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.
When it comes to online social networks, MySpace has long been the proverbial 800-pound gorilla. Lately that's been changing, with Facebook quickly bulking up and catching its rival, signing up far more people each month than MySpace. As of two months ago, the 'Book (founded by Marc Zuckerberg, pictured) finally surpassed its rival, becoming the most visited social network in the world.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mr. Javo said 10:45AM on 6-15-2008
Facebook for the win! It's more fun than MySpace...
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Leroy Vargas said 4:02PM on 6-15-2008
YES, but now we're getting a lot of spammers and scammers on Facebook. Some applications that provide certain bonuses actually harbor e-mail spammers that will start to spam your Facebook-associated email's inbox the very moment you type the address.
And on Facebook Marketplace, I have received fraudulent purchase offers from what appear to be stolen or phantom Facebookers (first they ask you if you accept checks, then they ask you if you can trust them so they can send you ludicrously-huge checks drawn from stolen or non-existing bank accounts so you can then deduct your price and handling fees for your item and then re-wire the rest via Western Union to some phantom private shipper who would supposedly pick up your item; and the names and addresses on the checks don't match those on their UPS envelopes or even those on their Facebook profiles).
And most recently, there are several Facebookers who post cyber-sex invitations or other fraudulent links on open-to-everybody Facebook groups, thus forcing several group admins to permanently close their Walls or disable photo submissions.
So watch out and be careful not to fall into SPAM or SCAM!!!
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Jennifer said 10:55PM on 8-08-2008
Had both at one point, just to spy on people and read their personal business. Their personal business was boring and homogeneous; all anyone talked about was the same old fashion, trendy (and boring) TV shows, and bad things about other people. Yawn. Needless to say, I deleted them both shortly after creating them.
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