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Holiday sales: How low will HDTV prices go?

Is it too early to look forward to holiday price drops while you wait to buy a new HDTV? Not if you're in the market for a no-name model, according to DealNews.com. The site predicts that plasma TV prices on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off the holiday buying spree, will fall to as low as $499 for a 42-inch model and $699 for a 50-incher. Meanwhile a $149 Blu-ray player may be in the offing, again from a no-name brand, along with $10 Blu-ray discs.

The upcoming DTV transition will help contribute to the price drops, according to the article, and as usual, plasma is less-expensive than LCD on an inch-for-inch basis. "LCD prices will remain higher than plasma, but they'll still dip considerably, with generic 42-inch 720p LCD HDTVs going for $599. Additionally, look for name-brand 46-inch or 47-inch 1080p LCD HDTVs to hit $799, and larger 52-inch 1080p HDTVs to drop to $1,199."

GiftGirl now makes group gifting, dating easier

One of my favorite sites, GiftGirl, on Monday night introduced some small but important updates that make it an even more useful tool for unimaginative boyfriends and husbands.

The first big change is that users are now able to make "unlimited" profiles, meaning they can set up virtual gift-giving profiles for multiple ladies at once. Aimed mostly at people who have a friend or family member in addition to their sweetheart, it could also conceivably be set up to help polygamists manage gift giving for multiple partners.

The site now also allows group gift giving, with a shared … Read more

Newegg reverses practice of charging New York sales tax

Online electronics retailer Newegg has stopped charging sales tax to its New York customers, according to a posting on the Consumerist.com.

The move by Newegg reverses action the online retailer took in June, in which it began to charge applicable sales tax for all shipments to New York, following passage of a new state law that required certain companies to charge sales tax on shipments to New York state.

Effective August 21, however, Newegg discontinued the practice and is leaving it up to New York residents to pay that sales tax themselves. That policy basically returns the responsibility of … Read more

BeatThat pays you to find online deals

I've mentioned in the past that I'm a frequent Slickdeals and Fatwallet user. The two are must-bookmark sites if you want to stay abreast on big savings for consumer electronics. Newcomer BeatThat might be more lucrative to deal submitters though, the voracious group of users that feeds these sites with the best deals. BeatThat is trying to woo people like this away from those sites with something a little more useful than community cred--cash.

The site is paying users up to $2 per deal on an item that's lower in price than any pulled in by its … Read more

Checkout scale identifies produce by sight

The future loves automation. Whether it's Jetsons-style powered people-movers, Henry Ford inspired assembly lines, or dystopian office filing systems, our forward thinkers have always been inspired by increasing productivity, the automated way. A new supermarket checkout system looks to be our next step into the future--at least until we have robots doing all of our shopping for us.

The new scale incorporates a camera that captures an image of non-bar-coded foods. By comparing the fruits and vegetables with images stored in a database, the system detects what type of produce it is. Consequently, the item is identified, weighed, and … Read more

Track best sellers with SmashBuys

Like top ten lists? You might like SmashBuys, a link aggregator of the best selling items on the Web. Sites included are Amazon, iTunes, VGchartz, and Downloads from Webware's sister site Download.com. There are nine in all, and clicking any link will send you straight to the product page. You can also hover over any item to learn more about it.

It was pitched to us as a PopUrls for products, which is very true, although Smashbuys users have the added benefit of seeing how popular each link is with the community. Items that get more clicks get … Read more

Web video pioneer returns with checkbook in hand

Tom McInerney, the Web video-sharing pioneer who left the sector 18 months ago, is making a comeback.

This time, however, the co-founder of video site Guba is an investor. He's one of the backers of Shopflick, a company trying to become the Web equivalent of the Home Shopping Network. The site enables apparel merchants to showcase the clothing they offer by uploading video clips. Many sellers use the opportunity to channel their inner Francis Ford Coppola.

For example, the style mavens at designer Ric Rac shot a scene of two women wearing nearly identical versions of the company's $… Read more

A calculator spawned from the keyboard

Press Windows + R, then type "calc" and enter. That's how you can quickly bring up the calculator application on your Windows computer. This is also the reason many of us do not need a physical calculator around as there's always a PC nearby. But if you are going to have a calculator, here's one worth getting--the 10 Key Calculator created by U.K. designer Sam Hecht, as seen on Boing Boing.

It doesn't really have only 10 keys, but this calculator looks very much like your computer's numeric keypad. You no longer have … Read more

Move over scratch 'n' sniff, here's Peel 'n Taste

First Flavor Inc. has developed a new way to entice potential customers into trying new products: with Peel 'n Taste flavored advertising. Soon you'll be able to stroll down the aisle of your local supermarket and try before you buy.

This updated version of the scratch 'n' sniff sticker being created by First Flavor is a new way to market and advertise products. According to the company: "Using the latest in taste-matching technology, we replicate the flavor of your product and deliver it to consumers in a compact, dissolving edible film." The actual flavor strip can then … Read more

The 404 108: Where Caroline McCarthy loves to Tumble

Veteran 404 guest Caroline McCarthy of News.com makes a guest appearance on today's borderline indecent show. We touch on Hello Kitty fetishism, Pork and Beans, Reggie Love, the perils of softcore Youtube porn, and our secret pickup tactics. This episode is rated R, recommended for adults and pubescent adolescents alike. EPISODE 108 Download today's podcast