Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over years (aside from the fact that Segway users will always be looked at strangely), it’s that Best Buy’s inventory systems are famous for turning us on to forthcoming wares. Just this year, strange part numbers in its stock system have correctly predicted the arrival of new MacBook Pros, the Nikon D90 and an unlocked US 3G Touch Diamond. Now, we’re feasting our eyes upon the latest snippet from Future Shop’s (Best Buy’s Canadian sibling) inventory system, which shows a half dozen new Mac placeholders for French and English language machines. Unfortunately, “Apple Mac” is about as vague as it gets, but we wouldn’t be shocked one iota to see new MBPs surface in the near future. C’mon stock system — don’t let us down.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Conspiracy theories tend to run rampant when a phone (or any object of desire, for that matter) that’s produced in absolutely enormous quantities dries up in retail locations. Are they really sold out? Is the retailer trying to work prospective buyers into a frenzied lather? Is the CEO sleeping on a bed fashioned of gilded iPhone 3Gs? The answer to that last question is very likely “yes” either way, but for their part, AT&T and O2 have both come out to promise customers that they’re putting handsets out in retail just as quickly as they possibly can, with AT&T additionally noting that it’s shipping out direct fulfillment orders on a “first-come, first-serve basis” with lead times currently running around two weeks — in other words, “ship us some more frickin’ phones, Apple.” Seriously though, how’s Apple going to come even close to keeping up with the next round of national launches when they’re so woefully behind on the existing ones? And more importantly, if these execs would just sleep on queen-sized iPhone beds instead of king-sized ones, just imagine how many more happy customers we’d have out there?

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Filed under: Handhelds

C’mon, we’ve all done it. Standing vigilantly in front of the DVD section, our mind races to remember whether or not we already own Land Before Time 11: Invasion of the Tinysauruses, and in a fit of frustration, we make the purchase anyway only to come home and find it sitting peacefully in one of the thirteen movie racks. If that hits home, you should definitely take a peek at Groqit — a handheld barcode scanner that prefers to be called a “personal inventory management system.” Owners simply scan in every book, CD and DVD they own, take it along for any future shopping sprees and use it to tell whether or not they’ve already purchased a given title. It should be noted, however, that it doesn’t play nice with jewel cases, but apparently, the manufacturer thinks the $95 price tag more than compensates. Honestly, is the return process that much of a hassle?

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