thanksgiving

Tech to be thankful for

It's easy to get jaded working at CNET. We see every phone, every tablet, every laptop, every piece of tech you can imagine. And of course they're each accompanied by a PR pitch that paints it as an unprecedented, game-changing, life-affirming, must-have gizmo. Some of them are truly great, but mostly it's just more of the same.

So to keep my heart from blackening over with cynicism, I thought I'd take a minute to remind myself about all of the great things modern technology has given us. There's no single product here, no brand name, … Read more

Butterball cooking app responds to voice commands, keeps screens clean

Cooking a Thanksgiving feast can be a messy affair, something to think about if you're relying on your iPhone or iPad for recipe assistance. When the time comes to swipe pages, start a timer, or the like, are you really going to use that Crisco/flour/pumpkin-covered finger?

With the Butterball Cookbook Plus app, you won't have to. It responds to various voice commands, meaning you can turn pages and more just by speaking.

The app features a couple hundred recipes, many of them focused on Thanksgiving and turkeys, natch, but also in categories like Healthy Lifestyle, Kid-Friendly, … Read more

Is Thanksgiving Day the new Black Friday?

Forget Black Friday and be sure to slam a Red Bull at the Thanksgiving table this year. You'll need it to offset the effects of that turkey's tryptophan and be primed for some serious shopping following the feast.

That's right. Black Friday is now Black Thursday.

Toys "R" Us is among the retailers that will call employees in on Thanksgiving evening to open its nationwide locations at 8 p.m. and help fulfill shoppers' "hot toy needs," according to a release. HDTVs and tablets like the Tabeo for kids and Samsung Galaxy Tab series are just a few of the hot digital toys the stores will be pushing for a possible second dessert on Thanksgiving night.… Read more

The 404 954: Where hey, it's Monday, wanna Cyber? (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 Podcast episode:

Black Friday online shopping actually works, grows 26 percent Best Buy, Verizon, Dell launch Cyber Monday deals. Apple posts Black Friday retail records, despite customers reporting underwhelming discounts. Kindle family soars on Black Friday, but unit sales still elusive.… Read more

E-shoppers go mobile on Thanksgiving, Black Friday

Apple's iPhone and iPad helped make mobile devices a key driver of Thanksgiving and Black Friday e-commerce this year, according to a report from IBM Coremetrics.

Online Thanksgiving shopping grew by 39.3 percent year over year, creating momentum that continued into Black Friday, where online sales grew by 24.3 percent compared with the same period last year, said the report (PDF).

And Black Friday witnessed the arrival of the mobile deal seeker, who embraced his or her mobile device as a research tool for in-store and online bargains. Mobile traffic came close to tripling year over year, … Read more

Google doodles an Imelda Marcos Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is all about sharing and being grateful.

So might I share Google's Thanksgiving doodle, for whose sheer exuberance I am very grateful.

It seems like just another colorful turkey. And then one notices that it enjoys rather nicely coiffed long hair, from a Twiggy-sponsored salon in the 1960s.

Because one assumes it is necessary to do these things, one clicks on the logo to discover that the turkey's feathers rapidly change color.

With more clicks, the hairdo changes, too--at one point, it even goes bald with an eye-patch.

However, what is most moving for those who enjoy … Read more

Thanksgiving turkey fun for your Android

It's everyone's favorite food-holiday, folks. And that can only mean one thing: it's time to dress your Android device up like a turkey!

Well, sort of. I am not suggesting you physically attach feathers or a beak to your phone, but I am absolutely suggesting you download some fun turkey-related apps on your device, like now.

First, go ahead and download Thanksgiving Turkey Run Live Wallpaper. It costs 99 cents in the Android Market, but it's a small price to pay to get costumed turkeys running wildly around your home screen. You can let these cute, … Read more

Thanksgiving cooking apps for iOS

Thanksgiving is next Thursday and some of you out there are inevitably faced with the challenge of producing the most celebrated meal of the (U.S.) year.

Fortunately, there are a number of cooking apps in the iTunes App Store to choose from that can help you pull the meal together if you have an iOS device. While your pristine touch screen might get a little smudged in the process--or not--I think you'll appreciate the easy navigation and added tools in each of this week's cooking apps.… Read more

Simplify your Black Friday shopping

The TGI Black Friday app doesn't just provide you with a comprehensive listing of Black Friday deals, it also gives you some nifty tools to make sure your shopping experience goes smoothly.

The most important part of the TGI Black Friday app is, of course, the coupons. The app, along with its sister site tgiblackfriday.com, aggregates an enormous number of Black Friday advertisements, many of which are leaked up to a month ahead of time. The coupons from these ads are then listed in the app, and can be browsed by date added, store name, or category. Don'… Read more