Get a refurbished Apple 12-inch MacBook for $400 less than price of a new one

Now that Apple has announced its new MacBook Air, we’re starting to see deals that make the 12-inch MacBook more competitive. Amazon is the latest to offer such a deal — and it’s for today only. The internet retailer is offering a certified refurbished MacBook for $400 less than the cost of a new one.

For $899, you’re getting a device with a 1.2GHz dual-core 7th-Generation Kaby Lake Intel Core M3 processor, a 256GB solid-state drive, and 8GB of memory. Amazon’s discount applies to all colors, so you can pick up the 12-inch laptop in space gray, silver, rose gold, or gold. The MacBook deal is part of Amazon’s early Black Friday promotions.

Amazon’s deal represents a sizable savings, but, as we mentioned, the unit you’re getting is refurbished, not a new one, and Amazon only offers a limited warranty on the laptop.

“The condition of these units are Manufacturer Certified Refurbished by Apple,” Amazon said in its MacBook listing. “These units are not eligible for Apple Care and do not come with an Apple Warranty.” Amazon does offer a 30-day return policy, however, but a restocking fee may apply.

Given widely reported keyboard woes plaguing Apple’s MacBook and earlier generations of the MacBook Pro since the company switched to the butterfly key designs, the warranty may be an important consideration for potential buyers. Apple has since redesigned the keyboard to mitigate problems with sticky keys, but the keyboard is only available on the latest models of the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air, not the MacBook.

In addition to the warranty, another consideration that potential buyers looking to hop on this deal should make is that the MacBook ships with just a uniport USB-C port. This means that you won’t be able to connect another peripheral while the charging the laptop, unless you’re willing to carry a hub. Apple’s other laptops, including the newly announced MacBook Air, ships with at least two USB-C ports for added convenience, allowing users to use one port for charging and the second for connecting peripherals like a storage drive or monitor. Additionally, the USB-C port on the MacBook doesn’t support the faster Thunderbolt 3 specifications.

If you’re looking at picking up the MacBook, be sure to check out our review and laptop buying guide. If you’re not set on MacOS, there should be plenty of deals on Windows laptops as the holiday shopping season approaches.

We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and choose what we cover carefully and independently. If you find a better price for a product listed here, or want to suggest one of your own, email us at dealsteam@digitaltrends.com.Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best MacBook deals for November 2018
• How to buy a refurbished Mac
• The best iPad deals for November 2018
• The best iPhone deals for November 2018
• It’s finally here. Apple’s new MacBook Air has Touch ID and Retina for $1,199

Paralysis treatment that helped 3 patients walk again could come to hospitals

Three paraplegics who sustained serious spinal injuries years ago have been given the ability to walk again, courtesy of electrical stimulation of their spinal cords using a wireless implant. Called STIMO (Stimulation Movement Overground), the technology allowed people who had long since lost the use of their legs to regain control of them.

“In our method, we implant an array of electrodes over the spinal cord, which allows us to target individual muscle groups in the legs,” Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon involved in the study, said in a statement. “Selected configurations of electrodes are activating specific regions of the spinal cord, mimicking the signals that the brain would deliver to produce walking.”

The study was led by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), both based in Switzerland. It represents a potentially massive leap forward for rehabilitation technology. Participants required only one week of usage before they regained limited ability to walk with body weight support. After several months, they were able to exchange this for other less-supportive devices such as walkers or crutches.

Best of all, even after the electrical stimulation was switched off, the participants retained the progress they had made over the course of the experiment.

A paper describing the work, titled “Targeted neurotechnology Restores Walking in Humans with Spinal Cord Injury.” was recently published in the journal Nature. A medical startup called GTX, co-founded by Jocelyne Bloch and another researcher named Grégoire Courtine, will now aim to turn this work into a treatment that’s available to patients in hospitals and clinics.

“We are building next-generation neurotechnology that will also be tested very early post-injury, when the potential for recovery is high and the neuromuscular system has not yet undergone the atrophy that follows chronic paralysis,” Courtine said in a statement.

As impressive as it undoubtedly is, this work is not the only example of electrical stimulation yielding impressive results. Recently, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. demonstrated how an implanted electrical stimulator was able to help a man paralyzed four years earlier in a snowmobile accident to regain the ability to stand — and even walk the length of a football field.

