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Targus turns 25, offers 25 deals

July 13th, 2008, 5:34 am by

Deals and freebiesWhew! iPhone 2.0 launch is over so I can get back to reporting on ways to use tech to help save readers money. And this being Sunday means the weekly roundup of deals, freebies and contests.

But let me start with one more thing regarding the iPhone. Apple’s apps store has more than 125 free software applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. So, go already, play and have fun.Targus laptop stand with chill pad

**Deal of the week goes to Targus Inc., the Anaheim laptop bag maker. It’s celebrating its 25th anniversary and has discounted 25 items to less than $25, including this $80 Ladies Deluxe Tote. Lots of computer accessories are included, such as the laptop stand with chill pad (pictured on right), and the stow and go wireless mouse. According to Slickdeals.net, if you add the coupon code “PCSurvey0208″ you’ll get another 25 percent off. Plus, many items ship free. Happy birthday to me!

Win $5,000 just by registering at MashON.com. Make sure you give them a legit e-mail. Contest ends July 27. Mashon, by the way, is a sect of Comic Book Creator, the software from Aliso Viejo’s Planetwide Media that lets you turn video games or personal photos into a personal comic book. This contest can also be entered if you stop by MashON’s booth at the upcoming Comic-Con in San Diego.Like Quake? Win a Corvette

Win a 2008 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe, valued at $55,000, in the “QuakeCon 2008 Ultimate Power Up” sweepstakes. It’s part of the 13th annual QuakeCon video game festival in Dallas later this month. All you have to do is register for QuakeCon, which is free. Read the rules HERE.

The online youth sports site Weplay.com is giving away a 3-day/2-night trip to New York, Yankees tickets and chance to meet Derek Jeter in the Meet Derek Jeter nationwide sweepstakes. The rules: Submit an e-mail address to Weplay on this page. Deadline is August 14.

Win a $50 gift card to get personalized photo books from Picaboo.com, plus a subscription to Rangefinder and AfterCapture magazines. Just submit a “not normal” photo to Renegade Photo Shoots. Contest ends August 6. Take a look at some entries.

Past entries:

Heard of a cool contest from a tech company or that involves tech? Send it my way and I’ll post it on an upcoming Sunday. If you don’t want to miss another Gadgetress post, sign up for the newsletter HERE.

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Funniest joke wins $2,500

June 18th, 2008, 1:26 pm by

icontimewasterIn honor of iGirl, here’s another installment of our weekly endeavor to make you laugh, have fun and in all cases waste time.

Everyone could use more laughter in their lives. Joke site Comic Wonder wants to help with that. The site has over 200,000 audio jokes for your listening pleasure.

A joke’s not a joke until it’s toldBut if you’re more of a jokester, the site encourages people to tell the joke yourself — and possibly win $2,500 if you’re selected as Comic Wonder of the Year. Weekly winners receive a Comic Wonder hat and $50 cash.

The 7-month-old site stresses that hearing a joke is much funnier than reading a joke. To compete, create an account, hit the “Call Me” button, and when Comic Wonder calls your number, tell them your joke. But if you’re not a very good joke teller, you can submit a joke to its “Joke Limbo” area so someone else can tell it. And win the cash.

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Big TVs, cameras, and monsters — must be Father’s Day deals day

June 15th, 2008, 8:51 am by

Today is Father’s Day, so it’s too late to win him something cool. But as it so happens, today’s contests are very male themed. You could enter these contests in honor of him, maybe that will bring you some luck.

Win a Vizio TVI love my 48-inch Vizio LCD TV, which I bought soon after I reviewed a plasma TV from the Irvine company. I would love it even more if I had won it. Now Vizio has teamed up with another local, SRS Labs in Santa Ana, to give away three big HDTVs. The contest is to mark the new partnership between the companies. SRS makes technology that improves the sound-quality of audio on TV, the Web, or just about anything. You just have to answer a few questions and supply your personal email. Contest ends July 4. Enter HERE.

Super Dad photos anyone? Send one in to Canon for the NFL SuperDad sweepstakes and you could win the ultimate photo kit, which includes EOS Rebel XSi with EF-S 18-55mm IS Digital SLR kit, EF-S 55–250mm IS Telephoto Lens,NFL and Canon’s SuperDad sweepstakes PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Elph Compact Camera, 10×30 Image Stabilizer Binoculars, FS11 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder and a Pixma MP970 Photo All-In-One Printer. Just by entering, you’ll also get 10 percent off any NFLShop purchase so you can buy useful stuff like this Dallas Cowboys office chair. Enter HERE.

