Despite the 9% unemployment rate, unprecedented public disillusionment and the fact that the name of the event itself conjures a pestilence that killed at least 150 million people, Americans came together to spend $11.4 billion on Black Friday, a 6.6% increase and the largest amount ever. "Still, it's just one day," ShopperTrak's founder Bill Martin tells Bloomberg News. "It remains to be seen whether consumers will sustain this behavior through the holiday shopping season." Yes, keep your fingers crossed for more appalling acts committed in the name of unchecked consumerism. more ›

The iPad has arrived and its owners are getting their greasy fingerprints all over the sleek display. Or they are showing off their wares—see this recently Tweeted video of someone outside the SoHo Apple Store. We hear that the lines at the Upper West Side and 14th Street moved along; the 14th Street store's lines were "depleted" by 11 a.m., which really does suggest that waiting basically two days in advance of the iPad launch is something for real, hardcore fans who have the time. more ›

While it's not the level of iNsanity the initial iPhone release prompted two years ago, people did/are lining up for the new iPhone 3G. Engadget reports, "A few hundred people lined up outside the Fifth Avenue Apple Store today for Apple's new iPhone, with the those The iLife guys up front descending into the store at 7AM to the sound of applause from the cheery horde of Apple Store employees. It was a far sight from the mayhem of previous launches -- the whole line was able to be contained in the elevated portion to the right of the store, no sidewalk necessary -- but it was still a fairly impressive turnout for a spec-bumped phone and a rainy night." And the line outside the Soho store doesn't look too bad either. But iPhone consumers, be careful: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has previously attributed the rise in young muggers on the shiny device! more ›

The new Joker action figure modeled after the late Heath Ledger has started arriving in stores and is reportedly flying off the shelves, as toy collectors scoop up as many of the snuff toys as they can get their hands on. After completing filming on The Dark Night, Ledger died in January from a prescription drug overdose. more ›