buying

Best Buy chairman, founder to step down next month

Just a month after Best Buy's former CEO Brian Dunn resigned, the company's founder and chairman has stepped down from his post on the retailer's board.

Best Buy announced today that its founder, Richard Schulze, will be replaced as board chairman by Hatim Tyabji on June 21 at the end of the company's annual shareholders meeting. Tyabji currently servers as the chair of the board's audit committee and is chairman and CEO of video optimization services provider Bytemobile.

"The story of Best Buy is a remarkable American success story," Tyabji said today in … Read more

HP ultrabook prices sink, widening gap with MacBook Air

Best Buy has kicked Hewlett-Packard's Folio ultrabook down to a new low of $798. This is happening as HP announces new competitively priced ultrabooks and as rumors about a $799 MacBook Air swirl.

The HP Folio 13 (model 13-1035nr) is now priced at $797.77 at Best Buy. That includes a "Sandy Bridge" 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor; a 13.3-inch display, 4GB of memory, and a 128GB solid state drive. (More specs here.) … Read more

Why do plasma TVs look washed out in the store?

CNET Reader Rob asks:

I've been reading your articles on HDTV and find them very informative so, here's something I need cleared up. You mentioned how plasma TVs can control the brightness of individual pixels, made me think they should have a superior picture to LCD -- so I went looking at plasmas. I noticed that they seem to have a "washed out" look, an overall dimmer picture than LCD. Everywhere I go this seems to be the case. What's up with that? Thanks.

A common question, and a huge issue with plasmas, but not how you might think.… Read more

Best Buy employee outs customer on Facebook as a joke?

Strange things sometimes happen when you're in Best Buy.

Not so long ago, some people were shocked, others awed, when a Best Buy in Greenville, S.C. displayed porn on many of its largest screens.

Now comes the troubling complaint of a man in Denver who says he left his cell phone at Best Buy for repair, only to discover shortly afterward that his Facebook status had suddenly outed him as gay, which he happens not to be.

"It just put a bad taste in mouth," Rich Dewberry told ABC affiliate KMGH.

His Facebook status update read: &… Read more

The 404 1,045: Where we're outed on Facebook (podcast)

We love Facebook pranks as much as the next guys, but not when it's coming from an anonymous source at Best Buy. As if we needed another reason not to step foot in the big blue retailer, we read this story about a Best Buy employee that posted a phony Facebook status update on a customer's phone. The message declared, "I am gay, I'm coming out," but there's one problem: the customer is straight.… Read more

Kick the iTunes habit and celebrate Record Store Day

Kick the iTunes habit and stop streaming, it's time to get physical with music you can touch!

Record Store Day is a celebration of the joys of buying music in the real world, and brick and mortar stores all over the country are participating in the event on Saturday, April 21.

The first Record Store Day was in 2007, and every year more and more stores get involved. The Record Store Day Web site has this quote from author Nick Hornby:

"Yes, yes, I know. It's easier to download music, and probably cheaper. But what's playing … Read more

Choose the best cheap tablet

Products like the Amazon Kindle Fire have proven that you don't have to spend $500 to have a useful, fun tablet computer.

In the wake of Amazon's success, manufacturers have been paying a lot of attention to the $200-$300 tablet market. Unfortunately, there has been a huge influx of generic, substandard tablets swooping in that promise better features, but only deliver disappointment.

If you're shopping around for a cheap tablet, but you're wary of buying a piece of junk, I've created this video along with a slideshow buying guide that breaks down your options … Read more

Best Buy releases list of stores to close this year

Best Buy has released a list of the stores it will close in the U.S. this year.

The big-box retailer is closing 50 stores and compensating employees based on customer service after its fiscal fourth-quarter sales fell short of expectations. Like other brick-and-mortar businesses, Best Buy has been feeling the heat from e-commerce juggernaut Amazon.

Here's Best Buy's statement, followed by the list of stores:

RICHFIELD, Minn. - April 14, 2012 - Best Buy announced plans March 29, 2012 to close 50 U.S. stores as part of a number of key initiatives for this year. To … Read more

The 404 1,031: Where it's cheaper if you get our e-book (podcast)

CNET laptop editor Scott Stein returns to The 404 guest seat, and the room is apparently full of onions today as we discuss this short film about a 9-year-old's homebrew cardboard arcade. If you look closely at Jeff's face during this segment, you may even catch a rare glimpse of his upturned frown.

We'll also introduce you to a highly funded Kickstarter campaign for an iPhone and Android-compatible smart watch that goes the opposite direction of traditional e-watches and uses a digital ink display (similar to the original Amazon Kindle) that lets users check messages, play music, and more without the threat of sun glare or unreadable reflections.… Read more