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Black Friday deals bonanza round up

by Laura June posted Nov 14th 2009 at 2:04PM

Thanksgiving is moving ever closer -- and we all know what that means: the day that comes after. That's right, there's nothing more American than following up a day of thanks with a day of hitting the malls, strip malls, big boxes, and virtual shops up for the hottest deals to be found this side of the Atlantic. We've rounded up a few of the more choice deals we've found on the 'net for you so you don't have to search all alone... and first up, Office Depot's got a 17.3-inch,Windows 7-boasting Toshiba Satellite L555D-S7930 for $649 and a 12 megapixel Nikon Coolipix S570 for $200, while over at Best Buy you can grab up a 120GB PS3 with three games for $300, with a host of cheap video games for Xbox 360 and PS3. Finally mammoth of the retail world Sears has a Canon EOS Rebel XS for $570, plus some of the cheapest digital photo frames around and a DVD player for $18. You're getting excited, aren't you?

Read - Best Buy Black Friday Ad
Read - Office Depot Black Friday Ad
Read - Sears Black Friday Ad

Black Friday ads leaking all over town, we've rounded them up

by Laura June posted Nov 11th 2009 at 6:02PM

The holiday shopping season is really creeping up on us quickly this year... wasn't it just Halloween the other day? Regardless, Black Friday ads revealing the deals to come are leaking all over the internet, so we thought we'd round up a few of the less monotonous-looking bargains. So what's on offer? It looks like Sam's Club has an Acer Aspire One 10.1-inch netbook going for $197, and an HP G71 17-inch laptop with a Blu-ray player for $499, an Olympus FE-4000 12 megapixel digicam for $98, and a few other odds and ends. Meanwhile, over at Staples you can snag a 500GB Western Digital My Passport portable hard drive for $70 and a 23-inch Acer widescreen LCD for $140. If you're still up to it, you can head over to Target and grab a Nikon Coolpix S203 for $88 or a TomTom XL340S for $97. Finally, it looks like Kmart's going to have a 42-inch Panasonic 720p Plasma HDTV for $550 and a 10.1 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot W180 for $99. While you're there, don't forget to pick up a Jaclyn Smith cashmere sweater set for $30, too! Hit the read links for full ads.

Read - Sam's Club Black Friday Ad Leaked
Read - Staples Black Friday Ad
Read - Target Black Friday Ad
Read - Kmart Black Friday Ad

Windows PC Scout patronizes, offers surprisingly good comparison tool

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 20th 2009 at 11:31PM

Want a "high-quality" machine that represents the "best of the best in laptops?" Microsoft's got your back with its all-new PC Scout, a Flash-based laptop recommendation engine whose delivery is unfortunately more than a little reminiscent of those misguided Windows 7 launch party promos. Ah well, should you successfully navigate your way past bad jokes about space-cats and online dating, and on to the Selection section, you'll find a thoroughly decent laptop comparison tool -- with sliders for price and features narrowing or expanding your available choice in real time. With future plans to expand it to cover desktop hardware as well, Microsoft is making a commendable and seemingly rather useful effort to aid its users in picking out a new machine. Kudos for that, now how about hiring some real actors for a change?

[Via Ars Technica]

Palm Pre sales go live at Amazon

by Joshua Topolsky posted Aug 2nd 2009 at 10:41PM

If you love the Pre, but hate Best Buy or Sprint, now you've got the option of nabbing one through an online reseller you can live with: Amazon. The device has just popped up on the super-retailer's site, and like the aforementioned blue and yellow reseller, you don't have to worry about any pesky mail-in rebates -- the phone is $199.99 out the virtual door. Also of note, you can nab the non-contract version for $499.99, which is a $50 savings over the Sprint pricing, and certainly a value compared to Best Buy's $749.99 price tag. Only bummer note? Amazon says these babies won't ship for 4 to 6 weeks... which basically sucks.

