Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is Good, But No iPad Killer [REVIEW]

Unboxing the Kindle Fire HD 8.9

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[More from Mashable: Apple Now Owns the iMessage Name]

Amazon expands its tablet sights with the bigger, more powerful Kindle Fire HD 8.9. Can it compete against Apple‘s iPad?

If there’s one company that deserves credit for reigniting the iPad competitor market, it’s Amazon. Despite some bugs and an overall blah design, its 7-inch Kindle Fire was the first Android tablet that made sense to consumers who gobbled it up to help the Fire grab 50% of the Android tablet market in just 6 months.

[More from Mashable: 9 Black Friday Deals For iPhone Owners]

That tablet essentially opened the flood gates for a new set of ever-more-powerful 7-inchers from, notably, Barnes & Noble and Google. All three companies have already updated their 7-inch offerings to more powerful components and higher-resolutions screens. They’re all still running Android, though Amazon and Barnes & Noble choose to hide the Google OS behind smarter and much more consumer-friendly interfaces.

All this led Apple to finally enter the mid-sized tablet space with the iPad Mini. It’s easily the best-looking tablet of the bunch, but also $ 120 more expensive than its nearest competitor.

The more interesting development, though, is Amazon‘s (and Barnes & Noble‘s) decision to go toe-to-toe with Apple’s full-size iPad and launch the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (in 4G LTE and WiFi-only). The move is akin to a middle weight boxer putting on the pounds to take on the Heavyweight world champion. Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD is slightly smaller (the iPad is 9.7-inches), lighter (567g vs. 625g), cheaper ($ 369 for 32 GB model vs. $ 599 for the iPad 4th Gen — Amazon subsidizes with sleep-state ads, that I do not mind) and overall somewhat less powerful. In order to win the battle, the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD better be pretty nimble on its feet, while able to throw that all important knockout punch.

Short version of this story: the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 does some serious damage, but the iPad 4th Gen gets the decision and retains the tablet leader title.

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is by no means a failure. In many ways, it’s as good as the smaller Kindle Fire HD, but throughout my tests I noticed odd bugs and glitches (which should all be fixable by software) and a somewhat disturbing lack of power that’s especially obvious when you put the Fire HD 8.9 next to the iPad 4th Gen

What It Is

If you’ve never seen an iPad and someone handed you the Kindle Fire HD .9, you’d likely say its jet-black, soft-to-the-touch plastic body felt good in your hands and was more than effective at all the core tasks (reading, game playing, e-mail, web browsing).

Design-wise, the 8.9 device looks exactly like the 7-inch model, complete with the too-hard to find volume and power buttons. There are no other physical buttons on this device, but Amazon chooses to hide the few it has by making them the exact same color as the chassis and flush with the body. Every time I use the tablet I do the “where’s the damn button” dance, rotating the Kindle Fire HD round and round until I feel the buttons (since I can barely see them).

I have applauded Barnes & Noble for putting the physical “N” home button right on the face of their Nook HD. Bravo for having the guts to do this. Amazon apparently looks at Apple’s iPad home button and thinks to have anything similar would be seen as “copying” the Cupertino hardware giant, when instead they should realize that it works, consumers like it and tablets without it are at a distinct disadvantage.

Amazon’s interface has you make do with a virtual, slide-out home button that is always available. Problem is, I found times when it wasn’t available. When I played Spider-Man and Asphalt 7, the tiny little left-had bar would disappear and I couldn’t exit the game unless I hit the sleep/power button.

The rest of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9′s body is solid and unremarkable (if you read my Kindle fire HD 7 review, then you know exactly what to expect.). Like the iPad 4th Gen, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 has a front-facing 720p-capable camera. It’s useful for capturing video, snapping 1 Megapixel images and, probably most important, Skype video chats. Skype has built a fairly sharp-looing Kindle Fire app, though the design doesn’t fully fit the larger 8.9-inch screen. Skype just updated its Android app for better tablet viewing and hopefully, we’ll see this update hit the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 as well.

