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Black Friday 2011! 5 Killer Sites to Give You a Headstart on Holiday Shopping

Brian Mongold — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:59:42 +0000

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and the day that kick-starts the holiday shopping season. Black Friday originally started in 1966 and has been referred to as the busiest shopping day of the year, continually cracking the top 5 sales days each year.

With Black Friday 2011 quickly approaching, it’s time to start preparing for the mega-shopping event. While many rush the stores to see which items are on sale, the sites identified below will do all the homework for you. You’ll find all the best deals, coupon codes and more in both online stores and your local stores.

Don’t wait for a newspaper or fliers to be mailed to you. Instead, keep tabs on one or more of the sites below. They’ll give you the headstart you need to find the best early Black Friday deals in both online shopping and with in-store purchases.

DealNews.com’s Black Friday

Excellent site that provides the best bargains and coupon codes. This Black Friday portion of the site brings you Black Friday ads sorted by store, category, hottest, or deals. My favorite category is “hottest,” which displays the very best individual deals, rated on a 5 star scale.

Deal Taker.com’s Black Friday Deals

Find Black Friday advertisements, Black Friday sales, coupons and all the latest deals, brought to you by DealTaker.com. They hit all your favorite sites, such as Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon, Target and many more.

Black Friday 2011 (bfads.net)

Read the latest Black Friday updates and keep up with the hot deals, ad scans, Black Friday guides and more.

Black Friday 2011 Thanksgiving Day Black Friday Ads (black-friday.net)

Check out all the Black Friday ads, create your own shopping list so you don’t forget about the deals, see which products are the most popular and surf all the latest online deals.

Black Friday GottaDeal (blackfriday.gottadeal.com)

Keep up to date on the latest store ads, sort the sales by store, sort by category or sign up to be notified when new ads from your favorite stores are posted.

What’s your favorite Black Friday site? Looking to purchase anything in particular this shopping season? I typically use DealNews.com to find the best deals, but find all the sites listed above quite useful. This year, I can’t say I’m targeting any particular product, but will be on the lookout for a good deal online. Doubt I’ll take on the crowd this year.

5 Hot Black Friday Deals on Laptops

Brian Mongold — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 22:30:34 +0000

Shopping for a laptop, but having trouble deciphering which deals look to be the best? I was scouring the net for some great deals and eventually landed on my favorite deal website, Dealnews.com. From Deal News, I was able to identify five of the hottest deals available on laptops.

I’ve chosen the five best I saw below, but take a look at the entire listing for even more great deals. Note: the descriptions below are quoted from Deal News.com.

Dell Inspiron 15N5030 Pentium Dual-Core 2.3GHz 15.6″ Notebook

$399.99 with Free Shipping, today only

Today only, Dell Home offers the Dell Inspiron 15 N5030 Pentium Dual-Core 2.3GHz 15.6″ Widescreen Notebook in 3D Black for $449.99. Coupon code “F1R5XQ?9X7B70W” drops it to $399.99. With free shipping, that’s $50 under our mention of a similar configuration from earlier today; however, this system includes less RAM. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include an Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4500 2.3GHz processor, 15.6″ 1366×768 LED-backlit widescreen LCD, 3GB RAM, 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11n wireless, webcam, 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Alienware M11x Intel Core 2 Duo 1.3 GHz 11.6″ Notebook

$549 with Free Shipping, deal ends 29 Nov 10

Dell Home offers the Alienware M11x Intel Core 2 Duo 1.3GHz 11.6″ Widescreen Notebook in Cosmic Black for $599. With free shipping, that’s $200 off, $30 under our September mention, and the least expensive Alienware M11x we’ve ever seen. Sales tax is added where applicable. This gaming laptop features an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz (overclockable to 1.73GHz) dual-core processor, 11.6″ 1366×768 LED-backlit LCD display, 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M 1GB video card, 802.11a/n wireless, webcam, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Deal ends November 29. Note that this system does not include an optical drive. (An external drive can be added for an additional cost.) Update: Add coupon code “BHW1L0MX0D?MCX” to lower it to $549.