Are you good at making monsters? This next contest takes some skill for a prize that is so-so. Unless you’re interested in breaking into the video game industry. GameRecruiter’s “Battle of the SuperModelers” is a digital art contest is looking for the best original real-time character model of a monster, creature, robot or alien for a possible fantasy, sci-fi or horror game. The grand-prize winner and three finalists will get $50,000 in digital art tools (from Alienware, Autodesk, Wacom and The Gnomon Workshop) plus a free vacay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Tex. for the Austin Game Developers Conference on Sept. 17. Details are available HERE.Dotster eBiz contest

More free domains from Dotster: Each week until the end of July, Doster is giving away a “eBiz in a Boz,” which includes a free domain name, free Web site creation with Dotster’s SiteBuilder tool, free e-mail and free Standard Linux Web hosting for a year (value: $100). Details on Dotster’s homepage.

Related deals stories:

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Free software every day plus win a clone of your dog and HDTVs

June 1st, 2008, 6:34 am by

Alt+Save: Deals and freebiesIf you don’t know about Giveaway of the Day, bookmark it. It’s a site that offers one new licensed software product every day. This isn’t a trial version. It’s the real deal.

What’s the catch? Don’t expect free tech support or free upgrades to future versions. It’s strictly for personal use and mostly available for Windows PCs only. And you can’t just save the program to install at a later date. Install it on the same day it’s free otherwise it won’t work. I can live with that.

Free software every dayThe site started in 2006 and surprisingly or not, it is still handing out freebies daily. If you want to dwell on the dark side of free, GotD was created to help software developers promote their products and get customer feedback. Companies want to know what you think. However, there’s no registration required to download so you’re not handing over any personal information, including an e-mail address. And the company still gets paid by GotD for the free licenses downloaded, although GotD doesn’t mention if it pays full price. It’s win-win, says GotD.

For consumers, the other nice thing about GotD is because it’s popular, there are a lot of users who actively comment. Comments will tip you off on whether the product works or what issues you may encounter. Friday’s giveaway, Xilisoft’s DVD Ripper Ultimate, has quite a few people mentioning installation problems. Others weren’t so impressed and even suggested a favorite alternative.

Either way, the site is a good spot to search and try new software. Keep it if you like. Delete it if you don’t. And for gamers, check out the Game Giveaway of the Day.

And for Mac users, GotD is considering offering Mac-related software someday. In the meantime, check out sites for discounted Mac software, such as MacZot.com, Softpedia.com and Mac Update Promo (mupromo.com).

Tax rebate discounts on electronics

Economic Stimulus checkInspired by posts on Fast Food Maven and our retail blogger, I did some sleuthing about where you can get a little bit more from Uncle Sam & corporate America.

RadioShack will cash your federal stimulus check or refund and give you 10 percent discount on purchases between $50 and $2,500 — no product is excluded. If you don’t want to spend it all at RadioShack, the remainder will be put on a Vision Silver Prepaid MasterCard. Details HERE.

DealNews.com also mentions several other stores trying to lure you in, including Sams Club, Staples, Wal-Mart and Sears.

And while you’re at it, enter eBillMe’s Shopping Confessions‘ monthly contest to win $1,000. Just submit a story about what you’re doing with your tax refund of stimulus check. Best video or written confession wins the cash.

On to contests!

  • Woof, woof? Get dear Fido cloned by entering BioArts International’s “Golden Clone Giveaway.” The company decided to give away a free slot after complaints from dog lovers that they can’t afford the $100,000-and-up price tag in the “Best Friends Again” auction. If you think you have the world’s most ‘clone worthy’ dog, submit an essay of up to 500 words on why your dog should be cloned and fill out this form HERE. Deadline is noon Pacific time on June 10. Caveat: Your dog must be alive.
  • Win a 65-inch LCD HDTV by submitting a brief story about why your Dad deserves a giant HDTV. The catch? The winner has to live in an area that can get Charter cable TV service, which in the SoCal region includes parts of Long Beach, Cerritos, Alhambra, Pasadena, Glendale, etc. (see Charter’s locator if you don’t know). Enter at charter.com/hddad. Contest ends June 6.
  • Win a 40-inch Samsung LCD TV by playing Buku Sudoku in the Xbox Live Arcade. Just earn 200 out of 200 achievement points in the first two weeks after the game launches and then enter the contest HERE. Sign up ends June 18.
  • Don’t forget to check out my earlier post on 12 more ways to win a Wii or Wii Fit.

