1. Capsule Hotel
Say you’re in Union Square. It’s 4am and you’re drunk. Far too drunk to figure out how to get back home. Well, why not go and crash in the capsule hotel at Best Buy for $US15? And when you get up, you can make a quick video-game impulse purchase to help nurse your hangover with.

2. Pay by the hour video games
Best Buy has tons of huge, beautiful TVs. They also have boatloads of video games and consoles. Why not use all that gear? If they set up Xboxes on those big TVs, they could charge people by the hour to play on them late at night. Say, from 11pm-6am. I’m sure they’d make a boatload of cash from semi-drunk people paying $US20 to kill each other in Call of Duty before going home after the bars.

3. Food
Of course, you gotta have food late at night. Might I suggest a make-your-own sundae bar? Just make sure you’ve got enough serviettes on hand to keep all of your nice products from being covered in sticky fingerprints.

4. Skee-ball
Everybody loves skee-ball!

5. Karaoke
Again, this would be a great way to showcase your TVs as well as the big musical-instruments section that this new flagship Best Buy is going to have.

6. Hot Tubs
Look, if you want to get people into your store late at night, you’ve gotta offer incentives. And there are few better incentives than a hot tub on a cold night. Combine this with #2 and I’d practically live there.

7. A Bar
Why only settle for people shopping after they’ve been out drinking when you can sell them their drinks as well? Do you know what the profit margins are on booze sales? Enough to make you rethink being an electronics retailer, that’s what.

Here’s a gadget etiquette lesson—the type I will be covering in the Ask Jason column. Tip: guaranteed sex always trumps using your iPhone for just about ANY REASON*.

*Unless it’s a phone call for sex with more than one person, in which case, that is an acceptable useage. [Copyranter via Gawker]

Think of this as less about explaining technology and more about explaining what you should do with technology. Some examples:

• In what instances is it acceptable to wear a belt holster for your phone? (Prelim. answer: Only if you are handsome like Sean Fallon)
• How do I convince my wife/husband that we really need a 60+ inch television?
• My friend/taxi driver is texting while driving. What should I say, if anything, while I’m in the car?
• DVR or Hulu?
• How many seconds can a phone be in a toilet before it’s considered a loss, even if it still works?
• Is it OK to hack my neighbour’s Wi-Fi, even if they’re kind of dicks?

Send all your questions to askjason@gizmodo.com. The more interesting it is, the more likely I’ll answer it. And if you don’t get your questions answered, try again — because Dear Abby doesn’t know the difference between Boxee, Plex and XBMC.

I know, I’ve been rude. I’ve checked email at places like dinner, bars, at morning in bed, while we’re in the car, and when people around us start talking about boring things like politics and taxes and religion. I do it when we’re skiing on the chair lift. I do it when I’m peeing, when I’m pooing, when I’m walking the dogs and when we go shopping. And when we watch TV or movies at home. Not every minute, but I sneak in a looksie here and there.

And I think these are all great times to check email. Because my job is demanding and if I don’t check email all the time in public the only other alternative is to check email all the time from my computer. And really, the alternative reality to me being rude is a life where when shit happens while I’m away from the house, and I have to go running back to a terminal where I can write or edit posts every time something happens. Every time. It would be hell. And so I can live with rude.

Times are changing and the reality is that the social conventions that define when its appropriate to use gadgets in person are going to change, too. But for now there are nay sayers. To them, I’d say that I see these glimpses of work and fun intermingling as a gift; a chance to cheat a job where where work never really stops. So: Even if 5% of my idle clock cycles go to the internet, sapping something from real life experiences everywhere I go, I think it’s silly to take the other 95% they’ve allowed because of wireless access, for granted. I’m never going to stop. And the world will catch up.

[image by Beschizza industries]

While there is no official HP policy on erasing the hard drive for minor hardware defects, its something that might want to be kept in mind when you send your laptop in. One of Consumerist’s readers, Marjan, decided to send his computer in for repair when one of the keys egregiously decided to pop off. The laptop came back with a spanking new “P” but all of Marjan’s data had been wiped clean.

At least back up when you are sending your computer in for repair–wouldn’t you need that information anyways if you were being torn away from your precious? Look, I know we’re all pretty lazy–this is America, after all–but springing for that extra hour to back up your hard drive may just be worth it. [Consumerist]