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CNET’s Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and follow the Cheapskate on Facebook and Twitter!

itunes-gift-card-50 — $50 for $42.50. ‘Nuff said.

Quick housekeeping note: Don’t forget, you’ve got until Saturday to get your entry in for a Blink home-security camera system. Entering takes, like, 12 seconds. Do it!

Today, like a mystery writer, I started at the end and worked backward. Which is to say I started gathering bonus deals first, and before I knew it, I had lots of those and no real standout for the main deal. So it’s all bonus deals today. Enjoy!

Bonus deal: Dropbox deals are rare. So when I see one, I gotta share. But if you’ll indulge me an extra click, I’m going to send you elsewhere. See, The Cheapskate is also the Business Bargain Hunter — a side affair. Today’s deal there? A year of Dropbox Plus for $60, plus a $25 Dell gift card — an extremely good deal, as I’m sure you’re aware.

If sending you away seems unfair, don’t despair: I’m just looking for a little traffic boost over there. (Because obviously I can’t make a living as a poet.)

Bonus deal No. 2: Here’s something you don’t see every day: a discounted iTunes gift card from Amazon. But, yeah, pay $42.50 and you’ll get a $50 iTunes/App Store card, in actual physical gift-card form. Not sure how long this deal will last, but it’s active as of 8 a.m. PT.

Bonus deal No. 3: I am pumped to see “Thor: Ragnarok” this weekend. You, too? Then whet your appetite even further with three free Thor comics, available for Kindle-using Amazon Prime subscribers. (Specifically, Kindle app, Fire tablet, etc.) The titles include J. Michael Straczynski’s top-rated “Thor,” which normally sells for $4.

Why today, instead of tomorrow when the movie opens? Because it’s Thorsday, of course.

Bonus deal No. 4: I consider Hulu’s adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale” one of the top TV series of 2017 (and the Emmy folks agreed). Whether you watched it and now want to read the book or you want to read the book before watching, Amazon has the Kindle edition for $2.99 — today only. (It’s similarly discounted at Google Play.) It may not be as action-packed as “The Hunger Games,” but as dystopian novels go, it has few rivals.

Bonus deal No. 5: A couple weeks ago I shared a sweet deal on Wolfenstein: The New Order prequel Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. Today’s your chance to get an equally sweet deal on the, er, sequel to the prequel? Fanatical (formerly Bundle Stars) has Wolfenstein: The New Order for $6.59. Price elsewhere: $20.

archeer-bumper-balls — Shut up and take my money!

Archeer

Bonus deal No. 6: Also a couple weeks ago, you had a chance to win a couple giant inflatable bumper-balls from Archeer. Because the vast majority of you didn’t win, I can at least give you a deal: Get two Archeer inflatable bumper balls for $222.29 when you apply promo code DA398R7B at checkout.

These are still pretty pricey, no doubt about it. And if you want to have an actual soccer game with them, I’d say you need at least four. But, oh, heavens, the fun. The good, clean, hilarious, wholesome, screen-free outdoor fun. You can’t put a price on that, can you?

Bonus deal No. 7: What do you really need from your HVAC thermostat? Wi-Fi, so you can control it remotely, and robust programming so you can set a precise schedule. Everything else is just fluff, right?

Today only, Home Depot has the Honeywell RTH8580WF Wi-Fi Programmable Touchscreen Thermostat for $69 shipped, the lowest price I can recall seeing. (Price elsewhere: at least $95.) It doesn’t have a color screen or learning capabilities, but it does pack plenty of useful features — and it’s compatible with most smart-home hubs, including Alexa and Apple HomeKit.

Come to think of it, there’s quite a lot of that “fluff” included here, just without the color screen and high price. I haven’t used this model, but user reviews average around 4 stars.

Oh! Almost forgot: Check with your energy company to see what rebates are available, because you might actually make money on this deal.

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CNET’s Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page.

Like any good mystery writer, I often start my daily-deal posts at the end and work backward. In other words, I do the bonus deal(s) first, then work my way back to the main deal.

