$99

Sony temporarily chops price of Reader Wi-Fi to $99

With all the major touch-screen e-ink e-readers now priced at $99, we've been wondering when Sony would give a price chop to its $149 Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1). Well, now it has--at least temporarily--dropping the price to $99 till December 24.

I've always liked the Sony Readers and the Reader Wi-Fi received generally high marks in our review, but it's hard to recommend with any enthusiasm when competing products form Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo come in at $50 less.

If $99 still doesn't sound good enough, here's another deal sweetener: Sony will also … Read more

HP TouchPad: The final $99 offer

Hewlett-Packard will put its short-lived TouchPad tablet up for sale one last time. The fire sale $99 price will still apply--with a few catches.

The first major catch is that the offer will go exclusively to HP employees before going wide on eBay at $99 and $149, respectively for the 16GB and 32GB versions, on December 11 at 4 p.m. PT. The second major catch is that all units will be refurbished, according to a report on TechCrunch, thus the eBay venue.

"In an effort to give HP employees first chance at a very limited supply of refurbished TouchPads, there will be a short delay between when the product is posted live for sale on eBay and when the general public is notified of the sale," according to the letter, posted by TechCrunch.

The delay will only be a few minutes, so there should be an opportunity for the public to get a crack at $99 (16GB) and $149 (32GB) TouchPads.

Another catch is that there will be limited availability (if that isn't already obvious). … Read more

Old tech bands together for 'House of the Rising Sun' cover

First, there was "The Imperial March" and now, there's "House of the Rising Sun."

The traditional folk song is just the latest tune to be covered by an unlikely group of musicians: old computer equipment. YouTube user bd594 assembled a handful of old tech to re-create the tune made famous by the English rock group The Animals in the mid-1960s.

In his video description, bd594 explains that he used an Atari 800XL with an EiCO Oscilloscope to play the part of the organ, while the combination of an HP Scanjet 3P, Adaptec SCSI card, and an Ubuntu v9.10-powered computer provided the "vocals." The guitar section was performed by a Texas Instrument Ti-99/4A computer with a Tektronix Oscilloscope, and a hard drive powered by a PiC16F84A microcontroller created the bass, drum, and cymbals section.

Each instrument was recorded separately and then mixed; bd594 insists no sampling and audio effects were used in the recording session. What results is a pretty impressive and fresh take on the song. … Read more

$99 ad-supported Kobo Touch ships

Not too long ago Kobo announced that it would soon begin selling an ad-supported Kobo Touch with Offers for $99, matching the price of the Kindle Touch With Special Offers and Nook Simple Touch. The company says that product is now available.

As part of the launch, Kobo has also updated the firmware for both the new model and standard Kobo Touch, which costs $30 more ($129). The new firmware offers "several significant new feature improvements, such as new customization options and enhanced speed to deliver a fully optimized e-reading experience." Owners of the standard Kobo Touch can … Read more

Five great iOS games on sale for $1 each

Lots of great iOS games routinely sell for 99 cents, but some of the higher-profile titles run as high as $4.99, $6.99, and even $9.99.

Today, I've rounded up five really good games that typically have high price tags, but are currently on sale for just a buck. I'm not sure how long these price cuts will last, so if an app catches your eye, grab it pronto!

All these games are available in the App Store, natch. Where possible, the links below lead to related posts so you can "read all about it" before plunking down your dollar.… Read more

Manage your schedule with Efficient Calendar Free Portable Edition

Competition is pretty stiff in the calendar market these days. Calendar programs just keep getting more and more interactive and versatile, and there are options out there to fit the needs of just about everyone. Efficient Calendar Free Portable Edition is a lightweight program that you can take with you on a USB drive or other portable device. It doesn't offer nearly as many features as some other calendar programs, but it's not a bad choice if simplicity is one of your highest priorities.

The program's interface is plain and attractive, reminding us a bit of Microsoft … Read more

The 404 922: Where Wilson is the 1 percent (podcast)

Our guest today is Robin Yang of Toy Studio, one of Barnes & Noble's premier gaming publishers for the Nook Color tablet. She'll help us out with the rundown that includes stories about the real 53 percent, the long-awaited Facebook app for the iPad, MacBook Air competitor Ultrabooks from Asus, and how to run Android apps on a PC.… Read more

TouchPad tablet briefly returns to HP's sales page

Hewlett-Packard appears to have made the TouchPad available for sale a couple of times today--albeit, very briefly, according to a report. That would be the first time in more than a month that the tablet--liquidated back in August for $99--was offered for sale by HP.

The first instance happened this morning when the 32GB model was available for $249.99, according to a report at Precentral.net. And it went up again later in the day, Precentral said. In both instances it quickly became unavailable. Maybe more importantly, a number of commenters cited glitches when trying to purchase a TouchPad, … Read more

The 404 887: Where we're bleeding $99 HP TouchPads (podcast)

Guess who got a TouchPad for $99 this weekend? Everyone. If you weren't lucky enough to snag one early Saturday morning, don't lose hope yet--we expect some online distributors to continue dropping prices for existing stock, not to mention the white 64GB model that just dropped last Friday.

We got plenty of voicemails and video messages from listeners standing in line for the TouchPad, so tune in to hear a couple horror stories from the trenches.

We're also encouraging all 404 listeners to shoot us an e-mail at the404(at)cnet(dot)com with your suggestions, criticisms, and ideas for growing the show. We've always valued our listener input about where you think we should improve, so let us know and we'll try to make it happen.

The 404 Digest for Episode 887

HP's TouchPad fire sale: The fallout. Wilson's Best Buy investigation shows dismal turnout for competing tablets. Arturo gets a touchpad for $99.

Episode 887 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more