If you’re not sure what gifts to get your family and friends this holiday season then you’ll want to check out the Amazon Holiday Toy List. According to Amazon, the Holiday Toy List features tools that allows customers to search based on criteria such as “bestselling” or “average customer review,” then filter by age, gender, category, price and discount. Here’s a sampling of product ideas for the coming season (we’ve bolded the ones we particularly liked):

• Apple iPod touch 64 GB (3rd Generation), $379.98, Age 12 and up
• Bakugan 7 in 1 Maxus Dragonoid, $44.99, Ages 5 – 15
• Barbie Pink 3-Story Dream Townhouse, $144.88, Ages 3 – 10
• Bop It, $15.00, Ages 8 – 18
• Crayola Crayon Maker, $29.99, Ages 8 – 15
• D-Rex Interactive Dinosaur, $148.88, Ages 8 – 12
• Eyeclops Mini Projector, $93.24, Ages 8 – 15
• Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories (Black), $199.89, Age 12 and up
• Fisher Price Elmo’s Tickle Hands, $24.00, Ages 2 – 6
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy & BD-Live), $18.99, Age 8 and up
• Huffy Green Machine 2, $113.62, Age 6 and up
• Infantino Twist and Fold Activity Gym (Vintage Boy), $39.99, Ages 1 – 12 months
• Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera(Raspberry), $149.99, Age 12 and up
• LeapFrog Zippity High-Energy Learning System, $79.97, Ages 3 – 5
• LEGO City Corner (7641), $59.96, Ages 5 – 12
• Liv Fashion Doll Sophie, $19.97, Ages 4 – 8
• Manhattan Toy Baby Stella Doll, $24.03, Age 12 months and up
• Matchbox Mega Rig Pirates Ship in Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, $39.99, Ages 4 – 12
• Maxell M&M’s Earbud, $10.53, Ages 12 and up
• Mindflex Game, $74.99, Ages 8 – 15
• Monopoly City Edition, $29.41, Age 8 and up
• “Monsters vs. Aliens” (DVD), $16.99, Age 5 and up
• Nerf N Strike Elite Bundle (Nintendo Wii), $59.99, Ages 8 – 11
• New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo Wii), $46.99, Ages 8 – 11
• Nintendo DSi (Nintendo DS), $169.99, Ages 8 – 11
• Playskool Chuck My Talking Truck, $33.68, Ages 3 – 6
• Razor A Kick Scooter, $29.99, Age 5 and up
• Razor Rip-Rider 360 Drifting Ride-On, $89.87, Age 5 and up
• Scene It? Twilight Deluxe Edition, $28.24, Age 13 and up
• Schwinn Roadster 12-Inch Trike, $67.80, Ages 3 – 6
• Scribblenauts (Nintendo DS), $27.99, Ages 8 – 11
• “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + BD Live w/ Blu-ray packaging), $19.99, Age 5 and up
• Speakal iPig 2.1 Stereo iPod Docking Station with 5 Speakers (Pink), $95.50, Age 12 and up
• Sprig Toys Eco Recycling-Truck in Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, $19.99, Ages 3 – 6
• Transformers Movie 2 Combiner Construction Devastator, $84.99, Ages 5 – 12
• “Up” (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition + Digital Copy), $21.99, Age 5 and up
• Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Nintendo Wii), $97.99, Age 12 and up
• Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player(Platinum), $289.00, Age 12 and up

And yes.. we’re less than 2 months away from Christmas folks!

Technorati Tags: Amazon Holiday Toy List

If you’re looking for a dirt cheap Blu-ray player, you might want to drop by your local Wal-Mart retail store. According to Crave.com (via several other blog sites), Wal-Mart is now offering the low-end Magavox NB530MGX for a mere $98 dollars. It’s not a profile 2.0 player so forget about BD-Live support – but then again how many of you actually use BD-Live? Seems like a good bargain for those on a tight budget.

