discount
Latest
Tower Records offering 25% off games
Tower Records is offering a 25% online discount on all video games (including Xbox 360) until January 22nd, even new releases! We looked up games like Gears of War and Lost Planet and they're discounted to a reasonable $44.99. Thought, the free shipping offer does not apply in conjunction with the 25% discount, so you'll have to shell out an extra $3 for shipping. Go ahead, take a gander and see what deals you can find.[Thanks, Jayson]
Developers unleash exclusive offers for MacHeist participants
One of the appeals of MacHeist that a few participating developers cited for their participation is residual sales. Things like upgrade licenses, extra plugins and add-ons can all be big boosts to a 3rd party developer's revenue, and some of MacHeist's participating devs have certainly hit the ground running. Yesterday I received my confirmation emails and licenses from RealMac Software (RapidWeaver) and Dave Watanabe (NewsFire), both with exclusive offers for MacHeist customers. First, RealMac Software is offering a 10% discount on theme packs, and Dave is offering a 'lifetime upgrade' add-on for NewsFire for a mere $11. We've also known from early on that John Casasanta has had a version 4.0 upgrade just around the corner for iClip, and MacroMates had an offer on the table since day 1 of at least 60% off an upgrade license to an upcoming version 2 release of TextMate.It will be interesting to see how all this plays out for these 3rd party developers in the coming months. I know I'm already falling in love with TextMate, and even though I use WordPress, ecto and Dreamweaver for most of my website needs, RapidWeaver is tempting me with its sexy ease of use and purty themes. The 3rd party devs, it seems, have already made a revenue statistic out of me.
Save 10% - iTunes $50 gift card for $45 at Costco
Christopher Breen at Playlist's iPod blog found a great little deal on iTunes gift cards. Costco.com is offering the $50 gift card for $45 while supplies last. Breen mentions that local Costcos brick and mortar retail outlets may have a limited supply available for sale as well. This is a great price for a last-second gift. I'd hardly call a $45 item a stocking stuffer, but it would fit very nicely into most people's small-sized gift needs.
Apple offers $20 iLife '06 discount to .Mac customers
In their true spirit of integration, Apple has finally decided to offer .Mac customers a small kickback on the purchase of iLife '06 (just in time for that iLife '07 sting to really get ya in January). In Apple Stores or online, the .Mac blog has announced a $20 discount (it's a mail-in rebate if you purchase from anywhere else) on the purchase of either a single or family pack of iLife '06, bringing their respective prices down to $59 and $79. Not a bad deal considering these two services are joined at the hips. You can also walk - no need to run - as they've left the discount/rebate open for (most of) the holiday shopping season - it ends December 13th.
Cheaper UMDs skyrocket sales 1000%
In America, poor sales of UMDs have led to retailers simply getting rid of the format altogether, or putting them in bargain bins, never to give them another look ever again. In Japan, however, Warner Bros. is trying a new strategy of trying to sell more UMDs. For the past few months, Warner Bros. has released movies at an official price of 980 yen (about $9 US). Surprise! For some reason, UMDs sold a lot better at that price. In fact, according to Gpara.com, it sold 10 times as more than normally.Haven't we been telling companies for the longest time that if you want us to care about the format, it has to be dirt cheap? Looks like WB finally understood that. But can we hope that the rest of the market stops beating themselves with stupid sticks?[Via PSP-Vault]
MacUpdate copies Woot clone MacZot
I heard somewhere that there are only something like 30 basic movie plots, and all films are just twists and forks of these original few. Some would say that the same is true for e-business, and they would probably be right. MacUpdate.com has announced a new feature in which a featured piece of software will be heavily discounted and available for only 24 hours. If this concept sounds familiar, it's because it is. The massively successful MacZot got the idea from woot.com, and woot probably found the idea somewhere else. Because Mac software is a relatively niche market, I see one of two things happening. Either the competition between sites leads to a bidding war to see who can bring in the most dough for the developers, or one of the sites becomes much more popular than the others. Either way, I think the new feature will benefit us end users in the end. [via Chris Messina]
Parallels Desktop official in Apple Stores with rebate offer
I was in an Apple Store here in CO yesterday and noticed that retail boxes of Parallels Desktop have arrived on the shelves. In fact, I had a nice discussion with a customer who was switching because he could now run Windows on a new Mac (he never considered Virtual PC an option - I personally don't blame him). He even used the term 'safety net' to refer to how often he hoped to have to run Windows - if ever.I also just received an email from Parallels promoting a $20 rebate with the purchase of Parallels Desktop ($80) and Windows XP (either $200 for Home or $300 for Pro). The rebate is good through August 15th, and Windows XP must be purchased within 14 days of Parallels Desktop.
