Amazon Archive

Amazon has announced that as part of their streaming video launch on the PS3, they are offering the ability to view the first episode of over 100 television series for free. The free watching period runs for a week from today unless you have an Amazon Prime account which will allow you to watch the full seasons of each show for free.

Some of the series you can watch the first episode for free include:

• Storage Wars (Dave Hester is the man!)
• The Office UK
• Hawaii Five-O
• NCIS Season 1
• Pawn Stars
• Parking Wars (you best park correctly in Philly!)
• Shipping Wars
• Project Runway
• The A-Team Season 1 (BA!)

Amazon notes that “Instant Video” is also available on the Kindle Fire, Roku, televisions, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes.

View all of the series here.
Continue reading “Amazon Offers Free First Episode of 100+ TV Shows Free” »

As I work on getting in great shape, today’s Amazon Local deal really appealed to me. And as a deal hunter, I’ve seen thousands and thousands of deals from every segment you can imagine. From gun permit training to lingerie to Hawaiian vacations, I’ve seen it all. Or at least I thought I have until I found today’s deal on Amazon Local!

Just imagine this… you want to win a marathon – 26 miles of running, knocking people over to take their spot, hoping you can beat some guy or girl from another country and bring the belt back home to the USA. You trained, you said your prayers, you took your vitamins (brother!) and you are ready. But inevitably you will get a high number and start way back in the pack and have no real chance of making it to the finish line in first place. So instead you head to McDonalds for a 20 piece mcnugget and a large fry.

The good news is that now Amazon Local will put you in the front of the pack – for a fee of course. For just $29, Amazon Local will guarantee you get to start ahead of all of the “professional runners” in the Beantown Marathon. They note that if you pay the $29 you can, “take the last few weeks of training off and still achieve a personal best time”. Purchasing this deal gets you a 10 minute head start! That’s only $2.9 per minute!

The unfortunate thing is that at the time of this post, nearly 58,000 people have purchased the deal. So my guess is that you will be behind all of the other deal hunters but you will still get a 10 minute head start over the non-payers.

Lastly, if you finish the race on foot (you cannot take public transport!), Amazon will give you bowls of chili and beer.

I am so glad I made my purchase before they sell out! What are you waiting for?

note: obviously this is an april fools joke from amazon local!

Last December I noted that there was a deal for the Kindle Fire that made it the best day to-date for buying an Amazon Kindle Fire. Today’s deal makes that deal look like child’s play. Today only, Amazon is offering refurbished Kindle Fire devices for $139! The deal is the Gold Box deal of the day and Amazon notes that supplies are limited. If you want a Kindle Fire, today is the best day to become an owner of the 7″ tablet.

You can read the full explanation about the refubished Kindle Fire devices on Amazon’s website. Here are the important bits:

Prior to sale, every pre-owned Kindle undergoes a rigorous refurbishment process including:

• Full diagnostic test
• Replacement of any defective parts identified in testing
• Thorough cleaning and inspection process
• Complete repackaging with a new box
• Most recent software version update available for the product.
• Final QA inspection before acceptance as Certified Refurbished stock.

The refurb Kindle devices have the same return policy as the new devices and come with the same warranty. You also get the free one month of Prime as well.

I have purchased multiple refurb laptops from Dell and a refurb iPod from Apple and all three devices look brand new and have been just as reliable. What I generally don’t trust refurbs from third-party companies, this Kindle deal is direct from Amazon so you know they will stand behind the device should anything go wrong.

Continue reading “Amazon Offers Refurbished Kindle Fire for $139” »

Next Tuesday is the annual holiday known as Valentine’s Day. The day is named after St. Valentine and over 150 million cards are exchanged – here’s the full history of this very special day. This year the new deal sites are holding a cage match with each site offering a deal with a national floral delivery service. Most of these deals expire asap so you should be quick if you want to grab some flowers for your sweetie. Also note that the delivery fees are higher for a delivery on Valentine’s day. Lastly, I see some of the local cities within the deal sites are also offering flower deals so make sure to check your local city before purchasing a national deal.

If you want to pick up flowers yourself, I am hearing the best deal for super fresh roses is Whole Foods with 2 dozen for $19.99. Make sure to call your local store to get current pricing. If you don’t have a Whole Foods in your area, Walmart is offering 1 dozen roses for $15 beginning today.

LivingSocial – offers $25 for $50 credit at Teleflora. I used this deal yesterday for some flowers for my mom who is recovering after some surgery – note, there is a $15 or more service fee and Teleflora added me to their email marketing list even though I specifically unchecked the boxes to be added to their lists. Voucher may be applied towards service costs.

Groupon – offers $20 for $40 credit at FTD.com. Voucher may be applied towards service costs.

