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Buy a couple of these and put them in the holiday charity bin at the front of the store - some future Slashdotter will thank you!

This is a good starter set for the young ones. Just basic bricks, slopes and plates, and at 1.5 cents per piece, it's as cheap as Lego comes.

I plan to buy a bunch of these at Xmas for the charity bin at the front of the store.

Or better yet, the classic Football:handheld, fun, cheap, nostalgic.

I had one of these babies as a kid and passed it down to all my brothers. You can still buy them at your local Wally World

If you have to live in a hotel

A place like Residence Suites has a kitchenette, as do many other hotels. And long-term hotels like that tend to have MUCH better rates than $58/night the guy in the FA is paying. If you're on a budget it's crucial to be someplace you can do your own cooking -- eating out is horribly expensive.

Shit, you can BUY a frigging HOUSE for what he's paying for hotels. $58 * 30 = $1740/mo, which is close to what I'm paying for a 2100ft^2 4 bedroom colonial. WTF is he thinking? Stay at a $20/nite fleabag motel if you have to save up for a security deposit, then get a short-term lease on a small apartment. Even $20/nite works out to $600/mo; you could probably find a furnished efficiency for that, depending on the city.

you don't have an oven to "bake your own bread" or "cook a roast"

It's even worse if you have to live in your car!

Anything you can make in a gas/electric oven you can make in a dutch oven, it just takes a bit more skill. Practice makes perfect. A Coleman camp stove, some good cast iron cookware, and a nice big cooler will see you though in a pinch; mankind survived for milennia with less. There's a lot of good information out there on primitive cooking if you care to look... historical recreation isn't just a hobby.

If you have to live in a hotel

A place like Residence Suites has a kitchenette, as do many other hotels. And long-term hotels like that tend to have MUCH better rates than $58/night the guy in the FA is paying. If you're on a budget it's crucial to be someplace you can do your own cooking -- eating out is horribly expensive.

Shit, you can BUY a frigging HOUSE for what he's paying for hotels. $58 * 30 = $1740/mo, which is close to what I'm paying for a 2100ft^2 4 bedroom colonial. WTF is he thinking? Stay at a $20/nite fleabag motel if you have to save up for a security deposit, then get a short-term lease on a small apartment. Even $20/nite works out to $600/mo; you could probably find a furnished efficiency for that, depending on the city.

you don't have an oven to "bake your own bread" or "cook a roast"

It's even worse if you have to live in your car!

Anything you can make in a gas/electric oven you can make in a dutch oven, it just takes a bit more skill. Practice makes perfect. A Coleman camp stove, some good cast iron cookware, and a nice big cooler will see you though in a pinch; mankind survived for milennia with less. There's a lot of good information out there on primitive cooking if you care to look... historical recreation isn't just a hobby.

702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716

Make sure to send a physical letter, and send it certified mail. Once it's through the door, and they know you know it, they have to deal with your problem.

Unless they just don't care. But then at least you'll know that too.

Another cheap machine (admittedly different specs) can currently be had at walmart for just under $700:

Mobile AMD Athlon 4 1.1 GHz processor
14.1" XGA TFT LCD screen
40 GB hard drive
128 MB RAM
DVD-ROM drive
Integrated 802.11b wireless networking
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

The concept involved is fair-trade, the idea is if all of the retail outlets begin sales at the same date, then they all have a fair shot at the market. By agreeing to the "street date" then the stores will get their shipments in time for the street-date without worrying about shipments delayed by third-party shippers. Outlets that violate the street-dates have to worry about their early shippment agreement getting voided, and the their shippments will be timed to arrive just-in-time rather than in-plenty-of-time. Now I doubt that they will do this with Meijers because they are a huge outlet, in their market area, Walmart competes with Meijers, not the other way arround. Most likely what happened is some minimum-wage sales clerk either put them out to soon cluelessly, or thought it was a good idea to jump the street-date.

Now, this company sounds like it's big enough that they could retaliate with "okay, fine, We are unstocking our shelves of your products" and convice MS to not sure.

I don't know about Meijer, but Microsoft would surely have something to fear from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart sells a line of PCs online, and should Microsoft bitch, watch Wal-Mart bundle the KNOPPIX Linux Live CD with its "No OS" machines.

Wal*Mart is still taking pre-orders.

As soon as I take two CDs along with me the media can cost more than the player: Durabrand CD Boombox $19.97

They are already selling... a $300 computer.

Although they are selling a of some sort.

They already are...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product _id=2134418

Stick your PC in it and it will stay Cool, not only that you still have room for your BEER.

