You can give someone the gift of a Netflix subscription--complete with printed gift card.
(Credit: Netflix)Uh, oh! Just a few more shopping days until the ho-ho-holiday. Are you scrambling for a last-minute gift for your trusty mail carrier, the kids' schoolteacher, a co-worker, or someone else on your list?
Good news: All you need is a printer. These five stores let you print your own gift certificates for fast, easy, and downright special in-person giving:
- Amazon.com On any Amazon page, click the Gift Cards link, then choose Print a gift card. The minimum amount is $5, but you're not limited to increments: Your certificate can be in the amount of, say, $12.09 if you want.
- Gifts.com The recipient of a Gifts.com certificate can redeem it at one or more of a hundred-plus stores and restaurants, such as Barnes & Noble, Pottery Barn, and Starbucks.
- iTunes Obviously you can grab an iTunes gift card in just about any store on the planet, but did you know you can print your own? Just fire up iTunes, click Buy iTunes Gifts, and then choose Printable Gift Certificates. Amounts range from $10-50.
- Netflix Netflix gift subscriptions start at $8.99 per month, and you can choose just about any duration you want: one month, three months, a year, etc. And that gift includes not just DVDs by mail, but also unlimited streaming to a PC or "Netflix-ready" device like an Xbox.
- Restaurant.com Once again, Restaurant.com is offering $25 gift certificates for just $2 (with coupon code SANTA). Not familiar with the site? Get the details from one of my earlier posts. Even better, send a free $10 gift certificate to anyone and everyone on your list!
By the way, most of these gift certificates can also be e-mailed--perfect for last-minute gifts that can't be delivered in person. You know, for faraway relatives or, I dunno, beloved bloggers. (Usually all I get in my in-box is a lump of e-coal, sniff, sniff.)
If you think these prices are good, wait until you apply coupon code ENTREE.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled tech deals to bring you this important bulletin...
Food!
Specifically, restaurant food. As many of you know, Restaurant.com sells gift certificates for a fraction of their face value. And right now, you can buy them for a fraction of that fraction.
For example, $25 certificates normally sell for $10, but if you enter coupon code ENTREE at checkout, the price drops to $2. And $10 certificates, normally $4, drop to just 80 cents. Yowza.
For those unfamiliar with Restaurant.com, the only real "string" attached is a minimum food or drink purchase. However, it's not like you have to order the lobster tail and a case of wine. To use a $10 certificate, for example, your total bill usually has to be at least $20.
What's nice is that you can print the coupons right on your own printer; they're immediately ready for use. They're also transferable, so they make ideal last-minute gifts.
In these horrendous economic times, this offer is too good to pass up. Just make sure to read all the terms and conditions before you buy your certificates, just so you avoid any nasty surprises when the check comes.
Also, I'm not sure when this coupon code expires, so if you're interested, act fast. Bon appetit!
Get 20 percent off your next Denny's Grand Slam (and everything else on your bill) with this coupon.
(Credit: Denny's)People--supermodels, mostly--often stop me in the street and say, "Rick, your tech deals are insanely awesome, but what about food? Surely finding all those bargains makes you hungry?"
Then I say, "Yes, but don't call me 'Shirley,'" and they shake their heads sadly, having realized that bloggers are just as unfunny in person as they are online.
Anyhoo, it being Friday and all, I thought I'd take a tech break and serve up some cheap eats you can score this weekend:
- This printable coupon from Boston Market (PDF) gets you 20 percent off "any restaurant purchase." I'm not sure if that means the entire bill or just one item. Anyway, it's good until October 24. I recommend printing several.
- This printable coupon from Denny's (PDF) gets you 20 percent off your entire check. It's good until October 24. I recommend printing several.
- At Jamba Juice, you can buy one smoothie and get a second one (for a friend or kindly blogger) for $1. Here's the printable coupon. It's good through September 27.
- At Papa John's, you can buy a large two-topping pizza and get a large cheese pizza for 25 cents by applying coupon code 92209 at checkout. (Obviously you have to order online.) In other words, one pizza for the grown-ups and one for the kids. Good through October 4.
