Top tech deals for 'Black Friday'

"Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" are just around the corner, which means shopping deals abound on all sorts of gadgets, gizmos and software. Attempting to jumpstart what could be a sluggish holiday retail season, the deals are starting early this year.

We've compiled a short list of hot products, so you don't have to. (Feel free to use the comments to point out any screaming deals you've seen.) I am in the market for a digital recorder and a headset for my phone. What are the cool tech gifts you are looking for this year? Happy shopping.

Amazon.com has set up a special site under the subhead "Great Black Friday Deals. No Black Friday Blues" -- where shoppers can pick up gadgets all week. On Friday, it plans to offer hourly "lightning deals" on select products from 12:01 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Seattle online retailer also plans to give away a $10,000 shopping spree as part of the festivities. Among the tech gadgets for sale: an H-P 19" widescreen LCD monitor for $192.40; a TomTom ONE 3.5-inch GPS for $99.99; a Sony VAIO laptop (4 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive with Windows Vista Premium) for $799.99 and a Seagate 500 GB 3.5 inch USB 2.0 hard drive for $89.15.

Redmond's Nintendo of America is planning to release two limited-edition Nintendo DS bundles for the day after Thanksgiving showcasing new colors, including the new "Mario Red DS" (comes with a copy of Super Mario Bros.) and the "Ice Blue DS" (comes with Brain Age). Suggested retail price for both is $149.99.

Apple will reportedly start matching the prices of some products sold by authorized resellers. The iPod and iPhone maker also is promoting a big one-day sale on "Black Friday," though all specials aren't being released yet. However, word is starting to leak out on some of the discounts on Macs.

Microsoft last week dropped the price of its flash-based Zune music players, trying to compete with the iPod. The 4GB Zune player is $99.99.

Best Buy is rolling out the red carpet -- or should we say the black carpet -- for the winner of its "Black Friday VIP" contest. A lucky shopper has won a limousine ride to the Bellevue Best Buy, early admittance to the store at 4:30 a.m., a $1,000 gift card, a video camera and the ability to purchase four "doorbuster" products.  The 'doorbuster" specials, which will be made available at all Best Buy stores on Black Friday, include a Playstation 3 for $399.99; a Toshiba 15.4" laptop (3 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive) for $379.99; and a Garmin 4.3" GPS for $189.99.

Bellevue's T-Mobile USA plans to offer a Motorola ZN5 for free after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two year service contract. The deal is available from Nov. 28 to Nov. 30, reports FierceWireless.

Fry's Electronics, which plans to open doors at 5 a.m. at its Renton store Friday, is offering a number of pre-Thanksgiving deals. It is selling a Sony Vaio laptop (3GB memory and 250GB hard drive) for $799. More deals on the Fry's Web site. (Note that some prices are subject to change after today.)

Gizmodo has details on Nikon's Black Friday deals including a Coolpix P80 10.1 Megapixel camera for $299.95.

Redmond's Smilebox, an online photo sharing and digital greeting card producer, will offer an annual subscription to the service for $29.99 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That's a savings of 33 percent.