Daily Marauder

TECHNOLOGY

The MSI Wind netbook will go on sale at Best Buy priced at $399 and equipped with a 120GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM, MSI said Monday. Best Buy is one of the few major U.S. CE retailers to stock the Wind, which keeps its price lower partly by using a less powerful battery pack. Electronista (10/6)

With reports swirling across the Internet speculating on Apple‘s next major release, code-named “brick,” 9to5Mac.com is reporting the term refers to how Apple will make the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops: They will be carved out from a single block of aluminum. That has led observers to consider how such a revolutionary production process would affect its manufacturing costs. BusinessWeek (10/7)

Consumers who buy Blu-ray disc titles with BD-Live bonus features that come from Sony Pictures can earn points to buy other Sony products through membership in Sony Pictures Blu-ray Club. The studio launched the loyalty plan — a component of the Sony Rewards program — partly as a way of promoting its new video release, “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.” TWICE (10/6)

This fall, the California company started selling its low-price LCD TVs in Japan after claiming 10% market share in the U.S., and it is planning further global expansion. Vizio credits its success in the U.S. to low production costs coupled with a strong presence in discount stores such as Costco, Wal-Mart and Target. International Herald Tribune (10/6)

At $249, the Samsung SC-MX20 falls delicately between cheap flash-based camcorders and more expensive hard drive-based camcorders. It strips down some features that may not be necessary in the first place – high definition video, still photos, etc. – but adds something that most less expensive flash camcorders don’t have: an optical zoom. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/10/07/review-samsung-sc-mx20-digital-memory-camcorder 10/7)

A recent update to the net-connected Chumby device adds Pandora Radio as an option under the Music menu. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/10/07/chumby-now-supports-pandora-radio 10/7)

Integra’s DBS-6.9 Blu-ray player, which launched this week, supports interactive content and formats including CD, DVD and MP3. The DBS-6.9 is priced at $600. TWICE (10/6)