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Technorati Tags: Magnavox, NB530MGX, Blu-ray player, Wal-mart

Just wanted to mention a great deal that is now available over at Costco.com. The vendor is now offering the HP EX485 750GB MediaSmart Windows Home Server box for $547.99 after a $50 dollar manufacturer discount which will be automatically deducted at checkout. In addition, Costco will also package a free Western Digital 500GB Caviar Blue SATA hard drive (WD5000AAKS). Not a bad deal at all – I might have to consider it since my current HP EX470 box is nearly out of space.

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Technorati Tags: HP EX485 MediaSmart Server, Costco deal

It’s become a tradition of ours over the last several weeks to travel to Circuit City to see how their liquidation sale is going and with roughly a week left in operations, this weekend was certainly going to be no different. On Friday, I took a trip to the Culver City, CA location of Circuit City (a larger location than the Santa Monica location that we’ve been frequenting) and then on Sunday, I took a trip to the Santa Monica retail front. The summary?

• Most big ticket items are gone – don’t expect anything interesting from flat panels. Most models left are show-room floor models and quite honestly, the prices are simply not worth it
• Most home theater equipment is gone although we did notice some loose items here and there. Lots of Boston Acoustic speakers were still on hand at the Culver City location. I also went ahead and picked up the last two floorstanding F1 speakers made by Klipsch at the Santa Monica location. The store was selling the F1’s for 140 a piece – hard to pass up on that deal
• Still some A/V accessories lying about but again – nothing interesting to report
• The majority of items available now span CDs, DVDs, computer software, and minor computing accessories like speakers, headphones, some flash drives etc.
• Both stores had major sections of the storefront cornered off as inventory has finally been cleared out
• There are still some OLD video games left but nothing worth reporting on. About the only thing available in mass quantities are Guitar Hero packages for 50% off.
• I also picked up a TV stand for $70 bucks (down 70% off MSRP) so if you’re looking for a new stand, head down now.

Overall – if you’ve been holding out for a new inexpensive flat panel, forget about it. They’re likely gone unless you’re willing to go with the show-room floor model.

Here are snapshots I took of the Culver City location on Friday with my iPhone:

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Technorati Tags: Circuit City Liquidation Sale, Santa Monica Circuit City, Culver City Circuit City

I decided to check out the Circuit City Santa Monica location nearly a month after the company announced they were going out of business. Back then, the deals were less than stellar but as the weeks have progressed, the deals have improved.

A wide assortment of products were available at 30 to 40 percent off. Most flat panels were still around 25% off although the inventory was quickly dwindling (plasmas were supposedly reduced by up to 30%). CDs and DVDs were also slashed at 40% off but again – the inventory was less than amazing. I did manage to pick up a Logitech Alto Cordless for $59.99 (which is normally available at around $79 to $85 dollars). I have to admit I was attracted to several speaker and receiver deals.. but I might want a little bit longer to see how much lower the prices will go. One employee mentioned that the store would stay open until mid-March.

Here are some pictures I snapped up with my iPhone. Enjoy!

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Technorati Tags: Circuit City Liquidation Sale, Santa Monica,

Holding out for steeper price cuts from the Circuit City Liquidation Sale? Well it appears you’re finally in luck.

Liquidators have finally increased price cuts for many big ticket items in the store including plasma TVs (25% off now), LCD TVs (20% off now), and car audio products (40% off) with many other products also receiving substantial price cuts. In fact, I even saw a Circuit City “going out of business sale” commercial tonight on Fox stating the new price cuts were now in effect.

It’s about time the prices came down. I dropped by the Santa Monica Circuit City location a few weeks back and found the sale prices rather disappointing – with most prices not much lower than a normal sale day for the chain. Most consumers walking into the store were leaving empty handed simply because the sales were that underwhelming.

Yet despite the lame price cuts, liquidators claim the sale is ahead of schedule and expect it to continue for only another four to five weeks.

So why the steeper price cuts now? Liquidators are hoping to clear out products even faster by capitalizing on consumers looking to purchase big screen TVs for this weekends’ Super Bowl. Hope there are still products for you to buy!

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Technorati Tags: Circuit City Liquidation Sale

I dropped by the Santa Monica location of Circuit City this morning and the liquidation sale had begun. As expected, don’t expect an incredible sale. Most items (including all flat panels) were 10% off the MSRP which translates to discounts not much better than a normal sale.

