Items tagged with offers
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And if you can't buy 'em, create some competition! That's the route that Google is taking these days, with reports coming out this week that Google is planning to launch a new Groupon rival called 'Google Offers." The search giant has yet to confirm or deny the news, but being that it was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal and Mashable, we doubt it's fabricated. And it makes sense. Groupon has seen huge success, and Google would obviously love to play a role in taking some of that pie. By launching a daily deals website, Google could capture huge amounts of consumer interest, and being that it has Google.com to market the new site, we suspect that many...
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BFG Offers FREE Upgrade to PCI Express from AGP cardsFor a limited time graphics card maker BFG Tech is offering registered BFG AGP Video card holders an upgrade to the equivalent BFG PCI Express version. If AGP card holders want to shell out an additional $50 they can upgrade to a higher level card as specified by BFG.BFG, states on their website that as PCI Express is the standard for video cards going forward, AGP is no longer going to be supported. They are encouraging users with AGP slot motherboards to upgrade their computer mainboard to one with PCI Express slots and take advantage of this offer to make the transition easier.The upgrade options and paths as specified by BFG: ...
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It's time to score another win for the couch potato generation. With TiVo's most recent partnership--this time with Domino's Pizza--you can now order a pizza directly from your TiVo without ever leaving your couch or even picking up the phone. "This is the first time in history that the 'on-demand' generation will be able to fully experience couch commerce by ordering pizza directly through their television set." -- Rob Weisberg, Vice President of Precision and Print Marketing at Domino's Pizza, Inc. Credit: GizmodoStarting today, TiVo subscribers with a broadband connection can order food from Domino's in a number of different ways. When a Domino's commercial plays on the TiVo, you'll...
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Jaduka Offers Free Group CallingDallas, Texas - Jaduka®, a leading provider of Web-integrated communication technologies, has launched dukaUS®, an easy-to-use group calling application that dials out and connects up to 6 participants by phone for free. dukaUS group calls are easy to start and moderate, enabling friends, family, business colleagues, or student study groups to get together by phone to rant and rave or just catch up. With dukaUS, you can easily host daily or weekly calls or just start one anytime the mood strikes you!Most group phone services require all users to dial a number, enter a PIN, and then follow an often-confusing phone menu," said Jaduka president Jack...
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As we wrote earlier, Wilmington, N.C. was getting to be the victim, er, volunteer city in a full-on digital TV experiment. What was the expectation? Well, the hope was that it would be a smooth transition, especially since Wilimington has a lower percentage of residents who would be affected by the changeover. But it sure as heck wasn't smooth, after the switch was thrown on Monday at 12 noon EDT.The test in Wilmington, where officials had made a concerted effort to get the word out about the switch, is a good indication that more education is needed. According to the Journal, by mid-afternoon roughly 74 calls had been placed to two TV stations, WSFX-TV, a Fox affiliate, and...
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Vudu might be on to something with its new promotion: "Stay in. Rent four movies for the price of 1 gallon gas!" At today's prices for movie tickets, concession snacks, and the cost of gas for getting to and from the theater, a family of four could easily spend upwards of a $100 for a night out at the movies. Staying at home and watching movie rentals means you'll miss out on the latest releases, but a quick gander at Vudu's catalog shows that its rental offerings include many A-list titles, including some films that were recently in the theaters. Vudu is a video on-demand streaming service that streams movies over a broadband Internet connection to a $299 Vudu Box device connected to your TV....
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Just before the July 4 Independence Day holiday, we broke some news that stated NVIDIA had plans to drastically reduce prices on their flagship GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280 graphics cards. Then a few days later, sure enough, the rumor became fact and prices dropped significantly for both products.Anytime a halo product like the GTX 200 series gets treated to a major price cut so close to its initial release, early adopters are inevitably disappointed. After all, they paid a price premium for a product that almost immediately lost a large chunk of its value. Heck, in the tech sector, such moves can even spur lawsuits from disgruntles customers.To show their appreciate of those...