VersionTracker offers DivX Pro license with subscription purchase
VersionTracker has announced a new bundle offer included with purchases of VersionTracker Pro subscriptions. For the first 350 who purchase, renew or extend a VersionTracker Pro subscription, they will receive a free license to the new DivX Pro (a $19.99 value), which we blogged last month. DivX, as you might remember, is a fairly popular video codec used on the internet and compatible with other devices such as DVD players and PDAs. VersionTracker Pro, if you need a refresher, is "an automated, simple and cost-effective way to inventory and keep all your software current and secure". It is a service and software package (also a widget, of course) that allows you to view new versions of just the software you use, manage the downloading and install of new packages, and more. VersionTracker Pro costs $49.99/year for up to three Macs.If you're interested, we recommend you run (don't walk!) as they only have 350 DivX licenses to hand out on a first-come, first-serve basis.
3 year warranty with Higher Ed. purchases, or not?
A few weeks ago, Apple stuck a message up on their Higher Education store (EU only) stating that due to a new national agreement for Higher Education individual purchases, any Macs purchased from the store would receive three years of parts and labor coverage at no extra cost. When I later purchased a MacBook from the HE store, I was so excited to be picking up a new Mac as to not notice that the sign had disappeared. I was reassured later on by several people in the support forums who showed me this extract from the HE Store's Terms and Conditions (no, not this one! Yes, there are two T&Cs *sigh*):"10.1.1 All Apple-branded desktop and portable computer products shall be subject to a 36 calendar month warranty period commencing from the date of delivery."When I received my MacBook, I checked the included booklet regarding my warranty: the above clause is nowhere to be seen. Instead the booklet talks exclusively about my one year limited warranty with no mention of Higher Education or extended warranties. Likewise, when I use Apple's tool to check how much AppleCare you have remaining, it returns a result of 356 days. Apple has confused me even further by allowing people who have purchased new Macs from the HE Store to purchase 3 year telephone coverage for around £50. When I bought my MacBook, there wasn't even an option to purchase AppleCare in the build to order section!I'm not the only one to feel confused. People over at the Apple support forums (1, 2, 3) and the MacRumors.com forums are equally mixed up. So, what's the deal Apple?
Take home MovieBeam for $80 less
Just as we were kind of wondering to ourselves if there would be enough (realistic) price cuts in the world to legitimize Disney's mildly maligned MovieBeam, they went and did what most device makers do when they've got a big launch followed by a lukewarm consumer response (and generally despondent product reviews). They shaved off $80 from the take-home price -- $50 from the MSRP down to $200 for the box, and also killed the $30 activation fee. The $2-3.00 SD movie prices and $3-4.00 HD movie prices are still pretty reasonable, truth be told, but you've still got to deal with their closed-platform DRMed rentals of questionable quality in watchability via datacasts offering a limited selection of content. Believe us, we want to like MovieBeam, but we're not sure falling prices can save a product that doesn't live up to expectations.
