If you thought Coinstar was through making industry rattling announcements today, you were wrong. After taking the wraps off its joint venture with Verizon, now the company has announced it’ll be taking over NCR’s entertainment division for 0 million. That includes DVD kiosks, retailer contracts and an inventory of discs for stocking the machines. That’s big news not only cause it expands Redbox’s already sizable self-serve rental empire, but because it may be doing so at the expense of the floundering Blockbuster since NCR has been responsible for distributing and running the blue and yellow rental kiosks. How exactly this will impact existing Blockbuster Express installations is unclear, but we can’t imagine the news is good. For a few more details about the deal check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Redbox snatches up NCR’s entertainment division, future of Blockbuster kiosks unclear

Redbox snatches up NCR’s entertainment division, future of Blockbuster kiosks unclear originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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But what if all of this changed? What if consumers actually enjoyed signing contracts? What if carriers just gave away phones — all of them —  for free?

What do consumers get?

Carriers need to rethink the current model of phone ownership. It’s not working for them or consumers. So let’s propose a new one: phone leasing. It would work like this. A consumer can get a free phone, any model they would like, and can keep it for 12 months. No charge aside from their monthly bill. If there are any issues with the phone, they would most likely still be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. And any reasonable issues not covered by the manufacturer’s warranty would be covered by the carrier for free.

What’s the catch?

The carrier owns the phone, and it must be returned after the 12 months is up. Moreover, instead of signing a two-year contract, consumers would have to sign a four- to five-year one. But, and this is a big but, when a consumer gives that 12-month-old phone back to the carrier, they’ll get a brand-new one of their choice — every single year of the contract.

What do carriers get out of this model?

Three things: More phone “sales” — lowering the cost of phone acquisition will lead to more contracts; longer contract means more customer loyalty; and leasing instead of selling phones means the phones can be resold once the 12 months is up (a typical iPhone goes for 0-400 on Craigslist). So instead of a carrier purchasing a phone for, say, 0 from a manufacturer and only getting 0 at retail from a consumer, losing 0 in the process, they’ll be able to resell that phone after 12 months for 0-400. This process will be repeated until the contract ends.

But why would a carrier go this route when the churn rate (the percentage of consumers leaving) is so low? More profit. Smartphone adoption is growing, but it would be growing much faster if smartphones were free. Moreover, carriers are basically competing with the same phones (barring T-Mobile, which still doesn’t have the iPhone) and very similar monthly plans. Adding such a plan would be a game-changer that would provide a worthy competitive advantage. Lastly, churn may be low — Verizon, for instance, reported 1.1 percent among 88 million contract subscribers. That equates to 88,000 people, or nearly half the population of Richmond, Va., leaving every quarter. With each subscriber worth .89 of revenue, .8 million worth of churn walks away each quarter.

Why not prepaid instead?

Of course the prepaid phone market is an option, but for most consumers it is not a tantalizing one. Part of the reason could be due to the lack of cachet; the perception remains that prepaid users don’t have good enough credit to get a contract. But an even greater reason is the lack of cutting-edge phones the prepaid market offers. For instance, the iPhone (as well as many popular phones) isn’t available as a prepaid option. And for carriers, on average, prepaid has a higher churn rate and creates less revenue.

Carriers have little choice but to shake up the cellphone market. It’s ripe for a revolution.

John S. Wilson is a freelance writer who focuses on technology, politics and health policy. He writes for NewsOne, The Loop 21, and Mediaite, and can be reached on Twitter: @johnwilson

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Republic Wireless’ love affair with Wi-Fi.

Republic Wireless has made Wi-Fi the linchpin of its mobile service with a cellular network provided by Sprint as its backup. Customers will join the service by paying 9 to get a phone and then a month after that with no contracts. There’s a 30-day window for someone to return the phone and get their money back. So how does this work?

