Facebook enters the smart speaker race with Portal and Portal+, featuring video calls and Amazon Alexa

Benjamin Mayo -

Facebook has entered the smart speaker market, attempting to battle Amazon Echo and Google Home. The Facebook Portal is more tablet than speaker, with both models featuring large touchscreens. The natural comparison is the Echo Show, and Facebook is undercutting slightly on the price. The entry-level Facebook Portal will sell for $199, launching in November. The Portal+ is in the Apple HomePod price range, priced at $349.

The Portal touts a 10-inch display and the Portal+ has a 15-inch panel — so big. They both feature webcams with video calls using Facebook webcams, and it integrates Amazon Alexa to provide most of its smart speaker features.

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Award-winning iOS game Alto’s Adventure now available on the Mac

Benjamin Mayo -
Apps Games
$9.99

The award-winning iOS game Alto’s Adventure has finally made its debut on the Mac. Available for $9.99 on the Mac App Store, fans of the endless runner game on mobile can now play on their Mac laptops and desktops too. The game has received multiple accolades, including being featured in the App Store’s Best of 2015.

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Spigen announces special edition iPhone X cases echoing iMac G3 and original iPhone design

Benjamin Mayo -
News

Spigen has launched a series of new cases on Indiegogo for the iPhone X. As a celebration of Spigen’s tenth birthday, these cases are inspired by the design cues of the original iMac with its translucent windows as well as a throwback to the original iPhone’s aluminium metal and plastic design.

Only for iPhone X, the iMac variants come in five different color choices including the traditional bondi blue, red, grey, silver and green. The backs of the cases include raised outline of the iPhone X’s internals. They also have some cute references to the iconic ‘hello’ message on the insides.

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Apple’s Back to School event: free Beats with eligible Mac or iPad Pro purchase

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FeatureAppleBest Mac Deals
Shop now!

This year’s Back to School promotion at the Apple Store bundles Beats headphones with the purchase of certain Macs or iPad Pro.

On top of the standard education discount, you can get any pair of Beats for free when buying a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac or Mac Pro. iPad Pro purchases are eligible for free BeatsX or a $150 discount off the price of Powerbeats3 or Solo3 …

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Dell launches cutting-edge 31-inch 8K display … costs a cool $5K

Benjamin Mayo -
New Product

Whilst the mainstream adoption of 4K and 5K monitors is finally underway, Dell has leapfrogged the consumer market. The company has just launched the Dell UltraSharp UP3218K, claimed to be the ‘world’s first’ 8K consumer monitor. Touting a 7680×4320 resolution, it packs more than double the pixels of a 5K monitor and can display four 4K videos at native resolution simultaneously.

It also beats out many competing 5K monitors on pixel density, with 279 PPI across a 31.5-inch canvas. The cutting-edge technology comes at a hefty price; Dell is selling the monitor right now for a cool $4999.

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Apple Pencil for iPad Pro is now on sale for Prime members: $85 shipped (Reg: $99)

Benjamin Mayo -
AppleBest iPad Deals
Reg. $99 $85

Amazon Prime members can pick up an Apple Pencil at its lowest ever price on the site as part of Amazon’s Cyber Monday promotions. The Apple official stylus drawing accessory is currently on sale at $84.99 shipped for Amazon shoppers with a Prime membership. Also at Target. At $84.99, that’s a $14 saving on its regular price. Apple Pencil works in concert with the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro to offer the best available tablet drawing experience. Amazon customers love it, where it is a #1 best seller.

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Amazon launches standalone $8.99/month Prime Video subscription, but it isn’t really a deal

Benjamin Mayo -
Amazon

From today, Amazon is finally allowing customers interested in its Prime features to subscribe on a monthly basis. For $8.99 per month, users can now buy Amazon Prime Video on a month-by-month plan. A monthly plan including Prime Video, 2-day shipping and more is also available for $10.99 per month.

However, whilst these new offerings are attractive and accessible to more people, they do not represent a good deal. In fact, subscribing to Amazon’s new monthly options is significantly more expensive …

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