Black Friday is almost here, which means practically every tech site is becoming saturated with deal coverage. There are articles for every major retailer, articles for each popular tech company, and articles for every conceivable product category. I've even seen articles for individual products and articles comparing the quality of deals at different stores.

While I love the thrill of a bargain as much as anyone--and will fulfill my obligation to help you find some further down in this newsletter--I'm also becoming more exhausted and even a little bit grossed out by this whole exercise.

For one thing, there is just so much more stuff than there used to be. In recent years, the world of tech has exploded beyond phones, tablets, computers, and TVs, into smartwatches, fitness bands, smart speakers, and a seemingly endless assortment of smart home gear. Black Friday is a reminder that there have never been more ways to spend your money on gadgets you may not particularly need.

Compounding the matter is the tech press, which has responded to declining ad rates by pushing further into affiliate deals, in which publishers earn a cut of any sale that flows through their sites. The result is an uptick in deal postings that seem less like editorial and more like sales clerks working on commission. Black Friday shifts this dynamic into overdrive by pressuring writers to produce deal content in bulk, often without context on whether a deal is any good or whether the product is even worth buying.

None of which is to say you need to ignore Black Friday completely. But should you decide to peruse the deals that are available, it helps to keep a few things in mind:

1. Know what problems you're solving

Browsing through deal listings without any sense of what you're after is a great way to tempt yourself into buying something you'll never use. Instead, start by considering whether new tech is really the solution for any current problems you're having. From there, you can narrow down a list of things you actually need and research whether they're on sale during Black Friday.

In my case, I've been wanting to upgrade my Wi-Fi router for a stronger signal at the furthest reaches of my house and to improve performance with in-home PC game streaming. It turns out the specific router I've been eyeing for a couple months now will hit its lowest price by far on Black Friday. I'd also like to replace my my five-year-old Surface Pro 3 with a laptop that lasts longer than three hours on a charge, but those plans will have to wait; I have a specific laptop in mind, and it doesn't seem to be getting any discounts this week. I won't be buying any smart speakers, streaming devices, or gaming devices no matter how cheap they get.

2. Don't take deals at face value

Although I have some disdain for websites that simply dump out lists of deals without context, I also find some value in their information density. If you're shopping for a specific laptop, for instance, a list like this one would let you quickly see if it's going on sale. Same goes for sites like BFAds that let you browse catalogs in bulk.

I would not, however, trust any of the discount amounts you see in these listings or on retailers' websites. Some products, such as TVs, hardly ever sell for full price, and discounts are commonplace throughout the year on almost every kind of tech product. Even Apple, which once had a reputation for firm pricing, frequently discounts its MacBooks, iPads, and Apple Watches year-round.

If you see a deal that matches what you're looking for, use it as a starting point only. The website CamelCamelCamel lets you look up the Amazon price history for any product so you can see if it's sold for less before. You can also try doing a Google search for the product name and the term "record low" (in quotes) to look up coverage of earlier sales.

3. Don't fear missing out

Last year, I thought I'd gotten a great deal by purchasing Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K--a brand-new product at the time--for $35 on Black Friday. But had I waited until Amazon Prime Day this year, I could have gotten it for $25 instead. (It's also hit that price several times since, and will do so once again on Black Friday.) Likewise, $25 for a Google Home Mini speaker might have seemed like a steal on Prime Day this year, but on Black Friday it'll sell for just $18.

Point is, Black Friday isn't the ultimate sale event it's sometimes made out to be, and you might benefit by waiting until the next big event for nonessential purchases.

Of course, I'm always here to help you navigate Black Friday as well. Just send me an email and I'll answer any questions you might have about what's out there.
 

This is really cool: If you have an Android phone with Google Assistant installed, you can now ask it to purchase movie tickets on your behalf. Just say, "Hey Google, buy movie tickets" to bring up a menu of movies and showtimes in your area. Once you've made a selection, the Assistant will automatically navigate through the appropriate ticketing website, filling out all the necessary forms with the email and billing info you already have on file with Google. All you have to do is select a number of tickets and hit "Confirm."

The big idea behind virtual assistants is that they're supposed to replace the cumbersome menus of apps and websites with simpler chat-based interfaces. This feature feels like it's fulfilling that promise through brute force, deciphering all those menus on its own and stripping them down to their essentials. Google says it will apply the underlying tech to car rental sites next; hopefully it'll include a "no thanks, I already have insurance" button.
 

The 16-inch MacBook Pro: Apple has updated its 15-inch MacBook Pro by stuffing a 16-inch screen into it. Like pretty much every other high-end Windows laptop at this point, the new 16-inch MacBook Pro shrinks the borders around the display to gain more screen space. The new MacBook Pro also has much louder and clearer speakers, along with a new microphone array that does a pretty good job of recording your voice.

The bigger news, however, is that Apple has finally ditched the ultrathin butterfly keyboard mechanism that it's been using in all its MacBooks for the past few years. The new MacBook Pro reverts to a more traditional scissor switch underneath each key. This does result in a thicker and heavier laptop, but one that's more satisfying to type on and less failure-prone. And if something does go wrong, the new MacBook lets users replace individual keys instead of the entire keyboard. Apple isn't saying whether it will bring the new keyboard to other MacBook models, but it would be surprising if they didn't. You shouldn't have to spend upwards of $2400 just for a better typing experience.

