Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Nook Color vs Nook Tablet vs Nook HD vs Kindle Fire vs Kindle HD vs Kindle



I recently received an email notification from Barnes and Noble that they dropped the price of several of their Nook devices, just in time for the holidays, so I thought it would be useful to do a quick breakdown for anyone wanting to take advantage of the price drop and trying to decide between the Nook and Kindle eReaders and tablets.

From the pictures below, the Nook color has a slightly darker gray bezel.  The Nook Color and Nook Tablet both have the same size screen and resolution, the main differences are that the Tablet has a faster processor, more memory and a microphone.  Other than that, they are pretty much the same.

NOOK Color - Award-Winning NOOK Color™ now just $139 and ships free!
NOOK Tablet- 8GB, Now Only $159. Amazing New Price, Same Powerful Tablet. Ships Free
NOOK Tablet- 16GB, Now Only $179. Amazing New Price, Same Powerful Tablet. Ships Free

 


The price difference used to be about $50 between the two, but now that the difference is only $20 between the Nook Color and Nook Tablet, I'd say go with the 8GB Nook Tablet.  In that way, you have the same amount of internal storage, faster processor, 1GB of memory vs 512MB and the built-in microphone.  Well worth the additional $20.  If you have a spare MicroSD card lying around, you can use that for additional storage on either device.  And one thing to note, all Nook devices are Ad-Free. I think that is definitely worth noting because for many of the Kindle devices, like the Kindle Fire, to get the cheaper price on Amazon they put screen savers on the device that show sponsored ads. 

One other thing to note is that the Nook devices come with a wall charger.  The Kindle Fire and HD charge from $9.99-$20.  Just one more thing to be aware of when comparison shopping. 

The Nook HD (below left) and HD+ (below right) are designed for optimal readability and they are more powerful, have longer battery life and are lighter than most any similarly sized tablet on the market.  The Nook HD comes in both white, as shown below and also the darker gray color as well. 

Introducing NOOK® HD Tablet! Highest Resolution 7" HD Tablet, starting at $199
Introducing NOOK® HD+ 16GB from $269! The Lightest Full HD 9" Tablet



For comparison purposes, I included prices for all of the different Nook and Amazon devices below.  Whatever device you choose, I'm sure you can't go wrong.  Happy Holidays!



Holiday Pricing
Nook Color $139 (8GB)
Nook Tablet $159 (8GB)   $179 (16GB)
Nook HD $199 (8GB)   $229 (16GB)
Nook HD+ $269 (16GB) $299 (32GB)
Nook Simple Touch w/GlowLight $119
Nook Simple Touch $99  



Ad Supported Pricing No Ad Pricing
Kindle Fire   $159 (8GB) $174 (8GB)
Kindle Fire HD $199 (16GB) $249 (32GB) $214 (16GB) $264 (32GB)
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" $299 (16GB) $369 (32GB) $314 (16GB) $384 (32GB)
Kindle Paperwhite $119
Kindle $69

Friday, November 23, 2012

Best Cyber Monday Deals













With the early Black Friday deals behind us, it's time to look ahead to my preferred way of shopping, from the comfort of my own home, with Cyber Monday deals!  Many places are offering deals all week long. Check out the links below and good luck out there!

Best Cyber Monday Deals


Amazon Cyber Week Deals


Walmart Cyber Week Deals

Target Cyber Monday Page and Email deal signup

Kohl's Cyber Monday Deals
 

NewEgg Cyber Monday Page and Email deal sign-up


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Top Webhosting Company - Black Friday Special!



I just received an email that Bluehost is offering a Black Friday - Cyber Monday special on web hosting.  Since this is for a very limited time, I wanted to get the info out as quickly as possible.

If you've been considering setting up your own hosted blog or website, now would be a great opportunity to sign up for a quality web host at a substantial discount.

It looks like the price of monthly hosting goes from their normal $6.95 a month rate to $4.95, which is almost 30% off!  They very rarely offer special deals like this, so if you've been on the fence, it may be time to jump off and sign up!

You can click this link or the picture below to get the special rate.  The rate is not shown on the image, but it will be reflected on the subsequent page.  If you have any questions about web hosting or setting up your own website/blog, drop me a note and I'd be glad to offer assistance!


