Newegg has Klipsch HD 500 5.1 High Definition Theater System for $599.99. Add it to cart, and enter promo code “FREEGFT32A”, Onkyo TX-SR507 5.1 Home Theater Receiver ($320 value) would be added to cart automatically. Total is $600 with free shipping.

Newegg has OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 2.5″ 30GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $110 - $40 rebate (Exp 3/10) = $70 with free shipping.

Saw a Tweet from adii (WooThemes founder) that said “This shit is intense” and a link over to a Vimeo page that looked to be an ad from Frito Lay for their Tostitos salsa. I thought “he must be impressed easily” and pressed play.(...)
Read the rest of Tostitos Vimeo Ad Will Melt Your Face Off

Thanks to Todd Swarthout for the heads up on this one. In a world where logic is dictated by the guy with the biggest bank account balance, Citi has started notifying card-holders that if they spend less than $2400/year they will be charged a $60 yearly “service fee” in order for Citi to cover it’s “rising cost of doing business”. This also seems to apply to card businesses that Citi has assimilated over the years, including AT&T’s Universal Card that promised “no annual fee for life” when it was created in 1989.

(...)
Read the rest of Citi Announces “No Balance” Penalty for Card Holders

And another smoking-hot coupon we found online, have fun!

From Dealsea

Use coupon code “SAVE20″ when checking out from the Lenovo Outlet Store to get 20% off your order. The state of the content sold by the Outlet Store is described as follows:

• New
  • Order canceled and never shipped
  • Factory direct excess
• Redistributed
  • Product was shipped and returned unopened.
  • Factory seal was not broken by customer.
  • Product was never used by customer.
• Refurbished
  • Product was returned with the factory seal broken.
  • Product may or may not have been turned on.
  • Product may or may not have been used.
• Scratch and Dent
  • Product was returned with the factory seal broken.
  • Product may or may not have been turned on.
  • Product may or may not have been used.
  • Product has cosmetic blemishes.

NOTE: As of 9am MST the site is really damn slow, taking over a minute for filters to the list to apply.

Whenever we see deals online that make our ears perk up, we repost them here because we can’t be the only ones that think these are saucy.

From Dealsea

1. Click here to go to Microsoft Bing.
2. Click on the Wirefly Bing Cashback link on the top. Your Motorola Droid for Verizon Wireless is $49.99 – $50 Bing cashback. 2-year contract is reqired.

NOTE: You pay list price first, Bing cashback would be deposited to your Bing account after your order is confirmed and/or ships.

Another Deal: 2x Motorola Droids for $150

I used to sell on eBay a lot a few years ago and had an OK experience. A few times I had people try and rip me off, but fortunately the fear of bad feedback killed the transactions before they could continue.

Last week I decided to clear some tech out of my closet, so I listed it on eBay. One of the items was a 15″ ThinkPad laptop keyboard that I had replaced.

The auction was set for 1 week. At the end of the week the winner was ikh0023. I sent him an invoice and waited for the payment to come through… and waited… and waited.

After a week I messages him asking if he planned on paying, 2 more days later I get back “Sorry, I was out of town, I have paid.” and he had. So I wrapped up the item and dropped it in the mail for him – yesterday.

This morning I receive the following email from eBay/PayPal:

We were recently notified that a payment you received was reversed by the buyer’s bank. A bank reversal can be requested by the bank itself or the bank account holder.

I logged into PayPal and sure-as-shit, the payment was being held:

Fortunately I learned a long time ago to never send anything without paying for the extra Delivery Confirmation feature so I will have proof that it was delivered.

I then logged into eBay to leave this buyer negative feedback since he is trying to play games with making me wait a week for payment then retracting payment 2 days after finally making it.  I found the options for the transaction and clicked “Leave Feedback” at which point I saw this screen:

So this guy is trying to rip me off and my choices are Positive or Leave Feedback Later. I’m starting to see why there was so much outrage over this when eBay rolled this change out in 2008.

This package is en-route to this guy and he is actively trying to rip me off. eBay and PayPal have functionally provided the tools for him to do this as effectively as possible:

• Retracting payment for a shipped item
• No way to ‘punish’ the buyer for this behavior

So at this point all I can do is wait and see what PayPal decides. If they resolve the retraction in his favor (I have no idea why, what kind of reason did he provide? I have no insight into this process nor can I provide my own input) then I just lost an item. It was only $16, but what if it had been an Xbox or PS3?

