Best Buy stores go out of business without telling employees

Best Buy has just shut down 15 stores across Canada as part of their restructuring and ‘transformational plan’.
The resent closings came as a shock to a few of the locals not current on Best Buy's problems, but in reality they should have seen it coming all along.  Once the leader in regards to brick and mortar sales, Best Buy has been fighting a very tough up-hill battle with sites like Amazon.com and countless other on-line Internet stores.
In 2011 Best Buy reported a total loss of 1.23 billion dollars (U.S.).  Richard Shulze, who was the founder of Best Buy, has been trying to buy back the company to take it private.  However, this has not come easy and is a really tough sell with board members.
Best Buy based their decision on the closings after an extensive review of Best Buys’ retail footprint in the region.  Company official said the closings were necessary to help reduce costs and to help with eliminating “redundant operating systems and to optimize its real estate strategy to reflect a changing retail landscape.” 
The five Best Buy stores that were closed were located in South Surrey, Queensborough, Nanaimo, Victoria, Langford (Westshore Town Centre).  The two Quebec store closing were the Lachenaie, and Sherbrooke (SmartCentres Sherbrooke) areas.  The Future Shop closing were located in Manitoba (Regent), Alberta (Calgary), Columbia (West Kelowna), Quebec (Montreal and Laval), and Ontario (Ancaster, Barrie South and Erin Mills).
To add insult to injury, many Canadian on-line media outlets reported that employees working at the Sherbrooke Outlet in Quebec did not know beforehand about the closing.  A few arrived to work on Thursday, January 31^st only to find a note left on the window saying the store was permanently shut down.  In all about 900 people will lose their jobs from the closings over all.
Currently, there are still about 120 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile locations operating in Canada at present.  They also have approximately 140 Future Shop stores scattered throughout the region as well

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Earthquake in North Korea might actually be nuclear related

It is unclear at the moment if the quake was indeed of a natural cause or if it was the third nuclear test done by the North Koreans.  South Koreans are saying that its counterpart to the north is conducting nuclear tests despite the UN’s sanction.

The quake had an epicenter of about one km deep, and was close to North Korea’s previous nuclear test sites.

Update: It has been confirmed that North Korea did conduct a nuclear test.

(When I say raise my hand, you say "Boom!")

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Creating easy design printouts with the iDecora iD-01

Japanese computer accessory manufacturer Roland DG has recently unveiled their latest iCreate printer model. Designated with the name iDecora iD-01, it is technically a creativity-centric printer model that is primarily focused on printing high quality design sheets and other similar projects.

For the most part, the iDecora iD-01 functions like an ordinary printer. However aside from its usual PC integration function, this printer could also communicate with your iPhone or iPad unit for printing jobs via the upcoming iDecora app for the iOS. This communication/data transfer feature provides the printer with the functionality that is present on many standard wireless printers today. Aside from directly connecting through iPhone and iPad units, the iDecora iD-01 could also wirelessly communicate using the AirMac Express.

Sticker and iron print sheets are the first things that would definitely come to mind with this design printer. However, it can also take other types of specialty design sheets like label papers and vinyl chloride sheets. You can create wallpapers, shirt designs, papercrafts and even nail designs with it.

The dimensions of the unit are (W)230×(L)158×(H)108mm, and it weighs 1.4kg. Wired connectivity option for the device includes a USB 2.0 port. Those who want to learn more about the printer's design and creativity potential may simply look up into the iDecora app's list of available design data. Other than the iDecora app, the printer unit itself will also have its own iDecora Creator design data software for PC's.

Roland DG plans to launch an iDecora specialty website around the same time of its commercial release. Owners of the printers will be presented there with detailed usage instructions, maintenance tips and additional downloadable design files to maximize their use for the design printer.

The official release date of the iDecora iD-01 is on November 15, 2012. It would be available to customers at a price of 20,790 yen (265 USD).

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Lenovo announces first table, not tablet, computer

Lenovo has announced the IdeaCentre Horizon and Gamma Table PCs, kick-starting a new sector of the industry that it is calling the “interpersonal PC,” a multi-user, multi-touch, multi-mode device for a very different interactive experience.

