Nintendo Switch Black Friday bundle gets you this hard-to-find console

11 min readNov 22, 2020

Black Friday is going to be even more amorphous than usual this year, with COVID-19 dramatically limiting the wisdom of holding in-store promotions and more deal-seeking going online than ever before. And that means deals are going live early, with plenty of deals on TVs, games and the like at plenty of retailers. Now, we’re getting the big deal on the Nintendo Switch going live, so you’re going to want to scoop this one up as soon as you can.

The deal is more or less the same as last year, with some minor changes. You still get the Nintendo Switch console with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe installed for $299.99, but this year it’s the updated model with improved battery life. You also get 3 months od Nintendo Switch online, for good measure. It only costs $3.99 to buy it on its own, but hey: every little bit counts

Note that this is only a deal in terms of the free game: it’s an excellent game, which you should get anyways, but other than that this is the same as MSRP on a regular day. Which, to be honest, is already sort of a deal: the Switch has been hard to find ever since lockdowns began earlier in the year and people started snatching up a console fresh off the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. So if you’re looking to get one, now is a good time.

And I’d highly recommend a Switch under most any circumstances. It’s a great console with some of the best games ever made on it, and it’s basically the only console that takes local multiplayer seriously in any way. It’s also home to my current working game of the year, which is Hades. All in all, you really can’t go wrong picking one up, though I would also recommend snagging a memory card to go with it

When school districts were forced to shut down and adopt online-only learning earlier this year, educators, administrators, and state leaders made great strides helping students make the best of a difficult situation. The technological infrastructure to facilitate hybrid learning was readily available, yet many school leaders found themselves resorting to activities like dismantling laptop charging carts to meet the unprecedented demand from home-based students. District and state leaders became acutely aware that students without internet access remained at a tremendous disadvantage. And today, many are still without home internet access.

Now, with school districts across the United States returning to online-only learning due to a resurgence of COVID-19, academic leaders must double down on remote learning technologies in order for all students to stay connected.

Having already placed over one million hotspots in the hands of families since COVID-19 hit — and currently partnering with over 3,100 school districts to equip over 1.6 million students for the new school year — T-Mobile is no stranger to empowering effective distance learning. As a parent and former educator myself, I feel there’s never been a better time to share some best practices that can help administrators and state leaders set all of their students up for success.

Bandwidth

Data speeds fluctuate based on numerous factors — including day of week, time of day, location, signal strength, tower capacity, obstructions, weather, and frequency availability — so no carrier can guarantee a specific speed will be available at all times. Since multiple children per household may need online access at the same time, we recommend that students have speeds approaching 31 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 5 Mbps upload with latency measured in the sub-100 millisecond (ms) range.

To ensure that your at-risk students have access to this level of coverage, ask the internet service providers (ISPs) covering your school district for detailed coverage maps by zip code as opposed to using blanket coverage maps available to consumers. These should give you the street-by-street, in-building, and outdoor level of coverage detail you need to see the internet speeds each student can access.

If you’re deploying hotspots to students, make sure the hotspots are at least Category 4 LTE capable. For instance, all T-Mobile hotspots are Category 4, providing access to typical speeds on the T-Mobile network between 5 to 31 Mbps download and 3 to 15 Mbps upload speeds.

Data plans

Make sure that whatever deals you strike with your ISPs or telcos (in the case of mobile broadband) have enough data. Data plans shouldn’t have any overage charges, and shouldn’t pass on any additional costs to the student household.

Keep in mind that the effect of ‘data prioritization’ may only be temporarily noticeable — specifically during periods of heavy network congestion — while throttling or reduced speeds on a capped plan will impact data usage until the data allotment refreshes at the beginning of the next month. If a plan doesn’t have enough data at adequate speeds, video can become choppy, online lessons could potentially be lost if connections fail, and students’ ability to learn is negatively impacted. Ensure that reduced speeds on capped plans won’t surprise users on the data plan you select.

Staging and kitting

Staging means making sure the devices you give to students such as Chromebooks or hotspots work as advertised. Well-prepared school districts will ensure that batteries are installed, devices turn on and function properly, and cords and cables are included with devices, along with instructions for turning on and setting up devices.

Kitting is the process of loading devices, typically hotspots or SIM-enabled devices, with the software, content filtering, and apps the student will need to get started right out of the box. Like with staging, it’s important to ensure all of the software is loaded and functioning properly, and that instructions on how to sign into the device and sign up for online learning software and services are included as well. If district resources are constrained (and many are), request that your ISP assist the school with the professional resources to handle staging and kitting operations.