[Via PhoneNews]

SmartSwipe helps you max out your Diners Club card without leaving the house

by Darren Murph posted Jul 14th 2009 at 12:42PM

Check it, big spenders. If you just can't get enough of that swipe-to-buy action seen prominently at most modern fuel pumps and McDonald's restaurants, why not bring the action back to your home turf? Available now in the wondrous United States of America, NetSecure's $99.95 SmartSwipe is a USB-enabled device that literally allows you to swipe your credit card in order to make online purchases. Reportedly, this device "scrambles and encrypts the user's credit card data before it reaches the user's computer or internet," thus making online shopping safe once and for all. If you're still confused, hop on past the break for a dead-serious infomercial. Trust us, it's a must-watch.

Continue reading SmartSwipe helps you max out your Diners Club card without leaving the house

Dell dumps Della, just wants to be friends

by Ross Miller posted May 22nd 2009 at 10:29PM

Looks like someone's gonna have to explain why there's a "no longer in a relationship" status update on her Facebook profile. Just ten or so days after Dell officially hooked up with its female counterpart Della, helping real womenfolk find computers that meet their recipe-finding, calorie-counting ways, she's now been thrown the wayside and all mentions of her have been replaced with (or redirected to) the similar, yet decidedly more androgynous "Lifestyle." Last we heard, Della was sitting on the couch watching Notting Hill with a pint of Ben and Jerry's, crying softly to herself and wondering what other female stereotypes she can best beat with a dead horse.

Dell unveils Della website to help women choose which totally cute laptop they prefer

by Laura June posted May 11th 2009 at 3:52PM

It was probably only a matter of time: Dell -- a company that's been churning out some pretty wildly (and attractively) designed laptops of late -- has just rolled out a new website especially for the ladies. Called "Della," the site presents a shopping experience that is presumably less manish and annoying than good ole' Dell proper -- with lots of photos of women lounging around at the beach, drinking coffee, and browsin' the 'net in small groups on beautifully matched neutral-toned furniture sets. The site looks pretty slick, and while we can't really take issue with that, we do find it a bit disconcerting that they mention "finding recipes," "counting calories," and blissing out to "guided meditations" on the Tech Tips page. Tech Tips!? Then again, we didn't find any references to shoe shopping, so you know: whatever.

Walmart brags about its "tens of thousands" of Wiis for sale online

by Laura June posted Dec 8th 2008 at 5:25PM

Walmart's reassuringly boasting that they've got plenty of the oft-out-of-stock Wiis on hand for your online holiday shopping needs today. There are a host of different Nintendo-related deals to go with it, too. The Wii itself is available for $249.24, there's a "Value Bundle" which includes the console, a game, an accessories pack and an extra set of controllers for $329 (or $20 off), and they have some games on sale, as well. What's next? Walmart mouthing off about the "millions of iPhones" they have available?

Update: Well, that didn't last very long! As some commenters have helpfully pointed out, it appears that those "tens of thousands" of Wiis have been reduced to "zero" -- they're already sold out.

[Via Game Daily]

Amazon gets Black Friday started early, shows off a few deals

by Darren Murph posted Nov 25th 2008 at 11:38PM

You're thinking about it. Your spouse is thinking about it. Your kids are thinking about it. And yes, your NXE Avatar is thinking about it, too. Black Friday is but hours away, and you still haven't conjured up the courage to get up at 3:00AM and venture out to save a grand total of $14.97 (pre-tax). Never fear, as the world's most spectacular e-tailer is here with a slew of deals to keep you firmly planted. Amazon's going all out on the day after Thanksgiving, but it's also giving early birds the opportunity to snag a few specials on the run-up to the big day. We won't spoil anything here, but be sure and give the read link a look if you're all about saving some dough and staying home.

Kmart publishes next wave of Black Friday-style deals as world ends

by Laura June posted Nov 15th 2008 at 1:38AM

Kmart's unloaded some fresh deals upon us today, proving that no matter how completely weak the economy is, come Black Friday (which now encompasses the entire month of November) we'll probably buy up whatever's on sale. They have a few legitimate bargains, certainly, peppered in amongst the tripe, including a 2GB Element MP3 player for $22.99, a 19-inch Sony Bravia M Series LCD HDTV for $374.99, and a GE A835 digital camera for $79.99, all for your consumin' pleasure. The sale starts Sunday, and runs through the actual Black Friday, or until the economy collapses and we move to a bottle-cap-based currency, whichever happens first. Simply not enough bargains for you? Hit the read link for the full rundown.

