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Blue’s original Yeti microphone is one of my favorite podcasting mics, and MacMall has it on a killer deal this week for just $79.99. This microphone connects to your Mac or PC via USB, has on-mic adjustable gain control, passthrough (and zero-latency monitoring) headphone jack with separate volume, and a mute switch. Additionally, this mic has multiple elements, and you can configure it in stereo (interview) mode, cardiod mode (for single-person podcasts), or omni-directional mode to pick up a whole room’s worth of people. Check it out, it won’t stay at this price for long.
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Yesterday I was looking to book flights for a summer trip to Lake Tahoe (to see Phish, naturally). On nearly every airline I tried, looking to depart from either Manchester (MHT) or Boston (BOS) and heading to the Reno/Tahoe airport (RNO), the cost was about $800 per ticket. At the advice of some Twitter followers, I checked flights in and out of Sacramento (SMF) and on most airlines these were about the same, except Southwest where going from MHT to SMF saved me over $300 per ticket, making the cost of two tickets less than $1000. Still not as cheap as it would have been 2 years ago, but much better today!
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JetBlue has a one-day deal, good through 11:59pm ET tonight. Book any flight starting in the US and save up to 20%. For trips running 5/1-5/23 coupon code SPRING20 saves you 20%, and for trips running 5/28-6/19 coupon code SPRING15 saves you 15%. Start with their Save Now, Spring Later page and then visit jetblue.com/promo to book with your coupon code.
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My wife and I want some protection in our home, but with a house full of kids and their friends, we wanted something safer than a firearm. After attending CES a few years ago and seeing a Taser in action, I realized that this device was a great solution for us at home and while traveling. Of course, you still have to keep it out of kids reach, but it’s a relatively safe way to protect yourself in the event of an emergency – a non-lethal way. I feel much better with my wife on the jogging trail when she has her Taser in her bag.
You can save 20% off when you order a Taser by 2/14 and use code VDAY20 during checkout.Â
Another bonus from Taser: use a Taser to protect yourself with the “shoot-drop-run” method that Taser recommends and they will send you a free replacement for life. Just file a police report for the incident and send a copy to the Taser people.
Â
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Our sister site, The Mac Observer, today posted about a cool docking station they found: the Apricorn Aegis Netdock. This features a built-in DVD burner, USB hub, and even has a bay for a hard drive. There are options to buy it with or without a drive installed, and today Amazon is showing them for $46.32 ($39.99 + $6.33 shipping through J&R). That’s a good deal for a great external dock. Apple’s stand-alone USB SuperDrive is nearly double that at US$79.
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If you are headed to the Consumer Electronics Show next week in Las Vegas, but you’ve failed to book a flight yet, you’re in luck. Spirit Airlines has flights from $50 each way. We just booked several flights from the SF Bay Area for $106, roundtrip. it’s the lowest price we could find on these flights. Final pricing will depend on your location, but a quick perusal of nationwide flights showed that there are deals to be had from just about all locations Spirit services.
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The Sonos Play:5 is the original (and flagship) wireless Hi-Fi unit from Sonos, the system that allows you to wirelessly stream your own music or that from many available streaming services anywhere in the house. Normally $399 and rarely discounted, this week Best Buy is selling it for $299 (the same price as the smaller Play:3). If you’ve ever been interested in digging in with Sonos, this is an excellent time to do it.Â
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It’s a common belief that MasterCard and VISA are cheaper for merchants than American Express. This is the case because MC/VISA promote their “discount rate” (that being the percentage they take of each transaction) as somewhere between 1.5% and 3%, whereas American Express’s published discount rate is usually well over 3%. Seems like easy math, right? Well, it’s not. You see, with American Express you as the merchant only pay the discount rate, but with MasterCard and VISA you will typically pay the discount rate plus whatever else it costs them to process that transaction. And the “whatever else” (also called “interchange fees”) includes the costs of all those airline miles, hotel points, cashback bonuses, etc., that benefit the cardholder. Yep, you read that right: you as the merchant are directly charged for this on top of whatever percentage of the transaction you’re already paying. Don’t believe us? Well, check your statments for those extra fees. We’ll wait.
