Wednesday, 15 July 2015

Apple's Annual Back to School Promotion Still Nowhere to Be Found


For many years running, Apple has offered a Back to School promotion for students and educators, providing discounts on Apple products ahead of the coming school year. Back to School promotions have kicked off on the first Tuesday of July for the last two years, so when July 6 came and went without a Back to School announcement, many people began wondering when Apple would launch the 2015 promotion.

We've been receiving questions about the Back to School program for several weeks now, and in mid-July, there's still no sign of an imminent launch. Some have wondered whether Apple is canceling the program all together, but it's too early to say. It may be late in the month, but there are still several weeks to go before kids and teachers begin returning to classrooms.

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Apple's 2014 Back to School Promotion

Historically, the latest Apple has launched a previous Back to School program was July 2, and that was in 2013. From 2006 to 2012, Back to School kicked off in May or early June, while it launched in July in 2013 and 2014. It's entirely possible that Apple has simply decided to launch the promotion a bit later in the year, once again adjusting the dates as it did in 2013.

MacRumors has spoken to several retail employees who often hear word on Back to School a few days ahead of its debut, but so far, no one we've contacted has heard anything from Apple. The last Back to School promotion Apple introduced was for Australian customers in January of 2015.

Apple's Back to School promotion is highly anticipated because it's one of the few times a year that Apple offers deals to customers, and many hold off on summer purchases until the event begins. Last year, Apple's Back to School offer included a $50 to $100 Apple Store Gift Card with the purchase of a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, while years past included a $50 to $100 App Store Gift Card.

In the early days of the Back to School promotion, deals were offered in the form of rebates that provided a free iPod with the purchase of a Mac, but Apple has offered gift cards instead of iPods since 2011.









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Surveillance video shows drug kingpin El Chapo's escape from prison


This week, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, escaped from the Mexican prison where he was being held. Now, the Mexican government has released footage showing the moment he fled.

The escape was bizarrely elaborate: a mile-long tunnel was built about 30 feet below the shower in Guzmán's cell, and the tunnel reportedly had a "motorcycle on rails" system, used either for construction or as a means for Guzmán's escape. Eventually, the escape route released Guzmán at a construction site in a nearby town. This wasn't the first such prison break for the drug lord, either: Guzmán escaped from a prison in 2001, apparently on a laundry cart.

The new video shows Guzmán pacing his cell before climbing behind a...

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New phones from Motorola are likely coming soon


Motorola has refreshed its line of smartphones in August or September for the past couple of years, and based on a number of recent leaks, it appears that it will do the same this year. According to an image posted to the HelloMotoHK Google+ account, Motorola is prepping at least four new smartphones, including updates to the Moto X and Moto G and two new Droid branded phones, including a "mini" model. The picture shows the backs of the phones, demonstrating a similar design language across the models. Unfortunately, few other details were revealed.

Last month, TechnoBuffalo posted what are allegedly renders of the next Moto G, which show off a similar design to last year's model. Prolific device leaker Evan Blass followed that up with...

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The Apple Watch is now a remote for Hulu


Hulu has updated its iOS app to add Apple Watch support, and no, it's not for watching TV on your wrist. No one wants to watch TV on their wrist. The app, instead, functions as a basic remote, letting you pause, turn captions on / off, and jump back 10 seconds (although in practice, that button is a bit finicky).

The app works with not just iPhone videos but will also reportedly be able to connect to Xbox One, Playstation 3, PS4, or Chromecast devices to control Hulu. On that note, there's no analogous Hulu app for Android Wear or Pebble yet.

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Smart camera warns you when guns enter your home


Anxious that you might face an armed home invasion, or that your kids might find the key to the gun cabinet? NanoWatt Design thinks it has a way to give you that crucial early warning. Its crowdfunded GunDetect camera uses computer vision to detect f... via Engadget RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1SnvF6L

16 Emmy nominations that would prove there is a TV god


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Emmy nominations are almost upon us, and here are a few free squares for your bingo card: Expect to see nods for House of Cards, Mad Men (including one for Jon Hamm, who's gotta win this year), and Game of Thrones, especially in technical categories

Less sure? Basically, everything you can see below

That's not because these nominees are any less worthy than the shows mentioned above. Instead — as you've heard 100 times since yesterday — it's because we're in the Golden Age of TV, where the sheer glut of quality means many excellent programs and actors get overlooked year after year. Read more...

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Google starts testing buy button


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Google's preparing to transform your mobile shopping experience with a number of new commerce-focused features, including Purchases, which is the official name for the Google Buy Button.

Being tested on Google mobile search right now, that button is not exactly a one-step shopping button. According to a Google, which posted a blog on all of its mobile shopping updates on Wednesday, Purchases will appear as "Buy on Google" or "Checkout" button with some items. If a mobile user clicks on that button, which will usually appear below the search result item, they'll end up in a retailer-branded site where they can purchase the product. The site and purchase process will be hosted by Google, while the retailer will maintain the transaction connection to the customer Read more...

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Windows 10's final build number is delightfully clever


Microsoft has always tried to pick special numbers with meaning for the release to manufacturing of most major versions of Windows. Windows 95 used 4.00.950, Windows 98 used 4.10.1998, Windows Vista rounded off to 6.0.6000, and Windows XP settled on 5.1.2600 (a reference to the hacker magazine). While Microsoft engineers wanted to use 8888 for Windows 8, a new requirement introduced with Vista meant the final build number of any version of Windows must be a multiple of 16. That messed up the cute numbering scheme for Windows 8, but it’s almost perfect for Windows 10.

Microsoft has picked 10240 as the final build of Windows 10. At first glance it might not seem particularly interesting or relevant to Windows 10, but dig a little deeper...

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Talking to Joshua Oppenheimer about his devastating follow-up to The Act of Killing


When Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing came out in the summer of 2013, few had seen anything like it. In 2002, Oppenheimer set out to chronicle the victims of Indonesia’s brutal regime change, which took place in 1965 and 1966. The coup threw a pro-Communist regime out of power and installed the US-backed President Suharto in its place. Suharto spearheaded a national campaign to purge itself of Communists that resulted in one of the grizzliest genocides of the 20th century: suspected sympathizers were gutted, beheaded, and sexually mutilated. Perpetrators drank their blood by the glassful in a superstitious attempt to ward off insanity, and victims’ bodies were left in the streets or dumped in mass graves. When it was all over,...

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The wackiest Amazon Prime Day bargains (pictures)


Amazon's Prime Day deals may focus on fancy electronics, but there are plenty of oddball items along for the ride. Giant tub of banana-flavored Laffy Taffy, anyone? Reminder: Some of these deals may be expired.









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Colbert to Neil deGrasse Tyson: Pluto 'has a heart, unlike you'


Watch Stephen Colbert try to coax some love for Pluto out of Neil deGrasse Tyson while they eat Klondike bars and discuss drafting in Nascar.









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Seven of the world's weirdest green vehicles


By Cat DiStasio Green transportation is advancing by leaps and bounds. In just the past few months, we've seen a solar-powered airplane complete historic flights, self-driving vehicles hit the streets and cars make astounding achievements in fuel ef... via Engadget RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1M6cqyT