Editors’ Recommendations

• This spinal electrical stimulation implant let a paralyzed man walk again
• Removing ‘zombie cells’ in the brain could help battle the effects of dementia
• Scientists showcase brain-to-brain communication with game of 3-player ‘Tetris’
• Scientists try to trick brains of amputees with phantom limb syndrome
• 7 ambitious DARPA projects that could revolutionize the armed forces

Does the SmartThings WiFi mesh router include a smart hub?

Best answer: Yes — the SmartThings WiFi mesh router system also doubles as a smart hub that can connect up to 100+ different SmartThings gadgets.

Amazon: Samsung SmartThings WiFi Mesh Router ($280)

The SmartThings WiFi mesh router doubles as a smart hub

The SmartThings WiFi mesh router is really two different products in one.

In addition to providing ample Wi-Fi coverage for your home, it also works as a smart hub for all of your other SmartThings devices. So, if you were already planning on getting a mesh router system and are invested in the SmartThings ecosystem, going this route just makes sense.

Everything’s controlled through the SmartThings app

Whether you want to turn off your lights, adjust the thermostat, or customize your home network settings, everything is controlled through the main SmartThings app.

For buyers that already use the app for controlling other smart home devices, having your Wi-Fi options handled through here too is a really nice treat.

You can buy a single router or get a three-pack

If you’re interested in buying the SmartThings WiFi system for yourself, you can purchase just a standalone unit or pick up a three-pack for maximum coverage.

Although it’s more expensive upfront, we recommend going the three-pack route as it offers excellent Wi-Fi range (up to 4,500 square feet) and provides the most bang for your buck at around $93 per router instead of $120.

Our pick

Samsung SmartThings WiFi Mesh Router

$280 at Amazon

Mesh router + smart home hub in one

Samsung’s SmartThings WiFi mesh router not only blankets your home in reliable internet coverage, but it also doubles as a hub for all your SmartThings devices. This bundle comes with three routers for one low price.

Blizzard announces Diablo Immortal, coming to Android

Blizzard has just announced a brand new, mobile-first Diablo game at BlizzCon.

Blizzard kicks off BlizzCon today, and hot off the heels of the Diablo 3 Nintendo Switch release (our review) is the next addition to the Diablo franchise: Diablo Immortal, coming to mobile devices on Android and iOS.

There’s not too much known about Diablo Immortal right now, but they did say that this game takes place after Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and before the events of Diablo III. This will be a full-fledged massively multiplayer online action RPG (MMOARPG) for mobile, and graphically speaking, it will look similar to Diablo III.

Tyreal the Archangel is dead, and a shattered Worldstone is scattered all over, tainting and bringing forth ancient evils who want to harness the Worldstone’s power to control mankind.

If you’re wondering how the gameplay on a touchscreen will be, don’t worry. This is the first game that Blizzard has designed with mobile in mind, and it’ll feature a virtual joystick in the bottom left, with several buttons for abilities on the right.

Diablo Immortal will feature six playable character classes that most people will be familiar with: Barbarian, Wizard, Monk, Necromancer, Demon Hunter, and Crusader. Oddly enough, the Witch Doctor from Diablo III seems to have been omitted, though more classes could be added later. These six classes were the only ones that were shown off at BlizzCon.

With Diablo Immortal, every class gets new abilities that we haven’t seen before. There will also be new zones, new stories, and new dungeons to play through. And like the full console and PC games, there’s an online multiplayer experience, so you can team up with others and slay the demons of hell together. It appears that up to six people can play together at once, which is more than previous Diablo games (up to four).

Diablo started out as a PC game, but Diablo III (originally released in 2012) has made its way onto the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and now Nintendo Switch.

You can pre-register here to find out more info for the game as they reveal it, as well have a chance to get in on the beta and get exclusive in-game rewards.

Play your NES or SNES classic wirelessly with the $15 Nyko Super Miniboss

Play from (almost) anywhere.

Amazon has the Nyko Super Miniboss Wireless Controller on sale for $14.97, which marks this item’s steepest price drop to date. Typically it costs $5 more.

This controller can be used wirelessly with your Nintendo NES Classic and your Nintendo SNES Classic. You can play up to 20 feet away, and the Turbo button enables a mode that requires less button mashing. You can wirelessly access the Home menu by holding down the Turbo and Select buttons, and the rechargeable battery can be topped up with the included USB cable.

So far, the reviews are favorable, leaving this with 4.2 out of 5 stars.

See at Amazon

Grab Snow Joe’s 22-inch electric snow blower for $185

Be gone, snow!

Right now Amazon has the 22-inch Snow Joe electric snow blower on sale for $185. This is about $25 less than it’s recently been selling for, and nearly $50 less than it sold for earlier this year. It has a 22-inch path to clear the snow, and is powered by a 15A motor to make your sidewalk and driveway clean up a breeze. It has a built-in headlight, and can clear piles up to 13 inches tall in a single pass.

You’ll want to make sure you have a long, heavy duty, extension cord available to use with it as well. Be sure to grab this stuff now, while it’s discounted, instead of scrambling to find one when the snow starts falling.

See at Amazon

Best portable monitor for your Kano Computer

When you’re on the go, the last thing you want to have is an arm that’s so weighed down by heavy objects that you start to wonder whether you’ll survive the trip or not. Thankfully, I travel a lot of the time, so I value portability over everything else. Below you’ll find three monitors, each one having a different look and feature that makes them stand out as being one of the best portable monitors around. Each also will work with your portable Kano Computer.

Ultra-light with low power consumption

The Gechic 1303A 13.3″ Portable Monitor

The Gechic 1303A 13.3 Portable Monitor is amazingly flexible and so easy to set up. With plug-and-play, you won’t need to worry about setting up, and with HDMI included, the power consumption from this monitor is incredibly low. It’s also great for those who love to get creative, as it is easy to attach the monitor to a camera, smartphone, console or other devices.

$190 from Amazon

High quality for a low price

The Elecrow 11.6 Portable Monitor

With built-in speakers and a sturdy, yet slim frame, it’s obvious that this monitor is not one to miss. The Elecrow monitor also includes an 11.6 inch HDMI LED display, a metal rack to mount it on, an HDMI cable, and a power adaptor. It’s also compatible with your game consoles and car monitors.

$128 at Amazon

Versatile in every way

The Lilliput 7-inch LCD Monitor

What it may lack in size, it makes up for with its wide-viewing angles and high definition multimedia interface. The Lilliput may seem too small for some, but it truly is perfect for when you’re on the go. Its screen display is fantastic for taking it outside, so you can see your screen 24/7 with little to no hassle.

$158 at Amazon

Here I’ve provided you with three outstanding portable monitors, all there for you when you want to travel with your Kano Equipment in to. All three are able to fit in a backpack if necessary, and neither is so heavy that you’ll wake up the next day with your arms feeling as though they’re about to drop off. All three are fantastic, but if I had to pick a personal favorite? The The Lilliput 7-inch LCD Monito may look far too small, but its versatility is hard to ignore. It isn’t just made for the Kano, but for everything else too.

Apple Seeds First Beta of macOS Mojave 10.14.2 to Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS Mojave 10.14.2 update to its public beta testing group, two days after seeding the beta to developers and a few days after releasing macOS Mojave 10.14.1.

We don’t know what improvements the second update to macOS Mojave might bring, but it is likely to include performance improvements and bug fixes for issues that weren’t able to be addressed in the macOS 10.14.1 update.

Nothing new was discovered in the macOS Mojave 10.14.2 update provided to developers, so this software may be focused on under-the-hood changes that might not be discovered until it’s released. Apple’s release notes only mention an upcoming change requiring TLS certificates issued after October 15 to meet Apple’s Certificate Transparency policy.

macOS 10.14.2 requires that publicly-trusted Transport Layer Security (TLS) server authentication certificates issued after October 15, 2018 meet the Certificate Transparency policy to be evaluated as trusted on Apple platforms.

macOS 10.14.2 follows macOS 10.14.1, an update that introduced Group FaceTime support for chatting with up to 32 people at one time and new emoji characters.

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave
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Eight Hidden macOS Features You Can Access With the Option Key

The Option (⌥) key – or Alt key, depending on your keyboard layout – can be used to unlock all kinds of features hidden in your Mac’s operating system.

Try holding it down next time you access an app’s menu bar options, for instance, and you’ll often see several tweaked actions available to you.

Additional Finder File actions revealed via the Option key
In the Finder File menu shown above, Open becomes Open and Close Window (if you have a file selected in Finder, selecting this opens the file and also closes the Finder window), Close Window becomes Close All, and Move to Trash becomes Delete Immediately, amongst other options.

Below are just some of our favorite uses for the Option key in macOS. Feel free to share any other Option key actions you frequently use in the comments section at the bottom of this article.

Finder View Actions

In Finder’s List view, hold Option and click the triangle next to a folder to expand it, and the contents of any subfolders nested inside will also be revealed.

