shopping

Because I'm The Cheapskate, this is the time of year when people nudge me and say, "Bet you're getting pretty excited about Black Friday, huh?"

You know Black Friday: it's the day after Thanksgiving, the day when stores, both brick-and-mortar and click-and-order, serve up the very best deals of the year, slashing prices so low you'll be willing to freeze your butt off in an overnight line like you were waiting for Stones tickets.

But, frankly, I'm not that excited. In fact, allow me to confess: only once in my life have I … Read more

PayPal is getting competitive for the holidays. The payment service will refund customers up to $1,000 if they find that an item purchased through PayPal is advertised for cheaper elsewhere during the holiday season.

From today through December 31, PayPal will price-match your purchases with a limit of $250 on a single item, according to a blog post from PayPal Shopping Specialist Claudia Lombana.

"If the item you purchase is advertised for lower with any merchant within 30 days of purchase, you can receive a reimbursement for the difference," Lombana writes. "It doesn't matter if … Read more

When there was no choice about shopping, stores did as they pleased.

If they decided that the holiday season began when the clocks went back, then shoppers had to endure it.

Now, however, shoppers don't have to populate malls where the restrooms are clean, but the fountains are dirty.

Now, they have the Web.

It seems, indeed, that this year might represent an even greater rebellion against holiday decorations adorning stores before Thanksgiving.

I am speaking with the assurance of a drunken pollster, because I have before my eyes a survey performed on behalf of a cloud and mobile … Read more

Apple's retail empire is still expanding.

The company today said it plans to open another 30 to 35 retail stores during its 2013 fiscal year, which wraps up next September. About three-quarters of those stores would be located outside the United States, the company said.

The mention came inside the company's annual report, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon. Apple added that it plans to spend about $850 million on the expansion, as well as investment into its current retail infrastructure.

The plans fall in line with Apple's retail store … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- A device to call your mom when you crash your bike.

- Stop the madness: 3D-printed headphones?!

- A jacket that hugs you for getting "Likes" on Facebook.

- Target adds QR codes to hot holiday toys for secret shopping.

- Also, New York is about to have QR codes everywhere soon.

Bathroom break video: Salt Lake from Lance follows up… Read more

For those who were amused by tonight's presidential debate, there will have been either the audacity of hope or the fright of despair.

But I cannot sit and wait to hear what the pundits think. For I have real data about what real people are really thinking.

It comes from a survey conducted on behalf of SOASTA, a cloud and mobile testing company that helped NASA prepare for its curious Mars landing.

SOASTA wanted to look ahead to see how real people see the holiday shopping season, given the economic uncertainty that is lashing at our fleshy parts.

And … Read more

Resident Evil has always been heavy on the removal of parts from bodies. A recent PR stunt just makes it all a little more real. To hype the release of Resident Evil 6, Capcom briefly opened a human butcher shop in London called Wesker & Son.

The edible meats, shaped by a food artist, took the forms of all sorts of people parts, ranging from torsos to hands to naughtier bits that will make guys cringe. It's as if Lorena Bobbitt was called in for a consultation.… Read more

Some things were never meant to go together, but that hasn't stopped some insane mechanics from fitting a honking V8 engine to a shopping cart to create the Shopper Chopper hot rod.

Admittedly, this isn't just a stock shopping cart stolen from the grocery store parking lot. It's custom built to accommodate a height of more than 9 feet and a length of more than 12 feet. You could fit a lot of cereal boxes and Doritos into this monster, but it's already fitted with seating capacity for six people.… Read more