HP G62t Intel Core i5 2.53 GHz 15.6″ Notebook

$554.99 with $19 shipping

HP Home & Home Office Store offers the HP G62t Intel Core i5 2.53GHz 15.6″ Widescreen Notebook, model no. WV773AV, for $554.99 with $19 for shipping. That’s the lowest total price we’ve seen for an HP G62t notebook with a Core i5 CPU. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include an Intel Core i5-460M 2.53GHz dual-core processor, 15.6″ 1366×768 LED-backlit widescreen LCD, 3GB RAM, 500GB 5400 rpm hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11n wireless, 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

HP G62x Intel Core i3 2.26GHz 15.6″ Notebook

$499.99 with Free Shipping, deal ends 19 Dec 10

For members, Costco offers the 5.5-lb. HP g62x Intel Core i3 2.26GHz 15.6″ Widescreen Notebook for $499.99 with free shipping. (Non-members pay $25 more.) That’s $100 off and the lowest total price we’ve ever seen for a Core i3 4GB/500GB 16″ HP laptop by $50. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include an Intel Core i3-350M 2.26GHz dual-core processor, 15.6″ 1366×768 widescreen LED-backlit LCD with HDMI out, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, card reader, 802.11n wireless, webcam, 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Deal ends December 19.

Dell Inspiron 15z Pentium Dual-Core 1.3GHz 15.6″ Notebook

$399.99 with $19.99 for shipping, deal ends 30 Nov 10

Costco offers its members the 5.8-lb. Dell Inspiron 15z Pentium Dual-Core 1.3GHz 15.6″ Widescreen Notebook in Obsidian Black for $399.99 with $19.99 for shipping. (Non-members pay $20 more.) That’s just a buck over July’s mention (which featured a smaller hard drive and 4-cell battery) and the most well-equipped Inspiron 15z laptop we’ve seen at this price point. Sales tax is added where applicable. This 1″-thin notebook features an Intel Pentium Dual-Core SU4100 1.3GHz processor, 15.6″ 1366×768 LED-backlit widescreen LCD, 3GB RAM, 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11a/g wireless, 1.3-megapixel webcam, 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Deal ends November 30.

Free Gifts to Kick Off Your Black Friday! The Velveteen Rabbit & Night Before Christmas

Brian Mongold — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 02:21:42 +0000

Great news! Ruckus Media is kicking off Black Friday and the holiday season by offering The Velveteen Rabbit storybook iPhone and iPad App FREE. This promo launches tonight and will run until Monday, November 29th at midnight.

As mentioned in my recent review, The Velveteen Rabbit is a classic tale that chronicles a stuffed rabbit and his quest to become real through the love of his owner. This award-winning classic tale is my choice for best value for your buck with 25 minutes of video playback and 112 pages of page-swiping enjoyment. The app is narrated by Meryl Streep and features music by Pianist George Winston.

Also being offered in this promotion is their recently launched app, The Night Before Christmas. This is another Meryl Streep narrated app I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Learn more about this amazing promotion in their recent press release.

In addition to these apps, Ruckus Media will be launching Andrew Answers and A Present for Milo in the coming weeks. Other apps to look for include Gridlocks and The Three Bears (narrated by Meg Ryan), The Three Little Pigs (narrated by Holly Hunter) and The Steadfast Tin Soldier.

Before you go dropping big money this Black Friday, why not start off your shopping season by getting your children two great gifts (valued at $3.99 each) for free. Act fast before this promotion ends.

Free Black Friday iPhone Apps to Beat the Crowds & Save

Brian Mongold — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:28:11 +0000

Black Friday is one week away! Are you ready for the exciting, yet chaotic Black Friday adventure? Obviously Black Friday is still on my mind as it is on the minds of many of you. Is shopping exciting for me? No. Is finding an amazing deal on a gift for myself or others exciting? Oh yeah!

While your favorite stores rush to send off their Black Friday Sales Fliers, why not get ahead of the game? Who needs to wait for a local newspaper or sales flier to make it to your mailbox? Not this guy.

I’ve scoured the App Store, trying out more Black Friday, shopping, coupon and deal-related apps than I’d like to admit and have narrowed down the 5 best I believe will help you make the most out of Black Friday. Whether you’re planning to visit local stores or just shop online, these apps have you covered.

BlackFriday2010

This app has two browsing modes: Browse Ads and Top Deals. Within the Browse Ads section, you can view the Black Friday Ad, view listed products or visit the store website. Top Deals chooses the best deals from all the stores and lists them for you. Each listing displays a product image & info, deal specifics and active dates. I was able to find a Refurbished 16GB WiFi iPad for $449, magazine subscriptions for $4 and more.

