Buyer’s Guide: Labor Day Deals on the iPad Air, Retina iPad mini, Apps, and More [Mac Blog]
There are quite a few deals on Apple products, apps, and accessories this week due to the upcoming Labor Day holiday in the United States. Retailers have discounted the iPad Air, Retina iPad mini, and more, and several app developers are cutting app prices.
While there are few deals on Apple’s lineup of Mac products, Apple’s own back to school program is still ongoing until September 9, offering EDU customers a gift card with the purchase of a Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Best Buy is also continuing to offer EDU customers $100 off all MacBooks and the iMac.
iPad Air
Staples is offering $30 off all models of the iPad Air for Labor Day weekend, dropping the price of the entry-level 16GB Wi-Fi only model to $469, for example. The company is also offering $100 off select computers that are regularly priced at $499 or more with the coupon code 11605, which applies to all iPads priced over $499, for a total discount of up to $130 on some iPad Air models.
Retina iPad mini
Best Buy is offering $50 off most models of the Retina iPad mini, dropping the price on the Space Gray entry-level 16GB Wi-Fi only version to $349. The discount applies to both Wi-Fi and Cellular models across the board, with almost all versions getting the price cut. Entry-level Cellular models, such as the 16GB Silver version from AT&T, are priced at $480 with the discount.
In addition to iPad Air discounts, Staples is offering $30 off all models of the Retina iPad mini for Labor Day weekend, dropping the price of the entry-level 16GB Wi-Fi only model to $399, for example. The company is also offering $100 off select computers that are regularly priced at $499 or more with the coupon code 11605, which applies to all iPads priced over $499, for a total discount of up to $130 on some Retina iPad mini models.
Apps
The Labor Day holiday is often a popular time for app discounts, and this year is no exception. Many app developers are already offering their apps at reduced prices, and additional discounts are expected before Monday. Our sister site TouchArcade has made a list of games already discounted, which includes Another World, Impossible Road, Pathogen, LEGO The Lord of the Rings, Strata Super Lemonade Factory, VVVVVV and more. Other apps on sale include Instacast 4 GoodReader 4, and Clone Magic.
Apple Accessories
Best Buy is offering a $100 iTunes gift card for $85, a discount of $15. Groupon is also offering a $15 iTunes card for $10, a discount of $5.
Woot is selling Sennheiser’s MM—50-IP In-Ear Headphones with Apple Control for $24.99, a $25 discount. Woot is also offering a refurbished Jawbone Big Jambox Bluetooth speaker for $159, down from $299 new.
Groupon has the Logitech Folio case for the iPad Air for $19.99, a discount of $30. Groupon is also offering the Beats By Dre Tour In-Ear Headphones for $109.00, a discount of $40 off the regular price.
MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors.
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T-Mobile getting personal with September 10th event invites for Uncarrier 7.0
Looks like something has gotten under T-Mobile‘s John Legere’s skin again. the bad boy of the wireless industry just keeps pushing, and I like it. Invites to an event to announce Uncarrier 7.0 have started to make appearances with a very interesting message on them, “This time it’s personal.”
The pinkish block is covering the password that is on the invite. Not sure if each one has the same password or not. 9to5Google’s image shows “speakeasy”. The one above is from Tmonews.
The event is schedule for September 10th at 12:30 pm PST in San Francisco and will fully kickoff at 1pm. Interestingly enough, this isn’t being held at some lavish venue like usual. Instead it is being held at a corporate T-Mobile store on the corner of Market and 3rd. It should be interesting since Apple will be in town on the 9th.
What are you thinking T-Mobile will pull this time?
Source: TMonews
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[Deal Alert] Limefuel Lite 15,000 mAh external battery pack for $34.99
Just last week we saw the Limefuel Lite battery banks floating about on Stack Social and we tossed out a link on G+. A good number of people picked one up. At that time the sale was ending. Now it would seem they are back on the list of items you can save a little cash and pick up.
The big thing is the amount of power this monster contains. Coming in at 15,000 mAh, it should be more than enough power for a heavy user at least for a week. The Limefuel Lite offers up 2 US ports to charge two devices simultaneously, features a screen displaying exactly how much power the battery banks has left and even gives you a flashlight built in. The USB ports are split rated with one being a 1A out and a 2.1A out.
The sale is listed for another 5 days and will set you back just $34.99 versus the traditional $55 price tag that it generally carries. Head over to Stack Social and get on ordered. While you are over there, take a look around. There is a Wireless Charging kit for the Galaxy S5 too and the 3 year VPN unlimited subscription is still on sale.
Click HERE to snag the deal.
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The post [Deal Alert] Limefuel Lite 15,000 mAh external battery pack for $34.99 appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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Which cheap tablets are worth buying?
