Blowing away terrorists, apparently, never gets old.
The new videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, set to hit stores Tuesday, is a sequel spawned by sequels. But rather than following the frequent pattern of franchises fading as they age, Modern Warfare 2 is the most highly anticipated game of the season.
Depending on whom you ask, U.S. online shopping is either in unprecedented decline–or one of the only bright spots in American retail.
On Thursday, comScore reported that U.S. online spending in the third quarter slipped two percent to $29.6 billion versus last year.
There was a telling bit of news on the continued travails of the U.S. consumer today from a small Texas retail chain called Conn’s. (In general, I would say calling a retailer “Conn’s” is not something I would recommend. But I digress.)
Here is the latest comic from our Joy of Tech friends at Geek Culture, Nitrozac and Snaggy. Joy of Tech appears three times a week in the Voices section of this site. (Click on the image to see a bigger version.)
A recent shift in merchandising strategy by the world’s largest retailer spells more trouble for DVD sales and the entertainment industry that depends on them for profits.
As part of a larger effort to clean up its aisles and appeal to higher-end shoppers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is doing away with display cases to promote the latest hot movie titles.
Fancy new smart phones and laptops may generate more buzz, but the desktop PC remains the workhorse of the office. Bosses who outfit staffers with mobile devices, however, may be able to wring more work out of them, according to a new Forrester study.
Blue Nile Inc. is expected to unveil a major overhaul of its Web site Tuesday as the online jeweler tries to broaden its appeal, especially to women. But like other e-commerce sites retooling to combat slowing growth, it faces the tricky task of trying to make improvements without losing core customers.
One thing’s for sure about the employees at Microsoft’s new retail stores: they’re going to need strong backs and biceps.
In the job listings Microsoft posted for its new stores yesterday, the company lists a number of unsurprising requirements for prospective retail workers. They need to be able to provide a “warm welcome” for customers, “execute the sales and service strategies” of Microsoft’s retail group and restock shelves.
SanDisk shares are coming under pressure this morning after Needham analyst Y. Edwin Mok cut his rating on the stock to Under Perform from Hold.
Mok writes in a research note that the downgrade reflects “early signs of weakness in the NAND flash memory sector that we believe will lead to lower prices.”
The rebound of the online advertising sector appears to be temporarily delayed.
JMP Securities analyst Sameet Sinha writes in a research note that “after a strong March, a solid April and an in-line May,” there had been talks of an online ad turnaround.
Retailers aren’t likely to resume spending on their IT infrastructure again until at least 2010, according to NCR Chairman and CEO William Nuti.
In an interview Friday afternoon with Tech Trader Daily, Nuti said that demand for the company’s point-of-sale retail terminals remains “slow around the world.”
Consumers still aren’t buying gadgets.
The latest Commerce Department retail sales data, which showed a disappointing 0.4 percent fall overall in April from March, includes a 2.8 percent drop in sales at electronics and appliance stores, which is worse than any other individual category.
GameStop is lending new copies of videogames to their retail store employees and later selling them as new, unused copies, the gamer blog Kotaku asserts. The post contends the practice may be a violation of federal trade laws.
Best Buy this morning reported sharply higher-than-expected profits for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Feb. 28.
For the quarter, the last large national electronics retailer posted revenue of $14.724 billion, a bit below the Street consensus at $14.8 billion. But adjusted EPS of $1.61 a share nicely beat the Street at $1.40 a share.
Microsoft announced plans to open retail stores, hoping to boost visibility of many of its products and its brand (Apple mimicry, perhaps?). The news is just too tempting not to have some fun with. So here are some yet-to-be-officially-revealed details about the Microsoft stores.
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