Cyber Monday deals and safe shopping tips

After stuffing our faces with turkey and dressing and working off that extra piece of pumpkin pie getting up early for the deals on Black Friday, you may still be searching for that perfect Christmas gift.

Cyber Monday has arrived and retailers are counting on that extra web traffic raise their bottom line, especially after early numbers from Black Friday find shoppers spent less on their purchases this year for Black Friday than last year.

The term was first coined in 2005 after Shop.org, a website by the National Retail Federation, noticed a large spike in online shopping the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's seen by many retailers, shoppers and the media as the official kick-off to the online holiday shopping season. That's when workers would typically use their work's online connection to surf the web for deals. Shop.org offers a nice guide to Cyber Monday shopping.

CyberMonday.com seems to be the "official" Cyber Monday site.

CyberMonday.net also boast some good deals.

Supercybermonday.com is another site with online deals.

Gottadeal.com tracks the Cyber Monday deals.

Mr. Dealfinder.com offers coupon codes for Cyber Monday discounts.

Facebookers and Tweeple--you can become a fan of Mr. Dealfinder on Facebook or follow Mr. Dealfinder on Twitter.

Become a fan of Cyber Monday on Facebook or follow it on Twitter.

Many retailers are tweeting and Facebooking. For example you can follow MySears, toysRUS, Bestbuy, kmartDealsnNews, WalmartSpecials and TargeT on Twitter.

Some retailers are carrying the Cyber Monday deals throughout the week, so keep your eye out for those.

Of course, you'll want to make sure your online purchases are safe. On Guard Online.gov, a website put together by the federal government to help users guard against Internet fraud, offers these tips for online consumers.

• Know who you're dealing with. Confirm the online seller's physical address and phone number in case you have questions or problems.
• Know exactly what you're buying. Read the seller's description of the product closely, especially the fine print.
• Know what it will cost. Factor shipping and handling - along with your needs and budget - into the total cost of the order.
• Pay by credit or charge card, for maximum consumer protections.
• Check out the terms of the deal, like refund policies and delivery dates.
• Print and save records of your online transactions.

Also, look for sites with https in the web address. The 's' in the address means it's a secure site. Look for the little padlock or unbroken key at the bottom of the screen.

Happy shopping, just don't let the boss see you! ;)

The best Black Friday ads, tips and tricks

As I peruse through some of my favorite websites, I'm reminded of the coming Thanksgiving holiday....and then the day after.

While I do usually get up early with thousands of the other crazy folks in search of a good deal on Black Friday, I'm not so sure I'll be waking before the chickens this year. No "deals" have really popped out this year to me. Plus, with just about everything list online, who needs to leave their comfy pajamas when you can sit in front of your computer with a cup of coffee?

Since 77 million Americans are expected to hit the stores Friday, I did a little pre-Black Friday scouting to find some of the deals for this year and have compiled them below.

Warning: make sure you know the fine print and dirty little Black Friday secrets before getting excited about some of the advertised deals. Some stores may only have sales last for a limited time on Black Friday. For example, Sears is offering a Samsung 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $599.99. The catch: only three per store and no rainchecks. And that HDTV, may not be all it's cracked up to be...watch for derivatives.

Another tip, check to see if the store has price matching. Dealnews has a list of stores that will offer price matching on Black Friday.

Dealnews also put together a Black Friday Strategy Guide that offers lots of tips and tricks.

For you techies, there is a FREE, yes I said FREE, download of Fast Video Converter Pro available. I downloaded it and tested it. Can't beat it for the price.

Since your reading this, you probably love discounts. Who doesn't right? So, Coupon Sherpa offers coupons for lots of different products at popular stores. And who doesn't love some discount codes? Currentcodes.com offers discount codes. They have a "full-time staff of trained individuals whose only job is to find new coupon codes and discount codes and verify the accuracy of the existing database."

If you have a particular item you're scouting for, you can enter in the product at Price Protectr. It will watch for deals from 150 stores to see if there's a better price for a certain period of time and if so sends you an email if the price drops.

PriceGrabber.com, Shopping.com, and Bizrate.com offer price comparison options for products. Slickdeals.net and Fatwallet.com also search for good deals.

Gizmodo put together a nice list of electronics.

For everything else check out the websites below.

• Blackfriday.info brands itself as the "official site for all Black Friday ads." You can find ads from several of the popular stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, Kohl's, Kmart, etc.
• Dealnews has a nice comprehensive list.
• Gottadeal.com also boasts a list of Black Friday ads.
• Bfads.net has daily updates.
• Black-friday.net also seems pretty user friendly in searching for ads.
• BlackFriday.fm is another site with ads, complete with webisodes.
• Dealtaker.com offers a nice roundup of ads.
• Blackfridayonline.com is another site with lots of ads.
• Tgiblackfriday.com

For you really hardcore Black Friday shoppers, you can download apps. Toys 'r Us has an iPhone app that allows you to make electronic lists, check inventory, and read product reviews. Yahoo has an iPhone app for price comparisons. Ebay has an iPhone app as well to keep track of bids. Many of the other sites listed above offer their own iPhone apps.

Online retailers like Amazon.com, Buy.com, and Overstock.com also have Black Friday ads.