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Creative has just released the USB 2.0-based Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 audio adapter, making it now much simpler to get surround sound on laptops and cramped small-form-factor PCs (LAN party anyone?)--or allaying the fears of those who are hesitant to crack open their systems and start mucking around inside. While Creative calls it a "sound card," it is really a small external adapter, powered by the USB port."Why settle for basic, built-in sound? Your music and movies deserve Xtreme Fidelity. Simply connect the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 sound card to your PC or notebook and turn your downloaded music into your own personal concert. Watch DVDs or downloaded videos with full cinematic...
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Dell Now Offering Five Server Platforms Based on Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors Qualification for VMware Virtualization now Completed; 13 Global OEM Platforms now Shipping SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 16, 2008 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is now offering five server platforms based on high-performance, energy-efficient Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) processors. This news follows last week's announcement that Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors are generally available, and brings the number of available global OEM platforms based on the new processors to 13. Additionally, AMD is announcing today that VMware has completed qualification of Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors...
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Early adopters need not apply for the latest release from HIS, as the company has decided to go retro. Serving the trailing-edge niche' can occasionally make for a reasonably solid business case but with desktop computer graphics we have to wonder, just a little. Though we do sometimes still get the odd reader that pops into our mail bag here (usually Moms or Daddy-o) looking for a way to upgrade the old desktop boat-anchor PC circa 2002 with something that can offer Billy a chance to play Counter Strike with his buddies. Though there's definitely still an install base, especially in under privileged countries, is AGP still worth supporting? HIS seems...
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A new twist on search by Google, though one that Yahoo! already has, at least to some extent, is secondary search boxes within search results.Google has started offering search boxes within their search results. In the example above, a search box is offered for Amazon. The new service seems to be restricted to larger sites with a slant towards retails sites. Borders, BestBuy and OfficeMax offer the secondary box, as does a search for Wikipedia and The NY Times. On the surface it would appear to be yet another dilution of Google’s famed simple interface, the very interface that helped put Google where it is today. And yet, some my find it useful.It's a quick way to search within a site, but aside...
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Shades of another takeover we've been discussing lately. Electronic Arts announced Sunday they have made a $2B cash offer for Take-Two Games, best known for "Grand Theft Auto."U.S. video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc said on Sunday it wants to buy rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, best known for its "Grand Theft Auto" title, for about $2.0 billion in cash.The $26-per-share offer by Electronic Arts, publisher of blockbuster games like "Madden" and "Need for Speed," represents a 50 percent premium to Take Two's Friday closing stock price of $17.36.The offer follows months of speculation that Take-Two would be acquired by a major games publisher or media publisher. Take-Two rejected...
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Don't get too excited, though. The promotion is only for MSDN and TechNet subscribers who beta tested Vista.Under terms of “The Ultimate Offer,” testers can go to any retail or online store and buy a copy of Vista Ultimate (full or upgrade version) for full price and Microsoft will match it with a second complimentary Vista Ultimate Upgrade product key.To participate in the promotion, invited testers should go to the Vista Tester Offers site. The promotion ends January 15, 2008.For the suspicious among you, Microsoft has verified this isn't a phishing scam on a TechNet forum.Besides this offer, there are two drawings: one for a $250 Amazon.com gift certificate and one for a Bill Gates autographed...
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Monday Verizon unveiled a new new, symmetrical Verizon FiOS Internet service for consumers, featuring an upload and download speed of up to 20Mbps. Yes, you read that right, 20Mbps upload. The service went live in parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Monday.The 20/20 service is first launching in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but Verizon says it will come to the company's 13 other markets eventually. The cost will be $64.99 per month for those with a Verizon phone contract, and $69.99 for those without.Our question: when are you coming to our area? This makes everyone else look like a snail....
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It's not USC or UCLA, but you will get college credit. Pitzer College in Claremont, California is offering a YouTube course this fall. The class is called "Learning From YouTube," and most of the class time is spent watching videos and commenting on them (seriously). Class lessons also are posted and students are encouraged to post videos. One class member, for instance, posted a 1:36-minute video of himself juggling. Alexandra Juhasz, a media studies professor at the liberal arts college, said she was "underwhelmed" by the content on YouTube but set up the course, "Learning from YouTube," to explore the role of the popular site. The...
