retail

If you're getting your shop-on for Black Friday, be sure to check out some of my favorite deals and tips before you head out. Once you're out braving the crowds, here are a few geeky shopping tips I've pulled together to help you out during the thrill of the hunt for the perfect bargains.

• Unsure you've found the best deal? Text Google to find the best prices while you're at the store.
• Do you use a Twitter app on your phone? Create a unique hash tag for friends and family who are also shopping in the area, and post awesome deals and finds while you're shopping. You can easily divide and conquer the sales without sending a flurry of text messages to everyone individually.
• Trying to avoid the lines? Many stores, like the Apple store are offering special online-only deals, so your crowd-braving friends won't be the only ones scoring great deals.
• Roads near malls and other shopping outlets can get pretty congested, so try one of these apps for tracking traffic on the go with your cell phone.

I'm planning on hitting a sale or two myself, so if you have any tips to share, please post them in the comments below!

Now that Black Friday is finally here, here are some of our BF-inspired posts to help you prepare for the biggest shopping day of the year!

Black Friday Deals Online	Black Friday Game Deals From Amazon	Dealnews iPhone App
Hot Black Friday Deals From Target	Spend $20 at Old Navy, Get Lego Rock Band	DSi Bundles For Black Friday

Holiday shopping. Jut typing the words gives me some serious anxiety, so any site that helps make my life a little bit easier is a good site in my book. If you're in the market for electronics or accessories, you'll like Gazaro, a site that monitors sales fliers and store websites, alerting you when an item you're looking for goes on sale. You can also browse through the site's top picks section, including the latest and best deals.

Gazaro updates in real time, so it's good for finding up-to-the-minute deals on products you're searching for. After registering with the site, you can save your favorite brand names, stores, or products you're interested in and have the best deals sent to you via email daily or weekly.

Do you have an interesting website you want to share? Create a PopSugar Account or log in to your account. Then join the Website of the Day group where you can post your favorite website! And you never know, it could be featured on GeekSugar! Here's a detailed guide to posting questions or posts to groups if you are new to the PopSugar Community.

With the holidays right around the corner, I'm not only starting to think about shopping, but I'm also thinking of creative ways to save. Yesterday, I told you about ten websites that will help you save some money on gifts, and today it's all about Yowza!!, an iPhone and iPod Touch app that will show you all of the store coupons within a mile or as far as 15 miles from where you are shopping (which makes sense why it has two exclamations after its name!).

Once you download this free app, open it and you will see all of the coupons applicable to your location, or you can type in a store name to see what's available. And if an offer includes a bar code, just have the cashier scan the barcode, right from your phone. No coupon clipping, no paper, no hassles — I die!

On Nov. 20, eBay will be opening a 5,500 square-foot, fun interactive pop-up store on 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York where customers can shop the entire eBay Marketplace via Internet kiosks, handheld tablets and the eBay iPhone app. And on Black Friday, there will be a limited quantity of daily deal products which will be awarded to the first 100 shoppers who visit the store — get em' while they're hot!

Don't think you'll be making it to New York before the holidays, eBay will have its very own mobile boutique that will go to various cities around the country. On the tour, eBay experts will provide guests with trend insights, shopping tips and gift-giving advice. From Nov. 10 until Dec. 20, the eBay mobile will be visiting shopping areas in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and Orange County, so hopefully you can check it out then.

I have an issue when purchasing new gadgets: I seem to know what I want (I need a digital camera that takes awesome close-up photos but also works well in low light), but I'm not positive exactly which make or model is the best choice.

And while I appreciate the product reviews on some of my favorite sites, I don't feel like exhaustively reading them before I make a decision. So, I'm excited about Measy, a new site that aggregates product information, reviews, photos, and shopping information to help you make the best decision via a fun quiz.

To keep reading about Measy, just read more

Microsoft has had quite the week to say the least! The company not only launched its latest operating system — Windows 7 — but it also opened a new retail store in Arizona. And starting today, you can now go to Microsoft's website and buy a Windows PC directly from its website.

According to USA Today, Microsoft's addition of computers to its online store was bound to happen, as the company hopes the site will get people excited about using Windows — something that Best Buy and Wal-Mart don't really do.

Personally, I like the way that the site is set up. It's easy to navigate your way around, and you can quickly check off fields to narrow your results. What do you think? Would you now go to Microsoft's site to purchase a Windows PC, or are you going to stick to the other online retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Wal-Mart?

I love a good set of online tools on a website, especially when it's coupled with another one of my favorite things: shopping. I'm especially loving the instant gratification of the design-your-own sneakers tools from some favorite brand-name shoe companies: Nike, Puma, Converse, and Keds all offer a customization option for a few of their classic sneaker designs.

Though the tools vary by site, essentially you can click on different sections of the shoe: interior, left side, right side, details, laces — and choose a color or print for each section. You can view your shoe from different angles, too — side view, top view, back view, and more. The tools are incredibly easy to use and a lot of fun. I may not be able to commit to just one pair! If you can stop playing with the design tools and finally commit to your perfect pair, know that they'll take a little longer to arrive — each pair is custom-made to order.