consumer electronics news stories on Newser

Hey Kids: This Summer, Ditch the Gadgets

Matt Cantor — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:26:05 CDT

The Internet and iPads and smartphones are great for adults—but we need to take a hard look at what they're doing to our kids, warns a computer science professor at Yale. It may be tempting to let them sit down with an iPad come June, but such technology is...

Amazon Soars as Kindle Fire Grabs Market Share

Rob Quinn — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:31:45 CDT

Selling Kindle Fires turns out to have been a very profitable way for Amazon to lose money. The no-frills tablet computer—which sells for slightly less than it costs to make —has now captured more than half of the Android tablet market, with rival tablets from Samsung and Motorola a...

Sony to Cut 10K Jobs

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:58:45 CDT

Sony will cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next year as it tries to return to profit, Japanese news reports said today. The decision to slash 6% of its work force comes as it struggles with weak TV sales and swelling losses. New CEO Kazuo Hirai may announce...

iPad First Day Sales to Top 1M

Rob Quinn — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:24:13 CDT

More than a million eager pairs of hands will be gripping the third version of the iPad on its launch day this Thursday, analysts predict. Some 300,000 models of the first iPad were sold on its first day in 2010, and while Apple didn't release launch-day figures for the...

Apple Asks Outside Group to Inspect Plants

Rob Quinn — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:30:00 CST

Apple, facing worldwide protests over conditions for workers who make its gadgets, says it has opened up its supply chain to a level of scrutiny unprecedented in the electronics industry. An outside group, the Fair Labor Association in Washington, DC, has been asked to audit conditions at the plants where...

iPad 3 to Be Unveiled March 7

Rob Quinn — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:00:00 CST

Apple's first major product launch since the death of Steve Jobs is set for March 7, sources tell iMore . The iPad 3 will be unveiled at an event in San Francisco, and the latest version of the company's tablet computer will be offered in models that run on AT&T and...

Google Creating Techie 'Entertainment Device'

Rob Quinn — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:30:00 CST

Google has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to start testing an "entertainment device," sparking speculation about what is expected to be the search giant's biggest step into creating hardware. The device, which will be tested in employees' homes this summer, is an entertainment system that can stream music...

Why It Might Pay to Skip Black Friday

Matt Cantor — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:01:45 CST

If you’re in the market for cheap stuff—not just inexpensive, but cheap—you’ll find plenty of good deals on Black Friday. But if you want low prices on better-quality electronics, you’re better off waiting, a Consumer Reports study finds. Researchers examined the changing prices of CR-recommended TVs, cameras, and...

Steve Jobs: A Legacy Like No Other

Rob Quinn — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:32:35 CDT

Steve Jobs wasn't the Thomas Edison or Henry Ford of his time, but some future American business visionary may be known as the Steve Jobs of his time, writes Michael Hiltzik. Jobs—a "master of bare-knuckled business strategies from the old school"—wasn't known as an inventor the way Edison...