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.
Watch out, kids. It's about to become tougher to sneak that extra ice-cream bar during lunch. The diet of students at St John's Church of England School, in Stanmore, northwest London, is being remotely monitored by their parents. According to the Daily Mail, parents can access a Web site that tells them exactly what their children ate for lunch. When purchasing lunch, the 300 students simply swipe an identification card at a computer, which then sends information on the food they selected to a site. Parents log on to the site and can see if a child picked ice cream instead of yogurt. 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
darth_nazgul said 3:00PM on 10-11-2009
Urrrrmh... We've had this in Texas for years. >.>
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marcus said 10:05PM on 10-11-2009
yeah we've had this at our school for everrrrr. this is NOT big news. the only difference is that we use PIN numbers, not cards. cards would be easier, swiping is so much faster than punching in your number. I guess the cost of cards is too high.... whatever, doesn't matter
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Jordan said 11:06PM on 10-11-2009
Dear god...pathetic. By all means use a card system, pin system, whatever system you want to pay for lunches, but do parents really need to monitor them? Some parents are way too psychotic
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kevin.weber said 12:17PM on 10-15-2009
Jordan, I was reading through the comments you've made on various Apple-related sites, and what I've come up with is that you're a supreme asshole, and very uninformed. For instance, you make a dozen or so references to Snow Leopard/Leopard/Tiger being even remotely related to the buggy garbage that was Cheetah and Puma. Every version of OS X prior to Tiger was utter garbage, but it was what Apple needed to do to get past OS 9, they needed a reinvention when they hit a wall. Now, specifically regarding this post, which you call "pathetic," how do you think I feel with a special needs child in a public school system? I have the choice of either sending him to school with a PB&J every day, or putting money in his account for lunch. Without fail, he goes through that account money in double time because he has no self control (read: autistic 8 year old) and the lack of regulation and monitoring keeps us from being able to limit the dollar amount he spends per day. I know that this system can be misused as the school I attended in high school had this system and yes, my parents were psychotic control freaks, but the system can be used for good as well. I know that, as a Windows promoter you have a hard time seeing things from different perspectives, but try to take different situations into account before running your mouth about things that don't concern you. Also, I'm a Mac technician and user, but don't respond about how Windows 7 is amazing. I've used it (the beta program). It's decent. But it's still Windows and can't do things the way I want it to. I also have 13 years of Windows tech support experience. Tool.