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TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Get a $50 iTunes Gift Card with email delivery from PayPal for just $42.50 (15% off)

Save $269 on Apple’s robust 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro: $1,030 shipped (Reg. $1,299)

The 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro is a powerful content creation machine, save 20% today: $1,600 (Reg. $1,999)

Today’s the day to upgrade All the Wireless/Internet of Things with 40% off TP-Link Goldbox

Charge your new Apple Watch on Spigen’s minimalist dock, just $7 Prime shipped (Reg. $12)

Charge your iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time w/ Belkin’s PowerHouse Dock: $80 shipped (Reg. $100)

App Store Free App of the Week: Super Phantom Cat goes free for the first time (Reg. $2)

The Apple Store app is your key to downloading the award-winning iOS game INKS for free

Apple Award winning Leo’s Fortune for iOS now matching lowest price ever: $1 (Reg. $5)

Aspyr 20th Birthday Mac Game Sale up to 75% off: BioShock, Borderlands, Star Wars, Shadow of Mordor, many more

The Best Console Game Releases for September: BioShock Collection, NBA 2K17, and mor

Review: TaoTronics’ best-selling LED desk lamps look right at home with your Mac, exclusive discounts

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

The UE Boom 2 portable Bluetooth speaker is waterproof, smart and on sale for just $150 (Reg. $200)

An 8TB Seagate External USB 3.0 Hard Drive for $180 shipped? What a world we live in.

• The Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Wireless Mouse is down to its Amazon low price: $50 (Reg. $60+)
• This ASUS 24″ monitor has a 4mm bezel and 2560 x 1440 resolution: $188 (Reg. $280)
• Logitech’s Bluetooth keyboard works w/ your Mac, iPhone, tablet and more: $25 (Reg. $37+)
• Smartphone Accessories: Aukey 24W/4.8A Dual Port USB Wall Charger $7 (Reg. $11), more
• Games/Apps: Deus Ex Mankind Divided $40, Dark Souls 3 $25, Double Dragon Trilogy $1, more
• Pick up Audio-Technica’s ATH-M40X Headphones bundled with a microphone for $79
• Daily Deals: Hyundai 4000W Generator $349, Canon Rebel T6 18-55mm DSLR Kit $399, more
• Philips’ Wake-Up Light with Sunrise Simulation is down to $100 at Amazon (Reg. $140)
• Rent Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels’ Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in HD for $1 (Reg. $5)

MORE DEALS STILL LIVE:

Save up to $150 on iPad Pro at Staples: 12.9-inch Wi-Fi 128GB $749 (Reg. $899), 32GB $649 (Reg. $799), more

Get $20 off Griffin’s iPhone 7 cases, Bluetooth headphone adapter & more when you spend $100

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Filed under: Apple

Along with the iPhone 7, I was able to go hands-on with both new flavors of Apple Watch: The Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2.

Apple Watch Series 1 doesn’t contain much new in the way of features, but it does come with a faster processor, which makes it worth considering. Series 2 is a larger upgrade, but depending on how you use your Apple Watch, it might not be large enough to warrant an extra $100.

Whatever the case may be, both new watches are much better than the notoriously slow original Apple Watch, which Apple no longer sells. Another thing that flew the coop with this latest update is the somewhat confusing Apple Watch Sport nomenclature. Now, it’s just Apple Watch, and you can get it in either Series 1 or Series 2.

Watch our hands-on video for an explanation of the new Apple Watch and a look at several of its new features. more…

Filed under: Apple

I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about how the new iPhone 7 display doesn’t appear to be brighter or even as bright as previous-gen iPhones despite Apple’s claim of a 25% brighter display versus iPhone 6s. That’s actually not the case, but there’s a reason it might appear that way…  more…

Filed under: Apple

Apple made a point of noting that its new iPhone 7 display is its brightest iPhone display ever, and new in-depth analysis from DisplayMate shows it also breaks records in many other key areas making it one of the best performing displays DisplayMate has ever tested.

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Filed under: Apple

While Airplane Mode is designed to switch off all the iPhone’s radios, they should promptly switch themselves on again after cancelling flight-safe mode. According to internal documents seen by MacRumors, however, some iPhone 7 models are not regaining mobile services when Airplane Mode is cancelled.

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Filed under: Apple

I’m personally still very happy with my ultra-pocketable iPhone SE so I have no plans to buy the iPhone 7, but with Apple touting a brave new wireless future, I thought the launch would make an opportune moment to decide whether or not it was time for me to make the switch from a wired world.

Those who know me are often surprised to find that I wasn’t one of the first to switch to wireless headphones. I have a well-known aversion to wires, even going so far as commissioning a bespoke desk to hide them away out of sight. But while I’ve tried a few wireless headphones over the years, I’ve always come back to my wired Bowers & Wilkins P5 …

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Filed under: Apple

Even if you love Apple’s built-in Calendar apps on iOS 10 and watchOS 3, Fantastical for iOS and watchOS is the best way to view a streamlined list view of both your upcoming appointments and scheduled reminders. I use both apps but Fantastical is my primary calendar (and you can sort of remove stock apps now).

Over the weekend, Fantastical for iOS was refreshed with a much-needed iOS 10 update that supports the new iOS 10 widget styles. Before iOS 10, widgets could be any size which made Fantastical’s month calendar widget very useful, but it didn’t fit iOS 10 without an update.

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Filed under: Apple

The root cause of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosions and fires that forced the company to recall all 2.5 million devices sold was the company rushing to market ahead of the iPhone 7 launch, claim Bloomberg sources. Based on reports that the iPhone 7 would be a ‘dull’ upgrade, the company decided to take advantage by bringing forward its own launch.

The top brass at Samsung Electronics, including phone chief D.J. Koh, decided to accelerate the launch of a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers and capitalize on the opportunity, according to people familiar with the matter. They pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite loads of new features, another person with direct knowledge said. The Note 7 would have a high-resolution screen that wraps around the edges, iris-recognition security and a more powerful, faster-charging battery. Apple’s taunts that Samsung was a copycat would be silenced for good.

The move backfired in the most literal sense, and may ironically have contributed to the iPhone 7 selling better than expected …

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Filed under: Apple

Benchmark scores have already shown us that the iPhone 7 is theoretically faster than a standard MacBook Air, but they always raise the question how much difference such performance makes to real-life use. One realistic speed test carried out by PhoneBuff seems to quite convincingly demonstrate that the answer is ‘a lot.’

The test pits the iPhone 7 against the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 by opening a bunch of commonly-used apps – including some heavy-duty games – and having them create a timelapse from the same video …

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Filed under: Apple

Debuted during the Emmys and subsequently uploaded to YouTube, Apple’s latest Apple Music commercial takes a starkly different approach at showing off the streaming music service. The ad, which comes in at 2 minutes, stars James Corden of the Late Late Show and its popular Carpool Karaoke series, as well as Apple executives Jimmy Iovine, Eddy Cue, and Bozoma Saint John.

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Filed under: Apple