Microsoft planning 'next release' of Windows Phone for this holiday season

A new job listing over at Microsoft has revealed when the outfit is planning to serve up the next iteration of its smartphone OS. According to the post, work on the current version is being finished up and they're "getting ready for our next release targeting the holiday of this year." Presumably, the update will be part of the wider Blue umbrella of tweaks for Windows. Though a vague "next release" doesn't offer any details in terms of features, it's likely the OS will carry a significant set of changes as the team in need of a developer is responsible for the Start screen experience, the shell, first party apps and more.

Via: WMPoweruser

Source: Microsoft

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By: Unknown On 6:16 PM

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Amazon Sets Holiday Shopping Records Despite Making Half Of What It Made Last Year

This story will display in ...Dec 27, 2012 11:34 AM  

On its peak day this holiday shopping season, Amazon sold an astonishing 26.5 million items at a rate of 306 items per second. And the honor of being the "#1 best-selling, most gifted, and most wished for product" goes to Amazon's Kindle Fire HD. The release is chock full of wins for Amazon but take a look at the below image:

That's crazy, right? If Amazon is selling boat loads of Kindles and delivering over 23 million forms of digital content on Christmas day, how in the hell did their net income drop off by nearly half of what it was in 2011? Is Amazon hemorrhaging money subsidizing Kindles? Not exactly. Or at all really.

In the past year, Amazon acquired four notable technology companies along with several other smaller companies across various verticals. Kiva, an online fulfillment company, cost the company a whopping $775 million earlier this year. Amazon also acquired UpNext, a 3D mapping company, for an undisclosed sum that's likely around the $2.5 million mark.

So yeah, despite a massive dive in total net income this year, I wouldn't go selling off my Amazon stock anytime soon. (Not that I own any Amazon stock.)

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By: Dilusha On 8:45 AM

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Grab Some Nice Sweat Pants for Your Holiday Lounging

This story will display in ...Dec 25, 2012 7:00 PM  

You just ate an entire spiral ham and now you're so full you've got to pop those jeans off immediately and curl up by the fire and relax. Here are some really nice sweatpants from American Giant so you don't look like a total slob in the company of your distant relatives.

Even if you're not trying to digest a whole Christmas goose, the first thing you want to do after a big holiday meal is retire to the couch. Jeans are not conducive to that. Neither are those ratty sweats you've had since your sophomore year in college. These are a nice happy medium. Now get thee to a nap. [American Giant]

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By: Dilusha On 10:25 PM

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Engadget Eurocast 010 - 12.25.12 Holiday Special

Christmas day, and while the US is still tucked up in bed, awaiting Santa's visit, the euro-crew are already up and about, donning knitted jumpers with one hand in the chocolate tin, the other brandishing (the third) sherry. This year, to save you from tears, we recorded you something special. Merry Christmas from the Eurocast.

Hosts: Dan Cooper, Steve Dent, Mat Smith, Sharif Sakr, James Trew, Jamie Rigg

Producer: James Trew

Hear the Podcast

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By: Dilusha On 10:11 PM

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Google, Apple show off technology in holiday ads

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Christina is a contributor to media outlets such as Forbes.com, Inc.com, PCWorld.com, Auto Trader and The Minneapolis Star Tribune. She writes about a myriad of topics including technology, the automotive industry and health and fitness. Her talents outside of writing include photography, getting people to talk (although that certainly helps with writing) and gardening.
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Technology giants Google and Apple shared some holiday cheer and a little self-promotion online in the form of ads recently posted on YouTube.

GoogleMobile's ad -- a cheesy production that has garnered more than 125,000 views -- stars the little green Android guy who seems to feel left out of a holiday party.

In the spot, one observant Google employee notices the forlorn plastic icon and proceeds to surround him with Android devices that play video, including a snowy winter scene, a colorful Christmas tree and a roaring fire. Friends of the diminutive character magically emerge, all oddly wearing winter hats just like the Google employees.

Never mind that Google is headquartered in sunny California. And even though the Android icon doesn’t have a mouth, or fingers, you get the feeling he’s smiling and giving the nice man a smile and thumbs up at the video’s conclusion.

Look for cameos from Nexus 7 and 10 docks:

Apple’s ad is a bit more subtle and simply shows an iPad and an iPad mini next to each other on a white backdrop. On the tablets, which are sure to be found under plenty of people’s trees on Tuesday, a girl uses Facetime to sing “I’ll be Home for Christmas” to her grandfather. This one beats Android’s count with more than 180,000 views.

