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Despite one of the worst economic climates in decades, consumer spending on Black Friday hit $10.6 billion, 3% higher than the day after Thanksgiving in 2007, according to researcher ShopperTrak.

Gadgets accounted for nine of the top 10 most popular Black Friday products, PriceGrabber said.

Data from PriceGrabber.com shows that online consumers are taking advantage of promotions on popular electronics, including LCD and plasma TVs, Blu-ray disc players, digital SLR cameras, laptops and video game consoles.

The most popular products on Black Friday:

1. Nintendo Wii Console
2. Ugg Australia ‘Classic Short′ Boot (how about that!)
3. Sony BDP-𔖖 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player
4. Samsung LN52A650 52″ LCD TV
5. Nintendo Wii Fit
6. Panasonic TH-42PX80U 42″ Plasma TV
7. Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones
8. Canon EOS Rebel XSi Black SLR Digital Camera Kit
9. Acer Aspire One AOA110-1295 Notebook
10. Canon PowerShot A590 IS Black Digital Camera

And while we are at it, here are the Top 10 categories and percent growth over Black Friday 2007:

1. Women’s Boots - 203%
2. Watches - 202%
3. Blu-ray/HD-DVD Players - 147%
4. Women’s Sleep & Lounge Wear - 415%
5. Games & Puzzles - 151%
6. Women’s Jackets - 110%
7. Music - 96%
8. Headphones - 103%
9. Women’s Dresses - 107%
10. Women’s Casual Shoes - 143%

More at PriceGrabber.com and The Washington Post.

Tags: acer, black friday, canon, nintendo, panasonic, samsung, sennheiser, sony

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Copyright VoIP &amp Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

It appears it just might be a Merry Christmas even with the doom & gloom surrounding the economy. I guess President-elect Barack Obama must be the Messiah, since he’s already creating miracles and he hasn′t even been sworn in yet.

Check this out:

NRF Survey Finds Black Friday Gets Holiday Season Off to Energetic Start
– Great Bargains, Pent-Up Demand Drove Shoppers to Stores, Web

Though the holiday season is far from over, retailers across the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief after shoppers headed to stores and websites in droves over the weekend. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.*

Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend*, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion.

“Pent-up demand on electronics and clothing, plus unparalleled bargains on this season’s hottest items helped drive shopping all weekend,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again.”

Friday was clearly the busiest day of the weekend with 73.6 million people hitting stores and websites for doorbuster sales. Though traffic did subside after Friday, retailers were also buoyed by two-day sales as 56.9 million people shopped on Saturday, up from 48.3 million last year, while another 26.2 million people planned to shop on Sunday. Thanksgiving Day also continues to increase in importance as the number of people who shopped on Thursday was up 48 percent over last year (16.2 million people vs. 10.9 million people).

Those who shopped on Friday lived by the adage that the early bird catches the worm. The survey found that 23.3 percent of shoppers were at stores by 5 a.m. while more than half (57.6%) were at stores by 9 a.m. Bargains appeared to be so good that people have more of a jumpstart on shopping.

According to the findings, Americans have completed slightly more shopping than they had one year ago (39.3% vs. 36.4%), indicating that traffic and sales over the next several weeks will moderate.

“Though retailers should be encouraged by strong traffic and sales over the weekend, consumers are still being cautious,” said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. “Weekend shoppers indicated that they are still sticking to a budget and thinking carefully before making any holiday purchases.”

Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7%) of this weekend’s shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43.0%) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36.0%) and shopped online (34.0%).

As expected, many shoppers (50.9%) purchased clothing and accessories over the weekend while 39.0 percent bought books, DVDs, CDs and video games and 35.9 percent purchased consumer electronics. Toys were also big sellers, as 28.5 percent of shoppers bought a toy. Gift card purchasing dropped ten percent with 18.7 percent of shoppers purchasing a gift card over the weekend, down from 21.0 percent last year.

NRF continues to project that holiday sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion.

About the Survey

The NRF 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. NRF defines the weekend as sales from Thursday, November 27 to Sunday, November 30. The survey, which polled 3,370 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 27-29, 2008. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 8,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.