Sounds like $900 is a "suggested retail price."

Walmart.com has XP Home systems starting at $300. All Desktops The reality is that economies of scale keep OEM Windows systems competitive with Linux even at the lowest price point.

i hear the nsa has spec'ed these out for their new desktop replacements. based on cost, they are one of the most secure machines you can buy.

Walmart.com sells XP Home systems starting at $298. All Desktops The equivalent Linspire PC saves you all of twenty bucks. Linspire PCs

Economies of scale and all that. OEMs ship something like nine million XP systems a month.

In addition, many people seem to be particularly upset that they're forced to pay Microsoft enormous sums again, and again, even if they don't want to. In other words, people feel like they've already payed Microsoft their dues, so why should they pay it all over again? This has the effect of delaying upgrades until new computers are purchased, with businesses being the primary exception.

Windows XP Home SP2 Upgrade ranks 27th in sales on Amazon.com, XP Pro SP2 Upgrade with SP2, 49th in sales. Top Sellers: Software Not a bad showing for products released August 1st. Thirteen of the top fifty products on the Amazon software sales list are from Microsoft. Suse Linux Pro breaks into the top 100, in 92nd place, a step or two below Oregon Trail and Barbie's Horse Adventures.

Resentment of Microsoft seems to diminish by orders of magnitude the further you get from Slashdot.

Let's hope that the rise of Mac OS X, Linux, Novell, and Sun as desktop competitors will finally provide a viable choice for both home and business.

Sun JDS has disappeared from Walmart.com. The Linux desktop is going nowhere in the mass consumer market and a breakthrough in small business seems more fantasy than fact.

Walmart.com sells XP Home systems starting at $298. All Desktops The equivalent Linspire PC saves you all of twenty bucks. Linspire PCs

Economies of scale and all that. OEMs ship something like nine million XP systems a month.

In addition, many people seem to be particularly upset that they're forced to pay Microsoft enormous sums again, and again, even if they don't want to. In other words, people feel like they've already payed Microsoft their dues, so why should they pay it all over again? This has the effect of delaying upgrades until new computers are purchased, with businesses being the primary exception.

Windows XP Home SP2 Upgrade ranks 27th in sales on Amazon.com, XP Pro SP2 Upgrade with SP2, 49th in sales. Top Sellers: Software Not a bad showing for products released August 1st. Thirteen of the top fifty products on the Amazon software sales list are from Microsoft. Suse Linux Pro breaks into the top 100, in 92nd place, a step or two below Oregon Trail and Barbie's Horse Adventures.

Resentment of Microsoft seems to diminish by orders of magnitude the further you get from Slashdot.

Let's hope that the rise of Mac OS X, Linux, Novell, and Sun as desktop competitors will finally provide a viable choice for both home and business.

Sun JDS has disappeared from Walmart.com. The Linux desktop is going nowhere in the mass consumer market and a breakthrough in small business seems more fantasy than fact.

Not quite under $100 It is trivial to produce a 1GHz computer in bulk for ~$100.

I remember when these first came out-- kids in my school were using them to turn on/off the televisions in the classroom at inopportune times.

I can only imagine what kind of trouble kids will get into with one of THESE in their hands :) It takes no skill, just point and shoot!

Here's one of those watches for your personal enjoyment :)

Is Wal-Mart part of the leak? Apparently they can ship on the 2nd.

Walmart has a great DIVX player for REALLY Cheap. Here's a Link

I bought one a few weeks back and it plays pretty well.

So we just need to find a way to turn Walmart agains Microsoft and watch the explosions and carnage the ensues. Smiley the price slasher vs. MS Bob and Clippy?

You mean something like this?"

Actually, attempting to record a DVD using RCA outputs from a DVD playing device will result in a macrovision message being popped up on the screen! It knows... well unless you have one of the Apex players!

But you won't understand the concept of quality. Not until you grow up. There's no getting through to some people.

Laptop battery, about $100 (depending)

144-pin sodimms $113.99/256 (costs may be higher for EDO or propriority memory)

16bit PC card ethernet adapter $30

WIFI to Ethernet Bridge $93 (in case you can't do cardbus)

Laptop DVD rom drive $50 on ebay.

Cost to make that laptop modern $386.99

Knowing you can from Walmart for $598 + tax with all that crap already, priceless.

Sure you can frankentop, just so long as you don't cross the bottom line.

$699 2.4ghz

$598.00 1.6ghz amd

The enormous purchasing power of retail chains like Wal-Mart and direct sellers like Dell, makes talk of the "Microsoft Tax" sound utterly ridiculous to the mass consumer market.

