Cheap Trick are living up to their name. Their latest trick is that their newest album will be released on an 8-track tape. Hows that for gimmicky marketing? On one hand, no one will ever hear your songs, but on the other, your stunt will get all kinds of publicity for when the tracks hit iTunes.

It will cost you $30 if you still own an 8-Track player. The new album is comprised of 12 songs broken into four sets of three songs each. It must have been hard to edit them to adhere to the four 10-minute slots on a standard 8-track.

Apple may act like the Microsoft Laptop Hunters ads are no big deal, but behind the scenes the company had a different response, according to Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Turner. Turner says that he knows the ads are working because “two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying [...] ‘Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.’”

Turner also noted that “they took like $100 off or something,” and that it “was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business” He did however think it was a joke at first.

Today Dell filled out its mainstream notebook line with the Inspiron 17. The desktop notebook is rocking the same 16:9 aspect ratio display and thinner, more efficent LED backlighting as newer Inspirons but, matching its 17.3-inch size, has a higher 1600×900 resolution as standard. Processors are also faster and scale up to a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo.

The base price is just $499 with by a 2GHz Pentium dual-core, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Intel integrated video and Vista Home Basic. The battery is a minimal 4-cell pack. Buyers can choose Home Premium as well as up to 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray, a 6-cell battery and a dedicated 256MB Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics core.

Last month we learned that Circuit City may rise again, thanks to a buyout from Systemax Inc. That prophecy comes true within the next few days.

In a video embedded on the temporary splash page, the Systemax CEO claims that the new Circuit City will feature lower prices, a better selection, 24/7 customer service and faster shipping (which starts at $1.99). We’ll find out soon is it’s all talk or if they are going to walk the walk.

Looking for a neat place to hide those game codes as well as your various tiny trinkets and doodads? Well, here it is. A trinket box in the form of an original classic NES controller.

It’s from Etsy seller GeekGear. All of the buttons are glued into place, making look just as it did before it was modified. Great for keys, spare change, a thin usb stick may even fit inside. It’s storage is a little limited since the inside plastic has not been sanded down, but we love the simplicity of it.

Like a bitchy supermodel the Pantech Slate is claiming to be the world’s thinnest device with a QWERTY keypad. Priced at $49.99, you’ll need a two-year agreement and mail-in rebate for AT&T subscribers. Sporting black and royal blue, it comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera, instant messaging, Mobile Email and Bluetooth. It will be available by the end of this month.

Amazon.com went full steam into downloadable MP3s today, unveiling a beta version of Amazon MP3, its new digital music download store. Most songs will range in price from 89 to 99 cents, while albums will run you $5.99 to $9.99.

Amazon MP3 features over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels. All downloads will be MP3s which are DRM-free, meaning there’s no restrictions on what device or music management software is used to play them. Songs can even be burned to CD.

The HP iPAQ rx5900 Travel Companion will help you navigate, stay connected, stay informed, and always be entertained wherever your travels may take you. Thin and light, this iPAQ is truly small enough to take with you wherever you travel.

The Travel Companion is a complete GPS navigation system that includes a car kit and TomTom Navigator 6 pre-installed. The navigation software has complete maps of United States and Canada. More than just a GPS, the device will also give you the current time and weather for cities worldwide, convert currency, size and measurement, customize …