Best Buy this week began offering the 8GB iPhone 4 for $49.99 on the usual two-year contract through Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T— just like Target, many regional carriers, and other retailers following the trend. That is $50 off Apple and many other retailers’ $99 price tag. Unlike some of the other offers, it does not appear to be an in-store only deal, because free shipping is included. The offer is listed as valid between “5/11/12-6/30/12” and is available through BestBuy’s website now....

Smart healthcare gadgets and services can improve our heart health by monitoring vital signs and alerting us to any unusual rhythms and behaviors for further investigation. Some can help us learn about – and potentially improve – our sleeping patterns; while some of the best fitness trackers will help monitor our running metrics, training sessions, and activity, and portable, smart electronics provide testing kits for everything from gluten to blood pressure readings....

Following its onslaught of music updates this morning, Apple this evening has rolled out updates to two more of its Mac audio apps. First is Logic Pro X, which has been bumped to version 10.2.1 with this evening’s update. Next is MainStage 3, which is now at version 3.2.3 thanks to its most recent update. Both apps have received a handful of new features, under-the-hood changes, and performance improvements with their respective updates....

As our friends at 9to5Toys highlighted, yesterday marked Alibaba’s “Singles Day” shopping event. For those unfamiliar, Singles Day is similar to “Black Friday” in the United States, spearheaded by Alibaba’s 11.11 shopping event. Following yesterday’s celebration, Alibaba today has released figures on the popularity of specific brands during its 11.11 shopping event, and Apple comes in at the top. As reported by CNBC, Apple was the top-selling mobile phone brand during Singles Day....

[Update 10/27: Apple Pay through American Express in Canada and Australia coming this year; Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong next year.] Apple Watch may have first launched all the way back in April, but the roll out in more countries around the world is still taking place. Availability for India now appears to have an official date with Apple’s website confirming a release scheduled for early next month on November 6th....

Back in 2014, the WebKit team at Apple released Speedometer, which it touted as “a benchmark for web app responsiveness.” Almost four years later, Apple today has announced Speedometer 2.0 with numerous improvements for developers… For those unfamiliar, Speedometer allows developers to simulate user interactions in web apps and has been used “as a proxy for real-world use of popular frameworks for a number of years.” Apple notes, however, that the web developer world has changed a lot since Speedometer 1....

Tyrese Gibson’s Mayhem is the first digital book for sale on iTunes 9, and its being sold in the extended multimedia format, iTunes LP/iTunes Extras. Mayhem’s comic iTunes LP ($1.99) is the first comic book to explore the format as a form of highly visual creative expression. Its introduction makes it easy to see the potential of book or magazine sales through iTunes. And, let’s face it, it’s built for handheld devices and, we think, the fabled Apple tablet (October?...

While Google+ got the most notable update earlier this afternoon, there are three other nice little updates to apps this evening. Most notably, Instapaper was updated to version 4.2, which adds an iBook style “pagination” feature. Other key features include: All-new Fast Pagination mode, a complete rewrite from the old pagination code that greatly improves accuracy and page-turn speed New draggable dot bar to replace the scroll bar in pagination mode New two-finger-swipe gesture to close an article Full-screen now has “Auto” mode to switch to full screen after a few seconds The subtle Twilight Sepia color tint can now be selected at any time Added sharing to Drafts and the upcoming Quotebook 2....

AT&T announced its new mobile data sharing plans last month that allows customers to share data between their phones and tablets while also allowing families or businesses to share data across their devices. Adding to the announcement, AT&T just announced this morning that the plan would be available to its customers Aug. 23. The carrier provided a tool for families to calculate just how much data they need, offering from 1GB to a whopping 20GB of data....

Avengers: Endgame wraps up the story of the MCU so far, delivering an epic superhero adventure while honoring the past in a satisfying finale. Marvel Studios kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe nearly 11 years ago with 2008’s Iron Man. Back then, they had a relatively modest vision of building to The Avengers by assembling a team of heroes from their respective origin movies into a single unit. In the decade since Robert Downey Jr....

