Deal of the Day - 9/9/14

Hello All,

Happy iPhone 6 day!  In only a few hours it will be announced.  On to the deal at hand.  Woot is selling a refurbished roku 3 for $67.99 shipped to your door.  This is $100 regularly and a great deal at this price.  If you have kids the PBS kids channel is great, and totally free.  Netflix, HBOGo, Youtube, and loads of other channels are on the unit or available to download for free.  It works with both iOS and Android and is not tied to one platform or another.  It is the best streaming device available right now.  Grab one if you do not have one already, you will thank me.

You can read about the Roku 3 here, here, and here.  You can find this deal here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 11/4/13

Hello All,

First off, Happy Birthday to my mom.

Ok, now on to the deal.  Amazon is selling many of their Kindles for 15% off today to celebrate the new FAA regulations.  You can get this deal today only.  Here are the prices

• Kindle Fire HDX 7" - $195
• Kindle Fire HD 7" - $118
• Kindle (E Reader, non paperwhite) - $59

I would recommend either the HDX or the basic Kindle, depending on your needs.  If you want to spend about $120 on a tablet you should look at the Hisense Sero 7 Pro not only can you add additional storage to it, it has a lot of bang for the buck.  If you are a high powered user you should buy the Nexus 7 over the Kindle Fire HDX, but you already know that if you are a power user.

Use code ThnksFAA at check out to get the best prices.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 6/7/13

Hello All,

Today and tomorrow, Best Buy is selling a Nook Simple Touch ereader for $49.99 shipped to your door.  This is a great price for the top rated ereader currently on the market.  This ereader has the newest EInk technology and a responsive touchscreen.  It also has a SDHC slot that you can add up to an additional 32Gb of more space for additional books or magazines.  The only real negative is it is not a kindle, and the kindle whispersync service and kindle shopping experience are far superior to the nooks experience.  On the plus side though, there are no adds, and you can check out books from the library for your nook.

Additionally you can hack it to turn it into a generic android tablet, then run kindle or anything on it.  I was not able to make it work, but I have not tired very hard either.  You can find directions for that here.

You can find reviews of the Nook here, here, and here.


Lastly, I want to recommend Calibre for managing your ebooks.  It is like iTunes for your ereader, but better and easier to use.  You can buy from any store and use Calibre to convert the books to your devices format, and best of all it is free.







You can find this deal here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 11/3/11

Hello All,

Sellout.woot is selling refurbished Eye-Fi X2 cards for $24.99 shipped to your door.  Brand new these cards are $49.99.  If you are unfamilar with Eye-Fi cards they are SD cards that allow you to wirelessly upload the pictures and videos you take to Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, MobileMe, YouTube, and more sites.  As a bonus these are the new cards that allow you to upload the photos directly to your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone so you can upload the pictures anywhere, not just when you are on a wifi network.  If you like to take pictures and want to share them as easily as possible, or are interested in backing them up as soon as possible then this is the product for you.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 3/5/11

Hello All,

Apple has announced the iPad 2, debuting March 11th, and has started selling the original iPad, refurbished, from their store for $349.00.  This is $150 off the original price, and $50 off the new, lowered price, of the first model.  If you want an iPad this is the way to go.  If you buy refurbished from Apple you get a full one year warranty, and it looks new, the only difference is that the packaging is a plain brown box, not the pretty box the iPad usually comes in.

The only reason not to buy one of these refurbished iPads is because you want a new iPad 2.  Here is a quick run down of the changes to the new iPad 2.

