAN Toolbar is a quick download that integrates with your IE 7 browser. Once installed, if you’re on any web page and see the name of an item you’d like to check on PriceSCAN, all you have to do is highlight that text, right click and choose “search PriceSCAN for selection”. You’ll see displayed the same result you’d get had you come to our site and searched for that term. It’s as simple as that. You also get a browser search bar that allows you to check our site for the price of any item you enter
Because it’s from PriceSCAN.com, there’s no spyware, adware, malware or any other evil weaselware that some sites hide in their toolbars. It’s just a straightforward consumer aid that will level the playing field this holiday season. Who knows – maybe it will foster greater competition, thus holding down prices and giving the world’s central banks more leeway to cut interest rates and alleviate the current credit crisis.
The PriceSCAN Toolbar – just doing our part to help save the global economy.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 9:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
"But Blu-ray's An Amazing Technology… OK, What If We Cut The Price, Let You Pretend To Shoot People And Throw In Spiderman 3?"
Electronics | Oct 18, 07
Sony will reportedly release a $399 PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray player and, yes, a free copy of the afore-mentioned "Emo-Boy As Arachnid" cinematic masterpiece.
Right now the new 40 GB PlayStation would tie for the least expensive Blu-ray player on the market, selling at the same price as Samsung's BD-P1000. To be sure, it is more expensive than Toshiba's HD-A2 HD-DVD player (at a bit less than $250), but of course neither this unit, the Samsung or other high-def players offer the PlayStation's game functionality (which, incidentally, is said to not include the ability to play PS2 games).
Perhaps as significantly, this brings the cost of a PlayStation into near parity with that of typical Wii system "bundles" (which generally include games and accessories)and in the middle of the Xbox 360 range (indeed, the Microsoft Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Limited Edition System is going for $399.99). Thus, Sony has moved to put serious price pressure on both high-def video players and game consoles, including Nintendo's spectacularly successful offering. To further drive the point home, Sony also dropped the price of its 80 GB PS3 by a hundred bucks, to $499, a price already reflected in the market place by vendors on PriceSCAN.com
This may well be the first shot in a price war that will grip the video game and high-def video player markets throughout the holiday shopping season, which, judging by this move, now begins just after Columbus Day.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 3:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
"Good Morning Mr. Gates – The Functionality Of This Zune Music File Will Self-Destruct After Three Plays. Good Luck, Bill!"
Electronics | Oct 5, 07
Sounds like Microsoft's own version of "Mission Impossible", doesn't it?
Yes, songs shared between Zune users will still be playable only three times by the receiving device. Even those sold without copy protection.
The redesigned, slimmer Zune will reportedly be available with 4 GB and 8 GB of flash memory (for $150 and $200, respectively) while an 80 GB hard drive version will sell for $250. But Redmond has social-networking dreams - and hey, who doesn't? Thus, Gates & Co. intend to seduce the Facebook generation with a musical taste-driven profile site, imaginatively dubbed "Zune Social", presumably to facilitate the sharing of those only three times playable files.
In the wake of the relatively lackluster response to the first generation Zunes ("zune (zōōn) v. To violently drop in price, esp. before the holidays.") one could be forgiven for hoping Redmond would come up with a more attractive value proposition. And indeed, the firm making one million or more DRM-free MP3s available via Zune's Marketplace is a welcome development, and the touch-activated Zune Pad and wireless PC-synch features are at least interesting. But the Zune's pricing offers no discount to Apple's iPod line, millions of songs are now available without copy protection from other online retailers, and Facebook and others are already facilitating music sharing. One has to question how attractive the new Zune will be to anyone save committed foes of white earbuds. And these Zunes will be more costly than many offerings from Creative, SanDisk and others, placing in doubt its ability to penetrate the market niches of these players.
Which brings up one other change. The new Zune's will not be available in the original's signature color of brown. ("The Zune: Microsoft's Little Brown Lump Of DRM-Enforcing Digital Joy"). Try to get over it.
Now, on the other hand, if there was some way to play "Halo 3" on the thing…
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 12:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
