For many families, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are to be taken very seriously. You see, they actually make battle plans, so they can best maximize the savings. It is not uncommon for people to draw maps of the store interiors and assign products to each family member so they can target them once inside.

Unfortunately, many people still do their planning with old-fashioned paper and pen; the insanity! It is hard to blame them though, as specific technological solutions have not been popularized. Sure, you can use Excel to create a spreadsheet of desired products with associated prices, but there needs to be a better way. Today, Microsoft announces that OneNote is now a superb tool for the planning of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping.

For many of us, online shopping is now second nature. We've been at it for years. Hell, I try to buy most of my stuff from retailers like Amazon.

With that said, many people are still afraid of online shopping, and it is not a phobia that is totally devoid of logic. When buying on the web, your credit card number could be compromised; especially if the retailer is not trustworthy, or simply not focused on security. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are almost here, so the results of a new study are quite timely -- 77 percent of people in the world do not feel safe shopping online.

When it comes to computer hardware, it can be very difficult for a manufacturer to differentiate its product from its competitor's offerings. Some companies go the superficial route -- adding fancy lights and colors as a distraction to the overall normalcy. Others will invent proprietary naming conventions for its features, making it seem unique when it really isn't. Both of these approaches are rather lame, but believe it or not, consumers fall for it.

Me? I prefer to see actual unique features and exceptional performance. Sure, truly innovative and impressive hardware can come with a high price, but so does a Lamborghini -- you can like something without buying it right? Yup, you can; often times you don't really need the features, but they are cool nonetheless. Today, ASRock announces one of the most unique and impressive motherboards that I have seen in some time. How so, you ask? The X99 WS-E/10G board features Dual Intel 10G BASE-T LAN ports! Very cool, but do consumers really need it?

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. Not only is it a great day to reflect on what I am thankful for, but it allows me to overeat in a socially acceptable way. When I am gorging on food the other 364 days, I'll get dirty looks; not so on Thanksgiving! Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes -- mmm mmm mmm, I can taste it already.

If you haven't made plans for the holiday yet, do not worry; both Bing and Google are aiming to help you out. The competing search engines, however, are taking polar approaches as to how to eat. Bing will help you find recipes, while Google will help you with eating-out.

Intel is the current king of processors -- let's just get that out of the way. From a performance standpoint, you can't go wrong with the company's chips. Not to mention, Intel is a huge Linux supporter, so its hardware (chipset, Wi-Fi, etc.) works well "out of the box" with many distros. So why would someone go with AMD? A very good question -- Intel's competitor also makes great chips, often with a focus on value. This year, AMD launched the brilliant AM1 platform, featuring the FS1b socket. Sure, it won't win in performance, but it excels in low-cost ownership. You see, not only is the upfront cost low, but it will save you much on your electricity bills, as it is very low-wattage.

Now, AMD is looking to the future, as it announces a new mobile APU family called "Carrizo". Starting next year, Intel may have some serious competition on its hands, as Carrizo APUs begin showing up in consumer devices.

Video games are currently a wildly popular entertainment medium for all ages, but earlier perceptions were that they are only for children. You see, in the early days of video games, they were viewed as somewhat of a toy; appropriate for young people. Guess what happened? Those children and teens grew up, but they did not grow out of playing the games. More importantly, some of them grew up to become game developers.

Sadly, not all of us could become developers -- the world needed boring and mindless jobs to be filled too. With that said, earlier this year, Logitech launched 'Together We Game' -- a crowdsourced video game project, where anyone on the internet can contribute and vote on ideas for the development of a tower defense video game. In other words, for those of us that never got to make our own game, Logitech is empowering us to get involved with one. BetaNews recently had the opportunity to ask Frank Lantz, director of the project, some questions.

Santa Claus is a great man; he delivers gifts to all of us as a reward for being good. While people have tried to trick me into thinking he isn't real, I refuse to fall for it. Of course he is real! Who else is putting presents under my tree? My mom? I think I would have caught her by now.

As great as Santa Claus is, apparently, Google is looking to get into the gifting game too. You see, the search-giant is giving away 1TB of Google Drive storage for two years. Hell, for many, that is better than a crappy wooden train from Santa Claus! To score the free storage, you only need to buy a new Chromebook.

Every Sunday, many Americans load up on Doritos, nachos and beer to watch something very important -- NFL football. I say "important" somewhat facetiously, as there are so many more important things in the world to focus on. With that said, watching sports can be a great distraction from life's hardships and depressing news stories. You know what? A distraction can be a good thing and there is nothing wrong with that.