The National Retail Federation is the world’s largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry’s key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com

Via NRF

Tags: Barack Obama, Black Friday, Christmas, National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Amazon has a special landing page listing all their Cyber Monday deals. Amazon doesn’t call it “Cyber Monday″ but rather the “Black-Friday-After-Thanksgiving-Sale”, so this landing page should be good until Christmas. Maybe they were afraid Cyber Monday was patented, kinda like their one-click ordering patent.

Anyway, here’s the current category breakdown on the Amazon holiday specials landing page:

• Black Friday deals in Toys &amp Games
• Black Friday Deals in Electronics Just Keep Going
• Hot Kitchen and Home Black Friday Deals
• Black Friday Deals in Sports & Outdoors
• Limited Time: Save up to 50% on Home Improvement Essentials
• Exclusive Cyber Monday Deals in Beauty
• Limited-Time Black Friday Deals in Apparel, Plus $10 off $50, $20 off $100 Orders
  

There are some Blu-ray DVD players for sale, including a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Player for $199. (under $200). Still doesn’t beat the $128 Blu-ray player Wal-Mart was offering on Black Friday (now $199), but it’s the best deal on Amazon today.

For the full listing on Amazon holiday specials, head over here.

Tags: Amazon.com, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, sale, Thanksgiving

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

 For Sony, Home is where the future of gaming is — or where they would like it to be.

In its battle for the hearts and minds of gamers, Sony is developing a robust social-networking component to its PlayStation 3 console.

The new element, to be called Home, has been in beta testing for weeks and allows users to explore an online world with avatars that can travel from one virtual place to another.

While it’s not exactly a world like World of Warcraft or Linden Labs’Second Life, Home is the most ambitious push by any console maker into creating a virtual world for gamers.

It will live or die on whether it’s simple, fun, and deep enough for gamers who have plenty of other things they want to do — like play games. And the price is right: free for those who have a PS3.

The New York Times/VentureBeat.

Tags: avatars, Home, Linden Labs, PlayStation 3, PS3, Second Life, Sony, World of Warcraft

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Original post by nafiz

Gamers: Power down consoles when not in use to save cash!

National Resources Defense Council and consulting firm Ecos have found that gamers could save $100 a year if they turn off their consoles when they are not in use.

That means you guys in the photo!

The pair also recommends that game console manufacturers look to include power management features in their next generation of consoles.

The authors said the industry should adopt automatic power-down features and make it easier for consumers to locate these features. Idle machines consume nearly as much energy as when machines are turned on.

The XBox 360, for example, has a power-down feature, but it’s turned off by default and is hard to activate because its buried deep in the menus. (For instructions on how to find existing power-down features, click here.)

In terms of energy consumption, the XBox 360 is in the middle of the pack, consuming 119 watts in active mode, more than many desktop PCs.

The Nintendo Wii, meanwhile, consumes just 16 watts — less than most laptops — and the Sony PlayStation 3 burns through 150 watts in play mode. PlayStation 3 can update its software to add a power-management feature, but it’s disabled by default, too.

More at CNET.

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Original post by nafiz

  National Geographic Ventures is working with video game makers on branded games for PCs, consoles and handhelds, with such forthcoming titles as National Geographic: Panda for the Nintendo DS and Sony will have National Geographic: Africa.

For the Panda title, look what you will be able to do!

• Interact with pandas - play with, help, teach and nurture your very own cute panda bear
• Learn about pandas - view pictures and read stories about real-life pandas from the National Geographic archives
• Nurture your panda - your panda’s habits change with how you treat and play with it
• More pandas - as your panda develops, new baby pandas will join him in Panda Park
• Play in real time - graphics and sounds change according to the time of day
• Fun playground toys - have fun playing with familiar playground equipment like a tire swing, a see-saw, slides, and more
• Advanced shopping features - let your daily allowance grow and go on a shopping spree, buy panda food and toys immediately or order items by mail via Panda Delivery
• Simple UI - interact with your panda with a single touch of the stylus pen, simple controls allows you to focus on interacting with your panda

Almost like Panda Tycoon!

More at Bandai Namco Games.

