Toys

December is a month when you almost can't avoid shopping. You may have skipped Black Friday — overwhelmed by the hassle, hype and crowds — but the holiday season is a different beast all together.

Keep your holiday cheer level high by shopping wisely. The editors over at dealnews have poured over their extensive archives of sales, coupons and individual products from years past to guide you in your quest for the savviest purchases in December.

Buy a Bike, Use it Later?
For many of our northernmost readers, bike riding in the winter is implausible, but you should consider purchasing a bike this month all the same. While other months might have seen greater volume of bicycle deals, we saw the most Editors' Choice-level bargains during the month of December last year from vendors like REI, Walmart, and Performance Bike. Otherwise, the next time we saw a substantial number of deals and sales came in May.

Get Good Deals on Toys ... by Still Waiting
Finally, it's the best time to buy holiday toys! Almost. As we've mentioned before, many toys will hit their lowest price points of the season as we get closer we get to Christmas. Last year, many of the tops toys of the season hit their lowest points in the week before Christmas. That said, during the week before that, we saw a staggering number of Editors' Choice toy deals on the whole; in fact, it was the best week of the month for top-shelf discounts on toys. Shop during this period, and you'll improve your chances of getting the best deals.Read more

It's a common misperception…some consumers think that literally every item on their shopping list will be at its lowest price of the year in and around Black Friday.

This statement may be true for a variety of categories, but it's important to note that there are a handful of things you should not buy on Black Friday.

Here are the top 10 Things NOT to Buy on Black Friday, from the dealnews editors:

1. Toys: We've said it many times already, and we'll say it once more: Black Friday is not the best time to buy toys for the holidays. They'll likely still be discounted, and it may feel pretty good to get your shopping done early, but you won't love that sinking feeling you'll get when you see those toys listed on dealnews for less about two weeks before Christmas.

2. Top-Brand TVs: Black Friday is an excellent time to get a cheap TV, with numerous sizes prepped to hit their lowest price points we've ever seen, but don't expect the best deals to be flooded with brand-name sets. Those will come with a bit of patience.

3. 2012 Calendars: Wait until the end of January or early February to see the first significant discounts on 2012 calendars, and keep your appointments in your smartphone in the meantime. Wall calendars are mainly just eye candy for your cubicle anyway, right?Read more

October is here, and in between sipping pumpkin-flavored drinks and planning the perfect costume for Halloween – you'll be doing a bit of shopping.

The folks over at dealnews have mined their extensive archives of sales, coupons, and products from the past few seasons to guide you in your quest for the savviest purchases in October. Here they are...

The Best and Worst Things to Buy in October

Halloween Items: Expect substantial sales on costumes the week before Halloween, with numerous stores offering stacking coupons to sweeten the deal. Last year, we saw moderate sales from BuyCostumes, Costume Craze, Toys "R" Us, and Diapers.com, and they got even stronger in the days leading up to 10/31.

Pumpkins: Along the east coast, flooding from last month's Hurricane Irene damaged many pumpkin patches, so prices on the seasonal gourd may be above average this October. Several media outlets are reporting that pumpkin prices could be almost double the norm.

Cold Weather Apparel: The sharpest discounts on cold weather items won't come until January. If you can't wait until after the New Year, you should try holding out until November. Around Black Friday, a wealth of apparel retailers will offer their best coupon of the year, which may take a full 40% off or more.

Denim: October is a good time to find discounts on denim as retailers continue to try to move the styles they'd hoped to sell during Back-to-School season.Read more

February 13, 2009 --Rubik's Cube, the number one best-selling game ever, has reached new heights—it has gone “touch” with the introduction of Rubik’s TouchCube, the first completely electronic solvable Cube. The solution to the classic Rubik’s Cube puzzle, a global symbol of intelligence, used to be several turns away, but now it’s only several swipes away. Rubik’s TouchCube, featuring the same great game play of the Cube that has sold nearly 350 million pieces, utilizes the very latest in touch and motion technologies and will make its debut in New York City next week at the American International Toy Fair February 15th-18th.

“We’ve been working on Rubik’s TouchCube for the last three years—with engineering teams on two different continents—and are really excited to share it with the world,” says Eric Levin, president, Techno Source. “Rubik’s TouchCube is the ‘dream cube’ for anyone who’s into high-tech gadgets—it combines today’s most current technologies with the iconic Rubik’s Cube.”

How does it work? Rubik’s TouchCube features touch sensor technology on all six sides, a motion-detecting accelerometer, and colored lights in every square. It even mimics the movements of the original 3x3 Cube—swipe a finger across three squares and the lights will follow, “turning” a side of the Cube; make an “L” shape to turn the top face of the Cube a quarter turn. Rubik’s TouchCube’s motion-detecting accelerometer only recognizes moves made on the top side of the Cube, so that a player’s fingers won’t move the lights on other sides when holding it. Read more