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| If you haven't gotten around to buying your holiday presents yet, well, welcome to the procrastinator's edition of the Talking Tech newsletter. |
| Because of Amazon's new 2019 push for one-day delivery, it's gotten even easier to put everything off until the last minute. However, good luck nabbing an Apple AirPod Pro (sold out until Jan. 13, per Apple's website) or the Oculus Quest virtual reality headset (won't ship until Feb. 10.) |
| But if you need that last-minute Fire TV Streaming stick, Echo speaker, towels, sweaters, or something else still in stock, Amazon will make it possible for you to buy as late as Tuesday. |
![Among the wonders of American life that tend to inspire awe in visitors from other countries is the variety of choices available to food shoppers in our supermarkets. And indeed, our markets are really something, however much we might take them for granted. The bins of glowing fruits and vegetables, glass cases filled with cuts […]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/b2b05a4ab25f4fca0316459e1c7404c537a89702/c=0-0-1365-768/local/-/media/2019/12/11/USATODAY/usatsports/imageforentry50-tgz.jpg?width=900) | | Among the wonders of American life that tend to inspire awe in visitors from other countries is the variety of choices available to food shoppers in our supermarkets. And indeed, our markets are really something, however much we might take them for granted. The bins of glowing fruits and vegetables, glass cases filled with cuts […] | | PeopleImages / Getty Images | |
| The deadlines: |
| —Sunday, Dec. 22: This is the last day to order from the full Amazon stock, with free delivery for members of Amazon's Prime expedited shipping and entertainment service. |
| —Monday, Dec. 23: Amazon now shifts to a smaller offering, with "more than 10 million items eligible" for free 1-day Delivery, again, if you're a Prime member. |
| —Tuesday, Dec. 24: Amazon's cut-off for ordering (note the even smaller selection) "millions of items eligible for same-Day Delivery." This is free for Prime members in eligible areas (urban) but you have to spend at least $35 and get your orders in by 9:30 a.m. local time. |
| Walmart gives you to Sunday to shop, and get free two-day delivery (on minimum orders of $35.) You can shop online at the Walmart website Tuesday and pick up the order in store, as long as the order is in by 4 p.m. local time. |
| Best Buy offers free shipping through Monday orders, until 8 p.m. However, this is "Limited to select products shipping to select local addresses." Fine print alert: "see estimated delivery date in checkout." Translation: You probably have until Sunday to really get in your orders and have them delivered on time. |
| Target's deadline is in the past. Friday was the final day for guaranteed Christmas delivery for online orders. However, through Tuesday Target will let consumers order on the website and pick up at the store. |
| Happy shopping, and remember that if you haven't nabbed the gift of your dreams, there's always the New Year's sales. |
| In other tech news this week: |
| It took some time to get there, but PBS has finally joined the digital age, with a channel on YouTube TV. The legacy organization, the lone holdout of broadcasters for making its full services available to streamers and the cutting the cord crowd, now has a channel on YouTube TV, the $50 monthly cable TV alternative from YouTube. PBS has offered limited offerings of its shows via the PBS app, which is available on streaming services like Amazon Fire TV and Roku, but to see more of them, consumers need to spend $60 yearly for access to most of the complete schedule. The PBS channel on YouTube offers full local station lineups in the 330 markets it serves. |
| Speaking of shopping, we offered some tips on what to look for in an Apple Watch before you brave the stores. This year's model starts at $399, but only works effectively if you have an iPhone in your hand. You'll need to spend another $100 to get a Watch that's free-standing, plus another $10 monthly for wireless service. |
| Uber said it would pay $4.4 million to settle a government sexual harassment and retaliation probe. The ride-hailing company permitted "a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation against individuals who complained about such harassment," the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found. |
| This week's Talking Tech podcasts |
| Don't let your security camera get hacked. |
| Worst password offenders of 2019 |
| Crazy tech jargon |
| Hello smart diapers! |
| Dateline's podcasting bonanza |
| Listen to the daily Talking Tech podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and follow me on Twitter, @jeffersongraham |
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