Amazon to invest $100 million in LivingSocial
VB has posted today that giant e-tailer Amazon is set to invest $100 million in daily-deal site LivingSocial.
The “strategic investment” talks are underway, but there is nothing set in stone.
Daily-deal sites have boomed in the past year thanks mainly to the popularity of market leaders Groupon and Living Social.
All daily-deal sites offer discounts on products, services, activities, and meals from merchants, small and large.
Amazon currently has a foundation in the deals business, as it purchased Woot earlier this year.
Living Social raised money in March and April, but more investment would lead to a larger expansion into new cities and even new countries.
Just last month, Groupon was valued at over $3 billion.
T.J. Maxx, Marshalls starts selling iPad with $100 discount
Retailers T.J. Maxx and Marshalls have begun selling the cheapest model of the iPad for $400 this week, offering a full $100 discount off Apple’s pricing.
The cheapest model is 16GB and offers Wi-Fi support.
T.J. Maxx confirmed the deal on its Twitter page today, saying: “The rumors are TRUE! Select (unadvertised) locations/limited quant.”
Earlier in the week, Sam’s Club began selling the iPad, offering $12 off retail for all models, the biggest discount seen until today.
It is still unclear how the companies can offer the iPad at such a low price, especially without losing a significant amount of money per sale. Apple has not suggested any price drop is coming on the iPad.
Although unconfirmed, it appears that some Marshalls stores will be selling only 300 of the devices over a three-day period.
Picture: The Avatar mosaic made from 4000 Blu-ray discs
Laura Hadland, just weeks after creating a “toast” mosaic from over 9000 pieces of toast has moved on to her next project, an Avatar mosaic that uses 4000 Blu-ray discs.
Hadland says 20th Century Fox commercially printed her the discs (in the colors she needed) and from there the mosaic was completed within a few hours.
The mosaic was a gift to her husband, who was a big fan of the movie.
It was put together on the floor of the London Film Museum.
Avatar is the top selling movie of all time, making $2.8 billion worldwide. Sequels are slated for 2013 and later.
Video Daily: The new Dell Inspiron Duo Tablet/Netbook hybrid
Dell has announced the upcoming availability of the Inspiron Duo tablet/netbook hybrid today, as well as pricing for the device.
The device will be available during the first week of December, and the base model will sell for $549.
Dell’s unique hybrid has a 10.1-inch multi-touch display.
The device runs on a dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor, has 2GB of RAM, a Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator, 250GB of storage, and Windows 7 Home Premium as the operating system.
When flipped into a tablet, the 1366×768-resolution display uses Dell’s Duo Stage UI layer, which is much more touch-friendly than standard Windows 7.
A few of the installed apps are Dell’s MusicStage, VideoStage, PhotoStage, and BookStage.
Google CEO explains why Chrome OS is different than Android
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has explained what will differentiate their Android OS from their upcoming Chrome OS, saying mainly that Chrome OS was created for devices that have full keyboards, whereas Android is better for touchscreen devices.
Chrome OS will soon be available on PCs, notebooks and netbooks, which will always include full keyboards, even if they have touchscreen interfaces.
Android, on the other hand, is best suited for smartphones and (eventually) tablets, which may sometimes have keyboards, but will always have a touchscreen.
When asked about Android fragmentation, Schmidt noted that he wants to make sure that in the future, the same apps can be run on all Android devices, no matter what version or what device.
Android 2.3 Gingerbread is expected in the coming weeks while Chrome OS is expected by January.
LG ‘Star’ will feature Android, Tegra 2, 8MP camera
Engadget has posted new pics of the upcoming LG ‘Star’ smartphone, the new flagship in the company’s Android Optimus line.
The device will run at least Android 2.2 out of the gate, and be the first smartphone to run on a powerful Nvidia Tegra 2 processor.
Additionally it will feature an 8MP camera with 1080p video recording, and a front-facing camera.
With a January release date planned, the smartphone will be the first to use a dual-core processor.
Furthermore, the site says it hears the Android will be “vanilla,” with no extra interface layers.
Earlier in the day, LG said they sold 1 million Optimus smartphones around the world in just 40 days.
First 36 minutes of latest ‘Harry Potter’ leaked online
In what is certainly the most notable movie leak in some time, the first 36 minutes of the latest Harry Potter film are now widely available on the Internet.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, will debut in the U.S. on Friday.
The “extended clip,” which is tagged as a DVD-Screener, has a large Warner Bros. watermark but is otherwise intact.
In 2007, a PDF of the book was leaked the week before the title was set for release.
The question now remains as to why the screener is only 36 minutes long, but the consensus is that Warner Bros. was so scared of a leak that they cut down the amount shown in the screeners they sent out.
It could also be that Warner just leaked the clip themselves to add to the hype, not that the Harry Potter series, especially this film, needs any more.
Regardless, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 will make over $100 million at the Box Office this weekend.
Lenovo to introduce LePad tablet in the U.S. next year
Lenovo has said today it will launch its LePad Android tablet in the U.S. next year, looking to compete in the ever-growing market for fast, portable, touchscreen gadgets running mobile operating systems.
CEO Yan Yuanqing confirmed the device which was first spoken about over the summer.
The American tablet market has grown exponentially since Apple launched the iPad in April. Dell, HP, RIMM, Samsung, Toshiba and LG have all released or promised to release tablets within the next quarter.
Lenovo did not put a price on the tablet just yet but did note it will launch in China early next year, as well.
The company is also heavily investing in a “program to support developers of mobile Internet applications and services as the firm looks to expand its application download store, which will work with the LePad,” says the WSJ.
Samsung announces Google TV sets
Samsung Electronics has said today that the company is planning on introducing HDTVs with Google TV at the CES event in January.
The company is the world’s largest TV maker.
Yoon Boo Keun, head of Samsung’s TV business, did not leave any other details except to say it was “open to using” new chips made by Intel for its TVs.
Last month, Sony began selling the first HDTVs with Google TV and sales have met expectations.
Fans of Google TV, however, have been disappointed as all the major broadcasters have blocked their signals from use through the service.
T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T sign up for Isis
Major U.S. carriers T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T have announced today the launch of Isis, a joint venture that will give customers a chance to pay for services and products via their phones.
The payment network will use Discover Financial Services (DFS).
“This is an unprecedented partnership, one that’s necessary,” says Michael Abbott, who will run the venture.
The initiative is open and Abbot says that Barclays’ Barclaycard will be the first issuer.
“Barclaycard will have the first mover advantage as an issuer of multiple mobile payment products. It gives us great access to [the telcos'] 200 million customer base,” added Amer Sajed, CEO of Barclaycard US.
Visa and Mastercard are not expected to sign up for the venture, however, as both are starting their own systems.