• Interact with pandas - play with, help, teach and nurture your very own cute panda bear
• Learn about pandas - view pictures and read stories about real-life pandas from the National Geographic archives
• Nurture your panda - your panda’s habits change with how you treat and play with it
• More pandas - as your panda develops, new baby pandas will join him in Panda Park
• Play in real time - graphics and sounds change according to the time of day
• Fun playground toys  - have fun playing with familiar playground equipment like a tire swing, a see-saw, slides, and more
• Advanced shopping features - let your daily allowance grow and go on a shopping spree, buy panda food and toys immediately or order items by mail via Panda Delivery
• Simple UI - interact with your panda with a single touch of the stylus pen, simple controls allows you to focus on interacting with your pandaInteract with pandas - play with, help, teach and nurture your very own cute panda bear
• Learn about pandas - view pictures and read stories about real-life pandas from the National Geographic archives
• Nurture your panda - your panda’s habits change with how you treat and play with it
• More pandas - as your panda develops, new baby pandas will join him in Panda Park
• Play in real time - graphics and sounds change according to the time of day
• Fun playground toys - have fun playing with familiar playground equipment like a tire swing, a see-saw, slides, and more
• Advanced shopping features - let your daily allowance grow and go on a shopping spree, buy panda food and toys immediately or order items by mail via Panda Delivery
• Simple UI - interact with your panda with a single touch of the stylus pen, simple controls allows you to focus on interacting with your panda

The Washington Post/The Associated Press (11/18)  

Tags: bandai namco games, national geographic africa, national geographic panda, nintendo ds, sony

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Original post by nafiz

A report from research consultancy TDG predicts that portals like Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network will soon become formidable competitors to incumbent Pay TV services.

Leveraging broadband-enabled game consoles as the next-generation video platforms — and bypassing cable and satellite TV operators, these companies will offer a compelling alternative to traditional TV programming by providing a more immersive, interactive video experience.

The launch of Microsoft’s Experience and the Xbox Live Netflix streaming video service is a perfect example of how potent these services will soon become. There is little doubt these services are finally ready for prime time.

Even before the launch of Experience, Microsoft’s Xbox Live had amassed some 15,000 movies (1,000 of which are HD) and some 13,000 TV shows for download-to-own. The Netflix partnership adds 12,000 movies and TV programs to the mix, all for free streaming to Netflix subscribers.

Sony’s PlayStation Network has collected close to 1,000 movies and hundreds of TV programs for download-to-own. It has also announced plans to expand dramatically its video library in the next few months in order to compete with Xbox Live. 

Many thanks to Advanced-Television.

Tags: download-to-own, experience, microsoft, netflix, playstation network, sony, xbox live

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Original post by nafiz

I grew up reading PC Magazine and I looked forward each couple weeks to picking up my copy of PC Magazine at the local grocery store. But today, Ziff Davis has announced that the legendary PC Magazine print publication is shutting down its print publication and focusing exclusively on online content. This is truly a sad day… Hold on while I grab some tissues…

PC Magazine started the whole in-depth comparative reviews of PCs and Microsoft software. They expanded later to including gadgets, Ṃ players, mobile phones, GPS, and other technology. PC Magazine offered insightful tech tips and great columnists like John C. Dvorak. Back in the 80s and 90s the print publication was 400-500 pages, making for hours of tech- reading pleasure. Today, it’s down to 150 pages and soon to be 0 (January 2009).

Well, I guess it’s “greener” that way. But I for one will miss my print copy of PC Magazine.

Tags: John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine

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Original post by nafiz

The new Xbox Live look is supposed to kick off today so be sure to take a peek.

The gaming platform now includes customizable avatars, an iPod-like display and easier viewing of Netflix downloads.

It’s got to be an improvement over what was there before … or at least we hope so!

Let’s hear the feedback!

Louder!

Tags: avatar, ipod, xbox live

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Original post by nafiz

Hoping to provide viewers with an easy way to move Internet-based video onto TV screens, GridNetworks has announced a new service that would do just that by routing the content through an Xbox 360 gaming console.

The service is designed to work with any device that uses Universal Plug and Play protocols and, in the future, GridNetworks wants to be able to use Sony’s PlayStation 3 as the conduit as well.

More at Multichannel News.

Tags: gridnetworks, internet-based video, PlayStation 3, Sony, Universal Plug and Play, xbox 360

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Original post by nafiz

Researchers recently completed work on a networking solution that will synchronize the myriad personal electronic devices (aka gadgets) people will use in the not-so-distant future. 