Walmart's got laptops that cost about $600 in my part of the world. As I've said, the only reason I wouldn't buy one is it comes with Windows Home, pre-installed. Since it only comes with 128meg, I'd automatically order a 512meg SO-DIMM off the web, and slap that in there. I'd rather they keep the $80 Windows non-transferrable Home license, put me a cheap 512meg module in there, and sell it with a Fedora Core 2 dvd, for $650. They'd make more money off me, but it would still be an outstanding buy. It's a good little laptop, but it doesn't come with any PCMCIA slots. It's got an internal Winmodem and RJ-45 adapter, WiFi 802.11b, a 14.1" LCD, and a DVD reader. You'd need a USB dongle or an external cd writer, for backup, both of which I already have.

A cheap, very useful, compact university laptop.

There are three remaining Microtel Linux PCs being sold off Walmart.com LindowsOS PCs . Rock bottom, a 1.6 Ghz Duron for $278. The same system, running XP Home: $298 All Desktops

There are three remaining Microtel Linux PCs being sold off Walmart.com LindowsOS PCs . Rock bottom, a 1.6 Ghz Duron for $278. The same system, running XP Home: $298 All Desktops

Yeah it took me all of 5 minutes to drive to Walmart. But once I got to the checkout it really got complicated.

The following business reasons might explain why they are releasing the Nintedo DS in North America first:

2004-09-21 09:42:51 Nintendo DS to Launch in N. America Nov. 21 @ $150 (Index,Games) (rejected)

John Markoff at the New York Times (mirror at CNet) reports that the Nintendo DS handheld game system will launch in North America on Nov. 21 with a retail price of almost $150. Apparently Nintendo hopes to avoid a direct sales confrontation with the Sony PSP, which will launch in Japan later this year. However, Walmart still lists availability of the Nintendo DS Platinum on Nov. 30 for $199.82. The retailer was probably caught unaware since Nintendo published its press release on BusinessWire at 1:30 AM Eastern Time.

Apologies for the cross-post but it seems relevant here.

Here's a bunch of links to the New York Times/ CNet, our games pages and the Walmart site which lists some differing information in a rejected post from VERY early this morning:

2004-09-21 09:42:51 Nintendo DS to Launch in N. America Nov. 21 @ $150 (Index,Games) (rejected)

John Markoff at the New York Times (mirror at CNet) reports that the Nintendo DS handheld game system will launch in North America on Nov. 21 with a retail price of almost $150. Apparently Nintendo hopes to avoid a direct sales confrontation with the Sony PSP, which will launch in Japan later this year. However, Walmart still lists availability of the Nintendo DS Platinum on Nov. 30 for $199.82. The retailer was probably caught unaware since Nintendo published its press release on BusinessWire at 1:30 AM Eastern Time.

Been on sell for a while now at Wal-Mart.com

Walmart is selling $600 USD laptops that look like they'd make excellent Linux boxes. The only god damn bad thing with them is they are coming with a copy of Windows Home.

Christ, they could sell them for the exact same price, minus the Windows License, and I'd be telling every bastard I know to buy one. I wish I didn't have to many damn computers around me right now, because I WANT ONE.

You need to stuff a 512MB stick in there (~$90 from pricewatch), but they're still a good buy.

---
AMD Athlon XP-M 1600+ processor with PowerNow! technology
128 MB RAM, upgradeable to 640 MB*
40 GB ATA 100/66/33 hard drive
Supports 2.5V / 1.25V 200pin DDR200 / DDR266 SO-DIMM module
14.1" XGA TFT LCD with 1024 x 768 resolution
16.7 million colors possible
High performance 256-bit 3D graphic engine
Shared memory 16/32/64 MB DDR (user adjustable in BIOS)
DVD-ROM drive
Two built-in stereo speakers
Integrated WiFi-compliant Wireless 802.11b (11 Mbps) LAN
On-board 1Gb/100M/10M Base-T LAN Ethernet, up to 1 Gbps
56 K V.90 modem
Synaptics touchpad w/ 4-way scrolling button
4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 RJ-11 modem jack, 1 RJ-45 Ethernet jack
Line-out Headphone jack
1 microphone-in
1 external VGA port, 1 parallel port, 1 S-Video TV - Out connector
1 DC-in jack for AC adaptor
Universal AC adapter with auto-sensing dual voltage support. AC 100-240V
BIOS plug & play, ACPI and DMI
Kensington lock and BIOS password protection
4-cell Li-Ion battery pack
Pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Dimensions & Weight: 13"W x 10.75"D x 1.5"T; weighs 6 pounds

here's a $1000 23" lcd tv/monitor.

they stop using the exact same TV tuner from Philips that everyone uses in their TV Tuners whether USB or firewire.