Asset tagging

Tagging assets can be a very labor-intensive process when you are handing out thousands of devices. Ask your device vendor if they can affix the appropriate tracking labels to the devices before they’re delivered. You may need to provide your own asset tags to ensure uniform hardware and checkout tracking internally. Either way, make sure that the type of label (barcode, QR code, etc.) that’s affixed to the device works with your district’s inventory tracking system. For most school districts today, devices will consist of a Chromebook, a 4G LTE hotspot, or possibly a cellular-enabled tablet with a SIM card.

Labeling

Labeling is similar to asset tagging but labels convey student information such as to whom the laptop is assigned. Labeling is very district-dependent. It’s a good idea to add details like “Property of [District Name]”, campus name, student ID, homeroom teacher, grade level, funding source, deployment month and year, hotspot login information, and technical support number, if applicable. It may seem obvious that devices need to have details like student checkout information and school name on them but, in the rush to get students set up this fall, things like labeling can be overlooked.

Content filtering

To help schools comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), all districts must provide web content filtering so only age appropriate content is viewable by students. In technical parlance, content filtering is usually accomplished via a web-application firewall (WAF). If you don’t already have a WAF provider, there are a number of vendors offering a complimentary content filtering service to support your district’s CIPA compliance solutions, including T-Mobile’s partner, Titan HQ.

If you or your school district’s IT department (if you have one) don’t know where to start finding an internet filtering solution, searching on “CIPA content filtering” or “Content filtering for K-12” can surface helpful options.

Device management

Once devices are in students’ possession, ongoing device management will be essential. Lost or stolen devices, devices that fail or break, and device usage information (like whether or not the device is turned on) can all be tracked using a device management portal. This information will be needed for warranty claims and for tracking how many devices are in use, in reserve, suspended, and out of service.

Device usage information in particular can be used as a proxy for attendance. In order to maintain federal funding, schools must track full-time equivalent (FTE) students. This is easy when students are physically present in a school building but becomes more difficult when students are learning remotely. It’s important to know how frequently devices are being used and when users are logged in to understand headcount.

If you don’t already have a device management portal, you can ask your device vendor or school’s IT administrator for advice or search “device management K-12” to get started.

Tech support

Providing some level of tech support is crucial to ensuring students can access their lessons and interact with teachers and peers — but this isn’t always simple. To work properly, digital devices and software rely on a chain of different technologies and service providers all working together to provide a final experience. If just one of the links in this chain breaks, it can cause the entire system to fail. It’s tech support’s job to determine which is the problem link and quickly repair it.

Because tech support is so crucial to successful online learning, T-Mobile has extended its award-winning customer service to all of its Project 10Million hotspot recipients. If you aren’t a T-Mobile customer and don’t have an internal tech support team, there are many other tech support services you can contract with to help streamline tech support, such as:

Ask your school district’s IT department for advice on the criteria any vendor should meet. If they don’t have a preferred vendor, you can search on “tech support” or “K-12 tech support” to identify cost-effective providers.
Reach out to medium and large-sized businesses in your community about who they would recommend.
There’s no time to lose

Because broadband connectivity is no longer a “nice-to-have” but now an essential, T-Mobile is committed to doing everything it can to help students in need. We’ve lowered prices and accelerated our Project 10Million rollouts to help as many students as possible get online this school year.

Students today cannot learn if they’re not connected. It’s our hope that these guidelines and best practices will help ensure that, at a minimum, your students can learn from home with as little disruption to their scholastic achievements as possible.

To learn more about how T-Mobile is providing free internet service for marginalized students and how we can help you do the same, check out T-Mobile’s Project 10Million.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is an impressive beast of a device. With a 6.7-inch screen, it’s the largest iPhone Apple has ever made. It’s also the heaviest. It’s like having a tiny iPad Pro in your pocket. All of that heft leaves it in danger of cracking, or worse, when it meets the pavement. Luckily, there is already a ridiculously large number of cases available to protect your investment.

The iPhone 12 series employs Apple’s most durable glass ever on the front screen (it’s infused with ceramic to make it highly scratch and break resistant) but it isn’t indestructible. Plus there’s the fact that the rear glass is still Apple’s standard (which is good, but not nearly as good as the front) and the sides are dentable metal.

I’ve rounded up the best choices and added plenty of alternatives so that, no matter what you’re looking for, I’ve got plenty options (click here if you’re looking for iPhone 12 Pro cases instead).

