HMV stops online orders as potential buyers circle

HMV has powered down its HMV.com website, halting online orders entirely, as the longstanding retailer enters administration.

Although its high street shops are still open, HMV says its website "has been suspended following the appointment of the Joint Administrators", going on to confirm, "No purchases can be made online until further notice."

HMV is continuing its post-Christmas blue cross sale in an effort to generate more cash, but for the time being it seems any bargains you snap up will have to happen over the till.

It's possible HMV will reopen its site further into the administration process, though when now-extinct retailer Comet went the same way last year (also turning to administrators Deloitte), it similarly put the kibosh on online orders.

The 91-year-old company has sparked anger by refusing to accept gift cards or vouchersfollowing the news that it was looking for a buyer. If you had an outstanding order with its online service, it's unclear what will happen to your purchase -- I've contacted Deloitte about this, and also to ask whether the site will reopen, and I'll update this story if I hear back.

HMV could have a future, meanwhile, as Deloitte says it's been contacted by parties interested in buying the ailing chain, Sky News reports. It's not clear who would be keen to snap up the firm, but as a major high-street name HMV's business could hold some appeal, even though the existing management wasn't able to make enough cash to keep it afloat.

[Source: CNET]

MySpace Is Back: Redesigned Reboot Publicly Opens

Facebook was once the hip new upstart amid a nascent social media landscape dominated by offerings like MySpace and Friendster. (Show of hands — who remembers Friendster?) But it wasn’t long before the Zuckerprise overshadowed its competitors and emerged as the dominant platform for Mafia Wars, Farmville and that Broadway soundtrack that your auntie listens to, seemingly ad nauseum.

But like any medium, service or company that becomes “the establishment,” the social network — which has hundreds of millions, or possibly a billion+, users — has competitors vying to knock it off its pedestal — most notably Google+. So far, it has successfully managed to keep Mountain View at bay, but how would it do against a returning champion? MySpace is itching to find out.

MySpace? Seriously? I know, I know — seems ludicrous. That place became the singer-songwriter’s landing spot, DJ-turned-club promoter’s wasteland and the butt of jokes across all of social media. It has been that way for ages now. And that’s the interesting part. It never really went away. And like a phoenix rising from the ashes, it has been hard at work to resurrect and re-imagine itself.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo - Click here to read the full story]

Facebook Reveals “Graph Search” For Narrowing Down Friends By Interest, Finding Places

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage on Tuesday during a Facebook press event and unveiled, among other things, a new beta feature called “Graph Search.” Basically, it allows users to search the website using queries. You can, for example, find friends in New York who are interested in Wine, or cheese or even politics. That way, if you want to throw a small get together, you can make sure you’re only inviting people with similar interests (if that’s the kind of person you are). As Engadget notes, you can also filter by a friend’s name, where they attended school and more. It seems like you can dive super deep into the filters.

Graph Search also allows you to search for points of interest. As Zuckerberg demoed during his presentation, you can look for a restaurant in a specific city or region and see ratings for the restaurant, among other information. We’ll update this post as we learn more, such as when the feature will go live, but it’s clear Facebook has interest in combining search with people and points of interest… which almost sounds like it wants to move into Maps. Maybe I’m crazy.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

HMV gift cards: you're 'at the bottom of the pile'

Know your rights, as The Clash once sang. As HMV crashes into adminstration, threatening 4,000 jobs, many irate customers have been left out of pocket with gift cards and online orders under threat. But what are your rights as a customer?

Technically, once it enters administration a company no longer exists in its present form, so it doesn't have to fulfill promises like accepting vouchers. Unless administrators Deloitte decide to honour HMV's gift cards, you may find yourself out of luck. 

Fortunately, finances guru Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com offers advice on rescuing your gift cards as well as bargain-hunting at the troubled HMV.

Gift cards

HMV isn't accepting gift cards at the moment, but the administrators could change their minds and accept them -- as was the case in Comet's final sale.

Don't get your hopes up, though; the chain has no obligation to honour your gift card. Martin Lewis explains, "Those who have gift cards are now effectively in that list of people the firm owes money to, but sadly are at the bottom of the pile. So while it is possible if the administrators get money they could give a few pence per pound back, it's unlikely."

The good news is that you could get your money back if you bought the vouchers on your credit or debit card thanks to section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, or what's known as 'chargeback'. For full details check out MoneySavingExpert's article about HMV.

Bargain hunt 

If you're not affected by the gift card issue but you're hoping to take advantage of HMV's sale, Martin Lewis warns "I'd caution against buying online, as HMV could take your money and then later legitimately choose not to fulfil it -- and give you no refund. Buying in-store is safer as you get the goods immediately."

