Quickly on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals come the number crunchers sharing just how the holiday shopping season is actually shaping up.The Consumer Technology Association says that this is the year that the number of mobile (smartphone/tablet) shoppers has finally approached the number of online shoppers using desktop or laptop computers. MORE: Hottest Cyber Monday 2016 deals on Apple productsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple's underwhelming one-day Black Friday sale has come and gone, but other retailers have come to the rescue for Cyber Monday 2016 and put Apple iPhones, iPads, Macs and more on sale this Nov. 28 (though note that some retailers are extending Cyber Monday to the entire week).Best Buy is offering the iPhone 7 starting at $1*, and yes there is an asterisk on that. You save $200 on the 32GB edition of the iOS smartphone, but you also need to activate the phone on Verizon and sign on for a two-year contract.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Amazon has kicked off Cyber Monday 2016 with a slew of sales this coming week on its own products, such as the Echo and Fire tablets, as well as on items from others, ranging from Exploding Kittens card sets to Nest thermostats.(Black Friday & Cyber Monday watchers such as BFads and Best Black Friday have been a big help in keeping tabs on deals.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Amazon has kicked off Cyber Monday 2016 with a slew of sales this coming week on its own products, such as the Echo and Fire tablets, as well as on items from others, ranging from Exploding Kittens card sets to Nest thermostats.(Black Friday & Cyber Monday watchers such as BFads and Best Black Friday have been a big help in keeping tabs on deals.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple, which last year was too cool to have a Black Friday sale, has revealed its one-day deals for Black Friday 2016 this Nov. 25.You can get up to a $150 gift card when purchasing select Apple products, with Macs earning the biggest rewards.The $150 gift card rewards apply to purchases of MacBook Airs starting at $1,000, MacBooks and MacBook Pros (13-inches) starting at $1,300, and MacBook Pros (15-inches) starting at $2,000, among others.MORE: Best Black Friday 2016 deals on Apple iPhones, iPads, Watches & moreTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple, which last year was too cool to have a Black Friday sale, has revealed its one-day deals -- focused on older products -- for Black Friday 2016 this Nov. 25.You can get up to a $150 gift card when purchasing select Apple products, with Macs earning the biggest rewards.The $150 gift card rewards apply to purchases of MacBook Airs starting at $1,000, MacBooks and MacBook Pros (13-inches) starting at $1,300, and MacBook Pros (15-inches) starting at $2,000, among others.MORE: Best Black Friday 2016 deals on Apple iPhones, iPads, Watches & moreTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The line between what constitutes a Black Friday 2016 deal and a Cyber Monday one has pretty much disappeared, but what we have here are a handful of tech deals specifically available for Cyber Monday, which is Nov. 28.Cyber Monday got its start as an online-only alternative to once in-store focused Black Friday, but of course Black Friday, Black November, etc., is now a mishmash of online and in-store action. Nevertheless, some retailers still trot out the Cyber Monday marketing term, and we'll accommodate them briefly here by highlighting a few of their deals.(Black Friday & Cyber Monday watchers such as BFads and Best Black Friday have been a big help in keeping tabs on deals.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
We've done more than our fair share of Black Friday, Black November, pre-Black Friday, Cyber Monday and other tech bargain roundups, including looks at virtual reality systems such as HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR that can be had for less this holiday shopping season.MORE: 50+ Black Friday 2016 tech dealsNow a comedy website dubbed Above Average, which has SNL and 30 Rock blood in its veins, brings us a beautiful (and only slightly NSFW) mashup of Black Friday deals and virtual reality systems that's just a little too real.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a novel approach these days, Apple is actually waiting until Black Friday, Nov. 25, until it reveals its Black Friday 2016 shopping deals. A slew of techie Black Friday deals have been touted by others, most of whom aren't waiting for the day after Thanksgiving.Apple merely teases that "Black Friday can't come soon enough" and invites consumers to visit its shopping site on Friday. The promo page, which features an Apple Watch, does mention that there is free two-day delivery on in-stock items ordered by 5pm on Black Friday and that by downloading the Apple Store app you might be privy to early access on items. Note that at least some Apple stores will have extended shopping hours too.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Association for Computing Machinery has changed the name of its annual award recognizing computing professionals for early-to-mid-career innovations from the ACM-Infosys Foundation Award to the ACM Prize in Computing, and boosted the value of the prize by $75K.Good call on the name change, which the ACM figures will raise awareness of the award and be more recognizable. Though not to be confused: the group's more famous AM Turing Award, given annually for major contributions of lasting importance to computing, is known informally as the "Nobel Prize of Computing". (See also: "Crypto dream team of Diffiie & Hellman wins 2016 'Nobel Prize of Computing'")To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With virtual reality systems like HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR being the latest cool gaming gear