 

The Horizon is like a tablet computer, but much larger, with a 27-inch screen. It is designed to be placed flat on any surface, such as a table or floor, and lets two or more people use the touchscreen simultaneously, allowing for some interesting new gameplay options.

 

For example, players can use the screen as the board for their games of Monopoly, with an e-dice accessory that means players can still use a traditional element of boardgame gameplay, while the digital version will automatically pick up the appropriate roll of the die. We can see boardgames in general becoming a major attraction to these devices.

 

 

Players can utilise other accessories like the the four accompanying joysticks and strikers in unique ways, such as in the games FishingJoy and Raiding Company. Music and TV apps are also available, as is a Paint, Color Corner app that turns the screen into a virtual easel.

 

The Horizon also features a unique Aura desktop interface when flat or a standard Windows 8 experience, allowing the device to be used at a normal viewing angle like a standard desktop PC. The Lenovo App Shop offers over 5,000 apps to choose from. The system features an Intel Core i7 processor and an Nvidia graphics card.

 

Perhaps even more unusual is the literal Table PC, which is codenamed Gamma, and still in the concept stage. It is a 39-inch screen built right into a table with wheels, making for a huge working surface. A variety of arcade games could play very well on such a large screen, especially with the part-digital, part-physical experience that Lenovo has penned as “phygital.”

 

 

“We've seen technology shifts across the four screens, from the desktop to the laptop, tablet and smartphone, and yet, while people have more computing power than ever before, there is still room for technologies like Horizon that bring people together. Horizon makes personal computing interpersonal computing with shared, collaborative experiences among several people,” said Peter Hortensius, president of the Product Group at Lenovo. “Now many people can enjoy different photos, music and video on the same screen, and they can play games with our special accessories that blend physical and digital interaction. Horizon reflects our commitment to delivering the innovative products that define the PC Plus era.”

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Cisco will acquire Meraki Incorporated

The acquisition of Meraki Inc is the latest acquisition in just one of many companies that Cisco has been acquiring.

Cisco Systems has been on something of an acquisition run of late, and they just recently announced a 1.1 billion dollar deal in acquiring Meraki, Inc.  According to Cisco the deal should be going through by January 2013.  This latest deal will help Cisco provide improved security when it comes to cloud managed Wi-Fi networks for mid-sized corporations and businesses. The California based Cisco Systems is currently the world’s largest producer of computer-networking equipment. 

This latest acquisition announcement from Cisco comes just a few days after their November 15^th announcement of the company’s plans to acquire the company, Cloupia.  A relatively new company, Cloupia is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and operates as a software data center that manages and automates cloud data.  The company offers numerous products such a cloud computing services and helps other companies make transitions over to private and public cloud environments. 

On Cisco’s company website Hilton Romanaski who serves as Cisco’s Head of Corporate Business Management says that the acquisition of Cloupia would allow them to “provide a single, ‘pane-of-glass’ management across Cisco and partner solutions including FlexPod, VSPEX, and Vblock.  Romanaski goes on to say; “Mergers, acquisitions and investments are a key part of Cisco’s build, buy and partner innovation framework and supports our strategy of providing best-in-class solutions for customers.”

It is quite apparent that Cisco’s recent acquisitions of many companies is an effort to help the computer-networking corporation expand their base and perfect their Cloud Computing organization to work as part of their growing Cisco Open Network Environment.  But combining networking storage, management solutions and interconnecting all of our computers and mobile devices only makes sense, and it seems Cisco wants to remove any future competition in this department. 

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Sharp unveils 32-inch 4K IGZO display

Sharp made an announcement in April, 2012 about their plans to use IGZO technology in future LCD's. Well, it seems that a fully functional PN-K321 IGZO display is almost available to the tech market.

Recapping the basics on the IGZO technology, it stands for indium gallium zinc oxide. It is basically a semiconductor material that can be used as a channel for TFT's. Thus, it's most prominent application is on LCD's wherein it acts as an active layer. The difference of the IGZO to other materials used as active layers is that it has a very high electron mobility, which indirectly relates to individual pixels becoming even smaller. Thus an IGZO display could, in effect, have more pixel per area ratio compared to the best ones we have today.