A few years ago, tablets were poised to replace laptops as the computing device of choice. That never happened, as we’ve largely stuck with laptops and phones as our daily drivers, with tablets relegated to a secondary role. If you don’t use a tablet that much, it certainly seems wise to avoid dropping a lot of cash on one. But a lower price often means compromises, and too many compromises means you won’t be using the tablet at all. To figure out how many corners you can cut when it comes to purchasing a sub-$200 tablet, we’ve gathered opinions from across the web, from our own reviews to the opinions of other trusted critics. Which cheap tablets balance performance and price to still deliver a good experience? When is it worth spending just a little bit more money? And which deals are too good to be true?
Filed under: Tablets, ASUS, Amazon, Dell, Acer
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3D-printed mesh gives man with half a skull hope for recovery
People have been patching up their bodies with foreign parts for ages now, but 3D printing has only made that process easier, faster and more emblematic of hope. Case in point: a Chinese farmer named Hu fell three stories in a construction accident, and he has a shot at a normal life again thanks to a 3D-printed titanium mesh that doctors installed where the left side of his skull used to be. The accident left Hu with impaired vision and an inability to speak or write, so surgeons at Xijing Hospital in northwest China took him under the knife for three hours to return his skull cavity to its normal shape. It’s too soon to tell if his normal brain function will return, though — doctors hope his gray matter will slowly start to regenerate now that it has the space to grow. This isn’t the first time 3D printed parts have complemented someone’s cranium — doctors in the Netherlands replaced most of a woman’s skull with 3D printed plastic after it was discovered that the bone surrounding her brain was slowly growing thicker and threatening her cognitive future.
Via: IBTimes
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Google’s Megan Smith rumored as America’s next CTO
The United States found itself without a Chief Technology Officer yesterday when Todd Park relinquished his post to go trawl Silicon Valley for IT types, but that spot may not stay open for long. Bloomberg claims that there’s already a frontrunner for the job: Megan Smith, the 49 year old vice president of Google’s moonshot-loving X division. If the rumors hold true, Smith would become the country’s third CTO (succeeding Park and his predecessor Aneesh Chopra), and the first not to trade one government job for another.
But here’s a question to ponder: what exactly does the United States’ CTO do? The office’s stated goal is to “promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities — from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure”, but it can be a little tough to outline exactly what the men in the CTO seat have actually accomplished. Chopra’s tenure for instance saw the development of a nationwide public safety broadband network, while Park’s stint is probably best known for the tricky rollout of Healthcare.gov, a process that was… fraught with headaches, to say the least. Smith’s lack of governmental experience could help or hurt here — she’s no stranger to wrangling resources and getting stuff done, but the amount of bureaucratic red tape that comes with a high-ranking spot like this would be nothing to sneeze at.
Source: Bloomberg
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The future of IFTTT includes paid plans and hardware harmony
Several of us here at Engadget HQ employ If This Then That’s (IFTTT) recipe-based automation chops to keep app-driven tasks in order. The software outfit has been keen on adding new functionality often, with channels opening up recently for Nike+, Eyefi, Square and more. So what’s down the road for the handy add-on? Paid plans. The New York Times reports that the upcoming options will cater to users who want more than what the regular free version offers, and of course, generating some revenue to help pay the bills. The example given in the report is a social media manager linking various Twitter accounts to the service in order to automate tasks for each. What’s more, the company is aims to create “an operating system” for the so-called Internet of Things that weaves together mounting pile of connected gadgets introduced on the regular. With a recently raised $30 million in funding, doubling staff to focus on both design and business development is the first step towards more automated living for us all.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: The New York Times
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Talk on the town pegs a flagship Sony device slated for Sprint in time for the Holidays
Pigs might just fly and hell just might freeze over. At least in respects to a Sony device coming to Sprints network. Apparently people are talking and sources are legitimate. We aren’t talking about a vendor in Hong Kong talking to some forum site in Indonesia either. No, instead they are talking to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. That alone gets us a little excited.
We know that Sony should be making an announcement for the next flagship Xperia Z3 at IFA next week, and with a little luck, that is the device that Sprint customers can expect to see. If the reports pan out, they are said to have the device in stock and for sale in time for the holiday season. That puts it around November-ish. Just my guess anyways. This would put a Sony device on US soil through a carrier much quicker than T-Mobile ever did. Which is sad, cause I love my Xperia Z and Z1s.
The whole thing is a joint effort between SoftBank, Sprints parent company, and Sony in attempts to help keep Sprint moving forward. It certainly will be nice to see another Sony device hit the states officially, but if Sony is really trying to push themselves in the states Sprint and T-Mobile aren’t the carriers they should be targeting. While I am not a fan of Verizon, it would be a much better move. Of course that doesn’t benefit SoftBank at all and they are the ones that have a good relationship with Sony already.
