Posts tagged with "deals"

The Best Amazon Black Friday Gadget Deals, as Selected by the MacStories Team

There’s a lot on sale during Amazon’s weeklong Black Friday event. I’ve been combing through the deals and found some great gadget buys, which I’ve summarized below. For even more deals, Club MacStories+ and Premier members should visit our Black Friday Discord channel, where members are sharing the deals they find throughout the week, too.

Apple and Beats Hardware

Apple AirPods Pro 2 (32% off)

This isn’t quite the best deal I’ve seen on AirPods Pro 2, but it’s close. With Apple’s new hearing protection and assistance features, the AirPods Pro 2 are more capable than ever, so it’s a good time to refresh an aging pair or pick up your first.

Apple AirTag Four-Pack (26%)

I have AirTags on my luggage, on my backpack, and in my glasses cases. Amazon’s Black Friday deal is one of the lowest prices for a four-pack that I’ve seen.

Apple Watch Series 10 (18% off)

It’s wild to me that the Apple Watch Series 10 is already 18% off on Amazon, which is the best deal available since the wearable’s launch according to CamelCamelCamel. I’m sticking with my OG Apple Watch Ultra, but the Series 10 is tempting at this price.

Beats Solo 4 (50% off)

Beats is going all out for Black Friday with 50% off the Solo 4 headphones in various color. I haven’t used either model myself, but Devon recently reviewed the Beats Solo 4 in the Club MacStories Monthly Log. I’m a fan of the Beats Fit Pro, which I’ve been using for about a year whenever I run outdoors; unfortunately, the Fit Pro model isn’t on sale this week.

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A Roundup of Club MacStories Giveaways and Discounts

Tomorrow, November 1st, is the final day of the Club MacStories Fall Membership Drive. So if you haven’t jumped on our deal to get 20% off any annual plan with the code ‘CLUB2024’, you can read more about it here.

Each of the Club’s three tiers offers a variety of perks, but today, I want to highlight two: giveaways and discounts. I’d also like to thank the developers who have participated in this year’s giveaways and discounts, along with those whose apps we’ve added throughout the year for Club members. We appreciate the support immensely.

If you haven’t joined yet, you can do so here:

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We’ve been doing app giveaways for all members since the beginning of the Club in 2015, but this year’s Membership Drive giveaways are some of the best we’ve ever done. We announced the first batch in last week’s issue of our Club-exclusive MacStories Weekly newsletter, and below, I’ll reveal the giveaways we’re doing this week. Giveaways are all announced in MacStories Weekly, and any Club member can enter.

To kick things off last week, we announced giveaways of:

  • Parcel, the excellent universal app for tracking deliveries with tight integration with Amazon and many delivery companies around the world;
  • Shareshot, the terrific utility for the iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro that frames screenshots in photorealistic hardware frames with beautiful gradient backgrounds;
  • Paku, a tool for keeping an eye on air quality;
  • Text Workflow for iOS, an excellent way to automate text transformations with its long list of built-in tools and Shortcuts support;
  • Photomator, which recently got a big update with flagging, filtering, and rating options;
  • Due for Mac, which lets you set a reminder and have it ping you at intervals until you complete the task; and
  • two Suti PhoneBacks for the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

This week, we’ll add the following giveaways:

  • Acorn, the Mac image editor from Flying Meat;
  • Retrobatch, Flying Meat’s batch editor for images that integrates with Shortcuts;
  • Due for iOS, which lets you set a reminder and have it ping you at intervals until you complete the task;
  • Unsqueeze, a utility for intelligently upscaling videos to as high as 8K; and
  • the Dual Grip Ultimate v.3 iPhone 16 Pro Max adapter for Joy-Con controllers.

Entries for all of these dozen giveaways will remain open until November 6th, so anyone who joins Club MacStories during the Fall Membership Drive can enter to win.

For Club MacStories Plus and Premier members, we’ve also announced brand new discounts for the following apps:

Those deals join a long list of ongoing discounts currently available to Club MacStories Plus and Premier members and viewable by anyone, whether you’re a Club member or not, here. Altogether, it’s become quite a list:

Thanks again to all the developers who have participated in our giveaways and discounts this year and in the past. You make the apps we love, so your support means a lot to us.

And thank you to everyone who has signed up for Club MacStories this week, too. As the Club has grown, so have our plans for it and MacStories in general, and having the support of Club members old and new is what has given us the confidence to keep growing despite difficult times in the advertising world.


My Top Picks for Amazon Prime Big Deal Days

Amazon Prime’s Big Deal Days runs today and tomorrow, so just as I did for Prime Day before it, I’ve scoured the thousands of available deals for the best gear that I’ve used, tested, and love. For more of the gear that Federico and I use, check out our Setups page, too.