By default all calls, data and texts are sent via Wi-Fi networks when possible, and switch only to cellular if no Wi-Fi access is available. That’s one reason for the low price on the service, as most people can access an existing Wi-Fi network in their home or office for free. Brian Dally, the general manager of Republic says he expects at least 60 percent of the traffic to go over Wi-Fi networks. But he assures me that when he says unlimited data that it does extend to the 3G portion of the service as well.

Om said this sounds a lot like UMA, the technology that T-Mobile used for its Home Zone products and that many people loved. But Dally said Republic is not using the Kineto technology that UMA is based on, and that the user experience won’t be quite seamless when it comes to switching from one network to the other. At the moment users will hear a tone in the middle of a call signaling the change in networks, but the call will continue. That’s better than it cutting off entirely, but Dally says he’s still looking for feedback on the user experience and invited me to check back in a few weeks on the forums to see what users think.

Cheap matters but hardware does too.

To ensure the primacy of Wi-Fi, Republic had to build software that puts Wi-Fi first. It chose to do this using the Android OS not only because the platform is hot but it also allows developers to access the hardware. The first phone for the system will be the LG Optimus. If that’s not optimal, Dally promises that more phones are coming but he was mum about the timeline and particular devices.

The  LG Optimus Android smartphone runs the Gingerbread version of Android and will come preloaded with the Republic software. A first-time user will be asked to put in his Wi-Fi network and then for information on other Wi-Fi access points. The phone will remember that information. Users will also be able to download apps to help manage authentication and payment for Wi-fi networks if they want, but Republic won’t preload any of that onto the handset.

The use of Sprint as the network partner means the phone uses Sprint’s CDMA network, so it won’t roam internationally. And, if Sprint coverage doesn’t work well in your area, think carefully about taking it up. We expect Kevin Tofel to take the handset through its paces later this week.

Is it too good to be true?

The idea of disrupting the cellular world is not a new one, and while VoIP calling over Wi-Fi has come a long way, the quality of experience can be sub par. Dally agrees that delivering better quality of service on Wi-Fi is something he hopes will happen, but he’s also confident that today’s Wi-Fi networks and the ubiquity of access is enough to make this service viable.

And beyond providing cheap mobile service, Dally espouses some of the same ethos that his parent company Bandwidth.com shares– The idea is to take telecommunications from the realm of a few large carriers and make it more egalitarian and IP-based. “The phone prefers WiFi because its ubiquitous and cheap and it’s not controlled by a few large companies,” Dally said. Bandwidth.com owns an IP network (which Republic will use to connect calls) that currently provides VoIP services to Skype, Google Voice and other IP voice providers.

Between Bandwidth.com’s network, Sprint and your home Wi-Fi points, Dally believes he has a service. And given the emphasis on public in all of the company’s branding, I’m wondering if there’s a Fon element to be found here, where members can sign up to share their hot spots. And while today Republic isn’t signing partnerships with existing hot spot and access providers such as the AT&T-owned Wayport, Boingo or even iPass, Dally doesn’t rule them out in the future. Such partnerships which would give it even more flexibility to default to Wi-Fi coverage.

So it’s possible that Republic could flip the mobile phone model so cellular connections and pricing goes the way of satellite phone pricing — expensive and suitable only for a select few who roam the uninhabited wilds. I’ll be eager to see how this experiment plays out. The beta starts Tuesday with Republic offering to ship a cluster of handsets every Friday based on a first come first served basis.

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The best thing concerning having a portable printer is the fact that, you can take your work practically anywhere you want to. You will not need an office to get your documents, contracts, reports, and also evaluation sheets printed. All you need is a laptop and electricity, whilst your printer is good to go. It is possible to take your work to a coffee shop if you want. Or even if you are traveling in another country, you’ll not have a trouble finding an available printer within the place you will be staying if you have to have hard copies of your files.

When purchasing a portable printer, among the list of items that you need to check into could be the ease in terms of moving the printer without compromising its functionality.

