As expected, Apple’s website is currently advertising the company’s “Back to School” promotion.

Details about the promotion appeared early today, following a period during which the Apple Online Store was temporarily closed for business. Much like last year, Apple is offering students free gift cards of varying amounts when they purchase a Mac, iPhone, or iPad. A Mac purchase will net customers a $100 Apple Store Gift Card, while iPhone and/or iPad purchases will be rewarded with a $50 gift card.

Apple has today launched a Back to School iTunes music sale with selected albums reduced to as little as $6.99. The deals aim to give students “a smart deal on cool albums” from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Pink, and Lana Del Rey.

This week has been filled with offers from Cult of Mac Deals that aim to get you back to school with all the tools you’ll need to make the year a success.

Whether it’s been the ideal backpack, an app to fill your task management needs, or some games to help you escape the books from time to time, there’s been no shortage of offers through the Deals portal. You can check out all of the deals we’ve delivered during Back to School Week here.

But we’re not done yet.

August is upon us, and that means it’s time once again for a number of U.S. states to hold their annual sales tax holidays. If you’re in the market for a new Mac and reside in one of these states then consider the following tips – especially if you’re thinking about buying a new MacBook Air.

This time on a very patriotic CultCast: Apple starts trademarking “iWatch”; the back to school sale is back; Mac upgrades that are worth the money; Vine Vs. Instagram; PRISM takes Alex; we wish you a happy 4th; and sooo much more!

Have a few laughs and get caught up on this week’s best Apple stories. Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin.

Show notes up next.

Apple has today kicked off its annual Back to School promotion through the Apple online store. As it did in 2012, the Cupertino company is offering a $100 App Store gift card with every new Mac, or a $50 card with a new iPad.

This year’s promotion also includes the iPhone, which now comes with a $50 gift card, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSuJ5HOE42M&list=PLgqaIbvtBHtSwsxcRw4941vIoxMhY0DpN&index=1

A year ago I was working on a pretty large project with a buddy. We were hundreds of miles apart, but since we both had iPads, we figured, hey, no problem — collaboration will be easy.

But it wasn’t. Despite the wealth of iPad apps, none of them were quite the collaboration tool we wanted; too expensive, or lacking a particular feature, or not easy enough to use. I wish Moxtra had been around a year ago.

Apple’s Back to School promotion has begun in Australia and New Zealand ahead of the new school year. Like previous years, the promotion offers a free gift card with new Macs and iOS devices purchased for education, and it’s open to students, parents, and teachers. This year’s deal includes the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, the iMac and the Mac Pro, and the iPad with Retina display.

You’re going to college. That means huge lists of all the crap you need to start school of right. Not just books, furniture, clothing, mini-beer refrigerators, and all that junk, but also backpacks and probably some tech gear to get you through the semester.

For most people, the MacBook Air is the best laptop on the market. But if you’re going to college, you might not even need a laptop anymore. We think a lot of college students can get by and just buy an iPad instead of a MacBook Air. Here’s why.

The first week of college is filled with a bunch of crazy new things you have to adapt to if you want to make it out alive. Co-ed dorms. People with bad facial hair. Faux-Intellectuals. Scantly clad women. Demented professors. Weird cultish groups called fraternities. The absence of personal hygiene. And most importantly, the astronomical prices of textbooks.

Why have we had a congressional hearing on steroid use in baseball, but not a peep about college textbook prices? We thought that the iPad and eBooks were supposed to make education a whole lot cheaper, but most college students still buy physical textbooks. Here at Cult of Mac, for back to school season, we wanted to find out what’s cheaper: buying an iPad and only buying eTextbooks or going the traditional route and buying forty or fifty pounds worth of dead paper every semester.

Which is better for the penny-pinching student? The results are pretty surprising.