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.
It's a question that we've all been asked: "If your friends all jumped off of a bridge, would you?" It's meant to be rhetorical, but the question is getting an answer that few would expect from a group of friends in South Wales in the U.K. Seven teenagers in Brigend, Wales have killed themselves in a string of suicides, with two more hospitalized after attempting to do the same. According to a string of articles in the U.K., the teenagers were seemingly trying to earn themselves a memorial page on social networking site Bebo.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lauren said 9:15AM on 2-17-2008
Social contagion is a powerful force in adolescent life, but parents and siblings can offset negative influences by showing an active interest in the thoughts and dreams of young people. There is nothing quite so powerful to a young person (or anybody else, for that matter)as a caring other who wants to share your experiences.
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Pamela said 9:24PM on 1-23-2008
See, this is way my children can't go to those social networks. My oldest sons have told me it's crazy on them. People arguing all the time, and people hacking you webpage. One of my oldest sons is dating a girl he met on the Myspace, I really don't like it but he is grown and has to live his life the way he sees fit. I think she was talking to someone else before him, and my son told me that this person kept text messaging his phone and he thought it was funny. Well I didn't think it was funny and I asked him who gave him his cell phone number? Then my son started looking stupid, lord, help us.
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web said 6:47AM on 1-24-2008
Darwin was correct. Also, what is up with people and this mob mentality of sports, shopping, and going to sit in movie seats and stare at a wall of colors for 90 minutes?
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bebo said 7:00AM on 1-28-2008
Bebo Developers is the name of a dynamic quality assertive and low cost team of developers who expertise in developing Face book, Open Social applications that include Bebo, LinedIn and iGoogle widgets.
Possessing some of the best available talent present we are proud to have developed a
Wide range of deployed applications that rank amongst the highest used by everyday Face book and Open Social applications. The increasing popularity of Face book
Applications has made every businessman want to get his hands on a Face book application that increases his market and product and this is where Bebo Develop.
Visit now: http://bebodevelopers.com"
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Daniel Gaunt said 8:39AM on 1-28-2008
I'm not surprised that young people feel suicidal in the uk, we're over run by chavs and the government is just dumb. if someone just told them that there are better countries out there it might have stopped these suicides
http://freeextras.blogspot.com/
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ronda said 12:51AM on 3-12-2008
My son also committed suicide, the youth today just seem to live for the day. I am AMAZED at the My Space contents, many of the youth in this area have a goal for their life, and that is to commit suicide. Is there not anything that a parent can do to stop these kids from making this tragic mistake? Is there not a way to hold the wed sites partly liable? My son was a minor, just 16, and I hear that he had My Space sites that I didn't even know about. He was bipolar and austistic. How can we protect them when they can post all these feelings that they have and we as parents are NOT allowed access to the sights.
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K.J LEE said 6:16PM on 3-13-2008
The ultimae tragedy of this situation is the fact that we are watching a new form of "poupulation" control. Suicide has always been a part of our "taker" culture meaning that as a society we take resources and lives and leave behind a footprint of destruction. Life is cheap in a taker society and that should deeply concern each and evryone of us, as humans. This exemplifies self-destruction that many argue is human nature, I believe otherwise. In my opinion it is the nature of the civilization we currently live in. Yes the world is Overpoupulated by 10 times, but this would never had been an issue if 10,000 years ago we became a "leaver" culture and civilization would never had flourished. This makes me sick because I yearn to live in this leaver culture because every person is very important because they are depended on by all others in the tribe. A society where the Elders raise the young, I think this would give young people confidence and wisdom to know that such a permanent soulution to a temporary problem is just not an option. I personally have been depressed enough to contemplate it and there was nobody there to care or even talk to me as why I would chose this path. The parents are not to blame. Instead we shall place the blame on society itself. This is a wake-up call to create new ideas and ways to live as to how we conduct ourselves daily and as a group. the internet is great when the conversations are productive. But it also has a darkside and the ones who chose to be the Darkones are cowards because they know that if they were to say these things to a person face to face they would have a conflict. so technology becomes a tool for the wicked just as it is an important tool for the good.
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Samantha said 11:15AM on 10-24-2008
I've attempted suicide before and got hospitalized. I never did it to get my own memorial page though. I had the typical question that would people miss me if I were dead? To tell the truth, I don't even know if I would have a memorial page if I died.
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patti said 12:09PM on 11-21-2008
THIS STORY ABOUT THE 19 YEAR OLD COMMITTING SUCIDE ON LIVE CAM JUST BLOWS ME AWAY I JUST DON,T UNDERSTAND HOW ANYONE COULD,NT SEE THAT BOY WAS CRYING OUT FOR HELP OBVIOUSLY THE BODYBUILDING PLACE MUST OF THOUGHT HE WAS JOKING I DON,T THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE THIS SIGHT ON THE INTERNET
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