• Faster processor - 2 A5 chips, the original iPad has one
• Dual cameras for FaceTime and recording video and snapping pictures
• Slimmer and lighter, with a better shape and new back cover material

I had an iPad for my old job and had to turn it back in.  Surprisingly I do not miss it as much as I thought I would.  It is cool, but for me it was only really a reading device (blogs, Facebook, email, web) and a music player.  I do not like the touch keyboard so I would not do any really work on it.  It was great as a game machine as well, but I did not use it for that very often.  Do not misunderstand me, I think the iPad is a great idea, and I used mine daily, it is just not completely there yet.  Maybe the new processor will make it more versatile, but for most people I imagine a decent Netbook would be more useful to them, and save them some green.  One last rumor floating around out there, to make you think twice about the iPad 2.  Rumor has it that the iPad 3 will be out this fall, in time for Christmas.  It will have the same incredible display on the iPhone 4, just in the larger size.  That would really be something.  Comparing the iPhone 3GS to the 4's screen is like bringing a picture into focus, it is that big of a change.  That would be a worth while upgrade, and worth waiting for, but as I said it is just a rumor.

You can find all the refurbished iPads here.

One last thing that I am thinking of doing, is trying a Color Nook out as my iPad like device.  Here is why

• It is only $250 - brand new
• It is easily hackable to make it into an Android tablet
• You can use microSD cards to increase the storage capacity

The downsides to this plan are 

• The nook is only a 7" screen vs a 9.7" on the iPad
• The battery life is not as good as the iPad
• The processor is not as fast as the iPad
• The Android marketplace is not as developed as the App Store

The real question is $250 and the downsides a better deal than $350 with known quantities.  This I have not yet determined.

Later,

John

Black Friday - Update #1

Hi All,

It is most magical time of the shopping year.  Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  To get you primed for Black Friday here are two sites to check out.

http://bfads.net/

http://www.black-friday.net/

If you do not want to be a crazy person and get up at 2 in the morning to wait in line in 21 degree temperatures let me give you a two secrets.

1. Most of the sales start on-line at midnight.  It is much easier to stay up late then wait in line.  This usually does not apply to doorbusters, but unless you want to wait overnight, you will not get those anyway.
2. Many stores will price match on Black Friday.  So lets say you wanted a TV that will be on sale on Friday, but you do not want to wait in line.  If they stock the TV regularly, not a guarantee with BF sales, you can buy it before Thursday then go back in at the tail end of the doorbuster time frame and do a price match.  This is very hit and miss, but most stores will do it.  If you really wanted to ensure this works and the store is being jerks about it you just return it during the time frame and have someone else come with you and they can buy it after you return it.  Given this is a pain in the butt, but so is waiting 6 hours in line.

Good luck on your sales.

Later,

John

Gone but not forgotten

Hello All,

I cannot celebrate the PlayStation without mourning the loss of the Dreamcast.  The Dreamcast debuted on 9/9/99, four years after the PS1 hit the US.  It was the finest system at the time, arguably the best system launch, and was killed due to Sega's bad decision making, EA not supporting it, and finally the PS2.

There is a video podcast series in iTunes that goes through the history of gaming, and is very entertaining.  Here is the episode on the Dreamcast.  If you have iTunes I recommend finding the series in their as the video quality is better.

If you missed out on the awesomeness that is the Dreamcast, you can still buy them from Amazon.  Lastly it is true that I bought a Dreamcast, then bought a second unit when they were on sale for $40, just in case the first one broke.  That is my love for the Dreamcast.

RIP Dreamcast

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 8/29/10

Hello All,

Woot is selling 10.1" netbooks with Windows 7 for $204.99 shipped to your door.  These are refurbished models and there are five different netbooks to choose from.  This is not a shockingly good deal, but it is a solid deal.

I would pick the Gateway from this group as it has the best processor and chipset combination, it is the only one that is 64-bit and that is a big deal, and it has a largish battery.

You can find them all here, the Gateway is the last model in the listing.

If you want to compare to what I would suggest new, you can find that model here.  The Toshiba NB255-N245.  It is $280 at Amazon and is a very solid little machine.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #2 - 6/24/10

Hi All,

Three posts in two days, who would have thought it possible?

