Company News

11 Oct: Oculus Touch Demos coming to Best Buy stores

You’ve looked into the future. Now you can Touch it.

Starting this week, Best Buy is one of the first retailers where you can try out the new Oculus Touch controllers with its Rift virtual reality headset.

Oculus revealed details of its new Touch controllers last week. The hand-held devices help bring your real hands into virtual environments by allowing you to make gestures and finger movements. It provides you with a more realistic VR experience.

Hundreds of Best Buy stores have been hosting demos of Oculus Rift since May.

By Best Buy Company News

06 Oct: Parents Are Way More Tech-Savvy Than Their Millennial Kids Think

Parents just don’t understand — it’s a long-held refrain by children.

But, when it comes to technology, parents might understand more than their kids think, according to a new survey conducted by Best Buy.

Less than one-third of millennials think their parents are very comfortable buying the right personal tech for themselves. Their parents strongly disagree, with 66 percent saying they do just fine on their own, thank you very much.

And while almost half (47 percent) of millennials say their parents turn to them for tech help at least once a week, parents say they’re not nearly so dependent on their kids: Only 17 percent said they seek help from their kids that often.

By John Vomhof Jr. Company News

04 Oct: Capture the Fall Colors With Tips from This Pro Photographer

The cool, crisp autumn air has arrived, bringing with it the vibrant fall colors that many photographers across the country seek out in nature.

Want to learn how to get the best shots of the colorful foliage this year? We turned to Darrell Gulin, a professional nature, wildlife and travel photographer who has traveled to all seven continents.

Darrell, who is part of Canon’s “Explorers of Light” program, says a great photo starts with doing research on your subject and using the right equipment (always use a tripod).

By William Woodworth Company News Sustainability

28 Sep: Reflections from a Geek: A Decade of Inspiring Teens

In 2009, I was invited to join something new taking place in Des Moines, Iowa. Little did I know I would be part of something so transformative.

It was an early expansion of a Best Buy community program called Geek Squad Summer Academy, which taught technology skills to underserved youth across the country in the form of two-day camps. As a Geek Squad Agent, I led classes on computer hardware and programming basics, and our “campers” were Girl Scouts. Their passion for learning and discovery was tangible and exhilarating, and after the event ended, I could only think “I wish we had more.”

By John Vomhof Jr. Company News

26 Sep: Best Buy Launches Ignite Program to Showcase Startups, Innovation

You come to Best Buy to see and try the latest and greatest technology, from 4K TVs to virtual reality. But we know there are also a lot of really cool, innovative products out there that aren’t yet on our shelves.

That’s why we’re launching Best Buy Ignite, a new program that gives customers access to even more of the newest tech from some of the most inventive entrepreneurs and startup companies in consumer electronics.

To learn more about Best Buy Ignite, we sat down with Patrick McIntyre, our vice president of strategy who works closely with the startup community.

By John Vomhof Jr. Company News

26 Sep: Revamped Silicon Valley Store Puts Spotlight on Startups, Innovation

Silicon Valley is the heart of tech innovation, so it’s only fitting Best Buy would go there to open a new, one-of-a-kind store experience that showcases the latest technology from some of the world’s most inventive entrepreneurs and startups in consumer electronics.

We’ve added dedicated space inside our new Mountain View Best Buy store (which opened Sept. 16 after relocating from its previous location in Sunnyvale) where customers can discover and learn about some of the newest tech products on the market.

By Natalie Albers Company News

14 Sep: A Morning on the Job With Geek Squad and a Modem

The year is 2007. I’m hitching a ride in a Geek Squad home theater install van and we’re going fishing.

For wires, that is.

We’re fishing up, down and behind walls in the process of installing speakers at a client’s home. Spools of speaker wire slowly turn as the Agents painstakingly make his home theater system come to life by connecting the TV, receiver, speakers, gaming components and DVD player.

Jump to last week, and my experience tagging along with a Geek Squad Agent in 2016 was as different as the music on the radio.

By Brynn Albrecht Company News Sustainability

13 Sep: Best Buy Gift Cards Go Green

Best Buy recently released a gift card that can be recycled at home – with your paper, cans and bottles.

Because the “Go Green” gift card is made out of paper, it can go right into your recycling bin at home. Easy peasy.

The traditional gift card is made out of polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC, a material that is not usually accepted in city recycling programs. By using paper, we want to help reduce the amount of plastic that’s thrown out.

By Derek Meister Company News

12 Sep: Pokey PC? Try Improving Performance With These Tips

One of the more annoying things to see on your computer is the wait icon — that spinning circle that means whatever it is you want to do next will have to wait while the computer catches up.

Fortunately, in many cases, you can take five minutes with these five tips to get some of that PC performance back.

1. Stop the auto-starts

Ever notice how many apps and icons pop up as your computer loads? You need many of them, such as your antivirus software, but some apps ask to run even when you barely use them.

By John Vomhof Jr. Company News

08 Sep: Football is Back! Which TVs are Best for Watching Sports?

Pro football is back in action, and the right TV can make your couch the best seat in the house.

We talked to expert Blue Shirts in football towns across the country to get some tips for how to choose the best TV for watching sports. In short, you’re looking for a crystal-clear 4K picture and lightning-fast refresh rates — and you want to go big. (Pssst: Refresh rate is how many times the screen is updated per second. The higher the number, the more crisp and detailed the wide receiver looks running his route.)

By John Vomhof Jr. Company News

07 Sep: 5 Things to Teach Your Kids about Online Safety

The internet can be a fantastic learning tool, but some aspects aren’t so positive. With school back in session, now is the perfect time to talk to your kids about online safety.

We talked to Geek Squad Agent Will Woodworth, who teaches students about digital citizenship at our Geek Squad Academy camps, to learn more about what we can do to help keep our children safe. Here are a few tips.

1) Talk with your child about online safety

First things first, talk to your child about the importance of online safety and being a good digital citizen.

By Chris Havens Company News Geek Squad Lifestyle

01 Sep: Geek Squad’s ‘Agent 100K’ Gets His Badge

The anticipation had been building inside Geek Squad Agent Cayle Conkey over the last 18 months and, finally, on Thursday, the wait was over. He got his badge.

The number on it: 100,000.

It’s a milestone number, signifying the past, present and future employees who have helped to build the tech support service into what it is today. It has taken more than 20 years (Geek Squad was founded in 1994) to reach 100,000.

“It’s awesome. I’ve really been working toward this,” Agent Conkey said after he was presented with his shield during a ceremony Thursday on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina.

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