Some people watch NFL football a bit differently than others. Sure, there are people like myself who are simply fans of teams like the Jets or Dolphins, and watch for enjoyment; others however, do it for financial gain and endorphins by betting on games. Today, Microsoft announces that Bing will be predicting the NFL playoffs; this may be a great tool for gamblers.

While 1080p is a very common monitor resolution nowadays, 4K is poised to become the next big thing. With that said, Dell and Apple have launched products with 5K resolution, so who knows what will happen. While 4K and 5K are both darn beautiful, they are designed with movies in mind. While many people use their computers to watch films, others, such as myself, use their computers for work (imagine that).

AOC is one of my favorite display manufacturers, and today, the company announces a new monitor designed for the working crowd; not the gaming and movie-watching folks. You see, it is a very wide 34 inch monitor with a 3440 x 1440 resolution. What does this mean? It is like having two 20 inch monitors side by side!

Google is one of the best search engines, providing relative results with a clean design. There is a problem though -- Google also offers a web browser. Why is that a problem? Well, it is a strange thing for a competing web browser to use the Google search engine. It's like Ford using Chevy parts in its cars -- blasphemy!

A great example of this is Mozilla Firefox. The Chrome web browser is slowly eroding Firefox usage share, so it has felt odd that Mozilla was sticking with Google's search engine for so long. Well, today everything changes, as Mozilla selects Yahoo as the new default search engine in Firefox for both desktop and mobile. Will users applaud or decry the announcement?

Celebrate good times, come on! Microsoft recently celebrated the 13th birthday of the original Xbox, but now it is time to celebrate yet another birthday. You see, the newest console from the company, the Xbox One, will be turning a year old this Saturday.

Normally, people give gifts to the person celebrating a birthday, but today Microsoft is going in a different direction. If you are an Xbox One owner, it is time to get very excited -- Microsoft will be giving all of you gifts! However, the fun does not stop there; the company will also randomly be giving away games to owners too.

Many people consider open source to be the future. It is hard to argue with this, as it allows software to be adapted to different environments. Most importantly, it allows users to view the code, and prevents malicious aspects, such as backdoors. In other words, you never know what is hiding in closed source software.

Today, Google embraces open source in an effort to highlight multiplayer-gaming on Android TV. How? Well, the search giant releases a free open source game called "Pie Moon". It is available now in the Google Play Store.

The iPad is a wonderful tablet that people love the world over. Sure, Apple has its detractors, and people tend to focus on the deficiencies of the iPad, but its continued popularity is no fluke; it is enjoyable and useful with a ton of great apps. Unfortunately, the tablet's power is limited by its form factor. In other words, other than Microsoft's Surface line, the average tablet cannot stand on its own or be positioned for comfortable desk typing.

Case manufacturers have enabled some brilliant solutions for making the iPad more versatile, and Logitech has been on the forefront in that regard. In fact, Logitech has garnered quite the praise and respect from the iPad community for its cases and keyboards. Today, Logitech continues this tradition, with the attractive Logitech AnyAngle case. It is compatible with the iPad Air 2 and all models of the iPad mini.

Acer is one of my favorite computer manufacturers, because it knows how to build a machine with a focus on value. In other words, when money is tight, you can look to the company to meet your budget with a quality machine. I have used countless low-cost machines over the years, and Acer has yet to disappoint.

Today, the company delivers value once again, as it announces the Acer TravelMate B115. Not only is this 11.6 inch touchscreen laptop small and portable at an inch thin and 3 pounds, but it is extremely affordable too. How affordable? Only $379!

Do you like free stuff? Of course you do -- everyone likes something for nothing. Hell, I go to Costco with no plans to buy anything; I just walk around eating all the free samples. Is it low class? Yeah, totally, but it's essentially a free buffet with a cornucopia of flavors -- Swedish meatballs, salad, granola bars and more.

Today, T-Mobile announces that it too is going the free route, offering a tablet at no cost! It is an Android tablet -- the Alcatel ONETOUCH Pop 7. Never heard of it? Me neither, but it actually looks pretty nice. It runs Android 4.2.2, has a dual-core processor and best of all, supports 4G data. Even though it is a "Black Friday" deal, the carrier will be offering it a week early. Will you be successful in scoring one?