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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Gadget Deals: MacBook Pro, App Store Price Drop, LED Pico Projector

Today’s deals include Apple MacBook Pros starting at $1,299, new App Store price drops, a palm-size LED projector and many more.

Details of these and other Daily Deals can be found on the CoM Daily Deals page.

The Apple Store has stock of 24 factory-refurbished MacBook Pro notebooks in its Special Deals section. (With free shipping, many are at lowest-we’ve-seen prices.) All come with a 1-year Apple warranty, the same as new Macs. Sales tax is added where applicable. Items are removed from Apple’s site when they sell out. Some best bets, each with free shipping:

Unibody MacBook Pro MB470LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 15.4-inch Laptop for $1,299 (was $1,349)
Unibody MacBook Pro MC026LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz 15.4-inch Laptop for $1,599 (was $1,699)
Aluminum MacBook Pro MB488LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz 15.4-inch Laptop for $1,499
Unibody MacBook Pro MB604LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz 17-inch Laptop for $1,949
See all refurbished MacBook Pro notebooks

Several iPhone and iPod touch applications available from the iTunes App Store have recently dropped in price. Each is the best deal we’ve seen on that title. The deals:

AppsCode’s Tie-a-Tie Deluxe for 99 cents (pictured, $2 off): Tie tying reference
Wim Haanstra’s MusIQ for 99 cents ($1 off): Music quiz
Dougherty Technologies’ iForget Mobile for 99 cents ($2 off): Memorization assistant
cdlzcb’s iCoolShow for 99 cents ($26 off): High resolution matrix display
Aspyre Solutions’ iEatHealthy for 99 cents ($2 off): Healthy food database
HearPlanet’s HearPlanet for $1.99 ($1 off): Location-based audio guide
Norfello Oy’s Time Capture for $5.99 ($4 off): Time tracking

Buy.com offers the tiny 3M MPro110 LED Pico Projector for $199.99. (With free shipping, that’s the lowest total price we could find by $50.) This 5.6-oz. portable projector features a 1280×768 resolution, images up to 50-inch wide, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, VGA and RCA ports, and more. Since it uses LEDs, it’s unlikely to ever need a bulb replacement.

Update: Although 3M claims on its product page that it displays resolution of up to 1280×768, the manual quotes a display resolution of 640×480. Upon further investigation, it appears that it accepts inputs of up to 1280×768, but features a fixed display resolution of just 640×480.

newegg.com offers the Intel Entry Network Storage Server, model no. SS4200-E, for $199.99. Coupon code “SERVER7312″ knocks the price to $179.99. (With free shipping, that’s the lowest total price we could find by $35.) The server features a 1.6GHz Intel Celeron 420 processor, 512MB RAM, 250-watt power supply, Gigabit Ethernet, USB, and eSATA connectivity. Deal ends August 6.

PC Connection offers the Drobo 4-Bay Firewire 800 / USB 2.0 Robotic Hard Drive Storage Array, model no. DR04DD10, for $349. This $50 mail-in rebate (redeemed as a PrePaid Visa card) chops it to $299. (With free shipping, that’s tied with our July mention and the best total price we’ve ever seen for this device.) This enclosure allows you to manage, protect, and scale storage for your PC or Mac. It accepts up to four Serial ATA drives of differing capacities from different manufacturers, with a maximum of 16TB total. Rebate ends August 31.

newegg.com offers the Iomega Select 320GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive, model no. 34610, for $59.99 with free shipping ($0.19/GB). (That’s $20 off and the lowest total price we could find.) This 2.5-inch drive features an 8MB cache.

Dell Home offers the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS 12.1-Megapixel Digital Camera in Silver, model no. 3588B001, for $150. (With free shipping, that’s $49 off Sunday’s mention and easily the lowest total price we’ve seen.) Sales tax is added where applicable. The SD780 IS features a 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, SDHC slot, optical image stabilizer, face detection, SD card slot, HD movie recording at 1280×720 (720p), and more.

newegg.com offers the Griffin AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier for iPhone 3G / 3GS, model no. 9696-AIRCRVC, for $12.98. (With free shipping, it’s the lowest total price we could find by $2.) This device purports to amplify an iPhone or iPhone 3G’s built-in speaker by about 10 decibels. It also doubles as a docking station, featuring a pass-through slot for the Griffin Dock Cable (sold separately). Deal ends August 10.

Adorama offers the Lexar 16GB JumpDrive FireFly USB 2.0 Flash Drive in Red, model no. JDFF16GB431, for $54.95 with $5 for shipping. This $40 mail-in rebate cuts the price to $14.95 ($1.25/GB). (That’s the lowest total price we could find by $35.) It features a bright LED read/write indicator. Rebate expires August 31.

newegg.com still offers the Samsung ML Series ML-1630 Monochrome Laser Printer in Gloss Black for $89.99 with free shipping. (That ties our mention from a week ago and is within a buck of the lowest total price we’ve seen.) [Most stores charge $200.] This laser printer features 1200×600 dpi resolution, maximum print speed of 17 ppm, and USB connectivity.

About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

Email the author | Read more posts by Ed Sutherland.

One comment

    [...] Mpro110 Portable Projector Gadget Deals: MacBook Pro, App Store Price Drop, LED Pico ProjectorThe deals: Buy.com offers the tiny 3M MPro110 LED Pico Projector for $199.99. (With free shipping, [...]

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