Here are my top Prime Big Deal Days picks:

Apple Hardware and Accessory Deals

Apple Studio Display.

Apple Studio Display.

Studio Display with Stand (16% off)

Apple’s Studio Display has been out for quite a while now, so it’s a regular among Amazon deals. I’ve been using mine for over two years, and it’s the perfect Mac or iPad compliment if you want a big, bright, and crisp display at your desk.

MagSafe Charger (16% off)

Apple recently updated its MagSafe charging puck that I use with my AirPod Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The updated charger, which is Qi2 compatible, allows my iPhone to charge more quickly than was possible with earlier iPhone and charger pairings.

Apple Pencil Pro.

Apple Pencil Pro.

Apple Pencil Pro (24% off)

The Apple Pencil Pro isn’t an accessory that I use every day, but between Smart Script and the radial menu that appears when you squeeze the Pencil’s barrel, I’ve found myself using it more and more for taking notes, editing video in Final Cut Pro, and navigating the web.

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My Top Amazon Prime Day Picks

There are thousands of things on sale during Amazon Prime Day, including a lot of my favorite gadgets, so I thought I’d highlight the deals I’ve found for the gear I’ve used, tested, and love. Here are my top picks.

Apple Hardware and Accessory Deals

Apple Studio Display with Adjustable Stand (15% off)

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

I’ve had an Apple Studio Display for two years now and love it. Colors are bright, text is crisp, and having a set of additional Thunderbolt ports available on its rear panel comes in surprisingly handy.

Apple iPad mini (6th Gen), 256GB Storage, Wi-Fi (15% off)

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

It may be getting a little long in the tooth, but I still love my mighty iPad mini. My new 11” iPad Pro has absorbed some of the reading and video-watching I used to do almost exclusively on the mini, but the mini’s size is perfect for reading, which is what I still use it for almost every day.

Beats Fit Pro (25% off)

Source: Beats.

Source: Beats.

I haven’t gotten around to writing about the Beats Fit Pro yet, but I picked up a pair a couple of months ago, and I love them. They’re smaller than the Powerbeats Pro that wrap around your ears, which I like, and because they use Apple’s H1 chip, they include features like fast pairing with the Apple Watch and transparency mode. They don’t have every feature of the latest AirPods Pro, but they have the most important ones that I want when I go out for a run on a hot day.

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Over 250 Apps from Indie Developers Are On Sale Now

The folks at Indie App Sales are back with another big sale featuring apps from some of your favorite indie developers. This time around, they have over 250 apps in the lineup, including MacStories favorites like:

The sale periods vary by app, but most are offering discounts today and tomorrow, so check it out and grab a great deal on these excellent apps and support indie development.


Houdah Software’s Apps Join the Club MacStories+ and Club Premier Discount Program

Ever since we expanded Club MacStories in 2021, we’ve added a growing number of top-tier apps to the Club MacStories+ and Club Premier Discount Program. Today, we’re pleased to welcome Houdah Software to the program with HoudahSpot, HoudahGeo, Photos Workbench, and Tembo, which are all 25% off for Club MacStories+ and Premier members who log in and visit the Club Discounts page.

HoudahSpot is a powerful file search utility that makes finding files a snap and keeps those that you use the most close at hand, saving you time over and over every day. HoudahGeo lets you geotag photos by pinning them to the map locations where you took them. Photos Workbench is indispensable for organizing, geotagging, rating, and managing your photos. Finally, Tembo is a search assistant for documents, mail messages, images, videos, and more that groups files by type and includes multiple sorting and filtering options.

Discounts are just one of the many Club MacStories perks.

Discounts are just one of the many Club MacStories perks.

To put the Club deals into context, taking advantage of them all would save you more than the cost of two years of Club Premier, the highest Club tier. That’s before you even consider the many other perks Club MacStories and Club Premier members enjoy, including:

  • Weekly and monthly newsletters 
  • A sophisticated web app with search and filtering tools to navigate eight years of content
  • Customizable RSS feeds
  • Bonus columns
  • An early and ad-free version of our Internet culture and media podcast, MacStories Unwind
  • A vibrant Discord community of smart app and automation fans who trade a wealth of tips and discoveries every day
  • Live Discord audio events after Apple events and at other times of the year

On top of that, Club Premier members get AppStories+, an extended, ad-free version of our flagship podcast that we deliver early every week in high-bitrate audio.

Use the buttons below to learn more and sign up for Club MacStories+ or Club Premier.

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