Black Friday is almost here. It’s a great time to score some deals, but don’t go at it willy-nilly. Follow these 5 simple Black Friday rules to avoid the scams and wasting time. Read More

Despite the ongoing economic woes, comScore is reporting online sales figures totaling $534 million for Black Friday – up 1% from last year. Spending on Thanksgiving also rose 6% over 2007’s figures. The increase showed a better-than-expected economic performance in the online sector.

Not surprisingly, analysts are pointing to deep discounts and aggressive promotions as part of the reason why online sales did so well. ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni noted that Cyber Monday may be just as important a test as Friday:

“Cyber Monday may well prove to be an important indicator of whether the decline in spending that we’ve seen during the first few weeks of the online holiday season will continue for the balance of the year.”

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No story has ever annoyed me as much as the Black Friday death that occurred at a Long Island Wal-Mart last week. What’s worse is that, right now, it doesn’t look like the police will be able to identify the perpetrators. They’ll walk away scot-free, content with having bought some piece of garbage widget for $5 less than they would have paid on any other day. That, and having killed a man.

The New York Times has a profile of the victim, one Jdimytai Damour, who was 34 years old. His friends called him Jimbo. By all accounts, he was simply a nice guy looking to make a few extra dollars.

For its part, Wal-Mart is pleading ignorance. Since on-site security is the responsibility of a subcontractor, and since each store is responsible for its own security arrangements, Wal-Mart doesn’t really know what to say to allegations that security was lax. A spokesman called it an “unfortunate incident.”

Gee, thanks.

I don’t know, it’s pretty much the worst story ever, made worse by the fact that, you know, it was caused by people trying to save a few dollars on junk they don’t need.

Here is a prime example of America’s incessant spending habits. They were fighting over Wal-Mart’s Xbox 360 Arcade Guitar Hero 3 bundle for $199, BTW. Insane. No wonder there was fatalities yesterday.

As promised, Newegg.com has pulled out many of the stops to deliver unto you several Black Friday deals. No, I take that back. They’re not just deals, but ULTRA-SECRET deals. So ultra-secret, in fact, that I’m posting them here for y’all to see.

Highlights include:

• 4GB (2×2GB) of Corsair DDR 2 800 RAM for $49.9919.99 with rebate! That’s hot.

• 19-inch Asus widescreen LCD for $129.99

• 1TB Western Digital 1TB hard drive for $94.99

• Some professional gaming keyboard for $39.99

Also, and completely unrelated to anything tech, Allposters.com has 20 percent off everything (with free shipping, too) this weekend. I’m thinking of getting this British Empire map because, well, For England.

Black Friday gets all the press but Cyber Monday might have just as good deals this year. The Monday after Thanksgiving was dubbed Cyber Monday a few years ago retailers started offering Black Friday-ish deals following the big shopping weekend. According to Shopzila 84 percent of online retailers plan on having a promotion this year so expect some good deals from retailers like Newegg, Buy, and Amazon. So, if you can deal with shopping without huge crowds and rabid moms, just wait ’till Monday. I am.

Turns out you actually DON’T really have to sit in the cold hoping to get a magic ticket so you can buy Best Buy’s Friday doorbusters because a bunch of stuff that’s available in the stores is also available on Best Buy’s website. Most notably, you can get a 52-inch Samsung 1080p LCD TV with professional installation for $1,499, a 50-inch Panasonic 720p plasma TV for $899, and the Magellan Roadmate 1212 GPS for $79.

Actually showing up at your local store will still get you some good exclusives, though, like an HP notebook with free printer for $349, a Toshiba Satellite notebook for $379, a Dynex 32-inch LCD HDTV for $399, and, most importantly, Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey on Wii for $9.99. The stores open at 5 AM, the online stuff is available now.

Best Buy Friday Doorbuster Specials [BestBuy.com]

If you’re either still awake on Thursday night or have just woken up early Friday morning and you’re getting set to head out to hunt for some video game deals, you might be able to get most of your purchases taken care of from the comfort, warmth, and non-threatening glow of your home computer.

