Full FeedBest Buy to offer $197 laptop on Black Friday
Best Buy has announced it will offer a $197 laptop as one of its Black Friday deals. The laptop, an HP G60-507DX, usually retails for $549.99. It features an Intel Celeron 900 processor, 2GB memory, 15-inch screen, a 160GB hard drive and runs Windows 7. It is already being featured in Best Buy’s preview ads and in television commercials. In addition to this new deal, Best Buy said it plans to offer what it dubs “the most competitive Windows 7 netbook deal ever” and special Limited Edition Dell netbooks designed by leading artists from around the world. They will be individually numbered by each artist. Other Best Buy Black Friday deals include the Palm Pre for $79, the Sprint MiFi for free, and 5 Android smartphones for $99 each.
If you’re raring to get one of the $197 laptops, you’d better get their super early! Only 5 will be available at each store and there is a strict limit of one per customer.
Read [Best Buy]
Related
Amazon announces firmware update for Kindle 2
Amazon has announced a firmware update is on the way for its popular Kindle 2 e-reader. The update will give the 6-inch e-reader native PDF support and also claims to increase battery life by a whopping 85%, meaning the device will last up to 7 days between charges (even with the wireless service turned on) rather than 4.
“Kindle, already the #1 bestselling, most wished for, and most gifted product on all of Amazon.com, is now even better—with 85 percent more battery life and a built-in PDF reader,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “These two significant enhancements are available now.”
The company says the update is the product of 6 months of testing and development and will offer the native PDF support of the update to owners of the original Kindle as well. It will be delivered wirelessly, although Amazon has yet to say when.
Kindle has been wildly popular since its release 2 years ago. It’s appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show in October 2008, along with her pronouncement that it was her favorite gadget, led to the device selling out just as the holidays hit. A minor controversy followed when Amazon discontinued it and releases the Kindle 2 in February of this year. It has remained popular but now faces competition from Sony, Barnes and Noble, and other manufacturers, and has versions of its software for the iPhone/iPod Touch, PC, and soon for the BlackBerry.
Read [Amazon]
RelatedBlack Friday shopping trends
Retrevo Gadgetology report has revealed some Black Friday shopping trends. The study surveyed 1100 shoppers about their Black Friday shopping plans. While 40% said they were going to buy electronics on Black Friday, over half said they planned to do so online. Only 18% said they would be going to stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack.
When asked how they did at the Black Friday sales last year, a whopping 72% said they got exactly what they wanted. 48% said they went on to buy other things in addition to those coveted items.
According to the study, the hot electronic item this holiday season is the HDTV. 30% said they are looking to buy one this year, and with sizes beyond 60 inches and below 10, there is sure to be one for every budget. Coming in second are laptops. 22% of the shoppers surveyed said they plan to pick one up, and 14% plan to get a GPS system or Blu-ray player. MP3 players came in last with just 9% saying they plan to buy one. Looks like Smartphones and iPods have won out over them.
Big spenders, not surprisingly, are in the minority this year. Only 22% said they planned to spend more than $1000 on electronics online and just 18% at stores. 25% plan to spend between $500 and $1000 in stores or online, 30% plan to spend between $200 and $500 online and 36% at stores, and 20% plan to spend less than $200 in both places.
What are your Black Friday plans this year? Leave a comment and share them with us!
Read [Retrevo]
RelatedSprint to kick off holiday shopping season with the release of the Sanyo Incognito
Sprint has announced it will kick off the holiday shopping season with the launch of the Sanyo Incognito. The latest offering from Kyocera is a sleek messaging phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. Its selling point however is the glossy Titanium Black mirrored external surface that boasts a glow through keypad and OLED display. The glow through keypad is further set apart by the vibrating feedback it gives as each button is pressed. Inside, along with the full keyboard is a 2.6’ QVGA display.
The handset is designed for Sprint’s EVDO network and also offers video and music players, a 2.0 MP camera, a MicroSD slot, and provides easy access to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, GPS Navigation, email, and other popular apps.
“I’m sure Incognito will be topping many holiday gift lists this season,” said Atsushi (Andy) Kodera, vice president and deputy general manager at Kyocera Communications Inc. “It’s such a clean, sophisticated looking phone but there are so many features at your fingertips when you turn on the glow-through display and open the QWERTY flip. With its amazing combination of style and functionality for less than $50, it’s about as foolproof a gift idea as you’ll see this year.”
The Incognito will be on sale starting Cyber Monday (11/30) and will sell for $49.99 after a $50 MIR and with a 2 year contract. There’s no word yet if Sprint will require one of their Simply Everything plans as well.
Read [BusinessWire]
Related
Black Friday 2009: Radio Shack’s Black Friday deals leaked
Radio Shack’s Black Friday deals have been leaked and here’s what you can expect. There are no Early Bird deals, but I still recommend you get to the store early as quantities will likely be limited!