Yep. We did the math, too. And because nearly everyone we deal with these days uses a loyalty or bonus card of some type our effective cost of each MasterCard or Visa transaction was 4.79%, way higher than the 3.2% American Express charges us.
But fret not ? you can always call your bank and see if they’ll lower your rates down. But if not, then don’t hesitate to sign up for American Express and allow your customers to use it. You may save quite a bit of money by doing so (but, as with anything like this, please do your own math so you’re aware of what your particular situation is).
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As part of their, “We Survived the Apocalypse!” sale, AT&T is offering an instant $100 off any Tablet, including iPads, when you signup for a 2-year data plan. You’ll wind up spending more on the data plan over the 2-year timeframe, of course. But, if you’ll be using a monthly cellular plan anyway, it’s worth a look at this deal. Offer ends January 10, 2013.Â
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We love the Think Geek team. They consistantly make us laugh and wonder where they get their ideas for cool stuff. Right now they are having their winter clearance event with up to 75% off and free ground shipping on orders over $99. Check it out, there’s always something that you may not need, but you will really want. Oh, Star Wars gear is 40% off as well – what’s not to love?
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You love them, you hate them: gift cards. If you just can’t think of that perfect gift, or you just want to save some cash, read on about how you can buy gift cards for 10-50% off.
Even if you don’t need a gift for that someone “special” who has it all, buying discounted gift cards via eBay auctions can be a great way to save some cash. We typically find cards from 20-50% below the face value and we use a set-it-and-forget-it mentality – meaning, we post our max price we would pay, using eBay’s proxy bid feature or we use a bid sniping service if we want even more dramatic savings.
You won’t win every gift card auction you bid on, but if you spend a little time, you can come up with some pretty good savings. During one home improvement phase, we bought a few thousand dollars worth of Home Depot cards with an average savings of about 18% with just a little time invested.
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Gamestop has been expanding their trade-in and refurbished sales – taking in and offering for sale refurbished iDevices in most of their stores. It looks like they have a lot of stock on their hands, as they are offering 50% off on a 2nd refurbished product purchase.
Now through December 15th, buy any Gamestop refurbished electronics item and get the 2nd one at 50% off. iPods start at $19 and iPads at $284, with lots of other products in between. Pay special attention to the condition notes, as some items are “scratch and scuff” units and others are “premium”.
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Amazon is offering an instant $50 discount on their Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ tablet today only when you used coupon code FIREHD89 during checkout, dropping the price to $249 for the 16GB model if you order by midnight. The Fire HD 8.9 features a 1920×1200 HD display with polarizing filter and anti-glare magic to cut down on the shine, a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor and all kinds of other good stuff that you can read about on the site.Â
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Prepare now with the Zombie Defense Solutions: 3-Day Survival Kit. The kit includes food, water, light, warmth, tools and a basic first aid kit- all the essential items needed to survive for 3 days. When the Zombie Apocalypse comes or the next big disaster hits, feel safe knowing that you have the essential items to survive!
The kit includes:
(1) 3600 calorie Energy Bar–Provides 3 days worth of food. Energy bar is scored into nine-400 calorie portions. Storage life of 5-7 years.(6) long lasting, triple layered retort pouches that hold 4.227 fl. oz (125 ml.) of water. Stores for a minimum of 5 years.(1) box of waterproof matches and (3) 6″ lightsticks with lanyard hole and hook. Creates instant lighting lasting 12 hours each.(1) waterproof, reflective surface Mylar emergency blanket provides for high visibility. Space age design retains up to 90% of body heat. Reflects sun and heat for cooling in hot climates. Compact, yet opens to 84″ X 52″.(1) basic first aid kit–a small assortment of fresh, sterile products including (7) adhesive bandages, (2) gauze pads, (2) alcohol prep pads, (2) wet naps, (1) triple antibiotic ointment.(1) emergency hammer–shatters glass and has a built-in seat belt cutting tool.(1) survival bracelet and emergency whistle -made of nylon cord that can be unwound to 10 feet in survival situations.(1) Instruction sheet with information on how to shut off water, gas, &electricity in an emergency.
