iTunes card and other Sales of interest – June 1 – 8

Some sales that I noticed recently that may be of interest to you are listed below, have fun shopping.

• $50 iTunes card, now $40 at the Future Shop
• Sharp 60″, 70″ and 80″ Aquos LED TV’s, save $1,000 to $1,200 at the Future Shop
• Pioneer 3D Blu-ray Disk Player, now $139.99 a savings of $60 at the Future Shop
• Harmon Kardon Go + Play iPod/iPhone Dock, now $199.99 a savings of $100 at the Future Shop
• PaintShop Pro X4 Ultimate, now $39.94, a savings of $45 at Staples
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, now $69.96 a savings of $60 at Staples
• Roxio Creator 2012, now $49.96 a savings of 50% at Staples

Sales on Laser Printers at Staples – May 30 – June 5

If you are in the market for a laser printer you should probably check out Staples website, as they are having a pretty good sale over the next week.  Included in the sale are various printers from Brother, Canon, HP, Lexmark, Samsung and Xerox.  An example of some of savings include:

• Brother HL-4570CDW Wireless Color Laser Printer, now $529.99, you saving $110
• Canon Color Image Class MF8380CDW Wireless Laser Multifunction Printer, now $546.96, you save $250
• HP Color LaserJet Enterprise CP4525dn Laser Printer, now $1,429.99, you save $550
• Lexmark E260DN Laser Printer, now $184.96, you save $100
• Samung SCX 3405FW Wireless Laser Multifunction Printer, now $99.98, you save $100
• Xeros Phaser 6500/N Color Laser Printer, now $314.96, you save $135.

Source: Staples

TiVo to introduce six tuner DVR later this year

At the recent Cable Show in Boston, TiVo introduced a six tuner Digital Video Recorder (DVR) which it has developed in partnership with Pace. The XG1 gateway, as it is being called, is capable of distributing TV signals to Smart TV’s or extenders within your home and is capable of recording 6 programs at the same time. It also has the capability to connect with mobile and tablet remote apps. There are no plans to offer the device directly to consumers but instead it will be sold by TV providers later in the year. Here is hoping that Rogers Cable or Bell TV picks this up, it would certainly be much more exciting than the dated devices they currently offer.

Source: Engadget

Microsoft to release Office software for iOS and Android tablets (Update)

Those who wish they could access their Word documents or Power Point presentations on their tablet device may soon get their wishes granted. Boy Genius Report just recently posted a story indicating that a tablet version of Microsoft Office will get released sometime in November. The unnamed source also added that it would likely be coming to all iOS devices, including the iPhone and iPod, as well as Android tablets. This seems to corroborate a story a couple of months back which, at the time, was denied by Microsoft as not being authentic.

Source: Boy Genius Report

Update: The launch date for the mobile version of Microsoft Office is reported to be November 10.  Source: Boy Genius Report 

 

Samsung Galaxy S III Canadian release date – Confirmed

Update: The details below have been confirmed on the Future Shop’s website.

Most things about the Galaxy S III, Samsung’s next flagship device, have been known for some time, including its specs, its pentile touchscreen, even benchmark performances have been leaked. What was a closely guarded secret though was the release date in North America, the only hint that Samsung offered was that it was going to be available sometime in the summer. Well if a leaked Best Buy Canada flyer is to be believed, pre-orders for the Galaxy SIII will begin on May 30, with the device itself shipping on June 20. Apparently, Mobile Syrup, the site where the leaked flyer appeared, was asked to take the image down, adding more credence to this rumour. It is expected to be available on most carriers in Canada, including: Bell, Mobilicity, Rogers, SaskTel, Telus, Videotron, Virgin Mobile and Wind. If pre-orders for the device in Britain are any indication, this will likely be a popular device so if you are interested in getting this latest and greatest Android device make a note of these dates in your calendar.

Source: Mobile Syrup and Engadget

Apple applies for optical stylus patent

Apple has just recently applied for a patent for an optical stylus, things do seem to be changing in Cupertino. Steve Jobs hated the stylus and in fact in his 2007 iPhone presentation asked “Who wants a stylus? You have to get ’em, put ’em away, you lose ’em. Yech! Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus.” Later in another interview in 2010, when asked about multitasking, he said, “It’s like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it.” It could be that Apple has seen the light and realized that some people, in fact quite a number of people, want a stylus. Proof of this is given by the popularity of iPad drawing applications such as Draw Something. Another possibility is that previous versions of the stylus were not up to Apple’s high standards, whereas now it has developed the perfect stylus. Whatever the case, we may see this new magical accessory unveiled at an upcoming Apple event.