around, it's not surprising that consumers haven't been offered a ton of Black Friday 2016 bargains. But some deals have started to trickle out.HTC itself has announced Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, offering $100 off Vive hardware platforms, which usually start at $800. HTC Vive provides an immersive full-room VR experience, as you don goggles and hold a couple of controllers to navigate your way undersea, through space or through other worlds.MORE: 50+ Black Friday 2016 tech dealsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Society for Information Management has announced that is reworking its annual SIMposium conference, which took place last month in Connecticut, and will come back in the spring of 2018 with an event dubbed SIM Connect Live.This year's event attracted hundreds of CIOs and other IT decision makers and business strategists to exchange thoughts on everything from leadership to risk management to the workforce of the future (See also: "CIO Security Lessons -- Dark thinking on IoT & exploding enterprise networks").To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Society for Information Management has announced that is reworking its annual SIMposium conference, which took place last month in Connecticut, and will come back in the spring of 2018 with an event dubbed SIM Connect Live.This year's event attracted hundreds of CIOs and other IT decision makers and business strategists to exchange thoughts on everything from leadership to risk management to the workforce of the future (See also: "CIO Security Lessons -- Dark thinking on IoT & exploding enterprise networks").To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Society for Information Management has announced that is reworking its annual SIMposium conference, which took place last month in Connecticut, and will come back in the spring of 2018 with an event dubbed SIM Connect Live.
This year's event attracted just under 800 CIOs and other IT decision makers and business strategists to exchange thoughts on everything from leadership to risk management to the workforce of the future (See also: "CIO Security Lessons -- Dark thinking on IoT & exploding enterprise networks").To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There was sad news over the weekend in the venture capital community, as New Enterprise Associate General Partner Harry Weller died in his sleep at the age of 46. Weller, who was not known to have had any illness, is survived by his wife and two sons."A renowned technology investor, champion of innovation and true partner to entrepreneurs, many knew Harry to be bold, brilliant and passionate," NEA says on a tribute to Weller on its website." To those who knew him best, he was equally remarkable for his kind heart and generous spirit. Harry was a deeply devoted father, husband and friend."MORE: Notable deaths in 2016 in technology, science & inventionsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There was sad news over the weekend in the venture capital community, as New Enterprise Associate General Partner Harry Weller died in his sleep at the age of 46. Weller, who was not known to have had any illness, is survived by his wife and two sons."A renowned technology investor, champion of innovation and true partner to entrepreneurs, many knew Harry to be bold, brilliant and passionate," NEA says on a tribute to Weller on its website." To those who knew him best, he was equally remarkable for his kind heart and generous spirit. Harry was a deeply devoted father, husband and friend."MORE: Notable deaths in 2016 in technology, science & inventionsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some have begun referring to this month as Black November since pre-Black Friday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales have all blended together. Not all the supposed deals are actually deals at all – in many cases, the retailers are just trying to offload stuff – but there are plenty of bargains to be had on the hottest smartphones, tablets, PCs and gaming systems. Here’s a look at some of the best deals.Websites such as BFads.net, BlackFriday.com and BestBlackFriday.com have all been helpful in collecting this information. MORE: Best Black Friday Apple Watch dealsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
While Windows phone deals are not surprisingly few and far between for Black Friday 2016, plenty of other Microsoft Windows desktops and laptops, Surface tablets and Xbox gaming deals can be had this holiday shopping season. Come Nov. 25, and even earlier for Microsoft itself and retailers, here are some of the best deals around.(Websites such as BFads.net, BlackFriday.com and BestBlackFriday.com have all been helpful in collecting this information.) To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It’s a lot easier to find Black Friday 2016 deals for Android smartphones and tablets than it is for competing Apple products, so if you’re a fan of Google’s Linux kernel-based mobile OS or willing to give it a shot, then Best Buy, Target and others are more than happy to accommodate on Nov. 25.
Here’s where to look if you want to compare Android products to those from Apple or running Windows. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Starting from behind the likes of Slack and HipChat with its new workplace collaboration Teams service, Microsoft can use all the help it can get. Startup Message.io is among those coming to its aid.Message.io, a bot translation tool and syndication service provider founded last year, enables developers to quickly port and scale their bots to work on numerous enterprise messaging platforms without making coding changes. It is partnering with Microsoft so that bots built for other messaging platforms will work on Teams within Office 365 (not to mention on Microsoft's Skype for Business).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bob Brown