Save up to 20% on tons of AmazonBasics products for a limited time

Something for everyone.

Amazon currently has a wide assortment of AmazonBasics products on sale for up to 20% off their regular price. When it comes to products, the AmazonBasics brand has just about everything you can think of, and this wide-ranging sale makes the already low-priced items even more affordable. It’s no secret that we think AmazonBasics products are worth purchasing for many reasons, and we aren’t alone on that one. Many of these items have 4 and 5 star ratings, some based on more than 15,000 reviews.

This sale has a little bit of everything in it, from 4-port car chargers to camping chairs, microfiber sheet sets, smartphone repair kits, and even scissors to help with all of your holiday wrapping needs. You can also grab a new dish set to serve all your Thanksgiving company and get some new flatware as well.

There’s really no better time than right now to start preparing for the holidays, and when you can save on popular everyday essential items, you should pounce at the opportunity. All of the AmazonBasics products are manufactured, sold, and distributed by Amazon, which allows them to keep the costs low and pass the savings on to you. The company launched the brand back in 2009, and now it spans more than 27 different categories with thousands of different product offerings.

Amazon just launched its Black Friday hub with some early deals that are already live, and odds are over the next few weeks we will see them continue to ramp up. There’s no reason to wait until the big shopping day, though, because things get crazy, deals sell out fast, and the last thing you want to do is miss out because you waited too long.

While you’re at it, you’ll want to consider signing up for our Black Friday newsletter to have the hottest tips, tricks, ad leaks, and deals delivered right to your inbox. Let us help make this your most successful holiday shopping season!

See at Amazon

The motion-sensing Mr Beams Wireless LED Spotlight is down to $20 today

Brighten up your back yard.

Amazon has the Mr Beams Wireless LED Ultra Bright Spotlight on sale today for $19.61. That saves you $7 off its average price and is within two dollars of the lowest it’s ever been there before.

This spotlight offers 300 lumens of ultra-bright light across 400 square feet with minimum power consumption, which makes it one of the brightest wireless spotlights available for purchase. Its integrated motion sensor will turn on and off the light automatically as needed to help save on electricity, plus it’s weatherproof so you won’t have to worry about it being damaged by rain or snow. It comes with mounting hardware for installation and is simple to put up on your own without an electrician or handyman.

Since it’s wireless, you’ll need four D batteries to keep it powered. None are included with your purchase however, so you may want to add some to your order before checking out. At Amazon, over 3,300 customers left a review for this spotlight resulting in a rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars.

See at Amazon

Roomba robot vacuums, SSDs, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

There’s never a shortage of deals available, but sorting through all of them can be difficult at times. We’ve handpicked all the best tech, and everyday essentials discounts that you can take advantage of right now and brought them to one central location. From light bulbs to Lego, these are today’s best deals.

Tech Deals

Everyday Essentials

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Apple Adding iPhone 5 and Additional Macs to Pilot Program Allowing Repairs of Select ‘Vintage’ Products

Normally, an Apple product becomes vintage once five years have passed since it was last manufactured, meaning that Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) will no longer repair or service the product.

In late January, however, Apple launched a pilot program that permits Apple Stores and AASPs to continue servicing select vintage products, subject to parts availability. The program started in the United States and Turkey with the Mid 2011 iMac and expanded worldwide with the 2012 MacBook Air in August.

Now, Apple is further expanding the program to include the iPhone 5, which became vintage on Wednesday. In an internal document, Apple says Apple Stores and AASPs worldwide are authorized to continue servicing the CDMA variant of the device through October 31, 2020, and the GSM variant through December 30, 2020.

Apple’s internal document, obtained by MacRumors from multiple sources, also outlines other soon-to-be vintage iPhones and Macs that will also be added to the pilot program at various dates throughout the remainder of this year:

Effective November 30, 2018:

• iPhone 4S
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)

Effective December 30, 2018:

• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Retina, Late 2012)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Retina, Early 2013)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Retina, Mid 2012)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Retina, Early 2013)
• Mac Pro (Mid 2012)

If parts are unavailable for a specific repair for these vintage products, Apple Stores and AASPs are instructed to decline service. This is a pilot program to begin with, so it is subject to change or end at any time.

The exact reason for the pilot program is unclear, beyond Apple apparently having a surplus of service parts for these specific vintage products. Apple’s internal document states that inventory of service parts will not be replenished, so repairs under the pilot program are certainly not guaranteed.

Tags: vintage and obsolete, AASP
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Mophie Launches Juice Pack Air Battery Case for iPhone X at $99.95

Mophie today launched the long-awaited Juice Pack Air case for the iPhone X, nearly eight months after it received Qi certification for the accessory. The case comes in two colors — Black and Navy — and is being sold for $99.95. The Black Juice Pack Air can be ordered today and will ship in 1-2 business days, but at the time of writing the Navy is out of stock.

Juice Pack Air is a Qi case for iPhone X, and can store battery to recharge the smartphone while on the go. There’s a built-in 1,720 mAh battery that Mophie says extends the life of iPhone X to a total of 30 hours. With Qi support, you can place the Juice Pack Air on any Qi-compatible mat to refuel the accessory as well as the iPhone X.

Like other Juice Packs from Mophie, the Juice Pack Air for iPhone X has high-impact protection, a low-profile design, and a LED status indicator on the back of the case to see how much battery is left. Compared to previous iterations, the Juice Pack Air for iPhone 8/7 has a 2,525 mAh battery and the iPhone 8 Plus/7 Plus accessory has a 2,420 mAh battery.

Rumors about the launch of the Juice Pack Air began circulating in March of this year, when Mophie applied to the Wireless Power Consortium to gain Qi certification for the charging case. With the clearance, the Juice Pack Air became the first Qi-certified iPhone X charging case.

Since the application, Apple has now launched three new iPhones: the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, but Mophie Support on Twitter confirmed that the new case is only officially compatible with iPhone X. One user asked about a Juice Pack Air Battery Case for iPhone XS and XS Max, and Mophie Support tweeted back, “We’re always coming out with new products and power solutions for your favorite devices. Stay tuned for updates by signing up for our newsletter.”

Those interested can purchase the Juice Pack Air for iPhone X on Mophie.com today.

Tag: Mophie
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Nvidia on Its Lack of macOS Mojave Drivers for Newer Graphics Cards: ‘It’s Up to Apple to Approve Them’

Nearly six weeks after the release of macOS Mojave, web drivers for Nvidia graphics cards released in 2014 and later remain unavailable for the latest operating system, resulting in compatibility issues. This includes Nvidia graphics cards based on its Maxwell, Pascal, and Turing architecture.

While some customers have expressed frustration towards Nvidia, a spokesperson for the company informed MacRumors that “while we post the drivers, it’s up to Apple to approve them,” and suggested that we contact Apple. We followed that advice, but Apple has yet to respond to multiple requests for comment.

As a result of the lack of web drivers, external GPUs with an Nvidia graphics card released in 2014 or later have compatibility issues with any Mac running macOS Mojave. Likewise, any Mid 2010 or Mid 2012 Mac Pro upgraded with 2014-or-newer Nvidia graphics is incompatible with the operating system.

Nvidia warns that affected customers who upgrade to macOS Mojave may experience degraded rendering and performance on that version, according to discussions on the Nvidia Developers Forums and MacRumors Forums.

macOS Mojave requires a graphics card that supports Apple’s graphics framework Metal, but until updated web drivers are released, many newer Nvidia graphics cards such as the GeForce GTX 1080 are incompatible with the operating system. In the meantime, some users have downgraded back to macOS High Sierra.

Nvidia’s Quadro K5000 and GeForce GTX 680 are already Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave, according to an Apple support document.

macOS Mojave is compatible with any MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro released in 2012 or later, in addition to Mid 2010-Mid 2012 models of the Mac Pro with a Metal-capable graphics card.

Nvidia graphics cards based on Kepler architecture, which Apple offered in various Macs between 2012 and 2014, are fully compatible with macOS Mojave. Apple has since switched to AMD as its dedicated graphics card provider.

There is some debate as to whether Apple, Nvidia, or both companies are to blame for the lack of web drivers, which are usually released within a few days after a major macOS release. If we learn any new information, we’ll share it.

