sears

Black Friday is almost here, and if you're the type who likes to avoid the shopping rush like the plague, I may have the perfect collection of iPad apps for you.

Instead of getting up early and waiting in crowded lines for the doors to open, how about sitting on your couch with an iPad and a cup of coffee, and getting your holiday shopping done in peace? It's true that you probably won't get the super mega deals found by doing the leg work at your local retail outlet, but you'll also run zero risk of being trampled by overexcited shoppers.

While this collection is focused on the iPad (simply because it's easier to see the items you're buying), you could just as easily get any of these apps for smaller iOS devices.… Read more

Add another movie-downloading service to mix.

Sears Holdings has inked a deal with Sonic Solutions to offer a Web-based movie download service to both Sears and Kmart customers. According to Sonic, consumers will be able to access movies from the service on the same day they are made available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Dubbed Alphaline Entertainment, today's launch is just part one of a series of moves on the part of the companies to make the service available in several different places. Going forward, Sonic will be bringing the offering to "a broad range of connected devices," … Read more

It's our long-awaited Nerd Show (i.e., episode 1337), and in my opinion, we rose to the occasion admirably. Our show covers everything from the iPhone security secret sequence to how to become a lazy hacker. Plus, WiFi Direct certification, a ghostly white iPhone sighting, and PAT vs. NAT. Again. -- m011yW00t

Here's how you know streaming video has gone mainstream: when mass market retailers are getting in on the game.

Scheduled for a holiday release is a new digital video service that will be available on TVs and Blu-ray players sold at Sears and Kmart. It's called Alphaline Entertainment, and will be available on devices from Sharp, LG, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, and RCA by the end of the year. Customers will be walked through the set-up inside the store by customer service representatives so that they can just take it home and begin watching movie content at once.

The … Read more

If it's five o'clock in the morning and you have to spend your time with far more people than you're used to, pushing, pulling and writhing your way to satisfaction, then perhaps a shopping mall is not the ideal location.

The tradition of Black Friday as the day when one attains negotiation nirvana seems a peculiar one. And one has to wonder whether people have learned that some of the deals really aren't deals at all.

As CNET's Rick Broida has already pointed out, many of the alleged deals aren't terribly enticing, as stores … Read more

Infineon Raceway (formerly known as Sears Point) is famous outside of California for hosting racing events for national heavyweights such as NASCAR and Indy Car. But California car and racing enthusiasts know that Infineon holds a semi-weekly event called "Wednesday Night Drags".

Nearly every Wednesday throughout the year, car owners can bring their own cars or trucks and race em drag style on the historic Infineon asphalt. And when I say owners can race in their own vehicles, I mean it - depending on the night, you can see vintage muscle cars squaring off against newer pickup trucks, … Read more

Allvoices.com has launched a Credibility Meter across its citizen news service. According to the company, the Credibility Meter will be placed at the bottom of every news story to help readers determine the trustworthiness of a particular citizen journalist's postings on the site. The final determination of an author's credibility is based on how well the community likes content from the author, how well the community enjoys a particular report, how many contributors are writing on the same topic, and how many mainstream sources have supporting content about the report. The Credibility Meter is live now.

TripAdvisor … Read more

Shuttle turned a lot of heads with the announcement of its $199 Linux PC at the Consumer Electronics Show last week. Now Linspire is looking to tempt retail customers with its own version of the sub-$200 PC.

Starting Thursday, Linspire, maker of Linspire and Freespire desktop Linux configurations, and PC maker Mirus Innovations will sell its Mirus Linux PC on Sears.com for $199. But there is a catch: a $100 mail-in rebate is required. Otherwise the full price as of this writing is $284.99. (Sears is offering a $15 discount through Saturday.)

In comparing Linspire's version … Read more

StopBadware.org said Tuesday it has labeled the Sears and Kmart community software known as My SHC Community as "badware," or spyware.

The nonprofit organization run by Harvard Law School, Oxford University, and Consumer Reports WebWatch said it cited the Sears Holding Corporation community in particular "because of inadequate disclosure of extensive tracking and data collection and because the application does not identify itself while running."

In response to several accusations that it collects personal information without proper disclosure, My SHC Community has dramatically revised its Web site since last week. It has, among other changes, … Read more