bundle

Name your own price for a THQ game bundle (PC)

Got plans this weekend? Cancel 'em.

The Humble Bundle folks have put together what is arguably the best game bundle ever. It's called the Humble THQ Bundle, and it comes with six top-rated action/strategy games -- plus a seventh if you beat the average purchase price.

I'm going to start with that bonus game first, because it really kind of defines the whole bundle. It's Saints Row: The Third, which scored an 8.5 on GameSpot when it debuted just one year ago. Price if purchased from Steam: $39.99. Average bundle price (at this writing) … Read more

Get a $90 Mac app bundle for free

There's no such thing as a free lunch, right? Actually, my favorite Chinese place gave me a punch card good for a free trip to the buffet after 10 punches, so there literally is such a thing as free lunch. (I know, you have to buy 10 not-free lunches first. Let's not ruin my analogy with semantics, shall we?)

There's also such a thing as free software -- if you know where to look. For a limited time, a site called AppyFridays is offering a free Mac software bundle. Combined value of the six included apps: $90.… Read more

Get five Android games for whatever price you want

Most game bundles have one thing in common: the games have been around awhile. They might be solid titles, sure, but many times they're so old that most gamers already have them.

Not this time. The Humble Bundle 4 for Android comes with five games, four of which are making their Android debut. In fact, they're not even available via Google Play yet, so you couldn't purchase them separately if you wanted to.

Don't have an Android device? Don't sweat it: you also get licenses for the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of each game.… Read more

Get a $609 Mac software bundle for $29

Mac software tends to be on the pricey side (not unlike Macs themselves), and freebies are few and far between. That's why I'm seriously jazzed about this deal.

Ending in just two days, the MacHeist 4 Bundle gives you 17 Mac programs for $29. Combined value if purchased separately: $609. (It's true: I did the math.)

I'm not a Mac user myself, but I know good software when I see it. For starters, MacHeist 4 comes with popular writing tool Scrivener, even more popular drive optimizer DiskTools Pro, and even more popular still information-capture tool Evernote (specifically, 15 months of Evernote Premium).… Read more

Name your own price for horrific e-book bundle

As someone who loves to read, and someone who thinks most e-books are ridiculously overpriced, I'm liking this new trend of name-your-own-price e-book bundles.

To wit: StoryBundle is now offering the Halloween Horror Bundle, a collection of six horror-themed books with a price tag that's up to you.

Not sure you like horror? Try the bundle for a buck. Big fan of the genre? I'd say $1 per book is a steal. And if you're willing to pony up at least $1.25 $1.50 per book (i.e. a minimum of $9 total), you'll … Read more

Xbox Music service has its limits

Monday's CNET Update wants to keep rockin' in the free world:

Today's tech news roundup looks into the limitations of Microsoft's new music-streaming service, Xbox Music. It debuts on the Xbox 360 on Tuesday, but aside from a 30-day trial period, it won't come free. The streaming service, which syncs music across devices, costs $10 a month to be used on the Xbox 360 and on Windows Phone 8. There will be a free ad-supported version for Windows 8 PCs and tablets, but playback time is limited to 10 hours a month after the first six … Read more

Name your own price for six science-fiction and fantasy e-books

If you like reading, bundles, science fiction, fantasy, and/or supporting charity, today's your lucky day.

The folks at Humble Bundle, who regularly serve up indie games on the cheap, have created the Humble eBook Bundle, a collection of six sci-fi/fantasy e-books for whatever price you want to pay.

That means you can literally drop a penny to get half a dozen DRM-free novels. But you're not that cheap, right? Here's why you should give serious consideration to paying more:

Writers need to eat. I've often railed against e-book prices, but certainly a buck per … Read more

Name your own price for a Mac software bundle

Here's something you don't see every day: a Mac software bundle.

Here's something you don't see, well, ever: a Mac software bundle that lets you choose how much you want to pay.

The StackSocial Name Your Own Price Mac Bundle includes nine Mac apps with a combined value of $340. It's up to you whether you want to pay a buck, $10, $39.23, or something else entirely.

There is, however, a slight catch: If you pay less than the average buy-in price ($11.92 as of this writing), you'll get only six of … Read more

Get a $379 Windows software bundle for $49

Need a good desktop-publishing program? For my money, nothing compares to Serif PagePlus X6. At $99.99, it's a fraction of the cost of Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress (which, against all logic, still sell for hundreds and hundreds of dollars). And it's nearly as capable as both.

For a limited time, you can get Serif PagePlus X6 for just $49 -- oh, and six other programs, too.

It's all part of Avanquest Software's PC SuperBundle, which includes $379' worth of Windows software for that same price.

I'll come right out and say that PagePlus is … Read more

Surf more safely and simply with the Tor Browser Bundle

If you would have thought Onion Routing involved wooden crates and flatbed trucks or maybe a sandwich order, you might be surprised to hear it's actually an online security technology. Think of an onion's layers: in Onion Routing, layers of encryption make it impossible to trace messages back to their point of origin. Once a secret project of the U.S. Naval Research Lab, it's now the concern of the Tor Project, an open-source community devoted to developing Tor, the software implementation of second-generation Onion Routing technology, and to maintaining the Tor network.

The Firefox-based Tor Browser … Read more