Techmamas

Tips for No Regrets Holiday Electronics Shopping

The winter holidays are around the corner, with time split between two of my favorite things: family and shopping. The pressure to find “just the right gift” can change shopping for the worse, causing people to shop impulsively and not look for the right deal. When it comes to consumer electronics, prices may look great on “Black Friday” but waiting for the price drops of early December may be an even better deal.

So what is a bargain hunting consumer to do? I am excited to be partnering with Decide.com, a company that empowers consumers to make smart electronic decisions with a 60 terabyte historical pricing database, 8 billion price observations and growing. Decide.com's shopping service predicts when to buy consumer electronics with no regrets by providing information such as price comparison, average release cycle, last release, device’s age, average rating and product details. Their just announced Decide.com mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch will enable consumers to have the power of prediction in the palm of their hands while shopping. Here are my no regrets shopping tips to make sure consumers are armed with the right information to make the best decisions.

1. Don't be a sale chaser – while it's true that a few select products go on sale in the wee hours of the morning, you’ll likely regret rushing out to fight the crowds at 5am only to discover there were only 5 TVs available at that price. Spending hours chasing down a special holiday deal can be a big cause of buyer’s remorse. Do your homework and find the real holiday sales.
2. Stock up and save on electronics for the family – wait for the holiday season to upgrade on the latest gadgets and electronics for her family. For practical and smart gift giving, holiday is a great time to stock up on those items that your family needs – a family computer, TV, other devices for family – and save big.
3. Don't be fooled – buying an older product model at a fire sale price is not necessarily cheaper. For example, by doing a search on cameras I realized that some of the newer models have better pricing then the models they replaced.
4. Arm yourself at the moment of purchase: With Decide's new prediction app for iPhone, when you're shopping in the store this holiday, you can know if that product is a deal or not by simply scanning the barcode for an instant prediction.  You don’t need to give up on finding a deal even if you are making a spontaneous purchase (like we all do).

Disclosure:  This post is in partnership with Decide.com.

Win a $5K Shopping Spree Contest: Download and install the Decide.com App for iPhone and iPod touch for your chance to win an American Express gift card for $5,000. Contest ends December 25^th, 2011. More information on the contest can be found on the Decide.com blog.

TechMama News Tip: Google To Acquire Motorola Mobility

Breaking news this morning just popped up in my email: Google To Acquire Motorola Mobility. The Google blog posted this information in their press release:

Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. ..... I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

I have not been posting as much lately on my Typepad blog because I am in the middle of creating a new Wordpress blog that will be able to highlight breaking news (details coming out asap). But reading this juicy piece of techie news made it hard not to post right away... But what does this mean to consumers?

Motorola's Droid smartphone and Xoom tablet hardware lines use the Google Android operating system. Motorola is known for high quality hardware (but other manufacturers also have high quality smartphone hardware). Google makes the operating system that basically tells the smartphone hardware what to do. Google will run the unit as a separate business, but as a "Google" company will Motorola have more direct access to Android resources? The Google "Nexus" smartphone had this direct access and reviews described the phone as having the best Android experience and automatic updates. Maybe this will mean that a new line of smartphones will be released that have better Android operating system integration?

I do imagine that the other smartphone hardware companies running Android will become concerned - and hope that the Android Operating System eco-system will remain as open to all developers.

Tech4Moms commented on Twitter that it is all about the patent, and this CNET post agreed: Google just bought itself patent protection. TechMeme is abuzzin with posts about the Google aquisition of Motorola. My favorite tech blogger Eliane Fiolet from Ubergizmo posted with a great deal name: "Moogle and the Future of Mobile".

The fragmentation for Android devices make it harder for developers to code Android apps (i.e. different size handsets etc). Apple streamlined their iPhone hardware so developers have an easier time. Maybe this is a step to try to streamline the Android smartphone hardware as well?

Who knows? But I will be watching to see what new products come out of this acquisition. I wonder what my online community thinks of this news?

MOTOROLA PRESS RELEASE:

10 Great iPhone Apps for Moms & Dads

TechMamas.com guest post by Sarah Granger who is my go-to/power user iPhone App mom. 

Other than the obvious apps that come with the iPhone that save us in daily life like SMS, e-mail, Calendar, Maps, Weather, iPhoto, etc., here are ten great iPhone applications to download from the App Store that have good uses for moms (and dads).

1. ICE - In Case of Emergency - important app for emergency contact info including doctors, allergies, medications, etc. for you and your kids.

2. WebMD Mobile - Allows for quick lookup of symptoms and helps to determine when children need to go to the doctor or the emergency room.

3. LocalPicks - Great ideas for restaurants when your kids are about to have a meltdown - you can find out what's close, fast.

4. Light - Turn your iPhone into a light in the dark when kids are scared or if you need to find something, like car keys.  

5. Scribble Lite - A fun program for the preschool and Kinder set, they can paint and draw from your iPhone.

6. Bubbles - For the little ones, this is a great way to pass the time - you or they make bubbles and pop them.

7. Facebook - Stay in touch with mom friends or cyberstalk your kids and their friends; also good for comic relief when you need a break.

8. Pandora - Builds custom radio stations for you based on your preferences: drown out the kids or make them think you're cool.

9. iChalky - Hours of silly fun, stretching a little faux chalk-like hangman type character (and don't forget to try inserting your kids' faces).

10. SitOrSquat - Last, but certainly not least, this helps locate nearby restrooms and identifies whether they are clean, safe, etc.

...

Sarah Granger, tech mom of one, has written for the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Bay Area Parent, Playborhood, techPresident and Digital Landing.