Google follows Microsoft’s playbook with touch-friendly Chromebook Pixel
Poor HP. A mere two weeks after the company rolled out its much-hyped Chromebook, Google has gone and unveiled the Chromebook Pixel, a touch-friendly Chrome OS-based laptop that (at least on paper) puts the Pavilion 14 Chromebook to shame. The same can be said of other popular Chromebooks out there, too, including the Samsung Chromebook, which has sat pretty atop Amazon's top-selling laptop list for three months now.
The one prominent disadvantage the Google Pixel may have against other Chromebooks is the price tag: It starts at $1,299, compared to rivals that range from $200 to $330. But then, the Chromebook isn't aimed at people considering a second device to complement their existing PC. This one is "especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud," according to Google vice president of engineering Linus Upson.
Google appears to have swiped a page from Microsoft's playbook here: The Redmond giant raised eyebrows and ruffled feathers when it opted to effectively take on its hardware partners by building its own tablets, the Surface and the Surface Pro. Still, Upson has assured Google's hardware partners Samsung, Acer, Lenovo, and HP that his company is "tremendously grateful ... for their commitment." Read more...
Sprint drops price of 16 GB iPhone 4S to $149.99
Sprint has cut the price of the 16 GB iPhone 4S by $50 to $149.99.
The move comes about five weeks ahead of Apple's expected launch of the next-generation iPhone on Sept. 12.
Sprint is also offering free activation when buying the 16 GB iPhone 4S online, an added savings of $36, according to its website.
A Verizon Wireless spokeswoman said she didn't have anything to share on reducing the iPhone 4S price. AT&T said it has a refurbished iPhone 4S for $149, but nothing further to announce. Both carriers offer the same model for $199.99. All three carriers require a two-year service plan. Read more...
Hard drive prices slide as Thai flood aftermath subsides
The price of the most popular hard disk drives are beginning to drop as inventories climb out of a deep hole that began in October after massive flooding shut down major production sites in Thailand.
Drive maker Western Digital was hardest hit by the flooding, with research firm IDC predicting that up to 75% of the company's production lines were temporarily shut down.
According to new information from ecommerce tracking site Dynamite Data, the top 50 hard drives on sites such as Newegg.com and Tigerdirect.com, leaped in price by 50% to 150% after the flooding. The price jump was kicked off in October when drive inventory levels plummeted 90% in less than a week, according to Kristopher Kubicki, data architect at Dynamite Data.
"The first flooding was Oct. 8 and within a week, two weeks at the most, almost all that inventory at distribution had dried up," Kubicki said. "I'm not sure if that was distributors getting the inventory recalled from them or if it was getting purchased that fast. I think consciously people moved it out of distribution and into system manufacturers."
Over the past few weeks, hard drive prices have leveled off and have begun to drop slowly, according to Dynamite's data. Read more...