The biggest leap forward will be when it's a simple USB dongle like this

This also make it truely useful laptops. Even something as big as a deck of cards is impractical with a laptop. I mean we're all already carrying our iPods.

Serious recipes have tolerances. What temperatures are needed, and how tightly do times and temperature have to be controlled? What's the effect of ambient humidity? Here's a oven for a commercial bakery.. 6 heat zones, digital temperature control, and a conveyor belt. The bakery with a unit like that has recipes that tell how to set it up for each product they make. There's no market for a few thousand slightly burnt rolls. Some jobs need a fancy oven like that. Others are less critical. Some jobs (especially pastries) need even finer control.

There are safety issues. See this microorganism lethality calculator. That's a key part of an industrial recipe.

Here are some engineered home recipes. These are intended for use in a programmable home bread-making machine. Note the comments:

• Measure all ingredients exactly -- close is not "good enough".
• Water temperature must be between 70 and 80 degrees Farenheit.
• Use flour specifically designed for bread machines; it rises better than all-purpose flour.
• Load ingredients in the pan in the order listed.
• Keep yeast away from liquids.

I cant believe after 4 years of lurking i registered on /. just so I could post this. WALMART PRE ORDER
Dont feed the monkeys. and yes I could have posted AC.

Is the pin a new addition? If not, someone could have used it to their advantage.

I would start the investigation by checking the clerk who sold this card. After that check who's reading the database where card registrations are stored. After that start checking the pipes for leaks. Going through all that is a big job though.

Funny thing about wireless is that many people consider it inherently unsecure, but at least usually it's pretty easy to have the transmission encrypted even by a novice. This is unlike ethernet where you have to start configuring some sort of VPN, which in a heterogenious equipment environment can be a nightmare if not impossible. Most likely data is not encrypted and culprit might even be able to just plug the listening device to some empty service desks network sockets (I have no idea how these are in wallmart, only been in one once, bought a pair of pants that let me down the first week I wore them).

Well, for $600 I can get this low-end laptop running Windows XP Home with wireless networking, 40 gig drive and DVD slot, which is capable of doing so much more, which pretty much includes all the options available in PMC.

Well, I think the Walmart Laptop is a flop.

For 440$, I can get this Desktop which is even bigger than the laptop & can do more than the laptop.

For 250$, the laptop would have been interesting. For 75$, it would be a hot seller.

If we're going to talk price, doesn't everyone here think this cheap laptop is a far better deal? Wireless card and twice the hard drive. Plus (and this is the best part) it's a useful computer! Oh yea, the screen's also way bigger. I know that size must be an issue for the sort of person that would buy one of of these PMCs, but all the same, it seems like a lot of money for how little you get.

So it has a color screen, sound volume control, all sorts of DRM support and costs almost $500? And I have no keyboard, no networking, no generic applications, it's just like a portable DVD player, but there's no DVD slot, just digital link?

Well, for $600 I can get this low-end laptop running Windows XP Home with wireless networking, 40 gig drive and DVD slot, which is capable of doing so much more, which pretty much includes all the options available in PMC.

For $300 the PMC might be interesting. For $100 it would be a hot seller. But $500? Give me a break.

Uh-oh! These guys better run!

Other than a new system, I'd second the other suggestions about a used laptop. I may be buying one or more used tiny Compaqs for $300 a pop, so they can be had. If you're looking for a note-taking machine, an older, less powerful laptop shouldn't be hard to find on the cheap.

• AMD Athlon XP-M 1600+ processor
• 14.1" XGA TFT LCD screen
• 40 GB hard drive
• 128 MB RAM
• DVD-ROM drive
• Integrated 802.11b wireless networking
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• On-board 1GB/100M/10M Base-T LAN Ethernet
• 56 K V.90 modem
• 4 USB 2.0 ports

I have two of the Microtel desktops from Walmart ($199/ea). They are buzzing along perfect with Mandrake on them. They are nothing more then what you find in a typical white box maker, standard parts like an MSI MB with a lot built onboard, WD HD, mid level memory, LG CDR etc..

What I find odd is Microtel is also selling 1 and 2U rack mount servers at Walmart.com also. I would love to see an article and some photos of those things running in an IT or business monthly rag.