Mac

Update (1/23 11:46am): the discount code available in this post has now expired.

If you are an iMac user you like nice things. Reaching around to the back of your iMac every time you want to plug in a USB object is not nice. Sure there are options out there. You could drop $15 on a wrap around cord or buy a nice aluminum USB 3 hub (this nice Satechi 7 port is $40 or Powered Anker is $44 or many others have existed for awhile).

If you want something that looks like it came from Apple however, check out the iMacompanion. It is a single USB 3 port that carries the power and speed of the iMac’s USB 3 (also USB 2 compatible for older models) to the base of your iMac. It has a flat USB cord that will snake under your iMac and to the back USB port. All the instructions you need are in the following graphic and a 15% off offer follows:

The big thing here is the quality: the housing is 100% aluminum and it is designed to fit perfectly onto your iMac. Wiplabs is giving gadgetnewsonline readers a 15% discount when bought through Amazon using code gadgetnewsonline at checkout which knocks it down to $34 with $4.50 shipping (offer is good for a week)

http://vimeo.com/104030314

WaterField Designs, purveyors of high-quality bags and accessories made in San Francisco, has released its latest addition to its popular line of its the commuter solutions. Designed specifically for “techies and travelers”, the made-by-hand Bolt Briefcase puts the focus on quick access to the most important items in your bag, while keeping your valuables secure.

Owner Gary Waterfield describes the new Bolt as so:

When designing the Bolt, we started with a list of what we travel with and how much protection and accessibility we need for each item. For example, my wallet and smartphone—high accessibility items—are safely stowed, but easily accessed from front magnet-closing pockets, while my laptop sits securely inside its padded main-compartment laptop sleeve.

This new bag features two “easy-access” compartments for the gear that needs to be pulled out regularly, a waterproof compartment, a padded sleeve area for laptops and a slot to slide over suitcase handles. It is available in two sizes, 13 and 17-inch and is available in a variety of colors. Starting at $249 for the small model, and $30 more for the larger rendition, the Bolt Briefcase is set to ship on January 20th.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVplBHmggs&w=704&h=396]
Full PR below:

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As the new gear rolls in from our team on the show floor of CES 2015, consumer audio and electronics lifestyle company ION has a few announcements of its own. Makers of everything from Bluetooth speakers to headphones and DJ gear (among other things), ION Audio is introducing new hybrid light bulb speakers and a new Bluetooth turntable/audio interface…

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You love games, but your girlfriend or wife doesn’t. My goal is to change that. This week, gadgetnewsonline is debuting Gaming For Couples, a new weekly column looking at great games for couples to play together. We’re not necessarily going to pick the newest or hottest games for this column — instead, we’re going to suggest titles that are reasonably priced, made for both girls and guys, and widely available.

Our first edition looks at two picks just in time for the holidays: the Peggle franchise and The Beatles: Rock Band, both from Electronic Arts.

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Amazon has the HP ENVY 32-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor Quad-HD for only $432.18. That’s over $160 off the regular price and the lowest Amazon has ever sold it for.

It has a 2560 x 1440 resolution on a wide-viewing angle screen (that’s the same resolution you would get on a 27-inch iMac) and HP claims that you get “vibrant detail from practically any position.” You also get the “best sounding, richest audio” available from a monitor with Beats audio. You can connect with MHL, HDMI or Display Port, with optimized upscaling for great mobile streaming.

It received 4.4/5 stars and impressive reviews from Amazon customers.
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Update (12/17 10am): B&H also has the high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro w/ Retina display 2.8GHz/16GB/512GB for $2,399 shipped, which is a savings of $300 off the regular price.

B&H offers the newest version Apple 15-inch MacBook Pro w/ Retina display (model MGXA2LL/A) for $1,699 with free shipping. That’s $300 below Apple’s asking price and to top it off, B&H only charges sales tax at the time of purchase for a few states.

This laptop is a powerhouse. It features a 2880 by 1800 Retina display, 16GB of DDR3 RAM, and a quad-core 4th generation Crystalwell 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 processor.

Use your savings to cover the cost of AppleCare.