Past Free+Win+Deals posts:

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12 more chances to win a Wii or Wii Fit

May 29th, 2008, 6:48 am by

Win a Wii or Wii Fit!Just a week after Nintendo’s Wii Fit released and immediately sold out in many stores, I’ve noticed several sites hosting contests for free Wii’s and Wii Fit’s, including us.

For the contest lovers out there, here are a few more chances to win one:

  • Win a Nintendo Wii Console and Guitar Hero III from The Sun-Sentinel. Enter HERE by May 30.
  • Win an Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Wii from new gaming blog GamerzReviewz.com. A few catches on this one, you “earn” more chances to win if you subscribe to the site’s RSS feed, blog about them, etc. Enter HERE before June 18.
  • Win a Wii Fit from GeekSugar. Just register with the site and take this short quiz. More details HERE. Random drawing on May 30.
  • Win a Wii and the We Ski game from GameZone. Details HERE. Contest ends June 6.
  • Win a Wii by uploading a video or photo to new talent site Trifame. Winner picked at the end of June. Details HERE.
  • Win a Wii Fit by blogging or commenting on the Been There blog about fitness. Details HERE.
  • Win a Wii if you send in a photo of your childhood at the 5 Minutes for Mom blog. Details HERE.

I’ll post more if I have time…

Open to Brits only:

  • Win a Wii and a Wii Fit from The Sun in the United Kingdom. More details HERE. Contest ends June 2.
  • Win a Wii from Forget the Rest electronics store. Enter HERE.
  • Win a Wii and a boardgame for the Wii HERE. Ends June 30.

FYI: I now post a collection of new deals and contests every Sunday. Want to keep track of the free deals I post here? Sign up HERE to have these particular entries e-mailed to you.

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Win a Prius, HDTVs or a trip to China

May 25th, 2008, 3:00 am by

Alt+Save: Deals and freebies I really need to start entering the contests that I post here each Sunday.

Reader David Truong messaged me this week to let me know he won a Blackberry Pearl 8210, thanks to an early Alt+Save post. Woo hoo! Congrats David!Rabbit Ears Pioneers contest

Here’s some more for all you freebie junkies:

* You won’t have to worry about the digital-TV deadline if you win this contest. The ‘Rabbit Ears Pioneers” contest is giving away an entire home entertainment center, complete with an HDTV, Blu-ray disc DVD player and a surround-sound system. To enter, track down someone who watches TV with an old-fashioned rabbit-ears antenna. Snap a photo and send in a short essay (no more than 200 words) describing why this “pioneer” enjoys TV this way. More details HERE.

* Win a trip for two to the Beijing Olympics in AT&T’s How are you Connected? contest. You don’t even have to divulge how you are connected, but you need to give AT&T your phone number. Enter HERE by May 30.

Toyota Prius* JetBlue Airways wants you to think green and maybe you’ll win a Prius! Second prize ain’t too shabby either: A Sharp Aquos HDTV with a Blu-ray DVD player and the 12-disc Green Planet DVD library. Enter HERE.

* Win a suite of software from Corel, valued at $1,500. This will take some effort though. Create a short video of yourself doing something nice to the planet. Upload it to YouTube and then submit your entry to Corel by going HERE. Deadline May 31.

* Get your house in a video game. Cities XL, a game coming out this year from game company Monte Cristo in Paris, will put your building in the game. Just shoot and submit a photo. If you win, the company will ask for more photos and then build a virtual model for the game. More details HERE.

* And don’t forget, the Register’s own contest to win a Nintendo Wii and the new Wii Fit. How many people are really going to enter this? Only if they hear about it and now you have. Take a chance: Enter HERE.

In other contest news, the handy Flip Video camcorder from Pure Digital Technologies recently announced winners of its Cannes a la Flip Short Film Competition. About 250 people entered using the pocket-sized camcorder to create 3-minute films. The grand-prize winner won $10,000! Watch the Flip Short Film fest at The Auteurs or FaceBook.

