The Tech Media Minute: Why Visiting an Apple Store Might Not Be Worth It

Why shop at an Apple Store?

When you want to buy an Apple product it’s best to shop at an Apple retail store, right? Not necessary, according to CNET.

For many, visiting an Apple store is like a trip to Santa’s workshop. However, it’s never been a place to find discounts. Once upon a time, this wasn’t important because Apple products weren’t discounted anywhere. That is no longer the case as companies like Best Buy now offer discounts on Apple wares.

As CNET notes:

“The long and short of it is the Apple Store rarely offers anything in the way of deals or discounts. And yet it allows other stores to sell its products for less — sometimes substantially less. Which means that despite the fact that the shopping experience in Apple Stores is generally stellar (if you know what you want, you can be in and out in five minutes), it makes a lot less sense to buy Apple products in an Apple Store.”

The possible bottom line: Window shop at an Apple retail store, buy elsewhere.

Facebook focuses on security with “secret conversations”

The social behemoth is now offering an end-to-end encryption feature on Facebook Messenger to a limited test group of users beginning today, July 8. The move is several months in the making, according to TechCrunch.

They explain:

“The so-called ‘secret conversations’ debuted today will be only visible to the sender and the reader, which means Facebook can’t enable some of the chatbot and payment features that are normally a part of the Messenger experience. However, end-to-end encryption boxes out law enforcement and even Facebook itself from reading users’ chats, ensuring that their conversations remain private.

Secret conversations are slated to become available to all Messenger users this summer, with access expanding to all by early September.

New flyovers

On Thursday, Cupertino added Flyover imagery to 29 new locations to the company’s Maps app. At the same time, it continues to add traffic and transit data to multiple international locales including Chile and Vatican City, according to AppleInsider.

For a current list of Maps features by location, click here.

Another day, another shooting incident, this time in #Dallas. #FridayFeeling pretty low, folks.

• Scranton
• #PeoplesConvention
• U.S. Capitol
• #NATOSummit
• #FridayReads
• #heatwave
• #NFPGuesses
• Wanted to Kill White People

Today, July 8 is National Blueberry Day and Video Games Day. On Saturday, celebrate National Sugar Cookie Day. On Sunday, it’s Teddy Bear Picnic Day.

Cisco Live begins on Sunday, July 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rewind: On this day in 1796, the U.S. State Department issued the first passport. On July 9, 1956, Dick Clark hosted “American Bandstand” for the first time. Classic Coke returned on July 10, 1985.

Have a few more minutes? Check out these other stories making news:

• Who benefits from Apple’s public betas? We all do, Macworld
• Malware hits millions of Android phones, BBC News
• Oops! Wearables can leak your PINs and passwords, TechCrunch

Want even more? Check out Tech Media Extra.