A more secure security cam system: In other Apple news, Logitech's Circle 2 home security camera has become the first to support Apple's HomeKit Secure Video system. Once enabled, this feature will upload security footage to Apple's servers instead of sending it to Logitech.

The main benefits of doing so are security and privacy. By using end-to-end encryption, Apple ensures that no one--not even Apple itself--can access the footage unless the user shares it explicitly. For features like face recognition and human detection, Apple does the necessary processing on a hub device, which can either be an iPad, Apple TV, or HomePod.

But as 9to5Mac notes, HomeKit Secure Video has trade-offs: Unlike with Logitech's own system, you can't adjust video resolution, set up motion exclusion zones within the camera frame, view time-lapse footage, or view footage on an Apple TV, and turning cameras on and off appears to be a hassle. Just as it took HomeKit several years to support many of the features that smart home device makers wanted to include, HomeKit Secure Video will probably take some time to get where it needs to be.

What Ring lets cops keep: In response to questions from lawmakers, Amazon's Ring has disclosed that it has no policies governing what happens to users' doorbell camera footage once if turn it over to law enforcement. Effectively, police can keep said footage for as long as they like and share it with anyone, even if it doesn't show a crime in progress.

Ring of course points out that users control whether to share their footage with law enforcement in the first place. All requests come through the Ring app, and Ring doesn't share information on specific users who've turned requests down. Still, one of the primary criticisms of Ring is that it's created a warrantless system that makes accessing private camera footage easier than ever, and that this lack of oversight opens the door to abuse. The fact that Ring imposes none of its own restrictions on how police treat the footage they acquire only strengthens that argument.
 

Having said my piece about the Black Friday pigpile, here are a handful of deals that I think are worth your attention this week:

Apple's second-generation AirPods (not the new AirPods Pro) are on sale through Google Shopping for $119, their lowest price yet. Make sure to click the "Add promo code" button at checkout (or enter the code 19CYBERAP), otherwise you'll end up paying $30 more. This deal is available right now.

Apple's latest iPad with 128 GB of storage is already $100 off via Amazon in all colors, bringing the price to $330. I would skip the cheaper 32 GB version as you'll have little room to install apps and games on it.

Walmart will have the Apple Watch Series 3 in the 38mm size for just $130 at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, by far its lowest price yet. You'll probably have to be waiting at your computer to jump on this one.

The best deal on iPhones will be at Walmart, which will offer a $300 eGift card with the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, a $400 gift card with the iPhone XS Max or XR, or a $450 gift card with the iPhone XS. Trading in an old phone will get you additional credit as well. You'll have to activate the phone on Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint, but a new line is not required, which separates this from most of the iPhone deals out there.

Google's cheap-but-good Pixel 3A will be down to $300 unlocked at major retailers, and you can save $50 more by activating through Best Buy or with Google Fi. That said, now's a good time to seek out a Pixel 3 for just a little more, as it has a slicker design, faster processor, and better front cameras. Amazon's selling refurbished ones for about $325.

Logitech's M720 mouse is $20 at Office Depot right now. That's a record low price on a really solid mouse with both Bluetooth connectivity and a wireless USB dongle.

Pretty much every smart speaker will be discounted on Black Friday, but most notably, Google's new Nest Mini speaker will be $29 (a $20 discount) from the Google Store and Target. I'd spend the extra $11 on this over the similar-looking Google Home Mini for the improved bass response and voice recognition. Amazon's third-gen Echo for $60 is also a good deal, as it's never been discounted before.

It's a good time to upgrade your router to a mesh system that blankets your entire home in coverage. Google's new Nest Wifi router and point will drop from $269 to $229, while Amazon's new Eero three-pack will drop from $249 to $160. Both are good options if you're already tied to either the Google or Amazon ecosystems, though I'd skip them both and go with Netgear's super-powerful Orbi RBK50 system, which is already down to $180 in refurbished condition.

That's about all I can stomach for now, but I'll send out an email to the deal alert list if anything else comes up. And of course, I'll have some deals specific to streaming and cord-cutting to share via Cord Cutter Weekly later this week.
 

Did you know that you can create shortcuts on your phone to quickly type entire lines of text with just a few characters? Instead of typing out your entire street address, for instance, you can make a shortcut so that typing "adr1" fills out the entire line. And instead of typing your full email address, make a shortcut so that typing "@@" fills it out for you.

Or, there's my personal favorite: When responding to uninteresting PR pitches (that is, most of them), I can type "gopa," which automatically expands into the phrase "Gonna pass on this one. Thanks - Jared"

On an iPhone or iPad, create text shortcuts by heading to Settings > General > Keyboards > Text Replacement. Hit the "+" button, then type in your phrase and the shortcut you want to assign.

If you're using Google's Gboard keyboard on Android, hit the arrow key above the keyboard, then hit "..." and select Settings. Then, go to Dictionary > Personal Dictionary > English (US) and hit the "+" button. Finally, type in your phrase and the shortcut you want to assign.