Shopkick

This app is a bit different from the rest as it makes shopping fun and rewarding. It uses your location to find deals closest to you. As deals are displayed, you can go to the store and display the discount code on your phone to the cashier. I saw a $25 off $100 coupon, accessed the deal, then received the coupon code to show the cashier while being leveled up in the process. In addition to finding the great deals, you can collect rewards, such as gift cards, just for walking into a store, scanning a product or checking in.

TGI BlackFriday

TGI Black Friday shows you two different views in Popular Deals and Newest Ads. You can then sort by store, category or even search for a product. My favorite feature of this app is the ability to quickly view the different deals and either email it to yourself or add it to My List. As you’re browsing, keep a running list of all the best deals that interest you and reference the list anytime from the app.

BlackFriday powered by DealNews

Ahh, my favorite money savings store had to be included in the listing. Just like DealNews.com, this app rocks! The different views consist of Stores, Categories, Search, Deals and My List. Within the Stores view, you get all the stores listed alphabetically with the number of ads for each. My aspect of the app is the Deals, which display all the newest deals and Hottness rating. If you see a deal you like, click save and it’s added to My List.

Groupon

This app isn’t Black Friday specific, but the amount of money you can save made it worthy of the listing. Groupon currently is available in 70 cities and offers one or more deals each day, depending upon merchants in the city. Deals offered are typically pretty significant, with as much as 50% or more off products, entertainment and more. Within the app, you can quickly see the deals closest to you, view any related discussion and purchase from the app. You then redeem them by simply showing the cashier your phone.

What’s your favorite iPhone or iPod Touch App you’ll be using this holiday season? Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know what you think.

5 Free Android Apps to Pwn Your Holiday Shopping

Brian Mongold — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:29:41 +0000

If you’re like me, you aren’t the most prepared shopper. I’m not a coupon clipper, an early bird or one who typically plans in advance. Give me an opportunity to just shop online, rather than visit the store, and I’m already surfing the net. Well, the good news for Android users is that this holiday season doesn’t have to be like the others. Today, I wanted to give you five useful apps that will inform you on all the deals, let you be prepared with your shopping list, quickly calculate discounts, price shop and even give you electronic discounts at your finger tips. Happy Shopping!

TGI Black Friday

5 Stars, 5 ratings, 5k to 1k downloads, Download

Though it’s a brand new app on the market, TGI Black Friday looks promising and will come in quite handy for Black Friday. It shows you all the early Black Friday ads for the major retail stores, gives you a way to make your own personalized shopping list and email it, price comparison and downloadable PDF ad scans.

OI Shopping List

4.42 Stars, 7k ratings, >250k downloads, Download

If you’re going shopping, you need to have an app for your shopping list. What I like about the OI Shopping List is that you can keep track of your shopping items with both quantity and price, while using checklists and shopping to-do lists. A good alternative to OI Shopping List is Evernote.

Discount Calculator

4.40 Stars, 2k ratings, >250k downloads, Download

This simple app is exactly what’s in the name. Within all the Black Friday ads, you’ll see countless discounts represented by percentage. Rather than working math problems, this app will let you focus on shopping and do the calculations for you. You’ll quickly see how much you’ll save for the sales items, along with what the final price will be.

ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner

4.37 Stars, 50k ratings, >250k downloads, Download

ShopSaavy is a handy tool to have when you’re in-store shopping. You just launch the app, then aim your camera at any barcode. Once it beeps, you’ll get a list of all the prices for that same product online and in your local stores. This can save you some big bucks this holiday season.

The Coupons App

4.68 Stars, 49k ratings, >250k downloads, Download

Of course your shopping experience wouldn’t be the same without coupons. Who wants to clip out and carry around coupons though? This app requires no scissors and does all the work for you. The widget provides real-time coupons for your favorite stores, restaurants, etc. You can use the barcode scanner to price match, share your coupons via email/Facebook/Twitter, save your coupon and even use the voice search to find the coupon you’re looking for. All you do is show the cashier the coupon on your phone when you check out.

What’s your favorite shopping apps for the Android? If I missed any of your favorites, tell me about it.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday In-Store Coupons & Online Discount Codes

Brian Mongold — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:32:26 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving! Once the dust settles and you’ve gotten your fill of Turkey, quality family time and football, its time to switch gears and get ready for one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Of course I’m talking about Black Friday, when all your favorite stores break out with some of their finest deals of the year. Recently, I posted 8 $uper Sites to Find the Best 2009 Black Friday Deals, Advertisements and Coupons. Today, being that Black Friday is tomorrow and Cyber Monday is just around the corner, I wanted to dedicate another post to share all the best in Black Friday Coupons, that enable you to use in-store and discount codes for online shopping.