The iPad also has an HD rear-facing camera. The Kindle fire HD 8.9 does not (Barnes & Noble leave out cameras altogether)

Not Packing a Punch

As a large-screen high-resolution tablet (though iPad’s 2048×1536 retina display beats it), the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 offers plenty of attractive screen real estate for web browsing, book and magazine reading and games. But the results can be mixed. Silk, Amazon‘s custom web browser, was occasionally less than responsive and games, though, they ran well, never looked half as good as they do on the considerably more expensive iPad 4.

Granted, you can’t always find the same high-quality immersive action games on both Android and iOS, but Asphalt 7 Heat is a notable exception and it throws the performance differences between the two tablets into stark contrast. Game play is equally responsive on both platforms: the Kindle Fire HD 8.9’s accelerometer reads my moves just as well as the iPad.

The graphics on the Kindle Fire HD, however, are reduced to blobs and blocks (palm trees without distinct leaves, buildings without discernible windows) . The iPad’s quad-core graphics simply overmatch the Kindle Fire. I have never, for example, seen an iPad draw the game as I was playing, as I did when I tried out The Amazing Spider-Man.

Additionally, I experienced more than my share of crashes with games and even magazine apps like Vanity Fair.

The Good

Not everyone, however, will compare the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 to the iPad. Some will see the $ 299 entry-level price point (for the 16 GB model) and appreciate the power, flexibility and utility of this device. Like all Fire’s before it, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 makes it easy to consume mass quantities of content. Nearly every menu option: Games, Apps, Books, Music, Videos, Newsstand, puts you just one click away from shopping for fresh content. If you have an Amazon account (and who doesn’t) your desired book, music or movie is just a click away. Plus, you can still easily store any of it locally, and worry about running out of storage space, or in the cloud, and never worry about space or accessibility—you can get to that purchased Kindle content from any Kindle app or registered Amazon device.

Watching movies on the tablet is a pleasure. I streamed a couple through Amazon Prime; they looked good on the 1920 x 1200 screen and the Dolby Stereo speakers produced sharp, loud, almost room-filling sound—an impressive feat not even the iPad can match.

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 also includes a mini-HDMI-out port, which prompted me to connect the tablet to my 47-inch LED HDTV so we could watch Disney’s Brave. Yes, I had to get up and tap on the Kindle screen each time I wanted to pause and restart the move, but otherwise, I was pretty impressed with how the Kindle handled the task.

Obviously I yearn for an Apple Airplay-like feature on Android tablets (rumor has it one is coming), but this is the next, best thing.

There isn’t a lot to say about the Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch interface that I did not say in the Kindle Fire HD 7 review. I will note, however, that the increased real estate makes the trademark task carousel seem almost too big. Icons for everything from your recently played Spider-Man game to magazine apps, books and Web sites all sit side-by-side-by side. Some, like book covers, look gorgeous.

Others like a broken web-page link look stupid. Worse yet, none of them have labels, which can occasionally make it hard to identify which app or task you’re looking at. I’m just not sure this interface metaphor is sustainable.

Personally I prefer either the clean consistent look of iOS, or the uber-user friendly, family-oriented Nook HD profile-based one. Amazon may want to take a hard look at those and start over.

Staying Connected

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is also Amazon’s first cellular-based tablet. That fact puts it even more squarely in competition with the iPad (which obviously has always had 3G models and now offers blazing fast 4G LTE ones as well on all major carriers).

Amazon’s mobile broadband plans are a little more conservative, with just the AT&T 4G LTE option (the 32 GB 4G model that I tested lists for $ 499, which is still $ 224 less than a comparable iPad 4th Gen).

In my experience, the connectivity is superfast and fairly ubiquitous. Amazon‘s $ 49 (a year) flat fee plan is attractive, but with a cap of 250MB per month of data, it’s unlikely it will satisfy the most data-hungry users. If you do need more data, users can also get 3GB and 5GB data plans directly from AT&T on the device.

At press time, Amazon had not enabled streaming video over LTE. Having it sounds nice, but even with the most generous data plans, streaming video would eat it up faster than you can say, “I’m streaming Back to the Future in HD over 4G LTE on my Kindle fire HD!”

The reality for most users is that WiFi is plentiful and you’ll be hard pressed to find a spot where you can’t connect for free or a small one-off fee. It’s the reason Barnes & Noble’s line of HD Nooks do not include a cellular option.