Best MagSafe Case: Apple Silicone Case with MagSafe
Best Third-Party Case: Otterbox Symmetry Series+
Cutest iPhone Case: Speck Presidio Sprinkled Donut Edition
Cutest Case for the Holidays: Casetify Christmas Cat Case
Nerdiest Case: Otterbox Mandalorian Symmetry Series Clear
Nerdiest/Cutest Mashup Case: The Child Scatter Case by Otterbox
Thinnest Case: Totallee Thin Case
Most Sustainable Case: Lifeproof Wake
Best Natural Case: 15:21 Cork Case
Most Protective Case: Mouse Limitless 3.0
Best Germ-Fighting Case: Aeris Copper Case
Best iPhone Case for Gaming: Razer Arctech Pro
Best iPhone Leather Case: Apple Leather Case with MagSafe
Best iPhone Wallet Case: Nomad Rugged Leather Folio
Best Slim Wallet Case: Mujjo Full Leather Wallet Case
Best Folio Case: Pipetto Origami Folio
Best Wooden Appliqué: Toast
Best Wooden Case: Oakywood
Most Expensive Case: Advent Aurora Titanium
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Best MagSafe Case
Apple Silicone Case with MagSafe
Apple silicon case in kumquat
AMAZON
Apple Silicone Case with MagSafe (for iPhone 12 Pro Max) — Kumquat
$49
BUY FROM AMAZON
This might be a cheat, because of course Apple has the best official case. But I really like their approach with this MagSafe case. Rather than have a bezel that you have to shove around your iPhone 12 Pro Max, the raised bezel is minimal. This provides protection while allowing the case to pop on and off using the MagSafe tech. The Otterbox approach has been to basically give us a regular iPhone case, but with magnets which…isn’t quite the same thing.

I really like the Kumquat and think it provides a stunning contrast to the Pacific Blue iPhone 12 Pro Max. Apple’s clean design aesthetic really shines in their cases. And in-hand, the soft-touch silicone just feels nicer than other cases. The micro-fiber interior keeps your iPhone safe from errant grit that might find its way into the case.

Otterbox is the only official third-party MagSafe provider at the moment and they’re making it count with their Symmetry Series+. While they might not pop on and off like Apple’s MagSafe cases, they make up for it with the extra level of protection that Otterbox is known for.

The Symmetry Series+ case is rated to three times military drop standards and has long-wear antimicrobial coatings. The case itself is infused with a silver-based additive to inhibit microbial growth. It’s more expensive than Otterbox’s other offerings, but it’s also going to keep you and your iPhone more protected.

Speck makes some adorable cases and their latest iPhone 12 Pro Max Sprinkled Donut case is no exception. The bright blue case provides perfect contrast to the vibrant pink sprinkled donut graphic. What’s nice is that the print is embedded into the case to resist fading and scratching. So that donut will look just as nice a year from now as it does right now.

The case itself is well made, with 13-foot drop protection, a raised bumper around the camera, and a raised bezel to protect the screen. The material itself is antimicrobial and resists discoloration. It’s slim enough that it won’t interfere with charging or MagSafe accessories.

Casetify has hundreds, if not thousands of designs but with the holiday season right around the corner, you should grab this ultra-cute Christmas kitty case! Made from 50% recycled materials, the Casetify Ultra Impact cases have an antimicrobial coating to keep your iPhone 12 Pro Max germ free. The bigger bumpers on the Impact case protect against drops of up to 9.8 feet.

If pre-printed cases aren’t your thing, you can also customize a case with your own pictures or design. It’s exceedingly easy to do and it’ll guarantee that your case is truly unique

Otterbox’s licensing deal with Disney pays off big with this first official Star Wars: The Mandalorian themed case! Built around their excellent Symmetry Series Clear case for the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the rear graphics feature Mando himself and The Child.

The case bumper and the portion around the rear graphic is clear, it’ll look particularly stunning with a black iPhone 12 Pro Max. The Symmetry Series Clear doesn’t have the antimicrobial protection of the Series+ cases but it still has the three-times military drop protection and is compatible with their full line of Alpha and Amplify glass protectors. The Mandalorian case is a Verizon exclusive.

But what if you’re looking for cute and nerdy? Then you’ll need to head over to Otterbox’s custom site and grab this adorable Star Wars: The Mandalorian-inspired case. Based on their Symmetry case (so no MagSafe capability) your iPhone 12 Pro Max will have extreme protection and be emblazoned with adorable The Child and Mando helmet stickers.

Nintendo Switch Black Friday bundle gets you this hard-to-find console

Written by golpins