best

Students trudging back to school can soften the blow with a free Xbox console and a $14.99 upgrade to Windows 8, as long as they buy a new PC.

Several PC vendors have cooked up the deal to attract students who need to buy a new computer. Here's how it works:

Buy a new PC for $699 or more from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Best Buy, Newegg, or the Microsoft Store. You'll have to show some proof that you're a student currently enrolled, either through a school e-mail address or ID number. You then get your free Xbox … Read more

Electronics retailer Best Buy has chosen a new chief executive as it grapples with lagging sales and a proposal to take the company private by its founder.

Hubert Joly has stepped down as CEO of hospitality and restaurant giant Carlson to lead the struggling electronics giant, Best Buy announced Monday morning. Word of the impending appointment was first reported on by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday evening. Best Buy touted Joly as having a record turning around companies in the media, technology and services sectors.

"Hubert's range and depth of experience in transforming companies is exactly what … Read more

The brightly lit aisles of Best Buy have a certain pallor to them these days. Geek Squad employees have been axed. More than 50 stores are closing. The consumer-electronics retailer is treading water in a sea full of hungry online competitors.

Will Best Buy go the way of dearly departed Circuit City? Sales are slumping and profit is shrinking into losses. Consumers are avoiding the mazelike store layouts and shopping around for deals online. Apple Stores are popping up everywhere and Microsoft is expanding its brick-and-mortar presence.… Read more

With each passing day, Best Buy appears headed for a family feud.

Richard Schulze, the founder who was on the outs with Best Buy's board when he resigned his seat in June, continues to try to persuade directors to sell him the company. Schulze today sent the board a letter saying he would pay up to $8.8 billion for the floundering big-box electronics chain, according to a New York Times report.

"I am deeply concerned about the direction of the company," Schulze said in the letter. "As Best Buy's largest shareholder, I cannot simply … Read more

The Apple-Samsung trial has been such a show that it has invaded my head in the same way as the first time I learned dwarf tossing was an entertainment in places like France and Canada.

Could anyone really have wandered into Best Buy and confused a Samsung Galaxy Tab with an iPad, as has been suggested?

While some began to pulsate at rumors that many, many people had exchanged their Galaxy Tabs for iPads at Best Buy, a study suggested that only 9 percent of people who returned a Samsung product at Best Buy did so in order to exchange … Read more

Marquee tech companies have always had a good rap of being great places to work: beautiful campuses, casual clothing, free food, and lunchtime workouts. But maybe that's not really the case?

A new list by company review site Glassdoor compiled the 25 best places to work for those trying to achieve an even work-life balance for 2012. And the results are surprising.

Of all well-known tech companies out there, LinkedIn, Orbitz, and CareerBuilder were the only ones to make the list. And for the first time, Facebook entirely dropped off the list. However, of the 25 companies, 12 were … Read more

Best Buy's founder fears Apple Stores. That fear should extend to Microsoft, too.

For better or worse, I live within walking distance of a Best Buy store in Los Angeles. (Well, a long walk).

But I typically elect to drive about 20 miles to the Microsoft Store in Century City.

That should worry Best Buy. Once consumers (I don't think I'm that atypical) get a taste of the Microsoft Store experience, it will be really hard to go back to the muddle that is Best Buy.

Luckily for Best Buy, there aren't many Microsoft stores right now. … Read more

When a hot Apple product hits the market, it has a tendency to spur a cottage industry of accessories. The MacBook Air is no exception, with several companies making MacBook Air cases and covers.

Since the Air's design hasn't really changed in the last couple of years, most of the cases, covers, and sleeves that worked for the older 11- and 13-inch 2010 and 2011 models should work with the updated 2012 MacBook Air versions.

As always, feel free to make your own suggestions for cases and covers you like and we'll consider adding them in the next update.

Click on any image to start slideshow. Cases are listed in alphabetical order.

Updated August 8, 2012 with four new cases.… Read more

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze sees a combination of lower prices and good customer service as the key to saving the company.

The electronics giant is in the midst of a major sales slump, hurt by competition from online retailers who can dangle cheaper prices without the brick-and-mortar overhead. To cut costs, Best Buy is aiming to close more than 50 stores and shrink the size of its remaining ones.

Schulze believes such cost-cutting and store-closing moves will ultimately drive the company out of business, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Instead, he wants to compete against the … Read more