Review continues after FreeTime Gallery

FreeTime

Kindle HD FreeTime Start

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Perhaps the best new addition to the Kindle Fire family is not a piece of hardware or new component, but the new FreeTime app. Amazon put a lot of loving care into this parental control interface, but almost mucks the whole thing up by hiding the tool under an app that you have to scroll down to (or search) to find. By contrast profiles and age and content controls are baked into the Barnes & Noble Nook HD in a way that makes them impossible to ignore.

Even so, once you do access FreeTime, I think you’ll be pleased with the level of control it gives you. I added test profiles for my two children and then hand-picked every app and piece of content they could access. I was also able to block broadband mobile and even set time limits for access to content and overall screen viewing time (on a per profile basis). The set-up is a bit wonky and it bizarrely switches between landscape and profile screens, but I still applaud the effort. It would make sense for Amazon to move FreeTime into a device set-up screen. If the user has no additional family members or kids using the device, they can easily skip it.

To Buy or Not to Buy

Amazon’s expansive content and shopping ecosystem has always been a strong draw and it’s just as good in this large screen tablet as it was in the very first Kindle Fire. Still, you have to compare it with the equally strong iOS ecosystem, which is no slouch in the content shopping department. Apple doesn’t connect you as seamlessly to physical products, but there’s nothing difficult about shopping on Amazon.com via your iPad. It’s also notable that tablet competitor Barnes & Noble has added movie and TV viewing, rental and purchase.

Ultimately, all of these tablets are offering more and more of the same content options, apps, and features. The decision will likely come down to price, app selection, interface and overall ease of use. The Amazon Kindle fire HD 8.9 scores well on all of these, but does not always lead.

For the price, it’s a great value, but I want Amazon to focus on hardware and interface design for the next big update. Then, they may get my full endorsement.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Spotlight on Thanksgiving: Stars Who Love to Cook

Look Who's Cooking

By Anna Kleyman

"What's cooking, good looking?" may just be the perfect question for some A-list celebs who like to get their cook on in the kitchen. To celebrate Thanksgiving, we're counting down Hollywood's kitchen MVPs including Jennifer Aniston, Blake Lively, Gwyneth Paltrow and more.

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Seaside Heights mayor considering leaving roller coaster submerged by Sandy as 'tourist attraction'

AP

A man walks on the beach as a rollercoaster that once sat on the Funtown Pier in Seaside Heights, NJ rests in the ocean.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ — The remains of a roller coaster that was knocked off a New Jersey amusement pier by Superstorm Sandy and partially submerged in the Atlantic Ocean may be left there as a tourist attraction.

Seaside Heights Mayor Bill Akers tells WNBC-TV in New York that officials have not made a decision on whether to tear down the coaster. But the mayor says he's working with the Coast Guard to see if the coaster is stable enough to leave it alone, because he believes it would make "a great tourist attraction."

Meanwhile, efforts to rebuild the storm-ravaged town are continuing.

Demolition crews have removed the resort's damaged boardwalk. And Akers says construction on a new boardwalk should begin in January and be ready by Memorial Day.

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Black Friday is creeping into Thanksgiving evening

Marling Sequeira has her Thanksgiving all planned: turkey, trimmings and pumpkin pie at her boyfriend’s in Miami, then a moonlit drive to Walmart to snag a 72-inch Samsung TV on sale for $800.

“It’s more exciting at midnight,” said Sequeira, 22, a medical assistant who is moving into a new Brickell-area apartment with her boyfriend on Friday. “Besides that, the specials are more convenient.”

All over South Florida on Thursday, bargain-hungry shoppers will be gobbling down their Thanksgiving meals with an eye on heading to the mall.

Thursday is becoming the new Black Thursday, as the old-fashioned kickoff day of the holiday, Black Friday, creeps into Thanksgiving dessert.

“Retailers are now commercializing Thanksgiving, giving the opportunity to the consumer who doesn’t want to watch 12 hours of football,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at the NPD Group, a consumer and retail market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y.

The stores’ goal, he said, is to compete more vigorously with online sites for those valuable early holiday dollars.

