Apple's Black Friday Sale Goes Live (Internationally)

 

From Australia Apple Store

Apple's one day Black Friday sale goes live in Australia with sales very similar to the ones proposed by 9to5mac yesterday.

Also, App Store developers have continued their tradition of putting apps on sale during the holidays. Appshopper makes it easy to track these sales for apps on both the iOS and Mac App Store. 

Samsung's The Next Big Thing Ad Pokes Fun At iPhone Customers

Apple had its laugh for a few years when it was running its renowned Mac vs. PC ads, and now it's time for Samsung to have its fun and poke some of its frustration over at Apple with a new set of parody ads featuring its Galaxy S II with the massive 4.3-inch screen that makes the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S look ridiculously small in comparison. Samsung's ad titled The Next Big Thing, shows iPhone users in desperate need of a larger screen and 4G speeds waiting in line for the iPhone 4S. 

Apple Store App Now Lets You Purchase Accessories Yourself, In-Store Pickups

It took Apple a while to implement these what seem like no-brainer features for customers to check themselves out while purchasing accessories at Apple retail stores and paying via their iTunes account without having to wait for an employee to ring you up on an accessory on a busy day. Which just so happens to be almost every single business day. Apple has issued an update that enables you to use the Apple Store app with your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to make in-store purchases by scanning the barcode on the packaging without even having to interact with employees called EasyPay.

For larger purchases like Macs, iPods, iPads and iPhones you'll still need assistance of an employee. But if you don't feel like waiting, you can now purchase those devices beforehand and within an hour, pick up your purchase at your local Apple store without having to wait. That is until everyone else finds out about this. So have fun and shop responsibly! 

Late 2011 MacBook Pros Get Their Specs Bumped

While we were all in bed, Apple surprised us this morning with light spec bumps for all late 2011 MacBook Pros. What hasn't changed are the prices. The updates include slightly faster processors, graphics and larger storage capacities as a standard. Starting off with the lower end 13-inch MacBook Pro - it now has a 2.4Ghz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor bumped up from 2.3Ghz, and a 500GB hard drive bumped up from 320GB. 

The lower end 15-inch MacBook Pro was bumped up from 2.0Ghz to a 2.2Ghz quad-core Intel i7 processor while the 17-inch MacBook Pro has been refreshed with a 2.4Ghz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor from the older 2.2Ghz processor. Both the 15-inch and 17-inch higher end offerings now boast a new AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics card with 1GB of GDDR5 VRAM. These updates are no reason to sell what you've got now.

Steve Jobs Biography Released

 

The Steve Jobs biography is an authorized book by Walter Isaacson. Steve Jobs, himself, reached out to Isaacson a couple years ago to ask the author to write a biography on him. Isaacson says that at the time of the initial offer, he wasn't aware of Jobs' health issues. 

The Biography is now available on iBooks, Kindle, Nook, and local book stores. 

Apple Patent Suggest Thinner MacBook Pro

Rumors are now at full swing about Apple's next generation MacBook Pro portables. As we get closer to a potentially imminent refresh announcement of the MacBook Pro line, a new patent that has been recently discovered reveals that Apple has found a way to make its 0.95-inch thick MacBook Pros even thinner. How? The patent suggest that Apple found a way to redesign the optical drive that's slim enough for Apple to shave off a few more millimeters. Reducing moving parts inside the optical drive with specially designed magnets that create an magnetic field that will in turn quietly spin a CD, DVD and if we get lucky - Blu-ray. There's no knowing if Apple can actually pull this off, but at least they want to make things thinner.

iPhone 4S AppleCare No Longer Available, Say Hello To AppleCare+

Say goodbye to that $69 AppleCare extended warranty plan for the iPhone 4S. Starting today, Apple has discontinued the regular AppleCare and now only lets iPhone 4S owners to purchase AppleCare+ for $99. While it may seem like a better option with the added benefit of AppleCare+ such as accidental damage coverage, you'll have to fork up an additional $49 in case of an accidental damage service request. Those who take care of their stuff and only wanted to add an additional 2 years of AppleCare warranty to their iPhone 4S will now have to pay more as a result.

Apple has recently put up a note that says anyone who pre-ordered an iPhone 4S or the 8GB iPhone 4 will have time to purchase AppleCare+ until November 14 by calling in.