friday

Friday Poll: What else should Google Cr-48 have?

This week, Google demoed a Chrome OS laptop, the Cr-48 (or Chromebook, as some are calling it). At the moment, it's a generic-looking black box meant for testing and development and not a product you'll be seeing on Best Buy shelves.

But that doesn't mean it won't make it onto your desk or into your backpack one day, and gadgeteers are already putting the 12.1-inch, Atom-powered prototype through its paces and sharing early impressions of its hardware and software.

CNET's Seth Rosenblatt, for example, calls the Cr-48 a major step forward for cloud computing, … Read more

Friday Poll: Anxious about cell phone radiation?

This week, CNET updated its running list of the 20 cell phones with the highest specific absorption rate (SAR) levels. Debate over phone radiation danger has been going on for years, but it may be on more people's minds with all the talk about potential hazards of TSA body scanners.

The fact is that cell phones do emit radiation; it's part of how they work. We're not saying cell phones are dangerous, and we're not saying they're not. We're just stating the facts as we've measured them. To be fair, we also recently … Read more

Cyber Monday sales score major gain over last year

Cyber Monday appears to have been a huge hit among consumers this year.

According to Coremetrics, a division of IBM, online sales yesterday were up 19.4 percent, compared to Cyber Monday 2009. The average consumer's online order value was $194.89, representing an 8.3 percent gain over the average order value of $180.03 in 2009. Coremetrics also found that luxury goods sales were up 24.3 percent, compared to Cyber Monday 2009.

Coremetrics also reported that total sales on Cyber Monday were 31.1 percent higher than Black Friday's online sales. However, the research firm … Read more

Newegg touts 27-inch monitors for Cyber Monday

Last week, I posted news on Newegg's Black Friday monitor specials. Today, the online vendor coughed up a couple of impressive new monitor deals.

As of this posting, only two are available at heavily discounted prices:

Monitor Was Is Hanns-G HZ281HPB 27.5-inch $270 $180 LG E2350V-SN 23-inch $270 $180

The 404 717: Where we don't call you Shirley (podcast)

Before we get into today's Cyber Monday madness, we're taking a moment to pay tribute to Leslie Nielsen, who passed away yesterday at age 84 from pneumonia complications. His repertoire includes some of our favorites, like the "Naked Gun" series and of course "Airplane"--RIP to one of the most influential comedians of our time.

Today is Cyber Monday, the magical post-Thanksgiving day when online stores slash their virtual prices to give shoppers a hint of what happened in person on Black Friday.

According to Coremetrics, online sales on Black Friday went up 15.9 percent from last year, thanks to social-networking Web sites spreading the instant word on shopping tips and real-time inventory updates. The company also noticed a rise in "surgical shopping," with people focusing on specific products instead of randomly browsing.

Check out CNET's Cyber Monday Gift Guide to stay updated on today's best deals, including $89 Amazon Kindle e-Readers, console and computer games starting at 90 cents, and more.

Wilson also surprises us with a 4Loko that he picked up this morning for breakfast. The FDA actually banned all eight flavors as of this week after several kids died from alcohol poisoning, also called the Four Loko "aftereffects." Think we're kidding? Check out what happens to the dude who goes on a 24-hour Four Loko Diet.

Plenty of voice mails to play today, with special thanks to Blake Stevenson for making us this poster featuring MC TerrorByte and the Yu Tang Clan! Blake became the unofficial 404 artist after winning our 404 logo competition, so be sure to add him on Twitter and fan him up on Facebook!

Episode 717 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Black Friday's online sales rise over last year

This year's Black Friday saw a healthy rise in online sales, according to stats out today from ComScore.

Cybershoppers collectively plunked down $648 million online on Friday, a gain of 9 percent over the same day last year. Thanksgiving, a day where people typically spend more time filling their bellies than emptying their wallets, saw a solid 28 percent rise in cybersales from last year, hitting $407 million.

Overall, the online holiday shopping season has been robust so far, according to market researcher ComScore, with $11.64 billion spent at e-commerce outlets from November 1 to 26, a gain … Read more

$89 Kindles gone in a flash

The Blog Kindle blog has an amusing though serious story about how quickly Amazon's $89 Kindle Black Friday deal disappeared.

Billed as a "Lightning Deal," an undetermined number of $89 second-generation Kindles went on sale at 9 a.m. PT and were gone in a nanosecond. In fact, the deal disappeared so quickly some accused Amazon of never having it.

The story quotes an angry message board post from Amazon customer Grebwatcher:

Amazon knew it would be flooded with people wanting this product across the country. To have it NOT available from the SECOND it goes on … Read more

Black Friday sees online spending rise

Online spending on Black Friday increased nearly 16 percent compared with last year, with social-networking sites gaining momentum as a source for shopping tips and mobile devices playing an increasingly important role.

According to numbers from Coremetrics, which culled data from the sites of more than 500 U.S. retailers, including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, and Petco, online sales were up 15.9 percent, with the average order value rising about $20, from $170.19 to $190.80.

The researcher said that though the percentage of shoppers arriving at retail sites from social-networking sites was still relatively small, the phenomenon … Read more

Keeping tabs on tablets (week in review)

Amid all the news of Black Friday deals, holiday sales, and Cyber Monday malware, it was the new kid on the block--the tablet--that grabbed the bulk of gadget headlines this week.

Of course, the first question for consumers is whether to give in to the hype or wait to buy a tablet. CNET's Donald Bell surveyed the current state of tablets, from the iPad to the Galaxy Tab, and ultimately finds that if you really want one, there aren't many compelling reasons to wait--no game changers on the horizon.

That said, you can expect low-priced tablets to flourish … Read more

Friday Poll: What tech are you thankful for?

So it's Black Friday, and we're sure you're going crazy pushing through insane lines while digesting lots and lots of turkey. But while this time of year is about snagging deals, it's also about gratitude, and in the spirit of yesterday's holiday, we're going to talk about things we're thankful for.

I, of course, am grateful for family, friends, and writing for Crave, but my favorite tech turn of the year is my iPad. Yes, we've dedicated many pixels of text to Apple's device, but that's because many of us think it's that good. I use mine about 80 percent of the time, which gives my MacBook a rest. This week's iOS 4.2 update makes the gadget that much better (though there are still some things the OS can't do on the iPad that we wish it could).

In any case, not everyone's giving thanks for the iPad this year. Many are stoked about the coming of the Windows Phone 7 devices. Others are stoked about Android-based tablets. Still more are into the Google TV. But what about you?

We'd like to know what you, Crave readers, are thankful for. Vote in the poll, and be sure to share additional thoughts in the comments section. Then get back to shopping!… Read more