Wal-Mart and Dell are testing the Solution Station by Dell in 15 Dallas stores, and they'll do things like repair PCs and set up home entertainment and wireless networking stuff sold by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart and tech support just don't compute in my brain. On the bright side, I'm sure this'll mean lots of fun posts for the Consumerist crew. [WSJ]

Reader Mick received five ink cartridges in five different packages, most of which were ludicrously large for the single tiny box within. This is such an idiotically easy problem to solve that would have a huge impact on the environment. Let's start being responsible, online retailers. It's in your hands.

Have you received an irresponsibly-packed item from an online retailer? Snap a picture and send it to me at adam@gizmodo.com and I'll help you shame them publicly.

Wal-Mart Moving Exclusively Toward Blu-ray Format Movies and Players

Bentonville, Ark., Feb. 15, 2008 - Wal-Mart Stores, U.S. today announces that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will move forward this year with one hi-definition movie and hardware format: Blu-ray. The change will take place quickly over the next several months whereby the retailer will phase out HD DVD offerings and reorganize shelf space. By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam's Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts.

"We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S. "With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home."

Wal-Mart will continue to sell through remaining HD DVD product, but in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online. As the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart thoughtfully reviewed all areas and impact in making its decision, and is excited to move forward with one format and share its future plans with customers.

Everex is holding back the Cloudbook for nearly a month to make "a couple of last-minute software tweaks," presumably to gOS, its Ubuntu-based Linux mutation. As long as it's more intuitive than the XO Laptop's OS, it should be in good shape—its biggest asset is its Wally World distribution channel, which might help secure a slice of a market already reaching saturation, at least judging by slowing Eee PC sales on Amazon. [CW]

"Reclaim your mind from the media shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your nearest Apple Store."

The big question for those of you who bravely bought in: Will my bastard child videos still work even with the permanent closed sign in the store's window?

The videos you purchased and downloaded are yours to keep. Yes, you can play your videos as many times as you wish on the computer you used to download the videos. Due to licensing restrictions, you cannot copy or transfer your video files and play them on a different computer.

The store's sudden death actually isn't too surprising even though it was less than a year old and the first one to sport content from the "big six" studios. Who thinks "Wal-Mart" when they think "video downloads," and wants to deal with a clusterfuck of DRM, WMV files and Windows and IE-only compatibility? (Not Hollywood types!) Besides, its goose might've been cooked anyway when iTunes finally snagged a video rental deal.

On the other hand, its online music store is still going strong, or at least going enough to try to pressure labels to sell MP3s through it, though it looks like Amazon has the upper hand (in more ways than one.) Let's hope they weren't taking any cues from their cubicle mates in the vid store department! [Wal-Mart, Thanks MarktMan!]

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann was none too happy about the ID, even though the card's photo is really a hologram alternating between "Fogell" to "McLovin" (to be fair, I'm of age and I'd love to carry that bad boy in my wallet). So Wal-Mart pulled the film from its seven Hawaii locations. And then sub-21-year-olds turned back to their ways of purchasing good fake IDs and, in some cases, bypassing the temptations of alcohol altogether for abstinence and whippets. [thnt] Thanks Colin!

We're glad Everex is taking a stand, and hope other mainstream companies see the writing on the wall and stop shoving AOL trial widgets down our throats. We know how to use PCs, and we want 'em shiny and new on the inside when we buy 'em. The PC isn't on Walmart's site yet, but it should be soon. [Everex via Ars]

One thing the article ignores: Current facts.

Right now, Walmart carries not only an HD DVD player for a marginally more expensive $349, by Toshiba, but a $900 dollar Blu-ray player, too. So the $300 dollar rumored price of the Chinese players are a factor, but not more than it already has been with Walmart's existing stock. So there's no reason to write this article now. Unless you factor in the quantity of the rumored players: 2 million. That's more than the combined title sales of both Blu-ray and HD DVD together, which says more about the pathetic states of both parties. (Anyone know DVD's adoption rates by year one offhand?) But I'm not sure these will be a factor — limited supply has never been the issue. It's been limited demand. See for yourself — Walmart's $349 player is going on clearance right now. You want a price point to crow about? I think it's $199. (That's the psychological barrier marketers say husbands have to ask their wives for permission to cross.) Imagine those 2 million players get here, are left unwanted on shelves, and get marked down to $175. Now you're talking about some leverage in the fight. Oh what's that? Hmm, you're already close to this pricing with this dealzmodo of 5 free HD DVD discs with the purchase of a $300 HD DVD player.

How about the fact that Blu-ray sales were great this quarter. I personally believe it has to do with people buying movies they actually want to watch. And five of the six major studios do Blu or Both (Only Universal does strictly HD DVD). Geeks, don't forget, content is king. Will the studios bow to Walmart? Maybe. They've done it before, in Walmart's groundbreaking but shitty video service that is the first and only to have all 6 studios on board. But that hasn't done very well either, has it? I thought retail might could do anything, but apparently, Walmart's customers are not leading edge adopters? I wonder how that affects their power in this cutting edge war?

Of course, this is a lot of talk based on rumors. Neither Walmart or HD DVD groups have made a statement yet. The format war is not decided, and I seriously doubt Walmart is going to do the deciding without the say of both the studios and your wallets. So, steady as she goes.

