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Top 5 stores for the best Black Friday deals online in 2015

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Standing in line just got easier.
Standing in line just got easier.
Photo: DealNews

Almost all major retailers have unveiled their Black Friday ads by now, and some of our predictions have been blown out of the water by lower prices. Many will definitely qualify for the coveted Editors’ Choice nod. And with price-matching driving down prices next week, more will likely follow.

We tallied up the spoils that debuted during the November 21 to November 29 time frame last year, and selected the top five stores that had the most Editors’ Choice deals. These vendors offered the best prices on the most popular items, and we’re already seeing them attempt to repeat this year.

Now, all that’s left to do is allocate your cash wisely, prepare some comfortable running garb, and get your Black Friday game face on.

Google unleashes wonderfully nerdy Star Wars Easter egg

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This is certainly the Easter egg you're looking for.
Photo: David J. Rodger
Photo: David J. Roger
Photo: David J. Roger

As a company staffed by some bona fide geeks (and, hey, we’re not complaining!) Google is undoubtedly excited about the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

And what better way to show it than with possibly my favorite Easter egg in Google history? If you haven’t heard about it yet, read on to discover more.

If you care about special needs kids, choose Android Pay over Apple Pay on Black Friday

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if-you-care-about-special-needs-kids-choose-android-pay-over-apple-pay-on-black-friday-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201511tappaygive-blog-png

tappaygive-blog

While Apple Pay has become a near ubiquitous payment option at stores across America, Android Pay is having a harder time getting off the ground. But here’s a reason to feel good about using Google’s service over Apple’s: until the end of the year, Google will donate money to special needs students across America every time you use Android Pay.

We spend 7 weeks per year staring at our phones, study claims

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Filmmaking on the iPhone.
That's 49 days for those keeping track at home.
Photo: Apple

People aged 16 to 30 spend around 3.2 hours per day on mobile devices like iPhones and iPads, according to a new study by global market research company TNS.

That translates as 49 days out of the year staring at miniature screens — with people reported to look at their phones a massive 150 times daily.

Well, when you put it like that

Apple acquires company behind Star Wars SFX

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Apple now owns one of the hottest facial recognition companies in town.
Apple now owns one of the hottest facial recognition companies in town.
Photo: Faceshift

When you go to theaters to see the latest Star Wars movie, the special effects — particularly the faces of aliens — will now be driven by Apple technology. That’s because Apple has purchased Faceshift, a Zurich-based company that has created cool tech to capture a person’s facial expressions in real time.

The best Black Friday deals to set your calendar for

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Hold on, hold on - these deals will remind you to buy them.
Hold on, hold on - these deals will remind you to buy them.
Photo: Bethesda

There are so many Black Friday deals out there it’s incredibly difficult to keep up with them all, even for someone who’s paid to do just that.

We’ve taken pity on you and have pulled the absolute best deals that we could find and added a special value-added service at the end: A single line of text that you can copy and paste into your Google Calendar Quick Add field or your Calendar Quick Event field (just click on that big Plus button at the top of your Calendar app).

That way, you’ll have reminders when these fantastic deals appear, whether you’re at home zoning out to Fallout 4 or out at a holiday party drinking good cheer.

Check out our evolving list below.

Get a free copy of powerful DVD ripping and video conversion software [Deals]

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macx-video-converter (2)
The recently upgraded MacX DVD Ripper Pro is more powerful than ever for getting your media from disc to drive.

DVD players are going the way of the Walkman, leaving many of us with vast libraries of obsolete discs. Of course the movies and TV shows themselves aren’t obsolete — just their shiny plastic medium — but with hard drive space getting more and more vast it makes less and less sense to let a bunch of discs take up cabinet or closet space.

3D Touch comes to iPad Pro thanks to clever Apple Pencil hack

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Apple Pencil
Apple Pencil is the best iPad accessory.
Photo: Apple

The iPad Pro is the most impressive tablet Apple’s ever created, but it’s missing one killer feature: 3D Touch.

Developer Hamza Sood has found a clever workout around though that brings Peek and Pop features to the iPad Pro, and it’s all made possible thanks to the pressure sensitive features of the Apple Pencil.

Check it out:

Vine comes to Apple Watch with featured and favorite clips

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Apple Watch users can now watch Vines on their wrist.
Apple Watch users can now watch Vines on their wrist.
Photo: Vine

Twitter is bringing its short video sharing service, Vine, to wrists across the globe today with its first Apple Watch app.

Vine for Apple Watch brings two feeds to users — favorites and featured — which allows you to catch up on clips from favorite creators, as well as watch featured videos that are handpicked from channels across the network.

Teardown reveals Apple Smart Keyboard is not repairable — but super durable

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Apple's new keyboard is made out of high-tech fabric.
Apple's new keyboard is made out of high-tech fabric.
Photo: iFixit

We’re just days away from carving up turkeys in the US, but the folks at iFixit are busting out the blades a little early for their official teardown of the new Apple Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro.

The new teardown from iFixit reveals how Apple made the Keyboard/Smart Cover super durable by encapsulating the entire product in some high tech fabric that should make it last much longer than a normal keyboard, which is good because it is also impossible to repair.

