ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Samsung takes on N. American retai for the first timel with a Samsung Store at Burnaby's Metropolis in Metrotown, Vancouver-- a retail outlet with a look you will surely find very, very familiar.

The store showcases all familiar Samsung offerings (Galaxy smartphones, tablets, TVs) on large tables, with working examples for customers to test and play with.

Meanwhile employees (in blue Samsung colours) either march around the clean, minimalist 140 square-metre interior or stand one-on-one customer care stations. Yes, it seems someone learnt a lesson (or three) from... well, you can guess from whom, right?

Why Vancouver, though? Apparently Samsung sees the store as a "legacy" of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, where the mobile maker was an official partner.

Samsung is already involved in lawsuits over alleged iDevice imitation. Will Apple now sue Samsung being too "inspired" by its Stores' interior design?

Watch Samsung Store Opening, Metro Vancouver

TRENDnet launches the 500Mbps TPL-403E2K Compact Powerline AV Adapter Kit-- the smallest powerline kit from the company yet, shipping with two TPL-406E adapters.

The TPL-406E is 50% smaller than the average 500Mbps adapter, TRENDnet claims.

As a powerline product, the TPL-403E2K uses existing electrical lines to connect devices to the internet. Multiple TRENDnet adapters network automatically to each other using a secure encrypted signal, with no CD installation required.

Embedded power saving technology lowers power consumption in standby mode, while a "Sync" button changes existing encryption keys.

The system handles up to x8 adapters without the need to run new cabling.

Go 500Mbps Compact Powerline AV Adapter Kit

Synaxon’s second annual UK National Conference in Cheshire will be held next week with more than 160 member delegates now registered and 45 supplier partners attending. The group is now expecting more than 350 people to turn up.

Synaxon is Europe’s largest grouping of independent IT resellers and system houses. Synaxon is already well-established in Germany, where it has nearly 3000 partners that generate around €3 billion of gross external sales annually, representing 15% of the German market. Synaxon UK now has a UK reseller membership of 672 independent resellers with combined revenues of around £700 million of gross external sales.

How do you get funds to make the low-cost Android-based games console of your dreams? If you do like Ouya, you use Kickstarter, asking the potential customers to fund your project.

Who knows, you might get lucky like Ouya-- getting over $2.5 million from around 20000 people in less than 48 hours. Not bad for a company who failed to drum up enough interest from venture capitalists to get $950000 (the goal asked on the Kickstarter campaign).

It appears Ouya might become the most successful Kickstarter project, should it manage to beat the $10.3m pledged for the Pebble smart-watch earlier in 2012.