Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
Best Buy's Geek Squad isn't exactly known for respecting people's property. This time, however, instead of us catching them, they caught a guy with child porn. 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 17)
Laughing at the bimbo said 12:59AM on 2-04-2008
While many may find it detestable to view child porn, it happens for a variety of reasons, and there is no conclusive evidence that viewing it leads to anything else. Most of these images or 10-20 years old, and just floating around the Internet. The troubling part is, that even if this guy has no criminal record, he can be sent to jail under mandatory sentencing guidelines the Feds have enacted. Hard to fathom that viewing images in the privacy of your home can land you in jail for 5-10 years. He will also be listed on the Sexual Offender list, even though he may have never been in contact with a minor. There are actually lessor charges for molesting a minor than viewing images. Talk about a screwed up legal system. The "witch hunt" continiues.
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VoxFire said 9:44PM on 2-06-2008
This story reminds me of some guys that took their printer into the Best Buy here because it was jammed. Turns out that what it was jammed with was pages of counterfeit $20s they had been printing out. Guys got turned in. I guess Geek Squad was invading their privacy too?
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geormrtn8 said 4:34PM on 2-28-2008
to morrigan. you say perverts shouldn't have rights. well perhaps you wouldn't mind me coming to your house and going through your wifes underwear drawer
to determine whether she is a pervert and deserves to have rights. what if you had legal naked pictures of your wife on your hard drive? would you want the geek squad looking through them to make sure you are ok? i don't like child porn pervs either but when i pay for a service, i don't expect to have my shit gone through.
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py said 1:17PM on 3-11-2008
There is case law precedent for this: In US v. Barth, a U.S. District Court held that the owner of a computer has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the information stored on that computer. However, if the computer owner transfers possession of the computer to a third party, for example for repair, that expectation of privacy may be lost, because numerous repair personnel would then have access to the computer and its stored contents.
http://www.cbe.uidaho.edu/wegman/Computer%20Forensics%20AA%202004.htm
So it seems that Best Buy employees did not violate anyone's 4th Amendment rights and a pervert got busted. Good.
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Carol said 11:14PM on 3-13-2008
Next time you have your computer in the shop, have the shop mgr. sign a little paper contract you've made up that goes something like this" : I will not violate the privacy of the owner nor disclose any of the contents of this computer toanyone, ever. I will repair only the specific item and area(s) needing repair. I will leave the rest of the computer files untouched.Signed, __________Date__________
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Travesty said 9:22AM on 4-05-2008
The man was caught justice was served. As for the Geeksquad or Bestbuy overstepping boundries and acting unconstitionally, thats ridiculous. People talk as if Bestbuy or Geeksquad is a singular operating entity, free of all free thought and actions. They all operate as one unit. If someone does something bad within the company that means the whole company is corrupt. These are individual people who are capable of doing what they want, regardless of the rules put before them. There is such a large number of GS BB employess out there.Whenever a company grows to a size of this, it hires lots of employess. Some of which may not have the best moral compass. Theyll cant all be winners. After all even a school can hire a pedofile. Wheres the barrage of attacks on the schools screening system? Opposed to a snoopy GS guy most likley looking for some nuddie pics of someones girlfriend. In most cases the people strung up on personal privacy are the ones with someone to hide. DONT PUT YOUR "PERSONAL" PICS ON A PC. If you wanna make home movies and be a photographer. Dont upload them on your comp. Be more aware as a technology user, not blame other for your lack of knowledge. As for the dumb pedofiles. Bring all your computers to the Geeksquad and do law enforcement a favor.
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Gary said 6:36PM on 7-10-2008
Ok, Folks...REALITY CHECK.....the."REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY" doctrine applies to the GOVERNMENT looking at your stuff....NOT a private company or other citizen. The Constitution protects you from GOVERNMENT intrusions...NOT from your wife OR a Computer repairman.
So what happened Is NOT "Unconstitutional".
All the parties involved here did what any reasonable person would do...and can do.
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luv2zzzzzzz said 3:28PM on 7-11-2008
Computer Geek Ivan Tayclue handed in his resignation yesterday to his supervisor at the Geek Squad in Manhatten's main location. "Yeah, I figured that if I get out of here and deliver pizza I'll see alot more real women in their bathrobes." He was quoted as he left the store. When asked about his resignation, his manager Lotta Yankitis said "I don't know what was with the resignation...It's not like we're really all that professional here anyway. Yesterday another kid quit and I just said 'Whatever, we'll mail you the check' and that was it...no big deal. I mean it's not like there's any shortage of GED's holders that can't flip through a flip book and fix a computer or support you on the phone."