Full specs are as follows:
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Don’t worry, all of our favorite good looking accessories, iPad docks and Bluetooth speakers are on the way. For now its all about how to amplify your home Mac set-up and integrate it with iOS. Mainly geared towards Mac/iOS musicians, here are some of my favorite pieces of gear to crank your home studio/office up a notch:

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Blutek (99.3% Positive feedback) via eBay Daily Deals is offering the 11.6-inch Apple MacBook Air with 128GB of storage (MD711LL/B) for $749.99 shipped. That’s $149 under the regular price and $30 below the best deal we saw in this year’s Black Friday sales. It’s also $19 less than Apple’s current asking price for a refurb.

This is a current gen model with the following specs:

• 1.4GHz Intel Core i5 Dual-Core (Haswell)
• 4GB of 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
• 128GB Flash Storage
• 1366 x 768 Native Resolution
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
• Dual USB 3.0 Ports, One Thunderbolt Port
• 720p FaceTime HD Camera

If you’re looking to go Retina then check out this current generation 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro (MGX72LL/A) for $1,099.99 shipped (Reg. $1,299). That’s $50 above our Black Friday pricing, but only NJ buyers will be charged sales tax at the time of purchase.

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Many Black Friday deals are officially going live today with others likely arriving tonight and through the weekend into Cyber Monday. We’re tracking deals for all platforms and gadgets, but below we’ve rounded up only the best accessories for iOS devices and Mac seeing big discounts this weekend. 
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Update (11/26 2:00pm): MacMall’s Black Friday 60 Hour Sale is now live.

Update (11/26 2:00am): We have added the entire MacMall Black Friday ad.

MacMall is a shopping mecca for Apple fans looking to save some money. With the biggest shopping day of the year coming up, there’s no doubt many of you have been waiting to get a peek at MacMall’s Black Friday plans. Well, we’ve finally got our hands on them and we can’t wait to share them with you.

MacMall offers deals on by far the largest selection of Apple products we’ve seen from any retailer this holiday season. Stores like Best Buy only stock standard configuration Macs, but MacMall carries high-end and custom configuration models. Also, keep in mind that MacMall only charges tax at the time of purchase for buyers in nine states (CA, CO, GA, IL, MN, NC, NY, TN, and WI).

That being said, here are all of the deals that MacMall is planning to kick off tomorrow, Wednesday 26th at 12:01 PM PST:
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Black Friday always offers a wide variety of discounts on a number of products, but so far this year its been slim for consumers looking for a new Mac. We have confirmed some deals from Best Buy, but they are not offering a wide variety of configurations, and have tax implications depending on your state.

Adorama and B&H Photo are both offering discounts on most Mac models this week, we’ve already spotted a nice price drop on an iMac with Retina 5K display + AppleCare from Adorama.

In some cases Adorama is bundling AppleCare with a purchase for a discounted price. B&H currently only charges for taxes for New York residents at the time of purchase, while it varies for Adorama. Additionally, you’ll need a free Adorama VIP membership to take advantage of these prices.

Below you’ll find our top picks for deals on current generation MacBook Air, Retina MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and Mac Mini from these two retailers so far:

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B&H offers the late 2013 Apple 13.3-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (model ME865LL/A) for $1,149 with free shipping, which is $250 below the original list price of $1,399 and even less than a refurbished unit directly from Apple. It features 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 Dual-Core Haswell processor, 8GB RAM, and 256GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage.

Best Buy also has a couple Retina MacBook Pros on sale.

Full tech specs include:
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IK Multimedia has been providing musicians with software and recording gear for years now, with a number of affordable products available for Mac, iOS and PC. Its mobile interfaces and midi instruments allow iOS users to track and record musical ideas on the go, and today it is finally announcing its first step into the Android space…

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Small States features small companies that design and manufacture within the United States. 

Since we began writing Small States about two and half months ago, we’ve been afforded the opportunity to tell the story of many great companies in the United States. It has been an incredible journey of meeting people that are passionate about bringing old world craftsman skills back to a country that has found peace in buying things from overseas. We have met and profiled so many great proprietors of high-quality products, telling their story has been an honor for us.

Today, we highlight DODOcase, makers of beautiful goods that provide a home for your iPad, iPhone, laptops and more. With Small States, we’ve found an opportunity to highlight products that are manufactured within the United States, but with DODO it’s about so much more.