Hopefully an official announcement about a device heading to Sprint will be made at the same time the device is put out for all to drool over.
Source: WSJ | Reuters Via Android Police
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iPhone 6 Built From Parts Apparently Shown Booting to ‘Connect to iTunes’ Screen
Following its leak of photos showing the iPhone 6 logic board that have revealed the device’s NFC chip and 16 GB of storage, luxury modified iPhone vendor Feld & Volk [Instagram page] has now shared some photos and a video showing the device in operation and booting to a black screen requesting the user to connect the device to iTunes.
Feld & Volk says it has been able to piece together this iPhone from various components it has obtained as part of its effort to build its own luxury version of the iPhone 6 for its customers, and remarkably enough, the device is at least capable of turning on.
While it seems surprising that a functional iPhone 6 could be built from individual components, Feld & Volk has demonstrated that it has been able to get its on rare parts, and thus it is possible they may have acquired everything necessary to build the device.
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Inside Apple’s PR Practices, From Media Control to Attitude Shift Under Tim Cook
In a lengthy 9 part exposé, 9to5Mac‘s Mark Gurman delves into the inner workings of Apple’s PR team. While much of what Gurman covers is already fairly well known, his coverage provides an expansive look at the way Apple’s PR team operates, from its organizational structure to its efforts to control Apple’s perception through media manipulation.
Despite Apple’s size and its position as one of the most profitable companies in the world, its PR team is relatively small, comprised of approximately 30 employees in Cupertino along with a few dozen scattered around the world. In Cupertino, Apple PR is divided into seven teams: Momentum, Mac, Corporate Communications, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, and Events.
Along with organizing events and controlling product placement, Apple’s PR teams keep a close eye on the media, despite its apparent indifference, and take steps to correct negative perceptions when deemed necessary.
So it’s a surprise that Apple actually isn’t that detached from the media: it’s more like a teenage girl obsessively keeping her fingers on the pulse of coverage. Members of Apple PR seek tabloid photos of celebrities holding iPhones, while others read Apple-focused blogs actively, and keep tabs on prominent Apple beat writers using anonymized social media accounts. […]
This oversight is so important to Apple that a few times a week, top executives are sent a document detailing the company’s latest press coverage. When Apple is not pleased with coverage, it sometimes works to shift the narrative, even attempting to undermine giant news organizations.
For example, Gurman claims that Apple recently attempted to discredit Reuters over a story about Apple’s accessibility practices that the company was not happy with. Gurman also points Apple’s penchant for discrediting competitors, pointing towards an email Apple PR sent to 9to5Mac on an anti-Android story.
Along with giving tidbits of information to various reliable media outlets, Apple also gives review units and review guides to columnists and journalists who Gurman claims have a largely positive view of the company and its products.
Also likely contributing to which publications get early access to products is the nature of pre-coverage — angles taken by writers during the product rumors cycle. As Brian Lam put it, “Apple can already tell what a review is going to say from [a publication’s] pre-coverage, and they’re not going to give you a review unit if you’re not going to play ball.” In other words, Apple feeds the writers who will do its bidding, and starves the ones who won’t follow its messaging.
In addition to delving into details about Apple’s apparent media manipulation, Gurman also covers the shift in attitude as the company has transitioned from Steve Jobs’ leadership to Tim Cook’s. This has included the retirement of Katie Cotton, who was reportedly seen as a “tyrant” by her employees. Cotton, who was close to Steve Jobs, apparently did not mesh well with Tim Cook’s desire to portray Apple as a “friendlier” company, leading to her departure.
Apple is said to be searching for a new head of PR to replace Cotton, and in the meantime, Apple’s PR teams are run by two longtime employees who report directly to Cook. Under Cook, Apple’s internal policies have shifted somewhat, from his direct apology for the Apple Maps app to his efforts to discredit Yukari Iwatani Kane’s anti-Apple narrative Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs.
Gurman’s full examination of Apple’s PR team is well worth a read and covers a large range of topics. A list of links to the 9-part series is below:
– Apple Events and Shredded White Booklets
– Introducing the Teams: How PR is Organized at 3 Infinite Loop
– Strategies: The “Art of Deep Background” and Controlling the Press
– The Departure of a “Tyrant”
– Two Heads in Place of One
– Controversies: From Maps to Beats to Haunted Empires
– Product Reviews, Briefings, & Reviewer’s Guides
– Steve Jobs and the Process Behind Press Releases
– A Friendlier, More Transparent Future?
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AIVAnet 