Gadgets

The bad news continues for the tech industry. Not long after we first heard murmurs Microsoft may be ready to lay off as much as 17 per cent of its workforce, the popular Consumer Electronics Show, held every year in dazzling Las Vegas, is rumored ... to be shrinking alongside the global economy. The Consumer Electronics Association, host of the CES, estimates that both the number of exhibitors and visitors will be down in 2009. The CEA expects about 130,000 people will attend its famous electronics show, down 11,000 from last year. In addition, only about 2,700 exhibitors are expected to attend ... (view more)

Not yet sure about investing in a Blu-ray player for your home theater and high definition television? That's understandable. However, for those of you who haven't yet upgraded from VHS to standard DVD, there's bad news on the way this holiday ... season. According to reports, JVC -- the last tech company making VHS tapes -- has revealed that it will no longer be producing the aging technology. This follows on the heels of news in October that the company would cease production of VHS players. (Source: crn.com ) As you might expect, demand has all but dried up. Although consumers are still ... (view more)

There are only a few days left before Christmas and many people are blitzing local shopping malls in search of last-minute gifts. If you are one of these people, you might want to consider these neat little "stocking stuffer" ideas. The first ... suggested item is the Clickfree Portable Backup HD325. Clickfree has made the hassle of backing up our data virtually fool-proof. All a user has to do is open the package, plug it into a USB port and watch the small device store data instantly! It has a capacity of 320 GB, sells for around $179.99 and is available at most retail stores nationwide. ( ... (view more)

Despite the popularity of Blu-ray players, iPhones, iPods, and games like Rock Band 2 and LittleBigPlanet, the tech industry has not been impervious to the slings and arrows of a declining U.S. economy. According to a recent report, even Black ... Friday tech sales were down this year. Business trackers NPD have released figures for this year's Black Friday score, and results for the technology industry are not good. This year, consumers spent just over $2 billion on electronics at retail outlets, down significantly from last year's $2.21 billion mark. Although the number of sales online seems to ... (view more)

Blockbuster has launched a service might save couch potatoes from travelling to their doorstep. The online MediaPoint player allows customers to 'rent' any of 2,000 titles for immediate viewing. The announcement may be the answer to Blockbuster's ... continued difficulty in making a viable business out of Movielink, the online video company it bought last year. The firm was created by a partnership of the major movie houses which appears to have lost a massive amount in selling to Blockbuster for $20 million. (Source: arstechnica.com ) The new service is Blockbuster's answer to similar offerings ... (view more)

Despite a slow economy steadily tightening its grip around the automotive industry, several other industries continue to thrive this holiday season. The two markets most resilient to recession seem to be movies and electronics. Despite thinner ... wallets and massive layoffs, Apple's venerable iPod continues to fly off shelves this Christmas. In a recent statement to investors, analyst for Kaufman Bros. Shaw Wu admitted he was stunned that Apple's popular device continues to be sold out through many online vendors. Amazon, perhaps the most popular online source for electronics, has a three to ... (view more)

New figures show the US is one of the few places where female Internet users outnumber male users. The study also unveiled intriguing facts about television and cell phone use worldwide. The figures, produced by British communications regulator ... Ofcom, directly compare the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the United States, Canada and Japan. The researchers also produced a separate report on countries with developing economies such as China and Russia. Because the analysis is so detailed and brings together several outside surveys, the figures cover activity in 2007 rather than this year. Across ... (view more)

Despite the economic slowdown, shoppers are expected to flock to stores for this year's Black Friday sales. And there are plenty of treats either confirmed or rumored for technology fans. Black Friday, which takes place on November 28th this year, ... is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States. It marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season and many retailers drop prices to attract customers. The biggest story this year for tech lovers are widespread rumors Apple may be offering intense price cuts for a one-day sale. There's already speculation that some Macs could be ... (view more)

It's been some time since Sony's Blu-ray high definition movie format knocked off its stiff competition from Toshiba and HD-DVD. However, the monopoly on HD flicks hasn't yet morphed into big sales, according to reports. In fact, the slowing global ... economy could drastically hurt the transition from standard (and cheaper) DVD. Although it took a good long time for Blu-ray to nudge out HD-DVD, there had been speculation for some time that this would be the final result. Toshiba's HD-DVD caught fire early because of its cheaper price tag and a popular Xbox 360 add-on (yours truly was a sucker ... (view more)

Circuit City, one of North America's leading technology retailers, could fall victim to the credit crunch. The firm is closing 155 of its 721 US stores this year in what it openly admits is an attempt to save the business. The stores closing will be ... running stock clearance sales from now until December 31 when they cease trading. That's good news for bargain hunters, but also shows how serious the problems are: aside from Black Friday sales (the day after Thanksgiving), November and December are the months in which firms would normally be most anxious to charge full price. The big problem ... (view more)