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.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 13)
jennifer said 9:48AM on 1-24-2008
UFo stands for Unidentified Flying Object. It does NOT mean alien spaceship! If someone sees something up in the sky and doesn't know what it is, it is correctly defined as a UFO.
Now, something traveling at 3000 mph will not be easily seen; that is 300 times as fast as the fastest moving car. That, people, will cause any camera's image to be a streak of cloud, at best.
Please, if you will, stop assuming you know what you are talking about, and call it as it is: "I saw something up there, I don't know what it is, it was moving too fast to see it clearly, much less know how big it is or whether it had bright lights. All I know, I saw something..."
There may be intelligent life out there, but we will not ever know until one actually parks in a field, someone or something gets out, and burbles, "Hey, where can I get fuel from corn for this thing?"
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jennifer said 9:56AM on 1-24-2008
Oh, and BTW, I'm not saying all those "sightings" are wrong, but I am saying that people shouldn't start describing them as alien spaceships. They are unidentified, flying, objects. They could be distant satellites shifting positions. Or they could be something else. AS I said, the world will NEVER really know until someone actually gets live video of it landing, and something coming out.
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Hozerific said 8:06PM on 3-06-2008
Give me a break! Can't you people come up with a BETTER story than this??? A mile long, but NOBODY else saw it? Perfectly taken pictures as the thing casually cruised around the nieghborhood? I think my 10 year-old daughter could make up something better than this!
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Milos W. B. Dobroslavic said 2:51PM on 4-02-2008
Isn't it funny how the unusual and odd sequences always seem to bring out the "ha ha" sophomoric crowd? It's like they don't have lives unless there is something they can ridicule or pooh pooh in oblivion. SOPHOMORES FOREVER!!!!!!!!!
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ShUnm said 3:00PM on 4-02-2008
Well now, I hope it is from another planet and I hope we get the right information on it and get on with life as we know it....and learn in the process. I am up for it. They know about us. It's time we knew about them.....don't-cha think? sb
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KHAT said 5:23PM on 4-02-2008
FYI for TRISTAN - the space shuttle was traveling at 14,000mph as it was coming over Florida for it's landing...
I am a perfectly normal sane woman, and have seen 2 UFO's. Once in the 70's, living near Wright Patterson AFB, home of Hangar 18. On a cold Nov. night, it just hung over my house. No sound, only lights rotating around the sides of a saucer shaped object. It was at treetop level. When I ran to get my family, it zoomed away at incredible speeds.In the 90's, a HUGE V-shape object in the sky, miles away, over the Gulf of Mexico, at dusk. Lights twinkled in the bottom. A plane would have been a dot at this distance. This was as big as a cigarette pack. Aliens or reverse technology? If it's our government, they're not going to admit it.
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Ozzyfour said 5:26PM on 4-02-2008
This same picture was put on the internet a short while ago, but the UFO sighting was in California. I DOUBT that it would be the exact picture and be true.
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John Graf said 5:44PM on 4-02-2008
I believe it. There are other worlds out there for sure so why not.
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sue said 5:59PM on 4-02-2008
looks like a car part.
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ROCK said 7:50PM on 4-02-2008
EVERYTHING IS BIG IN TEXAS !
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mikey RN said 12:00PM on 4-04-2008
PEOPLE! For God's sake, learn to spell!
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don said 1:48PM on 4-04-2008
For the people that are sceptic's about UFO's or would just like to read something an intelligent non-millitary person wrote about his personal knowledge of these crafts [CARET PROGRAM ("CARET" stands for “Commercial Applications Research for Extra-terrestrial Technology”)] that are being viewed in our atmosphere, go to coasttocoastam.com and read Isaac's UFO briefing titled "Explaination of Recent "Strange Craft" sightings. This person [ Isaac (not his actual name)] seems to know what some of you are viewing. You can go further and read up on anti-gravity theories which can give more insight on the different types of anti-gravity. I found this to be quite and eye opener although have known the government/ millitary have the technology that is 50 years ahead of what they have told civilians because of my father that worked on some of the electrical designs for some of the projects that were used, although none of which that deal in these crafts being seen of this time frame.
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Alex Csura said 1:49PM on 4-04-2008
Mike wrote:
Even at the speed of light to get here from the nearest star you would have had to have left your home planet in 2000 BC. Think about it....
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Ummmm...I did think about it, and the answer is you're 100% wrong and don't know what you're talking about.
The nearest star is Proxima Centuri, which is approx 4 light years away. Traveling at the speed of light would take * 4 YEARS * to get there (or get to here from there), NOT over 4,008 years as you so claim (it would be 4,008 years from 2,000 BC to
today. So, you're only off by 2,004 YEARS.
Close (not), but no cigar.
Try actually studying about the things you write about. You wouldn't look so foolish if you did. Same with the poster who wrote that the spped of light is 2,000 MPH (when it's 186, 000 miles PER SECOND). There's a bunch of morons posting here.
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Alex Csura said 2:08PM on 4-04-2008
wab writes:
human communication has existed without spellchecker 4 1000s of years but thats cool i am glad that spell chech makes u more attractive to the alian. the library at ALEXANDRIA probably aught to be burned 4 the lack of spell check
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You might wanna try spell check yourself. Just look at your own mistakes:
1. "4" should be "for"
2. "thats" should be "that's"
3. "i" should be "I"
4. "chech" should be "check"
5. "u" should be "You"
6. "alian" should be "alien"
7. "aught" should be "ought"
and
8. "4" should be "for"
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Go back to school, kid, and stop correcting others when you can't even write at a 4th grade level. Punk.
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Alex Csura said 2:25PM on 4-04-2008
Jennifer wrote:
Now, something traveling at 3000 mph will not be easily seen; that is 300 times as fast as the fastest moving car. That, people, will cause any camera's image to be a streak of cloud, at best.
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Uh....did you ever take math in school. The fastest production car goes about 200mph.
So, 3,000 mph would be *15X* as fast as that car. (Not 300X as fast. If that were the case, you car would only be travelling at 10 mph)
Geez...the stupidity here just boggles the mind.
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NakeyaT. said 2:56PM on 4-04-2008
Why is it that UFO's and aliens always seem to go to Texas? Is it the heat?
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jale3 said 2:34PM on 4-10-2008
It is not hard to guess who they are coming for ; it is the BIG
HBC !!! (Hillary, Bill and Chelsea) Somebody has to quietly tell
this people they are good people but have occupied the media
long enough now pack up and go when the little green men find them . There is plenty of good deeds they could be doing
like in Africa or some needy place where they can shine .
Enough is enough.
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Jim said 8:12PM on 1-16-2008
They are out there
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Lanny Stricklett said 8:20PM on 1-16-2008
"Possible" UFO sighting? Last time I checked, UFO stood for Unidentified Flying Object. So unless someone identified it, it was a UFO sighting, period. How about "possible" alien space craft sighting, "possible" flying saucer sighting, definitely a UFO sighting.
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Dan said 8:20PM on 1-16-2008
ET come home
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