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.
In this week's issue of the New Yorker, there is a profile of the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell (pictured), that reveals some interesting information about his desires to "listen in" on Internet communications in order to protect America's cyberspace. According to McConnell, in order to properly protect the United State's electronic interests the government needs to be able to read all information crossing the Internet.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tempfate said 2:47PM on 2-05-2008
fgc-hello that day was nothing more than a false flag bought and sold to the sheeple. One plus one really does equal four, the perpetrators were all what Saudi nationals, with the so-called architect hiding in the hills of where our buddies in the Pak who might add don't maybe have WMD (nukes) they do, and we go where Iraq. Yeah right, give me a break. And everyone is surprised at this, what' get ready for the concentration camps, yes, and it's not science fiction. Can you say V for Vendetta.
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lisageeb2 said 2:54PM on 2-05-2008
And how long will it be before the government believes it has the right to read our mail? Tap all of our phones? Have a central depository for all of our text messages? Nikita Kruschev once told Americans that Communism would take over our country "from the inside." I grew up horrified by the Communist government's control over the Russian people, and the denial of their basic human rights. Our government is walking a fine line, and it looks as though some of our "leaders" are willing to cross that line under the pretense of national security. That's exactly what the Communist government used as their justification. Please, God, don't let Kruschev's horrifying prediction come true! I love America, we are a country built on freedom. We should be focusing on the bad guys, rather than wasting time AND the tax payer's money by going through e-mails of law-abiding Americans.
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mike said 12:25PM on 2-15-2008
National Security! If I remember my history, Hitler rounded up ALL unsatisfactory citizens of Germany and the conquered territories in the name of ensuring German national security! Stalin imprisoned or executed millions of Russians in the name of Soviet national security! Senator McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover wanted and tried to in the 1950's. Now it seems our government is looking to try again! National Security is important, and all reasonable efforts should be taken to protect it. But not at the cost of the nation itself! Once we lose our rights in the name of national security, no one is secure and America is no more!
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Dog Lover Ca. said 7:29PM on 3-09-2008
I think they are allready doing it. Big Brother is here folks.
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John said 2:22PM on 3-20-2008
I confess that I voted for President Bush, but I have been absolutely dismayed by the administrations many failures. This is one of the worst. The complete disregard of privacy, one of the most important of our constitutional guarantees is simply unacceptable. The thought that none of us would be free to exchange private communications means that the government would be free to abuse the information in our letters.
J. Edgar Hoover managed to remain at the helm of the FBI for many years because he had spied on, and was able to blackmail, just about every significant public offical. Need I say more?
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goplies2u said 12:14PM on 1-18-2008
Well why would they want to scan through American's emails when the White house now has 473 days worth of missing emails?
White House study found 473 days of e-mail gone and the director of intelligence wants to read America’s emails?
National intelligence officers should spend time locating “the missing” White House emails first.
The White House possesses no archived e-mail messages for many of its component offices, including the Executive Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President, for hundreds of days between 2003 and 2005, according to the summary of an internal White House study that was disclosed yesterday by a congressional Democrat.
There is an escalating dispute over whether the Bush administration has complied with long-standing statutory requirements to preserve official White House records -- including those reflecting potentially sensitive policy discussions -- for history and in case of any future legal demands.
The White House is required by law to preserve e-mails considered presidential or federal records, and it is the target of several lawsuits seeking information about missing data and efforts to preserve electronic communications.
The internal study found that for Bush's executive office, no e-mails were archived on 12 separate days between December 2003 and February 2004, Waxman said. Vice President Cheney's office showed no electronic messages on 16 occasions from September 2003 to May 2005
Archived e-mails were missing from even more days in other parts of the White House, the analysis found. The Council on Environmental Quality and the Council of Economic Advisers, for example, showed no stored e-mails for 2 1/2 months beginning in November 2003. The Office of Management and Budget showed no messages for 59 days -- including the period from Nov. 1, 2003, to Dec. 9, 2003 -- and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative showed no e-mail for 73 days.
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robert said 4:13PM on 1-18-2008
This is an example of the kind of people King George is appointing to the most powerful positions in the government. I fall on my knees every night and give thanks that this administration only has about a year left to screw with our civil liberties.
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Ellie said 12:25PM on 1-20-2008
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING.
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john said 12:59PM on 1-20-2008
go to the site freedomtofascism.com and you'll see why they don't want us to know whats going on. no national I.d. card for me and no microchip either.
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ArchiBunch said 10:12PM on 1-21-2008
Hell no!
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fgc-hello said 11:19PM on 1-21-2008
Why do these people want to have all the info from all the people?
Before 9/11 attacks, the federal government did have enough information (several already identified terrorists sharing the same postal address, suspicious movements, groups of them ticketing for the very same flights...), and just were not able to act accordingly
So, Mr. McConnell, you are telling us, that by multiplying the amount of data to analize, only then, you will see the things that you already are missing?
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Vesta said 12:47AM on 1-22-2008
Mr. McConnell looks like he would love to eaves-drop to make his life more exciting...
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Daniel Gaunt said 8:22AM on 1-22-2008
yes, thats why they set up facebook!
http://freeextras.blogspot.com/
http://lifeorsomethingnotquitelikeit.blogspot.com/
http://r.yuwie.com/naturistdaniel
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