Sound off on which company does a better job showing off its technology.

Image from Nexus Google page

While you’re contemplating that answer you might head over to the Nexus account on Google+, where Android Police noticed Google has shared some lovely holiday images there.

The post reads, “We made some 'Happy Holiday Cards' to share with you this holiday season! Pass them along to friends and family by sharing this post and be sure to download the full high-resolution files ... they make great wallpapers for your phone, tablet or desktop. Enjoy!”

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By: Dilusha On 10:45 PM

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Five great holiday updates to popular iOS games

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Philip has covered the Mac market since 1999, with a focus on the iPhone, iPad and iOS in recent years. In all that time, he has never tested a fart app.
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Let the record reflect that I am not a fan of holiday-specific iOS apps. Oh, there are a few out there that are worthwhile—A Charlie Brown Christmas comes to mind—but by and large, holiday apps tend to rushed-out-the-door unitaskers, poorly conceived one-trick ponies, and easily forgettable novelty items. More to the point, 11 months of the year, they have little practical use. Why give them any space on my iPhone or iPad?

But regular apps that are updated with a little holiday flair? Well, that’s another matter entirely.

It’s become a delightful tradition for developers—game makers, more often than not—to add some holiday flavoring to their mobile wares. Maybe it’s as simple as adding some festive decorations to the game’s background, maybe something more complex like a holiday-themed level. Whatever the addition, it’s a great way to breathe new life into old games. So I’d suggest heading to iTunes and seeing if you’ve got any updates to download. You just might find a holiday-themed surprise among some of the games you’ve downloaded over the years.

Here are a handful of my favorite seasonal updates this year—perfect for passing the time as you travel to holiday festivities.

I don’t know if this festively-themed iteration of Angry Birds—by far, my favorite app in the ever-expanding Rovio empire—was the first to roll out seasonal updates. But it’s certainly become the standard bearer for such improvements. This year’s Christmastime update, Winter Wonderham, is actually the third annual update, joining Wreck the Halls and Season’s Greedings in the Angry Birds Seasons canon. Whether you play the iPhone or iPad versions of the game, get ready to do battle with those naughty green pigs in a wintertime scenes filled with candy canes, snowballs, and the occasional exploding present.

The virtual apartment building in NimbleBit’s sim game has broken out the holiday decorations. But the most recent update did more than just add a few wreaths and Christmas lights. Visitors to your tower are wearing the holiday best and some of the floors you can build have a distinctive seasonal look. Tiny Tower’s pixelated Bitizens even are posting holiday-themed messages on the Facebook-like BitBook page.

In addition to its many puzzle levels, Scribblenauts also features a playground area which you can fill with just about any object that you can scribble the name of. The latest update from Warner Bros. adds another holiday playground—ideal if you’ve ever wondered what it would look like should you try to bring to life each element from “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Ski Safari was easily my favorite game of 2012—there’s a reason why it won an App Gem award, after all. The latest in a series of regular updates from Defiant Development adds a North Pole-themed slope to the game’s collection of courses. An elf costume for Sven the hapless skier and new holiday-themed challenges—collect presents along the course or escape in a rocket sled pulled by a handful of tiny reindeer—add to the festive mood in Ski Safari.

This cartoonish real-time strategy game has added a winter theme with snow falling and villagers donning the occasional Santa cap. But Clash of the Clans didn’t stop with a few seasonal visuals: An Unpleasant Present explosive trap and a bombarding Santa Claus add to the holiday-themed mayhem in Supercell’s game.

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By: Dilusha On 9:01 PM

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How Much of Your Holiday Shopping Did You Do Online?

This story will display in ...Dec 22, 2012 4:00 PM  

We live in a cyberland future where malls exist inside your computer and the presents you buy are magically delivered to you by, well, delivery men. With each Christmas that passes, online shopping becomes more and more the norm until eventually brick and mortar stores will be nothing but vacant museums of an age gone by.

How much did you contribute to that future this year? Did you do most of your shopping online? All of it? None of it? Is that even possible any more?

Image by Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

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By: Dilusha On 8:28 PM

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How To Sound Smart at Your Holiday Party

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It's holiday party season, and you're probably spending your weekend hopping around from one festive fete to another.