Source: Engadget 1, 2 and Slate.com

Music Channels on Rogers Cable

For those of you who didn’t know, Rogers Cable has 40 music channels available free of charge, they are located between channels 710 and 750. The service caters to all musical tastes, some of these include: Kid’s Stuff, Pop Adult, 70’s, 80’s, Rock, Blues, Folk, Jazz, Chamber Music, Baroque and Country. With the recent upgrade to the Interactive Programming Guide (IPG) has come some improvements to the music channels. For instance if you have a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), it is now possible to pause, rewind and record your favourite musical selections just like you would TV programs. Another welcome addition is the inclusion of the song title and artist to the screen, a feature that initially missing in the new IPG. An added bonus is the continuous loop of photographs that are displayed on the screen to suit the mood of the particular channel you are listening to. If you want some background music to relax or party to then go and see what Rogers Cable has to offer, you’re sure to find something that you like.

MacBook Pros on sale everywhere

Following on a trend that started at Best Buy in the US, both big box electronic stores in Canada The Future Shop and Best Buy (Canada) have sales on the MacBook Pro and iMac this week. Most people agree that Apple will be refreshing these lines early in June so this is likely an attempt by the retailers to reduce their inventory of older models to make room for the new ones. There have been many rumours floating around these days especially for the MacBook Pro which hasn’t seen a major redesign since its introduction in 2006. Some of the more plausible changes that you can expect are:

• inclusion of Intel’s new Core i5 and i7 Ivy Bridge Processors which have just been released
• use of integrated graphics capabilities over the use of discrete graphics card for some models
• with the use of Ivy Bridge processors comes the probable addition of USB 3.0 connectors
• second generation Thunderbolt controllers and connectors that were co-developed by Intel and Apple
• removal of hard disk drives in favour of smaller and more energy efficient solid state drives as has already been done in the MacBook Air line
• loss of optical drive
• removal of the ethernet and firewire connections which means you would have to rely on Thunderbolt connections to handle networking
• a slimed down chassis as a result of the loss of the hard dish drive and connectors
• a high resolution Retina display with a 2048 x 1536 screen resolution

So if any of these upgrades would be of interest to you, you should probably wait for the release of the new line of MacBook Pros and iMac’s expected around June 11 which is the start of Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. If you like what Cupertino has to offer right now you could probably get yourself a pretty good deal as retailers reduce prices on the older models.

Source: Mobile N Apps and NVONews

Apple opening new store in Ottawa soon?

Recent job postings in a local newspaper indicate that Apple will soon be opening another store in Ottawa. There is presently only one Apple Store in Ottawa which is located downtown in the Rideau Centre. Speculation has it that it will be located either at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre or at Bayshore in the city’s west end. A recent tip on the iPhone in Canada website indicates that it will likely be at Bayshore at the location of the old Gap Kid’s store which is presently covered in black.

Source: iPhone in Canada

Ivy Bridge Processors are here! (Update)

UPDATE

For those of you who want to get your hands on Intel’s latest and greatest processor at a great price, you’re in luck.  The new Samsung 17.3″ Ultrabook mentioned in the original post below is actually on sale at Best Buy for $1,199, that’s $200 off of the regular price until May 24.  As an added bonus you will get a Xbox 360 4 GB console absolutely free as part of Microsoft’s student bonus offer.  Of course you will have to present some academic credentials to take advantage of this but get their quick to avoid being disappointed.

Source: Best Buy

ORIGINAL POST

In the last couple of days there have been a slew of announcements of PC’s with Intel’s newest processor, Ivy Bridge. At least for now the only version of the processor that is available is the high end quad core i7 processors that are usually used in multimedia and gaming computers. Mainstream PC’s will not get upgraded with the new silicon until sometime in June when the less expensive dual core processors are released.

If you are a power user though you are now able to get a quad core i7 PC from several manufacturers. Even though Ivy Bridge processors provide significantly improved graphics over Sandy Bridge units, the computers that are now available also have separate powerful AMD or Nvidia graphics cards. Some of the manufacturers that feature these new 3rd generation quad core i7 processors include:

• Dell: Alienware 14x, 17x and 18x; Inspiron 14R and 15R Special Edition; Vostro 470 Desktop and XPS 8500
• Asus: G75VW and G55VW
• MSI: GT60 and GT70
• Samsung: Series 7 Gamer

The new Future Shop flyer and website features the Samsung NP550P7C which has just been released on April 30. This 17.3″ model features a SuperBright full HD monitor with 8 GB of RAM, a huge 1 TB hard drive, a Blu-ray drive and powerful JBL speakers with a Max Bass Boost Subwoofer. According to the website they are available on-line as well as at many of their stores. More details on this $1,299.99 laptop can be found on the Future Shop website by clicking here.

Source: PC World, PC Mag, CNET