This San Francisco based company is not only manufacturing beautiful products, they are bringing back a way of life and skill that has quickly escaped our country over the last 50 years.
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Best Buy is discounting a selection of MacBook Air, Retina, and Pro laptop computers.

But the standout of the bunch is the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (MGXA2LL/A) for $1,799.99, which is a drop of $200. All other retailers are charging at least $100 more. Usually we only see significant discounts on entry-level Air/13-inch Retina Macs, so if you’re looking for more power then this is the deal you’ll want to grab.

Additionally, you can shave another $50 off your final price if you have access to a .edu email address.
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Apple has blessed us with a beautiful 5K Retina iMac, but somehow forgot to update the ancient Thunderbolt Display. Now, Mac owners are once again forced to look outside of Apple to get the most from their computers. Apple will sell you a Sharp 32″ PN-K321 4K Ultra HD LED Monitor for $3,595 – but you’re much better off opting for the ASUS version (w/ the same panel) that just dropped another $500…
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Daily Steals via eBay Daily Deals offers refurbished Apple Macbook Air 11.6-inch MC505LL/A for $499.99 with free shipping. That’s a match of the sold out deal we featured earlier this month.

Originally released in late 2010 for $999, this MacBook Air features a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB flash storage. It’s obviously not the latest technology, but keep in mind it’s a full-featured Mac for the same price as a 16GB iPad Air 2. Great as a secondary computer for travel or as a child’s first laptop. Eligible for a 14-day return policy.

Full tech specs include:
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AgileBits has just put its popular password manager app 1Password on sale for $34.99 (Reg. $50). While not the lowest we’ve seen, its the best price in around 6 months. Recently the company went freemium with the iOS 8 version, adding touch ID support in the mean time. This marks the first price drop since the company adopted the freemium model. Both versions are considered to be among the best options available for password management and sit with 4+ star ratings from thousands of reviewers.

Head below for more details: 
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The Pokémon Company International announced that its Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is coming to the App Store today. Already available on Mac and PC, this marks the very first time an official Pokémon game has debuted on the iOS platform outside of Pokémon TV and the Pokédex app.

Head below for availability details and the release trailer: 
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Feral Interactive’s latest console/PC port has now made its way to the Mac App Store in the form of GRID 2 Reloaded Edition. Originally released on PC and consoles, the Codemasters developed title was a successor to the original GRID title and designed to hit the sweet spot between frantic arcade racing and realistic simulation.

Head below for more details and some brief gameplay in the trailer video: 
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AppSumo is offering 6 months of Todoist Premium for free. A one year Premium subscription to the popular note taking/agenda app will run you $28.99 via in-app purchases, so with today’s deal you are savings as much as $14.50.

With support for 13 platforms in total, including iOS, Android, Mac, Kindle, Windows and many more, Todoist Premium is a convenient way to keep all of your notes, reminders, location alerts and more synced across all of your devices. Other features include turning emails into tasks, auto backups, as well as a handy notification system.

Even though there are many different apps of this nature out there, with over 2 million users and strong reviews across the board, its hard not to want to give Todoist Premium a spin for free.

More features and demo video below: 
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Today, Pioneer announced the latest edition to its affordable WeGO DJ controller line. The new WeGO3 is an “ultra compact” controller designed to make DJing approachable with support for all the popular DJ apps on iOS and Mac right out of the box.

Along with a quick demonstration video of the new WeGO3 in action, head below to find out more about what it has to offer including some interesting iPhone/iPad features with the included Lightning cable: 
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Autodesk has released a new Mac version of its image editing app Pixlr today, while its popular SketchBook Mobile for Android goes free. SketchBook Mobile is a “professional-grade painting and drawing application” with 65 preset brushes and a wide range of customizable workflows. It has received excellent ratings from thousands of reviewers on both iOS and Android.

