While Black Friday deals on laptops and HDTVs helped to lure shoppers to stores and online sites over the weekend, it's still unclear whether sales of consumer electronics products really brought retailers much holiday cheer.

Even before Cyber Monday, Amazon's Kindle hit a sales record in November, topping all previous months in the e-reader's two-year history.

Where there is no app for that on the iPhone, there now is for porn on the competing Android mobile operating system. A Seattle-based company named MiKandi (pronounced "my candy") has released an app store specifically geared towards porn. The application attempts to create a red light district for adult Android apps allowing adult content providers to set up shop within a MiKandi app (see SFW video).

Just when you thought it was safe to put away that credit card, the National Retail Federation presents its annual Cyber Monday event. If you decided to forgo the maddening crowds on Black Friday, you can still snap up some great deals today from the comfort of your cubicle, home office, or kitchen table.

The NRF's event is meant to officially kick off the online shopping season, and an estimated 90 percent of leading online retailers plan on offering discounts or free shipping today. That includes some of the major retailers and players in tech.

Book retailer Barnes & Noble says it will delay the retail arrival of its Nook e-reader by one week due to high demand issues, according to a statement posted to the company's Website Sunday night. The new date for the arrival of the Nook in Barnes & Noble stores is December 7.

Are you dying to own a Mac, but you just can't get your mind past the minimum $1000 cost of getting an Apple computer? If so, today may be your day to buy. It's Black Friday, and even Mac prices are getting cut. These prices aren't as deep as other tech products, but you can still find some deals from online retailers. I've taken a look at a number of these Mac sellers to give you the lowdown on what you need to know before making a purchase.

Battle of the Mail-in Rebate

Club Mac, Mac Connection, and MacMall have some great deals on Apple computers. You can get a white 13-inch MacBook for $884.98 at Club Mac and MacMall, for example, while Mac Connection sells the same computer for $849.

Mininova, one of the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing sites next to The Pirate Bay, has now removed most of its links to copyrighted content. The site complied with a Dutch court ruling from August. Mininova has said it is considering appealing that ruling.

Netherlands-based Mininova has risen in recent months as one of the most popular torrent sites on the Internet, alongside The Pirate Bay, which is still maintaining a strong presence despite fines and threats to close down the site. But Mininova had to comply with a court ruling from three months ago, which ordered the site to remove all the links to illegal content.

It's game on for bargain hunters. Black Friday is here, and so are the super sales. If you're wondering what the latest tech deals are Friday, you're in luck. While you've been sleeping off that food hangover, I've scoured the Web for the best and freshest deals.

Not ready to brave the crowds? Don't despair, those in-store doorbuster deals are for suckers anyway. So instead of heading out to fight the maddening crowds, shop smart from the comfort of your home or office.

Black Friday doorbusters are loss leaders designed to whip up consumerist lust and draw shoppers to stores. Retailers typically lose money on these giveaways, but hope that while you're online or in store, you'll grab a few high-markup items too.

Have too much stuff to store (or know someone who does)? You can't expand your home, but if your stuff is digital, you can buy a bigger hard drive. One of these hard drives can help you expand your storage. Among this year's Black Friday bargains, we've found 1TB external models for $80, and a wave of 500GB portable drives for between $60 and $80.

Western Digital's My Passport Essential is physically small, but packs 500GB of storage space; Staples will have it as an in-store special for just $70. (Western Digital's Website sells the drive for $140, while Newegg.com sells it for $100, no post-Thanksgiving sales promos involved.) Best Buy will have the My Passport Elite 500GB for $80 in-store with limited quantities. Meanwhile, Target is rumored to have a 500GB Western Digital drive as an early-bird special--but that's a different model (from the Elements line), and it will cost just $60.

With help from the extremely useful PriceTrace.com, a deal aggregator that includes PDF scans of Black Friday circulars from major retail stores, I've been on the hunt for particularly good point-and-shoot camera deals.

My requirements: The camera has to have tested well in PC World Labs evaluations and in hands-on reviews, and the Black Friday deal has to be a cut of $50 or more from the manufacturer's suggested retail price.

In this special Thanksgiving episode of the PC World podcast, editors Tim Moynihan, Mark Sullivan, Ginny Mies, and Patrick Miller tell you everything they know about Black Friday tech deals, tricks, pitfalls, and problems.

Download the podcast here.