Today, the bonus deals just took over! To the point where any thought of a main deal got squeezed out. Of course, if every deal is a “bonus” deal, then none of them are really bonus deals, right? They’re all just… deals. My head hurts. Also, “bonus” is a really weird word if you look at it hard.

Anyway, on to bonus business!

Forget the rubber ducky — bring the Photive Hydra into the tub with you!

Photive

Bonus deal: If you’re a business owner, you know the value and importance of email marketing. You also know that services like Mailchimp can get very pricey very quickly. That’s why I’m on this deal like white on rice: For a limited time, AppSumo is offering a SendPulse email marketing subscription for $39. That’s good for 200,000 sends, or you can pay $59 and get 400,000. Regular prices: $400 and $670.

The service offers scheduled sends, A/B testing, extensive personalization of outgoing messages and other good stuff. You can also sign up for webinars (April 10 and 11) to become a SendPulse super-user.

Bonus deal 2: I told you I’d be back with another Bluetooth speaker soon! For a limited time, and while supplies last, Amazon has the Photive Hydra waterproof portable speaker for $19.99 when you apply promo code cnet0017 at checkout. As usual, shipping is free for Prime subscribers.

This one is notable for a couple reasons. First, it’s IP66-rated waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, etc. Second, it incorporates two drivers and a passive subwoofer. Third, and arguably best of all, it has a 4.5-star rating from nearly 4,500 buyers (!) — and a “B” grade from Fakespot. (Trust me, that’s pretty rare.)

$5 movies! A lot of “meh,” but there are some gems in the mix.

FandangoNow

Bonus deal 3: Looking for some inexpensive additions to your movie library? FandangoNow has dozens of titles on sale for $5. The streaming service is compatible with most mobile devices and media players.

My recommendations, in no particular order: “The Imitation Game,” “The King’s Speech,” “Life of Pi,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Breaking Away” and “The Conversation.” Each one is well worth five bucks.

Bonus deal 4: If you have a Playstation 4, here’s a rare opportunity to score a boatload of games on the cheap. The Humble THQ Nordic Playstation bundle includes 15 games for $15, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. I’m not a PS4 guy, so I don’t know much about these titles, but if you end up liking even a couple of them, it’s money well spent. Combined value of the bundle: $334.

Bonus deal 5: If you own an iPhone 6 or 6S, it’s probably at least a year old — meaning the battery is no longer holding a charge nearly as well as it once did. My advice: Get it replaced. Not comfortable with cracking open the phone? Here’s my second choice: Start using a battery-pack case.

Like this one: For a limited time, and while supplies last, Daily Steals has the Squirl iPhone 6/6S Extended Battery Case for $17.99. Yep, it’s going to add weight and bulk, but it’ll also just about double your battery life. Plus, it has folding wall prongs, meaning you just plug the case into the wall at night and you’re good to go in the morning. Love that! It’s available in your choice of four colors.

Now *that’s* a radio-controlled vehicle.

Parrot

Bonus deal 6: Here’s a rerun from a few months back, with the all-important even lower price…

As a kid, I loved nothing more than radio-controlled cars. Got a kid of your own? Here’s a great way to pry him or her away from that dang phone: For a limited time, and while supplies last, Techrabbit has the Parrot Mini Drone Jumping Sumo for $49.99 when you apply CNETPR30 at checkout. That price includes free shipping. Update: Code works only with the white model.

Originally $160 (!), the Jumping Sumo isn’t your average drone: It doesn’t fly. Rather, it rolls on two wheels, controlled by your phone or tablet. A built-in camera feeds ground-level video to that screen. Oh, and it can jump up into the air.

I played with one of these things when it first came out and it’s really fun. In fact, some meanie teenagers took it away and had even more fun with it. Because, seriously: a radio-controlled rolling vehicle that streams live video? What’s not to love?

This is new, not refurbished, and therefore comes with a one-year warranty. Teenagers obviously dig it, but I also think it’d be great fun for younger kids who maybe can’t operate flying drones.

So what will you be buying today? Everything? Nothing? Some things?