By the way, Black Friday was not traditionally the busiest shopping day of the season. Learn some nuts and bolts of the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

So there you have it. If you're as systematic as I like to be on Black Friday, you have your plan of attack--er--shopping agenda ready to go and mapped out. Hopefully, the above list of links and tips helps you in your Black Friday endeavors.

Have a happy Thanksgiving and successful Black Friday.

Next--Cyber Monday!

Check it out!---Behind the Scenes

I'm adding a new Behind the Scenes segment from Heartland News every weekday. Check out the schedule below. Check back for a new segment as they're added.

Oct. 29 - Weather
Oct. 30 - Sports
Nov. 2 - Anchor
Nov. 3 - Reporter
Nov. 4 - Photographer
Nov. 5 - Producer
Nov. 6 - Anchors do wear pants!
Nov. 9 - Live Shots
Nov. 10 - Production
Nov. 11 - Editing
Nov. 12 - Master Control
Nov. 13 - Jeff Cunningham's tie collection
Nov. 16 - Assignment Manager
Nov. 17 - How we cover news
Nov. 18 - Web
Nov. 19 - Engineering
Nov. 20 - Favorite parts about the job
Nov. 23 - Beauty tips
Nov. 24 - Bloopers

Behind the scenes at KFVS12

I'm working on a Behind the Scenes segment for KFVS12 and I want your input!

Lots of people work throughout the day to bring you live, local, late-breaking news from across the Heartland. Most of the people working on our newscasts are behind the cameras. So, I'll introduce you to some of them and what they do to bring you the best news coverage in the Heartland!

What type of behind the scenes things would you like to see? Want to know about the green screen we use for weather, the control room, edit bays, satellite truck? What questions do you have about how we put a newscast together, shoot and edit video, do a live shot? What have you always been curious about? Leave a comment and let me know!

Carrier pigeons to the rescue for America's broadband problem?

Broadband has been the center of a lot of talk in lately in Washington. After $7.2 billion in stimulus money was set aside to develop a national broadband plan, the FCC asked for input on how to define broadband. So, how fast do you think broadband should be?

The United States is definitely lagging in broadband speed compared to other countries. While different groups have come out with different figueres, the overall message is the same: the U.S. lags in broadband speed. According to Speedtest.net, Korea takes the top seat with a download speed of 21.42 Mb/s, while the U.S. lags behind at a turtle-ish (yes I made up that word) pace of 6.89 Mb/s in 28th place. For upload speeds, Lithuania takes the cake at 8.9 Mb/s and good ole USA comes in a distant 30th place at 1.54 Mb/s. Come on America! We've got the Aland Islands in the middle of the Baltic Sea beating our socks off in broadband speed. I just had to look it up because I've never even heard of the Aland Islands before.

SpeedMatters has slightly different numbers, ranking the average download speed nationwide as 5.1 Mb/s, up only slightly from last year's 4.2 Mb/s. The report by Communications Workers of America ranks the U.S. as 15th behind other industrialized nations.

Anyway, small baby steps have been taken to help disseminate broadband throughout the country. In fact, more than a dozen local companies in the Heartland have applied for federal stimulus money to help disperse broadband.

If funding is made available and the plans go through, it should help with the large discrepency in broadband speeds across the country. According to an article in USA Today, "Delaware, for example, averages 9.9 megabits per second. That's almost double the national average and triple the speed of Idaho (2.6 mbps), Arkansas (3.1) and Alaska (2.3). Data are based on feedback from more than 413,000 Internet users who took an online test between May 2008 and May 2009, CWA [Communications Workers of America] says."

The federal government is working on a national broadband map of who can get it and how fast it is. A rough estimate cited in an AP tech article states about 2/3rds of U.S. homes have access to broadband. Although, it probably won't be ready in time to influence the first round of stimulus money funding and possibly not even ready for when the FCC must put out it's national broadband plan by February 2010.

I'll try to stay updated in the national plan to deploy broadband.

In the meantime, if you are ever frustrated with your connection speed here's something that might perk you up....

A SOUTH African information technology company has proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using the country's leading internet service provider. Ironically, this article was forwarded on by one of our IT Specialists here at the station.

Jackson, MO to email monthly newsletter to residents

The city leaders of Jackson, Missouri are hoping a new, monthly digital newsletter will help the city better communicate with residents.

The Jackson Town Crier will be emailed to subscribers and will contain schedules and schedule changes for board meetings and other city services, city projects, conservation tips, and safety tips and PSA's from the police and fire departments, according to a press release sent by Joan Evans, the city's information techonology manager.

Anyone interested in receiving the new newsletter can email subscribe@jacksonmo.org with "NEWS" in the subject line.

Ameren goes mobile with outage info

It's a mobile day and age and electric company Ameren is getting in on the action. The company recently launched a new mobile site with outage information. It's pretty helpful, especially when you're out of electricity and can't get on the computer.

I checked it out on my Blackberry and I like the simple page. It's divided into outage pages for Missouri and Illinois like the main site. Now you can find out outage data by county or zip code. It even has a page to enter your information if you're out of power.

The mobile address is ameren.mobi.