Roku Stick Hits Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart in U.S.

Roku Streaming Stick Hits Amazon, Review and Walmart in U.S.

Roku's new and improved streaming stick hit the market today ahead of its planned U.S. launch early next month. The HDMI dongle is available for online purchase through Roku's own website as well as from Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart. The company says it should be available in brick and mortar stores in April as planned.

Roku's streaming stick offers the same user experience as its set-top boxes in a much smaller package for just $49.99. You'll get the same access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, Aereo and more than a thousand other channels covering music, movies, sports and more. It also ships with a remote, though you can control it using the Roku app for Android and iOS if you prefer.

Roku's HDMI dongle improves on a $99 streaming stick the company developed in 2012 to ship with special "Roku Ready" TVs. The new model should give the company a boost against growing competition in the media streaming market. With a new Amazon set-top box expected to launch next week and an updated Apple TV rumored for later this year Roku will need all the help it can get.

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Discount airlines add flights to big cities from Reagan National. $LUV

<Online Dealsp> Southwest Airlines Co. is adding new service to seven cities from Reagan National Airport with the slots it won at the airport as part of the government's antitrust settlement with American Airlines Group Inc.

Southwest's plans confirm that the government's antitrust settlement with American is largely leading to increased service to big cities from Washington, D.C., at the expense of flights to smaller cities.

Southwest won...

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Vs Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Gear - Price and Specs Comparison

Released in September 2013, the Note 3 and Gear remains the newest member of the popular Galaxy Note series.

The Note 3 brought in several new features to the Note lineup of smartphones such as S Pen, and pop up Apps. Due to popularity of the Note3, its successor Note 4 has garnered attention of all Smartphone enthusiasts and has become one of the much talked about device in the market. Samsung has not revealed any specifications for Note 4 but many leading technology magazines have published possible specifications of the device based on insiders leak. Let's compare the specifications of Note 3 and Gear and the upcoming Note 4.

Display

The Note 3 has display of 5.7 inches with high pixel density at 386 pixels per inch. The Super AMOLED display is capable of delivering a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and can produce more than 16 million colors. The display in Note 3 is protected by Gorilla Glass from Corning. The Note 4 will more likely have a bigger display. If insider's leaks are to be believed, the Note 4 display will be 2 inches bigger than its predecessor.

Processor and Memory

The Note 3 is powered by a quad core microprocessor with clock frequency of 1.9 GHz and a discrete GPU, Adreno 330 running at a clock speed of 578 MHz. The device is equipped with 3GB RAM and minimum 16GB internal storage. Note 3 have three variants having different internal storage capacities such as 16GB, 32 GB and 64GB. Samsung is working on development of microprocessors based on 64-bit architecture and Note 4 might be the first device to have that technology. The Note 4 is more likely to have 4GB or more RAM.

Operating System

Note 3 runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS. With new KitKat Android readily available and Note 4 likely release date before September 2014, the device will have the latest KitKat Android OS.

Camera

The Note 3 has a rear 13MP camera with LED flash and front 2MP camera. The Note 4 might get a camera boost and the device might have a 20MP rear camera with several photo enhancement technologies.

Stylus

Stylus is one of the impressive features of Note 3 and its successor might have a better Stylus and improved handwriting recognition capabilities. The Note 4 will be able to recognize scrawls drawn on the screen by user. This is an improvement as until now, the handwriting recognition feature was only able to read common words drawn on the screen.

Battery

The Note 3 and Gear features a 3200 mAh battery which gives a talk time of 21 hours on 3G networks. The Note 4 will have much battery power as it will be fitted with 3600-3800 mAh battery that will give longer talk time and extended audio and video playback time in comparison to Note 3.

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The Galaxy Note 3 + Gear are available at $299 in 2-year contract with leading cellular companies. The price of Note 3 at Amazon is in the range of $630- $650. The price of Note 4 will be slightly higher than Note 3.

Large city, less coupons

"Dear Jill,

I am hoping you might be able to answer a question for me. I figured if anyone will be able to help me find an answer it might be you! I live in the Quad Cities - the combination of Moline, Illinois; Rock Island, Illinois; Davenport, Iowa and Bettendorf, Iowa. I have been couponing for 10 years, and I am quite good at it. My problem is that in the Quad City Area, where there are hundreds of thousands of people, we get the worst coupons ever! Our coupon inserts only have a few coupons, and have more advertisements than actual offers. I believe we get about a quarter of the coupons that bigger cities get in their papers.

"I am just so confused as to how an area as big as ours in the Quad Cities gets such a small amount of coupons delivered in our paper compared to what a city like Chicago gets. Any information you might be able to give me as to why an area with a combined population of nearly 400,000 people barely gets any coupons would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Amy M."

This question has come up numerous times with my readers. Why do different parts of the country, and different newspapers, get different coupons? There are a lot of factors that play into this, including population, proximity to major supermarket chains and geographic and regional areas that marketers wish to target. I don't believe there's a conspiracy afoot to give certain shoppers "better" coupons than others. However, major cities and their outlying suburbs do tend to get larger coupon inserts with more pages.

Different newspapers in the same market area also can have entirely different sets of coupon inserts, too. Again, the decision to release large coupon inserts in some areas and smaller inserts in others isn't to "punish" anyone. Marketers are looking to boost sales of specific products in particular market areas.

You compared the population of the Quad Cities to Chicago. As you noted the Quad Cities are home to more than 300,000 people. Chicago's population is 2.7 million people, and if you count the entire Chicagoland metropolitan area, the number jumps to more than 9.5 million. From a marketer's perspective, they may see a larger return on their marketing investments when they place ads in newspapers in a larger area. If they aren't seeing enough of a sales boost in a "smaller" area (and again, I'm not arguing that 300,000 people is small by any means!), they might not place coupons.

I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and there have been times that I've purchased a newspaper in the city and found different coupons and inserts than I receive at my home in the 'burbs. There's nothing I can do about that - I just accept that certain brands and products are being targeted toward city dwellers over suburbanites.

I've long said that couponing is a privilege, not a right. We can want to insist on the "best" coupons, or to have the same coupons that another area receives, but they're not something we're guaranteed by anyone.

One bright side: Printable and electronic coupons are available all over, no matter where you live. And, while some offers are also store or region-specific, sites like Coupons.com, SmartSource.com and RedPlum.com offer Promotional Codes to shoppers everywhere. I realize it's not the same as getting a nice, thick coupon insert in the newspaper each week, but it's a good way to supplement your coupon base.

Smart Living Tip: Whenever I'm traveling on a Sunday, the day the coupon inserts come out in most newspapers, I'll buy a paper. It's always interesting to see what coupons are available in the area I'm visiting. (Plus, who doesn't like extra coupons?) And, if you fly on a Sunday, take a stroll through the airport terminals and "clean up" discarded papers others have left behind. It's a great way to get more free coupon inserts!

© CTW Features

Jill Cataldo, a coupon workshop instructor, writer and mother of three, never passes up a good deal. Learn more about Super-Couponing at her website, www.jillcataldo.com. Email your own couponing victories and questions to jill@ctwfeatures.com.