Earlier today Circuit City released a Press Release announcing their store-closing plan. The list includes 155 domestic stores that will be turned over to liquidators today. Also plans to reduce future store openings and renegotiate current leases.

If that news wasn’t bad enough Circuit City also received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that their stock price has averaged under the required $1 stock price for the last 30 trading days. They have ten business days to inform the market of their plan to raise the current stock price above $1 in the next six months. Circuit City’s symbol (CC) will be tagged with (.BC) indicator to show that they don’t meet the standard requirements. At the end of the trading day Friday the stock price was a staggering .26 cents.

Another rumor floating all over the web is that Sony stopped nationwide shipments to Circuit City distribution centers in fear of non-payment for the shipments. So Circuit City wouldn’t be getting any more shipments from Sony until they prove their reliability. Bill Cimino, Circuit City’s Director of Corporate Communications, addressed this issue on the Circuit City blog and denies all accounts of the rumor and states the are still getting shipments from Sony.
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Popularity: 2% [?]

SanDisk has taken this idea of digital music and ran with it. They have just introduced slotMusic, which plays on microSD cards. Because of the failed attempt to control or stop illegal downloading of music they decided to release a DRM free format for mp3 albums. Many big named record labels have already signed on like Sony BMG, BMI Music, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group.

Over forty artists are available now including Chris Brown, Coldplay, Daughtry, Katy Perry, Nickelback, and Tim McGraw. They also released some classic albums by ABBA, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, and KISS. The 1GB microSD album is priced at $15, which includes high-quality (320kbps) MP3s, artwork, videos, and other digital content. Here is a Press Release from SanDisk talking more about the artists and the slotMusic microSD cards.
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Popularity: 5% [?]

What if you could have your very own surface computer in your home? Would you buy one? How about for $1,500? These are some of the questions a marketing research survey asked about the Microsoft Surface Computer “Oahu”. Microsoft wanted to know if they were to release an affordable consumer version of their popular surface computer, would you buy it or better yet even want one?

Microsoft Surface has already popped up all over in Las Vegas, hotel chains, restaurants, and even on your nightly news. Pretty soon everyone in America will have one. The current Surface goes for around $10,000. So in order to make its consumer debut they are going to have to find a way to manufacture at a cheaper price.
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Popularity: 6% [?]

It is not looking good for Circuit City these days. It seems the current economic crisis has weighed very heavy on their survival. After showing a quarterly loss of over $239 million, it is safe to say this might be the end of the electronic franchise. Stock prices have now dropped to a staggering .40 cents a share. That is over 80% drop in the past six months. This time last year the stocks share price was over $9 a share.

Seeing the $1.3 billion buy out offer from Blockbuster early this year withdrawn, started a downward spiral that I don’t think anyone can save. Also their new CEO has appointed some independent advisers to bring this company back from the dead. I’m sorry to say it’s just too little, too late.
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Popularity: 5% [?]

Vuzix is stepping up their personal video eyewear by coming out with the first ever widescreen video goggles. The iWear AV310 will display a true 16:9 aspect ratio of a 52in screen viewed from 9 feet away. They look amazing and can run off a single AA battery for a full 5 hours. These new glasses are equipped with adjustable ear buds and hypoallergenic nosepiece that you can set to your comfort. Also will have an independent focus adjustment. Amazingly the visor only weighs less than 4 ounces.

Vuzix CEO Paul Travers said, “We are committed to providing our customers with the latest innovation in this exciting category and are delighted to provide the world’s first and only widescreen video eyewear.” Travers went on to say, “The revolutionary iWear® AV310 Widescreen is the ideal choice for the mobile consumer who’s craving a way to significantly enhance their portable viewing experience.”
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Popularity: 8% [?]

It’s the newest television from Sony Japan called KDL-40ZX1. It has a 40inch screen and at its thinnest point it measures only 9.9mm. This new TV design only weighs 26 pounds. It includes a Bravia Engine 2 that processes at 120hz with MotionFlow for crystal clear picture on fast motion images. The contrast ratio is 3,000:1, which isn’t too bad for its small package. The ZX1 will also have a viewing angle of 178 degrees.

Sony is using a new technology that uses LED lights in the corners instead of lighting the screen from the back. It disperses the light evenly across the back, for a great looking picture. Here you can see the profile view of the TV. It is amazing how much they can fit in under 10mm.

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Popularity: 11% [?]

The future for portable device chargers is called PhotonSynthese. Designed by Vivien Muller the creator of many beautiful and innovative designs, has created a universal Solar Charger for all portable devices. During the day, the tiny photovoltaic panels absorb and store the energy into a battery hidden within the stand. So you can charge your gadgets whenever you would like to.

The amazing tree consists of 95 separate parts, including the stand that can be positioned in endless ways. Come up with a new design whenever you like. All of the limbs interlock by 3.5 jacks to transmit power down to the base and out to your gadgets. Hidden under the flexible tray lid are the wires and connectors for a sleek appearance.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

I know you love your USB devices and fancy flash drives, but wait until you see USB 3.0 aka USB Superspeed. This is the future standard for Universal Serial Bus data transfer. It will be ten times as fast as your USB 2.0 Hi-Speed and will be backwards compatible. This means you will be able to use all of your old USB devices, but you won’t get the full benefit of the Superspeed.

The biggest improvement has to be the speed. USB 2.0 transfers data at 480Mbps, which is not too bad. USB 3.0 will be transferring at 4.8GBps, ten times what it does now. Imagine being able to transfer a 27GB HD movie in a little over a minute instead of 15 minutes.

If you look at the new connectors, they have added five new lines parallel to the four original lines of 2.0. What this means is now instead of only being able to send data and receive data, you will be able to do both at the same time. This will make backing up data and syncing your devices very fast.

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Popularity: 14% [?]

Have you been watching the 2008 Olympics in Beijing? Between Micheal Phelps becoming an Olympic Legend and all the other drama unfolding, this year has been very exciting. Lenovo has now released Olympic themed USB Flash Drives in all different shapes and sizes. Lenovo is the creator and designer of the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch. They have released many special edition flash drives to promote this year’s Olympics.

The most popular and my favorite is the silver and red swirled 4GB thumb drive. Made from the same materials as this year’s torch. It looks almost exactly the same except it’s ten times smaller and is not on fire. This one will run you about $142 USD.

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Popularity: 15% [?]

All of the new features that have been added to the Apple iPhone 3G are great but wouldn’t you rather have a battery you don’t have to charge every 5 minutes? Sources say they are not sure if the battery life is any shorter on the new iPhone, but it may have to do with the faster Internet or all the new applications built in. But whatever the cause is, I have some simple tips to make your battery last a little longer, without sacrificing any of your precious web surfing time.

1. Lower the Brightness - The iPhone 3G is brighter than the original iPhone, but do your self a favor and crank it down to 10 - 20%. Go to Settings, then Brightness.

2. Turn off your Wi-fi - If you are not using your Internet constantly, turn off your wi-fi connection. Also, you should disable the new wi-fi network scanner. This will save some of your valuable power bars. I would do the same with your Bluetooth option. Go to Settings then Wi-Fi.

3. Only use 3G when you are ready - Just use EDGE when you are checking email, the weather, and other simple tasks. Turn on 3G when you are surfing, watching videos, or downloading apps. Apple should have made this happen automatically but they didn’t so try it out. Go to Settings then General then Network.

4. Don’t use vibrate when playing games - If the game allows you to turn it off, then that is one more way you can save a little juice. Most games you will not even notice when it’s off.

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Popularity: 16% [?]