DealTaker’s A to Z Coupon Codes, Discount Codes Promotion Codes & Savings

A nice A to Z listing of all the participating stores with Black Friday and Cyber Monday in-store coupons and discount codes for shopping online.

DealNews’ Black Friday Printable Coupon Roundup

These coupons are sorted by Clothing, Home, & Accessories, Health & Beauty, Electronics, Food and Miscellaneous. Here is a short excerpt from their listing. To see the entire list, continue reading at DealNews’ Black Friday Printable Coupon Roundup:

Get more out of your Black Friday purchases with these in-store coupons.

Clothing, Home, & Accessories

Ace Hardware: On Saturday, November 28, take 50% off any one regular-priced item of $30 or less via this printable coupon.
Avenue: On November 27 only, bring this printable coupon to any participating Avenue store for $5 sweaters and a free pair of gloves.
Big 5 Sporting Goods: Get 20% off any one regular-priced item via this printable coupon. Offer expires November 29 at 7:30 pm.
BJ’s Wholesale Club: Enjoy a free 60-day trial membership via this printable coupon. Offer ends December 31.
Coach Factory: Take an extra 25% off select items via this printable coupon. (Many items are already 25% to 60% off.) Deal ends November 29.
Home Depot: Receive 20% off all Ryobi paint products via this mail-in rebate. Rebate expires December 1.
JCPenney: Take $15 off purchases of $75 or more via this printable coupon. Or take $10 off purchases of $50 or more via the above-mentioned coupon. Offer valid November 27 from 3 pm to closing only.
Modell’s: For MVP Customers only, receive 20% off your total purchase of regularly-priced items via this printable coupon. Offer ends December 13.

Sam’s Club: Receive a free 1-day Sam’s Club guest pass via this printable coupon. Pass expires December 31.

Keepcash.com’s Online Coupons & Discount Codes by Store

Coupons sorted by store, A to Z. One of the easiest and most user friendly layouts I’ve seen. It’s quick and simple to find the store you want and get the best coupons and discount codes.

BlackFriday@GottaDeal’s Black Friday Deals Online

If you don’t want to fight the crowd on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Black Friday@ GottaDeal has a list of deals you can take advantage of from your home computer. They also provide a handy “Start Date” and “End Date” so you know whether the deals have already begun and when they’ll end.

DealCatcher’s Free Online Coupons

Use their search function to search for coupons from thousands of stores or view coupons by Popular Coupons, New Coupons, Expiring Coupons, or simply view by List Stores. Here’s an excerpt from the site, but to view all the available coupons, be sure to visit DealCatcher’s Free Online Coupons.

8 $uper Sites to Find the Best 2009 Black Friday Deals, Advertisements & Coupons

Brian Mongold — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:14:38 +0000

Black Friday is just 9 days away! Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and a day which kicks off the Christmas shopping season.Dating back to 1966, Black Friday is typically referred to as the busiest retail shopping day of the year. It typically cracks the top 5 in volume of sales on an annual basis. Rather than waiting for a newspaper or snail mail to inform you about the great Black Friday deals and coupons, the sites below will give you the headstart you need to find deals online and in stores. Though Black Friday begins in a little over a week, many sales have already began. Here’s 8 sites to help you keep up-to-date on all the best Black Friday Deals and Ads.

Deal Taker’s Black Friday Deals

Find Black Friday online sales, coupons and Black Friday Ads from top retailers. This site provides a nice compilation of the best Black Friday deals and ads.

BlackFriday.info

Black Friday deals by store, category or news updates. Register free and maintain your shopping list or view coupons and discount codes from A to Z.

DealNews Black Friday Ads

Excellent site that provides the best bargains and coupon codes. This Black Friday portion of the site brings you Black Friday news and currently 6800+ advertisements and deals categorized in 39 stores.

Need more? Here are 5 other outstanding Black Friday sites!
Black Friday 2009 (bfads.net)
Black Friday 2009 Thanksgiving Day Black Friday Ads (black-friday.net)
Black Friday GottaDeal (blackfriday.gottadeal.com)
The Black Friday (theblackfriday.com)
TGI Black Friday (tgiblackfriday.com)

What’s your favorite Black Friday site? Looking to purchase anything in particular this shopping season? I typically use DealNews.com to find the best deals, but find all the sites listed above quite useful. I’m waiting for a deal on a new GPS and possibly a new BlackBerry, such as the Storm 2 or BlackBerry Tour.