Just a quickie for UK readers. The Cyanogen-based Wileyfox Swift is on sale for 1 day at £99.99, which is £29 off for “grey Thursday”. That’s their idea, not mine.
I haven’t personally used the Swift but it’s been getting some good reviews and I liked Cyanogen OS when I had it on my OnePlus One. The Swift uses the Snapdragon 410, driving a 5″ HD screen, 16 GB RAM and dual SIMs. It’s a good package in a budget phone.
If you are interested, order directly from Amazon.
As expected Motorola is getting in on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday action with discounts for purchasers in the UK. The best deals are on the older models but even the latest gear gets some love. If you are looking for a new handset, these are worth a look.
Here are the deals.
Moto X 2nd Gen 16GB @ £200 – saving £195I’m a big fan of the Moto phones having reviewed both the first and second generation Moto Xs for GNC, and my wife currently has a Moto G, though sadly there are no deals on that model.
The offers begin at 1:00pm on Wednesday 25th November and run until 11.59pm on Monday 30th November, only while stocks last.
Visit www.motorola.co.uk for more information.
Apple was pretty secretive on their Black friday sale. Target seemed to be the best option for an iPad this week and people stood in line for their black friday deal as early as 8 PM Thursday night. So did you get a new iPad Air or iPad mini?
After scouring the ads, I chose to stand in line at Target last night. They offered a $100 gift card with purchase of an iPad Air or $75 for an iPad mini. I got there at 7:50 expecting about 25-30% of the crowd was heading toward the iPad line.
Walmart offered $100 gift cards for iPad mini. Best Buy also had a gift card deal. Apple store only had a $75 card, didn’t advertise their deals and also didn’t give any deal for a Retina mini. So hopefully the 20% waiting in front of me for iPads won’t deplete the inventory too bad.
Once the doors opened, the line moved quicker than a one horse open sleigh. Of course, that was the first line. The second line was the true wait – people anxious for their iPads for the holidays.
What was interesting was the people I talked to in line already had iPads. This was either an upgrade or they wanted to get a second tablet for their families. One person was waiting for a Nexus 10 tablet, but decided to get the iPad as well.
Target was also ready for this event as most people got the iPad they wanted. They did run out of 16 GB iPad Air at about 9:30 PM. I was in line for a 32 GB model anyway and I saw a lot of iPad minis getting sold, too. You could even get 2nd and 4th generation iPads that night.
I tweeted VegasBill during the event, who also was waiting in a Target store line in Vegas. I shouted out “This is what it will look like in a couple hours”.
Black Friday Line For Electronics Only Minutes After Target Doors Open. #Vegas #BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/GPIvdLyAdI
— Vegas BiLL (@VegasBiLL) November 29, 2013
I don’t normally do Black Friday. Those years I did, I was always disappointed because it was 4 in the morning and we would have to wait 6-8 weeks for rebates of specials.
This year was a bit different. I wasn’t too upset on the 2+ hour wait and I got the iPad Air I was looking for. Best part – I got a gift card which I could use at that moment if I wanted.
I did suggest that next year Target should talk with Starbucks and get a mobile barista to stand at the iPad line selling coffee…
Apple sold more than 4 times what they normally do on Black Friday – was said in a report on 9to5Mac. But here we have Cyber Monday, and Apple is back to full price. Are they missing on another record sales day?
It was the first time in a long while that Apple put discounts on their products like that. But this Black Friday, they broke the norm and gave discounts on Macbooks, iMac, iPods and iPads. The best deal out of the lot was the Macbook Air, which was $898. A 16 GB iPad was discounted to $450. What was really missing was the 4S discount (which I would have updated iPhone if there was a $30-50 discount).
However, after Friday, the prices jumped back up to their original amounts. While stores like Best Buy have some great discounts in accessories, the only deal tablets will be anything but Apple.
This is the true question: Would Apple continue to have 4x the sales if they would have participated in Cyber Monday? What about Saturday or Sunday?
No matter what, this Cyber Monday will continue to bring some great deals. Microsoft’s $299 Dell computer is already sold out. Amazon Cyber Monday will have computer accessories go on sale all week.
The numbers are coming in and there is a 24% increase this year. 14.1% comes from mobile devices. This means people are using their smartphones and tablets to buy gifts. Of course, it’s a lot different than having that old Pentium computer in the den and slow internet connections. Best part is you could shop while lying in bed, so the kids wouldn’t peek and see the cool stuff your getting them.
So now the question is: Will Cyber Monday be as fruitful as last year? They stole the crown in 2010 for the busiest shopping day of the year. Now that people have had a whole weekend to get some great deals, will Monday continue to overshadow, or be overshadowed?
A lot of retailers are using the whole week to make deals. Last Saturday was “Shop Local” day, which people were encouraged to visit the Mom-and-Pop shops. Tuesday is Eco-Day, buying items that are green in nature. No word if Wednesday and Thursday are going to get categorized.
