If you’re like me, you bagged Black Friday because it’s a horrible consumer experience. I stopped at BestBuy last night, and found myself stressed by the nervous energy, manic customers, and stacks of electronics jammed into the isles. How am I supposed to know if the hysteria over “power deals” are worth the low prices?
So I’m researching CyberMonday in hopes that your Monday desktop shopping is convenient and productive. I’m also working on a video that answers the frequent question I get, “which video camera should I buy.” Tips welcome.
First, here are some top online-electronic sites, and the deals they’re offering. Who really believes the LATimes article (citing Neilsen data) that suggests CyberMonday is passe?
- Buy.com “What’s Shakin” deals
- Amazon.com CyberMonday deals
- BestBuy Cyber Monday deals
- Shop.com Cyber Monday deals
Now some price-savings & comparison sites you may or may not know about:
Google Product Search, Shopzilla, Shopping.com, GottaDeal.com, Dealnews.com, YahooShopping.com, PriceGrabber.com, Shoppingg.com, Bizrate.com, Nextag.com, MySimon, Bing.com Shopping, QueenofCheap, Overstock.com 5-star deals, Dealtime.com.
CNET’s Rick Broida has a nice site called “Cheapskate,” that spotlights nice electronic deals all year round. You need to watch frequently, because many of his hidden gems vanish days after he posts.
Again- I welcome any additional sites… comment below! Remember, kiddies, free shipping and deep discounts on crappy electronics isn’t the point.
I’m poor so I can’t buy products online… I have to actually go to the store and steal it.
We’re on the same page, Nutcheese
From the lesbian gazette: there’s something creepy about a man and a woman hugging:
http://bit.ly/70OViA
I did a Buy Nothing Day [click above] on my blog
Added were suggestions on simple cheap, but nice things to make. btw, got any? Leave ideas in the comments, I’ll give ya credit!
I guess I’m encouraging savings this year or contributing to the collapse of the economy.
I did peruse the sites and other than a few, very few, great deals, i saw nothing worth buying so any temptation to buy junk wasn’t so great or hard not to do.
I guess we’re in the deflation inflation part of the new depression.
Anyways, I’m sticking with food, I make some mean breads and cashing in the gift cards and not buying any more and using cash. Did you know there are billions of dollars in unused gift cards out there? That’s like giving stores free money – Who does that?
I bought a desktop in February and a netbook just a couple of weeks ago, so I’m pretty much set computer-wise for a year or two.
About the “Which video camera should I buy?”:
I have a Casio Exilim EX-FH20 which probably isn’t the best choice for most people, but if you are interested in high speed video at a reasonable price there aren’t a whole lot of other options available. You can upgrade to the EX-F1 or downgrade to the EX-FC100, but Casio pretty much has a monopoly in this niche market (last I checked anyway).
If you’re interested, you can check out some slow motion videos I’ve done. Look for my Slow-Motion playlist on my YouTube channel (click link). The first video on the list is by far my most popular (maybe because I uploaded it on birthday of Nalts, the Viral Video Genius), but the second is my favorite on the playlist.
Woah, I just noticed it’s snowing on your blog. Fancy!
Yeah, but that ghastly orange background makes it look like it’s snowing on Titan or something.
@7 Moons of Saturn FTW!
Reminds me of the good old days doing theoretical astrophysics at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories in California. I studied the Galilean moons of Jupiter (particularly their formation via the accretion disc model) not those of Saturn though.
Great. Now I’m feeling all nostalgic.
Too bad nostalgia just ain’t what it used to be.
My cameras, which thus far, have treated me pretty darn well:
Consumer: Panasonic PV-GS300 — Got it in Feb ’07 for about $600… Small, easy-to-operate, shoots broadcast quality, great for everyday shooting
Pro: Upgraded recently to the Canon XH-A1… Shoots in standard and HD… More of a learning curve on this one… It’s still smarter than me, but I’m getting better at it as I learn technique a little better… Definitely more high-end, with the price tag to prove it… got it at BH Photo & Video online…
I bought way way too many toys this year. The cost of businesss being off and too much time on the internets. Ebay,Newegg,Compusa, Guitarcenter,Bestbuy..they all think that they are my best friend now.Guitarcenter actually called on Friday wondering where I was? (wanders off to freeze all his credit cards in a block of ice)
So did anybody get trampled to death or shot over the latest gaming system this year? I don’t read the news much. Was this Black Friday very eventful?
@8 JPL? Wow! Sweet.
Doesn’t everyone agree that the moons were formed via the accretion disk model? Wasn’t the whole solar system, for that matter? Are there other plausible theories?
Actually there are a number of other theories, captured body, giant impact derived. Only bodies as old as the solar system were accreted. If you are talking about it in very basic terms I suppose you could say every particle in the solar system might have accreted in the very beginning but most of the larger structures have changed since then.
It is widely accepted that even Earth’s moon is the product of a Giant Impact event.
Impact for Earth’s moon, I know, but not for the moons of the gas giants, I thought.
Aren’t their rings basically the remnants of those accretion disks?
And I’m not really actually asking questions. I know the answers already.
Lots of stuff bouncing around out there. I read recently that rings are created by many different events. One of Jupiter’s rings is the direct result of volcanic out-gassing from Io. One of the theories is that parts of the Saturn system are the ground up remnants of moons. They speculate that rings are transient structures that will eventually evaporate.
Still doesn’t rule out captured objects, even from outside the Solar System. There is a lot of junk left in the Oort Cloud too.
@16 Sorry.. didn’t get that last post..
duhh
Good answer @17. I’ll be interested to hear more from the JPL guy.
I love the WVFF back row! Such an eclectic collection of intriguing internet denizens.
@16 Just a word to the wise, try to be careful what you say you know. Astrophysics is a tricky thing. Just because something is the dominant hypothesis doesn’t make it true. There are still plenty of unresolved issues with the impact hypothesis for the moon; it’s just the best model we have at the moment. Plenty of stuff concerning the formation of various things the universe can’t ever really be known for certain. You’ll always have trouble with repeatability and falsifiability with things that happened long long ago, far far away. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth looking into though.
Scientists like to think they have things figured out, but don’t be surprised if the current big bang dogma collapses under its own weight within the next 50 years if they have to keep inventing stuff like dark energy and inflation theory in order for things to make sense.
@20 Yeah, I think the Voyager paradox proves that but watching the game develop is still fun. The trick is correctly applying a physical interpretation that tends to fit the theories.
Last I checked the observational evidence still supported that the Sun is the center of our solar system. At least they got that one right…finally. Maybe… I hope…. ;o)
@21 Yeah, the heliocentric model seems pretty solid. When they start talking about the various multiverse and p-brane theories it’s more or less an exercise in mental masturbation though.
@20 Yeah, I know (oops, did it again). I just want to make it clear that I often ask rhetorical questions, and I’m not just confused all the time.
This conversation was a gas! 😉
Who would’ve guessed there were smart people here?
@24 Methane maybe? Based on the new background color.
thank you for your congratulation