The PN-K321 IGZO display is a 32-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. This 4K display has a specific screen resolution of 3840x2160 pixels, with a pixel density of 140ppi. It uses a DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a for display connectivity. Before, most 4K displays required multiple cables, or a special type of cable to fully utilize the ultra HD resolution. With the display unit's modification to use the IGZO semiconductor material, it only needs one regular input port, which makes it directly compatible with most other devices.

As for its other specifications and product details, the dimensions of the unit are 750 x 441 x 35 mm. It weighs 7.5 kg. Brightness can be set at a maximum of 250 candela/lumens. Energy consumption rate is 120 watts, and has standard 30p/60p frame rate adjustment modes.

The launch date of the PN-K321 in Japan is on February 15, 2013.  No launch dates have been proposed for regions outside of Japan.

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It only takes six shots to break 3D printed gun

I'm not sure it this is a case of art imitating life or the other way around since the idea of a 3D printed gun has already made its way into a recent episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, but in that case it was only a 3D printed handgun which could only fire one round before becoming useless.

However, in real life the team at The Wiki Weapons Project have successfully printed out an AR-15 assault rifle, the only problem is that it falls apart after firing six shots.

The project is trying to develop a fully working blueprint for the AR-15 that they want to make freely available as a downloadable design file that can be loaded up into a 3D printer. One can definitely argue the questionable legal issues around this idea but for now we can rest peacefully because at this point the team members of the project have only been able to print out the lower receiver; which is the trigger and handgrip, with the rest of the gun being made up of off-the-shelf spare parts.

As to what is causing the gun to fall apart after only six shots, the team believes it is because of the gun recoil; which causes the o-ring in the connecting section of the receiver to stock to snap.

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EFF gets $500k from donors to fight flawed patent system

The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) is best known for helping people who have happened to run afoul of the law and their activities online, but the EFF is also working hard at trying to bring about some serious change in our patent system. This kind of work takes money however, and that is something that the EFF doesn't have a lot of as they are an organization that exists totally on contributions from the public.  Therefore, the EFF hasn’t been as front and center in the battle over patent law as they would like to be.

Well, thanks to an early Christmas present that situation could change in the new year. In an announcement made on the EFF's site we found out that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Minecraft creator Markus Persson (also known as Notch to the world's Minecraft fans) each donated $250,000 to the EFF to help the organization move forward in their push for patent reform.

In what might seem at first to be a joke, Cuban's money will go toward creating a new position at the EFF entitled "The Mark Cuban Chair To Eliminate Stupid Patents."  However, Staff Attorney Julie Samuels, who will be filling that position, assured us that it is no joke. As well, part of Cuban's money will be used towards hiring Daniel Nazer, an experienced patent lawyer, who will join the EFF as a Staff Attorney.

Persson, a longtime proponent of software reform believes that there needs to be some deep and meaningful reform to the patent system in order to protect software development, will see his donated money used in a more general manner when it comes to the EFF and their fight for patent reform. EFF's Rebecca Jeschke says that this donation from Persson will allow them to increase their activism campaigns, push for reform in the courts, as well as trying to educate politicians about what is wrong with the current patent system and how it needs to change for the future.

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Wii U Scribblenauts Unlimited E3 Trailer

Boost the capabilities of your Nintendo DS by installing the right R4 SDHC card. Find the best Carte R4 DS cards from a reliable online supplier of gaming accessories.

PlayStation®Mobile SDK passe en version 0.99

  
Le Playstation Mobile SDK est un logiciel qui nous permet de développer des applications qui s'exécutent sur ​​le système PlayStation ® Vita  et d'autres dispositifs PlayStation ™ certifié. Il contient des applications pour PC qui vous permettront de créer des jeux et des applications en 2D et 3D.

Ce dernier vient de passer en version 0.99 !

ChangeLog

• Bibliothèque de paiement dans l'application.
• Les bibliothèques de signatures numériques et le chiffrement pour la protection du contenu.
• Soutien du GamePad pour la librairie d'interface utilisateur
• ModelViewer permet prévisualiser les fichiers. Mdx sur le PC.
• Plus de 50 corrections de bugs.
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LEGO The Lord of The Rings, le trailer de lancement

LEGO The Lord of The Rings est disponible sur PS Vita et 3DSBoost the capabilities of your Nintendo DS by installing the right supercard dstwo. Find the best achat Supercard Ds Two cards from a reliable online supplier of gaming accessories.