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Quick note before we dive into today’s deals: If you’re buying anything from Amazon (including any of the deals below), please do so via smile.amazon.com. Today only, the company is donating to charity 5 percent of all eligible products — 10 times the usual amount. Good on you, Amazon.

Here in Michigan, as in much of the rest of the country, winter decided it wasn’t even remotely done yet. This after a mild, almost pleasant January and February. Suffice it to say, it’s not drone-flying weather.

But it will be! And soon enough, so here’s a great outdoor-drone deal to get you excited for spring.

Not even two years ago, the super-sexy Parrot Bebop would have run you $500. Today, and for a limited time, Daily Steals has the refurbished Parrot Bebop quadcopter for $138.99 shipped when you apply promo code DSCheapskate. Yep, it’s an exclusive extra $11 off, just for you, my friends. The Bebop is already a pretty sweet deal at $149.99.

Available in red or blue, this is manufacturer-refurbished, so it comes with a full one-year warranty. You also get two batteries, though it’s not clear whether they’re new or just “tested.” You can buy extras for as little as $40 per pair.

The Bebop is like the sports car of the skies. It has a built-in 1080p wide-angle camera and support for Zeiss Cinemizer and Sony Personal View FPV glasses, for anyone who might like to get into drone racing.

You control the Bebop with Parrot’s FreeFlight Pro app, which for $31 can be upgraded (via in-app purchase) to allow programmed waypoint and point-of-interest flights. It’s worth it, but still really annoying to have to spend extra for those features. And the upgrade used to be $20 — now it’s $31? Come on, Parrot.

Also worth considering: Parrot’s optional Skycontroller, which adds physical controls and greatly extends the Bebop’s range. The challenge is finding one; I hit up eBay and Amazon and came up pretty empty.

Again, these are all options; the real deal here is the Bebop itself for $139. It’s a fun, versatile flier, definitely worth considering at this price.

Even without a keyboard, a Surface Pro 3 for $300 is pretty tempting.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Bonus deal: You all know how I feel about Windows tablets that come without a keyboard (cough, Surface, cough). That said, a deal’s a deal, so I’m just going to present this without comment: Dealfisher (via Amazon) has the refurbished Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (Core i3, 64GB) for $300 shipped, definitely one of the lowest prices I’ve seen for that model. Want more storage? The 256GB, Core i5 model is available for $429.99. No pen included, and no keyboard either, natch. So, Microsoft: How is this “the tablet that can replace your laptop” if there’s no keyboard? Ah, dangit, I commented.

Bonus deal No. 2: Game time! Even better: free-game time! EA Origin’s latest On the House giveaway is the graphic adventure Syberia II, which normally sells for $12.99 (but is actually on sale at Steam for $2.59 — still, free is better). An oldie but goodie, this 2004 sequel combines lush cutscenes with challenging puzzles and a rich, twisty plot. Read GameSpot’s review if you want to know more. As with all of Origin’s giveaways, this one requires an account and its desktop client.

Bonus deal No. 3: All speakers should be Bluetooth-enabled: home, car, PC, all of them. Thankfully, Amazon is home to countless receivers that endow nearly any speaker with Bluetooth goodness. Like this one: The Ugreen portable Bluetooth receiver is $10.94 (shipped free with Prime) when you apply coupon code 6PYQ4GB2 at checkout. It plugs into any 3.5mm input jack and can run for up to 4 hours on a charge, or you can just leave it plugged in, though it’s BYO USB power plug. It also has a built-in microphone, so you could actually turn a set of headphones into a headset (if it has a removable cord).

Bonus deal No. 4: I can’t say I loved the design of the original Pebble smartwatch, which was a little dorky even by my standards. But it was awfully good at delivering notifications, and had the best battery life of any product in its class. (Still does, actually.)

For a limited time, and while supplies last, Daily Steals has the refurbished original Pebble smartwatch for just $18 shipped when you apply promo code CLASSICPBLDS at checkout. It’s available in your choice of five colors.