At the minimum, you avoid devolving into a sloppy drunken mess. Best case scenario, you actually come across as clever and well-informed. Here are your talking points for the week.

Summary: The Mayans predicted that the apocalypse was happening on December 21.
Your opinion: There were some legitimate ways the end could have actually come. But you didn't believe that would happen, did you?
Most surprising fact: A lot of people tried to use our utter demise as an excuse to get laid.

Summary: When you're not watching, those people who are supposed to be fixing your gadgets can do some really horrible things. Making a game of destroying gadgets, looking through your data—that's just the start of it.
Your opinion: Be nice to the staff at Apple Stores. Seriously.
Most surprising fact: The employees would steal the gadgets, sure. But some employees would even steal the giant novelty gadgets used as window displays. We found one ex-employee with a "pretty large collection" that included a giant Nano and a giant iPod Touch.

Summary: Your favorite photo-filtering app changed its Terms of Service to say it could sell your photos for advertising. Everyone freaked out, so Instagram changed its mind.
Your opinion: Screw it! Buy my photos.
Most surprising fact: Instagram actually listened to people's criticisms. But if you're still a little put-off, here are some alternative camera apps.

Summary: You think about it every time you're caught in a downpour. Do you run, and potentially catch more drops, or walk—and maybe not get so wet?
Your opinion: Easy. You run. As Minute Physics explained to us, it's science.
Most surprising fact: Do some people seriously slow down to dodge raindrops? Run for cover, idiots!

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By: Dilusha On 9:26 PM

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Best high-tech holiday light shows of 2012

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Chris Hoffman is a tech geek who's been writing about everything technology-related for years. When he's not writing about gadgets and software, he's probably using them in his spare time.
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For most of us, the holidays are a time to relax with family. For the more awesome among us, however, the holidays are a time to break out miles of electrical wiring, string up tens of thousands of lights, jump on one's PC, and spend weeks programming a light show—pulsing to the beat of the hippest pop song of the year, of course.

PCWorld salutes the people who went all-out this holiday season, slaving over LEDs and Light-O-Rama controller boxes for hundreds of hours. Here are some of the most awesome holiday light shows of 2012.

NVIDIA engineer John Storms is the model of dedication to the holiday spirit. He specifically purchased an isolated house with no neighbors across the street just so he could create light shows of eye-popping intensity. And Storms even paid professionals to put up lights more than 15 feet off the ground.

Software from Light-O-Rama choreographs the lights, which are energy-efficient LEDs that only cost $15 to run for the entirety of November and December. Storms' selection of ear-pleasing tunes—along with the more dubiously ear-pleasing "Gangnam Style"—are transmitted via a small FM transmitter, allowing people driving by to listen to the music inside their cars without annoying the neighbors.

Perhaps more impressively, Storms made a point of spreading the holiday cheer in the form of a companion YouTube video that gives a behind-the-scenes look at his amazing light show—just in case you want to rig up a memorable display of your own.

Besides "Gangnam Style," what other musical sensation of 2012 would work great as the soundtrack for a holiday lights display? If you answered dubstep, you’re correct! (Sorry, friends of ringing sleigh bells. Epic bass drops just go better with flashing lights.)

The Cadger family in Meridian, Idaho brings us a Christmas lights show set to parts of Bangarang and Cinema, two Skillrex songs, with a display featuring around 35,000 lights and 80 different Light-O-Rama channels. In fact, the video above is just a small slice of the presentation; the complete Cadger light show clocks in at a whopping 12 minutes and 19 seconds. The entire extravaganza was planned, programmed and prepared by a 17-year-old and his dad, repeating a tradition the Cadger clan has performed for years.

Carefully syncing up tens of thousands of lights to a song is impressive, but turning those same lights into an interactive video game that you can play on the side of your house is simply astounding.

From the family behind the interactive Angry Birds and Guitar Hero… sorry, Christmas Hero holiday light shows comes this interactive maze game that you play with a homebrew controller (though we’d call it more of a reflex game than a proper maze). The player controls the red arrow on the garage door, and the music is broadcast via an FM transmitter so that you can listen to the game while you play it in your car. This nifty game comes complete with a high scores display, but watch out—everyone in the neighborhood will know if you crash.

