Loads of discounts with Amazon Student Days deals
If you’re a student looking to decorate your dorm, build a new entertainment system or just planning to pick up some minute study supplies, you might want to check out the latest selection of Amazon deals available exclusively for students. A range of offers will be running between October 7th or 9th, covering everything from electronics and tech, to bed sheets, clothes and even snacks.
For a starter, Amazon is offering students a 25 percent discount on a range of clothing shipped by Amazon. There’s also 25 percent off on mattresses, backpacks and a selection of bath products. For entertainment, Amazon is offering 20 percent off its new Fire TV by bringing the price down to just $79.99 or you can grab a 32-inch 720p TCL Smart TV for just $199.99 (20 percent off). The AmazonBasic Mini Bluetooth speakers are also discounted, and you can save $30 on the Fire HD 6 tablet.
I can’t list any more, there are simply too many things on sale right now. So here’s another screenshot.
To take advantage of these offers, you will need to be signed up to the Amazon Student program. There is currently a six month free trial available, after which your membership is upgraded to a 50% discounted Amazon Prime membership, which grants access to Amazon movies and music. Don’t worry, you can cancel any time, including in the 6 month free period, and save those precious extra dollars.
Argos takes on Amazon with UK-wide same-day deliveries
In the past couple of years, Argos has unveiled a number of new initiatives aimed at differentiating itself from its retail rivals. We’ve seen it open click-and-collect stores on the Tube, partner with eBay to let online users pick up their deliveries, set up digital stores inside Sainsbury’s branches and recently let customers trade in their old smartphone or tablet. Those perks are certainly useful, but they still require customers to visit an Argos store, which is often easier said than done. The company does recognize that deliveries still play a big part in its overall business, so today it’s turning up the heat on Amazon with the launch of same-day deliveries across the whole of the UK.
Argos says its Fast Track Delivery service lets customers order up to 20,000 products by 6pm and have them delivered before 10pm on the same day. That’s roughly the same number of items that Amazon offers customers in London and Birmingham via its Prime Now service. Argos is creating 3,300 jobs for delivery drivers, who will drop off packages in one of four available delivery slots available seven days a week: 7-10am, 10am-1pm, 2-6pm and 7-10pm.
On top of that, Argos is ramping up its collection service too. Fast Track Collection is now available in 800 stores, letting customers pay for their items ahead of time and pick it up within a couple of minutes (skipping the queue in the process).
Like Amazon, Argos won’t expedite deliveries for free. Its rival offers one-hour deliveries for £6.99 or same-day evening drop-offs for £9.99, but customers in select areas can select free two-hour delivery. Argos, however, covers the whole of the UK with the same standard £3.95 charge per shipment. It will only cover items that can be delivered from a local store by one person, so things like furniture will be covered by the normal express next-day delivery service instead.
Amazon expands one-hour Prime Now deliveries in London
When Amazon first brought Prime Now deliveries to the UK, only a select number of London postcodes were covered by the service. In three months, the company has expanded to Birmingham, foreshadowing the launch of Amazon Fresh, but now it’s giving its launch city some extra love after opening a new delivery depot in Wimbledon. From today, Prime customers in Merton, Wandsworth and Sutton can take use the Prime Now app to book a one-hour delivery. Users in Kingston, Sunbury and Croydon can now also enjoy free two-hour deliveries for the first time.
Prime Now isn’t just for last minute presents, it also includes items like toilet paper, batteries and toothpaste, as well as beer. The company also points out that it was able to deliver a Netgear WiFi Range Extender from its Bow delivery station to Canary Wharf in 12 minutes. However, it looks like London and Birmingham are just the start of Amazon’s Prime Now rollout in 2015. It says it will expand the service to “further UK cities before the end of the year.”
Source: Amazon UK Press Office
Amazon-owned Twitch finally overhauls its Fire TV app
You’d think that since Amazon owns Twitch, Fire TV devices would be the lead platform for its apps but that isn’t the case. However, the latest update for the streaming service favored by gamers on Bezos’ set-top box is pretty significant and mirrors a lot of what’s available on the console and mobile apps. It even outdoes them in a few ways. Of course you can watch plenty of live streams and the top games being played, but the update also brings in profile pages so you can check out exactly who those broadcasters are and check out their archived videos while you’re at it.
