Kobo Wireless eReader landing at Walmart

• By: Geoff Duncan
• From: http://www.digitaltrends.com/

Kobo's Wireless eReader will be landing at 2,500 U.S. Walmart stores next week...and it'll be cheaper than the Nook or the Kindle.

Walmart stores in the United States are picking up another eReader for the upcoming holiday season: starting next week, some 2,500 Walmart stores will be offering the Kobo Wireless eReader. The announcement comes just one day after Barnes & Noble announced the Nook would be going on sale at Walmart next week, but Kobo is promising to do one better by being the “opening price in the eReader category.” Although neither Kobo nor Walmart has announced pricing, that means Kobo plans to undercut every other ereader available at the discount retailer.

“We are thrilled to see the Kobo Wireless eReader receiving mass distribution,” Kobo wrote on its company blog. “This partnership further validates our promise and vision of making ereading available to everyone.”
The Kobo Wireless eReader will also be available at Borders bookstores throughout the Unites States; the deal builds on a distribution deal Kobo had in place with Walmart in Canada.

The Kobo Wireless eReader features a 6-inch E Ink display, integrated Wi-Fi wireless networking, USB connectivity, an SD slot that can handle up to 32 GB of removable storage, and supports ePub (with DRM), PDF, and Adobe DRM, so users can handle books from a variety of standards-based digital bookstores as well as Kobo’s own ebook ecosystem. The units ship with 100 free eBooks (classic public domain titles), and reader applications are available for smartphones, PCs, and Mac OS X so users can read at whatever device they like and sync their bookmarks.

The Kobo Wireless eReader carries a suggested retail price of $139.

Walmart Adding Thin-Film Solar Panels On 20-30 More Stores

From: http://www.treehugger.com/

photo: Walmart

In continued efforts to deploy more renewable energy at its stores, Walmart announced today that it will be installing solar panels at an additional 20-30 of its stores in California and Arizona, opting at most of the locations to install thin-film solar panels rather than traditional crystalline panels.

Rather than owning the panels outright, Walmart has contracted with SolarCity, which will design, install, maintain and actually own the solar power systems, with Walmart benefitting from the total estimated 22.5 million kWh of electricity produced. At each location the panels are expected to provide 20-30% of the total energy needs of the store.

Currently, Walmart has 31 solar power installations at locations in California and Hawaii.

In its press release, Walmart touted the benefits of thin-film panels over traditional ones:

Thin film solar panels look similar to the traditional crystalline panels, but require fewer raw materials to manufacture, resulting in a smaller environmental impact over its life cycle. The Walmart projects are using both copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and cadmium telluride thin film. The company's large scale on-site installation of CIGS could help further the development of this technology and bring it to market quicker, while use of cadmium telluride thin film could help make the case for other businesses to adopt the technology for on-site commercial use.

Buying Power Not Panels Can Reduce Risks
One thing to note: Walmart has been expanding renewable energy usage at its stores for a while now, so the announcement itself, while good, isn't entirely groundbreaking. What is worth paying attention to as a green trend, applicable to homeowners as well as businesses, is that even with it's huge size Walmart chose to have a third-party operate the solar power system, thereby eliminating some of the financial and technical risk of adding solar power, while still benefitting both practically and from a public-image perspective from using renewable energy.

Wal-Mart's firing of employee for using medical marijuana incites boycott

By Troy Reimink | The Grand Rapids Press

From http://www.mlive.com/

WZZM-TV (Channel 13)

Joseph Casais, 29, was fired from a Battle Creek Wal-Mart for using medical marijuana. He suffers from sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor.

Supporters of marijuana law reform are rallying behind 29-year-old Joe Casais, a cancer sufferer and registered medical marijuana user who was fired from his job at Wal-Mart in Battle Creek.

Casais, who had worked at the store for five years and in 2008 was named Associate of the Year, tested positive for marijuana during a worker's compensation screening after he sprained his knee on the job.

Marijuana advocates are calling for a boycott of the chain, and recently a rally took place in support of Casais:

Beyond the immediate fallout from the boycott -- such as a sharp decline in the sale of snack foods -- the story raises questions about how employers are to reconcile their drug policies with laws regarding the use of marijuana, particularly medical marijuana.

Wal-Mart wants no part of it. In a statement, a company spokesman said: "In states, such as Michigan, where prescriptions for marijuana can be obtained, an employer can still enforce a policy that requires termination of employment following a positive drug screen. We believe our policy complies with the law and we support decisions based on the policy."

It may be legal, but is it the right thing to do?

"It's despicable that Wal-Mart would fire such a hardworking and seriously ill employee simply for treating his symptoms with a medicine that he is authorized to use under state law," Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project and lead drafter of Michigan's medical marijuana law, told the Michigan Messenger. "Would Wal-Mart also fire someone for taking doctor-prescribed Percocet, or any of the other legal medications sold in many of Wal-Mart's own stores?"

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan also sides with Casais, telling the publication, "It's immoral and it's illegal to fire somebody for treating their disease with a medicine that's legal and recommended by someone's physician."

Wal-Mart also is contesting Casais' unemployment benefits claim since any marijuana use still is a violation of federal law, even if states are allowing it in some cases. The Obama administration said it will not seek to prosecute marijuana users who are in compliance with state law. Michigan legalized medical marijuana in 2008.