I’ll keep this post updated on what ends up happening. I’ve contacted PayPal letting them know I have tracking information for this package to prove it was sent and received. We’ll see if that makes any difference.

Update #1: I got an email from PayPal asking for my input on the dispute using the Resolution Center. I was able to say “I can prove this was shipped” and provided USPS tracking information. We’ll see where this gets us.

Update #2: After a week and providing shipping/tracking information for the package to PayPal they finally ruled in my favor and my $16 were unfrozen.

I’m glad this panned out, but am infinitely annoyed that I cannot leave negative feedback against this dipshit (ikh0023) that tried to scam me to let other sellers know the shenanigans he might try and pull.

So if you were in the market for a WordPress or Expression Engine theme and like one of the WooThemes you see in their gallery, just leave a comment with your email address and I’ll send you the 50% off coupon.

We’ve been customers of Woo for a few years now and really like their work and support.

The theme running on this blog is about a year and a half old and had 30 updates released in that time with updates and advancements. They continue to keep even older themes current with their new platform and technology additions which is a great value-add for folks wanting to make sure they can keep their themes up to date.

As an example, this theme would run you $70 normally, but you’d only pay $35 until February 19th.

DISCLAIMER: In the interest of full-disclosure, there is a prize of a Mac laptop to the person that initiates the most sales. I have no intention of winning it but wanted to mention that so no one felt like there were shenanigans going on.

Disclaimer: This is a re-telling of my experience with HTC Nexus One support on February 8, 2010 from 9am through 10:30am. I wanted to relay my experience so any potential Nexus One shoppers out there may get an idea of their own experience-to-be if they run into trouble.

I bought a Nexus One 2 weeks ago. Hardware-wise it’s great. Software-wise, Android still shows some of it’s warts from time to time. In a more complete review I’ll clarify warts, but I can sum it up as:

• Not sexy. Still looks like standard Android.
• Stutters/Hickups during animations or transitions

In the last week or so I noticed that on light-background screens (white, light-gray, etc.), I would see a very like “snow” effect on the screen. When I say “snow” here, I mean like the old-school poor-signal-snow you remember from TVs in the 80s, a fuzziness and erratic lighting behavior of the pixels by-the-line:

It was no-where near that pronounced though. You would have to take the snow seen above, and filter it down to 5-10% opacity and THEN lay it over a normal Nexus One screen, and that was what I was seeing. You could sit there watching it flicker.

I showed it to my wife and she noticed it as well.

Discharging the phone stopped the phenomenon for a few mins after bootup, but re-use of the device (reading web, email, tweets, etc.) would make it come back fairly quickly. In under 10 mins. The behavior seemed like some kind of electrical build-up, who’s to know for sure.

I decided to call HTC Nexus One support to get a replacement unit — I’ve had issues like this in the past with Apple, Microsoft, Mitsubishi… a fair share of disparate manufacturers. I expected to talk to an associate, run through a few basic troubleshooting steps then be authorized for an RMA – at which point they would either cross-ship me a new phone or overnight me a return box and within 4 days have a replacement.

That’s not what happened…

While I did receive a human to talk to in under 5mins, his name was “Dave”, we spoke for 45mins. We troubleshot the phone problem by pulling the battery and restoring factory defaults among a few other things.

When it was clear this wasn’t going to cut it, “Dave” informed me that because I was outside my 14-day return window (he clarified that he had counted the days) I could send it in for repair, at shipping-and-diagnostic costs to me ($28 for diag and at least $10 for shipping). At which point an HTC tech would assess and call me with cost to fix whatever was wrong.

I informed “Dave” that today was the 14th day — this was not planned, it just happened to be — at which point we both pulled up our calendars and re-counted the days manually until he agreed with me.

I figured, OK, now I was going to get the replacement process that I expected here — instead “Dave” informed me that I can still pay to ship and have the phone diagnosed for 2 weeks or return it. I had to ask specifically: “What about getting a replacement?”

ASIDE: This process felt unnecessarily complex to me – I have a phone I like, I bought it 14 days ago, and it’s busted. I want a replacement and you can have this busted one back. Why have we been on the phone for 45mins and you have yet to offer this solution? My personal take is that Dave was being slightly combative for his own reasons, but who knows.