The creator didn't share stats for this year's creation, but last year's Angry Birds setup consisted of two computers, 10 Light-O-Rama 16-channel controllers, and more than 20,000 light bulbs, all for less than a single cent of electricity per game.

If you’re craving something a bit more traditional this holiday season, check out this light show synced to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s rockin’ rendition of “Christmas Sarajevo.”

The Yoshida family in Waikele, Hawaii starts working on its Christmas lights display in July every year. The 2012 show, seen above, contains more than 20,000 lights and over a mile of electrical wiring, and it's all completely powered by a photovoltaic system that captures more than enough energy from sunlight during the day to power the display all night. (It is located Hawaii, after all.)

Like every other kick-ass light show mentioned here, the music is broadcast via FM radio so neighbors don’t have to listen to it every night. The Yoshida family looks out for its community in more ways than that, though: It also accepts donations that are passed along to buy holiday gifts for children of struggling families.

What, more Gangnam Style? Yes. This is what happens when a song becomes the most-watched YouTube video of all time in a matter of months.

Kym Illman’s version contains 41,000 light bulbs, 2,000 different light channels, and nearly 1.25 miles of cable. The display took 200 hours to set up, plus another 90 hours to program the lights to sync with the music. The Australian is no night-show novice, with Illman’s past efforts raising more than $90,000 in donations for charity.

Unfortunately, the playful display was shut down after just three nights when visitors turned up in crowds 10 times larger than expected, creating both a safety hazard and a major annoyance for Illman’s neighbors. Next year, he plans to light up a commercial area that can handle larger crowd capacities.

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By: Dilusha On 12:44 AM

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Pretty Much Every Holiday Party Ever

This story will display in ...Dec 17, 2012 10:00 PM  

Though holiday parties are dressed up in festivity and good spirits and cold weather, they're still freaking parties. And parties, filled with people of the human race, all end up the same way. This animated short about "-holics" shows how all holiday parties play out. For the Facebookaholic, the Twitteraholic, the Alcoholic, the Sexaholic, whoever -holic, party up. It's the holidays.

The video, called Season's Gweetings!, was directed by Aloke Shetty of Rawshark Films and animated by Rajiv Eipe. [YouTube via Laughing Squid]

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By: Dilusha On 4:27 PM

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Give a Mac game this holiday season

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Peter Cohen loves video games, anime and almost anything Apple. When he's not compulsively watching TV or movies, he's a freelance technology journalist and executive editor at The Loop.
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The holidays are once again in full swing, and what’s more festive than loading up the Mac with some fun games? No problem! There is a veritable avalanche of games to choose from, ranging from kid’s fare to casual games to challenging action titles.

Finding games in boxes on store shelves is, frankly, a difficult task, thanks to dwindling shelf space in Apple retail stores. But that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of games available. In fact, we’re in the midst of a renaissance of Mac game publishing, thanks to Apple’s Mac App Store, Valve’s Steam game service, and many other places to get Mac games online, like Gamersgate.com and Macgamestore.com. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Feral Interactive’s latest addition to the Lego Mac game pantheon is Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes ($30; read the review). The game brings players to the DC Universe, to a Lego-fied version of Gotham, home city to Batman and bad guys like the Joker. Batman teams up with other superheroes including Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Aquaman (all as playable characters, of course), fighting the forces of evil before they overrun the city.

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

Players wield super powers and use incredible gadgets like Green Lantern’s Power Ring or Batman and Robin’s array of nifty utility belt items. What’s more, the game features cooperative two-player support, so another player can drop in or out (from the same computer) to lend a hand at any time.

One of the newer additions to the “4x” genre of strategy games (so called for their focus on “explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate” gameplay), Endless Space ($35) from Amplitude Studios is a grand effort in the vein of classics like Master of Orion 3. You assume control of one of eight spacefaring civilizations striving for galactic domination. To that end you must use all the resources at your disposal—raw materials to create giant armadas of spacecraft; diplomacy; political cunning; trade and advancement of technology.

Endless Space

You must explore the far reaches of space to discover new planets to exploit; understand and use new scientific phenomena, hire Heroes to lead you to victory; and fight against your foes in epic space battles staged in the vast interstellar voids. Multiplayer support and endless replayability in its single-player mode make sure that Endless Space lives up to its name.

