Barnes&Noble Holiday Gift Guide

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Barnes&Noble (BN) published a broad gift guide.
The BN Holiday Gift Guide offers savings of up to 45% on the DVDs, Music, Toys & Games and more. BN features a Gift Finder that will help shoppers find the best gifts for everyone on their list.
Every shopper receives free shipping on orders of $25 and BN Members receive a holiday bonus of FREE shipping on orders of $10 or more. Read more

Posted on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Holiday Gift Deals: Palm Pre & Pixi Both On Sale

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You're a Palm fan. Unfortunately, just like the company you love, you're broke as hell this Christmas season. Too broke to afford one of those fancy new Palm smartphones. At least, you were before Amazon.com started offering amazing deals on both the Pre and the Pixi. If you order now you can pick up a Palm Pre up for just $79.99 with a 2-year Sprint contract.

Posted on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:49:02 CST | by Robert Evans

Toys ''R'' Us Promises Holiday Gaming Deals

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Back when I was a kid, Toys "R" Us was where you went to pick up the latest action figures, lego sets, and nerf guns. Now the most popular toys have changed. Kids still buy other things, but nothing is quite as popular among the little ones as gaming. That's why Toys "R" Us just sent out a press release promising "aggressive" video game, console, and peripheral deals throughout the holiday season.

First off, from now on video game hardware will be included in the "Big Gift" layaway plan. This way customers can reserve a popular console before the rush hits and make small payments on it instead of a big chunk at once. Putting a console or other piece of hardware on layaway requires a deposit worth 20% of the item's value, and a $10 service charge. Items must be paid in full by December 6th.

Posted on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:29:22 CST | by Robert Evans

Sam's Club Holiday Event Serves Up 500,000 Pounds Of Food

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Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, will be hosting their seventh annual Taste of Sam's sampling event this year.
During the Holiday Taste of Sam's Club, 47-menu selections will be available for guests and during live chef events shoppers can learn from demonstrations on how to prepare Boneless Spiral Ham, Frenched Rack of Lamb as well as hand dipped chocolate desserts in addition to getting helpful tips and inspiring ideas.
Sam's Club will also offer recipe cards during the event and expects to serve more than 500,000 pounds of food.
Read more

Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:34:57 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

2009 Holiday PC Price-Cuts To Be Less Than 2008?

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If you're looking for a great discount on a PC this holiday season, you'll be able to find several. Unfortunately, the cuts in price this year might not be close to what we were getting last year. Digitimes reports that last year, some vendors cut their PC prices by as much as 70-80%. The cuts in 2008 were necessary to clear out flooded inventories.

Fortunately for the vendors, but unfortunately for us, the PC market has recovered nicely since then. Such a massive clearing-out won't be necessary this year, and price cuts aren't likely to be deeper than 30-50%. This holiday season (especially Black Friday) will still be packed with great deals, but we probably won't see prices as low as they were last year.

Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:20:03 CST | by Robert Evans

Holiday Deal: Cheap Sprint Android Phones At Best Buy

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If you're a Sprint customer with a hankering for an Android smartphone, you need to roll on down to your local Best Buy while the holiday season is still in full swing. We reported yesterday that the retailer was offering the HTC Hero for only $99. Now we've learned that this deal didn't extend only to the Hero. Best Buy is doing a special holiday discount for all Sprint Android phones.

To be fair, that only includes two devices right now. The HTC Hero and the Samsung Moment both cost just $99 now with a 2-year contract. Since this is Best Buy we're talking about, you don't even need to worry about rebates. $99 is all you pay out of pocket. Since both phones were priced at $179, this is one hell of a deal for Sprint customers.

Posted on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:45:20 CST | by Robert Evans

People Want Practical Gifts This Holiday Season

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Put away those Faberge eggs! Hide the fancy jewelry! Send the $5,000 massage chair back to the factory! The holiday season, usually a time to receive expensive, impractical luxury items, is going to be a bit different this year. In light of the recession, people are starting to ask for the things they need this year, rather than the things they want. A recent survey by Black & Decker and Zogby International showed that 70% of consumers plan to ask for necessities over luxuries this season.