“Dave” filled me in that I can get a replacement cross-shipped to me with a $529 charge placed against my credit card that will be refunded in 10 days if they receive the phone and determine the cause of the defect to be a covered one; e.g. I didn’t drop it in the toilet or something.

I’m not OK with this – what stops them from decided in 14 days that the problem with the phone is “not covered” then I have a $529 charge on my card stick for another Nexus One? How long of a fight is it going to be to get that cleared up?

I’m not asking HTC to give me two phones at once, just send me a damn replacement in under 2- weeks. According to “Dave” this wasn’t an option, and all returns had to be vetted by a tech. So what if my tech doesn’t see the error I report or doesn’t use it long enough to induce it? Them I’m 2-weeks without my phone AND get the same damn one back.

I’m starting to feel a lot like this by now:

theoatmeal.com Comic

NOTE: At this point I got the vibe from “Dave” that either he was being intentionally difficult to dissuade this process or just didn’t like me. Regardless of his personal preference, I had hit my limit with how stupid this process had become. HTC’s support seems to all start from the same premise: The customer is wrong, therefor every option they provide you puts you in the hotseat with the bill. There is no mea-culpa or attempt at rectifying your situation quickly. Every option offered put me out either $529 and trusting them to not screw me or 2-weeks without my phone and POSSIBLY getting the same one back if the tech doesn’t determine there is any problem. That is what I mean, their policies all stem from protecting HTC first and foremost, which drive legit customers like me crazy because it makes my life much harder for no reason.

I notified “Dave” that I just wanted to return the damn thing. It became more about principal… HTC would create a much better experience in this processes by just copying what others are doing, I’m not doing to justify this company-first customer support.

REMINDER: I’m not talking about replacing a phone I’ve had for months. I’m talking about a brand new phone I’ve had for 14 days that has a hardware malfunction in it.

“Dave” said OK and promptly started to rattle off policy garbage about charges and process and then… hung up.

The line didn’t go dead, my phone was fine… he just hung up.

I decided “Well, he confirmed a contact number with me twice at the beginning of the call, so I’ll just wait”.

No surprises here, “Dave” never called back. So I called them back and after a short wait got connected to a very nice associated named “Chris”.

When I explained what happened, “Chris” tried to lookup notes from my call and found none. She then put me on hold and went over to “Dave”’s desk to ask him why there were no notes from a 45min call. “Dave” told “Chris” that his “system has a problem and he couldn’t save them”.

Really? “System problems“?

I think hanging up on customers when you decide you don’t like them and erasing pending support tickets so it doesn’t look like you left a ticket hanging open to your supervisor is probably not definable as “system problems” — this is all speculation on my part as to what happened. But sudden-disconnect + “no saved notes” + “no open ticket for call” from a 45min call suggests to me this is exactly what “Dave” did.

Anyway, I told “Chris” I just wanted to return the Nexus One and within 4mins had that process taken care of.

At the moment I’m returning an electronic pre-printed FedEx shipping slip for the return package. Why the hell couldn’t “Dave” have offered this in the first 10mins, let me ship them back the phone, and while they triaged it, cross-shipped me a replacement? This would have avoided the $529 temporary charge against my card as well as them having 2 phones out at once.

That’s the thing missing from this process and what infuriated me. Instead I got the full “suspicious support tech” treatment that wasted a good portion of an hour.

Customer Support really is a post-sales entity. In my case, I don’t need a Nexus One or anything else HTC puts out bad enough to encourage more of this.

In all that time, one absolute thing has always stood clear to me: I’ve always felt like I was getting fucked when it came time to print out shipping labels.

I couldn’t put my finger on it and didn’t know what I was doing wrong. Year after year, ever time I went to ship a package, no matter how detailed the listing had been, I always ended up coughing up more money for shipping than eBay had charged the buyer for.

I was really incensed by this 2 years ago when I went to sell off about 10 pieces of hardware from a desktop computer I was dismantling. I actually took the time to weight each part in it’s box as well as measure the dimensions before listing it just to make sure eBay charged the buyer the right amount. I figured “hey I can’t go wrong here, eBay/PayPal is integrated into UPS and USPS and they have the dimensions and weight, this will be dead on”.

