A wireless technology specifically geared towards exchanging data over short distances, Bluetooth is a staple hardware feature for many Apple products, such as those in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac lineups. Bluetooth is also incorporated in many Apple peripherals, such as the Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse.
Amazon offers the Pioneer 840-watt 7.1-Channel 3D Home Theater Receiver, model no. VSX-1021-K, for $299.99 (add it to your cart to see the price). With free shipping, that’s $20 under our mention from last month and the lowest total price we could find by $99. Features include 120 watts per channel into seven channels, Airplay streaming, iPod, iPhone, and iPad App compatibility, Ethernet and Bluetooth connectivity, five HDMI inputs with 3D passthrough, one HDMI output, and more.
Just last week, the older model, without Airplay, was slashed to the same price.
Videos below:
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From 9to5toys.com:
Getting the holiday shopping season started a little early this year, MacConnection is offering 9to5Mac readers the base model MacBook Air for the lowest price we’ve ever seen it: $899 (10% off) when bundled with a significantly discounted AppleCare which is just $199 (20% off). The total $1099 price is $150 below the $1250 you’d pay at the Apple Store and over $60 less than we could find it anywhere else.
This latest MacBook Air includes an Intel Core i5 1.6GHz Sandy Bridge dual-core processor, 11.6″ 1366×768 LED-backlit display, 2GB RAM, 64GB SSD, AirPort Extreme (802.11n wireless), Bluetooth 4.0, Facetime camera, Thunderbolt port, and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. AppleCare provides Apple’s three year warranty.
Use code 9-5AIRCARE at checkout to get the deal. Limit 2 per customer, and this will run out soon.
From 9to5Toys.com:
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Today only, Amazon has the Pioneer VSX-1020-K Home Theater Receiver for $299 with free shipping. That’s close to half off the list price of this 770W 7.1 3D iPod/iPhone/iPad-controlled stereo system which features include six HDMI 1.4 inputs, 110 watts of power into seven channels, subwoofer output, and more.
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We covered the VSX-1020-K when it was launched last year for $549. Since then it has been superseded by newer Pioneer products with Airplay.
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Last week we revealed that Apple is planning a small refresh for its MacBook Pro line with modest CPU bumps and possibly improved Bluetooth Wireless networking. Today we’ve found what seems to be evidence for such a refresh in Apple’s own online store.
If you do a search on Apple’s online store for ‘MacBook Pro’, you get a list of Apple’s products. In that list of products, there are two mysterious entries for ‘Macbook Pro Memory Model’ toward the bottom with the caption “Ships: Coming in November”.
Perhaps more interestingly, they link to the following two URLs which aren’t currently active:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/ME_17_2_33_MBP?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
http://store.apple.com/us/product/ME_17_2_4_MBP_PREV?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
We’ve heard that these could be the spare part part numbers for the new MacBook Pros and the 2_33 and 2_4 could be the new speeds of the quad-core Intel Core i7 processors (current is 2.0 to 2.3 GHz). If they are spare parts, these often ship a week or so after the new products so the MBPs could come sooner than ‘November’.
Update: 4-year-old MacBook Pro RAM has a similar URL but it isn’t certain if the two parts are related.
From 9to5Toys.com:
The online Apple Store is having a clearance of the original iPad for three select WiFi and WiFi + 3G models, including the flagship 64GB WiFi + 3G iPad. Now available for up to $200-$230 less compared to their original list prices, these products come looking like new and with the same 1-year warranty that other Apple products receive. All refurbished iPad models also include a brand new battery and outer shell. Supplies are time-limited, as indicated by the Special Limited Time Price designation. Availability is guaranteed upon receipt of full payment.
• Refurbished 64GB Wi-Fi iPad: Now available for $399, down from $599, a $200 savings
• Refurbished 32GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad: Now available for $399 down from $629 a $230 savings
• Refurbished 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad: Now available for $499, down from $729, a $230 savings
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Apple’s current line of MacBook Pros is heavily constrained with all models appearing to be nearly out of stock. Don’t fear, though, if you want a MacBook Pro because new models are right around the corner. Updates to all MacBook Pro models have appeared in Apple’s inventory system for the 13-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch screen sizes. Apple will continue to ship two 13-inch models, two 15-inch models, and one 17-inch model.
This MacBook Pro refresh will not be the expected re-designed models, but will likely bring some marginally faster processors and the Bluetooth 4.0 technology that Apple started shipping in the latest MacBook Airs and the new iPhone 4S. The new internal code names for the updated MacBook Pro line are K90IA (13-inch), K91A (15-inch), and K92A (17-inch). The A in the codename signifies this next MacBook Pro refresh as being relatively minor. Thanks, Mr. X!
Bluetooth 4.0 theoretically allows iPhone 4S devices to connect to the new MacBook Airs (And other BT 4.0 devices) at an extremely low power mode up to 50 meters away.
Happy 10th anniversary iPod! Now die!!!
In a story that mirrors the ‘Killing of the iPod’ speculation post we did a few weeks ago, TUAW posts that the iPod shuffle and classic are heading out to pasture as Apple focuses on the iPod touch and iPod nano.
