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Daily Deals: Apple Store Black Friday, App Store Freebies, HD TVs

1:48 pm, November 23rd, 2009, Ed Sutherland

We start the week out with a trio of items designed for Black Friday followers, App Store browsers and big screen fans. First up, Apple confirms it will have a Black Friday “event,” but provides no details. Last week, a blog posted what it thought was a leaked Apple Store Online flyer, mentioning 25 percent and 30 percent discounts. The “leak” was later discounted, itself. Next up: for all those iPhones and iPod touches that will likely be purchased over the holidays, Apple’s App Store has unveiled a new batch of free applications. Finally, the U.S. Thanksgiving and Christmas begs for widescreen TVs dripping in all their HDTV glory. We have several to pick from.

As always, for details on these and other bargains, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page.

Apple has confirmed The Apple Store’s Black Friday Sale, which takes place online and in stores on Friday, November 27. The online teaser states that you can expect “dozens of great iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas — all with free shipping.” That’s the same text Apple used last year, which featured discounts of 5% to 10% and was named one of our “Black Friday Jeers.” Sales tax will be added where applicable.

Below are downloads of several free applications available for a limited time from Apple’s App Store, with price drops from $1 to $3. The apps:

Mood Mouse: Wireless, keyboard and mouse with psychedelic capabilities
TaskLister: To-do list
Aves: Archery hunting game
Zombie Clock (pictured) : Zombie-themed clock
Tic-Tac-Bacon: Bacon-themed tic-tac-toe
iSalary: Earnings tracking

Buy.com offers the refurbished Magnavox 32″ 720p Widescreen LCD HD Television, model no. 32MF338B/27E, for $299.99 with free shipping. (That’s $5 under our September mention of a refurbished Magnavox HDTV with identical specs and the lowest total price we could find for this particular model.) It features a 1366×768 (720p) native resolution, 8ms response time, 1,200:1 contrast ratio, two HDMI inputs, and VGA, component, and other video inputs.

Note: No warranty information is available.

HandHeldItems.com continues to offer the Kroo KrooShell Case for Apple iPhone 3G or 3GS in eight colors for $5.99. Add coupon code “kroo3gshield” to your cart to cut it to $3.99. (With shipping at $2.85, it’s a $4 drop and the lowest total price we’ve seen for this case.) Deal ends November 30.

Meritline.com trimmed its price on this Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter for MacBooks to $8.99 with free shipping. [That's a buck below our October mention and the lowest total price we've seen for such an adapter.] (For comparison, Apple sells its VGA and DVI adapters for $29.)

Meritline.com offers the Mini Type Bluetooth USB 2.0 Adapter for $5.99. Apply coupon code “MLC192094112367N” to drop it to $1.99. (With free shipping, that’s a slight drop from our mention from two weeks ago and one of the least expensive Bluetooth dongles we’ve seen.)

Today only, Best Buy offers the Panasonic VIERA 50″ 600Hz 720p Widescreen Plasma HD Television, model no. TC-P50C1, for $649.99. [With $70 for shipping, that's the best total price we've seen for this model by $80, although Dell had the better TC-P50X1 for $669 with free shipping last week.] (That model has a higher contrast ratio and more HDMI ports.) Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include a 1366×768 (720p) native resolution, 600Hz sub-field drive, 15,000:1 native contrast ratio, SD card slot, two HDMI inputs, and VGA, component, and other video inputs. Deal ends November 26.

Buy.com offers the ViewSonic 22″ 1080p Widescreen LCD HD Television / Monitor, model no. VT2230, for $289.99 with free shipping. (That’s $90 under our June mention and the lowest total price we could find by $48.) This display functions as either an HDTV or computer monitor. It features a 1920×1080 (1080p) native resolution, ATSC (HD), NTSC, and QAM tuners, 8,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 300 cd/m² brightness, 5ms response time, one HDMI input, and VGA, component, and other video inputs.

B&H Photo-Video offers the Samsung 50″ 600Hz 720p Widescreen Plasma HD Television, model no. PN50B430, bundled with the Samsung Blu-ray Disc Player, model no. BD-P4600, for $779.95 with free shipping. [That's $186 less than the lowest total price we could find for both items purchased separately elsewhere.] (We listed the TV alone earlier today for just $80 less.) The HDTV features a native resolution of 1366×768 (720p), 600Hz subfield drive, 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 0.001ms response time, two HDMI inputs, and component video input. The Blu-ray player upconverts DVDs up to 1080p and features Ethernet port, Wi-Fi capability, two USB ports, BD-Live with Netflix support, BonusView support, and more. Deal ends December 31.

Today only, MacUpdate.com offers downloads of Pixel Research Labs’s Ringer for Mac for $7.95. (That’s $7 off and the lowest price we could find for this iPhone ringtone creation software.) Click here for more information.

Posted by Ed Sutherland in Daily Deals | Comment on this article