Back to those Q1 numbers. On to a better article, which John Falcone of CNet sent me: Eric at Ars, kings of reason and analysis on the net, remind us that In

When we discuss HD DVD and Blu-ray at this point in time, we're talking about really small numbers. When sales are in the tens of thousands and not the millions, the market is especially susceptible to changes.

With volumes like what we're seeing now, however, it's like trying to call an election with less than 2 percent of the precincts reporting.

Ultimately, until gals like this one can name a format by heart, its not over.

And this is why, even if it's fun to talk about, we call it non-news.–Brian Lam and Keith K.

That said, here are some numbers. Movies come in two sizes: the larger "PC" size and the smaller portable one. They dodged the question about the resolution of movies (supposedly they're getting back to us and when they do, we'll let you know) but the PC version is "near DVD quality," which is to say it has a bit rate of around 1.3-1.6 Mbps. TV shows, on the other hand, are decidedly focused on being quick downloads, with a bit rate of 500-800 Kbps for the file.

All of the files are WMV for the time being, and are encrypted with Windows Media DRM. You can burn them for back up—they encourage customers to do so—but right now they're stuck on a single PC with the option to move them to up to "three compatible portable devices." They are working to the expand that, however. Moreover, only PCs (XP and higher) and only IE 6 and up. Firefox support is coming.

As we said earlier, they offer "3000 productions." This is "about evenly split" between movie and TV content, with each episode of a show counting as a single production in that number. No ABC, Fox, CBS or NBC yet, but they're working on it and "would like to be in business with everybody."

The way they got to be in business with "everybody" in the movie business, we should note, is by closely following the studios' set prices for movie downloads, which are designed not to cannibalize physical DVD sales. (Steve Jobs's refusal to cater to that price point, along with the fear of an iTunes monopoly, is why he as of yet, only has Paramount and Disney on board with iTunes.) Strongly emphasized throughout the interview was Wal-Mart's committal to ensuring a strong DVD market.

To that end, we found out how the discounts for consumers who buy both DVDs and digital movies works. Basically, when you buy the physical DVD, you will get a code allowing you to download the "portable" version of the movie for $1.97, the PC version for $2.97, and both for $3.97. (Much like they did with Superman Returns back in November.) This will be the major way the service is pushed and utilized, at least initially. Obviously, the service isn't intended to disrupt traditional means of movie watching.

Part of the non-disruptiveness is given Wal-Mart's view that "the business is new now," and they (along with everyone else) still "need to figure out how it works." So no big marketing campaign, at least for a while. It'll be featured on the site, and there will be some in-store promotion, but nothing big. It's still very much all about the physical Wal-Mart store, but expanding into "multi-channel and multi-format" distribution.

Lastly, while we're not thrilled with the current price points, it was clearly stated that the studio "sets the price," and Wal-Mart is pursuing and will continue to advocate for "a good price for the customer," which we interpret to mean lower prices.

If this service fails, the blame rests mostly on Hollywood's shoulders, since most of these terms were dictated by the studios. Middle America isn't the target for this service, at least for right now, largely due to its beta status, but also, we think, because of the unnecessary restrictions placed on it by the studios, making it too complicated for Wal-Mart's core customers. And that is a big mistake on the part of the "Big Six," one they may soon pay for. – Matt Buchanan

Wal-Mart First to Offer Digital Movies From All "Big Six" Studios [Gizmodo]

Movies will run from $12.88 to $19.88 on the day the DVD drops, while older flicks start at $7.50. All movies will have roughly the same price as the actual DVD at Wal-Mart stores, though. This is also the deal's biggest flaw in our view—why pay almost what you'd pay for the actual DVD? Intriguingly mentioned is the possibility of discounts for people who buy both DVDs and digital videos.

It will also have TV shows from Comedy Central, CW, FX, Logo, MTV and Nickelodeon—all Viacom networks, so maybe we'll see CBS in the mix? TV shows run a bit cheaper than iTunes, at $1.96 a pop. Altogether, it will offer "access to 3,000 productions," though there's no indication as to how that's divided between movies and TV shows.

Topping it off, Wal-Mart has recruited HP to design the store and ostensibly make it more user-friendly than its standard site. We tried getting in to scope it out, but right now it appears to walled off. This is a huge win for Wal-Mart, but it remains to be seen if the Wal-Mart name can drive the market to new heights (with lower prices to boot), or conversely, if it winds up driving people away. Either way, begun the download wars have. – Matt Buchanan

Store? (Roadblocked as of 3 a.m. EST)
Wal-Mart and Studios in Film Deal [NYT]

Gift Was Not What They Expected (Video) [My Fox Chicago]

Walmart has started promoting Zunes in their online store. Why is this so disturbing to us? Walmart has already defiled iPods and all sorts of other PMPs. Is it that we wanted something better for our new baby? Is it that Walmart and Microsoft together is the scariest wetdream ever to even the Gordoniest of Gekkos? Does this sit poorly in anyone else's tummy out there? – Mark Wilson
Thanks Ben!

Will Wal-Mart sell $398 notebooks, desktops? [News.com]