*By Carlo Versano*
'Tis the season. The leaves are turning, the air is chilly, and America's retailers are busy preparing for the all-important holiday season that will officially commence ー seemingly earlier every year ー with Black Friday sales and promotions.
Ben Arnold, the senior director of innovation and trends at the Consumer Technology Association, told Cheddar that he expects consumer electronics will once again rule over holiday shoppers. He's particularly bullish on televisions (with top-of-the-line 4K displays), smartphones (and accessories), and smart speakers , which he called the "big gainers" going into Black Friday.
Smartphones and TVs are the rare products able to repeatedly draw in shoppers, even when just about everyone already owns them. Because of the upgrade cycle and "iterative improvements," retailers can routinely count on strong sales for the latest and greatest versions, according to Arnold. That is especially true in a booming economy that is experiencing sustained wage growth. More disposable income equals more gadgets, the research shows.
Smart speakers, however, is still a business ripe for massive growth. Research from earlier this year estimated one in five Americans have access to one, up from virtually zero a couple years ago. It took televisions [13 years](https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/07/47-3-million-u-s-adults-have-access-to-a-smart-speaker-report-says/) to hit the same rate of adoption that smart speakers reached in two. They were the hot story during last year's holiday, and Arnold said he expects the trend to continue, especially given new cutting-edge products from all the main players: Google ($GOOG), Apple ($AAPL), Amazon ($AMZN), and now Facebook ($FB).
Retailers are already jockeying for position ahead of Black Friday. Amazon and Target ($TGT) are both offering free two-day shipping for the season, while Walmart ($WMT) is deploying roving cashiers to help customers check out. Even Kohl's, known for its door-busting Black Friday sales, has [plans](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/kohls-bets-millennials-will-learn-to-love-the-department-store) to get younger shoppers into its stores.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/whats-gonna-top-this-black-fridays-tech-wish-lists).
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
Japanese automakers Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi are dropping their talks on business integration.
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
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