UPDATE: this deal has sold out on eBay, but you can get it on Amazon for the same price. Hurry people, hurry.
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The Apple store online has the factory refurbished iPad 2 16GB Wifi models in white and black for $319. With free shipping and a 1-year warranty, it’s the lowest price we’ve seen. These always sell out quick and the quality is great, with Apple replacing case parts and screens – they look new and are suitable for gifting. Update: this deal has sold out!
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First, in no way are we advocating buying a killer Dyson vacuum as a gift (especially not for your wife or husband) – take it from us, it’s a bad idea. However, if you want to save some dough on one of these guys, Home Depot is offering an instant 25% off, which brings pricing down to the lowest we’ve seen.
You know you’re going to have to vacuum that carpet at some point, you might as well use the coolest looking vacuum that works the best. Shipping is free, or you can order online, get the 25% off and pickup at your local HD.
There are some refurbs listed, but we could not get the coupon code to work with those. Use code DYSON25OFF during checkout to get the savings. Valid from 11/28 to 12/19
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These two-way radios are really cool. Give a pair to your kids and they can talk to their hearts content with their friends across town without tying up your phone. Take them with you on a road trip and enjoy the marvel of instant car-2-car communication. We have used them while fishing the upper Sac River near Dunsmuir, CA and found them very helpful when bragging about how many or how big the fish you just caught is to your buddies fishing a few miles up-river. At $49.99 delivered, it’s a great price.
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The eBay Cyber Monday deals are up and running and although nothing Earth shattering, there are some deals to be had. Get 5% off an iPad 4, 32% a Gramin Nuvi GPS with lifetime maps and traffic updates, LG 55″ LED TV’s for $799 delivered and more. Take a few minutes to scan the deals – you might just find something you didn’t even know you (or someone you need a gift for) needed.
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[Update: This deal is now gone. --DB] Amazon’s Deal of the Day today, Saturday, Nov. 24th, is all 22 (released) James Bond films from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace, and even includes an empty slot for when you buy your Skyfall DVD next year. That’s right, “From Russia With Love,” “Goldfinger,” “Thunderballl,” and yes, even “Moonraker” (hey, I liked it!) are there. Don’t miss this one folks. It’s sure to make you or your James Bond-loving gift recipient quite happy!
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There are deals all over the web on Apple’s laptops today, including at Apple’s own store, but MacMall has the best prices we’ve found (even if they only beat Amazon by a penny!). The 13.3″ MacBook Air is $1,093.99, the 11.6″ is $893.98. Good prices, and if you’re in the market for these, check these MacMall deals out before they, too, are gone.
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If you are one of those people that actually leave your home and go outside, this might be of interest to you: The REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) winter sale is starting today! With free shipping and discounts throughout each department, you can usually find something to keep you warm, help you climb, bike or run – you know, sporty stuff.
Here’s a few samples of discounts currently in place. The sale will run from 11/16-11/26, but in our experience, most of the cool stuff sells out before the end of the sale.
30% Off All Full-Price Klean Kanteen.
25% Off All Solio Solar Chargers.
25% Off All Swiss Army Knives.
20% Off All Yakima Racks & Boxes.
20% Off All Snowshoes.
20% Off All Superfeet Insoles.
25% Off All Smartwool Socks & Accessories.
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I’m a sucker for a good deal on tools. How many times have you had to fix something around the house and you need a specific tool that would make the job easier? I’ve got the answer for you: Harbor Freight. These guys offer unbelievable prices on what I would consider decent quality tools that are great for the non-pro user.
Need an angle grinder to cut some metal? How does $12.99 sound? A bandsaw to help with cutting your kids Pinewood Derby cars? Try $119.
Each time I visit a Harbor Freight store or their website, I always find something I can’t live without. Signup for their email newsletter and get an additional 15-20% off coupons on a regular basis. With blowout prices like this, there’s no excuse to not get the tool you need.
