Black is the New Green

Black Friday sales have turned out better than expected according to retailers. Between the earlier store opening hours in the wee hours of the morning, to the online payment system Pay Pal reporting a 25% increase in the amount of money being exchanged on Thanksgiving morning, black is making retailers green with happiness.

Hamster toys are for girls and boys

The big sellers are TVs, (deals on these home staples are through the roof), laptops, and the Zhu-Zhu pets. OK I’ll save the Zhu Zhu for the kids, big boy and girl toys are TVs, now is not the time to go small. The deals are big and the screen sizes should be BIG.

Searching on the web, this caught my eye from Electonics Expo

– A raffle for a 55” Samsung LED, now that’s worth some cyber window shopping at the very least. These folks are on top of the social media technology thing as well, you can follow Electronics-Expo on Twitter for up to the Tweet deals.

Enter Electronics-Expo raffle

Not to be out done, Cyber Monday buyers are tracking with their own website, no seriously a website called what else www.cybermonday.com It tracks a bunch of store and online deals. Shippers, including Manna Distribution who sponsor this www.Roominations.net site, are geared up (pardon the pun) for 25 days of hauling and installing.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, pretty soon the whole weekend following Thanksgiving will be given its rightful name, “Consumer’s Weekend” I suggest. Have at it gift givers, this is your time. Happy consuming, it is better to give than receive.

Star Trek is Not Just on Your TV, it is Your TV

There is a battle going on for your TV and the only clear winner is you. Typical of most technology, consumers use only about half of the capabilities of their television, that is if you bought a TV in the last couple of years.

Buying a television today is exciting. Even modestly priced sets can tap into cable systems, satellites, the internet, game systems, your computer, and even home security systems. Microsoft, Apple, and Nintendo are also competing for your attention in front of the TV. Whether it’s downloading movies from iTunes, killing gamers across the globe on Halo, or surfing the web using your Nintendo Wii device, your television is fast becoming the bridge on the Star Trek Enterprise, which is of course your home, and you are Captain Kirk.

Television is the digital window to more than just TV programming, but a web of interactive information. Just one example, is Samsung’s announced earlier this year its Medi@ on its 8000 and 7000 series LED television was developed in conjunction with Internet@ content service gives access to the web and a large variety of customized type information called widgets. For example a widget is your local weather or the stock symbols you may follow.

If that’s not enough content and interactivity, take a look at what Vizio is doing. Vizio just announced Extreme Vizio Technology (XVT) which includes a remote control QWERTY keyboard. Why do you need this? Well, so you can interact with Facebook, Twitter, and other websites from your command and control communications center. As the battle continues for your eyeballs, more content will be added and accessible from your captain’s chair.

Connections to Look For When Buying a Television

1. USB ports (connection to watching mpeg 1, and 2 video or listening to MP3 audio from your computer or other devices)
2. Audio and video jacks (neat for hooking up digital video cameras)
3. HDMI Input
4. PC monitor display (cool to have. You can use TV for business presentations)
5. SD card slot (show pictures of your vacation if your guests can stand it)
6. Keyboard (for all that microblogging )
7. (Optional) Transporter just in case you need to get somewhere fast.

More details about the differences in these connections can be found at About.com from Matthew Torres

After you install your new television, do take the time to read the manual, even call customer service to understand and try all of the bells and whistles.