The OLPC movement rode a rollercoaster of fun disaster danger when it decided to try and give away a unit to kids in need for every unit sold to US customers last year. Now that rollercoaster ride is coming to Australia.

If you purchase an OLPC laptop, you'll also be donating another unit to a child in need in outback Australia or the Pacific Islands. According to the website, this deal kicks off on November 30 and will only run until December 31, so get your orders in sooner rather than later.

For some reason, the OLPC is still priced in US dollars, with GST chucked on top of that, which is a kind of dodgy way of doing it, if you ask me. Still considering they're actually making an effort to try and chance the world one laptop at a time, I suppose we can forgive them.

You can order your OLPC at Laptop.org for $US399 plus GST from November 30.

[Laptop.org]

Nintendo's marketing strategy seems to be a it... strange. They seem to be completely ignoring, you know, gamers, and going for a generation of older, non-gaming people. I mean, I know the Wii is fun for all ages, but who knows how much cash must have changed hands for radio station 2UE to actually change their name to 2U-Wii for three weeks. It's not just a gimmick either - their website has been overrun with the new 2U-Wii logo and the radio DJs are presented as Miis pretty much everywhere except for photos online.

The worst part is that they're actually giving away $20K worth of Nintendo gear. Even though the Wii gets older people to play games, do they ever pull it out once the initial enjoyment of Wii Sports has worn off? No. Of course, neither do most of us, I guess, so my argument seems to have a glaring hole in it.

Oh well, carry on Nintendo. Can't wait until you decide to fork over craploads of cash to CBS in the US to create half a dozen episodes of DSi: Miami, where victims are bludgeoned to death with Wiimotes...

[2U-Wii]

What economic crisis? On the back of the news that Sony's giving away craploads of gear with the launch of Quantum of Solace, plus Samsung's own "Buy a Samsung TV get a free Blu-ray player" promotion, the Korean electronics giant is backing it up with a $380,000 promotion over the Christmas period. Starting November 1, customers who buy an applicable Samsung camera, video camera, MP3 player or DVD player will go in the draw to win an hourly prize of a camera, video camera, MP3 player, DVD player, Blu-ray player or even (if you're lucky) a 32-inch Samsung TV. Prizes will be drawn hourly, so the chances of winning are probably pretty good. It runs between November 1 and January 2 next year, and you can check out the list of selected Samsung products below.

So who's promotion is going to get you to buy their product? Sony or Samsung?

Read More »

Sony just can't seem to get enough of Bond. James Bond. Not even a week after wrapping up their not-officially-a-Bond-promotion-but-it's-called-the-"Quantum-Code"-so-you-don't-have-to-use-too-much-imagination-to-see-where-they-got-the-idea-from Quantum Code promotion, they're at it again, this time offering a range of Bond-style adventures.

To be eligible for this promotion, you'll need to pony up the cash: "For every $50 spent on participating Sony products, consumers will have the opportunity to win one of seven world-class Bond-style adventures." There are also daily prizes including PS3s, 007 DVD box sets, movie vouchers, BigPond music download credits and adrenalin vouchers (whatever they are).

Of course, Sony are pimping the QR codes again, with the chance to double your chances in store by scanning a QR code. Considering each of the seven major prizes is worth up to $30,000 each, this isn't exactly a bad promotion to try and win. For a full run-down of the prizes and specifics on how to enter, see the full release below...

Read More »

In case you're a huge James Bond fan just on the verge of buying a laptop, Sony's auctioning off a hundred 007-branded VAIO TTs to promote the Nov. 14 release of Quantum of Solace. Each 1.3kg TT packs an Intel Centrino 2 processor, 4GB RAM, a 64GB SSD, an 11.1-inch XBRITE LCD screen and a built-in webcam. Along with the laptop, you'll also get a matching leather carrying case. In case you think Sony's just trying to get its Goldfinger on, all proceeds from the auction will go to 1% For The Planet, a charity that gets companies to donate 1% of their sales to environmental organisations. [Ebay]

Read More »

Nokia just sent us the 6205 Dark Knight phone in a promotional box and man, is it cool. The box, that is. As you can see in the clip above, the purple box with pretty green bow on top surprised the hell out of me when I opened it--it cackled in the Joker's voice. The box is also packed with a DVD of Batman Begins and a creepy Joker card that has the scribbles of a madman all over it. Way to go with the box, Nokia...now where's the psycho purple 6205 Joker Edition to go with it? [Verizon Wireless]

Read More »

The Samsung/Foxtel iQ2 promotion we confirmed over the weekend has just been announced. Buy a Samsung HDTV, get a Foxtel iQ2 box plus a 3 month subscription, or if Foxtel isn't your thing, grab a Samsung BDP1500 Blu-ray player.

Full press release is below.

Read More »

J Allard, who most recently helped give the Xbox and the Zune a really, really good user experience has gotten a promotion to "Chief Experience Officer" of the Entertainment and Devices devision. The E&D devision, for those of you who don't know, encompasses Xbox, Games for Windows, Mobile Communications (including Windows Mobile), Zune, Connected TV, Microsoft Surface, Mac Office, Microsoft Auto and Windows Embedded. Now that Allard is essentially going to have his fingers in all these pies, you can expect a Zune/Xbox 360-level of UI polish that projects like Windows Mobile haven't seen before. You can't see it, but we're doing a fist pump now. [ZDNet]

Read More »

UPDATE: One of our tipsters has sent through this image of an upcoming catalogue proving the Samsung giveaway is legit. Of course, what's interesting to note (that wasn't mentioned in either the Australian or CNet articles, is that customers have a choice between the Foxtel iQ2 box or a new Samsung BDP-1500 Blu-ray player. This would make sense - not everyone can get Foxtel, and not everyone would want to subscribe to the Foxtel service either.

We'll obviously keep you posted on any official announcement from Samsung, but seeing as how this catalogue is due to go out this week (and the promotion due to start on July 1, we expect to have official word for you very soon.

Since the advent of plasma TVs and their subsequent rise to power (alongside LCDs, of course); TV manufacturers have seen huge sales boosts just before major sporting events. And seeing as how this year is an Olympic year, it's no surprise that we're seeing some really awesome promotions come out of the woodwork in the lead up to Beijing.

Earlier this week we told you about the Sony Bravia promotion, which will see 35,000 Bravia customers receive a free PS3, but now the Australian (and CNet AU) are reporting that next week we'll be hearing about a Samsung promotion which includes a Foxtel iQ2 box for HD entertainment.

The rumours state that Samsung will be forking over the $200 upgrade fee that Foxtel is charging subscribers to install the iQ2 when they buy a new Samsung TV. There hasn't been any official confirmation from either Samsung or Foxtel yet, so we don't know which TVs will include the Foxtel box in the price, but it will obviously cater to their premium lineup of HD displays.

So it looks like July is going to be the month that many of us buy TVs. But which promotion is more appealing?