Damn! If only we had discovered the Rock Mee video game console more than two days before Christmas, you guys could have given the gift of crappy gaming to your loved ones and your eternal enemies.
Tipster Nick received his as a bonus gift from a work supplier and sent in some pics, which you can check out below.
The UI in this video of the Pasen REI-16 is pretty slick, if not vaguely familiar. Oh that’s right. Just like their other player, the “iTouch,” this one is also a blatant ripoff of Apple.
If there’s a company out there that engages in price gouging more blatantly than Monster, I’ve never heard of them. Today’s offense: charging $US700 for a pair of $US350 headphones painted white.
When Steve announced the iPhone 3G on stage at WWDC, one of the more interesting tidbits was the mention of a locked-in maximum price of US$199/US$299 in every launch country. But if you listened closely, you would have heard the key qualifier: “almost every country.” Some deviation from the U.S. price is unavoidable, which is why Steve hedged his statement, but users in three countries in particular–Canada, Belgium, and Spain–are getting taken out back and walloped, each in their own special way.
Apple’s apparently so fed up with the high pricing that Rogers is shoving into Canadian iPhone owners’ faces that there will be no iPhone 3Gs sold at Apple Stores in Canada this Friday. This follows up Apple’s previous action of diverting stock from Canada to Europe, and really sets the tone that they’re unhappy with Rogers’ $60 for 150 minutes, 75 SMS messages and 400MB data plan. So what’s the deal? Canadians who still want one will have to line up early to get one of the 10-20 units per store that Rogers is getting. If we were you, we’d stay home and wait for Rogers to admit defeat, stop slapping its customers in the face and lower its prices. [Apple Insider]
When a company comes out with an innovative, landmark product, many other companies will end up incorporating those design features into their own products over time. But at what point does drawing inspiration from a rival’s innovations become simple bootlegging? We asked three experts.
eBay’s plans to bleed sellers dry make their service “more secure” by only allowing Paypal for online payments on Australian auctions has hit a small hurdle – the ACCC.
After asking for submissions in response to eBay’s proposed move, and receiving them from the Reserve Bank, Google, and countless other institutions and ebay users, the ACCC yesterday released a draft response to ebay’s request for exemption to anti-competitive laws. The response sounds like a polite version of the phrase, “F^&k off”.
From ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel: “Given eBay’s position as Australia’s leading online marketplace, the notified conduct will substantially reduce competition to supply online payment services to users of online marketplaces more generally”.
According to Australian IT, ebay are waiting to go through the ACCC’s draft response before they comment, but hopefully it will be a meek walking away with tails tucked well and truly between their legs.
It seems users aren’t the only people pissed off with ebay’s plans to financially rape you only support payments via Paypal. The Reserve Bank is also unimpressed with the proposal, submitting their thoughts to the ACCC.
Their arguments were simple: that Paypal only restricted consumer choice and actively promoted Paypal, limiting competition for other payment methods. They also felt that if eBay’s whole “security” argument were true, people would opt to use it exclusively, rather than having it forced down their throats.
As well as the RBA, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) have also lodged their thoughts with the ACCC, and neither of them were too happy with the auction site either.
Now, eBay has until May 23 to respond to the 350+ submissions to the ACCC. After that? Who knows, but hopefully it will end with eBay walking home with its tail between its legs…
We like Terminator as much as we hate companies who rip-off the work of artists without even crediting them. This is apparently what happened with the poster used to promote the bland Sarah Connor Cronicles TV series: some blogs are reporting that the Fox channel’s poster was allegedly copied straight from a striking montage created by someone else before the series were even announced. Compare the full images after the jump (NSFW).
If you are planning on picking up an HDTV in the near future, HD Guru’s list of the 10 worst HDTV ripoffs for 2008 is required reading—pure and simple. Chances are, many consumers have already heard about the issue with HDMI cables—which is probably one of the biggest scams of all time (right up there with Q-Ray ionised bracelets and the Ionic Breeze). Other scams, like the one involving contrast ratio specifications are also making their way into the public consciousness.