Sellout.woot is selling a refurbished 8GB iPod Nano for $94.99 shipped to your door.  You can find that deal here.  For just a touch more you can get an Apple certified iPod Shuffle for $99.99 plus taxes.  The advantage this Nano has is that it has a one year warranty, versus a 90 day warranty.  You can find this deal here.

Both are good deals.  For the money I would pay $5 for nine more months of warranty.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 4/13/10

Hi All,

It has been a long time, but things seem to be getting back to normal.  There should be more posts going forward.


Costco has a nice deal on an Olympus DSLR.  Now most of you probably don't care, but you should.  First off it is small, not like most DSLRs.  Second off it is inexpensive, $499 with a lens, and a memory card.  Third off it shoots 720p HD movies.  Fourth off it uses the new micro 4/3 standard.  Both Olympus and Panasonic are on board, likely Sigma, Tanaka, and other lens makers will be on board soon as they will not have to make the same lens in different flavors for all of the manufactures.  All of this combines to make a nice camera.

You can find the deal here.

It is not all roses and rainbows, but for the money it is really solid and is a great value.

You can see a more detailed review here.

I am a big fan of the Canon G11, and for a little bit more this is a much better camera.

John

Deal of the Day - 2/20/10

Hello All,

WD Mini TV media player for $49.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136416

It allows you to play modern files on your old tube tv.

Supported Media Formats

• Video – AVI (Xvid, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MP4/MOV (MPEG4), RM or RMVB 8/9/10
• Image – JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG
• Audio – MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, OGG, APE
• Subtitle – SRT, SSA, SUB, SMI

For you people that do not have a PS3 or an AppleTV and have an HDTV this is great too, as you can do all of the cool stuff from those devices without buying an expensive piece of hardware.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #2 - 1/22/10

Hi Again,

Tis the season for washing machines, as I know some of you are shopping for them.  If you want to save some money and help the environment, get a front loader.  Home Depot is selling an LG for $488.20 shipped to your door, and they will take the old machine away, all for that price.

Find the deal here.

Use code BMSM50 to knock off $50 and get it down to $488.20.

If you do not want a front loader due to cost, bending over, you hate water, whatever, check out this GE top loader.  Consumer Reports loves it, and it is a bit cheaper than this LG.  Find the GE here.

Later,

John

When to buy Apple products

Hello All,

Gizmodo has a great article about when to buy Apple products.  I am publishing it here for the world to enjoy.

When to Buy Apple Products

Later,

John

Black Friday Advice

Hello All,

First things first.

1. Check this site to plan out your shopping.  They have almost all of the ads and they are searchable.  Reading every ad on Thanksgiving is not an efficient use of your time.
   
   
2. Black Friday is a gimmick.  There may be other good deals at a store on a certain day, but be prepared and know before you stray from the reason you went in.  When the Garmin for $90 is sold out at 7:01 do not just throw down $300 for the other one they have left in stock.  Go back home, check Amazon or whatever and order it online.  Remember it is worse to be suckered into an overpriced item than it is to go home empty handed.
   
   
3. Check online.  I am going to put that again, for emphasis.
   
   
4. Check online.  Amazon, Buy.com, and many online versions of brick and mortar stores have Black Friday deals as well.  You can shop in your robe and never deal with the insanity that is Black Friday in person.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  Free shipping and your own house is better than waiting hours in line for disappointment.
   
   
5. If you must have the gift today or the item you want is not one of the door busters, ie several hundred dollars off, just wait until 10 am or so.  You can often get a late start and not deal with the 5 am insanity.  The people that get there for the store opens are up at 3 am and in line at 4 am.  By 10 am they are exhausted and back home, sleeping.  Most of the rest of people are scared to venture out at all, leaving the $10 copy of Grand Theft Auto IV for you at 10 am.  I have nabbed some sweet deals using this strategy and not waiting in line or gotten up way too early.

