Friday

Holiday shopping is off to a good start, with a 17.4 percent increase in online shopping Thanksgiving Day and 20.7 percent growth on Black Friday versus 2011, according to data from IBM. Shoppers using mobile devices accounted  for 16.3 percent of those sales, compared to 9.8 percent in 2011.  

IBM found that 24 percent of online shoppers used mobile devices, compared with 14.3 percent in 2011. Apple led the mobile shopping experience --  the iPad was used by 88.3 percent of tablet shoppers, and the iPhone and iPad together were used … Read more

Here's a quick Thanksgiving/Black Friday question for you.

In the run-up to Christmas, Hanukkah, and all the other gift-laden winter holidays, would you rather go after a bargain by letting your fingers loll about on the screen of a smartphone or tablet -- or mix it up with the punch-throwing, gun-toting, um, customers at your local big box store?

We thought so. And if data from eBay is any indication, that instinct toward self-preservation is strong in many of us (or at least an increasing number of us). For the data shows that, since last year, Thanksgiving and … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is offering decent Black Friday deals on some of its premier Windows 8 laptops. And the company has announced shipment dates for a couple of its newest touch-screen entries.

HP's Spectre and Spectre XT models are its top-of-the-line lappies. While just-announced Spectres got tiny discounts, a couple of not-so-recent entries are selling for $100 off today. … Read more

There is nothing wrong with Black Friday.

Save for the fact that it seems to bring out behaviors that may well have perplexed Neanderthals.

One example might be that of a man who pulled a gun on a line-cutter at a Sears in San Antonio, Texas.

Another might be the following joyous, spirit-lifting tale from Springfield, Mass.

According to police, 34-year-old Anthony Perry was very much excited by a 51-inch TV at his local K-Mart.

He allegedly drove to the mall at around 1:30 a.m., his girlfriend's 2-year-old in tow.

As WWLP News tells it, the police … Read more

You might have decided to have a few extra hours in bed this morning. The English call that a lie-in.

Or you might have laid out overnight in the hope of buying a cheap gadget or two that will change the quality of your life.

But nothing describes more clearly the strength of the human condition than a little footage of predatory mall action.

I therefore got up especially early to try and scour the Web and trace a little video from, say, a Walmart.

So here, in all its splendor, is the sight of hundreds of people purportedly fighting … Read more

Mobile Thursday. Black Friday. Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday. What, there's no love for shopping on Sunday? The Thanksgiving holiday has turned from a single Friday of frenzy into a whole extended shopping weekend of weirdness.

Retailers have already been running Black Friday specials all week long, diluting the concept of a single day dedicated to shopping bargain madness. Digital ad agency Digitas crunched survey numbers and decided the holiday shopping season actually starts at 5:23 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Day, thanks to a growing number of people making purchases with their mobile devices.

The rise of Mobile Thursday … Read more

Sitting atop CNET's list of Best Bluetooth Speakers, you'll find the Audyssey Wireless Speakers. These Bluetooth-enabled version of the earlier (wired) Media Speakers sound great and -- unlike most of the mini-soundbar portable models -- the Audysseys offer true stereo separation. The only problem, then, is the price: at $249 to $299, they're on the expensive side.

Thanks to Black Friday madness, though, that price is heading down to $199. And there are two ways to cash in:

Exclusive deal for the first 2,012 CNET readers -- $199 at Audyssey.com: Normally, buying the Wireless Speakers … Read more

The shopping phenomenon known as Black Friday, with its "insane" doorbuster deals, comes around only once a year. While there are a couple of nuggets hidden in there, it's also an excuse to clear stock of items people aren't that interested in anyway.

If you see any of the following TVs for sale on the day, grab them! For our picks of the best door-buster deals, try here. But if you miss out, know that the TVs listed below are already available for affordable prices, and you don't have to line up in the cold … Read more

Are you gearing up for Black Friday already? When it comes to smartphones, you may want to pause and reconsider any purchases.

As with many Black Friday and Cyber Monday "deals," a majority of the items on sale are outdated models, less-than-desirable devices, or just products that the carriers and retailers are looking to unload. In other words, don't let the Black Friday fever blind you from a deal that's not really a deal.

Smartphones are a different beast than other consumer electronic products. They are more personal than other gadgets, and are almost always with … Read more