Back in the 1980s, video games in arcades came in two different types: ones with rasterized, blocky graphics, or ones with sharp, starkly-colored vector graphics. One game stood alone for its use of Hollywood-quality cel-shaded animation, delivered on the then-novel medium of laser disc: Dragon’s Lair. With art produced by legendary animator Don Bluth, it felt more like you were controlling an animated feature film than a video game.

Dragon's Lair (Daring Edition)

Dragon’s Lair ($10) is back for the Mac, and available for download from the Mac App Store. You once again join Dirk the Daring as he seeks to save Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe, hidden away in a castle filled with monsters. Dragon’s Lair isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, because it requires you to take action at certain break points rather than controlling everything throughout. But if you wasted quarters in arcades back in the 1980s, you’re likely to have a great time reliving those days again with this fun jaunt.

Borderlands is back with a sequel that is, by any measure, a big step up from the original. This novel first person shooter mixes elements of role playing games, such as multiple player character classes, skill trees and random loot drops, to provide gamers with a really unique style of play.

Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 ($60) from Aspyr takes you back to the world of Pandora, where you are a Vault Hunter looking for ancient alien artifacts. You must take on the corrupt Handsome Jack and the countless denizens of Pandora ranging from native monsters to the many human settlers, most of whom would rather skin you alive and stew your bones rather than help you.

Borderlands 2 features unique cel shaded-style 3D graphics and multiplayer support. Aspyr’s also brought forth a couple of DLC (downloadable content) packs already, with plans for more.

For years, fans of zombie films lamented when the credits rolled because it meant the end of the action and gore until the next movie could be made. That ended when AMC introduced The Walking Dead, the superb television adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel series about survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Now The Walking Dead has been adapted as a game series from Telltale Games.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead game takes a different take from the TV show and graphic novel; instead of telling the story of Rick Grimes, the police officer in charge of a ragged group of survivors, this tells the story of an escaped convict trying to keep zombies at bay while protecting a young orphan—though you’ll interact with characters you already know from the TV show or graphic novel, like farm owner Herschel and wiley Glenn. Decisions you make throughout the game affect the outcome as you use your problem-solving skills to survive in this ruined world overrun with shambling horrors.

This adventure game was originally released in five episodes, each priced at $5. Recently the fifth and final installment was released, so now you can enjoy the entire “first season” of the game from start to finish.

Sure, we’ve all had lots of Angry Birds fun, and Rovio is continuing the series with the new Angry Birds Star Wars variant. But what about those poor pigs? Bad Piggies ($5) is an all-new game from the makers of Angry Birds that at last has a sympathetic eye for the green pigs that serve as the bad guys to the Angry Birds.

Bad Piggies

The eponymous Bad Piggies are on the hunt for eggs, but instead of chucking birds at them, this time you have to help them by building contraptions. Flying machines, cars and more need to be constructed using materials on hand, and then sent into action. Bad Piggies is a fun, kinetic puzzler with a completely different take than the Angry Birds franchises, but filled with the same comedic slapstick sensibility as its forebear.

You can buy Bad Piggies for iPhone and iPad too, but it’s a lot of fun to play on the bigger screen of your Mac, and with 84 levels of consecutively more difficult challenges, it keeps the whole family busy for hours.

Got a game you'd like to recommend? Tell us about it in the comments.

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By: Dilusha On 4:04 PM

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Free holiday shipping specials end Monday: Watch out for the gotchas!

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Ian is an independent writer based in Tel Aviv, Israel. His current focus is on all things tech including mobile devices, desktop and laptop computers, software, social networks, Web apps, tech-related legislation and corporate tech news.
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Attention procrastinators hoping to save money on Xmas-related shipping, this is your last warning before it's too late. As the window for buying and shipping holiday gifts draws to close, retailers Best Buy, Walmart, and many others are enticing shoppers to buy from them with free shipping offers that expire Monday.

According to promoters of so-called Free Shipping Day, 1600 online retailers will offer free shipping on select electronics, clothes, and toys Monday. While the promotion is generally a boon to shoppers, offers vary from retailer to retailer and come with important caveats. For example, some "free shipping" offers restrict the items they will mail for free and others will only ship items at no charge if you spend beyond a certain threshold. It's also important to remember many online shops already offer free online shipping throughout the year.

Amazon, which doesn't officially participate in Free Shipping Day, regularly offers Free Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Others, such as Best Buy, are offering free shipping as a special on Monday, but the big box retailer also has a long list of exclusions.