[Via I4U News]

Walmart, Kmart announce Black Friday-esque deals for days other than Black Friday

by Laura June posted Nov 7th 2008 at 8:24PM

Want to get a jump on your holiday shopping or find a couple of insane bargains to keep for yourself? A few retailers are offering what they've dubbed "Black Friday-style" price cuts for tomorrow -- Saturday, November 8th. Walmart's got a sweet 15.4-inch Compaq CQ-139WM (with 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive) laptop for $298, in addition to a PlayStation 2 bundled with a $30 WalMart gift card for $129, and a PlayStation 3 with a $100 gift card for $399. Over at Kmart they're offering up a rad 32-inch Sylvania LCD HDTV for $439.99 (they usually go for for $550). They also have several deals for Sunday, November 9th, including the Wii Fit for $89.99. Is it safe to assume that every Friday (not to mention Saturday and Sunday) until Christmas will be "black"? For the full, mind-blowing rundown, hit the read links.

[Via CNET, I4U News]

Read - Kmart
Read - Walmart Backs Main Street

Wakamaru robot to help / freak out UNIQLO SoHo shoppers

by Darren Murph posted Sep 6th 2008 at 3:01AM

Shopping robots aren't totally unheard of from a global perspective, but we certainly haven't seen too many out and about in NY boutiques. Reportedly, that's about to change -- UNIQLO SoHo will soon be home to Mitsubishi's Wakamaru, a humanoid that can look you in the eye, communicate on a very basic level and somehow help you decide between this dress or that other one over there. Word on the street has it arriving sometime next week, so if any of you regulars happen to see it, let us know just how convincing it is / isn't.

[Via TokyoMango]

TiVo lets users buy stuff from Amazon on their TV, all three QVC fans go wild

by Darren Murph posted Jul 22nd 2008 at 10:23AM

Back in May, TiVo's VP of product marketing got all of our hopes up that the next announcement involving it and Amazon would include HD Unbox content. As you can very clearly see, this is most certainly not the case. Instead, we have the immense pleasure of informing internet-connected Series2, Series3 and TiVo HD owners that they can now buy wares from Amazon without leaving their couch. If browsing through Amazon's extraordinarily huge store with just a remote sounds appealing to you, you're in luck (and mildly insane). Also of note, the new Product Purchase feature will enable advertisers to "market products sold through Amazon on any broadcast or cable network, any TV show, or via any of TiVo's extensive interactive advertising features." In other words, next time you see Dwight using that iconic shredder, you can buy that bad boy right then and there. Take that, Staples.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

Tmsuk demonstrates remotely controlled shopping robot

by Darren Murph posted Jul 11th 2008 at 12:26PM

Tmsuk is back with even more crazy humanoid antics, this time demonstrating a shopping robot that can be controlled from far, far away. The modified TMSUK-4 humanoid showcased in Kitakyushu, Japan was actually being controlled by an elderly lady in her home via an NTT DoCoMo video-capable cellphone. Essentially, the technology enabled her to see through the eyes of the robot and presumably control its movements via the keypad. We are told that she was able to successfully browse the hat section and finally make a purchase, but who knows how many innocent bystanders were unknowingly mauled in the process.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

German "Future Store" lets you grocery shop with your cellphone

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 11:20AM

It's been a long, long time since we've heard from Germany's "Future Store" -- the ultra-futuristic German grocery store that might have sprung directly from the Sprawl trilogy -- but they've got a new feature we thought you might be interested in. Shoppers in the store can now use camera-equipped cellphones (i.e., cellphones) to snap pictures of item barcodes, and then download the information at the checkout when they're finished shopping. The system totals all of your purchases into one big, nasty barcode which you then scan and pony up cash (or cards, or fingerprints, or magical rainbow juice) for. It's unclear how to store handles shoppers who don't scan everything they've got in their cart, but if it's anything like our favorite books, it's not pretty.

[Via PHONE Magazine]