Deals

Taking a peek at the big Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, there are plenty of big-screen TVs and cameras, but not quite as many laptops. That's surprising, because based on the extreme interest readers expressed for Walmart's $298 Celeron-powered Compaq laptop earlier in November, we suspect a lot of people will be looking for laptop bargains during the holiday weekend.

Industry watchers say many of the deals this year aren't particularly exciting, so you may have to dig a little deeper to find a bargain. Here are a few of the Black Friday laptop deals we spotted … Read more

According to I4U, Alienware will soon be offering a $200 instant discount on the Area 51 m17x Notebook (which starts from $1,999) and the Area 51 790i Desktop (which starts from $1,349). This deal will be available from November 26 until December 2, and free shipping is available until December 31.

We reviewed the Alienware Area 51 m17x in September and were really impressed with its performance. However, $200 isn't that much of a deal for this kind of beast, but if you're a fan of the systems then I guess you can't look a … Read more

Update, Monday 7:08 a.m. PST: Added information on Wal-Mart's Black Friday deals.

Usually Black Friday is a good time of year for consumers and retailers. It's when retailers get "in the black" by getting rid of a lot of excess inventory through offering drastic discounts.

This year is different. The economy has crumbled, consumers plan on spending less, and at least for those shopping for electronics, there are fewer viable options with many Circuit City stores set to close.

Some bargain hunters have complained that, so far, they haven't seen as many great … Read more

If you're a regular reader you know I'm a sucker for deals sites. Enterprising iPhone developer Joseph Kiok is too--enough of one to write an app called FreshDeals that keeps tabs on 15 different deals sites to help you find and track the latest bargains.

While something like this would have probably been a better idea pre-economic downturn, one thing it excels at is weeding out the old deals from the new. The sites are refreshed every couple of minutes, and in turn each deal is given a time stamp and a rating from "fresh" to &… Read more

Google and Yahoo are in early-stage negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department to avoid an antitrust challenge to their proposed advertising agreement, according to a report Monday night in The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department and a multistate task force are still reviewing the proposal to decide whether to oppose the partnership, which has been criticized by advertising groups as anticompetitive. In September, the Justice Department hired antitrust litigator Sandy Litvack as a consultant in its networking and technology unit to weigh whether the case could be won at trial, say sources.

Under the nonexclusive partnership, which … Read more

Update 11:50 a.m. PDT, with additional M&A data from investment banking services firm The Jordan, Edmiston Group.

Tech mergers and acquisitions took a dive in the third quarter, with spending falling by a third compared with the same period last year, as Wall Street investment banks and financial institutions were rocked to the core, according to a report released Wednesday by The 451 Group.

Tech deals fell to 691 transactions with a total value of $37 billion in the third quarter, down from 822 deals and a value of $58 billion a year ago. That marked … Read more

Having a hard time explaining Google's Chrome browser to your tech-backward friends or family members? Play them this 12-minute Real Deal podcast, in which I cover just the highlights of Chrome, a few of its downsides, and why Chrome matters even if you don't use it. Listen now: Download the podcast

Want more info? See our Chrome roundup page.

Google is once again running its back-to-school savings promotion that gives anyone a $5 to $10 discount on purchases made at one of the partnered stores using its Checkout service. Online shoppers must spend a certain amount at each store to get the discount, although unlike some previous promotions the discounts are not limited per user or per retailer, meaning you can come back multiple times to get the discount as long as you're hitting the minimum.

The much more interesting story is how well Microsoft's Live Search cash back program seems to have been going since its launch … Read more

Shoeboxed and Price Protectr, two sites we've written about in the past, joined forces on Monday in a partnership that's downright helpful to deal hunters. Any receipts sent in to the receipt scanning service will be parsed over for product names, then sent over to Price Protectr. If something you bought goes down in price within the return or exchange date, you'll be notified--potentially saving you some cash. That is as long as you've manually entered that item into Price Protectr.

Since Shoeboxed keeps copies of all your receipts, you can simply print out a copy … Read more