Considering the crappy state of the economy, that's not hard to understand. If you're unemployed and freezing, a sweater makes a better gift than a Zune HD. The survey did show that about 17% of people wanted an even split of practical and luxurious gifts. While Black & Decker used this announcement as a way to push their ReadyWrench, cordless canister vacuum, and other practical gifts, I'm more interested in what this means for the tech industry.

Posted on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:52:09 CST | by Robert Evans

Wal-Mart Holiday Special: $99.99 BlackBerry Bold 9700

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Many people usually replace their cell phones during the holiday season. The best deals come out as it gets closer and closer to Christmas. Take this new deal on the BlackBerry Bold 9700 (via TmoNews) from Wal-Mart. If you sign up to buy a T-Mobile 9700 with a 2-year service agreement you'll get a $100 Wal-Mart gift card along with it. That basically cuts the cost down from $199.99, to $99.99.

Posted on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:38:33 CST | by Robert Evans

ToysRUs Wii Holiday Value Bundle Supposed To Save $100

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Nintendo Wii bundle deals are very common again this Holiday shopping season. We reported earlier about the Walmart Wii Value Bundle selling for $299. The Walmart Will bundle includes the Wii Console, Wii Fit Plus, Balance Board and a $25 eGift card.

ToysRUs also has for this weekend a Wii Holiday Value bundle for $249.92. The ToysRUs Wii deal includes what they call Ready for Play Wii Pack. This pack includes 20 AA batteries, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for Wii game, Ultimate Gaming Ottoman and your choice of 4 Gear Monkey accessories ($9.99 each).
Read more

Posted on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Walmart Removed $8 Zhu Zhu From Holiday Savings Page

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Yesterday we reported that Walmart features on their Holiday Savings page besides the $100 Gift Card Deal with BlackBerry Phones purchases a list of toys including the hard to find Zhu Zhu Pets hamster at the low price of $8.
Walmart has removed now the Zhu Zhu Hamster from the Holiday Savings page. I assume they are out of stock for sure. For other options to find Zhu Zhu Pets visit our Zhu Zhu Pets Shopping Guide.
Read more

Posted on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Free WiFi For the Holidays

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You know what readers? You've all been really, really good this year. So good, that I think you've earned an early treat. Just this once, I'm going to let you all open a Christmas gift early. No, you can't open the one from Aunt Shirley yet. Here, try this one. It's from Google, and it's small but it doesn't feel like socks.

Oh man! It's free Wi-Fi in 47 separate airports from now until January 15, 2009. This'll go great with the free WiFi they're also giving out to all Virgin Airlines passengers this holiday season. This is definitely a very clever bit of image marketing on Google's part, but that doesn't mean I'll be any less grateful for it. I just got back from a two week trip to Europe, and I spent a good sixty hours of it in airports. Free WiFi at any of them would have been a very welcome blessing.

Posted on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:08:55 CST | by Robert Evans

Amazon Holiday Toy Sale On Fisher-Price And Mattel Toys Available Now

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Amazon offers a Holiday Toy sale today. You can save 20% on hot Holiday Toys and Games from Fisher-Price and Mattel.
The items on sale include Electronic Pictionary Man Game for $25, Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Camera for $45.85 and TYCO R/C Stunt Psycho Vehicle for $44.97. There are many more toys including Barbie dolls and dinos on sale.
More details on Amazon.com.
Read more

Posted on Sun, 8 Nov 2009 12:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Apple Store Features Apple Holiday Gift Guide

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Apple updated their online store in time for your holiday shopping. Apple highlights their engraving option on the iPod family as well as custom configured iMacs.
Apple also offers Holiday themed iTunes gift cards. You can also choose general purpose Apple gift cards or an iPhone gift card.

The Apple Store Holiday Gift Guide features accessories and software that all come with free shipping.
Read more

Posted on Sun, 8 Nov 2009 08:19:53 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Holiday Deal: Unlocked Nokia N900, $442

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Black Friday isn't here yet, but that doesn't mean it's too early for some holiday shopping. If you've got a Nokia fan (or, honestly, just a fan of great smartphones) in your life, T-Mo News reports that Dell has a deal that just might make their holiday. The Nokia N900, unlocked and ready for any SIM card you choose to feed it, for just $442. You even get free shipping.