NOTE: When you enter the shipping method, weight and package dimensions, eBay tells you how much shipping will cost before the listing is posted. It is all automated, no way to get it wrong.

So fast forward to current day and I just got done selling a few things on eBay, one item was 8×8x4 and weighed 6lbs (I listed it at 8lbs to compensate for margin of error). eBay told me the shipping would cost $15, so I listed the item and the winner paid that. When I finally go to print out the shipping using the integrated seller tools, eBay decided that shipping was now 67% higher ($25) that I would have to pay out of pocket:

What the hell… I told eBay the weight, dimensions and carrier method (USPS Parcel Post, the cheapest service USPS offers) 5 days ago, and now the cost of shipping is 25% higher? I smell shenanigans…

I decided to go directly to USPS.com and price out the same package. What I found out was that USPS Priority Mail, the fastest method USPS offers, was 60% cheaper than eBay’s calculation:

I went with the USPS.com purchase and sent the package, but this confirms my long-time assumption that eBay has been dealing in shenanigans when it comes to shipping fees. If the real cost of this package was $18 (or less, since eBay was instructed to price out Parcel Post) where is that extra $10 going? USPS doesn’t need it, and I’m sure eBay and USPS have a mass-discount deal arranged for directing people to use USPS… so let’s say eBay/PayPal’s cost for Parcel Post was actually more like $10 or $12… where is that 100% markup going since it’s coming out of my pocket?

And before you say “Yea, but you compared different shipping methods!” I also calculated the cost for “Parcel Post” (exactly as eBay had) using the dimensions and weight and got an evencheaper quote:

I declare shenanigans all over this…

It is interesting that instead of transparently passing this onto the buyer, eBay saddles the seller with this burden? And what can the seller do, eBay already passed the policy that sellers cannot leave feedback on buyers. So if I found this shipping cost too high (and it’s eBay’s fault) and I decide to cancel the transaction, the buyer will give me negative feedback.

All I’m seeing right now are a bunch of hidden policies and functionality in eBay intended to spur shopping (buyers), increase revenue and leave the sellers with the tab for the whole thing. I also realize this punishing behavior may have a lot to do with the fact that I’m a small-time seller on eBay. I’m sure mass-listers and the big-box stores that were recently allowed to start mass-listing on eBay don’t experience this as they would pull their listings in no time flat.

For anyone experience the same thing, I’ve had better luck using Craigslist and Amazon Marketplace.

I was just shopping on Newegg and decided to purchase some more RAM for my computer. I added the item to my shopping card, hit purchase, entered my Credit Card info and hit Finish.

I had forgotten that I had enabled the frustratingly stupid “Verified by Visa” check-out security process in the past… I somehow always manage to forget my password and lock myself out… Visa remembers every past password you’ve used and won’t let you reuse one.

After failing to login to the Verified by Visa service and getting kicked out to select a new password, I decided this bullshit was too much trouble and just cancelled the transaction. A dialog popped up warning me:

If you cancel this login process, your purchase will not be complete.

I didn’t care, this was too much hassle to order some freaking RAM. So I hit “OK” and cancelled the whole operation. At that point, the Verified by Visa service forwarded me to my “Order Summary” page:

… wait, I thought the transaction failed?

Oh well, I’ve bought from Newegg in the past and am familiar with the follow-up “We were unable to charge your credit card” emails, so I figured this was just a fluke and waited for that email.

Instead, I got this email:

While I’m happy I’m getting my RAM now, I’m trying to figureout what that useless Verified by Visa service actually does at this point.

For anyone looking for a Netbook, a hell of a deal for the Lenovo S10e — $50 cheaper (~15% discount) than the regular price from Newegg.

From Dealsea:

1. Go to http://www.lenovo.com/cpp
2. Enter “familyandfriends” as passcode
3. Click the following: “notebooks” > “ideapad” > “view S series”
4. Under “IdeaPad S10 High capacity battery”, select “view models”
5. Under either Black or White, select “customize”
6. Add to cart
7. Enter eCoupon code “USENETSALE” at checkout
8. Total price is $298.45 with free shipping

Specifications:

• Intel ATOM Processor N270 Single Core ( 1.60GHz 533MHz 512KB )
• Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
• 10.2 ” WSVGA AntiGlare TFT with integrated camera 1024 x 600
• Industry Standard Touchpad
• 160GB 5400
• 6 Cell Lithium-Ion
• Broadcom 11b/g Wi-Fi wireless
• One Year Warranty

This is a common scenario for most nerds.  You have a gadget on the mind.  It might be a monitor, a video card, a phone, or in my case a notbook.   You do the research, memorize the specs, model names, prices, and they you wait for a reason to bite.  That reason ranges from waiting for a new model release to justifying its usage, but almost always that reason is cost. 