Starting at 3 AM Eastern, Amazon.com will be showing just about every retailer how it’s done when it comes to Black Friday sales.

Here’s a list of what’ll be available:

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Black Friday can be a tiring, stressful, and overwhelming ordeal. Here’s a list of which stores have the best deals on some of the top items for the holiday shopping season, along with our picks for Best All-Around Store, Biggest Disappointment, Biggest No-Show Product, Most Ubiquitous Bundle, and Most Confusing Ad.

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Most agree that this years Black Friday so-called deals kind of.. well.. suck. Sure, there are a few Blu-ray players around the $150 mark and Wal-Mart has an old Magnavox for $128. Every retailer has a $99 GPS along with a wide selection of cheap flash memory, but those are not worth sleep deprivation alone. Best Buy is trying to pawn off a 50-inch 720p plasma and Circuit City’s 1080p model is just an entry level Samsung. It just seems that none of these deals are worth parking lot camping. Except for the Sam’s Club Wii deal that turned out to be fake and $200 off.

Best Buy had some sort of Black Friday VIP contest going on where the chain invited people to send in their best Black Friday essay. I know. The winners get a $1,000 Best Buy gift card, a trip to a store in a limo, the opportunity to buy up to four “doorbusters,” and so on.

I’ve picked out a few excerpts that may interest you.

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Apple is gearing up for its own Black Friday event and teasing fanboys with the above image. Curiously enough though, nowhere does it say “sale, savings, or deals” which begs the question on whether ’ol Jobsy is going to attempt to fool soccer moms and gadget feigns Black Friday morning. Apple sales are rare ’cause generally the products do not have any problem moving themselves, but maybe Best Buy’s MacBook special pricing signals more discounts are forthcoming. Chances are that Apple stores will be packed Friday morning with or without sales.

As you might expect, Newegg.com is having itself one of those Black Friday sales later this week, on Friday, but they’re also having a bit of a pre-sale that might interest you. It’s sorta like pre-gaming. There’s a whole bunch of stuff on sale, but the following items caught my eye.

• Intel Core 2 Quad processor for $179

• 100 Verbatim 4.7GB DVD-Rs for $18.99

• Creative Zen Mozaic 8GB PMP for $67 (you should see the junky PMP I use)

This is going to be one of the most interesting Black Fridays in years, if not ever.

Oh goody, more Black Friday “deals,” this time from Amazon. They’ve got an Xbox 360 Elite (with 120GB HDD and Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones), The Last Remnant and a card for 4,000 Microsoft Points. Grand total: something. I don’t know, you have to actually be prepared to check out the final price. Let’s just say it’s probably cheaper than it normally would be.

Amazon’s gonna be running these types of deals till the big day, Black Friday, ensuring four days of non-stop excitement.

Big bad Wal-Mart, which supplies Main Street with the cheap goods it needs to survive, today officially released its Black Friday ad. Whoop-dee-do.

Wal-Mart wants you to input your zip code in order to view your local Black Friday ad, so your mileage may vary. My zip code popped up a Magnavox Blu-ray player (the NB500MG9) for $128; a $798 50-inch 1080i/720p Samsung LCD TV; $15 Blu-ray movies including Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda; $2 regular DVD movies including Spider-Man; and $30 EA Sports games including Madden NFL 09.

Wal-Mart even has a few of these deals available online, you know, in case waiting in line all day the day after Thanksgiving isn’t your idea of a good time.

Amazon’s Black Friday site is up and running with 37 gadgets that are mostly portable hard drives, but if you’re in the market for a Blu-ray player, GPS, SDHC card or digital camera then strike while the iron is hot, folks.

Black Friday at Amazon

Lady and gentlemen (get it, one lady?) I give you Walmart’s Black Friday ad, home of the $128 Blu-ray player and the $798 50-inch plasma TV. Notable deals include:

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Apparently there will be at least two Staples ads for Black Friday this year – each being specific to a certain region or regions of the country. You’ll probably know which ad circular you’re dealing with by this upcoming Sunday but until then, here are some good deals from both of the available leaked Staples circulars so far. Keep in mind that some of these deals might not apply to you depending upon where you live.

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