And retailers have learned that if they open their doors and offer deals, shoppers will come. Last year those who extended their hours saw sales rise up to 22 percent for the Black Friday weekend, while those retailers that did not lost up to 8 percent, Cohen said.

The result: this year, more than ever, shopping is seeping into Thanksgiving festivities.

Kmart is opening at 6 a.m. and Bass Pro Shops at 8 a.m. on Thursday. Sears and Toys”R”Us are opening at 8 p.m. Target is opening at 9 p.m. Loads of stores, including Macy’s, The Gap, Old Navy and Best Buy are opening at midnight. Best Buy is promising deals on such items as TVs, laptop computers, digital cameras and more.

Walmart is open 24 hours, so it will stay open all day on Thanksgiving, with specials offered at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Thursday and 5 a.m. on Friday.

“Whether you want to stay up late on Thursday night or get up early on Friday, at Walmart we have a Black Friday event for you,” said spokesman Steve Restivo. Walmart is offering price guarantees to shoppers who are inside a store between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., on three hot-selling items, an Apple iPad2, an Emerson 32-inch LCD TV and an LG Blu-ray player.

In South Florida, even entire malls will open on Thanksgiving. Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater and Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise will be first, each opening at 9 p.m., and staying open until 10 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., respectively, on Black Friday.

Dadeland Mall and Miami International Mall will open at midnight Thursday.

“We’re very excited to open at midnight and give our shoppers a head start to the holiday season,” said Sara Valega, director of marketing for Miami International Mall, which will stay open until 11 p.m. on Friday.

Nationwide, 17 percent of consumers, or 41 million people are expected to shop on Thanksgiving, according to the latest consumer holiday tracking survey, released Tuesday by The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs.

With stores opening earlier and earlier, and some retailers launching pre-Thanksgiving sales, the retail industry has officially crossed the traditional Black Friday barrier — with no end in sight, said Kimberly Taylor, associate professor of marketing at Florida International University.

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High court ruling on deportation issue does not apply to past cases, Florida Supreme Court says

A Miami man who could face deportation for an 11-year-old drug charge is not eligible to have his conviction thrown out, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

Gabriel Hernandez, now a successful bank administrator, had asked a Miami trial court to toss out his 2001 drug conviction, saying his lawyer failed to properly warn him he could face deportation to his native Nicaragua.

Like hundreds of defendants statewide, Hernandez filed his request after the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2010 threw out the conviction for a Kentucky man, Jose Padilla, whose lawyer failed to warn him that he would be deported after pleading guilty.

But a Miami judge refused Hernandez’s request. And The Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the Padilla case did not apply to past cases like Hernandez’s.

On Wednesday, the Florida Supreme Court agreed unanimously that the Padilla case is not “retroactive.” The state high court did rule that current and future Florida defendants have the right to claim their lawyers were “ineffective” for not properly advising them of possible deportation.

The issue of “retroactivity” has been closely watched in legal circles as thousands of people across the country — who could face deportation because of past convictions — sought help under the Padilla case.

Wednesday’s decision in Florida is not the final say for Hernandez.

Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether its own decision in Padilla applies retroactively.

Last month, the nation’s high court heard arguments for a Chicago woman, Roselva Chaidez, who is facing deportation for 9-year-old conviction for fraud. No ruling has been issued.

Hernandez arrived in the United States from Nicaragua when he was 2 years old. Now 30 and a legal resident, he boasts a bachelor’s degree and works as a successful computer network administrator for a Miami bank group.

His one blemish was at 19, when he was arrested on charges of selling LSD.

In an outcome typical for first-time offenders, Hernandez pleaded guilty and accepted a year of probation in return for a promise that no felony conviction would appear on his record. But Hernandez insists he never understood that the plea deal could wind up getting him deported to Nicaragua.

The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday also ruled on the same issue in a companion case for Miami’s Leduan Diaz. His lawyer, Maggie Arias, said she is “hopeful” that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule differently than the state high court and find Padilla to apply to all cases.

“This would ensure that fairness and general due process are afforded to people who received ineffective advice from lawyers,” Arias said.