Related Roundup: macOS MojaveTags: Metal, Nvidia
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2019 iPhones to Feature Upgraded Face ID Camera System

Apple’s 2019 iPhones will come equipped with an upgraded Face ID camera system, according to a new note to investors from often reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

According to Kuo, next-generation iPhones will feature a new flood illuminator that will improve Face ID by lowering the impact of invisible light from the environment. Kuo believes the upgraded sensor will be included in all 2019 iPhone models, which he has previously said will again consist of two OLED iPhones and one LCD iPhone.

We believe that Apple will raise the output power of the flood illuminator VCSEL to lower the impacts from invisible lights of environment in order to improve the Face ID user experience. The higher power VCSEL with higher ASP needs increased requirements of design and production, increased materials for array design, and longer testing times. Therefore, the VCSEL supply chain can add higher value.

Kuo’s note also suggests a Time of Flight (ToF) 3D camera will be introduced in iPad models in late 2019 or early 2020, and could expand to the iPhone in the second half of 2020. He continues to believe that Apple has no plans to adopt ToF in 2019.

According to Kuo, a ToF 3D camera would allow for 3D models to be captured via the iPad and then edited with the Apple Pencil for an “all-new productivity experience.” On the iPhone, eventual ToF support will allow for new AR experiences and improved photo quality.

We give a greater than 50% probability that the new iPad in 4Q19/1Q20 may adopt ToF (our previous forecast that the 2H19 new iPhone will not adopt ToF remains unchanged). We believe that 3D modeling captured by ToF and then edited by an Apple Pencil on an iPad will create an all-new productivity experience for design applications in a totally different manner from computers.

We estimate that ToF will likely be adopted by the new iPhone in 2H20 at the latest. The iPhone’s adoption of ToF will create the new AR experience and improve photo quality. We expect that Apple’s ToF design may adopt the higher-than-1,000nm wavelength VCSEL (vs. current Face ID’s 935-945nm) for better system design and user experience.

A time-of-flight camera system is designed to determine the distance between objects by measuring the time-of-flight of a light or laser signal between the camera and the subject at each point in the image.

Kuo previously said he does not believe Apple is ready to implement this kind of camera system in the iPhone because it would not create the “revolutionary AR experience” that Apple is aiming for. Kuo believes that for the AR experience Apple wants, the company would need 5G connectivity, augmented reality glasses, and a more powerful Apple Maps database.

Though new iPhones are a good year away, we’ve been hearing rumors for months. We’re expecting upgraded A13 chips in the upcoming devices, and there have been rumors of either a reduced notch or no notch at all, which could be a component of the improved TrueDepth camera system.

Rumors have also suggested Apple is considering a triple-lens rear camera system for at least some 2019 iPhone models, but it’s not clear how that meshes with rumors suggesting a ToF implementation is off of the table for the 2019 lineup. A triple-lens camera could still provide benefits to photo taking, such as 3x optical zoom and better performance in poor lighting conditions.

Related Roundups: iPad Pro, 2019 iPhonesTag: Ming-Chi KuoBuyer’s Guide: 11″ iPad Pro (Buy Now), 12.9″ iPad Pro (Buy Now)
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Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 12.1.1 to Public Beta Testers With FaceTime Improvements

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1.1 update to its public beta testing group, one day after seeding the same beta to developers and two days after the release of the iOS 12.1 update.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple’s beta testing program will receive the iOS 12.1.1 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.

Those who want to join the beta testing program can sign up on Apple’s beta testing website, which gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.

The iOS 12.1.1 update introduces some significant improvements to the FaceTime interface, and it re-adds the feature that’s designed to let you take a Live Photo while on a FaceTime call.

In iOS 12.1.1, FaceTime features a reworked bottom bar that includes quick access buttons for muting a call and flipping the camera. Sliding up on the bottom bar brings up additional options with conversation participants.

Previously, FaceTime users were required to tap on three dots to access a secondary menu with these features.

The update also includes a new option in the Apple News app that lets you hide the side bar if desired.

Related Roundup: iOS 12
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Apple Seeds First Beta of tvOS 12.1.1 to Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.1.1 update to its public beta testing group, one day after releasing the beta for developers and two days after releasing the tvOS 12.1 update.

The tvOS 12.1.1 public beta can be obtained by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under “System.” “Get Public Beta Updates” will need to be toggled on, and once it is, the Apple TV will download the beta software.