Rift Oculus le casque de réalité virtuelle

Encore un projet communautaire avec demande de fonds auprès des internautes du siteKickstarter. Rift Oculus est un casque de réalité virtuelle qui promet de changer la façon de jouer. Pas mal de prototype sont dans les mains de grands noms du jeu vidéo (John Carmack de ID Sotware par exemple)et pour l'instant, ils sont épatés par ce casque. La levée de fonds est de 250.000 dollars et le but est déjà dépassé avec plus d'un 1 millions de dollars de promesses de dons.

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Une vidéo de gameplay pour WRC 3

WRC 3 sortira le 12 Octobre sur PS Vita, en attendant, voici une nouvelle vidéo de gameplay.

Le lancement d'Iso PSP sur PS Vita (Deuxieme partie)

Encore une vidéo de lancement d'Iso PSP sur PS Vita. Cette fois ci, on voit le lancement de Final Fantasy Crisis Core. On voit aussi que le lancement s’opère à partir du VHBL.
Je sais pas pour vous, mais je pense que la PS Vita va faire parler d'elle au niveau hack dans les prochaines semaines

Trine 2 Director's Cut Wii U en images

Youtube disponible sur Wii U

Youtube est disponible sur Wii U aux USA pour l'instant. Voici quelques images de cette application.

Une Mini Wii pour le 7 Décembre ?

C'est la rumeur qui court en ce moment. Nintendo sortirait une Mini Wii, le 7 décembre. Bien que Nintendo ne développe plus sur sa console, il peuvent encore prolonger la vie de cette console, baisser son prix et lui donner une fin de carrière façon PS2 (qui se vend encore).

2 images de Toki Tori 2

Toki Tori 2 arrivera le 20 décembre prochain de l'eShop de la Wii U.

R4i SDHC kernel updated to R4i SDHC V1.44b

R4I SDHC KERNEL UPDATE TO V1.44B

Latest R4i SDHC kernel updated to V1.44b on Sep 1st, 2011. It is the latest firmware for R4i SDHC series cards. R4i-sdhc.com team build in the DSi V1.4.3 and 3DS V2.1.0-4 upgrade files into to to new kernel. By loading the latest R4i SDHC V1.44b kernel, the r4i sdhc 3DS card can work on Nintendo 3DS V2.1.0-4 and DSi V1.4.3 straighlty, no need any upgrade. What is more, 6 R4i SDHC V1.44b kernel solved 6 new games and fixed soft-reset of 6 new games.

R4i SDHC Kernel Download

WHICH CARD CAN RUN R4I SDHC KERNEL?

R4i SDHC V1.44b for R4i-SDHC card (V1.43, V1.42, V1.41, V1.4).
R4i 3DS V1.44b for R4i-SDHC 3DS card.
R4 SDHC V1.44b for R4-SDHC card.

R4I SDHC V1.44B UPDATE CONTENT

1. Firmware upgrade to support NDSI 1.43(for products 1.41,1.42, 3DS).
2. Integrate firmware upgrade features. Goto config menu for firmware upgrading. 
3. Increase maximum number of support skins from 8 to 64.
4. Redefine 12 new defaults skins.
5. Unique skin customize features. Through the user interface, user can easily modify skin.
    a. Color setting of the skins.
    b. Changeable button style. Maximum support 8 button styles.
    c. Allow to use NDS games icon as a source of skin icon.
    d. Adjustable skin display style.
6. Support UTF-8 decoding for usrcheat.dat file. 
7. Solved games: 
    5818 - Paws & Claws: Pampered Pets 2 (US)
    5811 - All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation (JP)
    5806 - Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension (US)
    5805 - Atsumete! Kirby (JP)
    4951 - Jam with the Band (E) *Please delete old save file to make it work.
    4572 - Nintendo Presents_Crossword Collection(EU) 
8. Fix soft-reset issues for games: 
    5796 - Kung Fu Panda 2 (US)
    5750 - Kung Fu Panda 2 (EU)
    5744 - Cars 2 (US)
    5734 - Rio (US)
    5705 - Bejeweled Twist (EU)
    5657 - Rio (EU)

HOW TO INSTALL R4I SDHC KERNEL

1. Download the latest R4i SDHC V1.44b to computer from r4i-sdhc.com or our download page..
2. Unzip the patch, you can get 4 files: "moonmemo", "moonshl2", "R4iMenu' and "r4.dat".
3. Format the TF card, and copy all files to the root directory of the TF card.
4. Also download some games, and copy them to the root directory of the TF card. 5. Insert the R4i SDHC card with TF card to Nintendo console, power on the NDS to play game.