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New York Athletes Use Twitter to Gain Cult Hero Status

If you’re one of the over 20.6 million Americans who has a Twitter account, chances are you’ve stumbled across the official SoccerGirlProblems Twitter handle, @SoccerGrlProbs, at least once while using the popular social media networking site.

SoccerGirlProblems, a feed spawned by three New York-based athletes, is a Twitter handle dedicated to the true-life outrageous complaints about everyday life as a high school or college soccer player.

The simple concept was started as a joke, but it has grown to startling dimensions.

SoccerGirlProblems has over 148,000 Twitter followers, and its explosive popularity led to the creation of a spinoff blog, a well-known YouTube account, a custom-made T-shirt business, and an official website.

Since opening in the beginning of 2012, the SoccerGirlProblems YouTube account has racked up over 3.2 million video views, and T-shirts have been selling like hotcakes. The SoccerGirlProblems Twitter page is also busier than ever, as it gained 50,000 new followers between May and November.

Punch #SGP or #SoccerGrlProbs into the Twitter search box on any given day, and you’ll immediately get a slew of hilarious tweets like “Took a long, hard stare at a pair of jeans this morning…Almost felt bad for neglecting them for so long. SWEATS IT IS,” along with other comedic gems like “family dreads thanksgiving if…i’m not on their team for flag football. Come on people what’s wrong with a little ‘friendly’ competition??”

With the SoccerGirlProblems brand finding so much success, one would expect the girls behind it to be household names by now, much like other Twitter/YouTube personalities like Jenna Marbles and Tay Zonday.

In fact, the founders of SoccerGirlProblems were afraid to reveal their identities until recently, as they feared retribution from conservative school administrators at their current school, Fairfield University.

The SoccerGirlProblems ladies believed that school officials from Fairfield would possibly find some of their hilarious tweets to be offensive or inappropriate. The founders did not want their tweets to bring negative exposure to their current or former schools.

It took over a year for the SoccerGirlProblems girls to reveal their identities publicly, but two of the three founders finally decided it was time to come out and detail how they became cult heroes via Twitter.

Carly Beyar, a South Hempstead, New York, resident and graduate of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York, along with Alanna Locast of Wantagh, New York, revealed that they are among the core group of tweeters handling the SoccerGirlProblems Twitter and YouTube accounts.

Locast, a graduate of Long Island’s Seaford High School, was an attacking offensive option for Fairfield until her graduation in 2011, while Beyar is still playing for the Fairfield Stags.

“It is still a shock to us that all of these girls relate to what we are saying,” Beyar said of her dedicated legion of Twitter followers in an exclusive online interview in May. “The soccer world is evidently a small one. It is comforting to know that we are not the only women soccer players out there dealing with these problems every day. Also, don’t get us wrong, we love soccer and will do anything for it; sometimes you just need to complain to keep you sane. ‘With training comes complaining.’”

Beyar and Locast, both standout high school soccer players on Long Island, think they can take SoccerGirlProblems to new heights due to the power of online marketing.

“I think it is easy to relate to our tweets when we are sarcastic and humorous,” Beyar said. “We try to take bothersome problems every day and turn it into something to just sit back and laugh about. We appreciate all of the support that our fans have given us since August. They are the best fans any Twitter account can ask for. Originally, we made this Twitter account for fun. We wanted to make it a team-based thing where everyone would tweet a problem from our team to get a laugh out of it. Little did we know how powerful the Web can be.”

Eric Holden covered the South Side Lady Cyclones girls’ soccer team in the 2010-11 season and has reported on Long Island soccer events since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Selena Gomez Misbehaves in New Adidas Ad

Most of the recent headlines about Selena Gomez have speculated on the status of her relationship with Justin Bieber. But the former Disney darling also debuted a new music video for Adidas this week in which she portrays one member of a mischievous tagger gang.

Gomez is not shy about whipping out the spray can to plaster a wall with graffiti as she runs through the streets with her crew in the ad for Adidas' Neo brand. 

RELATED: Report Says Justin Bieber & Selena Gomez Split

Adidas says it was thrilled to announce Selena as the newest member of the NEO label, which Bieber also endorses. 