The pair will explore how AWS capabilities in analytics, machine learning, compute, storage, security, and cloud data warehousing can be applied to Pfizer’s laboratory, clinical manufacturing, and clinical supply chain efforts. “AWS’s breadth and depth of cloud capabilities help support Pfizer’s teams through secure, novel research methods as they work to optimize drug development and clinical manufacturing processes,” AWS business development and industries vice president Kathrin Renz said. “The past two years have reinforced for the world just how much speed and agility matter at every step of the research, development, and clinical manufacturing cycle when lives are on the line....

Database or backend testing is important because if it is not done properly, it may cause some serious complications like deadlock, data corruption, data loss, etc. How to do Backend Testing Database testing mainly includes validating Schema Database tables Columns Keys and Indexes Stored procedures Triggers Database server validations Validating data duplication In back-end testing, you are not required to use the GUI; you can directly pass the request through some browser with the parameters required for the function and get a response in some default format....

A report by Hi-Tech Mail (via PhoneArena) indicates that the Russian cellular carrier Beeline (through parent company VimpelCom) has decided against renewing its contract with Apple, making it the last of the country’s three major iPhone carriers to do so. Beeline has made a deal to offer Samsung devices on their network in place of Apple’s smartphone. Late last month, Apple opened its online store to Russia for the first time, providing Russia users with another outlet to purchase the iPhone....

One of the best features of the now discontinued AirPort Express was the ability to turn a regular speaker into an AirPlay-enabled speaker via the 3.5mm mini-jack port. Although Apple no longer sells AirPort Express, Belkin is working on a new adapter that will allow users to connect any speakers over AirPlay 2. Based on FCC filings, the small adapter called “Belkin Soundform Connect” will be powered via a USB-C cable and will support audio output via a 3....

There has been no shortage of live-action Batmen since Lewis Wilson first played the hero in the 1943 serial series. However, the personality and tone of the hero has varied wildly across his many incarnations. Even recently, many fans of the Michael Keaton and Christian Bale iterations of the character have gawked at how grim The Dark Knight became in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This new version of Batman, played by Ben Affleck, will next be seen later this year in Justice League....

Furthermore, an operating system with a large number of apps can be larger than 100GB in size. How about a Linux server? A production server regularly stores, updates, moves and deletes files. When administering a server, the administrator must be prepared for any calamity, such as a server crash that may destroy data, inadvertently deleting vital configuration files, or, in the worst-case scenario, the server being hacked. Uploading system files to the server will take time, and the administrator will need to sign up for a subscription plan with enough storage for the backup....

MacStories noted that Apple began changing the tiers at which apps are priced on the iTunes App Store for several countries in Europe. The lowest price on the App Store for many of the countries (listed below) was once €0.79, but it has been bumped up to €0.89 this evening. Italy Spain Netherlands Portugal Greece Poland Germany France Belgium Austria Czech Republic Denmark Luxembourg Hungary Russia [tweet https://twitter.com/dannysapples/status/261602982859255808] The report further noted that Apple might have raised its commission levels to 40 percent—when it was once 30 percent (countries, like the U....

The day after Apple officially launched CarPlay, allowing iPhone functionality to be accessed via in-car screen systems, Apple’s VP of iPhone and iOS product marketing is at the Geneva Motor Show to help launch Carplay in the Ferrari FF. Swiss site MacPrime brought us photos of the launch … The Ferrari FF is the company’s first ever four-wheel drive production model, and is described by the company as the world’s fastest four-seat car, with a top speed of 208mph and a 0-62mph time of 3....

While this year marks the first time Apple Watch has been on the market for a full 12 months, one analyst believes year-over-year sales will be down and not higher. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities has issued a report that says new Apple Watch shipments have decreased by 15-25% which affects the firm’s annual sales prediction. The report notes that KGI cites four reasons for relatively limited interest in Apple Watch: no clear killer app, poor battery life, dependence on iPhone, and the experience multi-touch offers on a wearable....

Apple has long been known to extravagantly deck out its own retail stores with eye-catching window displays featuring flagship products at key times, and unsurprisingly it’s treating the 24 window displays that wrap around Selfridges’ high-end retail store in London just the same. Profiled today by Wallpaper.com, the massive display of detailed floral shots easily catches the attention of window shoppers to advertise the Apple Watch. The profile also shows previous themes used by Apple to advertise the Apple Watch’s availability at the high-end retailer and includes some interesting details about the display as well:...