It a case of buyer beware, however, as you won't be able to return goods that turn out to be faulty. "If HMV were to cease trading, you would therefore be left in the cold. In practical terms, this isn't likely to be too much of a problem for CDs or DVDs, but for higher-end electricals like games consoles, it's worth bearing in mind."

[Source: CNET]

Activist, RSS creator Aaron Swartz dead at 26

On Friday, the 26-year-old polymath Aaron Swartz was found dead in his apartment, the result of an apparent suicide. Swartz contributed his intellect and effort to an astonishing number of technologies and political causes, including collaborating on Reddit'searly development.

At the age of 14, Swartz co-authored the 1.0 version of theRSS specification, enabling millions of news sites and blogs to share their posts easily and consistently.

Swartz was deeply involved in the development of the Creative Commonscopyright alternative licenses, and founded DemandProgress.org to help defeat the legislative overreach of the proposed SOPA law.

Prior to his death, Swartz was facing fines and a possible lengthy prison term if convicted on charges that he illicitly downloaded huge quantities of journal entries from the non-profit JSTOR archive via a laptop stashed in an MIT closet. JSTOR had declined to press charges, but MIT and the Massachusetts prosecutor on the case did not follow its example. Swartz also acknowledged suffering from depression at times.

[Source: TUAW - Click here to read the full story]

Facebook’s Ridiculous Test Charges $100 To Message Outside of Network

Would you pay to guarantee that your Facebook messages end up in recipients’ inboxes, even if they’re not connected to you? The company seems to think so, having launched a new — and utterly ridiculous — test program.

Sure, plenty of people and businesses would be interested in guaranteed delivery to recipients outside of their networks. And many would even be willing to spend a little dough to ensure messages don’t end up in the “Other” folder, that wasteland of junk mail and Facebook group notifications. But here’s where the ridiculous part comes in: Some users have noticed pop-ups asking for a whopping $100 for the feature.

Just, wow. For that much money, you could just hire a bike courier to deliver your note in person, no?

While that price may seem indiscriminately excessive, it’s actually by design. When the program began last month, along with handy filters like that new Other folder, the test fee was just a mere $1. Now it’s $100. Clearly, the company is playing around with price points to gauge how much people are willing to pay. And who knows? Maybe some folks would consider a C-note to be a bargain to reach the likes of Mark Zuckerberg.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

1 million Raspberry Pi computers have been sold

Raspberry Pi -- the little computer that's bringing back engineering in a big way -- has sold about a million units. The numbers aren't concrete, but estimates peg the total at about the million figure. Which is quite some achievement.

And to celebrate, the folks who make the mini computer have put together the infographic you can see above.

"The folks at 14/Premier Farnell announced today that they alone have now made and sold more than half a million Raspberry Pis," it says on the Raspberry Pi blog. "They're only one of two official distributors; we don't have completely up-to-date figures from RS Components yet, but Farnell's news suggests that we're well on the way to having sold our millionth Raspberry Pi."

To put that in tech terms, the half a million Pis made by 14/Premier Farnell would weigh the same as 169,173 Nokia 3310s (remember those?), or 200,893 iPhone 5s. All of them stacked end to end would be taller than 11 Empire State Buildings, and higher than Felix Baumgartner's world record skydive of 128,000 feet. Laid end to end, they'd be the same length as 5,070 double decker buses. And at a cost of $17.5 million (£10.8 million), customers could've bought 4,375,000 chocolate bars. But then a Raspberry Pi is far better for you.

The Raspberry Pi was one of the best tech stories of last year, and a real triumph of British engineering. Our very own Katie Collins voted it her product of the year, as it helps today's school kids get tinkering with tech. The Pi even has its own app store, so you can easily snaffle games and software. The app store has a 'tip jar' too, so you can donate some funds even if your chosen app is free, which is a great idea.

[Source: CNET]

Jessops closes for good, 1,370 jobs lost

Sad news: Jessops is to close its doors, leaving 1,370 employees out of a job. Just one day after Jessops went into administration, administrators PriceWaterhouseCoopers announced that all 187 stores would close.

Shops will begin shutting today. 1,370 jobs will go in stores, with more job losses to follow at the company's head office in Leicester. PWC blames a lack of support from suppliers, without which the chain cannot continue to trade, for the death of the 77-year-old company.

The Jessops website is still showing cameras and other products, complete with prices, but you can't buy them. You also can't return goods bought from Jessops. If you do have a problem with a camera or other kit bought from Jessops, try contacting the manufacturer; Nikon told me today that you can return faulty kit for free.

