On Computers

All about “refurbs,” as they’re called -– short for refurbished:

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“Passbook” on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch lets you electronically store boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, and loyalty cards. It’s very high-tech. If you step into a Starbucks, for example, your Starbucks card automatically appears on the phone. Make sure you’ve got the latest operating system: iOS 6. If you have an Android phone, there’s PassWallet. We couldn’t figure it out but maybe you can. Not quite ready for prime time.

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SmartphoneTradeIn.com gives you cash for your old smartphone. It’s also a good indicator of what’s popular.

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– If you’re stuck for a last-minute holiday present, a photo may be the way to go. Joy gave her sister a canvas print of her sons in a frame, from SnapBoxPrints.com. It cost her $17 for an 8×10 in a frame. Other sizes start at $9.79. Shipping is free if you take delivery at a CVS pharmacy. Bob didn’t think the print was museum quality, but Joy liked it.

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“QR” codes are doorways to other places. As you go through a newspaper or store, you will likely see some of these codes, square in shape and filled with dots and squiggly lines. Take a snapshot of them using your smartphone or tablet app for reading QR codes and they open to something else.

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– Try PopSci.com for unusual gifts in the tools and gadgets categories, also information on how to make your own Twinkies. Real guys like tools, maybe Twinkies too.

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October set a record for iPad trade-ins, according to SellCell.com, a site where you can trade in yours. People are trading in the third generation iPad to get the iPad Mini or fourth-generation iPad. They typically get about $350 for the iPad 3, which sold for $699. The iPad 2, which brought in $371 before the Mini was announced, now typically goes for less than $200. Android tablet

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We just bought a new laptop, the HP Pavilion g7 notebook PC, for $650 ($600 after the rebate. It weighs 6.6 pounds, has a beautiful 17-inch screen, a 640 gigabyte hard drive, six gigabytes of RAM and a DVD drive. So what’s the kick? Nothing, except it would have been $100 cheaper to buy it from the Staples web site than buying it from a Staples store. What?

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It turns out that buying a Mac or iPad at an online store like Amazon, MacMall or MacConnection, is often cheaper than buying one at an Apple store.

That struck us as pretty odd because of the way Apple closely controls it’s pricing, But a deal’s a deal, and we’re not going to knock it. Next question: Should you wait for a later version or go for it now? DealNews.org helps you decide. Click on “When to Buy a Mac” to get the results of three years worth of price research. (They also sell refurbished MacBooks.)

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Amazon just added music CDs to its trade-in program. (We didn’t know they even had a trade-in program.) You can trade-in books, electronics, video games, movies, TV shows and now CDs for Amazon gift cards. They typically give you $2 credit for an old CD.

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