Monday, November 19, 2012

Black Friday Info 2012




It's almost Black Friday, 2012.  Another year has passed and it's shop till you drop time!  Or if you're like me, it's more like pick and click time.  This year I'll highlight some links to deals in effect right now, Black Friday Ads from some of the major retailers and upcoming deals as well. 

 

Amazon Pre Black Friday Daily Deals

This year Amazon is running Black Friday week, starting Mon the 18th - Black Friday, with new deals every day leading up to Black Friday.  Be sure to check their site daily for the deals of the day. 

 They are starting things off today (Monday) with up to 50% off Panasonic Lumix cameras. This deal is only good today and only while supplies last. 

They also have really great Holiday "helper" pages as well.  For instance, the 2012 Electronic Gift List page contains, all on one page, the ability to shop by most popular product categories, shop for products for particular people, shop for specific holiday deals, etc.

In addition they offer several other pages to help make your holiday shopping easier:

Holiday Toy List
Editors' Picks in Sports and Outdoors 
Holiday Deals in Home, Kitchen and Garden
Video Games Holiday Gift Guide

Other Pre Black Friday Sale Sites


NewEgg - Don't Freak Out, Geek Out Black November Deals

Popular Black Friday Ad Scans

Walmart Black Friday Ad
Target Black Friday Ad
Best Buy Black Friday Ad
Best Buy Daily Deals Page
HH Gregg Black Friday Ad
Sears Black Friday Ad
Kohl's Black Friday Ad
ToysRUs Black Friday Ad
Sam's Club Black Friday Ad
PetSmart Black Friday Ad

Thanksgiving / Black Friday Store Hours


Stores Participating in Pre-Black Friday Sales
Walmart will be kicking off Black Friday by opening its doors at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012.
Kmart will be opening their doors at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving and will have special deals at different times.
Toys R Us will also open at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Sears will be opening at 8:00 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.
Target will be opening their doors at 9:00 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.
Stores Opening at Midnight 
Best Buy will kick off Black Midnight at midnight, local time. Tickets for the hottest items will be handed out 2 hours before the stores open so get there early.
Macy’s sales kick off at midnight on Nov. 23, 2012. But you can also get a little shopping done early by shopping online on Thanksgiving Day.
Kohl’s sales begin at 12:00 a.m. on Nov. 23, 2012.
Sports Authority will also open at midnight.
The big Dell sale begins at midnight.
Stores Opening on Black Friday 2012
Lowe’s will open its doors at 5:00 a.m. local time on Black Friday, Nov. 23, 2012.
Home Depot kicks off their sale at 5:00 a.m. on Friday.
Staples will also open at 5:00 a.m. on Friday.
Radio Shack opens up at 6:00 a.m. Friday.
J.C. Penny will open at 6:00 a.m. on Friday.
Meijer also opens its doors at 6:00 a.m. on Nov. 23, 2012.

What is your plan of attack for this year?  Any particular items or category you're looking for this year?  Any must have items on your list?  Any plans to hit the stores when they open?  Good luck for any brave souls venturing out with the crowds!


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Angry Birds Star Wars - Walkthrough and Golden Eggs

















Angry Birds Star Wars was released for iPhone and Android on Nov 8th, 2012 to a whole lot of fanfare.  It is free for the Ad supported version on Android, but it rose to the No. 1 paid iPhone app and the top grossing iPhone app in the U.S. Apple App Store in just 2.5 hours after release, according to Ville Heijari, Rovio's SVP-brand marketing.  Pretty impressive!

For myself and I'm sure many others, the Angry Birds franchise had become a bit stale.  Even with the introduction of Angry Birds Space, which was quite popular, it didn't keep my interest for very long.

Angry Birds Star Wars seems to have rekindled the original excitement, since there are so many Star Wars fans out there.  When I first installed it on our Android tablet, I was pretty psyched.  A friend recommended it on Facebook.

My initial reaction was that the intro video and game graphics are great on the tablet!  Very impressive.  At first, the game is similar to the original, but as soon as you get through a few levels you get cool new characters to fling, complete with light sabers and other special powers.  In addition, the typical Golden Eggs have been replaced with Golden Droids.  Nice touch.