If you want to buy an iPod shuffle or iPod classic from Apple, you should do it sooner rather than later. We’ve heard those two iPods are getting the axe this year.
The idea is that Apple wants to focus on touch screen devices that have some innovation left in them. Saving some serious time and effort, here is what we wrote two weeks ago:
Sony seems to be hampering its PlayStation Vita console right out of the gate according to a report today from Ars. What may have seemed like OK battery life before Apple’s iOS devices came on the scene, now seems downright paltry. Compare the iPad’s 10+ hours of usage to the Vita’s claimed stats, with the screen at the default brightness, Bluetooth turned off, and headphones used for audio:
Even the diminutive and probably better-compared iPod touch (released a year ago) pretty much destroys that with 40 hours of music playback and 7 hours of video (right).
As for memory, the Vita has none built-in like iOS devices. But Sony (just being Sony) will offer a proprietary memory card format, instead of say just using SD or speedy SDXC cards that are about a buck a Gig. Prices?
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From 9to5toys.com:
The Apple Store dropped its price on the factory-refurbished, 1st-generation Apple iPad 16GB Wi-Fi (pictured), model no. MB292LL/A, to $299 with free shipping. That’s $30 under our June mention and is $184 under the lowest total price we could find for a new one. (It’s also the lowest we’ve ever seen for any iPad.) This 0.5″-thick tablet weighs 1.5 lbs. and features an Apple A4 1GHz processor, 9.7″ 1024×768 LCD touchscreen display, 802.11a/n wireless, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, accelerometer, compass, up to 10 hours of battery life, and more.
Also available is the factory-refurbished, 1st-generation Apple iPad 32GB Wi-Fi, model no. MB293LL/A, for $399. That’s another price-low, this time by $121. Both units carry a 1-year Apple warranty, the same as new units.
We also briefly saw a 32GB iPad for $299 at Cowboom this morning. Does all of this have anything to do with the TouchPad $99 nuttieness from the weekend? Unlikely.
Update: 16GB just went out of stock. Cowboom has 32GB for $299 on and off.
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[UPDATE July 19, 2011 8:10 Eastern]: The article has been updated with a comment from Samsung included at the bottom. In addition, an Asian Economy story establishing family bonds between the case maker’s CEO and Samsung’s chairman, provided in the comments, has been added.
Apple is suing “the copyist” Samsung because they “imitate the appearance of Apple’s products to capitalize on Apple’s success”. Be that as it may, the similarities between the two tech giant’s gadgets are nothing compared to what other Asian knockoffs are doing for a living. Like Anymode Corp., which is in the business of designing, manufacturing and selling a blatant Smart Cover rip-off, pictured above and below. Conveniently dubbed the Smart Case – obviously because Apple trademarked it – the accessory comes in five pastel color choices. It too can prop a tablet upwards and it folds like Apple’s accessory as well. The Smart Case is designed exclusively for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 – and not by a coincidence, warns our reader Jun.
Apparently Sang-yong Kim, the Anymode CEO, was “born in Samsung family”. Jun tells us – and you’re free to take it at face value – that the Anymode CEO “is nephew of the Samsung’s chairman Kun-Hee Lee“, the claim we were unable to verify at the time of this writing. UPDATE: This Asian Economy article establishes family bonds between Sang-yong Kim and Kun-Hee Lee. The 69-year old chairman of Samsung Electronics stepped down in April 2008 amid the Slush funds scandal, but returned at the group’s helm in March of last year. He is credited for improving the quality of Samsung’s design and products. Anymode is not even attempting to conceal the Samsung link. The company describes itself on a LinkedIn page as…
From 9to5toys.com:
Amazon offers the Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-10666 DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM 204-Pin Dual Channel Notebook Memory Kit, model no. CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9, for $54.99.99 with free shipping. The $10 mail-in rebate cuts it to $44.99.
The 8GB (2 X 4GB) DDR3 Laptop Memory Kit is 1333MHz Unbuffered CL 9 SODIMM Memory 9-9-9-24 1.5V which matches recent iMac and MacBook Pro Specs. Commenters at Amazon concur.
Got a 2009-2010 model? Even better, save an additional $5
Apple charges 4X that for an 8GB upgrade:
We’re expecting Skype’s iPad client at any moment now, but old Skype collaborator and new foe Fring already has lept ahead with the ability to video conference between four people, right in the iPad 2 window, at the same time.
The 5.1.1.2 update also includes bugfixes, drag and drop navigation, Bluetooth support and connectivity improvements.
More shots below:
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CES news is beginning to trickle through now, and we anticipate at least some AirPlay-enabled systems from the big audio dynamos will be waiting in the wings; meanwhile, WallWizard will be at the show to demonstrate its range of motorised iPhone/iPad-controlled HDTV mounts.
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“Turn your iPad into a laptop”
Remember back in May when Clamcase said they’d ship their (awesome-looking) product in the Fall? Guess what tomorrow is? Winter. That means today they are finally releasing their Clamcase iPad case/keyboard. It works via Bluetooth and is available for $120.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4IbgCLzazw&w=640&h=390]