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In Coral Gables, Florida, an enterprising pastor wants to bribe (his words) new people into attending its iSermons. This is the same church, Church of the Glades, that in January drew 50,000 hits to its website with a billboard proclaiming "The Bare Naked Truth on Sex." Anyone who comes to its iThemed services for the first time during the next three weekends can get a $15 iTunes gift card by filling out a "connection card." Today, one new visitor will win an iPhone. The series of sermons is called "i: Successful Living in a Self-Absorbed World." Sermon or no (and door prize or no), this has been a frequent topic of discussion lately - that we, as iPod-toting, cell...
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And we thought Google promised we would never have to delete email again. After all, every time you look at the Gmail Login screen storage is creeping up, right? However, Google has decided to add paid storage upgrades for Picasa and Gmail users. For $20 per year, customers can use up to 6GB of storage, $75 for 25GB, $250 for 100GB and $500 for 250GB. At the moment, the new storage applies only to Gmail and Picasa, but Google says the capacity will soon be expanded to cover Docs & Spreadsheets and other Google Apps. $500 for 250GB of storage? If I needed that much, I think I would do it offline, since I can get a 500GB external drive for $120 without even looking hard....
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It seems that nowadays more and more people are opting for the HD experience so that they can enjoy breathtaking color and detail. However, a technology different from HD known as high-dynamic range (HDR) could soon be its successor. Although high-definition (HD) offers more pixels, HDR delivers more contrast - the key to more realistic picture – such that “the brightest whites are hundreds of thousands of times brighter than the darkest blacks.” “‘A regular image just looks like a depiction of a scene,’ says Roland Fleming, a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, in Tübingin, Germany. ‘But high-dynamic range looks like looking through a window.’” Traditional...
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Asustek Computer Inc. has recently included the Intel Turbo Memory offering to its line of Santa Rosa mobile platform-based notebooks. The Turbo-Memory-fitted notebooks will be available by late August of this year. “The new laptop configurations with Intel Turbo Memory, formerly codenamed ‘Robson’, are the 14-inch F8SV-A1 and V2S-A1, the 15.4-inch F3SC-A2, F3SV-A2/B2, G1S-A2, V1S-A1, VX2S-A1B/A2B (Black) Lamborghini, and VX2S-A1Y/A2Y (Yellow) Lamborghini, as well as 17-inch A7S-A2 and G2S-A2/A3.” As for the memory itself, it seems that the opinion is divided. While Asus claims that the Turbo Memory solution can reduce “boot time, improve application responsiveness, and accelerate application...
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Alienware is now offering solid-state hard drives as an option for three of their notebook models, the Area-51 m5550, Area-51 m9750 and the Aurora m9700. While the addition of solid-state drives as an option isn't anything special since several other notebook manufacturers already offer SSDs, what is special is that Alienware will offer them in a RAID 0 configuration. That's right, as if one SSD wasn't fast enough, now you can have two of them in RAID 0 and in a notebook, no less. Solid-state drives have numerous advantages over traditional platter-based drives. They are more durable, they start up faster since there are no platters to spin-up, they offer significantly lower latency...
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Whether AMD or Intel is on top of the CPU world, there's one CPU related area in which Intel has historically been very successful: Compilers. With today's press release, it seems that Intel is taking their current focus on multi-threading even further: "Intel Corporation today announced the availability of two software products that help developers efficiently create more reliable, high-performing applications that speed up a computer's responsiveness. The Intel® C++ Compiler and Fortran Professional Editions bring together a unique combination of highly optimizing compilers, performance libraries and the Intel Threading Building Blocks." With four cores quickly becoming the new standard...
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Dell has announced it will be offering a version of the open-source operating system Linux, called Ubuntu, on a small number of desktop and laptop models. They apparently announced it by sending an e-mail on Friday from an un-named Dell employee to a blogger named Jeremy Garcia who runs a Linux advocate site. John Hull, manager for Linux OS technologies for Dell followed up today on Dell's website: Dell will offer only add-on peripherals and hardware options "that have the most mature and stable Linux driver support," Hull wrote. "These hardware options have been thoroughly tested by the Linux team here at Dell." The company will configure and install open-source drivers...
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