There’s apparently a quick-selection tool for emojis too, so accessing Kappa and FrankerZ at a moment’s notice should be pretty easy. Oh, the Twitch blog post says that 1080p support for newer Fire TV devices is on the table as well, in addition to being able to log in with your own account. It all sounds pretty basic, but the app was really lacking up to this point. Interested? Hit the Amazon Appstore to check it out for yourself.
Source: Twitch
Apple and Google top Best Global Brands in 2015
Interbrand has released its latest annual ranking of the world’s most valuable brands and for the third year running, Apple and Google have topped the list. The 2015 edition of the Best Global Brands reveals that technology brands show no sign of slowing down with six out of the top ten made up of technology companies.
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For the third year running, Apple has topped the list and Google has come second, with both companies leading the list for the third year in a row. Apple is valued at $170 billion while Google is valued at $120 billion and the consultancy derives its valuation from a company’s financials, ability to influence purchase decisions and the extend that it can support premium pricing (which explains why Apple has topped the list).
Microsoft and IBM swapped places, with the Redmond-based Windows-maker valued at $68 billion in fourth place. Korean giant Samsung stayed in seventh place with a valuation of $45 billion while Amazon (who is technically classified as a retailer), is up 29 percent to $38 billion in tenth place. Other brands in the top ten include Coca-Cola, General Electric and McDonald’s.
Elsewhere on the list outside the top 10:
- Intel rank in 14th with a 4 percent increase to $35 billion
- HP dropped 3 percent to $23 billion in 18th place
- Social giant Facebook rose 54 percent to a valuation of $22 billion in 23rd place
- Camera giant Canon dropped 4 percent to $11 billion in 40th place
- Siemens ranked 53rd ($8.5 billion)
- Sony dropped 5 percent to a valuation of $8 billion in 58th place
- Panasonic rose 2 percent to $6.4 billion in 65th place
- Huawei rose a whopping 15% percent to $5 billion in 88th place
This year’s edition also saw PayPal and Lenovo enter the list at 97th and 100th place with valuations of $4.25 billion and $4.11 billion but the list isn’t great for everyone; as might be expected, troubled Finnish company Nokia joined troubled gamer Nintendo in dropping out of the list.
What do you think of the companies on (and off) the list? Let us know your views in the comments below guys!
Lenovo PHAB Plus launches in India for Rs. 18,490
Lenovo announced its PHAB Plus smartphone in China in August and last month, we went hands on with the super-sized smartphone at IFA 2015. Now, the company has launched its handset in India via retailer Amazon India and the big-screen device can be had for Rs. 18,490 (approx. $284). The handset doesn’t seem to be officially supported in India however, as Lenovo hasn’t the listed the handset on its local website.
The PHAB Plus aims to reinvent the concept of a phablet by offering a large 6.8-inch Full HD display at a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch and is powered by a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with an Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB RAM. Under the hood there is 32GB inbuilt storage, which can be expanded further using a microSD card while on the back is a 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash and a 5MP front facing snapper.
The Lenovo PHAB Plus runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with Lenovo’s Vibe UI skin on top, while the handset also sports dual-SIM functionality to let you use two SIMs at once. Other notable specs include LTE, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and microUSB, which can charge the 3500 mAh inbuilt battery. The handset also features a rear speaker equipped with Dolby Atmos and as we covered in our hands on, Dolby Atmos is a great unique selling point for Lenovo’s larger-than-life smartphone.
Head over to Amazon India to buy the Lenovo PHAB Plus now. What do you think of the PHAB Plus and will you buy it? Let us knows your views in the comments below guys!
Amazon Echo app gets updated, brings new capabilities to speaker
Amazon just pushed an update to its Echo application for its digital assistant speaker. The update brings new skills and some new jokes.
With the update of the Amazon Echo app comes new Garageio skills. If you own a smart garage controller made by Garageio, you can now program Alexa to have certain capabilities regarding the garage system. For example, Alexa will know if your garage is closed and if it’s not, Alexa will close it for you.
With the update, Alexa also has the capability to tell jokes pertaining to the current presidential debate. For example, you can ask Alexa to say a Donald Trump joke and it will do so. In addition, users will also be able to ask Alexa to play music from a selection of newly included artists on Amazon Prime Music. This should be a worthy update. Hit the link down below to download.
