Amazon and Apple both have major events scheduled next Tuesday, October 13th

Amazon’s Prime Day (really two days), their annual 48-hour flash sale, officially begins Tuesday, with some early bargains already available. Note that Amazon is extending the return period on many items through the end of January, so holiday returns would be covered. (Not on everything, though, be sure to check).

New iPhones

Apple split their fall event this year, delaying the announcement of the new iPhone 12 lineup, now expected at next week’s event. The new phones are anticipated to support 5G, which makes going online MUCH faster, but ONLY if ALL these things are true:

• Your phone supports 5G (many newer Android phones already do)

• You are in an area that has 5G coverage (limited but growing)

• Your plan includes 5G

  And (probably) a Big Mac Update

They’re also likely to announce the release date for the next version of the Mac operating system, Big Sur. While Big Sur brings some great features, per usual you may want to put off installing it for a couple weeks and let other people find any bugs. Here’s how to (temporarily) turn off automatic o/s updates (separate from app updates) on your Mac. We’ll give you a heads-up when it’s safer to install.

A Cool New Option
for Gmail on the Mac

If you use a Mac and Gmail, you’ve probably found that using Apple’s Mail program with Gmail can be . . . glitchy. We’ve been trying out (and loving) a new email program for the Mac called Mimestream; it’s free while still in “beta” (public testing mode). Worth a look, especially if you have more than one email account.

One of our favorite deals bites the dust

Until July, Apple’s iTunes store (music, movies, books etc.) and their regular store (computers, phones, etc.) operated separately, so Apple gift cards could only be used for one or the other, but you could often find great discounts on iTunes cards at Costco. Now the two types of cards have merged, so it’s less confusing but the discount party is over.

Democracy Matters

No politics here, but PLEASE VOTE.
Reliable, non-partisan voting info can be found here.