Camcorders:
Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 10MP HD Flash Camcorder (Red) $169.99
Vivitar DVR 865HD Flash Camcorder $69.99
Computer Accessories:
Gigaware Wireless Optical Mouse $12.99
Netgear Basic Wireless-N Router $34.99
Pinnacle PCTV USB HDTV Tuner $39.99
Iomega Prestige 320GB Portable Hard Drive $49.99
Digital Cameras:
Casio Digital Camera Gift Bundle - 10MP, 3x Zoom, Leather Case $89.99
Kodak Easyshare M381 Digital Camera - 12MP, 5x Zoom $99.99
Nikon Coolpix Digital Camera - 10MP, 3x Zoom $129.99
Olympus Digital Camera - 12MP, 7x Wide-Angle Zoom $149.99
Vivitar ViviCam 8225 8.1MP Digital Camera $49.99
Cell Phones:
LG Xenon (2 Yr. AT&T Contract Required) FREE
Motorola CLIQ with MOTOBLUR (2 Yr. T-Mobile Contract Required) $79.99
Motorola i776 Prepaid Phone (Boost Mobile) $69.99
Nokia 2720 No-Contract Mobile Phone $9.99
Palm Pixi (2 Yr. Sprint Contract Required) $99.99
Palm Pre (2 Yr. Sprint Contract Required) $99.99
Samsung Impression (2 Yr. AT&T Contract Required) $29.99
Samsung Instinct s30 (2 Yr. Sprint Contract Required) FREE
GPS:
Garmin nuvi 255W GPS Receiver $119.99
Garmin nuvi 265WT GPS Receiver w/ FREE Lifetime Traffic Updates $169.99
Mio Moov M400 GPS Receiver $79.99
TomTom XL 330-S GPS Receiver w/ FREE Dash Mount $99.99
Laptops:
Acer 15.6” Laptop - AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core, Windows 7, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD $399.99
Acer Aspire One 11.6” Netbook - Atom, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Vista $249.99
iPods:
Apple 8GB iPod nano (FREE $15 RadioShack Gift Card on 11/27) $149.99 Apple 8GB iPod touch (FREE $20 RadioShack Gift Card on 11/27) $199.99
Televisions:
AUVIO 3.5” Portable Digital TV $79.99
AUVIO 7” Portable Digital TV $119.99
Envision 22” 720p LCD HDTV $199.99
Samsung 32” 720p LCD HDTV $399.99
Video Games:
XBox 360 Elite Bundle Deal w/ LEGO Batman and Pure $299.99
Read [BFAds.net]
Related
AT&T loses first court battle against Verizon, but says the war isn’t over
AT&T Wireless’ war against Verizon was dealt a blow when a judge denied the company’s request for a restraining order barring Verizon from airing their “There’s a Map for That” ads that highlight AT&T’s truly pathetic 3G coverage. AT&T is furious over the new ad campaign, insisting it is misleading to consumers, and vows to continue the fight. Verizon responded in a legal filing:
“This motion is a blatant effort to ask the Court to do what the marketplace will not do: shield AT&T from truthful comparative advertisements that Verizon has a right to air and that consumers have a right to see.”
One wonders if AT&T would be better off spending money on increasing its 3G coverage than on this silly lawsuit. It’s inexcusable that a major carrier offers such lame 3G coverage when fellow carriers like Sprint are already offering 4G coverage. Its clear AT&T made the mistake of resting its laurels on the iPhone and for whatever reason, couldn’t be bothered to invest in its own infrastructure. This has resulted in a legion of angry iPhone users, who lament having a cutting edge cell phone with little high speed coverage, and angry non iPhone coverage who are unhappy at the burden the iPhone users have placed on the network.
GSM may be the more popular technology, but here in the U.S., given the troubles both T-Mobile and AT&T are having, CDMA carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint seem to be better choices. Now if only Sprint could find a competent advertising team…
Read [PCWorld]
RelatedT-Mobile suffers yet another black eye thanks to data breach
If T-Mobile is trying to drive themselves out of business they are doing a pretty good job. First there was the great Sidekick Nightmare, which caused most U.S. users of the device to lose their data and the company to temporarily halt sales, and then a few weeks ago T-Mobile customers had to contend with an outage that left them unable to make calls or send text messages. Now it gets even worse.
The company is now reporting that it has discovered a data breach at its U.K. headquarters. Staff there was caught selling customers’ personal information to numerous third parties. Those parties then approached customers who were soon to be out of contract with sales pitches for other carriers. T-Mobile said this was done without its knowledge and that those responsible will be prosecuted.
T-Mobile, which recently announced plans to merge with fellow U.K. provider Orange, seems to be a company totally out of control. The constant service issues, and the severity of them, paired with this latest news, have left them with a very black eye that won’t soon heal. Their advertising and P.R. people have their work cut out for them!