Google Offers – from what I can tell, this deal has now expired but they were offering 2 dozen roses, vase and shipping for $45.

Amazon Local – offers $15 for $30 credit at ProFlowers. Voucher may be applied towards service costs.

Eversave – offers $25 for 2 movie tickets and a $10 gift card good at 1-800-flowers.com.

It’s important to note that there are tons of discount codes available for most of the online florists so make sure to spend a few minutes to find the best deal for the floral arrangement you are interested in.

Continue reading “Deal Site Smackdown: The Valentine’s Day Edition” »

Last week I was shopping at Staples and I played with the Amazon Kindle Fire. It really is a nice looking device, it’s thin and the 7″ size seems like a good portable tablet compared to the Galaxy Tab 10.1″ which I use nearly exclusively at home. Eventually I think I will get a 7″ tablet so that I can keep it in my car’s glove box for on-demand meetings and on-the-go connectivity (unless I finally upgrade my Windows Mobile 6 smartphone). There have been some posts about security issues and other flaws with the Kindle Fire but Amazon appears to be working on fixes. Marco Arment has a thorough and very critical review of the device.

If you want to get the Kindle Fire, I think today is your best chance to get a good deal. It’s been nearly impossible to find a good deal on the Kindle Fire since retailers other than Amazon (e.g. Staples, Office Max, etc.) don’t allow coupons to be used on Kindle products.

The deal is available today only and you need to have a Mastercard. Amazon and Mastercard are running a deal, for today only, that offers $10 off a $100 purchase and then an additional $10 certificate will be sent to you to use in the future on a $50 purchase. Make sure to read the terms and conditions of the offer.

So you can pick up the Kindle Fire for a net of $179 with free shipping and no tax for most.  The coupon can also be used on the Kindle Touch 3G and Kindle Keyboard 3G since they are over $100. If you want the Kindle Touch or basic Kindle, you will need a filler item to get over the $100 mark.

The most popular deal request I am asked for help with continues to be the Apple iPod Touch. Even with this year clearly being the year of the tablet, it seems like everyone still wants to get an iPod Touch as a gift for a friend, colleague or family member. Last week I learned that HTC offers a similar device called the “Flyer” which is like an iPod Touch except that it is based on Android instead of iOS – I wonder why this hasn’t seemed to catch on as of yet (at least it’s not a popular item on the deal boards.

Here are this week’s top deals for the iPod Touch – frankly the Amazon deal is the best one because, for most, there is no sales tax. The key is that you should absolutely not purchase the iPod Touch at the Apple Store – save the cash and use it for apps or music!

Best Buy – Here the deal is on the 8GB model – for $189 plus a free $30 Best Buy gift card. (deal details)

Amazon – It seems Amazon has matched the deal from Best Buy (they seem to be matching a lot of electronics prices as of late) – purchase the 8GB model at Amazon for $189 and get $30 to use towards MP3 songs from the Amazon Music Store. Smart move here by Amazon because it gets you to buy songs from Amazon versus from iTunes. (deal details)

Target – If you want a larger iPod Touch, Target will be your best option. Purchase the 32GB iPod Touch for $295 and get a $40 Target gift card. (this is an in-store deal)

I have a 8GB iPod Touch and I really like it for walking – the Galaxy Tab has replaced most of my at-home general game playing.

Continue reading “The Latest iPod Touch Holiday Deals” »

This might be the biggest deal of all of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. Amazon, the company known most recently for the launch of a brand new tablet called the Kindle Fire, is running a lightning deal for VHS tapes. Amazon, the company that powers the web infrastructure for thousands of major Internet companies through Amazon Web Services, is running a lightning deal for VHS tapes. Amazon, the company that allows you to watch television shows and movies instantly, is running a lightning deal for VHS tapes.

Specifically, the lightning deal is for, “Maxell T120GX/8PK VHS Cassette Standard Grade T-120, 6 Hour, 8 Pack”. I would be all over this but the tapes are only standard grade. I always look for premium grade in my VHS tapes.

I don’t know about you but when I think VHS tapes the first thing that comes to my mind is recording Kelly Kapowski on Saturday mornings back in the late 80′s.

You might be wondering why anyone would want to buy this 8-pack of VHS tapes. Well, first, they make great stocking stuffers. Second, they are great to teach your children about what life was like pre-Netflix. Thinking creatively, you could use the film as party poppers by offering a tape to each of your New Year’s Eve guests!

If you want in, you better hurry – the lightning deal ends in just about one hour! And in a shocker, over 15% of the quantity is already gone!

Continue reading “Amazon Runs HUGE Lightning Deal for Maxell VHS Tapes” »