Like it or not, it's coming soon. Black Friday is only days away, and the 2009 edition of Busiest Shopping Day of the Year will boast some impressive bargains. Here are ten things you should know:

tar can't catch a break. After spending more than a year in a legal battle with Apple for selling Intel based systems pre-loaded with Mac OS X, the company lost its battle on Friday when a federal judge ruled in favor of Apple.

A federal judge has ruled in Apple's favor in its lawsuit against Mac-clone maker Psystar. Prevailing in the court battle seems like it should be a good thing, but what Apple really gets out of the victory is limited market share potential. Uhm, congratulations?

You've probably seen the CalorieKing books at the grocery checkout line. The company is famous for its extensive cataloging of the nutritional values of thousands of foods. That's why so many dieters refer to their paperbacks to track the calorie, carbohydrate, protein or other values of the foods they have eaten. Or, you can keep the CalorieKing Nutrition and Exercise Manager ($45, 7-day free trial) up on your desktop to do the job for you.

Google is being sued by a Swiss watchdog agency for allegedly failing to take adequate measures to protect privacy. The legal battle in Switzerland is just the latest in a long line of privacy issues with Google and illustrates the challenge of providing as much information as possible without violating privacy concerns.

The debate in Switzerland is over Google's Street View image indexing. Hanspeter Thuer, the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) made recommendations to Google to address concerns with Street View images displaying car license plates and people's faces. Google claims it has taken strides to comply with those recommendations, but the FDPIC doesn't feel Google has done enough.

Most users know how to copy text. Select the text with your mouse, then click Edit, Copy--or, better yet, press Ctrl-C on your keyboard. Easy right?

Well, it's about to get a little easier. AutoCopy is a Firefox add-on that automatically copies any selected text straight to the Clipboard. (You then paste it like you normally would.)

Index Files Search Words Lite (free) is a program which does the job it's supposed to do--indexing files and letting you search for them--but really seems to be more a "demo" than a "lite".

Dell unveiled the Android-based Mini 3 smartphone today and announced that it will be available soon in China and Brazil. Venturing away from the familiar server and desktop foundation that Dell is built on may seem risky, but there is a method to Dell's madness that may just pay off.

Ever since rumors began to circulate earlier this year that Dell was planning a move into smartphones there have been naysayers. The market is crowded. Competition is rough. Dell is already losing ground in its core business. If your device isn't from Apple and doesn't say 'iPhone' it can't succeed in the smartphone market.

Painting colors, lightness, saturation, and so forth onto photographs can be great fun. If done correctly, it can also produce some very attractive, creative pictures. Akvis MultiBrush ($49, 10-day free trial) is a very basic image painting program that provides some nice tools, but they are limited and require skill to be able to use them.

This week, PC World editors Steve Fox, Robert Strohmeyer, and Tim Moynihan are joined by Macworld's Jason Snell for to explore all the hubbub over allegations that Microsoft has copied Apple in the design of Windows 7.

But first, Steve Fox walks us through the history of Intel's disputes with rival chip maker AMD, and sheds light on the settlement between the two companies.

Cell phone lovers, get ready to rumble: AT&T and Verizon are duking it out in an ad-based battle, and the fight isn't showing any signs of slowing down. Now, some new data suggests the public is starting to take notice.

AT&T's Verizon Ad Battle

If this is part of Redmond's alleged scheme to steal the Mac's look, it's got the wrong idea.

Microsoft has announced plans to peddle Windows 7 desktop space to advertisers, who'll create Windows UI themes--customized backgrounds, audio clips, and other elements--that highlight their brand, Computerworld reports. In fact, some advertiser themes are already available in the Windows 7 Personalization Gallery, including desktop pitches for soft drinks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi), autos (Ducati, Ferrari, Infiniti), and big-budget Hollywood blockbusters (Avatar).