Deal of the Week | August 15th, 2014: LED Solar Flashlight for $4.99

LED Solar Flashlight for $4.99You are roused from a deep sleep by your spouse, elbowing you in the ribs.

“What the…” you begin to mumble, groggily.

Shhh! I heard a noise downstairs,” your spouse whispers.

At once, you’re wide awake, in a state of hyper-alertness, courtesy evolution and the fight-or-flight reflex it perfected. You reach for the flashlight on your nightstand, flick the switch, and…

Nothing. Darkness. And the noise is moving…closer.

Dead batteries in flashlights result in more U.S. deaths than automobile accidents, lightning strikes, and bathtub slips combined.* Don’t let this happen to you! With this week’s DOTW, you’ll never need worry about flashlight batteries again. Just keep it near a window, and let that bright glowy thing in the daytime sky take care of maintaining a full charge for you.

What is protection from things that go bump in the night worth to you? The answer should be “priceless,” but we’re going to peg it at $4.99. That’s 75% off the regular price, making it affordable enough to buy several and keep them all over the darned place. Because they’re out there. You know they are.

Find out more about our latest Deal of the Week here.

*Not an actual statistic, and also utterly false.

VIDEO: Apple intros two ‘Your Verse’ iPad TV spots, telling new personal stories


The first spot is titled ‘Yaoband’s Verse,’ and follows a Chinese musical group as they scour the countryside and urban streets, harvesting live sounds for their electro-pop compositions. It documents how they use iPad both to make music, and to connect with their fans, in new ways.


The second spot, ‘Jason’s Verse,’ brings it home to the the U.S. – Detroit, to be exact. Resident Jason Hall uses his iPad to help organize a weekly group bike ride through his city. Hall is co-founder of Slow Roll Detroit, and he uses the rides to raise awareness of the revitalization of Detroit from the ground level.

Deal of the Week | August 8th, 2014: Compact Mobile USB Charger for $4.99

Compact Mobile USB Charger for $4.99Here’s a great little 12-volt mobile socket USB charger, small and inexpensive enough to keep in every vehicle.

It’ll charge your smartphone, your MP3 player, and most other small-ish USB devices. It glows blue when plugged in, so you’ll know at a glance when it’s doing its job. It’s normally 20 bucks, but as this week’s DOTW, you can get one (or two or five) for just $4.99 each.

Find out more about our latest Deal of the Week here.

Deal of the Week | August 1st, 2014: Compact USB AC Adapter for $4.99

Compact USB AC Adapter for $4.99Think for a moment: How many gadgets do you currently own that are charged via USB?

iPhones and most other smartphones are recharged using USB. So are iPods, along with many cameras, electronic toys, and myriad other devices.

So it’s always nice to have another place to plug these devices into. And that’s where this week’s DOTW comes in. This well-built, reliable, compact USB charger is also supremely affordable. In fact, we believe you’ll get a real charge out of the fact it’s on sale this week for just $4.99 – which is 75% off the regular price.

Get complete details for this week’s DOTW.

Deal of the Week | July 25th, 2014: 10-in-1 Portable USB Card Reader for $5.99

10-in-1 Portable USB 2.0 Card Reader for $5.99THIS WEEK: 10-in-1 Portable USB Card Reader for $5.99 (reg. $19.99)

Access nearly any type memory card, including SDHC, microSD and more with this USB 2.0 Card Reader. One cool feature: it even has a built-in USB cable. With it, you can expect quick USB 2.0 data transfers up to 480 Mbps.

Not only is this a nifty card reader, it can also house up to nine memory cards – which makes it the ideal accessory for your digital camera, PSP, or PDA. And it’s Mac/PC compatible.

Get complete details on this week’s DOTW.

Apple debuts OS X Yosemite public beta

Today, Apple released a beta version of the next version of its Mac operating system, OS X Yosemite. Yosemite was announced and previewed at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in June; the official release is slated for sometime this fall.

As Information Week says:

Participating in Apple’s OS X Beta Program — which is distinct from the Beta Seed Program for Mavericks — is free, but there may be non-monetary costs, such as time or data lost due to crashed applications. Apple warns the OS X Yosemite Beta “may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not function as well as commercially released software.”

Another cost comes in the form of silence: Apple considers its beta software confidential and forbids beta testers from posting screenshots or discussing the software publicly. By agreeing to Apple’s Beta Program terms, testers promise to take reasonable steps to keep Apple’s software confidential, such as shielding the screen of a Mac running OS X Yosemite from onlookers.

If, after all that, you’re still interested in participating in the development of the next generation of Mac operating systems, you can sign up for the public beta here.

VIDEO: Upbeat new Apple spot shows how much people love their MacBook Airs

As the popularity of MacBook Air continues to grow, so do the many ways users customize these ultralight notebooks. ‘Stickers,’ a brand-new spot from Apple, showcases the creativity of these folks. Fun stuff (and if you watch carefully, you’ll spot at least two references to recent Apple acquisition Beats Audio).

VIDEO: New iPhone 5s ad, ‘Parenthood,’ hints at future Apple smart home initiatives

A new 60-second TV commercial spotlighting the iPhone 5s, Parenthood, was posted by Apple last Sunday. In it, parents are shown using their iPhones to teach kids how to brush their teeth, as well as using it as a baby monitor, to find a lost pet, and to turn down the room lights. This dovetails neatly with Apple’s recent announcements surrounding HomeKit, a platform for smart home devices.

It also happens to be a clever, warm and engaging piece of advertising.