We start off the day with another deal on MacBook Pros. ExperCom is offering a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo with 17-inch screen for $2,147. Next is a number of iPods, including a 4GB iPod nano for $69.99. Our last top deal is the latest batch of freebies from the iPad App Store, including “Air Guitar HD,” which simulates an actual instrument.
Along the way, we check out some new case for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3 and iPhone 3GS. Also up is the latest App Store price reductions for iPhone and iPod touch users. As always, details on these and many more items are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
Apple’s getting into the advertising game with their iAds network, and Jobs says the goal is Emotion + Interactivity. The idea is to make it painless for developers to put ads in their apps: just tell Apple where you want them and they’ll inject it themselves. Likewise, it should be painless for viewers to see them: tap them and it’ll expand. You’ll never be hijacked into the browser.
They’ve only been selling iAds for eight weeks, and already attracted a huge number of advertisers, including Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Sears, JCPenny, Target, Best Buy, DirecTV, TBS network, and Disney.” Overall, iAds has brought in $60M in advertising, and makes up 48% of US Mobile Display Advertising Spending in the second half of 2010.
The demonstrated advertisements look pretty good, admittedly. Certainly more like interactive applications than musty old banner ads. They’re almost like mini-apps that dynamically download when needed into an existing program. The new interactive Nissan Leaf iAd is particularly impressive, which allows you to interactively compare a $1 of gas when driving the fully electric Leaf compared to other hybrids.
iAds probably isn’t going to be very good for consumers — I despair that there will be literally no reason for a developer not to put ads even in paid apps anymore, and that too much of the iPhone’s screen real estate will be taken up with advertisements — but it should be a windfall for both Apple and the developers taking part in the iAds ecosystem.
It has made less and less sense by the day that the iPhone OS would continue to be called that as non-iPhone devices begin to run it. Jobs has just confirmed the earlier rumor of an iPhone OS rebrand: starting with iPhone OS 4.0, it’ll just be called iOS4.
From a humble blogger’s heart directly to Cupertino: thank you, my benefactors. You don’t know how confusing it was to talk about iPhone OS for the iPad on a daily basis. Having “Phone” plugged into the name of an increasingly non-Phone operating system was just ridiculous.
Anyone else wonder if this is the first blush of a reveal of a new iOS-capable Apple TV?
Want to reach all the right customers? Advertise on Cult of Mac. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Reach millions of high-end consumers
Cult of Mac is one of the leading technology blogs on the web. We reach a large, influential audience of upscale consumers that cannot be reached by most other websites or blogs.
In addition to giving readers the latest Apple and tech news, Cult of Mac is a destination website where tech enthusiasts go to find the best software, products and services. They read Cult of Mac’s trusted reviews for insight that drives their purchases. And they use our thorough how-tos to get the most out of the products they use daily.
Why advertise on Cult of Mac?
Passionate users: Reach the most dedicated tech consumers on the planet.
SEO:Cult of Mac employs the latest search engine optimization strategies to help get your message in front of more eyeballs.
End-of-funnel consumers:Cult of Mac’s mix of tech news, reviews and how-tos is designed to attract readers as they make decisions about which products to buy.
Record of success: Past Cult of Mac sponsors include LG Electronics, Sony, VMWare, Intel, Best Buy and many others.
Testimonial: “We are about to be featured by Apple and we think that your review on Cult of Mac is the reason for this success.” — Rebus Zone
Cult of Mac advertising options
There are several ways to get your message out on Cult of Mac. We will work with you to choose the advertising and sponsorship products most appropriate to your product or cause.
Special event coverage: Be Cult of Mac’s official sponsor for high-profile coverage of annual events like CES and Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Read on for more information on these Cult of Mac advertising opportunities. Or contact Cult of Mac now if you are ready to launch your Cult of Mac marketing campaign or have specific questions about how we can help you get your message to the masses.
Editorial sponsorships
A sponsored post is a great way to reach Cult of Mac readers. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Choose from two types of editorial sponsorships — one long (sponsored posts) and one short (sponsored snippets).
• Sponsored posts
Sponsored posts are 500-plus words about your product. They are written by Culf of Mac staffers to highlight your product in a way that best resonates with our readers and will be clearly labeled as sponsored content. They can take any of these forms:
Feature/review: An in-depth look at you and/or your product.
News post: Share a newsworthy update.
Series: We will work with you to create a series of posts that will keep your brand top-of-mind throughout the year.
All sponsored posts are amplified via our social channels on Facebook and Twitter.
• Sponsored snippets
Sponsored snippets are short write-ups (maximum of 150 words) that will appear as part of a larger post and will be clearly labeled as sponsored content.
Awesome Apps of the Week: Be listed in our weekly roundup of download-worthy apps. Great for app developers!
Review roundups: Place your product in one of our occasional product review roundups.
