upgrades

Amazon offering top dollar for iPhone trade-ins

Planning to upgrade your iPhone to whatever model Apple announces next month? Amazon wants to make it worth your while.

As of today, the company is offering some of the highest trade-in values I've seen on used iPhones. The only catch? Your payout comes in the form of an Amazon gift card, not actual cash.

Amazon is accepting used, fully functional iPhones from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. As with most trade-in services, you must specify whether your model is in acceptable, good, or like-new condition. That dictates the amount you'll get in return.

For example, my … Read more

Do AT&T's FaceTime limits break FCC rules?

Tuesday's tech news roundup honors our future robot overlords:

AT&T is being accused of data-plan discrimination and breaking FCC rules regarding new iPhone FaceTime options. AT&T recently announced that iPhone customers could use FaceTime video chat service over a cellular network if they have the new shared data plan. (Previously, FaceTime was limited to Wi-Fi.) But several groups have spoken out about the limit and questioned if it follows FCC guidelines. AT&T responded saying it does not believe this breaks any FCC rules, since FaceTime was offered to all customers over Wi-Fi and … Read more

Microsoft opens registration for Windows 8 upgrade

Making good on its promise, Microsoft has officially opened registration for new Windows 7 users to upgrade to Windows 8.

In a tweet today, Windows wrote, "The @Windows upgrade offer is now available in 140 countries. Register now! http://windowsupgradeoffer.com."

The software giant pledged in May that anyone who bought a Windows 7 PC after June 2 would be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99. The registration is to be open until January 31, 2013. If people miss the registration period, they'll have to pay full price for the software.

Windows 8 … Read more

Amex didn't sign on to Google Wallet's major app upgrade

As Google announced its major upgrade for Google Wallet yesterday -- in which shoppers could use any type of major credit card to load up their smartphone -- American Express confirmed today that it didn't agree to such a deal.

"We want to make sure Google's mobile wallet product meets the standards we set for our card members in terms of the transparency and clarity about transaction detail," American Express' VP of social media communications Brad Minor told CNET in an e-mail. "And right now, American Express does not have an agreement with Google for … Read more

Get a Windows 7 Home Premium 3-user upgrade for $79.99

As you learned earlier this month, Microsoft plans to offer a Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39.99 -- a surprisingly decent price.

That said, not everybody is looking forward to the radically redesigned new OS. In fact, plenty of users are still plugging along with Windows XP or Vista -- perhaps just biding their time until a decent Windows 7 upgrade offer comes along.

That offer has arrived, though not from Microsoft: Nothing But Software has the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-PC) for $79.99, plus $3.99 for shipping. That works out to about $27 … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions about switching between 32- and 64-bit mode in OS X, using Target Disk Mode via Thunderbolt connections, how long Snow Leopard will be supported now that Mountain Lion is released, the best route to take for upgrading to Mountain Lion, and options for adding RAM to an older iMac system. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, post them in the comments!

Question: Switching between 32- and 64-bit … Read more

Tackling Mountain Lion download errors

Apple's Mountain Lion upgrade is available through the Mac App Store, and while most purchases are downloading just fine, a few people are experiencing a problem where the download will not complete. Instead of initiating a download, the Mac App Store issues a warning stating it could not complete the purchase because the product distribution file could not be verified, indicating damage to the file or an invalid digital signature.

People experiencing this problem have tried quitting and relaunching the Mac App Store, restarting their systems, and even trying Safe Mode, and have also tried waiting to see if … Read more

How to prepare your PC for Windows 8

Windows 8 is due to be released to consumers on October 26. Priced at just $39.99, the upgrade is surprisingly affordable. If you're thinking about upgrading to Microsoft's latest operating system, now might be a great time to start your preparations. Having an upgrade plan can help mitigate many of the risks involved with a major OS upgrade. Here are some suggestions to help your upgrade go as smoothly as possible:

Check your system for compatibility The first thing you'll want to do is to check your PC to see if it can run Windows 8 … Read more

How to prepare your Mac for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

Apple's next release of OS X "Mountain Lion" is slated for release by the end of this month, with some recent developments suggesting it may be out by as early as next week. If you are thinking about upgrading your Mac to the new operating system, then you might consider reserving some time this weekend to ensuring your system is capable of and prepared for the upgrade.

While for the most part you should be able to download and install the upgrade without any problems, there are a few things you can do to help prevent running … Read more