So months go by and I am hounding the deal sites ready to pounce on a Atom based 10″ netbook as soon as the prices get reasonable. 

Out of the blue I stumbled upon a deal for the MSI U100-279 for a mere $384 after a $50 mail in rebate.  Now im not a big fan in general of mail in rebates, but that was one deal I could not say no to and I bit.  

We’ll save the story of how Buy.com managed to charge me twice for the device for another day.  So I get my Netbook and promptly submit the barrage of paperwork required.  This process involved filling out an incredibly buggy online form, then submitting the original UPC, the printout from the web form, and packing slip. 

The waiting game begins.

Several months later it occurs to me that those greasy chumps owe me 50 bones.  I look up the status of my rebate and am inform that that status is “Rejected” and that there are no re-submissions permitted.   I double checked my photocopies of my submissions to ensure I obeyed all the rules.  A quick visit to google showed that I was not the only sucker in this scam.

This is ridiculous MSI.  I love the netbook, but ingrain this in you mind- MSI does not honor their rebates!

Lenovo is offering additional 10-25% off on ThinkPad notebooks and other products with eCoupon “USPTHREEDAYSALE” thru 2/12. [Comments]

• NEW! 25% off ThinkPad T series Laptops
• 15% off ThinkPad R, X, Tablet, W Laptops
• 10% off ThinkPad SL Laptops
• 15% off IdeaPad Y Series & U Series Laptops
• 15% off ThinkCentre and ThinkStation Desktops
• 10% off Lenovo Monitors & non-Lenovo Branded Accessories
• 20% off Lenovo Branded Accessoriess

Upcoming offers: starts 2/13

• Thinkpad X61s Ultra-portable Laptop $969 – eCoupon* = $649 (Qty limit = 1,000)
• Thinkpad X61 Tablet $1,179 – eCoupon* = $799 (Qty limit = 1,000)
• *Please check our site for the eCoupon code when offers start

So your nephew/daughter/significant other/best friend wants a Wii for Christmas, but every store is already sold out and probably will not have anymore in stock before you need it for that gift?  You might try Walmart.com.  Reuters is reporting that starting today Wamart.com will have thousands of Wiis in stock and available to be shipped in time to be gifted.

Nintendo’s Wii has emerged as one of the few hot products this holiday season, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc will offer “tens of thousands” of the hard-to-get video game consoles on its website starting on Monday.

Walmart.com said it will offer the Nintendo Wii console for $249.24, and a “value bundle,” which includes the console and other items like an extra set of controllers, for $329, while supplies last.

The Wii has emerged as one of the most sought-after gifts this holiday season, which has otherwise been lamented for a lack of new and hot products.

On Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving which marks the start of holiday shopping, the Wii was the most searched-for product on the Yahoo Shopping site. It was also the most popular product on eBay, with 3,171 of the consoles selling for an average price of $349 that day.

As of Friday night, the Wii console was sold out on Walmart.com, bestbuy.com and circuitcity.com. Bestbuy.com listed the sold-out Wii for $249.99.

Walmart.com also said that it will offer, beginning on Monday, certain Wii video games at a price of two for $30, and certain accessories, like the Nintendo Wii Racing Wheel, starting under $10.

Wal-Mart has been gaining market share and clout in the U.S. recession as cash-strapped shoppers seek out its low prices.

On Thursday, it reported a stronger-than-expected 3.4 percent rise in sales at its U.S. stores open at least a year, after it slashed prices on food and toys to lure shoppers.

Walmart.com spokesman Ravi Jariwala said the online retailer has worked with Nintendo closely throughout the year and seen strong sales of Wii products on its website, helping to secure the latest supply of the popular console.