Opt to upgrade your snippet with amplification via our social channels on Facebook and Twitter for an additional fee.
Video sponsorships
• Sponsored video
Let professional visuals tell your story with a sponsored video on Cult of Mac’s YouTube channel. Sponsored videos, like the one above, focus on your product. They average two minutes in length and can take any of the below forms:
Feature/review: an “in-depth look” at you and/or your product.
How to: We show our readers how to use your product.
Unboxing: We build excitement about your product as we do an unboxing.
Series: We will work with you to create a series of videos keeping your brand top-of-mind throughout the year.
All videos are cross-posted to the Cult of Mac website and amplified via our popular Facebook and Twitter accounts.
• Video advertisements
You can also sponsor one or more of our news, how-to and reviews videos, which regularly appear on the Cult of Mac website and on the Cult of Mac TV YouTube channel.
Social media sponsorships
Harnessing the power of Cult of Mac’s powerful social media presence is an easy, low-cost way to get your message in front of our hundreds of thousands of engaged followers on Twitter (more than 750,000 followers), Facebook (more than 200,000 likes) and Instagram (more than 35,000 followers).
Podcast sponsorships
Advertise on The CultCast to take advantage of the podcast’s growing popularity. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Audio spots are available on our popular weekly podcast, The CultCast, which has a large following of loyal listeners (and stellar reviews on iTunes). Or you can buy spots on our new podcast, Kahney’s Korner, which features tech luminaries speaking one-on-one with Leander Kahney, Cult of Mac’s founder and editor in chief.
Traditional advertising
For traditional display advertising, we offer IAB-standard units. For premium, high-impact ads, or if you plan on spending more than $1,500 on your media buy, contact us and we’ll work out a custom deal that suits your needs.
Special event coverage sponsorship
You can sponsor Cult of Mac’s coverage of big events like CES or WWDC. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Several times a year, we invest in in-depth coverage of big events that prove popular with readers. You can be Cult of Mac’s official sponsor for annual events like CES or Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, with significant opportunities to associate your brand with our in-depth coverage.
Contact Cult of Mac
To take advantage of any of these advertising or sponsorship opportunities, please contact us at advertising@cultofmac.com. We will be happy to give you more information, answer specific questions, supply you with a rate card or work with you to craft the ultimate marketing message.
We’ve been hearing tell of an HDMI-equipped Mac Mini for awhile now, with past reports indicating that prototype Mac Minis spotted by Apple employees had their DVI port replaced with HDMI, thanks to the inclusion of NVIDIA’s MPC89 CPU.
Now Apple Insider is reporting that they’ve heard from four different source who claim that Apple is having Mac Mini supply shortages… usually a “tell” for when a new model is approaching.
Paper Toss for iPhone is a brilliant pick-up-and-play game that is guaranteed to kill some time when you’re waiting for your train, when your boss is out of the office, or when you’re waiting for your little ones to give up the TV. If you’re one of the 21,000,000 paper tossers out there, you’ll be pleased to know the game is now available on the iPad, including a new level and improved visuals for the larger screen. But is it worth that $2.99 price tag?
Verizon spokesman John Johnson says the company will not have the iPhone any time soon.
“No plans to carry the iPhone in the immediate future,” he told Beet.TV. Instead, Johnson makes a plug for “incredible Android devices.”
The news has got to come as a disappointment to Verizon customers hoping to get their hands on Apple’s gear, as well as AT&T customers hoping to switch to what’s considered the best network in the U.S.
Verizon has been long rumored to get the iPhone, but those rumors now look like wishful thinking. Unless, of course, Verizon has taken to Apple’s tactic of denying interest in a product right up until they launch it.
We close out the week with a deal on a MacBook Pro, a game and the current iPod nano. For $1,499, you can get a MacBook Pro with a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor and a 15-inch screen. If you’d like to try your hand at a bombing run on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can check out “Bombardier Guilds” for free. Finally, there is a $120 deal on 8GB models of the current iPod nano.
Along the way, we’ll check out other bargains on gadgets for the Mac, iPhone and iPod. As always, details on these and many more items are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
For readers in the U.S., we hope you have a safe and fun Memorial Day celebration.
It’s hard to describe Onkyo’s latest PC as anything besides a little bit daft. The E713 is an all-in-one Windows 7 PC (with all the hideous matte gray plastics aesthetics of such) which prominently boasts a slide-out, built-in iPod dock that has been sillily mis-designed so it’s mouth just isn’t quite wide enough to slide an iPhone in. What?
Otherwise, it’s not a bad looking machine, featuring a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a digital TV tuner, Blu-Ray drive, 1TB hard drive and a 23-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD for just $1100… but the obvious bone-headedness of designing a computer with a built-in iPod dock that can’t dock with Apple’s most popular product is just the sort of casual ineptitude that keeps us all on Macs to begin with.
