Gizmodo: bankrupt

Take a Trip Down Memory Lane With Other Failed Gadget Sellers

Elaine Chow — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:30:00 EST

Now that Circuit City's closing up shop, perhaps we should take a minute to remember other failed gadget dealers from our country's storied history. Technologizer's compiled a bunch of old television ads from now defunct tech stores and they're a treasure trove of early 1990s cheesiness and the repetitive mantra, “Lowest prices! Best Selection! Amazing service!,” that none of them could actually provide. Remember Nobody Beats The Wiz? Crazy Eddie? The short-lived death of CompUSA? Who doesn't love nostalgia for the ghosts of retailers past? [Technologizer]

Circuit City Goes Bankrupt, Files for Chapter 11 Protection

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:02:00 EST

After closing 155 stores last week, Circuit City has finally bitten the dust. The electronics store chain—with 721 stores in the US and 770 in Canada—has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, pressured by the recession and competition from Best Buy and Wal-Mart. However, it may not be the end for the chain yet.

• January 2008: Increases a credit agreement from $500 to $1.3 billion.
• May 2008: Circuit City tries to sell itself to Blockbuster Inc., after the latter makes an offer that is later withdrawn. At this time, they fire employees with higher salaries and opens smallest stores.
• September 2008: Reports loss of $239.2 million, after sales fell for the sixth straight quarter.
• November 3: Last week they closed a fifth of their US stores, firing twenty percent of their 43,000-people workforce.
• November 10: Files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Lists $3.4 billion in assets and $2.32 billion in liabilities, owes HP $119 million and Samsung $116 million. It lost $5 billion in stock market value in just two years.

Circuit City has said that their intention is to keep normal operations in their current stores. In theory, under a Chapter 11 reorganization, companies get a chance to avoid closing, reorganize debt and survive. According to Gary Merson from HD Guru, a local store representative has said that they will even keep honoring and selling gift cards during this period. [Bloomberg — Thanks Gary]

Beamz Synthesizer Uses Lasers as Strings, Has Plenty of Cowbell (Literally)

Jack Loftus — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EDT

In the future we'll probably play music with our minds, but for now the Beamz Laser Music System uses a series of six lasers which you can break with your hands to play instruments like guitars, violin and (YES!) even a cowbell. There are also 30 preloaded songs and musical genres that can play alongside your flapping arms as background tracks. Add some speakers and you'll be ready to rock like Jean Michel Jarre when Beamz goes on sale on April 15. [The Sharper Image via Geek Alerts]

Bye-Bye SGI: Former Workstation Giant Bankrupt

Charlie White — Mon, 08 May 2006 13:53:24 EDT

Back in the day, some of us older codgers here at Gizmodo used to drop our jaws at whatever SGI would do. But now, Silicon Graphics Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and things aren't looking good for the once-dominant giant of the techno-mofo workstation industry. SGI will restructure in an attempt to keep away those vultures to whom it owes money, until the company can figure out something. Why did this happen? According to SGI, the company was...

"...challenged by delays in introducing new technology, a focus on more specialized markets and more intense competition from larger rivals."

SGI used to be the bad boys who would astonish everyone with multiprocessor monster workstations, usually costing well over $100,000. Now similar computing power is available hanging in packages on either side of the checkout line at Wal-Mart. Bye-bye, SGI.

Silicon Graphics goes titsup [The Register]