costco

To wrap up the penultimate week (for the year) of the 404 Podcast, we're running through Apple's year in iTunes--from the best-selling apps to the most-downloaded movie online.

We'll also tell you about a woman who made $1,200 exploiting dudes on Match.com, give you a tour of Amazon's massive Costconian warehouse in Seattle, and question the artistic merits of photo-filtering apps like Instagram.… Read more

We mentioned in our review of the Motorola Droid Bionic that one of our main concerns was its cost. At $299.99 with a two-year contract, the Droid Bionic is quite the pricey product, even if it is an excellent handset. If you decide to get the optional accessories, the cost can quickly add up.

But if you're Costco member, you might be in luck. According to PhoneArena, the large retailer is offering the phone for $279.99 along with a free accessory bundle. The bundle includes a standard dock, a vehicle navigation dock, and a battery charger that comes with an extra battery. These accessories alone ring up at around $158, so you're getting quite a deal.

We should note, however, that none of the included accessories let you access Webtop, the application that changes the phone into a portable PC with a full version of Firefox. For that, you need to get pricier options like the $300 laptop dock, the $100 HD station, or the $30 Webtop adapter.

The Droid Bionic recently won our Editor's Choice award for its sleek design, generous feature set, and zippy performance. It has a dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording, a front-facing VGA camera, 4G LTE support, and more.… Read more

Ford and Toyota team on car tech, Audi announces plug ins & hybrids, In-car internet radio explodes, and we take you - but just one of you - for a ride in the Scion iQ.

• Ford and Toyota team on hybrids for trucks, SUVs

• GM teams with LG to develop electric vehicles

• Audi plug-in hybrid rumored to be coming in 2014

• BMW to integrate MOG app

• Cadillac drops the cloth and top on new Ciel concept

First demoed at CES in January, Vizio's new 8-inch VIA tablet finally has a price and a ship date.

Slated to ship on July 18, the new Android tablet is now available for preorder. Vizio is selling the tablet directly for the full retail price of $399. However, consumers can grab a better deal by ordering it at Costco for $329 or Wal-Mart for $348.

A report from mid-June had already pegged Wal-Mart selling the tablet for $349.

Equipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread but customized with Vizio's own user interface, the tablet offers an 8-inch, 1,024x768 … Read more

It's graduation time for college students, but today we're exploring an offer from Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel to give a $100,000 fellowship to students who drop out and start their own company. He argues that people under 20 can learn more useful real-world skills at a start-up than at a university, where they'll ultimately leave in massive debt.

We're also offering tips on how to shop at Costco, the dropping prices of external media cards, the return of The 404 Audio Draft in a new Web site Outloud.fm, life lessons to be learned from Adam Sandler's "Billy Madison," and a couple of rules for leaving a voice mail on our show.

Have a fun (and safe!) Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

In an interview with The Seattle Times earlier today, Costco's Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti confirmed the company is in the process of phasing out Apple products from its shelves.

The news confirms a 2-month-old rumor from iLounge that noted the process as already under way. iLounge's source had attributed the move to the wholesale retailer getting shut out of acquiring stock of products like the iPad, which competitors like Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Stores, and Target had gotten access to some six months after its launch.

The Seattle Times says the split is mutual and notes that, … Read more

The newest crop of notebooks and Netbooks are not just leaking but beginning to flood out of reseller sites. The latest: a Costco Canada posting of an upcoming Dell Inspiron laptop based on Intel's Core i3 processor.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, which starts on Thursday, PC makers will debut laptops using Intel's freshly minted Core i3 processor, as was previously reported. Core i series processors are based on Intel's Nehalem microarchitecture. The Core i3 is the first Nehalem chip targeted at mainstream and lower-cost laptops.

The Dell offering, at least as posted at Costco, is a bit more expensive than other leaked models from Gateway or Hewlett-Packard, so we'll have to see how pricing shakes out in the coming the weeks. And note that Costco lists the Intel processor as… Read more

Apparently, saving the world isn't taking up all of Jeff Raikes' time.

The former Microsoft executive and current CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is joining the board of directors of Costco Wholesale, the giant retail chain.

"We are very pleased to welcome Jeff as a new member of our board. Not only does Jeff bring over 25 years of private sector experience, he also brings his reputation as a trusted and respected leader," Costco Chairman Jeff Brotman said in a statement.

Raikes announced his plans to leave Microsoft in January and was named CEO of the Gates Foundation … Read more

Well, that was close. We could have spent $8,000 or so for a "Luxor Hydro Massage Bathtub," mostly because of a single feature: the built-in TV. But how selfish of us--what about our guests?

BornRich has solved our entertaining conundrum with the "Infinity Vista TV Spa," which seats six who can enjoy "57 jets, an auto-rising 19-inch Polaroid HDTV, JVC DVD/AM/FM/CD player, four-speaker stereo system, a 10-inch subwoofer with amplifier and LED lighting." Who knew that Costco would become a purveyor of luxury home items? We just hope that they … Read more