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Win a Fender, sketch Obama, and what you get if American Idol’s Archuleta wins

May 18th, 2008, 12:23 am by

Alt+Save: Deals and freebiesThe weekly Free+Win+Deals weekly roundup post is moving to Sundays so we can all start the week out right. ENGOBI customized Fender Stratocaster® guitar valued at $3,000 for the Xbox 360Maybe that will inspire more people to take advantage of bargains on the Web and win free stuff like “Robert from Garden Grove.”

Robert thanked me this week for mentioning the JVC contest for Mother’s Day tributes. He didn’t win the grand prize of two cameras but did nab a $75 gift certificate. His words: “Only 14 entries — a 1/14 chance to win the cameras is pretty good.”

Dreams do come true! But only if you take the effort to enter. Here’s another one of those contests that could be worthwhile to enter:

Win a custom Fender Stratocaster converted to work with Guitar Hero in the “Don’t Be a Piano Hero” contest by Engobi, which is some sort of caffeinated non-potato chip. The trick? Submit a video of yourself, “shredding it on a popular video game that I can’t mention by name. What I can say is, it’s not ‘Piano Hero,’” according to the site. Apparently, Engobi didn’t pay for the rights to use the name Guitar Hero in the contest, hence the ‘Piano Hero.’ Winner gets the $3,000 Fender. Ten second-place winners get an Xbox 360 and a Guitar Hero III game. Third place winners get Engobi snacks. Be warned: You relinquish all rights to your videos. More details HERE.

Speaking of DEALS… Mitch Goldstone over at 30 Minute Photos in Irvine will cut the price of his super-speedy photo-scanning service if little David Archuleta wins the American Idol competition this week. The ‘Aw-shucks’ 17-year-old Mormon sounds like a Disney movie soundtrack and has been the judges’ pet this season.

If he does win, 30 Minute Photos will wave its usual $50 fee to scan 1,000 photos in under 10 minutes. Instead, the price drops to $19.95, which includes shipping and handling! I’ve written about the service before and do recommend it, even at $50.

MORE CONTESTS

Read the rest of this entry »

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Free+Contests: Pink cameras, domains and $1,000

May 7th, 2008, 3:12 am by

Gateway’s pink camera dealA weekly round up of deals, contest and free stuff. More at the Free+Win+Deals archive.

What? Mother’s Day is Sunday? Ahh… that’s why Gateway is tossing in a free pink Canon PowerShot SD1100 camera with every purchase of one of its M-Series laptops, which start at $899.99. So you keep the laptop (in Arctic Bloom on right) and give mom the camera. The camera itself is $250 and includes a 2-GB memory card. If pink just isn’t your color, Gateway will instead take $200 off the price. Is this a good deal? A quick Google search pulls up a FatWallet discussion from two weeks ago when the M-Series S laptop went on sale for 24 hours for $599. It sold out within 3 hours. The free-camera sale ends today (May 7).

Free web domains: MyDomain, a Vancouver, Wash.-company, plans to giveaway a few dozen dot-coms, nets, orgs and biz domains next Tuesday, May 13. Its “Marathon Giveaway” promotion will give domains to 25 people who click the site’s banner ad that day between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Time. If you miss out, the site is still offering a two-for-one deal. Without any discounts, domains are $8.95 (includes 20-cent ICANN fee).
Online Video Guide Suggest a Site contest
Need $1,000? Just find a movie or TV-themed web site not already listed in OVGuide.com, the online video guide with a database of 1,684 sites from AnimeWoot to Zombie Cinema. Its ‘Suggest a Site‘ contest could be a ploy to get users to track down new web sites devoted to movies, TV shows or other video themes. But if you find one not in its database, you could be the monthly winner of $1,000. More DETAILS.
Adobe Suite Life Sweepstakes
Suite Life Sweepstakes: Adobe is giving away 100 copies of its Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection, valued at $2,499 each. While the contest is meant for people who buy any Adobe Creative Suite 3 Premium Edition, there’s no purchase necessary. More DETAILS.

HAZE + Korn: It’s another video-game mashup contest. Mix scenes from HAZE, a first-person shooter, with live concert footage from the metal band Korn. Winner gets a Sony 46″ HDTV, PlayStation 3, a customized HAZE guitar signed by Korn and $500 … Submit your mashup by May 19, 2008. GameTrailers.com offers all the footage to make the music video. More DETAILS.
**Korn freebie** If you own Korn’s latest CD, Untitled, the ‘Haze’ song is available for free. Just insert the disc into your computer and visit korn.com/bonus for instructions.

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