- Finally, old standby Restaurant.com is offering major savings on its gift certificates when you apply coupon code TREAT. $25 certificates will cost you just $3 apiece, while $10 certificates drop to just $1.20. That's some cheap eatin'! I'm not sure when the code expires, but you should definitely check out each restaurant's requirements before purchasing.
OK, there you go, food fans. Anything here whet your appetite? Me, I'm all about the pizza, the world's most perfect food.
Also, speaking of this weekend, my CNET overlords are chaining me to my desk for the remainder of this "100 Days of Deals" holiday thingy, so check back tomorrow (and every Saturday until 2010, apparently) for another deal from yours truly.
As for Sunday, well, it's anybody's guess what those crazy "CNET Staffer" kids will come up with, but if it's as bad as last weekend, we'll all have a good laugh on Monday.
Cheapskate out. (Wow, that's a terrible sign-off.)
Use coupon code 'SAVE' to get $25 vouchers for $3.
(Credit: Restaurant.com)Hungry? Like to dine out? Restaurant.com normally lets you buy $25 gift certificates for $10, but right now you can scoop them up for just $3 apiece. Simply enter coupon code SAVE when you get to the shopping cart.
Anyone familiar with Restaurant.com knows there are usually a few small strings attached, like a minimum food or drink purchase. However, it's not like you have to order a case of wine or anything. And you can print the coupon right on your own printer: It's immediately ready for use.
A few months back I used one of the gift certificates for a local Italian place, and except for a slight delay while the manager called to verify the coupon, everything went smoothly.
In these horrendous economic times, this deal is too good to pass up. Just make sure to read all the terms and conditions before you buy your certificates, just so you avoid any nasty surprises when the check comes. Bon appetit!
Crave UK recently went for dinner at Inamo restaurant in London, where interactive touch-sensitive tables take your order. Each table has an overhead projector and a mouse trackpad, so your dining surface is effectively a PC monitor. You can customize your "tablecloth," play a video game against your companion, and order a taxi to get you home.
When you're ready to order, you can browse the menu, with each dish projected onto your place setting. When you've chosen, you can even see a live Webcam feed of your chef at work. The restaurant's founders say the concept evolved from the simple idea of "wouldn't it be cool if you could just hit a button and a waiter brought you another beer?" Watch our video for more.
(Via Crave UK)
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
In this day and age when every other person is a self-described foodie, finding the best mobile application to point you to a taste bud-bending experience requires as much discernment as finding the authentic voice from among throngs of folks who think they know good eats.
I'd be lying if I didn't claim snobby epicurean tendencies, myself.
This headstrong belief in one's own taste credentials is exactly what fuels the need for informative and well-designed food-finding applications. Too simple and a foodie will shun it. Too esoteric and it could alienate a growing segment of people who really care about the art and science of meal-making.
I've recently studied several restaurant-recommending applications for iPhone and other mobile platforms, including Yelp and Urbanspoon for iPhone and Zagat To Go for Windows Mobile, Palm, and BlackBerry, and wondered how relative newcomers Munch ($0.99) and LocalEats ($0.99) compare to these more established services.
Munch for iPhone turns out accurate results, but what's with the ratings?
(Credit: CNET Networks)There are, of course, things to laud and criticize with each app. Munch's interface has a great method for quick-launching searches for pizza, Mexican, and so on from icons in the screen navigation. You can select other cuisines from a scrolling list. Munch returns wonderfully accurate search results, but is devoid of context. There are no reviews, no Web site listings, and every restaurant we looked at was rated with five empty stars. That's doable if you want a listings app, but for anyone trying to make intelligent choices, it just won't work.
LocalEats fares much better. The app brings you the best 100 (or more) restaurants in 50 U.S. cities as determined by a team of foodie professionals, authors of the online dining guide Where the locals eat. The benefit is that unlike Urbanspoon, no national chain even thinks of making an appearance. You can search each city's highest-rated establishments by alphabetical order, cuisine type, or the best of each category. For larger cities you can also search by neighborhood.
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