Read [PC World]
RelatedShields Up!: EU Cracks Down on Ringtone Scams
The European Union Consumer Commission has announced a crack down on sites pushing free ringtone scams and that often target kids and teens. The crackdown covered all 27 EU countries plus Iceland and Norway and resulted 9 Italian companies being slammed with nearly $3 million in fines. Of the 301 websites targeted, 54 were put out of business and more than 150 were made to change their advertising. The commission said it instigated the crackdown after being flooded with complaints by consumers.
The sites often featured cartoon characters and urged visitors to provide their cell phone numbers to get a free ringtone. What they failed to reveal, or buried in fine print, was that once they had the number the owner would be signed up for a subscription and charged a monthly fee for further ringtones.
These scams are often seen here in the US, both on the web and on TV. The ads offer free ringtones (or wallpapers, horoscopes, games, etc). All you have to do is type in your cell phone number or send a text message. Then you get hit with all kinds of charges. Some services charge $5.99 a month and other a whopping $29.99 a month. Getting the subscription dropped can be extremely difficult to impossible and your cell provider is often unable to do much.
Mobile phones are a way of life for most of us, and we seldom go anywhere without them. Scammers know this. SMS spam is a particular problem because those not on an unlimited plan must pay for each message. While it has not yet become a huge problem here, giving up your cell number to websites and in response to TV ads can open you up to a flood of it. It’s important to guard your cell phone number as you would any other piece of personal info. Don’t give it out to just anyone, and stick to legit sites like iTunes for ringtones and wallpapers or download some software and make your own. Free offers often come with a steep price!
Read [PC Magazine]
RelatedPioneer files suit against Garmin over GPS technology
Japanese electronics giant Pioneer has filed suit against Garmin claiming the company is infringing on some of its patents that cover in car navigation technology. Pioneer has asked the International Trade Commission to block Garmin from importing the products that use the allegedly infringing technology.
“Pioneer has been negotiating in good faith also with Garmin for a license to Pioneer’s navigation patent portfolio,” it said in a statement issued on Monday. “However, since the value of the portfolio has not been fairly evaluated by Garmin, Pioneer determined that litigation is necessary in order to protect its intellectual property in the navigation product field.”
This is the second complaint Pioneer has filed against Garmin. In October they filed a lawsuit in Germany over the contested patents, which involve various aspects of in car navigation systems. Pioneer said it feels it has no choice after talks with Garmin broke down.
If you’ve got a GPS system on your Christmas list, don’t worry. Should U.S. imports of Garmin systems be blocked there will still be plenty to chose from from rivals Magellan and Tom Tom, and lots of deals to be had. Check out our Black Friday ad coverage for the scoop!
Read [PCWorld]
RelatedBlack Friday 2009: Office Depot’s Black Friday deals leaked
Office Depot’s Black Friday ad had been leaked. Here’s a look at some of the deals they will be offering this year.
Computers:
- Acer Aspire 15.6” Widescreen Notebook Computer w/AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core Processor L310, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $379.99
- Acer Netbook 10.1” Computer w/Intel 1.6GHz Atom Processor N270 - $199.99
- Compaq CQ4010F Desktop Computer w/AMD Sempron LE-1300 Processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive - $229.99
- Compaq Presario AMD LE-1300 Desktop w/18.5” Monitor - $329.99
- HP Notebook Computer G60-508US w/Intel Celeron Processor 900 - $299.99
Digital Cameras:
- Ativa Digital 1080p HD Video Camcorder 4x Optical Zoom - $89.99
- Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS 10.0-Megapixel Digital ELPH Camera - $149.99
- Canon PowerShot SD780 IS 12.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - $179.99
- Kodak EasyShare CD80 Digital Camera Bundle - $79.99
- Kodak EasyShare M381 Digital Camera w/Case & Tripod - $169.99
GPS:
- Garmin Nuvi 1200 GPS Navigation System - $119.99
- Garmin Nuvi 1300 GPS Navigation System - $149.99
- TomTom GO 630 GPS Navigation System - javascript:nullo()$169.99
- TomTom ONE 130 GPS Navigation System - $77.99
- TomTom XL 330 GPS Navigation System - $97.99
TVs
- Digital Prism 7” Portable LCD TV ATSC710 - $84.99
- Samsung 19” 933HD Widescreen LCD HDTV - $199.99
- Samsung 23” 2333HD Widescreen LCD HDTV - $249.99
- Samsung 26” T260HD Widescreen LCD HDTV - $299.99
Office Depot isn’t doing any Doorbusters, but quantities will still be limited so be sure to get there early!
Read [BlackFriday.info]
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Black Friday 2009
Black Friday is almost here! Gadgetell's got you covered with all the latest news on who's offering the best deals. Dangerous crowds? You're on your own.
Palm Pre Information & Updates
Palm just introduced their next-gen smartphone, the Palm Pre, and next-gen operating system, Palm webOS. Gadgetell's got the latest Pre and webOS information and news for you right here.