In Column view, you can also resize all columns in a window by Option-clicking on the column selector.

Menu Bar System Icons

Holding the Option key when you click menu bar system icons often reveals hidden actions. Option-click the Wi-Fi icon for example and you’ll see extensive information on the currently connected network.

Do the same for the volume icon and you’ll be able to change not only the audio output device but the input device, too. Elsewhere, Option-clicking the Time Machine icon will let you Browse Other Backup Disks, and you can also Option-click the Notifications Bar icon to turn it on and off.

Safari Browser

To clear all history including cached website data and cookies, you would select Safari -> Clear History… from the Safari menu bar. If you hold the Option key though, Clear History… becomes Clear History and Keep Website Data.

Hold down the Option key when you click a tab’s close button, and all other tabs will close except for that one. In Safari’s File menu, the Close Tabs option also becomes Close Other Tabs with Option held down.

Preview File Formats

When you come to save or export a file in Preview, Option-click the Format dropdown to get access to several more available file types.

Open Preference Panes

If your Mac’s keyboard has icons printed on some of the functions keys, you can press them to perform special features. For example, pressing the F11/12 keys with speaker icons adjusts the volume.

If you hold down Option when you press one of these keys, this will open the System Preference pane associated with the feature. Option-F11/12 opens the Sound pane, for instance.

Scrollbar Behavior

In the General preference pane, you can select between two forms of scrollbar behavior: Jump to the next page and Jump to the spot that’s clicked.

You can actually switch between the two behaviors on the fly: simply Option-click anywhere in a window’s scrollbar to jump to that location in the open document or webpage.

Force Quit Apps

If an application is acting up, hold down Option and right-click its icon in the Dock to reveal a Force Quit action in the popup menu.

You can also Option-click an app icon to bring its window to the forefront and simultaneously hide another app’s active window.

Resize Windows

When you drag your mouse from one side or corner of a window to resize it, you can hold the Option key to resize the dimensions of the window from its center point instead.

Adjusting from one corner affects all corners with the Option key held

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave
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Blizzard Announces Full-Fledged Diablo Game for Mobile Devices

At today’s Blizzcon event, Blizzard announced the upcoming launch of Diablo Immortal, a full-fledged action RPG that’s set in the Diablo universe.

Developed alongside NetEase, Diablo Immortal takes place between the events of Diablo II and Diablo III. The Worldstone has been shattered and Skarn, Herald of Terror is collecting the shards to resurrect Diablo.

According to designer Wayne Cheng, who spoke about the game in an App Store feature, players will see Westmarch during its golden age and roam through new locations like the Shassar Sea in eastern Kehjistan. Nine outdoor zones will be available at launch, according to Blizzard.

Six classes will be available to play at launch: Barbarian, Wizard, Demon Hunter, Monk, Crusader, and Necromancer, all with a combination of fresh and familiar skills and abilities.

Immortal will expand Diablo’s gameplay into a massive, shared online world. Players can play solo or alongside others, with a public hub available for teaming up for raids, upgrading gear, and crafting items.

Huge news! @Blizzard_Ent is bringing the award-winning Diablo franchise to iOS with Diablo Immortal.

For more on this awesome announcement, click here: https://t.co/aRs9PF9SBf#DiabloImmortal pic.twitter.com/CIRyliOnwC

— App Store (@AppStore) November 2, 2018

“We’ll have dungeon instances – similar to World of Warcraft – that allow you to form groups of four to take on much more difficult challenges,” Cheng said.

There’s no word on PvP gameplay yet, but Blizzard is interested in including such systems to foster a sense of competition and danger from other players.

According to Blizzard, Diablo Immortal is being built from the ground up as a mobile experience, and it will “feel familiar and intuitive” to mobile gamers and those who have previously played Diablo on console.

Blizzard plans to continually add new content to Immortal, evolving the game over time. The company says players can expect a “steady influx” of new story lines, character classes, challenges, and loot.

With just a single input form your thumb you can begin an ability, charge the ability up, aim it and then release to fire off the ability pic.twitter.com/yFwgzvns0d

— Diablo (@Diablo) November 2, 2018

There is no word on when Diablo Immortal is going to launch, with Blizzard planning to provide more details “in the coming months.” Players can pre-register for the game using the Diablo Immortal website.

Blizzard today also announced that it is working on a remastered version of Warcraft III that will come to Mac and Windows.

Blizzard also debuted a new Hearthstone expansion pack and new Overwatch heroes.

Tag: Blizzard
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