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morrigan said 11:22AM on 1-16-2008
That is insane. You know you dont have to look that deep into someones computer to find if they have/had porn on it. I dont think they invaded any privacy. People who are seriously committing felonies do not deserve any privacy anyways! What about the little girls' privacy? THAT is violating privacy.
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nunya said 11:32AM on 1-16-2008
While I agree that the images on the machine are problematic--not to mention the fact it probably would have taken longer and a more tragic incident to find/arrest this janitor--these stories about Best Buy make me want to just deal with all my computer issues myself. BB is not the only business with computer repair that violates privacy, and a lot of people have stories about this. Mine is when I was in college, I kept having to take my lap top to the university's computer center for issues related to my ethernet card...one time when I returned to the center to pick up my lap top, one of the jack@sses started talking about how I had a lot of music files on my lap top that were taking up space. Space has very little to do with repairing a broken ethernet card adapter and doesn't require them to go through folders on my lap top.
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Dave said 4:26PM on 1-16-2008
Best Buy's computer person was way out of line, and should be held accountable for violating the janitor's privacy! Janitor had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and it was violated. Never mind that there was porn on it; that doesn't make it any more "right!"
Point being, if I have someone working on my personal computer I expect privacy no matter what, same as I am private with a doctor.
SUE THE GEEKS AS A LESSON TO OTHERS, TOO!
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Dave said 4:30PM on 1-16-2008
Would you want your personal tax data shared with the IRS? Suppose Mr. Jr. Geek thinks he'll share with them "just in case!"
I hate porn of any kind, but the privacy issue is too important to ignore; Geeks can do without MY business!!!
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Dave said 4:34PM on 1-16-2008
Our laws are rooted in the presumption of innocence unless and until proven otherwise. Never forget that.
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SABA said 6:06PM on 1-16-2008
Didn't the guy ASK them to specifically look for lost data on his file? Wouldn't that be a good reason why his sleazy habits came to light? I don't go to the Geek Squad anymore because when I wouldn't purchase a hundred dollars worth of security they wiped my hard drive clean instead...no OS, nothing. I only took it in for the same reason this guy did, which was to retrieve data. I had pics of my daughter as a baby and the computer didn't want to boot up anymore. When they realized that all I wanted was the system to work (I can install my own security package) they pretended that all of us a sudden the pictures that were up on the screen a moment before were no longer there. Well, they weren't. I have a new computer repair team now and they are really GOOD and very helpful and will come to my house if I ask them to. Geek squad did alright with this guy though, for that I give them two thumbs up.
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Brendan said 6:04PM on 1-16-2008
what if all the girls were 18, how did they know they were as young as 15, did it say it on the pictures?
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ascatal said 8:15PM on 1-16-2008
I do agree they violated the man's privacy but just the same in this case i am glad they did as this bit of scum needed to be put away, and any way if you have something you do not wish others to see legal or not do not leave it on your hard drive put it on Cd or DVD or some other removable media! and brendan they said between the ages of 7 and 15
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DOLBY said 2:04PM on 1-17-2008
If you have nothing to hide then hide nothing. I think the geeks did the right thing. the dude who is afraid of the irs, then pay ur taxes and don't cheat. again, why worry if you are clean and sober.
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cheryl said 2:11PM on 1-17-2008
I think that the geek squad did the appropriate thing. There are too many freaks out in this world and they get away with crap like this all the time. Why should they worry about privacy when these young kids privacy is totally being violated. The freak knew he had this filth on his computer so Oh well, that's the chance he took and got busted. God does not like ugly.
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Gary said 2:33PM on 1-17-2008
When a person takes their computer in to a repair shop to recover "lost data", he/she no longers has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The janitor will hopefully get exactly what he deserves -- jail time.
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Mary said 2:13PM on 1-17-2008
This is how the government takes away all your rights. They make a big deal of how perverted this particular janitor was, and make heroes out of criminals who break laws and violate your privacy, and everyone goes, "Well, I guess if it's going to be used for good.... maybe it's okay...". Then, before you know it, people can walk into your house without permission and take everything you have because they got an "anonymous report" about something.
Best Buy / GEEK Squad will NEVER again get my business. I have personal, private data on my computer, and a right to keep it that way.
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