Circuit City to Be Liquidated

By Geoff Duncan Published January 16, 2009

It’s official: Circuit City is going under. The company announced today that it will be seeking bankruptcy court approval to liquidate the company’s assets, including its remaining inventory, retail locations, services, and its online operations like FireDog. The move will mark the end of some 567 retail locations in the the United States and over 760 retail stores and dealer outsets in Canada. The company employes over 30,000 people. The company says it will offer more details about the liquidation plans—which could spell hot deals for consumers—but doesn’t anticipate the liquidation will generate any value for its investors.

“We are extremely disappointed by this outcome,” said Circuit City vice chairman (and acting president and CEO) James A. Marcum, in a statement. “The company had been in continuous negotiations regarding a going concern transaction. Regrettably for the more than 30,000 employees of Circuit City and our loyal customers, we were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company.”

Recommended Videos

Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2008 and closed 155 retail stores in an effort to focus traffic and inventory at its most successful locations for the 2008 end-of-year holiday season.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Smart Home

Expect lower video quality on your Nest cameras this week

Nest Cam IQ sitting on a desk next to car keys and books

Just when you thought that the pandemic had reached every area of your life, surprise! Your security cameras are being affected, too. In response to community issues caused by COVID-19 and requests made by internet service providers, Google has temporarily adjusted camera settings on its Nest cameras to help with internet strain. This means less video quality for your security system if you live in the U.S.

"With so many people working and attending school from home, we’re stretching our resources in ways we haven’t before -- including the internet," a Google representative stated in an email. "As local internet resources are stretched past their limits, you and many others may have noticed interruptions like dropped video calls or frozen screens. During this time, it’s critical for us to work together to ensure we find ways to help the community at large."

News

Congress has concerns over Ring’s partnerships with police departments

Ring floodlight cam on brick wall.

Congress wants to know more about partnerships between Ring, a home security and smart home company owned by Amazon, and more than 400 local police departments across the country. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has written a letter to Ring asking the company to provide more details on these partnerships.

The letter was written to Brian Huseman, Ring’s vice president of public policy, on Wednesday, February 19. The committee is asking Huseman to furnish more information into why Ring entered into these partnerships in the first place and exactly what kind of information Ring provides to police departments.

News

Apple patent foresees a smart home that can ID you by reading your heartbeat

apple smart home patent would spy on your life

A new Apple patent would make your house an actual “smart home” in every sense, from reading your heartbeat, to telling who you are, to the ability to coordinate your different smart devices.

The patent, first reported by Patently Apple, is titled Object Tracking And Authentication Using Modular Wall Units, and was initially submitted in August 2018 and published on February 13. The patent is long and detailed, but basically, Apple wants to create an interconnected smart home that senses and works with other devices and inanimate objects, and even can differentiate between human users.