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Reporters' Roundtable: Holiday tech buying update

We're in the middle of the holiday buying season, so it's a good time to talk about how the world has changed for gadget buyers--and sellers. The New York Times' Claire Cain Miller and Decide.com CEO Mike Fridgen join us.

Rafe Needleman Former Editor at Large
Rafe Needleman reviews mobile apps and products for fun, and picks startups apart when he gets bored. He has evaluated thousands of new companies, most of which have since gone out of business.
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Rafe Needleman

We are in the middle of the holiday buying season right now, between the first rush of gift-buying that happened on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and the "Oh, crap, I need to start buying presents!" feeling that happens in about a week.

This is the most important month for the consumer tech economy, but this December will be different from all the ones that came before it.

Why? Mobile devices, online shopping, social networking, improved analytics, changing tax laws, and changing behaviors among both buyers and sellers, among other reasons. Today we are talking about how the gadget economy is evolving.

My guests are: Claire Cain Miller, a reporter at The New York Times who's been writing about this topic, and a returning guest to the Roundtable; and Mike Fridgen, CEO of one of my favorite tech startups, Decide.com. This company runs a service that can tell you if the price of a tech item you're looking at is good today and if it will be going up or down in the near future.

Watch this: Ep. 102: Holiday tech buying update

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Discussion points:

First, the numbers: How'd the gadget industry do at the opening of this season?

How has gadget shopping and buying changed in the last five years?

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