This one is definitely worth a download on Android, since it's free.  If you're a fan of Angry Birds and/or Star Wars, this one seems like a keeper and probably worth the 99 cents on iPhone. 

Walkthrough and Golden Eggs (Droids)

If you get stuck, check out these great Walkthrough videos on YouTube.  I got 3 stars on all the levels up to 1-13, but needed a hint on that one to not only get the Golden Droid, but to get the 3 stars as well.  Good luck and may the force be with you!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Welcome Baby Hadley!



I'd like to welcome our new little niece to the world, baby Hadley!

She weighed in at 6 pounds 15 ounces and is 20 1/4 inches. They're all doing well.  Can't wait to see her!  Since that will probably be a little while, I'm thankful for things like Facetime!  Congrats Michelle and James!  Isn't she just the cutest?!  :o)




Thursday, November 8, 2012

iPhone 5 Car Mount and Car Charger

Over the weekend we went to the Apple, grabbed the last 2 new USB Lightning cables they had in stock for $19 each and purchased a very highly rated car charger.  That way we can charge our phones on the go as needed.  The charger is designed to work optimally with Apple devices to charge them quicker, but it does work fine for all types of phones.  It is a dual port 2 Amp charger that can simultaneously charge two devices at once if desired.  I've been using the charger for a few days and it works very well.
Additionally, I found an excellent car mount that will work on almost any vehicle with an in-dash CD player (sample picture shown to the left).  It works great with the iPhone 5 and will work with almost any cell phone or similarly sized device.  You can orient your phone in either portrait or landscape mode and can also angle it left or right.

The mount will not prevent you from utilizing your CD player and your CD player will not try and pull in the mount as if it were a CD.  However, if you do have CDs in there, don't hit the eject button with the mount connected.  Check out the video below to see how quickly/easily it attaches/detaches.  You could easily move it from one car to another if desired and I even bring it with me when traveling to use in the rental car and it has worked perfect every time. 

I took the bottom piece off as they show in the video, so that the charger port and headphone jack are more accessible and it works great, the wifey likes to leave the bottom piece on and that works fine as well. 


I'd highly recommend checking out the car charger and car mount for your iPhone 5, or any cell phone that you might have.  They are both very highly rated and work great.

And if you haven't gotten an iPhone 5 case or screen protectors yet, check out my prior post.  Those are excellent as well.

UPDATE (1/9/2013):  I just wanted to provide a quick update to say how great this charger and mount combo are.  Few things in this world work exactly how you would expect day in and day out, but these two items do just that.  Since I use the free traffic app Waze every day that I'm in the car, the car mount is essential.  And it is so quick and easy to remove and take with you and I did just that on a recent trip last weekend.  I took it out of my car and attached it in the rental car upon arrival in a matter of seconds each time and was on my way.  The mount is sturdy as can be, the charger works very quickly and also does not get super hot like others I have had in the past.  You can't go wrong with either item!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Apple iOS 6.0.1 Update Now Available









The first update to Apple iOS 6, 6.0.1 is now available for download.  Thanks to BGR.com for posting the details earlier today.

As the BGR article mentioned, there is actually a bug in iPhone 5 that prevents you from installing software updates wirelessly over the air (OTA).  So first you have to install the patch to fix that.

For iPhone 5, go to Settings, General, Software Update and install the patch fix to allow OTA wireless updates.  When that is complete, go back to Software Update and install the 6.0.1 update.  It will reboot a time or two and then you'll be all set.

Here is a list of items the update fixes:

1. Fixes a bug that prevents iPhone 5 from installing software updates wirelessly over the air
2. Fixes a bug where horizontal lines may be displayed across the keyboard
3. Fixes an issue that could cause camera flash to not go off
4. Improves reliability of iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation) when connected to
    encrypted WPA2 Wi-Fi networks
5. Resolves an issue that prevents iPhone from using the cellular network in some instances
6. Consolidated the Use Cellular Data switch for iTunes Match
7. Fixes a Passcode Lock bug which sometimes allowed access to Passbook pass
    details from lock screen
8. Fixes a bug affecting Exchange meetings
If you're looking for a case or screen protectors for that new iPhone 5, check out the ones linked to here.  I utilize them personally and posted about them previously here with screen shots.  They are inexpensive, look great and work great as well.  Highly recommended. 

 
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