While still offering in depth editing for more professional users, Pixlr is designed to to make it easy “to transform everyday images into stunning works of art.” It features all of the same basic editing capabilities you’re used to along with an interesting double exposure effect and the handy Color Splash brush for injecting (or removing) color into particular aspects of an image. You’ll find over 100 effects, 340 overlays, 200 borders and more, but only a certain portion of the feature set is available for free: 
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Apple has recently added the 2014 MacBook Air to the refurbished section of the Apple Online Store. Currently, the 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5 11-inch MacBook Air is available in two configurations priced at $769 and $929, with 128 GB and 256 GB SSD’s respectively. 13-inch Air’s have also been in the store at various times in the last couple of days, so should return once Apple replenishes their refurbished inventory. These reduced prices are equivalent to around 15% savings in comparison new models from Apple’s site. The products were added two days ago, and have been lapsing in and out of stock constantly, so — like much of Apple’s refurbished offerings — quantities are obviously limited.

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Amazon is offering the Omaker Ultra Portable Metallic Mini Wireless Bluetooth Speaker in Pink or Blue for only $15.99 Prime shipped when you use the coupon code: VBM26USJ at checkout. That’s a $64 savings off the list price and the lowest we’ve seen for the speaker.

Omaker sent us a review unit this week and it works darn well for a $16 speaker.

Their words:

It has a metallic finish with simple design. It features Bluetooth 3.0+EDR and it’s “unique and compact ostrich egg fashion appearance slips easily into your bag for use on the go.” It’s high definition and surprising fullness realized through a 4W driver and bass port – outclassing other similar-sized portable speakers. Built-in big capacity Polymer Lithium Batteries allow for a playback time of up to 8 hours.

Ours:

Is it going to give something like Logitech’s Boom line a run for its money?  No, not at all. But it is pretty nice and a nice accessory for a mobile device. It pairs easily and it actually says in broken english “MOMI IS WAITING FOR YOUR CONNECTION” and then confirms your connection. Then when you lose connection, more broken English.

It sounds a little bit better than the speakers on a MacBook Pro and yet it can fit in your pocket and make speakerphone calls very nicely though we heard an echo in our testing).  It has lasted over 5 hours in our brief testing.

It received 4.6/5 stars and great reviews from Amazon customers. We’re in agreement. If you need a speaker and have $16 to spend, then go for it!
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Best Buy has the MacBook Air 1.4GHz 4GB/128GB SSD 13.3-inch for $848.99 shipped. Apply EDU email discount of $100 to drop the price to $749.99 shipped. That’s the lowest price we can find on a 13.3-inch Haswell MacBook Air new.  (Choose open box to drop the price another $51 to $698).

13-inch : 128GB Specifications

• 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
• Intel HD Graphics 5000
• 4GB memory
• 128GB PCIe-based flash storage

Other MacBooks are also on sale Best Buy.
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B&H offers the Apple 13.3-inch MacBook Air (model MD761LL/A) for $949 with free shipping. Originally released in 2013 for $1,299, this MacBook Air features a 1.3GHz Intel Core i5 Dual-Core Haswell processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 256GB Solid-State Drive. We’ve only seen this Mac drop to this price point once before and that deal was exclusive for Best Buy student purchases.

Further tech specs include:

• Integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000
• 13.3″ LED-Backlit Glossy Display
• 1440 x 900 Native Resolution
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
• Dual USB 3.0 Ports, One Thunderbolt Port
• 720p FaceTime HD Camera, SDXC Card Slot
• Includes Mac OS X 10.9 or OS X 10.8

Save $75 on AppleCare.

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Update: Just as a quick clarification, Notifyr is only free on every second day starting on August 6th.

We recently spotted a new app called Notifyr on the App Store, and today the developers have kicked off a sale offering the notification app for free. Every second day for the next 7 days Notifyr will be available for free of charge, down from the usual $3.99.

Notifyr is a two pronged notification service, providing the above iOS app and a free Mac companion app. Using a standard Bluetooth connection, your iOS notifications will appear on your Mac as if they were any other Mac Notification Center alert. These aren’t just Apple notifications either, “you can read your incoming WhatsApp messages, see who’s following you on Instagram or read any of the other kind of notifications from any app on your iPhone. It’s also possible to mute notifications from any app you like.”

We recently put the two apps to work in our hands on test of the system and found that everything from phone calls and Facebook Messages to iMessages and SMS messages worked seamlessly. For more details on the apps and limitations on devices head over to our full rundown.

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Realmac Software has put its popular Clear app for Mac on sale for $4.99. Regularly priced at $9.99, this is the lowest we have ever seen the app go for on the Mac App Store by $2.

