staples

Canadian Staples in customer privacy hot water

Canadian Staples stores are failing to fully wipe customer data off returned laptops and storage devices before reselling them, thus violating Canada's privacy laws, the CBC News reports.

More than a third of the 149 storage devices tested by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, including laptops and USB hard drives, still had customer data on them--despite undergoing a wipe and restore process to be readied for resale. Some of the lingering information was reportedly pretty sensitive, including things like tax and ID records and passport numbers.

"Our findings are particularly disappointing given we had already investigated two complaints against Staples involving returned data storage devices and the company had committed to taking corrective action," commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a press release. "While Staples did improve procedures and control mechanisms after our investigations, the audit showed those procedures and controls were not consistently applied, nor were they always effective, leaving customers' personal information at serious risk." … Read more

Wi-Fi-only Xoom, Galaxy Tab to debut soon?

The Wi-Fi-only versions of Motorola's Xoom and Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablets could reach consumers very soon, at least according to a couple of product flyers discovered by the folks at DroidLife.

Displaying what appears to be an upcoming flyer for Staples, DroidLife has zeroed in on a launch date of March 27 and a price tag of $599 for the Wi-Fi-only Xoom. Though the price seems accurate based on information from Motorola, the new date contradicts earlier information sent to DroidLife indicating an April 3 debut for the Wi-Fi-only Xoom.

Motorola Mobility's CEO Sanjay Jha recently revealed that the Wi-Fi-only version Xoom would sell for around $600. Staples' price for the Wi-Fi Xoom is a bit higher than the $539 that Sam's Club reportedly will charge. But if accurate, the difference makes sense since Sam's Club discounts its prices for members. The Wi-Fi Xoom is slated to launch in Europe starting in the second quarter.

We've reached out to Motorola and Staples for comment or further details.

Meanwhile, another supposed product flyer uncovered by DroidLife says the Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab will start shipping by April 4 and sell for $399. Launched last November, the 3G version of the 7-inch tablet currently sells from a variety of carriers for a variety of prices, with T-Mobile offering the Tab at $249 with a two-year contract.

A Samsung spokeswoman told CNET that the company has not announced pricing or availability for the Wi-Fi-only version of the Tab.… Read more

Study: Romance overtaken by 'Phonemance'

Are you ready for some cheery PR spin? Some deeply thought out, loving, but slightly cold-hearted PR spin?

Alright then. Staples, the people who offer you the Easy button, would like to impart some important personal information to ease your spirit.

For the company has just performed its fifth-annual Small Business Survey (yes, I missed the first four, too) and discovered that techno-love has now superseded the fleshy, inadequate, unsatisfying version in which so many of us still naively believe.

It appears that 60 percent of small business owners admit that they dedicate more time to holding their cell phones … Read more

Paul Allen revises patent suit against 11 tech firms

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has refiled a lawsuit against several major technology companies over claims of patent infringement.

In his revised complaint filed yesterday, Allen alleges that 11 tech companies and retailers--Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, YouTube, eBay, Netflix, OfficeMax, Office Depot, and Staples--are violating patents granted to him when he headed Interval Research, a small R&D firm that he started in 1992 and ran until it went out of business in 2000.

Allen initially filed the suit in August in U.S. District Court in Seattle. At the time, Allen's Interval Licensing company--which holds the patents … Read more

Staples to sell Kindle starting Sunday

Staples will start selling the Amazon Kindle at its stores starting this Sunday, the office supplies company announced today.

Staples said that its stores will have the Kindle and Kindle 3G for $139 and $189, respectively. The company will be selling the 9.7-inch Kindle DX for $379 starting in mid-November. In addition, Staples will be selling a variety of Kindle accessories, but it didn't say exactly what would be available.

Staples is joining a growing number of brick-and-mortar retailers selling Amazon's Kindle, including Best Buy and Target.

Amazon's e-reader continues to enjoy success. The Kindle is … Read more

The 404 556: Where we finally finally finally get multitasking (podcast)

It's been a long, single-tasking journey but Apple finally released OS 4 for the iPhone, and one of the key upgrades includes the ability to multitask. Took you long enough, Darth Jobs! Developers and users will now have the ability to run multiple applications at once, and Apple also demonstrated the Skype app running in the background (does that mean the next-gen iPhone will have a forward-facing camera?) as well as streaming audio apps like Pandora and Last.fm. Apple also unveiled folders for the iPhone that makes it easy to organize all your apps into customizable categories.

Unfortunately, not all of our prayers were answered in this latest update. The iPhone still can't go into mass storage mode, it can't tether to a computer, no Flash support or FM radio, and of course, the biggest issue is that it's still exclusively on the unreliable AT&T network. Wilson was hoping for Wi-Fi syncing but apparently Apple makes too much money on selling iPhone cables to worry about wireless.

Big thanks to everyone for pointing us to CheckFacebook.com that answers yesterday's question about the percentage of Americans on the site. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. has the highest number of FB users at 94,748,820, with the U.K. at a not-so-close second. Also be sure to listen carefully during E-Mails From the Public to learn how to say "Facebook" in Chinese!

This weekend is your LAST CHANCE to enter the The Audiophillie Music Awards for Excellence in Recorded Sound! Make a last minute recording of your band or another group, send it to us on a CD, and you could win a set of either Monster Turbine Pro Gold ($299) or Pro Copper ($399) headphones!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

EPISODE 556 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Staples selling Dell, HP Core i5 laptops for $649

Thought spanking new Intel Core i5 laptops would command a price premium? Not this week at Staples, where fully loaded Core i5 laptops from Dell and Hewlett-Packard are on sale for as little as $649.

Staples is selling a Dell 17-inch system with the Core i5 430M for $649. The Dell system is regularly $799. The $150 discount (which is "instant savings"--not a rebate) ends later this week, according to a sales representative who said prices will go up again at the close of business on Saturday.

Dell Insprion 17.3" Laptop at Staples:

Operating system: … Read more

Acer 17-inch, Intel dual-core laptop falls to $479

Staples is selling a big-screen laptop with robust features that belie its low price.

As 17-inch laptops go, it's a lot of laptop for the money, compared with higher-priced systems from vendors such as Hewlett-Packard. Big-screen, 17-inch-class laptops priced a couple of hundred dollars above the Acer typically offer slightly faster processors and higher-performance graphics. But for the average user, there's not much difference.

And what do you get for $479? The Acer Aspire AS7736Z-4809 comes with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, a dual-core Intel Pentium Processor T4300 (2.1GHz), 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard disk … Read more

Just how much tech junk is getting recycled?

Correction at 9:20 a.m. PDT: The time span for Office Depot's figures is one year.

Last year, Office Depot recycled almost 1.5 million pounds of old tech equipment through its service for consumers, the company said Wednesday.

That sounds like a lot. It makes you realize how quickly all those landfills must be filling up since that figure represents only the junk from people who 1) actually bother to recycle, and 2) chose to go with Office Depot's recycling program.

For a comparison, I decided to check how other company-sponsored recycling programs are doing. Unfortunately, … Read more

Bedlam breaks out at Circuit City

After Best Buy mega-stored Circuit City to oblivion, the hapless retailer has quickly gone to pieces.

On Friday, Circuit City said it was liquidating all of its stores. Then, on Saturday, there was a big liquidation sale at my local Circuit City--up to 30 percent off. The checkout line was almost as long as the lines you encounter on a typical Saturday at Fry's--the mostly California- and Texas-based sprawling electronics warehouse. (The line actually snaked to the back of the store.)

Understand that I'm not giving Fry's any backhanded praise. Fry's is so big, so unwieldy, … Read more