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Santa didn't deliver nearly enough Nintendo Wii consoles to children on the nice list last Christmas, and it appears that Nintendo's elves aren't fully prepared for this holiday shopping season either. Despite outselling the competition, there are just not enough Wiis to meet demand, and Nintendo CEO Reggie Fils-Aime warns that the situation won't be changing any time soon. Refusing to sugar coat the news, Reggie recently stated that he "can't guarantee that we're going to meet demand. As a matter of fact, I can tell you on the record we won't."
Acer broke into the headlines last August when they announced plans to purchase Gateway for a cool $710 million, but apparently they're not done shopping. Acer now plans to go after Packard Bell in what could be considered a Wall Street chess move. Backed by funding from Acer, Gateway made a binding offer to acquire all shares of PB Holding Company S.a.r.l., Packard Bell's parent company, from Lap Shun (John) Hui, of which he owns a 75% stake. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, but is expected to close by the end of the year.
New builders and upgraders are rejoicing at current DDR2 pricing, and the chips continue to fall. DRAMeXchange, which runs an online trading site for modules, reports that DRAM pricing has slid 20-25 percent. DRAMeXchange blamed the tumble "China's National Day holidays and persisting weak demand."
Last Friday a hacker broke into an eBay server and was able to temporarily suspend a "very small" number of member accounts. EBay spokeswoman Nochola Sharpe assured members that the hacker was quickly stopped in his tracks, and that no financial or other sensitive information was compromised. In a 350+ post thread on eBay's forums, some members claim the hacker, known as Vladuz, targeted them in retaliation for posting unfavorable forum comments about him. Apparently Vladuz has a history of eBay shenanigans, and has been targeting eBay for at least 10 months.
Dust off those resumes, Sprint's searching for a new CEO. Gary Forsee previously held the position, up until resigning yesterday. Unhappy with losing subscribers and a falling stock price, Sprint was all too happy to accept the resignation, stating that it's time "to move the company forward in improving its performance and realizing corporate objectives." Paul Saleh will serve as acting CEO until a permanent replacement from outside the company is found.
Whether on Saturday Night Live or YouTube, US presidents are always subject to criticism, ridicule, and mockery. But if you live in Jordan, you better think twice before dissing the royal family, lest you end up facing a two year jail sentence. After a two month trial, Ahmad Oweidi al-Abbadi was found guilty on three charges of undermining state dignity, publishing "false news" in emails sent to foreign figures, and illegally distributing leaflets. Ouch!
But we'll post it anyway. A Pennsylvania man was jailed after trying to pay for groceries with a bogus $1 million bill (you know, as opposed to those real $1 million bills). And speaking of 'bogus Bills,' our condolences to Buffalo fans, whose team managed to squander a 9 point lead in the final 20 seconds and lose to the Dallas Cowboys, despite picking off Tony Romo 5 times throughout the game.
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Talcum X
October 10, 2007 at 8:43am
Well, it looks like PB is alive and well, in Europe. I take info from Wikipedia with a grain of salt..er..silicone. But found this tidbit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Bell
Guess they only had a bad rep in the US....and for good reason.
But now, the aquisition is of a European company. It would be hard pressed to introduce a tainted name back in the US. So, it my be just re-branded and we would never know....
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Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
Paul_Lilly
October 10, 2007 at 9:57am
Acer's acquisition of Packard Bell (through Gateway) has more to do with competing in Europe than it does increasing their US presence. Acer beat Lenovo to the punch, a competitor that also showed interested in Packard Bell, and who likely would have benefited from such a transaction. You can find a slightly more in-depth read about it in Newsfactor.com's article.
Regarding the Wii critics, I wouldn't say the console sucks, but I do think we're a generation or so off from really utilizing the motion control scheme. Playing on the Wii with the kids is a blast, closing the gap that would otherwise exist when adults and children mingle on a console (generally speaking). But on its own, I'd like to see less lag when I flip the controller, which ultimately detracts from the experience, or at least that's been the case with the limited number of games I've played on it so far.
Regardless, there's some fun to be had in the attractively priced console, if you can manage to find one.
Talcum X
October 10, 2007 at 6:03am
I thought Packard Bell went belly-up years ago! So to see someone wanting to buy such a crap company (or what was left of it) is questionable to say the least. Reminds me of the day Seagate bought Conner. Conner made the junkiest drives on the IDE market. After that, you saw Conner drives with Seagate labels on them....Connergates. PB made the worst PCs on the market. Why would anyone want to associate themselves with that brand?
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Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
Phosphorous
October 10, 2007 at 7:32am
Yeah, it's funny how people say the Wii sucks, but it's outselling every other console. /rolls eyes
I think the buying of PB holding by Acer is a smart move. Yeah PB might of sucked back in the day, but Acer makes good laptops/PCs if you are in the market for that type of PC on the cheap. My Dad and Sister both bought Acers and they love them. I think it's more of a market share theory to them. If they scoop them up then someone like Dell can't.
popstop785
October 10, 2007 at 7:32am
One million dollar bill eh? I only have a one thousand dollar bill. The guy has me beat :)
Aeshir
October 09, 2007 at 7:08pm
The Wii sucks. Not enough buttons, crappy graphics, and oh, the games suck.
zine team279
October 09, 2007 at 10:02pm
If you think the Wii sucks, just think about how the Wii is out-selling all of the other consoles.
Minus the PC, of course. ;)
Abstrakt
October 09, 2007 at 9:31pm
I was born with only 3 fingers on each hand. please don't take that away from me.
