[Last updated on November 24: Microsoft Store, Sony Store; Panasonic] Black Friday is almost here! This year's Black Friday may fall on November 25, but more and more retailers are starting their sales on Thanksgiving (Nov. 24), and even making some offers exclusive to the weekend. Not only that, but a sneaky few are also splitting their bargains between their brick-and-mortar and online stores. To help you navigate this increasingly complex, multi-platform shopping extravaganza, we're sifting every ad from retailers across America for the latest tech deals available to you this year. Where possible, we'll also make note of the start times and dates so you won't miss out on those brag-worthy bargains. We'll be updating this post multiple times a day right up until Turkey Day to serve you all the hottest gadget steals and deals, so be sure to bookmark this page or subscribe to our feed. But before you rush out to buy the first tech toy you see on sale, here are some quick tips to … [Read more...] about ZDNet’s Ultimate Black Friday 2011 guide to deals and steals
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From Chapter one: Data Processing and the IBM Mainframe
This is the 5th excerpt from the second book in the Defen series: BIT: Business Information Technology: Foundations, Infrastructure, and Culture Note that the section this is taken from, on the evolution of the data processing culture, includes numerous illustrations and note tables omitted here. Roots (part three: The System 360) COBOL was first codified in 1959; five years later, in 1964, IBM released the matching System 360 computer family and completely revolutionized the systems industry. The 360 reflected in hardware the fundamental COBOL operations which, themselves, derived from the card sorting requirements of pre-digital data processing. Even then IBM was still hedging its bet on commercial data processing so the 360 was designed to be an "all round" processor which could be configured to excel at either scientific or commercial processing depending on customer needs, while maintaining backward instruction set compatibility with two previous, and mutually incompatible, … [Read more...] about From Chapter one: Data Processing and the IBM Mainframe
The case for an e-book standard and the death of DRM
When are e-books going to start acting like real books? There are more than 20 different e-book formats in the wild, and they're all completely incompatible, according to SmartPlanet's own Dana Blankenhorn . So what's an avid reader to do? Bob LiVolsi wants to change that. LiVolsi is the founder and chief executive of BooksOnBoard, the largest independent e-book bookseller. BooksOnBoard was the first retailer to offer to its readers books in the EPUB standard, a free and open file format designed so that consumers can read (and move) their books wherever they want. You know, like a real book. SmartPlanet spoke with LiVolsi about the evolution of the EPUB standard and why reading an e-book will soon be more rewarding than reading a dead-tree copy. SmartPlanet: How did the EPUB standard come to be? Bob LiVolsi: It's an interesting challenge in the e-book space. It's taken a long time to measure levels of adoption. In 2000 they talked about the year of the e-book, but in 2002 lots of … [Read more...] about The case for an e-book standard and the death of DRM
IFA 2017: Everything from day 1 of Europe’s biggest tech show
36 IFA 2017: The biggest announcements from Berlin's tech show IFA is Europe's biggest tech show. But like all modern trade shows, most of the high profile announcements happen before the show floor opens. That's doubly true in 2017: The exhibition halls in Berlin don't open until Sept. 1, but a torrent of press conferences and announcements will dominate your feeds for the last two days of August.The press conferences and announcements in Berlin ended hours ago, but here's a roundup of the big news from Wednesday, Aug. 30 -- with a few earlier announcements thrown in, too.(The second day of IFA 2017 has wrapped up as well. Check out all the device announcements, from phones and headphones to smart appliances and TVs.)Samsung Now Playing: Watch this: Samsung's new sport watches tackle the sea with ease 1:07 The Galaxy Note 8 was already announced to much fanfare last week in New York City. But Samsung's giant product portfolio means there's always something even newer to … [Read more...] about IFA 2017: Everything from day 1 of Europe’s biggest tech show
CNET’s sweet spot home theater
Somewhere between entry-level and high-end is the sweet spot for buying home theater components. You don't want to go so cheap that you end up being unhappy with the purchase, but you also don't want pay for bogus features or performance gains that have diminishing returns. CNET's sweet spot home theater is our roundup of products that deliver that perfect mix of design, features, performance, and, most importantly, value. We already have separate lists for the best home audio and home video products, but consider this to be a single-page cheat sheet of the home theater we'd put together if we had to start from scratch.Sweet spot 5.1 speaker system: Energy Take Classic 5.1 Skip the sound bars and the home-theater-in-a-box systems. They're decent options if you're on a tight budget, but the real sweet spot is a true 5.1 speaker system, which can be less expensive than you might think. The Energy Take Classic 5.1 ($400 street price) is our Editors' Choice and the hands-down best overall … [Read more...] about CNET’s sweet spot home theater