Speling error mars Diamond Card launch
No, reading the Obivion manual by the dull glow of an HDTV hasn't given you late onset dyslexia. The spell check monkeys at Microsoft somehow missed a typo on many of the Xbox Live Diamond Cards hitting mailboxes this week. This is why they shouldn't let upper management do the proof reading. The saving grace here is that THRU isn't a real word to begin with. By the way, I've never had this problem with my American Express Black Card.[Thanks Tim]
NetNewsWire on sale for $19.95
Ranchero is selling NetNewsWire - the most popular newsreader on Mac or Windows (and it isn't even available for Windows!) - for just $19.95 until their long awaited 2.1 update ships, which their blog post says is "within the next few weeks." While this is $5 off regular price, they're also offering $10 off the NetNewsWire/MarsEdit bundle, which will no longer exist once NNW 2.1 ships (MarsEdit will simply sell by itself for $24.95 from now on).Fortunately, there are no special tricks, codes or handshakes you need to remember to pick up these stellar apps at a discount. Simply head on over to Ranchero's store with a credit card ready.
MacZOT fever spreading with MysteryZOTs
Remember MacZOT, the bargain-a-day shareware site? It seems like it's catching on as wildfire, as they now have a "MysteryZOT" offering that seems to be all the rage. A MysteryZOT is a bundle of a few shareware apps for a ridiculously low price. The catch is that you have to place an order before you get to find out what you're ordering.Sounds crazy? As of around 5 PM yesterday afternoon, over four hundred people would like to disagree with you, as this post at the MacZOT blog says they've sold 402 of the alloted 500 packages of yesterday's MysteryZOT. This morning I noticed they sold their entire lot and have revealed its contents, which includes iClip, the NotePad widget (with full search and print functionality) and the FTP Drop widget which offers a handy DnD (drag-n-drop) operation for sending files up to a directory on a server you specify.At only $14.95 for these apps and three others (instead of $53.70), I'm starting to wonder if I missed out on a good deal. Did any of you TUAW readers jump on yesterday's MysteryZOT? Are you glad you did, or are you missing your $14.95?
Xbox Live Diamond Cards printing and on the way
Xbox Live Diamond Cards are now printing for those whose registration has been accepted, which means these cards may be in our hands within the next 2-3 weeks.According to an e-mail this blogger just received, confirmations of Diamond Card registrations are going out to Live subscribers who've signed on for 12 months or more at XboxLivediamond.com.
Costco selling the 20" iMac G5 at discount
A Mac User Group email list that I'm on noticed that Costco of all places (think: Sams Club competitor) is selling the 20" iMac G5 with iSight for $1479.99. While the machine is listed on their site, they instruct customers to check their local stores for available stock; it looks like they don't have any available for web order.Aside from Costco beating out Apple by $20, I think it's a little strange that the iMac is the only machine they seem to carry. A search at their website for "mac" returns nothing but a few software packages (including Quicken 2006 for Mac for $60 with a $20 rebate), but "imac" actually returns this one lone model they're selling. There's no word on how long they'll be carrying these machines, but with the rate that PowerPC based machines are disappearing, I'd recommend you pick one up while they're hot if you're interested.[UPDATE: Wow, this price is even better than I thought. Turns out that $1479 includes a 3-year AppleCare program. Run, don't walk! Thanks Derek!]
Apple Store 50% Office discount ends 1/31/06
MacMerc caught that the Apple Store's "up to 50% discount on Microsoft Office" promo disappears at the end of this month. The basic rundown is:Buy a new MacBuy Office for Mac or individual apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint from select retailersMail in rebate (PDF link)ProfitThe rebate form states you can take advantage of this offer on up to 4 Mac Office combinations, but all eligible items need to be on the same receipt - and what a receipt that will be! One quirky thing about the rebate is that it includes a two-question survey. The first is "Prior to this offer, were you aware that Microsoft Office runs on a Mac?" while the second asks if you would still be buying Office or even a Mac if it weren't for this offer. I guess Apple is checking in on just how vital Office is to Mac users. Preparation for a new run with a (hopefully) updated iWork '06? In a mere five days we'll hopefully have an answer.
