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The Big Picture
Black Friday 2010
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 23, 2010
As the song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year—or the most dreadful, depending on whether or not you plan to join the buying frenzy on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Many stores open at an ungodly hour and offer seemingly outrageous deals on certain products to get people in the door, hoping that they'll buy more than they bargained for and put the store's accounts in the black for the year, which is why it's called Black Friday—either that, or it might be due to all the black eyes resulting from fights over the last remaining $60 Blu-ray player.

I've been looking at some Black Friday previews, and I've found some apparently great deals on flat panels, Blu-ray players, and other home-theater gear. Unfortunately, many stores do not reveal the model number of the sale items, making it difficult to judge just how good these deals really are, and as far as I can tell, none of them are flagship products. Still, there are a few that I think are good enough to share with you…

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Other Tech
Gadget Gary: Blackberry Torch 9800
Gary Dell'Abate  |  Nov 23, 2010

The iPhone has clearly infiltrated our culture. Its owners are rabidly loyal, and they’ll tell you that every other phone is inferior to theirs. Alas, the many people out there still devoted to BlackBerry can only look longingly at the iPhone, wishing for some of those cool features that Apple has become famous for.

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Gadget Gary
Blackberry Torch 9800
Gary Dell'Abate  |  Nov 23, 2010

The iPhone has clearly infiltrated our culture. Its owners are rabidly loyal, and they’ll tell you that every other phone is inferior to theirs. Alas, the many people out there still devoted to BlackBerry can only look longingly at the iPhone, wishing for some of those cool features that Apple has become famous for.

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Premiere Design
Everything But The Box Speakers
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 23, 2010
I wonder why so many unique speaker designs come from eastern Europe? Not long ago, I profiled some wild-looking speakers from Hungarian Art & Voice, shortly after which I found Everything But The Box based in Bulgaria.
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Audio Video News
Netflix Streaming-Only Plan Arrives
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 23, 2010
Netflix has officially taken the wraps off its previously announced streaming-only plan for the U.S. The price is a low-low-low $7.99. However, the announcement also brings price hikes for the existing disc-and-streaming plans.
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Premiere Design
Panasonic TH-P103MT2 3D Plasma TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 22, 2010
Panasonic's 103-inch plasma is nothing new—we first saw it at the 2006 CES—and it's not even the largest plasma in production, an honor that goes to Panasonic's 152-inch behemoth. But last week, the company announced that it is taking pre-orders in Japan for an updated version of the 103-incher that now offers 3D capabilities.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Deadwood: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Nov 22, 2010
In the late 19th Century, Deadwood, South Dakota, was a boom town where prospectors came to strike it rich. It was illegally established on Indian land and attracted a wide variety of people from all different backgrounds. The town sheriff, Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), came to Deadwood to open a business and ends up wearing a badge in order to keep law and order. Opposite him is Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), a local business man whose moral compass veers in the opposite direction as a local pimp and crime boss.

This show isn't for those easily offended by foul language or violence, both of which are quite prevalent. In fact, my wife left the room 15 minutes into the first episode because the "F-word" was said over 20 times—literally. She complained the writing was lazy but in fact it was completely intentional according to creator David Milch. He wanted to recreate the rough and tumble atmosphere of the real town and by my wife's reaction; he succeeded a little too well.

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Netflix Intros Streaming-Only Plan, Raises Prices on DVD Plans
Stan Horaczek  |  Nov 22, 2010

Take a look at most new TVs, Blu-ray players and media servers and it should be abundantly clear that streaming is serious business for Netflix. But, the lack of a plan completely free from the red envelopes hasn't existed until today. For $7.99 a month, you can now stream as much as you want without a single disc ever showing up at your door. Unfortunately for those who still like physical media as well, the prices of their other plans will be going up. A one-at-a-time account is going from $8.99 to $9.99, while the classic three-at-a-time account jumps three bucks to $19.99.

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Audio Video News
Mitsubishi HDTVs Get 3D Support
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 22, 2010
Mitsubishi's 2010 HDTV line is getting a software upgrade that will enable sets to process 3D formats supported by HDMI 1.4a. The upgrade will apply to "select 2010 Mitsubishi 3D-ready TVs" including 738 and 838 Series sets, enabling them to connect to 3D-capable Blu-ray players and satellite or cable set-top boxes without an adapter.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Nov 21, 2010  |  First Published: Nov 22, 2010
When a former elite agent goes rogue with plans to unleash a device that will bring down her canine enemies, cats and dogs must join forces for the first time to prevent a global catastrophe.

My kids simply loved the original Cats and Dogs, especially my daughter, but no one in the family was particularly interested in watching this sequel due to bad word of mouth and uninteresting trailers. So when our expectations were extremely low and although it's flawed in numerous ways, there was enough laughter to keep us interested. My wife and I especially loved the references to other movies (any Bond film and Silence of the Lambs). The first act is horrible but if you resist the urge to eject the disc it get better as you get to know the characters.

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