electronics

With each passing day, Best Buy appears headed for a family feud.

Richard Schulze, the founder who was on the outs with Best Buy's board when he resigned his seat in June, continues to try to persuade directors to sell him the company. Schulze today sent the board a letter saying he would pay up to $8.8 billion for the floundering big-box electronics chain, according to a New York Times report.

"I am deeply concerned about the direction of the company," Schulze said in the letter. "As Best Buy's largest shareholder, I cannot simply … Read more

A deluge of SimCity news came from EA and Maxis at the massive Gamescom gaming expo yesterday in Cologne, Germany.

Interested architects can check out the SimCity closed beta sign-up Web page that gives anyone with an Origin account the chance to get an early preview of the urban planner. The page does not, however, list when the beta occurs or how long it lasts.… Read more

Monday's top-story rundown knows where you live:

Just when you think it's safe to tweet, here comes WeKnowYourHouse.com. The site is a social media experiment designed to show how easy it is for tweets to be used against you. If a Twitter user has location turned on, and they send a message with the word "home" in it, then the site will display it along with a Street View image of the location. Similar to PleaseRobMe.com, it showcases how some users may not be aware of how much information they are sharing.

But you … Read more

Electronic Arts expects sales of digital games to surpass those of boxed games in the coming years.

"There will come a point, whether it is two or three years from now, when we say: 'We are doing more in digital media now than we are in physical media,'" EA Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore told Reuters.

As a result, the maker of "Battlefield", "The Sims 3," and "Crysis 3" is likely to increase its range of mobile and free-to-play games.

EA will serve up more than 40 social mobile and free-to-play games … Read more

Samsung has already sprung into action in response to accusations that its HEG Electronics supplier is forcing underage children to work under harsh conditions.

The Korean handset maker is sending a team this week to the HEG Electronics factory in Huizhou, China, to conduct its own investigation, according to The Verge. This would be Samsung's third probe of the facility; the first two failed to turn up any issues.

HEG Electronics, which makes DVD players and mobile phones for Samsung, has been accused by China Labor Watch of employing children under 16.

A new report from CLW found that … Read more

You don't need any accessories to catch up on Friday's top tech stories:

A new service called Dyle picks up live, local TV signals to watch on your mobile device. The first with this service is the MetroPCS Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G. But if you rather not drop $460 right now for a phone, iOS users may have another option this fall when Dyle attachments are expected to go on sale.

No price has been set, but the attachments could cost, at most, $150. And the service from then on is free. Would you pay for an … Read more

The punches just keep coming for Zynga.

Electronic Arts is suing the social games creator for copyright infringement, alleging that Zynga ripped off EA's "The Sims Social" when it created "The Ville," EA said today in a press release.

The gaming giant filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California today.

The Sims Social is the Facebook version of EA's "The Sims" game. After launching in August 2011, the game has gained "several million active" users on Facebook, according to EA's press … Read more

File this one under M.W.A.: Marketers with attitude.

Organizers of the 2012 London Olympics are peeved at Beats Electronics, makers of the headphones that are ubiquitous in major U.S. cities, according to The Guardian and other British publications. Without the company ponying up the money to become an official sponsor of the games, Beats' headphones still managed to find their way onto the ears of Olympic athletes, who during the games are some of the most watched people on the planet.

That makes them very valuable human billboards.

Officials from the International Olympic Committee are looking into … Read more

Tuesday's top stories score a touchdown against trolls:

YouTube is hoping to reduce its troll population by letting users go by their real names. Google+ accounts can now be used as a YouTube identity. The switch can be done in settings. Before making the change, users can review past activity and delete any undesirable comments. But this isn't a required switch. Users can keep their existing account names.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts may not have the monopoly over pigskin for long. Back in 2008, EA was sued for making exclusive licensing deals with the NFL, NCAA and … Read more