Ninendo R4 DSi card review

Best R4 card for Nintendo DSi V1.4.3!
R4 DSi card is also called DSi card or R4i card. It is a kind of flashcard made for Nintendo DSi, DSiLL and DSiXL. By useing a R4i DSi card and MicroSD card, users can easily play games and multi-media functions. R4 DSi card is the upgrade version of R4 DS card, it contains all function of R4 DS. Nintendo upgraded the DSi firmware to V1.4.3 in July 2011, and some R4 DSi cards are halt. But it is happy, below R4 DSi card can work on DSi V1.4.3 straightly.

R4 DSI CARDS OVERVIEW

There are many R4 DSi cards which perfectly support DSi V1.4.3 in the market. Such as:R4i SDHC V1.4.3 and R4i SDHC 3DS made by r4i-sdhc.com, R4i Gold 3DS card made by R4ids.cn, Acekard 2i from acekard.com, Supercard Dstwo from supercard.sc, M3i Zero from m3adapter.com, R4iTT and R4iTT 3DS from r4itt.net, R4i-Gold 3DS card from r4i-gold.com, R4i Gold Plus from r4ids.com, TT 3DS card from n3dstt.com, R4i RTSfrom r4isdhc.com and so on. Some of them are lagged, as no update of firmware. But some very good R4 DSi cards continuously update the kernel to fit Nintendo latest DSi Version.

R4 DSI CARD BIG PROMOTION

If you would like to choose a most popular R4 DSi card, we kindly recommend the R4i SDHC 3DS made by r4i-sdhc.com and the R4i Gold 3DS made by r4ids.cn. Both of them support Nintendo 3DS V2.1.0-4, DSi V1.4.3 and DS lite straightly, no need any upgrade. They are well known in DSi users. R4i SDHC 3DS use R4i 3DS kernel, it updates for every month. R4i Gold 3DS card use Wood R4 kernel, it is powerful and with good compatibility. For new dsi users, they are most suitable R4 DSi cards.

R4 DSI  VS  R4 3DS

Usually, R4 DSi card can work on Nintendo DSi and DS lite, R4 3DS can work on 3DS, DSi and DS console. But actually, there is no real R4 3DS cards, it is the improved R4 DSi card. Improved R4 DSi cards can run DSi games on 3DS console, so they are called 3DS cards, but they can't run 3DS games currently.

HOW TO SETUP R4 DSI CARD ON NINTENDO DSI?

Different R4 DSi cards has different software, but the installation method are very similar.
You need below accessories to setup the R4 card:
       * 1 X R4 DSi flashcard        * 1 X MicroSD card         * 1 X USB reader
1. Official website is printed on the R4 DSi card, Visit official website and download the latest kernel to the computer, you will get a zipped patch.
2. Unzip the patch, you can get some files.
3. Connect the MicroSD card to computer through the USB reader.
4. Copy all files to the root directory of the MicroSD card.
5. Also, download and copy some games to the root directory of MicroSD card.
6. Insert MicroSD card to R4 DSi card, and put r4 card to Nintendo DSi, start to play.

R4 DSI CARD NOT WORK ON DSI V1.4.3?

If your R4 DSi card can't work on DSi V1.4.3 console, there may be many reasons.
* Some old R4 DSi cards need upgrade to support DSi V1.4.3. You can visit official website, download latest kernel and V1.4.3 update patch, then upgrade the card as guide.
* The R4 DSi card is dirty. You can clean the kingfinger part with a cloth, then try to run it. make sure the connection between TF card and R4 DSi card is good.
* There are some files damage. You can format the MicroSD card, and re-install the kernel.
* If still can't work, the R4 DSi card must be broken, contact us for exchange or reship.