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 1)
joe-joe said 7:50PM on 10-13-2008
cheers for the hackers.hope they make public what they found.
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dennis said 9:29PM on 10-13-2008
life in prison and confiscation of all assets for all hackers..
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Steven said 4:38AM on 10-14-2008
So it says in the article that 18 servers were attacked by an unidentified hacker or group of hackers yet the title says there were 18 hackers. So which is it?
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Ashram said 8:40PM on 10-14-2008
"It always seems that the hackers are one step ahead."
They usually always are because hackers discover an exploit that nobody administering these systems ever know about until they find out rather late that there was a compromise.
The fix is made usually after the damage has been done to someone already.
The biggest problem is that the only way to get ahead of hackers without disconnecting from an open network is for a system administrator to be a hacker him or herself and find ways to crack their own systems and then apply patches. But that's a very arduous and ongoing task. A lazy way to do it is to manage how the systems are accessed, including taking the systems offline or off an open network for times where they cannot be actively monitored. Of course, that's not always practical.
In addition, there will always be potential exploits in any system of any significant complexity. There can even be patches to a problem that may fix it but also opens up new exploits just waiting to be discovered!
In all, no system can ever be made completely invulnerable to attack for the simple fact that such a thing implies perfection in a design or a configuration, which is an engineering impossibility. The only thing you can do to help security is to make the task of cracking it so difficult that it opens questions on whether or not it's really worth it (and, ironically, that can make you question whether or not such security is worth it as well).
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