Hopefully everyone finds what they want and saves a bundle of cash.  Good luck.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #3 - 11/25/09

Hello All,

Woot, one of my favorite sites, has started a deal site of their own.  They a hosting a forum to have people upload offers to their site.  If you are looking for something specific and I have not found it for you, this place is a good bet for you.  As a warning, there is a lot to wade through and it is socially driven, but it looks promising if you can deal with those two things.

Find it here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #5 - 11/17/09

Hello All,

I like Windows 7. I am not ashamed to say it. I am still a Mac user at home, but I have switched to Windows 7 at work. Honestly this is mainly due to one horrible program I need to use every day, and my old machine does not do virtual machines very well, but I still switched to 7, and am happy with it.

I will probably write more about this switch and Windows 7 later, but for now, if you want Windows 7, you can get it very cheap as long as you have an .edu email address. Mircosoft is selling Windows 7 for $29.99 as a download. This offer ends on 1/3/2010.

Buy it here.

Later,

John

Laptop Reliability Ratings

Hello All,

-- Update --

Here is a PCMag article that mimics the findings of the Squaretrade data. As I said Consumer Reports shows similar data as well. That makes three separate sources that say HPs have the highest rate of failure.

Interesting article over on Gizmodo about laptop reliability. This mimics what Consumer Reports found as well, and what I have said all along. The short story, do not buy a Compaq or HP and Asus and Toshiba are some of the best.

Read the full story here.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #4 - 11/17/09

Hello All,

Amazon is selling the Canon XSi, a 55-250 Lens, a 18-55 Lens, and a lens filter for $618.

The XSi deal from Amazon is the best by far. Best Buy has the same deal for only $900.

The only kicker to the deal is you have to buy all three things at the same time, and all from Amazon. You need to pick them in the sellers list. By default Amazon usually picks themselves as the seller, but sometimes there are cheaper sellers and it is not Amazon as the seller.

Here are all of the links to the parts for the deal.

Canon XSi Camera with kit lens

55-250 IS Lens

UV Filter

The camera and filter are sold by Amazon by default, you just need to choose Amazon from the list with the lens.

You can also do this with the T1i. I am not going to spell that all out though, as you should not buy that camera. HD Video DSLRs are not their yet. They cannot auto focus after you start recording. Unless you are going to record something that does not change its location from you and the camera, this is worthless.

Wait until the second generation, the T2i or whatever Canon will call it.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day - 8/13/09

Hello All,

Newegg has a couple TomTom gps units for cheap cheap prices. They have a refurbished 4.3" TomTom One XL for $88.00, a TomTom One without text-to-speech for $69.00 and one with text-to-speech for $87.99. The last two have rebates making them even cheaper, but most people forget to fill those out so I am not including those in the prices.

The One XL is the best deal. It has text-to-speech (it says the street names, a great feature), bluetooth, and a large screen. The other two are good deals as well, depending on your needs. I do not like the turn in 500ft models myself, I like the turn on main st, but both work.

Find the XL here.

Find the non text-to-speech one here.

Find the text-to-speech model here.

Lastly, I am a Garmin man. They make the best GPS's out there. If you plan on using the GPS a lot they are worth the extra money. But if you are not after something you will use a lot, the TomTom is fine. Someone has to be second place :-).

One more bonus thing, both the TomTom and Garmin allow you to plan your routes on Mapquest and then upload the route to the GPS. This is great as a keyboard and mouse beats a touchscreen any day of the week.

Later,

John

Deal of the Day #7 - 7/2/09

Hello All,

Yesterday I bought beer from a liquor store. I never do this as it is just more convenient to pick it up from the grocery store. I am an idiot. Not only were the prices cheaper and the selection better, they give you free stuff.

For a limited time Miller is giving away one free Brewer Pint glasses with the purchase of an 18 pack of beer. There looks to be 5 in total. I included the first one in the set, the one I got, below. They are sweet pints, and since the beer is cheaper anyway, and you will drink it if you have it, pick some up.

Later,

John