 
From Dealsea

Adorama has SanDisk Memory Cards on sale. Buy 3 of each product for $90 - $70 rebate (Exp 1/17) = $20 with free shipping. [Comments]

• SanDisk 8 GB Extreme III Compact Flash Card (SDCFX3008GA31)
• SanDisk 8 GB, Extreme III SDHC Card (SDSDRX38192A21)

Looking around the internet today I’ve come across a few good deals that I though everyone might be interested in. Here are a few of the better deals I’ve found:

For the Xbox 360 gamers (thanks X3F)

• Halo 3 – $37.99
• GH: Aerosmith bundle – $49.99
• Gears of War – $19.99
• Gears of War 2 with free 3 month Xbox Live – $59.99
• Pure with free $10 gift card – $39.99
• Select E or E10+ games – free $10 gift card
• Free $10 Gift Card with CoD: World at War, Gears of War 2 or Prince of Persia
• Guitar Hero III bundle – $29.99

For the Playstion 3 gamers

• Fallout 3 – $42.90
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare GOTY Edition – $39.99
• Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe CE – $39.95
• LEGO Batman – $25.95

For the Wii gamers

• Wii Music Game + $10 Circuit City Gift Card -  $49.99 and Free Shipping.
• Guitar Hero World Tour – $35.90
• Wii bundle with 4 games – $399.99 and free shipping

Amazon.com has so many good deals I’m not going to try and post them all.  CAG has a nice listing of all of them here.

I found most of these deals on either CAG or GottaDeal.com. You can check out the rest of the posted deals here.

Dealsea has summarized all the known ads thus far, here are the good ones:

• HDTV Deals of Black Friday 2008
  
• Costco Black Friday 2008 Ad
  
• Amazon Black Friday 2008 Ad
  
• DELL Black Friday 2008 Ad
  
• Best Buy Black Friday 2008 Ad
  
• Target Black Friday 2008 Ad
  
• K-Mart Black Friday 2008 Ad
  
• Circuit City Black Friday 2008 Ad
  

Happy shopping!

As someone in the market for an X300 or whatever the revised X300 becomes, I was really impressed with the sale price of the X300 (normally $2200+) of around $1400.

Lenovo has up to Extra 15% off Thinkpad Notebooks valid through Oct. 24.

• Use eCoupon code “USPYPWWPOCT” in cart to see extra savings

• Lenovo new IdeaPad S10 10.2″ Netbook from $399 – 10% code = $379
• ThinkPad T400 14.1″ Notebook from $849 – 15% code = $722
• ThinkPad T500 15.4″ Notebook from $899 – 15% code = $764
• ThinkPad T61 15.4″ Notebook w/ NVIDIA 128MB Video Card from $859 – 15% code = $730
• ThinkPad X61s 12.1″ Ultraportable Notebook from $1029 – 15% code = $875
• ThinkPad X200 12.1″ Widescreen Notebook from $1099 – 15% code = $934
• ThinkPad X300 13.3″ LED 64GB SSD Notebook from $1414
  Customize $1889 option, choose “Lightweight Travel Bezel [-$225]”
  from $1664 – 15% code = $1414
• see All Lenovo 2 day sale

Frys has 3 Xbox 360 Pro 60GB Console Bundle for $350 + $6 shipping.

• XBOX 360 Pro 60GB + 4 Games + Black Wireless Controller
• XBOX 360 Pro 60GB Console + 5 Games (Online Only)
• XBOX 360 Pro 60GB Console + 5 Games (Online Only)

Dell Home has some video games on sale. Free shipping $129+. [Comments]

• Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) $60 – $25 coupon “24LVPRK0T8ZS9?” = $35
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3) $60 – $20 coupon “SBFTVHQS0B76FH” = $40
• Madden NFL 09 (PS3) $61 – $25 coupon “$BF6K8D$QHRXSC” = $36
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Bundle (PS3) $99 – $40 coupon “RSS0N0WK52L125″ = $59

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360) $60 – $20 coupon “1W4N38WM$5MQW6″ = $40
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Bundle (Xbox 360) $99 – $40 coupon “XX?M9LLKGTK8SP” = $59
• GRID (Xbox 360) $60 – $25 coupon “LQK$VG4B??GPWH” = $35

• Crysis: Warhead (PC)$30 – $10 coupon “SMSVQ8LNKKZSW6″ = $20

Frys has Intel Core 2 Q9550 Quad Core Processor Retail (2.83GHz, 4×3MB, 1333MHz FSB, LGA775 Socket T) for $280 + $5 shipping

– Pretty badass deal, Newegg has this CPU for $320. To get a quad-core, high performance chip in your box, $285 is completely reasonable.