Come comment on this article: Amazon Echo app gets updated, brings new capabilities to speaker
TiVo exec explains Bolt strategy, Fire TV app and new Pro next year
When the TiVo Bolt was unveiled earlier this week, most of the questions (that weren’t about its odd shape) came from long-time enthusiasts wondering why it doesn’t cater to them? Many aren’t willing to downgrade from a Roamio Pro’s 6 tuners and 3TB storage just to add 4K and commercial skipping. Dave Zatz points out that today TiVo Chief Marketing Officer Ira Bahr has faced the company’s most dedicated fans in a thread on TiVo Community, and says not to worry. According to Bahr, “we already have a roadmap plan to bring you something you’ll like way better in 2016 (more on this shortly).” As I figured during our Bolt preview, this device is an attempt to connect with new users, among the millions of people buying streaming boxes as they use internet video services to replace or add to traditional TV. As far as the look of the Bolt, Bahr said “my view is that we have to look different.”
The posts also added detail on the yet-to-debut Fire TV app by explaining it will arrive next week, ready to work both in and out of the home. At launch it will only support recorded content, but that includes watching content while it’s still recording.
As far as TiVo’s future, Bahr says that TiVo will keep selling the current Pro until a new model is available, and a 4K capable Mini extender should arrive next year. Acknowledging TiVo’s lack of individual profiles or ability to setup and save app logins under one user ID, he said the company is looking at ways to address that. We’ve long wondered when TiVo would address some of the longest-standing issues with its platform, and along with new hardware maybe 2016 will really be the year?
TiVo CMO Ira Bahr:
As an overarching thought for this whole conversation I would emphasize what many of you have already inferred. And that is, that the Bolt product was not really designed for the TiVo enthusiast. So your lukewarm reaction is not unexpected. Bolt is low on Tuners, light on storage, doesn’t fit into your racks and really doesn’t offer this group much more than 4K and software features you figure we’ll roll-down anyway.
So this leads to “why the hell did you NOT design for the TiVo enthusiast?” First, we already have a roadmap plan to bring you something you’ll like way better in 2016 (more on this shortly). This product is on the already established 3 year product cycle which you’re used to. Second, there just aren’t enough of you to sustain the company’s retail business alone. If there were, I assure you we’d have a way different approach. TiVo is simply unable to build its business on the backs of its ever diminishing group of loyalists. We did 150,000 activations in our last fiscal year. Compare that to the millions of streamers out there, and the tens of millions of DVRS out there and you see that we’ve got a lot of ground to make up. In order to win for the the company, and for YOU, we need to expand our market. If we fail to do this, we’re not going to be able to do much of anything, We think we’ve got a plan for both the mass market AND for enthusiasts. So snuggle up with a warm multi-meter, walk through the answers and we’ll try to talk more when you’re done.
Via: Zatz Not Funny
Source: TiVo Community
Amazon lands exclusive streaming rights to more CBS series
If you thought Amazon was done getting cozy with CBS, think again. The online retailer today announced yet another streaming deal with the TV network, which will give it exclusive access to three new summer series through 2018. What this means is you’ll be able to watch certain CBS episodes on Prime Instant Video four days after they’re first aired, as has been the case with Under the Dome and Extant — two of the channel’s most popular shows. This new licensing partnership includes episodes from CBS’ upcoming BrainDead a comic thriller about brain-eating aliens in Washington, DC, plus two more shows that have yet to be disclosed.
[Image credits: citron_smurf/Flickr]
Source: Amazon
Amazon to stop selling Google’s Chromecast, Apple TV and others come October 29
From Google’s second-generation Chromecast to the recently-announced Apple TV, media streamers have been really improving as of late. Unfortunately you won’t be able to purchase these devices from a certain major online retailer come October 29th, as Amazon has just revealed that it will stop selling Google’s Chromecast and other devices that don’t play nicely with Amazon’s Prime Video service. In an email sent to its marketplace sellers earlier today, Amazon said that starting today, no new listings for these products will be posted and that all existing inventory will be removed on Thursday, October 29th.
Here is Amazon’s official statement on the matter:
Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime. It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion. Roku, XBOX, PlayStation and Fire TV are excellent choices.
Amazon just recently announced its new Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, which of course play nicely with Prime Video. It’s not out of the ordinary for an online retailer to stop selling competitors’ products, but it’s still a shame that a retailer as large as Amazon is choosing to go this route. As of right now, only sales of the Google Chromecast, Apple TV and Nexus Player are affected, though we’re not sure if this change will go into effect for other Android TV devices.
AIVAnet 