If you're looking to buy or gift apps, games, music, movies, books, or magazines this holiday season on Google's Play store, you may want to pick up some gift cards from Best Buy. Select denominations of the Play store gift cards are now on sale through the big box retailer at 10 percent off, meaning you can pay just $45 for $50 worth of Play store content.
NSFW is a weekly op-ed column in which I talk about whatever's on my mind. Sometimes it'll have something to do with the technology we cover here on iMore; sometimes it'll be whatever pops into my head. Your questions, comments and observations are welcome.
On Friday, Disney released a teaser trailer for the next Star Wars movie, which won't come out until the holiday season next year. Haven't seen it? Go check it out. I'll be waiting here. It's entitled The Force Awakens, and in the brief footage, we get to see stormtroopers, a spherical droid bouncing along, a Sith-looking character with a wicked-looking lightsaber, and the money shot: the Millennium Falcon in all its glory, dodging and weaving as it fights TIE Fighters. Predictably, Star Wars fans on the Internet found something to lose their minds about: In this case, the crossguard on the light saber.
I was seven years old when A New Hope came out. And like for many people of my generation, Star Wars was a total game changer. It was a mythology that grabbed ahold of my attention in a way very little else did at that age. I asked for the toys for Christmas and birthday presents. I read the comic books. I stood in line to see the films, and played in back yards with my friends re-enacting scenes from the movies.
I felt invested in Star Wars like few other things in my life. The mythic archetypes expressed in the films: The battle of good and evil, the rise of the hero, the defeat and ultimate redemption of the villain, the love story — all the stuff Joseph Campbell wrote about in The Hero with a Thousand Faces — that all resonated with me on a profound level.
Of course, times and tastes change, and by the time the prequel trilogy arrived, I was a parent myself, an adult, and very cynical. Besides that, simply as films, the first three chapters of the Star Wars saga are utter crap.
So I consider myself pretty typical in taste and experience when compared to the average Internet sci-fi nerd.
I was skeptical when I heard that J.J. Abrams would helm the next Star Wars film. Abrams ruffled more than a few feathers with his reboot of the Star Trek franchise, basically tossing accepted Star Trek story canon to the wind by creating an alternate timeline in which his stories work. The films made money, but there are still some die-hard Star Trek enthusiasts who rankle at what he's done.
Still, the second I heard the The Force Awakens trailer would drop on iTunes, I got excited. I couldn't wait to see what Abrams has in store for us next year.
The second I saw the crossguard on that light saber, I thought to myself, "Hey, that looks kinda wicked." And then I thought to myself, "Yeah, but if you get into a lightsaber duel with that thing and just slide up to the hilt, wouldn't you just cut the crossguard off?"
In that moment, I knew what was going to happen. The Internet didn't disappoint.
Twitter and other social networks erupted in chatter, and before too long tech blogs across the Internet were buzzing too.
The complaints range across the board: Some people are upset that others are calling it the "hilt" instead of the "crossguard." Others scoff at the implausibility of how the crossguard would be used, or what purpose it would serve. Others hit upon the same question that I had, and are quick to point out there are lightsaber-proof substances in the Star Wars universe: Substances whose very existence would appear to be eradicated by Disney's decision to axe the "expanded universe," as others have countered.
In short, in the past 24 hours I've seen more words spilled on tech blogs and in tech podcasts about the stupid crossguard on that stupid lightsaber than just about anything else that happened this week.
Well, Apple is shut down for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I guess people needed something to write about. And yes, smartasses, the irony isn't lost on me, of my complaining about the complaining.
I'm pretty sure that everyone responsible for this movie nerded out on Star Wars the same way the rest of us did when they were kids, and knew exactly what they were doing when that scene was shot and when it was included in the trailer. So as fun as it is to speculate about how the crossguard functions and what it's made of, I think writing it off as a problem or as an error is totally premature. I also suspect that seeing the Internet expend a lot of energy ruminating on it is exactly what the moviemakers had in mind.
So to all of us who have spilled ink or recorded podcasts or whatever else about the The Force Awakens trailer in the past day, congrats! You've been part of a successful viral marketing scheme. And to anyone who's still taking the debate about that stupid crossguard seriously, relax, nerds. It's only a movie.
Razer is finally going to start selling its long awaited Razer Nabu smartband to the general public on Tuesday. December 2 for the price of $99.99 for North American residents, but you might have a shot at getting one for $79.99.
US members of the Razer Insider forums will be the first in line to purchase the Razer Nabu at this lower price, and a message thread on those forums has all the details of how users can register their interest in purchasing the smartband. Razer states, "On the day pre-orders for Nabu opens (Dec 2nd), you will receive an email with a link to a Private Access store page to make your purchase. This store page is only accessible by pre-registered Razer Insiders."
Pre-registration will close at 10 am Pacific time (1 pm Eastern time) on Sunday. The first 5,000 units of the Razer Nabu that will go on sale for Razer Insider members will be of the medium-large variety and only come in black.
For everyone else in North America, the Razer Nabu will be priced at $99.99 and will go on sale online at Razer's online store in both small-medium and medium-large versions. The black version is the first one that will go on sale but Razer plans to launch versions in white, green and orange sometime later. The band works with iPhone units that offer owners a number of notifications. The Razer Nabu is also a fitness tracker that shows users things like how many steps they have walked, how many hours they have slept and more. Finally, the smartband can communicate with other nearby Razer Nabu units. Will you be buying one on Tuesday?
Source: Razer; Razer Insider
The bigger than big iPad is once again being rumored, this time under the name iPad Air Plus, with a display size of 12.2 inches, an Apple A9 processor, and a shipping date of either April or June 2015. The report comes from Japanese magazine Mac Fun, and was posted online by Macotakara:
According to Mac Fan's report, iPad Air Plus will be 305.31 x 220.8 x 7mm in size,and be powered with A9 processor, and be shipped between April to June 2015. And, iPad Air Plus will have four built in speakers on each edge of case, in order to play stereo sound, even if iPad rotated.
Mac Fan also claims a new iPad mini 4 will be coming next year with an Apple A8X processor, and will replace both the iPad mini and iPad mini 2.
While Mac Fan has provided accurate information in the past, it's important to remember that these are still rumors and should be treated more like entertainment than news.
Source: Macotakara
Earlier in the week we asked everyone about camera quality, and how important having a good one in your phone is. With just about every high-end Android phone manufacturer claiming to have a "great" camera, it's no surprise that most of us ranked it pretty high on the list of features we need.
To wrap up this extravagant Black Friday Weekend Sale, we're taking 25% off each and every one of our Android batteries in the store until midnight (PST) tonight!
You heard right. Grab a spare battery for your Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4 or even a backup battery to use while you're traveling for the holidays. They come in all shapes and sizes, so be sure to pick the appropriate battery for your specific device before you go saving all that cash. Simply use coupon code: Batteries2014 upon checkout to apply your 25% discount.
We offer super-fast UPS and USPS shipping services for you to choose from and payment methods include PayPal, Amazon Checkout and standard credit cards.
Just one final reminder that if you're not in need of a battery, you can still save 15% on all other Android accessories in the store by using coupon code: Turkey14.
It wasn't quite a vacation. It wasn't even what I'd consider to be complete days off. But a couple days mostly away from keyboard, and worrying not so much about work is a good thing. I managed not to overdo the turkey too badly. Or the stuffing. Or the mashed potatoes. Or the roasted vegetables my grown-up self actually likes. Or the cheesecake. Or the wine. And I managed to continue my brief runs. And spend some time with the wife and kids and the rest of our family here.
All in all, a pretty successful holiday. But there are a few things worth thinking about.