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Visit at http://best-cheap-printer.com where you’ll find numerous suggestions and opinions to get the best cheap printer for your needs.

Okay, so it may not look quite as impressive as some other mechanical cheetahs we’ve seen in the past, but this new one from Boston Dynamics certainly has a lot of potential. That robot, plus a new humanoid called Atlas, have won DARPA contracts and so will be put into at least limited production, much like the company’s earlier BigDog. Cheetah is said to run “faster than any existing legged robot and faster than the fastest human runners,” while Atlas can “move through difficult terrain using human-like behavior,” meaning neither running nor hiding will work. That leaves only fighting, so get ready to buck up.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Boston Dynamics Cheetah and Atlas robots get DARPA funding, getting ready to find you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before you resolve to buy a mobile phone, it’s possible you’ll want to resolve first whether you desire a pay as you go mobile phone service or a traditional mobile phone plan. Should you determine on a pay as you go cell phone service, then no problem, no credit test, you just need to pay outright and instantly you have got your phone. Some mobile phone corporations even offer free mobileular telephone unit once you purchase a pay as you go mobile phone service from them. Nonetheless, if you desire a cell phone plan, chances are you’ll need to select from a by minute charging or by the second charging. Keep in mind, mobiles such as the HTC Desire contracts will cost more than simple phones.

There are other mobile phone plans like family plans, that is advantageous for family use and small businesses. There’s free access for emergencies. In addition, for family plans, it’s cheaper to call the other cell phones included in one billing. There are also reductions for the airtime usage of members of the family using this cell phone plan. For regional use, this cell phone plan may require you to pay lengthy-distance fees however the airtime rates could also be cheaper.

Another time mobile phone plans may be useful is you can acquire the once that have the advantages you need. The way of usage is an important requirement, if you do not need it as much and only for emergencies, prepaid mobile phone plan may go well with you effectively than traditional plans where you should signature a contract with the service provider.

All of this notwithstanding, in order to make full and effective use of your mobile phone, chances are you’ll need to set some pointers in your usage. In order for you your cell phone for your corporation, chances are you’ll need to ensure you flip it off whenever you need privacy. Being available each time may not do properly for you. Having a cell phone and being obtainable on a regular basis might not be wholesome, thus, it’s important to be cautious not to enable individuals disturb you when you might want to be alone with or without your cell phone.

Origo to fund clean-tech
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One place where salesmen are able to rack up the price is in the alarm system. Nowadays, everyone wants an alarm system in their car to prevent robberies. So, instead of questioning, they simply pay the price that the dealer indicates. Unfortunately, this is usually far more then necessary. Dealers only have to spend $50 to install a basic alarm system. However, they end up charging the customer between $200 and $250 for the final product. The prices just get worse and worse as the systems become more advanced.

Extended warranties are another way in which car dealership businesses boom, while innocent shoppers continue to suffer. Oftentimes, consumers are unaware on how large the markup for warranties really is. So, dealerships end up making an amount of money that is equivalent to the value of the entire car.

Aside from these devious ways that car salesmen increase their salaries, we consumers must also be leery of sellers who are not willing to compromise on the price with the buyer. Many car salesmen are one price, no-haggle people. They do not allow bargaining. This should definitely be a red flag to warn the buyer to stay away. It is certain that you will be able to find a car just as good at another dealership that is willing to negotiate the price down to something you can afford. Never settle for a price you are not comfortable with or believe to be unfair.

Also, to get the best price when buying new car, do your homework before signing contracts and offering money. Once you find a car you like, compare it to others you see at other dealerships and online. See if you are getting the most for your money. Chances are you are getting overcharged.

To buy new car transportation is an exciting time for anyone. There are tricks when buying new car accessories also. However, we must be cautious and aware that things are not always what they seem. Remember to be assertive and never back down until you get the price you want.

Report: Texas legislators push for Baylor’s inclusion in potential Pac-10 invite
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