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.
Earlier this week, Facebook was forced to create "extended" profiles thanks to the inundation of random apps/widgets that users of the site has been suffering from lately. We find many of these apps to be little more than nagware, but there are a few gems, chief among them 'Scrabulous,' a multiplayer online version of 'Scrabble' you can play right from your Facebook account. Now, as if you needed more proof that we live in a time in which stuffy lawyers don't dig the digital age, take a look at this: It looks like toy-makers Hasbro and Mattel have sent their legal goons to Facebook and demanded that it remove the immensely popular 'Scrabulous' from its site. 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nero Bossa said 4:35PM on 2-04-2008
As far as I've read, from a legal standpoint, there is no patent or trademark on the Scrabble game itself, just the name ('Scrabble'). IE the style of game play and rules are completely unprotected since it went into the public domain in the 1950's, was never patented, and so on.
The only patent issued to Scrabble related to how the grid could reflect the score value of 'multiplier' tiles when those tiles were covered by game chips (see US Patent#2,752,158, which EXPIRED in the 1970s). It was a very specific invention by which little triangular bits extended past the edges of the tile, the number of which related to the tiles value (2 bits = 2x multiplier, 3 bits = 3x, etc.). Since it was/is expired using this concept in a tile game or Scrabble-alike would not be in violation of anybody's rights.
The game won't go anywhere, and the game was not 'stolen' from the current trademark owners any more than they 'stole' it in the first place - they bought the rights to the NAME 'Scrabble' not to the game design itself. Making a 'Scrabble' style game, even 100% based on the original rules violates no patent.
The only thing Scrabulous may have to do is change the name, and that is even silly considering "Scrabulous" isn't "Scrabble", so the current trademark owners would have to argue that their trademark extends to names derived from the syllables of the word "Scrabble". Considering the application is already popular a name change would do little to harm its permutation.
The big win here for said 'trademark owner' might be to consider approaching the vendor who makes the widget (not facebook - they don't have any real responsibility for the content of a widget built by a third party on an open publishing system any more than an ISP or search engine does)... and asking them to work out something mutually acceptable. I'm sure a link to buy various hardcopy versions of the 'real' game off Amazon would generate them actual revenue vs. a bunch of money lost fighting a frivolous lawsuit, and it would be little nuisance to people playing the facebook game.
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TOM said 10:37AM on 1-17-2008
IM FIRST?
NO COMMENT!
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Irene said 1:39PM on 1-17-2008
I have been playing Scrabble directly on scrabulous.com (NOT via Facebook) for two years or more. Unless Hasbro is going after the original Web site, I don't see the problem.
Are they???
Irene
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DAD said 12:03PM on 1-17-2008
Hasbro & Mattel obviously need to come up with their own app or buy this one and life goes on.
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SKW said 11:59AM on 1-17-2008
Man, I don't add any applications to my Facebook. They're so annoying! Especially the ones where you have to invite x number of friends to see your results for a quiz. I get bombarded by people who don't care.
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MarxHarpo1965 said 12:27PM on 1-17-2008
why removed it .... i love this game in facebook worthy to have fun there ... I dont understand you all !
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Devlyn said 12:29PM on 1-17-2008
Hmmmmmm I guess they dont want anything out there that cant do any damage to people /kids was not made in china, full of lead or GBH . Intersting !
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Betty said 6:40PM on 1-17-2008
Hasbro used to let us play SCRABBle on games.com but no more. Thousands of people played the game. Lots of fun. Give it back to us Hasbro.
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Anon said 2:37PM on 1-17-2008
If Scrabble owns Scrabulous (which I believe they do), then Facebook has to pay to have it on their site. Case closed.
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Jon said 6:04PM on 1-17-2008
In response to your comment that "we live in a time in which stuffy lawyers don't dig the digital age": First, don't bash the lawyers, they're just doing their job. If you think the suit is without merit, then bash Hasbro and Mattell. Second, I find it shocking anyone, especially a writer for an online blog, would be offended at the thought of the two companies suing for this. What if I took your article and used it as my own? Wouldn't you be a little ticked? Finally, if you're going to criticize someone, criticize the "makers" of the "Scrabulous", they are the ones who have stolen someone else's property.
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Daniel Gaunt said 8:09AM on 1-18-2008
I'd never heard of this app until now so added it to see what it's like, and it is a scrabble clone, they don't even try to make it differant ok the makers of scrabble may already be rich but this is theft, they should have at least asked permission. hopefully pacman will be back one day, or I could just make my own pacman game, not too hard!
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