Introduction

Over the past few years I have burned through a couple of digital cameras, demolishing them to a pile of plastic and circuitry because of my active and outdoor lifestyle. I was ecstatic when I came across this camera, and picked it up on Amazon for a trip to Hawaii. This is a compact frame 10.1 megapixel camera sporting a nice 2.7″ display with 28mm-102mm 3.6x zoom. It is 3.7 x 0.8 x 2.4 inches and weighs in at 6.1 ounces and packs a multitude of features.The biggest ones of all being:

• Water Proof to 33ft
• Shock Proof for a fall from 6.6ft
• Crush proof to 220lbs
• Freeze proof to 14°F

Features and Specifications

• Face Detection
• “Shadow Adjustment Technology”
• Digital Image Stabilization
• ISO 80-1600
• Manometer (depth meter)
• VGA, 30fps movie mode, including underwater movie mode.
• 2cm Macro mode with LED illumination
• Self Timer
• XD memory cards (micro SD with supplied adapter)
• Water replant coated lens

Software

The built in shooting guide offers your photographer novice 29 quick select modes like “Night scene, Behind Glass, Sunset and Fireworks”. While the camera does not have as many as manual modes as a DSLR, you do get options for ISO, exposure level, and white balance. One other nice little feature is voice recording, which after taking the picture records a short audio clip that you can use for voice notes about each picture. One feature I was no so fond of was the Panorama mode, while being a good idea it fell short in execution. After setting the camera to panoramic mode you depress the shutter button and are prompted to move the camera left of right, and the camera will automatically snap the shot when you reach the end of the last frame and it will stitch it and save to the memory card. But the limitation is the size of the picture file, so your final stitched picture will only ever be as wide as a 10.1Mp file (3,648 pixels). You wind up with lower quality picture in the end and are better off just using photoshop or Windows Live Photo Gallery for its great stitching function.

Hardware

The large 2.7″ display is bright enough to be fully visible in broad daylight. While the mediocre 3.6x optical zoom might leave you not being able to get “close enough” the mechanics are all contained within and covered with a retracting metal shutter, so there is no lens to get snagged and broken off. The rechargeable battery life is very nice, I was able to snap over 180 pictures on a single charge. Start-up time is a decent 1.5 seconds from power to shutter. The camera is designed to be held in the right hand with the shutter/power buttons and mode wheel easily accessible with only 1 hand use. All of the doors protecting the various slots and ports are sealed with a rubber gasket, and have to potential to fail and be breached by water even by a grain of sand, so make sure you are not opening and closing the doors out in the field.

What’s in the Box

• Digital Camera
• Wrist Strap
• Lithium Ion rechargeable battery LI-50B (925mAh)
• Battery charge
• MicroSD to XD adapte
• AV Cable
• USB Cable
• Olympus Software Cd
• Basic Manual
• Advanced Manual

Conclusion

Overall I am very happy with the camera, it makes a great pocket multi-use camera suitable for many occasions. And hopefully it will be the last one I buy for a while.

Cost

If you watch the sales you can pick it up on amazon for just under $300. MSRP is $379

Areas of Improvement

• The data cable is not a standard usb-mini to usb, but a micro-av to usb. This makes getting the pictures off the camera say at a friends house somewhat troublesome. Why doesnt the industry standardize already!?
• Ability to charge the camera via the usb cable

Gallery

Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

The kicker that makes this service have longer legs out of the gate than Google’s offering is that every single one of the approximately 81 million people that have shopped on Amazon, can take their already entered (and stored) payment information and seamlessly transfer it over to be used on any other sites that participate with the Amazon Checkout system.

That means that if Nieman Marcus, Sears, Target and any other major online retailer decided to participate, instead of youneeding to re-enter your shopping information on their site, you simply fill up your cart and hit “buy”, just like you have been doing on Amazon already.

Nice touch really, I’m excited to see where this goes and am very happy to see more folks competing with PayPal.

Thanks NYT!