As you probably know, Pebble was acquired by Fitbit last year, and the product line is pretty much dead. So there’s no future for this, at least from a software standpoint. But there is a present, and that present is a solid (if dorky) smartwatch that’s really good at certain things. And $18 out the door? Come on. You do get a 60-day warranty, which I believe comes from Daily Steals.

Bonus deal No. 4.5: Not nearly as sexy, price-wise, but nicer-looking overall is the Pebble Steel, which you can score refurbished via eBay for $42.99.

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CNET’s Cheapskate scours the Web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page.

Verizon’s Star Wars promo freebies aren’t bad at all.

Scott Stein/CNET

I saw Star Wars at the tender age of 9, and it would be an understatement to say it was a transformative experience. I guess you could say The Force awakened my inner geek. (See what I did there?)

Then came the modified special-edition re-releases, followed by the prequels, and they did a pretty good job of destroying my inner 9-year-old.

Now, we’re just weeks away from “The Force Awakens,” and although I’ve been working hard to avoid spoilers (I’m not even watching the trailers!), I’ve been keeping my expectations low. J.J. Abrams did a pretty good job resurrecting “Star Trek,” but only pretty good. No way will the new “Star Wars” movie be able to recapture the magic. Yeah, I’m still scarred by the prequels.

That’s how I felt until last weekend, when I read this Wired interview with Abrams. And, now, dammit, I’m all excited. Turns out he gets it. He seems to understand exactly what made the original movies special and what was all wrong about the prequels.

All this is to say, drop what you’re doing, head to your nearest Verizon store (yes, Verizon store), and grab yourself a free Star Wars-themed Google Cardboard VR headset. Then install the newly updated Star Wars app (also free) and check out Jakku Spy. The first segment is short, but still pretty cool. And there are many more to come in the days ahead.

Oh, and what’s with all the bonus deals? Simple: I wrote those first, they kept multiplying, and suddenly the post was all bonuses. Enjoy!

Bonus deal: Monument Valley is one of those amazing games that simultaneously delights and messes with your brain. It normally sells for $3.99, but for a limited time, Monument Valley is free for iOS. (Amazon Prime subscribers can get it free for Android and Fire Tablets via Amazon Underground.)

It’s not only an award-winner, but also one of the top-rated puzzle games in all three app stores. Not sure how long it’ll be free, but definitely sure you should scoop it up while it is. Thanks to CNET’s Stephen Shankland for the tip!

Bonus deal 2: Big monitors continue to get small — small prices, that is. This one blows me away: While supplies last (and they rarely last long), Newegg has the Acer KN242HYL 24-inch desktop monitor for $99.99 shipped. That’s after applying coupon code EMCKNAN25 at checkout. This 1080p LED monitor features three inputs (including HDMI), built-in speakers and a ridiculous(ly awesome) three-year warranty. Shut up and take my money, Newegg!

Bonus deal 3: Looking for a cheap VR headset that’s not made of cardboard? Good heavens, GearBest has a bunch of them, with prices starting at an impossible $6.50. A good bet appears to be the Ritech Virtual Reality 3D Glasses II for $8.99 shipped (!), as it has a 4.8-star rating from over 60 buyers.

I’m also eyeing (pun!) this VR Shinecon headset for $17.99 shipped, as it appears to have a distance adjustment that would be helpful for farsighted folks like me. Either way, VR + your smartphone = some truly amazing experiences — and this is just the beginning.

Bonus deal 4: It’s beginning to look a lot like free-music season! For a limited time, Google Play has Blake Shelton’s “Cheers, It’s Christmas”, Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas” and Josh Groban’s “Noel” for free. These are complete albums, available for streaming or MP3 download, no strings attached.

Bonus deal 5: Along with Fallout 4, Just Cause 3 is the hot game right now. And while console owners are stuck paying $60 for it, PC gamers can score Just Cause 3 (Windows) for just $29.99 from Cdkeys. Oh, and if you’re a new customer, head to Cdkeys’ Facebook page and “like” it to get an extra 5 percent off. Final price: $28.49. Between this and Monument Valley, my weekend is now shot (in the most awesome way).

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