“Over 2 million people” use Clear for its to-do and reminders tools. With a simplistic gesture-based design for the Magic Trackpad or a mouse, Clear for Mac features built-in iCloud syncing, multiple/separate lists for every situation, customization with list themes and full syncing compatibility with the iOS version.

Speaking of the iPhone and iPad version, iOS users can pick up Clear for just $1.99 today down from $4.99. The mobile version packs much of the same features as its OS X counterpart and shares the same great hands-on impressions from reviewers. Both versions have received 4.5 stars from thousands of ratings.

For more iOS price drops and freebies, be sure to keep an eye on our daily game deal roundups.

Update (7/31 7:15am): iPad Air 16GB WiFi $429.99 shipped (Reg. $499) via eBay Daily Deals

Update (7/30 10:35am): Best Buy is taking $100-$200 off previous generation Retina MacBook Pros. Anyone with a .edu email can save an additional $100.

This morning, eBay Daily Deals is packed with some highly discounted Apple products:

• 13.3-inch MacBook Pro w/ Retina (ME864LL/A): $1099.99 shipped (orig. $1,299)
• Apple TV (3rd generation): $84.99 shipped (Reg. $99)
• iPad Air 32GB WiFi: $499.99 shipped (Reg. $599)
• Retina iPad mini 32GB WiFi: $429.99 shipped (Reg. $499)
• iPad mini 64GB WiFi: $349.99 shipped (orig. $529)
• 11.6-inch MacBook Air (MD711LL/B): $699.99 shipped (Reg. $899)
• 13.3-inch MacBook Pro (MD101LL/A): $899.99 shipped (Reg. $1,099)

Other Apple deals still alive:

• Apple Store refurb. Retina MacBook Pros dip to lowest prices ever, now start below $1,000
• Airport wireless routers (Refurb): Express $60 (Reg. $99 new), Extreme $120 (Reg. $199 new)
• iPad mini 32GB WiFi (Silver or Space Gray) $300 shipped (orig. $399)
• Desktop Macs: iMac 21.5-inch $1,100 shipped (Reg. $1299), $110 off Mac mini
• Save 30% on AppleCare for your 13 or 15-inch MacBook
• Apple reboots its eBay refurbished store, iPhone 5 (unlocked) starts at $449

Get an extra $20 at Gazelle when you trade in your old iPad and save 20% on ZAGG accessories.

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Update (7/28 7:28 AM)  The Mac Minis at Best Buy have dropped another $10 since last Friday making it a savings of $110 off the list price.

Update (7/25 2:38 PM): Best Buy offers the Apple Mac mini with 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive for $499.99 shipped. That’s $100 off the list price and the current lowest we can find. The higher-end model is also available at a $100 discount.

Bluetek USA via eBay is offering the newest iMac (ME086LL/A) 21.5″ Desktop for only $1,099.99 shipped. That’s $200 off Apple’s retail price and $179 less than Amazon’s current listing.

This iMac features a 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 Processor with 6MB L3 cache. It has a 1TB (5400-rpm) Hard Drive, 8 GB (Two 4 GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 Memory, and a 21.5-inch (Diagonal) LED-backlit Display with IPS Technology; 1920-by-1080 Resolution. It also comes with Mac OS X Mavericks already installed.
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Next-gen consoles and supped up PCs are producing beautiful games, but they can’t replace the sense of nostalgia felt by booting up your favorite retro game. 8Bitdo is attempting to recapture that feeling by bringing to market a Bluetooth version of the original Nintendo Entertainment System controller. Other than two additional two buttons and a couple design tweaks, Nes30 was built to mimic the look and feel of the official Nintendo controller…
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Popular mobile app developer Flexibits has kicked off a sale on its highly rated Fantastical 2 calendar app for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Fantastical 2 for iPad sees a 33% drop from $14.99 down to $9.99, matching the lowest we’ve seen it go for on the App Store since release pricing. The iPhone version is 50% off today dropping from $9.99 to $4.99.

On Mac, the highly rated app gets a 50% drop from $19.99 down to $9.99, which also matches the lowest all time price from the Mac App Store.

Fantastical 2 has received thousands of 4+ star ratings across all platforms. You can find more iOS price drops and freebies in our daily app round ups.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBeC2UkbR98]

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