MacMall Kicks off Black Friday 2012 Sale on Macs, iPods and iPads

Online retailer MacMall has kicked off their 60 hour Black Friday sale just now. The sale runs until midnight on Friday. Traditionally, 3rd party retailers have offered better discounts than Apple once sales tax is taken into account. MacRumors is an affiliate partner of MacMall. 

Their full sale list covers both new and previous generation products. We've pulled out the current-generation products of interest and their respective discounts: 

Current Model	Retail	MacMall
16GB iPad 4 (Wi-Fi)	$499	-$25
32GB iPad 4 (Wi-Fi)	$599	-$41
64GB iPad 4 (Wi-Fi)	$699	-$45
11" 1.7GHz 64GB MacBook Air	$999	-$101
11" 1.7Hz 128GB MacBook Air	$1099	-$101
13" 1.8GHz 128GB MacBook Air	$1199	-$101
13" 1.8GHz 256GB MacBook Air	$1499	-$101
13" 2.5GHz MacBook Pro	$1199	-$101
13" 2.9GHz MacBook Pro	$1499	-$101
15" 2.3GHz MacBook Pro	$1799	-$101
15" 2.6GHz MacBook Pro	$2199	-$101
13" 2.5GHz Retina MBP	$1699	-$101
13" 2.5GHz Retina MBP	$1999	-$101
15" 2.3GHz Retina MBP	$2199	-$151
15" 2.6GHz Retina MBP	$2799	-$151
2.5GHz Dual-Core Mac Mini	$599	-$25
2.3Ghz Quad-Core Mac Mini	$799	-$25

Click on prices to link directly to product.
Discounts on the MacBook Airs are notable for a percentage of their total price, while the 15" Retina MacBook Pros have the largest dollar amount in savings. 

When looking for the cheapest price, it's good to know which retailers charge sales tax automatically. MacMall charges sales tax in California, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, Minnesota, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin. 

We expect to see additional Black Friday sales at Apple's online store though that doesn't kick in until Black Friday itself. We will also cover other sales and discounts. Please send in any notable Apple-related sales.

Apple Launches International Black Friday Sales

Apple has launched its one day Black Friday sales in Australia and New Zealand. The discounts available are for the following products: 

- iPad with Retina Display. A$ 41.00 Off 
- iPad 2. A$ 31 Off 
- iPod touch. A$ 31 Off 
- iPod touch 4th Generation. A$ 25 Off 
- iPod nano. A$ 11 Off 
- MacBook Pro with Retina Display. A$ 105 Off 
- MacBook Pro. A$105 Off 
- MacBook Air. A$105 Off 
- Various Accessories 

Discounts should be comparable for U.S. customers and on the exact same products. Apple's U.S. sale should kick off around midnight tonight on Apple's online store. BothBest Buy and MacMall seem to have deeper discounts on select products in their base configuration.

Add a File Extension to a Group of Files from the Command Line in OS X

The quickest way to add a file extension to a group of files that don’t currently have one is by using the command line in Mac OS X. In the example below, we’ll add a “.txt” extension to all files in a single directory, but subbing .txt in the command string will add a different extension instead. Before beginning, it’s a good idea to do the following:

• Be sure to have file extensions visible on all files in OS X, that way the extension change will be visible in the Finder in addition to the command line
• Place all files that need the extension added into a single and separate directory

Next, launch Terminal (found in /Applications/Utilities/) and do the following:

• Change to the directory containing the files by typing:
cd /path/to/directory
• Once inside the directory, use the following command:
for i in *; do mv "$i" "$i.txt"; done
• Confirm the change by typing “ls” to list the directory contents

You can also drag and drop a directory from the Finder into the terminal window to print out it’s path, rather than manually entering it.

Below is a complete example showing a change to the directory, listing the original contents, executing the appropriate command to add the extension, and finally another listing showing the original files with the new .txt extension added.

$ mkdir ~/Desktop/FilesThatNeedExtensionsAdded/

$ mv tes* ~/Desktop/FilesThatNeedExtensionsAdded/

$ cd ~/Desktop/FilesThatNeedExtensionsAdded/

$ ls
test test1 test2 test3 test4

$ for i in *; do mv “$i” “$i.txt”; done

$ ls
test.txt test1.txt test2.txt test3.txt test4.txt

As mentioned before, to add a different file extension just replace the “.txt” with something else, like “.jpg” or “.rtf”. The wildcards can also be adjusted to match file name commonalities.

Thanks to Thom for the tip idea