What’s new in tvOS 12.1.1 is a mystery because Apple does not provide detailed release information for tvOS updates. The new software most likely focuses on bugs that were not able to be addressed in the tvOS 12.1 update.

Nothing new was discovered in the tvOS 12.1.1 beta provided to developers, which is not a surprise as Apple’s tvOS updates have historically been minor in scale.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
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Palm Phone hands-on: The supplemental smartphone

In 2018, we’re not focused on what our devices can do, but rather what we can do without our devices. Everyone from Google to Apple is pushing some kind of anti-addiction initiative, prompting users to take a break from their screens every once in a while so they can experience things in the real world more often.

The past few years also saw the resurgence of legacy brands. Blackberry, Nokia, and others came back in a big way, banking on nostalgia to help lift them into the spotlight shared by the likes of Samsung and Google.

Now, Palm is back too, and instead of trying to compete in an over-saturated landscape of big, immersive handsets, it’s betting big on another category – one at the intersection of wearables and mobile phones.

The Palm Phone is not a technically impressive device. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chipset, 32GB of storage, and 3GB of RAM, this isn’t the flagship device you’ll agonize over for days before buying. Instead, Palm is hoping for its new phone to supplement your daily driver. It’ll be an extension of your phone when you want to be more connected with the real world — I mean that literally.

This is not a technically impressive device. Think of it more like an extension of your main smartphone.

The Palm Phone works on Verizon’s network with an eSIM that mirrors the SIM on your main device. It shares the same phone number, meaning it’ll receive the same calls and texts as your primary phone. The point of the Palm Phone is to be the little cellular gadget you might need when you don’t really want to be consumed by the digital world but still might want a phone for emergencies (or emergency Snapchats).

Palm doesn’t want you to feel like you’re missing a ton when using its device, so it’s included a 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera that seemed to take nice photos during the time I used it. The phone’s even IP68 water resistant, so you take it in the water with you. The company wants this thing to be your daily companion so you can leave your main phone charging at your desk.

It should be noted that this isn’t a dumbed-down device. The Palm Phone is running Android 8.1 Oreo with a skin that makes it seem almost like an Apple Watch – with big bubbly elements making it easy to select the action you want to take. And because it is still running Android, you still have full access to the Google Play Store, where you can download nearly any app and have it work on your mini phone. In that sense, the Palm phone is only as full-fledged and productivity-focused as you want it to be.

See also

Best fitness trackers (September 2018)

Fitness trackers have come an extremely long way over the years. No longer are they glorified pedometers; they’re much more than that. Most standard fitness trackers nowadays can track your steps taken, distance traveled, how …

According to Palm, this device is something you would keep your work apps off of. This is something you bring with you to snap a few photos or work out at the gym — not something for responding to Slack messages and browsing Twitter. In a sense, it’s an alternative to a wearable device, evident in the fact that the company is launching more than 14 accessories alongside it. They’ve made armbands for the gym, cases in the shape of a small clutch purse, and even a necklace. Palm’s biggest focus is on the development of accessories for the device because it wants the phone to fit the lifestyle you already live — whatever it is.

One of the coolest features of the new Palm Phone is called Life Mode. This toggle in the quick settings menu disables all the radios in the phone, but only when the screen is off. When you unlock the device the radios spring back to life, flooding your device with all the notifications you missed while Life Mode was enabled. Palm says this lets you take control of your life back from notifications, and I quite like this idea. It also makes that 800mAh battery last quite a long time. Palm is touting “all day battery life”, but we’re assuming it will last even longer if you keep it in Life Mode most of the time, especially considering the power-sucking display is only 3.3 inches.

The Palm Phone will be available for $349 full retail or $299 through a 24-month payment plan with Verizon Wireless, and you’ll have to cough up $10 a month for Verizon’s NumberShare program, which allows the device to share your phone number. Unfortunately, since this phone is exclusive to Verizon in the U.S. you won’t be able to take it anywhere else, and you can’t use it as your primary phone. You’ll also need to use Verizon’s Message+ texting app if you want to sync your text messages.

The Palm Phone will be available from Verizon Wireless starting Nov. 2, but you’ll also be able to snag it from Vodafone if you live in the U.K.

Check it out on Verizon

What do you think about Palm’s new device? Is a supplemental smartphone a good idea? Let us know your thoughts below!