As those that live in Alaska and Hawaii likely already know, the holiday shipping offers and guarantees only apply only those located in the continental U.S.

Bottom line: the real difference between free shipping offers on Monday versus any other day of the year is that you have only days left to get items shipped for free in time for Christmas.

Here is a list of major electronics retailers, including ones that don't officially participate in Free Shipping Day, and their current free holiday shipping offers. If details were available we've also included cutoffs for holiday shipments in time for Christmas.

Best Buy

At Best Buy no minimum purchase is required, but the list of excluded items is more extensive than other retailers. You won't get free shipping on Marketplace items where third-party sellers offer their wares on Best Buy's site. The offer also excludes large items such as major appliances, HDTVs over 40 inches, furniture, or anything else for which Best Buy requires scheduled delivery.

Other excluded items include special order products, ship-to-store items, mobile device orders that cannot be validated online, and items marked as “in-store only.” The really bad news is items purchased on Free Shipping Day aren't guaranteed for Christmas delivery , but the retailer says it will do its best to get it there on time. So you may find some great deals at Best Buy on Monday, but you're taking a risk if you're hoping for Christmas delivery.

Best Buy's last day for guaranteed Christmas delivery (not including Monday) is Wednesday, December 19 before 1 p.m. ET.

Walmart

Walmart will ship online items marked as “homefree” for free on orders of $45 or more. The retailer says it has more than 10,000 items available for free shipping. You can find all of Walmart's electronics shipping for free here . Walmart will not ship for free to P.O. boxes or remote addresses. If you can't shop today, Tuesday, December 18 will be your last day to take advantage of Walmart's “homefree” offer.

Radio Shack

Get free shipping on purchases over $25 at Radio Shack today with a maximum three orders per person. The retailer did not specify any limitations on products or product sizes.

TigerDirect

The online retailer is offering free shipping Monday, but not if you pay with Google Checkout.

Amazon

Monday is the last day to get Amazon's Free Super Saver Shipping today on orders over $25 in time for Christmas. Eligible items will show an “eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping” label next to them. All purchased items must ship to a single U.S. address, you have to select the option at checkout to “group my items into as few shipments as possible,” and you have to select Super Saver Shipping as your shipping speed. You can find more details on Amazon's site.

Amazon's holiday cutoff is Saturday, December 22 at 3 p.m. ET for one-day shipping (not free). Free shipping ends Monday for regular customers and on Thursday for Amazon Prime members.

MacMall

Apple buyers can get free Fed Ex two-day shipping on orders over $300 that weigh less than 25 pounds combined. This offer ends Monday at midnight.

Mac Mall will ship anywhere in the country with 2-day delivery until Thursday December 20th at 9 p.m. ET and overnight shipping until Saturday, December 22 at 3 p.m. ET. The holiday cutoff for ground shipping varies by region; you can find holiday shiping details on MacMall's site.

Dell

Until December 19 at 4 p.m. ET, you can get free 2nd day shipping at Dell.com. Just be sure to select 2nd day shipping as your shipping method at checkout.

BJ's

BJ's Wholesale Club is offering free shipping on all TVs, home theaters, computers, and cameras on Monday. There didn't appear to be any restrictions, but make sure any items you purchase are marked with “shipping included” just to be sure.

Guaranteed Christmas delivery ends Monday and only on select items.

Office Max

Free shipping on all orders over $20. No apparent restrictions. The holiday cutoff is December 19 at 4 p.m. Eastern.

Toshiba Direct

Free shipping on prebuilt laptops marked with the “RapidShip” label until December 19 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern (this is also the holiday shipping cutoff). You can't put TVs, tablets, All-in-one PCs, or customized laptops in the same order. Accessories could ship separately, and you have to select “FREE 2-day air shipping” at checkout.

Apple

The Apple Store is currently offering free 2-3 day shipping on everything in the store. Holiday cutoffs vary by product and whether you want engraving. You can find Apple's holiday shipping deadlines online.

Microsoft Store

Microsoft's online shop on Monday was offering free 2nd day shipping. The software giant's shop did not specify holiday cutoff times.

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By: Dilusha On 2:09 PM

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How To Sound Smart at Your Holiday Party

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It's party season. In fact, we have our office shindig tonight, and maybe you're attending a holiday fete of your own.

At the minimum, you avoid devolving into a sloppy drunken mess. Best case scenario, you actually come across as clever and well-informed. Here are your talking points for the week.