What do you think of Wal-Mart's actions here?

Email treimink@grpress.com

Man Tries Out Baseball Bat By Smashing 29 TVs in Walmart

From: http://gizmodo.com/

Maybe he was trying out the TVs or the baseball bat, maybe he was struck by Walmart rage. Whatever the case, this guy destroyed a row of TVs before sitting down in the electronics aisle and waiting for the police.
The smashed televisions add up to about $22,000 in damaged goods, 29 counts of criminal damage to property, and one bottle of confiscated anti-depressants. I suppose that's just an itsy-bitsy bit worse than what went down with that foul-mouthed Australian guy. [Huffington Post via Engadget]

The Growth of Walmart Across America [VidMap]

projects.flowingdata.com — "I mapped the spread of Walmart using Modest Maps. It starts slow and then spreads like wildfire in the southeast and makes its way towards the west coast. "

This is real cool....

click here to see this MAP

Apple to Sell IPhones in Wal-Mart Stores This Month

By Connie Guglielmo

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will become the second mass-market retail chain to start selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone, with two store representatives saying the world’s largest retailer will carry two models of the Web-surfing handset this month.

Employees in the cell-phone departments at five California stores, contacted by phone today, said Wal-Mart will offer iPhones by the end of December. Employees are currently being trained on how to sell the device, all five said.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs tapped Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics retailer, in September to sell the device as he works to win more buyers. Before then, the iPhone had been sold only by Apple and AT&T Inc., the exclusive provider of wireless service for the phone in the U.S.

Analysts say Apple may offer a discontinued 4-gigabyte version through Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart and sell it for $99. Apple currently sells two models at $199 and $299.

“A $99, Apple-branded cell phone is inevitable,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Brothers in San Francisco. “One of the key things Apple needs to do to drive broader iPhone adoption is to build a more complete product line” with low- end, mid-range and high-end products, Wu said in a Dec. 5 note.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling wouldn’t respond to the report and said the company “does not comment on rumor or speculation.” Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said the company hasn’t made an official announcement on an iPhone offering and has no comment. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel declined to comment.

Faster, Cheaper

Jobs told analysts in October that Apple has sold 10 million iPhones this year, meeting his forecast to capture a 1 percent share of the worldwide mobile-phone market.

To spur adoption of the device, which was originally released in June 2007, Apple added a speedier version that works on third-generation handsets in July, dropped the price to as low as $199 from $399 and expanded distribution to 51 countries. Jobs said he expects the iPhone 3G to be sold in 70 markets by year’s end.

A store representative in Yuba City, California, who declined to give his full name, said six employees will be going through training this week on how to sell two iPhone models. He said employees haven’t been told pricing or which versions Wal- Mart will sell, and said the store may have them in stock the day before Christmas.

Media Player

A clerk in Stockton, California, who didn’t want to provide his full name, said he was told iPhones would be available around Dec. 15. Two additional store representatives, who also asked not be named, said the outlets in Sacramento and Marysville, California, would have iPhones in stock between Christmas and the New Year.

Apple, AT&T and Best Buy currently sell 8-gigabyte and 16- gigabyte models of the iPhone, which combines a handset with Apple’s iPod digital media player. Apple stopped selling a 4- gigabyte model in September 2007 after Jobs said customers preferred versions with larger storage capacity.

A clerk at a Wal-Mart store in Vacaville, California, said the store will sell the 8- and 16-gigabyte models at the same prices as AT&T, or $199 and $299, respectively. The person, who declined to give his name, said the phones will be available Dec. 28.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, rose $2.59 to $94 on Dec. 5 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have declined 53 percent this year.

The San Jose Mercury News reported the Wal-Mart deal yesterday, citing its own interviews with Wal-Mart employees.

To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net.

360 Wind Powered Wal-Mart Stores by April 2009

by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 11.21.08

While the solar panel in this photo is pretty much a token renewable energy gesture, Wal-Mart’s wind power commitment is significantly more substantial. Photo: Wal-Mart Stores

Say what you like about Wal-Mart (and I certainly have said some less than flattering things), but sometimes the world’s largest retailer does something undeniably positive: Like make its first major purchase of wind power in the United States.

Announced yesterday, Wal-Mart Stores will be supplying 15% of the electricity in approximately 360 Texas stores and other facilities though wind power, purchased from Duke Energy. Wal-Mart says that the purchase will be the equivalent power of some 18,000 ordinary homes. Here are the rest of the details:

150 MW Wind Farm Will Provide Wal-Mart's Power
Duke will be generating the power from the under construction 150 MW Notrees Wind Power Project, which is expected to begin commercial operations in December and producing electricity for Wal-Mart by April 2009. Duke expects the project to produce about 226 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, an amount which will avoid emitting 139,000 tonnes of CO2. Or, if you prefer more down to earth references, Wal-Mart compares this to washing 108 million loads of laundry (“enough for every household in Austin, Texas to do laundry for a year”).

Speaking about the wind power purchase, Wal-Mart vice president of energy Kim Saylors-Laster said,

We’re purchasing renewable power at traditional energy rates. The wind power purchase will result in a significant decrease of greenhouse gas emissions and aligns perfectly with Wal-Mart’s long-term goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy.

More at: Wal-Mart Stores and Duke Energy