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We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait ’till we can print out our own cars, houses, etc.. on giant 3D printers. We know, for now we’re stuck with small little plastic trinkets, but we can dream, can’t we?! Help spread the 3D revolution by picking up a copy of Make: Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing for 50% off through 11/20. Use coupon code 3DFAN to cut the $10 price down to just $5 after you add the magazine to your cart. Order, then go forth and Make!
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Can you actually eat at a decent restaurant and take advantage of the $25 for $4 gift card deal that we see from Restaurant.com? We took the challenge, in the name of deal research, of course.
Typically, Restaurant.com offers a $25 certificate for $10, which, while not a bad deal, doesn’t really inspire us to jump on the pre-paid meal bandwagon. From time to time, however, you’ll see a one day deal like this one that gets you up to four $25 pre-paid gift cards for $4 each. Coming away with $100 worth of gift cards for $16 works for us.
The question is, where can you use the gift cards? Your mileage may vary, but Restaurant.com does offer a quick way to check your surrounding area for participating fine dining establishments, before you purchase. In our case, everything from Pizza to fine French cuisine was available. Being that we’re in the SF Bay Area, our options may be broader than what is available where you live. Reading the fine print, a minimum $35 total purchase is required for each $25 discounted coupon that you use. Order four of the $25 coupons and you’ll need to spend at least $200 on the meal to use them. We took the plunge and ordered $100 worth of GC for $16 total and guess what happened. It worked. We printed out the discounted coupons and presented them after we had our food and adult beverages at the Tower Grille in Concord, CA (food was great, BTW). The waiter took the coupons without grumbling and we were able to try out a new local dining spot with friends at a great discount.
To take advantage of this deal, you’ll need to use coupon code ONEDAY when ordering. We do see this deal offered from time to time, but currently, this special is only valid on 11/13.
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Are there deals to be had on the current model 2.3Ghz i7 15.4 MacBook Pro with Retina display? Yes – you just need to know where to look.
Click the link to visit Amazon, but if you want a deal, skip the brand new condition and scroll down the page a bit to find the links for Used and Refurbished. You’ll find deals as of this posting from $1555 on the 2.3GHz i7 model, which is a great price. What we like about the Amazon marketplace is that Amazon vets these sellers very well and makes them perform if they want to keep selling on the site. You are not only protected with Amazon’s A to Z program, you’ve got a backup when you pay with your credit card. We think the risk is low and there are some great deals to be had. Here’s the specs on the 2.3 i7 Retina MacBook Pro for your enjoyment:
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One of eBay’s Deals of the Day today, the New OEM Airport Extreme Wireless N Wifi router is just $138.99 including shipping.
OEM typically means you won’t get this product in the retail packaging, but that it is in new condition. Warranty terms are not listed, but both Geek Squad and Square Trade list extended warranties from $23.Â
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We’ve found some of the best deals on products at Amazon – but not particularly SOLD by Amazon themselves. Clicking into the small links below the product title, you’ll jump into the Marketplace, where Amazon competes with other sellers to offer not just new, but used and refurbished products. If you are looking for a deal on an older iPad 2 or just about anything else, the Marketplace is a great resource and can often rival eBay for low priced deals.
Amazon is pretty strict about performance of their Marketplace sellers (we know from personal experience), so you’ll usually find good customer service by sellers in this area. It’s not quite as freewheeling as eBay and one thing we love is that there’s just ONE product page per product, rather than having to scroll through hundreds of listings on eBay for the same product. eBay has done a great job streamlining their site, but an overabundance of listings can still be daunting to scroll through. We’ve linked to iPad 2 models on this deal, but just about every product sold on Amazon has other companies (and individuals) offering deals in the Marketplace. Scroll around, read the seller reviews and have fun saving some cash.
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Don’t you hate it when you get a $100 American Express gift card? No? well, actually, we like that, too. But what we DO hate is when we’ve used all but $16.43 on it and can’t figure out what to do with that balance. And the credit card companies love this, because they legally get to sit on your money and (in some states) perhaps even charge you a fee to “manage” your balance for you (which really is just their way of slowly eroding your balance down to nothing). You don’t want to let that happen but… what are you to do?