Summary: A woman came home from the day and felt a huge bump when she was pulling into what once was her driveway. While she was out, two guys had taken out her 300 square-foot driveway brick by brick.
Your opinion: Of course this would happen in Florida. Plus, that neighborhood was swanky. If you're going to steal a driveway, you could do worse.
Most surprising fact: Florida still considered a part of the U.S.

Summary: Members of Bushwick's TBO Gang (True Bosses Only aka Team Bang Out) stupidly accepted friend requests of fake accounts made by officers. The police saw the accused bragging about their crimes, which were then cross-referenced with police reports.
Your opinion: This is the ultimate overshare.
Most surprising fact: You'd think even the world's dumbest criminals would have figured out Facebook by now.

Summary: The group bombarded Time with votes to give North Korea's Supreme Leader the annual title. The manipulation of the ranking caused the first letters in the other important people's names to spell out the ever-so-classy KJU GAS CHAMBERS.
Your opinion: Well-played, 4Chan.
Most surprising fact: 4Chan pulled the same con on Time, in 2009, to make Christopher Poole (aka moot) Person of the Year.

Summary: She was traveling from Bogotá, Colombia to Barcelona, and failed to answer questions convincingly at security. So she was strip searched, and boom! Three pounds of cocaine hidden inside her breasts.
Your opinion: Must have been the most expensive, worst-looking boob job ever.
Most surprising fact: The bags of blow were inserted inside of her without any stitches—they were just covered by bloody bandages. Ew.

Summary: An experiment recreated the evolutionary point at which fish got limbs. The scientists did it by isolating the part of the gene cluster that governs shape growth (aka morphogenesis) in multicellular organisms. They manipulated this HOXD12 cluster, sending the cue for the fish to grow legs.
Your opinion: Whoa.
Most surprising fact: Scientists believe that they've recreated the genetic mutation that gave fish legs in the first place—a change that eventually led to homo sapiens today.

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By: Dilusha On 7:51 PM

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Engadget's 2012 holiday giveaway: win one of 14 phones from AT&T

By Sarah Silbert posted November 14th 2012 2:00PM

We're on the cusp of holiday retail madness, and if you know what's good for you, you'll make use of our comprehensive gift guides. Shopping for friends and family may be top priority, but we know you have a gadget wish list of your own. With that in mind, we've teamed up with AT&T to give away one of the carrier's hottest phones for each guide that goes up -- that's 14 devices total. To enter the contest, leave a comment on each of our guides. We're accepting entries until December 31st, at 11:59 ET, so make sure you get your "pick me!" in for your chance to win a sweet new handset to ring in the new year.

Update: To clarify, if you want to enter the contests you need to leave the comment on the actual gift guides. Comments here will sadly win you nothing, except perhaps our sympathy for your well-crafted and witty, but ultimately wasted, demand that we "pick" you.

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By: Dilusha On 8:09 PM

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Engadget's holiday gift guide 2012: ultraportables

Welcome to the Engadget holiday gift guide! Picking presents for friends and loved ones is never a simple task, and with thousands of options for each category, buying technology can be an especially frustrating experience. We're here to help. Below you'll find today's bevy of curated picks, and you can head back to our hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. We've also teamed up with AT&T to give away one hot smartphone with each and every guide, so scroll to the end for today's prize, then leave a comment to submit your entry!

Just in time for the holidays, a slew of new Windows 8 Ultrabooks has arrived to make your shopping list all the more difficult. Not only must you settle on a screen size, you also have touch-enabled machines to consider -- and don't forget those Atom-powered hybrids, which pull double duty as standalone slates and full-fledged laptops. The deliberations may be endless, but we've whittled down the playing field to some prime contenders. Just hold your horses -- some of these slick machines are drumming up extra anticipation with release dates well into the holiday shopping season.

The T13 Ultrabook has been around for some time now, but it still stands out for its many configuration options and robust spec list -- including a Core i5 Ivy Bridge CPU, a 500GB hybrid hard drive with 4GB of RAM and a slick 3.54-pound metal chassis -- offered at a surprisingly wallet-friendly price. To usher in the Windows 8 era, Sony recently added an edge-to-edge glass touch display as an option for this 13-inch machine, which makes it an even stronger contender for the students and casual users on your list.