There were loads of packaged panels out on the showroom floor available for purchase (as pictured above and below) right when you walk in. These pictures were snapped using my iPhone 3G so I apologize for the grainy picture quality.

Walking through the first floor, it became obvious that price cuts were going to be minimal. Let’s face it – the liquidators are looking for the best possible price they can get to pay off the creditors.

Here are pictures of the MP3 player section.

There were random sections where you saw discounts of 20 or even 30%. However, do yourself a favor and make sure to verify the discounts on checkout. I overheard one salesperson tell a customer that a 30% off markdown sign was meant to be interpreted as “up to 30%”. Of course, that customer complained and the salesman gave him the 30% discount anyhow. Shady.

So did I end up with anything? I picked up a few cheap CDs (20% off prices of around $9.99 or so), a new Xbox 360 wireless controller (which was marked at 30% off), and a Zune case (marked down 20%). I stayed away from anything marked down 10%.

One thing of note – if you’re looking for a cheaper Xbox 360, the 60GB Pro systems were marked down 10% – down to around $269 or so.

Finally, I did talk to one sales rep who mentioned that the liquidators gave the store until the end of March to sell everything. Will you get better prices in a few weeks? No guarantee but if you go now, you’ll be disappointed.

Technorati Tags: Circuit City, Liquidation, Santa Monica, CA

Late last week, Circuit City announced that it was closing of all of it’s stores and liquidating its products to pay off creditors. The company filed for bankruptcy last year in the saving the company but as you all know, these are some tough horrible economic times.  The company’s website has now transformed into an FAQ page with answers to several important questions. Here’s a quick recap of some of the answers to questions you might find useful.

• All 567 U.S. stores are closing with closing sales as early as this weekend. Sales are expected to wrap by March
• Circuit City gift cards will be honored until the stores are closed and the company is out of business
• Consumers part of Circuit City Advantage Protection Plan are not affected by the liquidation. The plans are backed by third party independent companies and are not impacted by the closing of Circuit City
• All sale prices are at the discretion of the liquidators
• Purchased made up to two weeks before Jan.16th can be returned for exchanges or refunds. All sales on or after Jan. 17th are final

Goodbye Circuit City.. it was good knowing ya.

UPDATE: At least one reporter from one website (News.com) reports up to 30 % off at their local Circuit City store (tho very long lines too).I’ll try and check out my local one this morning.

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Technorati Tags: Circuit City Closing, Liquidation sales

Black Friday weekend appears to be a great time to pick up a new VIZIO HDTV set. The company announced price cuts on select models for the coming weekend at various retailers – here’s what you need to know:

• VIZIO 19” HD LCD HDTV (VA19) $199.99 at Costco Locations Nationwide through 12/7/08 with Member Only MVM Coupon
• VIZIO 32” Plasma HDTV (VP322) $437.00 at Walmart effective today(Wednesday, 11/26/08) – New Everyday Low Value
• VIZIO 37” HD LCD HDTV (VW37) $499.99 at Costco Locations Black Friday weekend while supplies last Friday-Sunday, 11/28-30/08
• VIZIO 32” Full HD 1080p LCD HDTV (VOJ32LF) $559.99 at SEARS Stores Nationwide thru Sunday, 11/30/08
• VIZIO 42” Full HD 1080p LCD HDTV (VS420) $698.00 at Sam’s Club Locations Nationwide now while supplies last for the Holidays.

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Technorati Tags: VIZIO price cuts, HDTV, Black Friday

Looking for Black Friday deals? PC Magazine has compiled a list of their top Black Friday websites for 2008 here on their website. My favorites from that list include tgiblackfriday.com, blackfriday.fm, and bfgear.com which includes the scanned images of the deals themselves. Overall, I’m unimpressed with this year’s Black Friday deals but let’s hope consumers shop a lot anyhow – we all know the economy needs a boost!

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Technorati Tags: Black Friday, PC Magazine, Top 10 Black Friday websites