Nikon says it's working on completing outstanding repairs to kit being fixed under Jessops Photo+ extended warranty, and will contact affected customers directly.

The Jessops photo service is still available.

Jessops is the first high-street casualty of 2013, following a raft of closures last year. The biggest gadget shop to go under is Comet, which crashed to Earth leaving a £50m unpaid redundancy bill to be footed by the taxpayer.

Meanwhile, HMV has launched a major sale to raise fast cash as it too struggles to meet debt obligations. It seems unlikely that Jessops will hold a sale.

[Souce: CNET]

HMV extends massive sale to raise cash, stay afloat

His Master's Voice is singing a sad, sad song -- the dog-tricking disc-flogger is selling off a huge amount of stock on the cheap, reportedly to raise quick money for creditors. Extending its 'big sale' for at least another month means a whole basement of bargains, but is the retailer in real trouble? Go to HMV.com today and you'll see it plastered with 'big sale' banners, which have been up since Boxing Day. Retailers all cut prices on stuff they didn't flog before Christmas, but the sales usually end come the first week of the new year.

HMV this week announced another flog-off -- a Blue Cross Sale -- that starts this Saturday, seamlessly continuing its new year sale for another month with 25 per cent promised off "a wide range of titles and products" Apparently it's "not [its] standard January sale, but trying [a] new tack to generate cash to meet bank covenants", according to ITV News' Laura Kuenssberg. "Not good," she adds sagely.

"We thought we'd freshen our promotional mix up a bit and try something a bit different that will hopefully stand out from all the other sale offers on the high street right now," an HMV spokesman told me.

[Source: CNET - Click here to read the full story]

More Details on Geekanoids 2013 Content

About a week or so ago I started talking about the new content that will be coming to The Geekanoids Channel. Well, half of the story is almost ready to share. We have been investing in new equipment, which is now in the studio and in place. The results are looking very good.

As a trial, three videos have been recorded. The first of which will be shown mid-next week. The review incorporates the usual in-depth look at the product being tested. However, in addition, we have some special footage cut into the edit which will give you even more detail about the product. I won't give you any 100% spoilers here, but would like to say that it looks really good. Not every product will be treated to this special footage, only those that warrant it. In addition, since shooting these three trial videos, another piece of equipment arrived so further improvements can be made for future videos.

Geekanoids has now been publishing videos for six years and we always endeavour to improve the content year-on-year. This is just one step we have taken. Plenty more funds throughout 2013 will be invested to ensure that you get superb videos to both inform & entertain you.

The second half of the Geekanoids 2013 story is still in planning. Be sure to check back on the channel and of course the website regularly so you are the first to know the big news.

CES 2013: Razer Unveils Edge and Edge Pro at CES 2013

If you’re a fan of gaming and enjoy tablets, the Razer Project Fiona PC gaming tablet concept could be the device for you.  As a fully-featured PC and tablet in one, the tablet PC offers the ability to run all games and applications thanks to its four modes designed for gamers.

The tablet series was introduced at CES 2012, and features Windows 8.  There will be two versions: the Razer Edge and the Razer Edge Pro model.  The Edge offers an Intel Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GT640M LE GPU, 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 64 GB SSD.  The Edge Pro sports an Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GT640M LE GPU, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, and between 128-256 GB SSD.

Both models will be on shelves in Q1 2013, with the base model starting at $999.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

CES 2013: 3M Touch Systems 84-inch Projected Capacitive Display hands-on

We knew we'd be seeing 3M Touch Systems' monster capacitive display once again, but we had no idea just how massive this year's iteration would be. Taking up residence in a corner of CES Unveiled 2013, the company's latest multi-touch prototype now measures in at 84 inches, far surpassing its 46-inch predecessor, with 100-inch versions waiting in the wings. This particular touch table now supports Ultra HD resolution (4K) and was shown running a software demo currently in use at Chicago's Museum of Science. As you may be able to tell from the accompanying gallery, those floating images aren't of the crispest quality, but that's because the files aren't fully high-res. Of course, tech of this kind isn't necessarily intended for households -- not yet, anyway -- it makes for a more natural fit in commercial environments (think: airports, car dealerships or wireless retailers). At present, the table here on the showfloor is calibrated to support 40 individual touch points, but a company rep assured us it could be configured for up to 60, allowing for large groups of people to interact simultaneously. While touch tabletops of this kind are still quite rare in the wild, expect to see them crop up more commonly in the near future. Check out a video demo past the break.

[Source: Engadget]