Key specs: 13-inch (1,366 x 768) capacitive touchscreen, Core i5-3317U processor with 4GB of RAM, 500GB hybrid hard drive, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 0.75 inches thick, 3.54 pounds.

Price: $870 from Sony

The U945 is a bargain-priced Ultrabook, and though it may sport a blue plastic coating rather than a more premium aluminum finish, it packs solid specs: a Core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive paired with a 32GB SSD for speedy boot-ups.

Price: $730 from Toshiba

Touch doesn't have to come at a huge premium, as the Series 5 Ultra Touch so deftly demonstrates. For $850, you get a 13-inch panel ready to handle finger input, a 500GB hard drive with 24GB of ExpressCache and a Core i3 Ivy Bridge CPU.

Price: $850 from Best Buy

We're fans of the 13.3-inch Envy Spectre XT, which sports a great keyboard and touchpad and offers impressive performance in an attractive all-metal package. The 15.6-inch TouchSmart is even more enticing -- with a 1080p IPS display (with touch support, of course) a generous selection of ports, Beats Audio and full copies of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. The TouchSmart won't go on sale till December, but you can add it to your shopping list in the meantime.

Key specs: 15.6-inch (1,920 x 1,080) IPS display, Ivy Bridge processors, 0.7 inches thick, 4.77 pounds.

Price: $1,400 (expected in December)

Yes, Acer's 13-inch Aspire S7 offers a bright 1080p IPS display, but its panel goes above and beyond with a design that can lie completely flat. Acer sweetens the deal with an included USB-to-Ethernet adapter and carrying case.

Price: $1,375 on Amazon

Viewed alongside the new crop of touch-enabled Windows 8 machines, Apple's ultraportable may have a little less luster. But if the beneficiary of your generous gift giving can live with keyboard input, the Air's Core i5 power, Mountain Lion and best-in-class glass trackpad are a winning combo.

Price: $1,128 on Amazon

HP's take on the Atom-powered laptop / tablet craze is an 11-inch slate with a detachable keyboard dock. It's not the form factor that's impressive, though: specs include NFC, Beats Audio and a 400-nit IPS display. There's also pen support, so users can interact with the device via the touchscreen, keyboard or stylus. Beginning November 14th, you'll be able to purchase this lightweight, aluminum-built hybrid for $850 -- hardly chump change, but you get a lot for those buckaroos.

Key specs: 11-inch (1,366 x 768) display, Clover Trail processor, 64GB of built-in storage, 0.33 inches thick, 1.5 pounds / 1.6 pounds with dock.

Price: $850 (beginning November 14th)

With a dual-core Clover Trail processor, 32GB of solid-state storage and an 11.6-inch IPS display, the Lynx looks to be a solid standalone tablet. Add in the $150 dock and you get 16 hours of battery life -- when this hybrid hits the market in December.

Price: $600 and up

With a spun-metal lid and a sleek silhouette, this convertible looks deceptively similar to the ASUS Zenbook. But detach the tablet from its keyboard dock and you have a Core i7-powered 13-inch slate. Look for it to drop in mid-December.

Price: TBD

Ready to take home one of AT&T's hottest smartphones? Today's offering is the tried-and-true HTC One X, which remains one of our top picks on the US carrier's LTE network. To enter for your chance to win, be sure to review our full guidelines, then leave a comment below.

Good luck!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do. Duplicate entries will be filtered out and discarded, so adding additional comments won't increase your likelihood of winning.Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States and the District of Columbia, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone).Winners will be chosen randomly. One winner will receive one (1) HTC One X.If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes a contact email. Social media contact details are not carried over into our system.This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. AT&T, HTC and Engadget/AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.Entries can be submitted until December 31st, 2012 at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!

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By: Dilusha On 2:58 PM

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PlayStation: The Official Magazine being shuttered, will say farewell with holiday issue

By Alexis Santos posted Nov 7th 2012 8:31AM

The publisher of PlayStation: The Official Magazine has confirmed to Game Informer that the Sony-minded periodical will board up its doors by year's end. This isn't the first gaming zine that publisher Future US has called it quits on this year -- news of Nintendo Power's closure broke this August. Just like the Nintendo-centric themed publication, the PlayStation mag's last issue will be its holiday edition. However, unlike Newsweek's leap to a purely digital existence, there's no indication that the magazine could see life online.

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By: Dilusha On 11:42 AM

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