So we could be having a great holiday season, but we are far from over in shopping. A lot of deals are to be had, so keep your eyes out. CyberMonday.com is a website to watch for today, but CyberWeek.com will be on the case all week long.
It’s that time to go and get your gifts for the kids, parents, siblings and the hubby. Some of us braved the cold and dark of night to stand in line for some super doorbuster deal. However, others stayed at home with cocoa and a restful nights sleep, for their trip to shop means turning on the computer and getting it all online.
As you get ready to brave the online crowds on the website, let’s run through a little checklist so you can be safe in purchasing items. With these ideas, you are better protected from malware and scams.
This is probably the most important thing to do. There are several security updates that patch holes to your computer. If you are planning on entering a credit card, you want to make sure nobody can watch your transaction. Run some scans on your computer, run the updates to the computer (Mac or PC), then open up your web browser and check for updates.
– Chrome : Choose the wrench icon on the right and “About Google Chrome”. It will update software automatically.
– Firefox: Choose the “Firefox” tab on the top-left. Choose “Options -> Options”. Select “Advanced” and the “Update” tab.
– IE: Go through Windows Update to get the latest version
– Safari: Through the software update option
– Windows 7: Windows Start button – Type in “Windows Update” in the Run box.
– Windows XP: Open IE browser and type in Update.microsoft.com
– Mac: Choose the Apple and Software Update
Anti-Virus may be trickier since there are different versions out there. Most important, if you don’t have anti-virus on your computer, put it on now. Avast and AVG are two great programs that have free versions.
If you are going off the beaten internet path, it’s important to make sure the website is a verified seller. Most of the time, you can find badges on the site saying if they are trusted. When in doubt, do some simple searches. Also check the retailer’s reviews at a site like Resale Ratings.
Finally – When you are checking out, make sure you are on a secure page. Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE all indicate if your credit card will be encrypted or not. If the lock icon is closed, you are on a secure page.
You might be getting tons of “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” deals through email. Be careful what you select – there are misrepresented Spam mails out there. I just got one the other day from the New York Times to get a 1 year subscription. The email looked like it was from the NYTimes, but the links went to some other site like newyorktimes.some_domain_name dot com.
When in doubt, do a Google search on the email deal. If Walmart is having an online sale, then go to Walmart.com and find the deal through their website.
You might also see confirmation emails that could be phishing schemes. You get an email saying “Congratulations: You just purchased…”, but you didn’t purchase anything. There is a link saying “I didn’t purchase this” or something related. When you click on the link, it tells you what to do on a refund.
DON’T CLICK! (don’t even trust the links in the email)
What you should do is go to the website directly and find a phone number to call. Verify with an agent there is a purchase for you. Also, check your card statements. some purchases update within minutes.
Speaking of Credit Cards, most major cards and Paypal come with fraud protection. If you feel unsafe about any purchase, make a call to your credit card company. Never purchase online by sending a check or wiring cash to someone’s account. If they cannot get a verified payment service like Paypal, Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, American Express or more, then this purchase isn’t worth it.
Ok, so you are not Internet savvy. You read through this article and your head began to spin. If that is the case, then ask people for help. Talk to your friends. Seek out someone you know that does this stuff on a regular basis. What is worse is if you do not update your computer. Never think “Oh, I’ll just do it later…”
Cyber crime rises during the holidays. We are purchasing more online. So it’s important to stay safe. That, and get the best deal on a tablet…
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Show Notes:
Cheap Geek Deals!
Virgin Media to Monitor Users P2P usage.
UK Hacker Extradition to Proceed.
iPhone Worm Developer now building iPhone Apps.
Silverlight for iPhone versus Flash?
Windows 7 Passes OS X
Free WordPress Templates
Emblaze Mobile.
Don’t upset your web developer.
Is Coke in Trouble?
Microsoft going after Copyright Violators.
MPAA thinks we the public is Liars.
Kindle 2 gets PDF Support.
Mininova shuts down illegals Torrents.
Best and Worse Gadgets.
Climategate?
More Black Friday Ads.
Godfather of Spam goes to Jail.
Verizon thinks their King of 3G?
Microsoft and Apple users play games.
Some people question everything?
Weird is all I am gonna say.
Apple wants Psystar shut down now.
Black Friday Camera Deals.
Joost is in Trouble.
Run Chrome OS on a USB Stick.
Shuttle finishes up at ISS.
iPhone App Rejected see the List.
No more Space Tourist for now.
Google Wave and Why.
US Zip code Map scribbled.
Cuban on the Economy.
Deal Roundups.
Electric car you are going to want.
Robo Suit in Action.
Bad Black Friday.
Windows 8 Time Line Questioned.
Bing Does Video.
Mac Sales Price.
Ustream comes to Android.
Geek News Central on the Move.
Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!
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