Buy an Amazon Gift Card with it.
Amazon lets you buy electronic gift cards for any amount and you can send them to anyone, even yourself! Just enter the amount of your balance, make sure you pay with your existing gift card (of course!), and then wait for the email to arrive. When it does, you can then apply it to your Amazon account and ? here’s the best part ? use it as partial payment towards something else. Yes, you’re trading one gift card for another, but if you buy anything at Amazon, you’ll likely burn this up in a heartbeat.
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Welcome to Deal Brothers, 2012 edition. Things are different around here, and at the same time things are the same. It’s still us, Shannon and Dave, behind the wheel of all of this, and so you’ve still got our obsession with finding the right deals and with teaching YOU how to find the best deals. But the market has changed quite a bit since we launched this (as Deals On The Web) in 2002. You’re more savvy, merchants are more savvy, and the service you need from us is ? well, different now than it was then!
With that, we’ve retooled not only the look of the site (and we hope you like it!) but also the way we’re going to be doing things. Instead of us just blasting 20 deals up here each day, we’re going to be very selective. We’re going to post the stuff that’s not easy to find, or stuff that takes work to put together. In addition to those types of traditional deals, we’re also going to be providing some education, too. We enjoy learning about new places to *find* deals, and we’re going to be teaching you about those, as well.
We’ll only be highlighting three items at a time on the home page, but if you want to see what you’ve missed, you can click the “View Recent Deals” link above and browse through the archives. All the old stuff is there, too, if you’re interested in that.
And that’s enough for now. Thanks for visiting, and we hope you like what we’re bringing you!
Your Deal Brothers, Shannon & Dave
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Buy.com has a very nice deal on this Samsung Solid State drive today. Get the Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5″ SATA III SSD drive for $89.99 including shipping. It’s among the best prices we’ve seen and great to see good quality SSD drives coming down to realistic price points. Adding an SSD drive to your MacBook or MacBook Pro is one of the best ways to increase performance, and especially so at this price!
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The deal market has changed a lot since we started this site (as Deals On The Web) in 2002. You?re more savvy, merchants are more savvy, and the service you need from us is not the same as what you needed ten years ago. The more we thought about this, the more we realized that when it comes to a deal site, three things are very important.Right now now we?re hard at work on the back-end, retooling Deal Brothers for you. We?ll be back shortly to share more with you about those three things. We think you?ll like what you?ll see. In the meantime, our ten-year archive of deals is online for your perusal.Thanks very much for visiting? and check back soon.Your Deal Brothers,Shannon & Dave
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MacMall.com has this Apple 11.6? MacBook Air dual-core Intel Core i7 1.8GHz for $1619.00. FedEx Shipping and Sales Tax are Free, and it features:1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i74GB DDR3 SDRAM256GB Flash StorageIntel HD Graphics 300011.6? LED-backlit glossy widescreen displayBluetooth 4.0FaceTime camerabuilt-in batteryprecision aluminum unibody
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Apple.com has the refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 for $999.00. This system was Originally released May 2011, it ships for Free, and it features:21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display4GB memory500GB hard drive8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics with 512MB memory Built-in FaceTime HD camera
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Apple.com has the refurbished Mac mini with Lion Server 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 for $1019.00. This system was Originally released July 2011, it ships for Free, and it features:8GB memory?Dual 500GB hard drivesThunderbolt port with support for up to 2560-by-1600 resolutionHDMI port with support for up to 1920-by-1200 resolutionIntel HD Graphics 3000
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Apple.com has the refurbished MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Quad-core Intel i7 for $2079.00. This system was Originally released October 2011, it ships for Free, and it features:15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM750GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6770MÂ
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Posted on DealBrothers.com.















Looking for a specific item? Just type in your search below to view only the deals that contain that search phrase! A great way to quickly find only the deals you want.