Check out the keyboards guts below:

Protective case turns your sleek iPhone into a loud fashion statement

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UAG packs a punch of protect for your i-devices.
UAG brings the tough-guy bling to your iPhone.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Best List: Scout iPhone case by Urban Armor Gear

No one would accuse Urban Armor Gear of being sleek or subtle. The company’s iDevice cases are loud and rugged. You might even call them masculine, although I know a few of my female friends would embrace the bold statement they make.

How to expand your Macbook storage without taking up any extra space [Deals]

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The HyperDrive immediately expands your laptop's storage capacity without taking up any extra space.
The HyperDrive immediately expands your laptop's storage capacity without taking up any extra space.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Having a backup drive is key to anyone with a laptop, but lugging around an extra hard drive can take the convenience out of portable computing. Plugging into the computer adds steps to the process of getting started with work, but one Macbook slot in particular — the SD card port — can be used to immediately expand its storage by 512 gigs. The way to do it is with a HyperDrive MacBook Storage Expander, and you can get one right now for $19.95.

Two years on, iBeacons still haven’t taken off

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beacon1
iBeacons haven't come too far since launching in 2013.
Photo: Apple

Apple launched its iBeacons to great fanfare back in 2013, but since then… well, they haven’t exactly taken the retail world by storm.

An interesting new article by Bloomberg digs into some of the facts and figures about Apple’s beacon technology, citing reports claiming that only 3 percent of retailers currently use beacons, and just 16 percent have plans to use them in the future.

How to fix the new Apple TV’s annoying onscreen keyboard

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Want this back on your new Apple TV? Here's how.
Want this back on your new Apple TV? Here's how.
Photo: Rob Griffiths

The old Apple TV used a 6 x 7 grid of letters to let you enter text. It wasn’t QWERTY, but it was efficient, requiring a minimum of presses to enter your text.

Consequently, many people upgrading to the new Apple TV have found the new onscreen keyboard annoying. It’s a horizontal two-line strip that takes a lot more time to hunt and peck your way through.

If you love the old Apple TV onscreen keyboard, though, good news! It’s easy to bring back. Here’s how.

VR iPhone case is virtually a reality after hitting Kickstarter goal

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As iPhone cases go, this one's pretty darn cool.
Photo: Figment VR

A nifty iPhone case-turned-VR headset has passed its $75,000 Kickstarter funding goal in just one week — promising users a snap-on virtual reality solution for their Apple handset for the low price of just $55 for early backers.

And, despite the goal having been hit, there’s still time if you want to hop on this Kickstarter bandwagon!

Trade in your old Apple gadgets. We pay the highest prices.

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Cult of Mac's trade-in program will buy back your old iPad, iPhone, iPod or MacBook. In most cases, we offer more money than EVERY other competitior.
Cult of Mac's trade-in program will buy back your old iPad, iPhone, iPod or MacBook. In most cases, we offer more money than EVERY other competitior.

If you just got a new iPad or iPhone and are wondering what to do with your old one, you should think about trading it in.

We recently launched a gadget buyback program that promises to pay more for used and broken Apple devices than Gazelle, Walmart and even Apple itself.

Microsoft’s tablets are eating away at iPad sales

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Put your hands on me.
Microsoft is taking the tablet fight to Apple.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple might have once owned the tablet market, but Microsoft is making rapid advances in sales — and may even be approaching iPad numbers by 2019, according to a new “Tablet Operating System Forecast” report by Strategy Analytics.

Summarizing the first nine months of 2015, and extrapolating the trends to try and predict the next few years, the report reveals how sales of Windows tablets are up 58 percent compared to 2014, and are on track to sell 22 million this year. That’s 10 percent of the market, compared to Apple’s 22 percent.

Apple must wait until 2016 for tax break verdict

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Yep, Apple's pretty darn valuable.
Apple could have to pay back billions as a result of tax probe.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Having previously said that he expected to receive the European Commission’s verdict on Apple’s Irish tax arrangements by Christmas, Ireland’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan now claims that an announcement is likely to be delayed util next year.

The delay in the long-running investigation is the result of regulators asking for additional information from the Irish government, which will take several weeks to gather.

Colorful Apple TV billboard ads are pleasingly old school

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It's certainly eye-catching.
Photo: SMPTE Connect/Instagram

If any more proof was needed that Apple TV is no longer being considered a “hobby,” check out the massive new billboard ad campaign that has been rolling out for the new fourth-generation Apple TV refresh.

Cleverly playing on a color bars motif which references both the old school Apple logo (with colors fastidiously picked out by Steve Jobs, to boot!) and a television test pattern, the billboards can be seen in both landscape and portrait orientation around the U.S.

Apple Pay may arrive in China by February

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Apple Pay iPhone
It seems that Apple's wait may almost be over.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook has described his desire to bring Apple Pay to China as “top of the list” in terms of priorities — and now it seems like he may finally be on the verge of hitting his goal.

According to a new report, it is hoped that Apple Pay will launch in China by early February, after Apple struck deals with China’s four biggest state-run banks.

Master project management with two massively discounted certification courses [Deals]

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PMPandCAPMTraining_MF

Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

In the professional sphere, experience with project management is one of the most valuable skills you can have. Starting is harder than just deciding you’ve got what it takes to get things done — you’ll have to get certification, which is exactly what this pair of lessons offers. It’s a one-two punch of project management education and validation at a 98% discount, just $49 at Cult of Mac Deals.