Are there ‘Rare’ or ‘Very Rare’ versions of Media items

When you select a shield to deploy in the Upgrade-menu, it actually shows you their different parameters (just like for resonators it shows how much the range would increase iff deployed).

The values for the shields are:

• Common - MITIGATION 22(+6)
• Rare - MITIGATION 22(+8)
• Very Rare - MITIGATION 22(+10)

Of course it's a different matter to figure out how those values relate to burst-absorption.

Hack plenty of enemy portals. You get 100 AP for hacking an enemy portal, but none for hacking a friendly one.

If there are no unclaimed portals around (highly likely in some locations), find a level 1 enemy portal and start slugging away. You'll want a few dozen XMP bursters at minimum to destroy the portal, but the rewards are high--destroying 8 resonators and planting 8 of your own on a single portal will get you almost a quarter of the way there. Even if you don't manage to capture the whole portal, you'll still have gotten 75 AP for each resonator you destroy.

Deploying portal shields is a good way to get AP that may not be obvious at first. Check every friendly portal you encounter to see if it has a full complement of shields. If it doesn't, deploy as many as you can. You get 150 AP for each one.