Posted on Fri, 6 Nov 2009 08:55:56 CST | by Robert Evans

Google Commerce Search: To Ease Your Holiday Shopping

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Once again, Google's come up with something to make a traditional pain in the behind less of an agony. Their latest new service isn't nearly as awesome or convenient as Google Voice, but it still helps to simplify what was once an annoyance. Google Commerce Search launched today, with the stated goal of simplifying holiday shopping for consumers and online retailers alike.

A good search service that returns pertinent hits is a crucial part of any e-retailer. Plenty of websites have awful search engines that keep customers from stumbling upon great deals and finding the products they really want. Google Commerce Search is a program that applies Google's search engine to whatever online store you happen to be browsing. It allows shoppers to search by category, price, brand, or any other attribute you can think of.

Posted on Thu, 5 Nov 2009 04:59:06 CST | by Robert Evans

Four New Sony PSP-3000 Holiday Value Packs Hit Japan

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Sony has with the PSP Go a new PSP model, which does not mean though that the PSP-3000 is now outdated. To the contrary, the PSP-3000 is still the main portable Sony console.
Japanese gamers get four new PSP-3000 value packs for the Holidays.
The bundle pack will include the PSP handheld entertainment system (PSP-3000) in Piano Black, Pearl White, Vibrant Blue or Radiant Red color, a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark2), a pouch and a cloth.
Read more

Posted on Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Holiday Gift Idea: The Beatles USB Discography

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Alright, so the remastered Beatles discography still isn't available on iTunes. Honestly, at this point it looks like that might never happen. Thankfully, EMI and Apple Corps have found a way to bring us digital copies of everyone's favorite British foursome. Sure, $280 for an Apple-shaped USB stick filled FLAC and MP3 versions of all the remastered CDs seems a bit pricey but, as Gizmodo notes that's only $60 more than you pay for the new CD set.

For you audiophiles out there, the FLAC quality is listed as 44.1Khz 24 bit, and the MP3s are 320 Kbps. Now, the bad news. 'Only' 30,000 of these special edition sets are being made. They go on sale November 8th, but you can pre-order now at TheBeatles.com.

Posted on Wed, 4 Nov 2009 08:16:17 CST | by Robert Evans

Walmart Announces 100 More Toy Rollbacks Featuring Top Holiday Toys

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Today Walmart announced 100 additional toy Rollbacks, weeks before Black Friday arrives.
This week in all stores and online at Walmart.com, the prices of more than 100 toys will be rolled back, many at an additional 20% and 30% savings, and will last through the Christmas shopping period.

These new savings are in addition to the Walmart 100 toys for $10 previously announced, and bring to you additional savings on many more of this season’s hottest toys. Read more

Posted on Mon, 2 Nov 2009 06:51:29 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Top 10 Home Electronics Holiday Gift Tips

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It is that time of the year again - the Holiday Shopping season is about to start. Like every year Black Friday will be the beginning of Holiday shopping for most people.
Just as we did last year (Top 100 Tech Gifts 2008) I4U News presents our huge Top 100 Holiday Gift Guide, featuring tons of cool electronics, gadgets and toys to give to your loved ones or treat yourself.

Like last year we have 10 categories, each featuring top 10 gifts including Notebooks and Netbooks, Gadget and Toys, Video Games, Video Game Hardware, TVs, Cameras, Video Cameras, Portable Media Players, Home Electronics, and Mobile Phones.
Read more

Posted on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

ToysRUs Biggest Big Book Holiday Gift Catalog Previews Today

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ToysRUs announced their highly anticipated Big Book Toy catalog for the 2009 Holidays. The 80 page ToysRUs Big book will arrive this weekend. The online version will go live on Sunday November 1st on ToysRUs.com. ToysRUs will give a special preview of the ToysRUs Biggest Big Book to fans of the official ToysRUs Facebook fan page today.
Read more

Posted on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sears and Kmart Also Offer Online Layaway For Holiday Shoppers

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Layaway was already available at some stores last Christmas and is actually a very dated offering, but with the bad economy it has found new popularity. Layaway allows buyers to put a product on hold and pay it off over a set period of time. With the final payment they can take the purchased product home.
Layaway is offered by several stores including ToysRUs, Sears and Kmart in stores and on select products.
The Sears Holding, which also runs Kmart is now expanding Layaway to products sold in their online shops.
Read more

Posted on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:08:22 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr