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 $15.
Oh Street View, how we love reporting on your stories. Whether you're violating peoples' privacy, making neighborhood shame international, or acting as a stage for performance art, you've always been entertaining. But useful? That question we're not so sure of, but however useful it may have been before, the aerial satellite image service is now twice-so, with Google having just doubled the amount of coverage the service covers in the nation (and abroad).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt said 5:54PM on 12-11-2008
i use its mainly just for Bus .. knowing where my stop or where the next stop is nice. i also use it for directions as i would like to know where my destination is while its being described on the phone and i know what im looking for. just my 2cents when gas was almost 5$ in san diego and every drop counted so yup :) not much anymore though since gas is
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TVGenius said 5:57PM on 12-11-2008
Noticed they added my city, Yuma, AZ, yesterday.
About half the city is missing. Some neighborhoods are half there. Major streets are missing blocks in places. Yet they drove lots of canal banks and other places closed to motor vehicles: into the fenced off construction area at the college, even between border fences under construction in San Luis, AZ. And all sorts of random gravel roads into the desert for no reason, even right down to the boat ramps at a local lake.
And most of the images are crap. They were shot last December, so almost all have the sun washing out at least 90˚ of the image, except for the ones where they actually managed to witness rain here, and there's drops all over the lens. And some of it was shot at night in total darkness.
I had been looking forward to getting street view here. But it's not even worth looking at.
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sex_ghost said 7:25PM on 12-11-2008
No point to it? Clearly you do not stalk women often enough.
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Joseph said 5:57AM on 12-12-2008
The need to double the resolution before they double the coverage.
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kevjohn said 10:52AM on 12-12-2008
That looks like a lot more than double, judging from the before and after maps.
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Louis said 11:40AM on 12-12-2008
I've used it many-a-time to find out where precisely I am going. It's also the reason I use Google Maps o2.3 on my phone instead of Windows Live Search (except for movie times - which Live Search blows away!).
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