The group, called MAGNET Beyond, was composed of researchers from 35 companies who developed an architecture to harmonize devices such as laptops, telephones, MP3 players, games and a variety of sensors.

And why is this networking project called MAGNET Beyond?

No it’s not a take-off on Bed, Bath and Beyond, but the name is an acronym for “My personal adaptive Global NET and beyond.”

Yikes!

How many researchers does it take to come up with a good acronym?

Definitely not this group! Better luck with the technology.

More at ZDnet.

Tags: bed bath and beyond, magnet beyond, zdnet

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Original post by nafiz

Get ready for a new look for Xbox Live this week when Microsoft debuts a completely new look for its gaming platform.

The date: November 19.

The new look will include customizable avatars, an iPod-like display and easier viewing of Netflix downloads.

According to Microsoft, the upgrades are meant to turn a somewhat static user interface into “a social media entertainment hub.”

So tune in later this week and let’s hear how you like it (or how you don’t).

Get more at USA Today.

Tags: avatars, ipod, microsoft, netflix, xbox live

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Original post by nafiz

Despite a worsening economy, all three current-generation video game consoles had better U.S. sales in October than they did a year ago, according to the latest figures from The NPD Group.

And both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii sold more units in October, a four-week reporting period, than in September, a five-week period. Wowwee!

Also the worst of the economic bad news had yet to hit in September.

Sony, however, saw month-over-month PlayStation 3 sales decline, while sales of its previous generation (and less expensive) PlayStation 2 remained strong. Also, the Ṕ saw the strongest year-over-year sales increase in October.

Nintendo was again the market leader, even though Microsoft cut prices on its Xbox 360 line in September, making its low-end model the least-expensive console on the market. 

More at The Seattle Times.

(Can you blame them for that seemingly pro-MS plug …)

Tags: microsoft, nintendo, npd group, playstation 2, playstation 3, sony, video game console, wii, xbox 360

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Hey there EVOLT E-520, we nearly forgot you ever existed! Just over a month after Olympus’ latest DSLR first broke cover, one particular individual has managed to corral one from an Austrian shop and snap a few stills. Reportedly, he’s planning to write up a full review, but judging by the way the initial round of shots went, we’re not so sure he’s going to keep it long enough for all of that. As Tam Hanna so bluntly put it, the “autofocus system of the E-520 is the worst [he had] ever seen on a digital camera.” Of course, we suppose it could grow on him with time, but just look at the shots in the read link and you’ll probably agree that said scenario isn′t very likely.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Rich received an email from O-FONE claiming they are the &quotFirst s60 SIP Symbian client&quot. I′m not so sure about being the &quotfirst&quot since Truphone has a SIP client for Symbian phones, so do Jajah &amp Fring — and there are others I’ve come across as well. Buzz2talk, from Indtelesoft had a SIP client for Symbian phones with PTT (push-to-talk) functionality way back in 2004. Alas, when I try and go to Indtelesoft’s website, it appears to be defunct.

Well they may not be "first", but I′ll let that marketing faux paux pass and I′ll share the news with you Symbian mobile phone fans so you can have another choice to "get your SIP on". The S60 support means you can use this SIP client on several Nokia phone models such as the Nokia E70, Nokia ỉ, Nokia Ộ, and more. Several Samsung phones such as the Samsung SGH-𑢂 and the Samsung SGH-i560 should also work.

Simply download & install O-FONE’s free software to your phone and, as long as you have WiFi or 3G cellular data access, you can use O-FONE’s low cost call termination. According to their website, "Calling other people using O-FONE is FREE (with Global plan only)". I’m going to assume "with Global only" means you have to be a paying customer. This seems a bit restrictive to me. AFAIK competitors such as Jajah grant you free calling to fellow users just by being a registered user and without forcing you to be a paying (Global plan) customer.

Nevertheless, having a SIP-enabled client native to the Symbian S60 phone is quite useful, especially if you make a lot of international phone calls. Go check them out.

Tags: mobile phone, Nokia, O-FONE, o-fone.com, S60, Samsung, SIP, Symbian, VoIP

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