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Black Friday is almost here, and if you're the type who likes to avoid the shopping rush like the plague, I may have the perfect collection of iPad apps for you.

Instead of getting up early and waiting in crowded lines for the doors to open, how about sitting on your couch with an iPad and a cup of coffee, and getting your holiday shopping done in peace? It's true that you probably won't get the super mega deals found by doing the leg work at your local retail outlet, but you'll also run zero risk of being trampled by overexcited shoppers.

While this collection is focused on the iPad (simply because it's easier to see the items you're buying), you could just as easily get any of these apps for smaller iOS devices.… Read more

As you can imagine, there are tons of Black Friday apps in the Android Market, most of which do the same thing--aggregate holiday sale items.

Sure, you can download them all to make sure you've got your bases covered, but we're thinking you probably don't want to be fumbling through an unwieldy app drawer while throwing elbows in department store aisles. So, we've taken the time to highlight just the essential Android apps for hunting down all the hottest deals come Black Friday.

Just in time for Black Friday and the holiday-shopping season to follow, Yipit has released an iOS app that aggregates offers from Groupon, Living Social, and over 800 other daily deals sites. Like most daily deals sites, the Yipit app works best if you live in a major metro area. The app is free, however, and lets you select categories so that you get a manageable list of deals to sift through.

After you launch the app, it'll ask you to allow it to know your location. If you allow it, you won't have to then select your city (or the nearest large city) from the list. In my case, I'm located in Concord, NH, and the closest city to me that Yipit listed was Boston. (One reason I signed up for Living Social is that it has a Southern New Hampshire category, which will occasionally surface a deal in my town or the surrounding area.)… Read more

The TGI Black Friday app doesn't just provide you with a comprehensive listing of Black Friday deals, it also gives you some nifty tools to make sure your shopping experience goes smoothly.

The most important part of the TGI Black Friday app is, of course, the coupons. The app, along with its sister site tgiblackfriday.com, aggregates an enormous number of Black Friday advertisements, many of which are leaked up to a month ahead of time. The coupons from these ads are then listed in the app, and can be browsed by date added, store name, or category. Don'… Read more

With a tap of your finger, Amazon's Price Check app for iPhone lets you cross-check prices against those on Amazon.com. Big time shoppers should definitely consider adding it to their download queues.

Using Price Check is as simple as it gets. Just fire it up, and point your phone's camera at the bar code of a product while you're out shopping. The app will then pull up the matching product (if available) for you to see its price on Amazon.com. If you can't access the bar code, you can also search by typing or … Read more

With a tap of your finger, Amazon's Price Check app for Android lets you cross-check prices against those on Amazon.com. Big-time shoppers should definitely consider adding it to their app drawers.

Using Price Check is as simple as it gets. Just fire it up, and point your phone's camera at the bar code of a product while you're out shopping. The app will then pull up the matching product (if available) for you to see its price on Amazon.com. If you can't access the bar code, you can also search by typing or saying … Read more

To use Shopkick, simply download the app, and fire it up whenever you're out shopping. Then, just by making supported purchases, scanning items, or even walking into featured retailers, you'll start earning "kickbucks," which can be redeemed for gift cards, free merchandise, and more. You can also earn kickbucks by "checking in" to specific commercials you're watching, or by sharing the app with friends.

The other half of Shopkick is the deals. Whenever you're in a featured store, be sure to check the app to see if any coupons are available. If … Read more

GeoQpons is a brilliantly simple app that pulls up coupons based on your GPS location. Just fire it up when you're out, and it will scan its database for any discounts available nearby. You can browse through available coupons based on distance or alphabetically by retailer's name. There's also a convenient Favorite feature that lets you save stores that you visit often. This keeps you from having to scroll exhaustively through listings every time you're out.

We also love the added conveniences that GeoQpons offers, like the Shopping List, Discount Calculator, and bar code scanner. While … Read more

Less than two weeks from now, thousands, if not millions, of us will once again gear up for yet another annual retail scramble.

Black Friday kicks off shopping for the holiday season and is one of the busiest events for most major retailers. We're here to offer some tools to help you take advantage of the many deals across different stores and get the most out of this hectic day. All you'll need is some light planning, caffeine, and an Android phone to run some handy apps.

Behind every successful shopping story lies a well-thought-out master plan. Researching … Read more