While shot in gritty style, the video shows Selena and her follow taggers smiling and laughing as they frolic in the streets while making a mess of everything they see with green paint and streamers. 

VIDEO: Selena Gomez 'Intimidated' by Animated Movie Role 

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Hostess has received a 'flood of inquiries' from potential buyers for several brands

Hostess Brands Inc on Wednesday appeared headed toward a liquidation, though its lawyers and advisers expressed optimism that they will find new homes for many of its iconic brands, which include Twinkies, Drake's cakes and Wonder Bread.

US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, held a hearing to consider initial approval of the 82-year-old company's plan to wind down over the next year.

Drain's last-ditch mediation to resolve Hostess' differences with its striking bakers' union had broken down on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, we're faced now with the matters that were originally scheduled for Monday and were adjourned to today, to deal with the issues facing the debtor in their need to preserve and ... maintain their value in a liquidation scenario," Drain said.

Heather Lennox, a lawyer for Hostess, told the judge that the company has received a "flood of inquiries" from potential buyers for several brands that could be sold at auction and expects initial bidders to surface within a few weeks.

Joshua Scherer, a partner at Perella Weinberg Partners, which is advising Hostess, said the company was in "active dialogue" over its Drake's brand with one "very interested" party that had toured a New Jersey plant on Tuesday.

He said regional bakeries, national rivals, private equity firms and others have also expressed interest in various brands and that more than 50 nondisclosure agreements have been signed.

"These are iconic brands that people love," Scherer said.

As for the value of the company, Scherer said Hostess could be worth $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion in a normal bankruptcy, an amount equal to its annual revenue. It also has about $900 million of secured debt and faces up to about $150 million of administrative claims.

But Scherer expects a discount in this case because plants have already been closed and Hostess' value could fall further if the liquidation were dragged out.

"I've had buyers tell me, 'Josh, the longer it takes ... the less value I'm going to be able to pay you,'" he said.

Hostess decided to liquidate on November 16, saying it was losing about $1 million per day after the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, representing close to one-third of its roughly 18,000 workers, went on strike a week earlier.

The bakers union walked out after Drain authorized Hostess to impose pay and benefit cuts, which the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Hostess' largest union, had accepted.

Hostess has about 33 plants, plus three it decided to close after the strike began, as well as 565 distribution centers and 570 bakery outlet stores.

As part of a liquidation, the Irving, Texas-based company would immediately terminate about 15,000 employees.

It said it expects to keep about 3,200 workers to help shut its properties and prepare them for sale, but that only approximately 200 people would remain employed by late March.

Hostess had filed for Chapter 11 protection on January 11, its second bankruptcy filing in less than three years.

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Shopping 411: How to survive the rush and get the deals for Black Friday

EARLY BIRDS GET THE DEALS:

If you’re willing to brave the masses, here’s where you can go:

•  Open all day Thursday: Walmart;

•  6 a.m. on Thursday: Kmart opens;

•  8 a.m. Thursday: Bass Pro Shops opens;

•  8 p.m. Thursday: Sears and Toys “R”Us open;

•  9 p.m. Thursday: Dolphin Mall, Sawgrass Mills and Target stores everywhere open.

•  Midnight: Black Friday kicks off with the opening of Macy’s, the Gap, Old Navy, Best Buy, Kohl’s and other stores. Dadeland Mall and Miami International Mall open.

•  6 a.m. Friday: Most other malls and stores open by dawn or shortly after.

TWEET TWEET

Follow the action: Miami Herald reporters will hit the stores on Thanksgiving and Tweet about parking, deals, traffic and product shortages at Twitter hashtag #heraldshop. Follow the live stream online at MiamiHerald.com or watch Twitter.

Tweet with us! Be a reporter and tweet out your own experiences and tips. The hashtag: #heraldshop.

SHOP FROM HOME

Relax, have another piece of pie and shop: Amazon.com, Target.com, Walmart.com, Kohls.com, ToysRUs.com, Bloomingdales.com, shopbop.com, BananaRepublic.com and Madewell.com are among the sites offering online specials or discounts on Thanksgiving Day.

SEARCH FOR DEALS

Check online aggregators: //blackfriday.gottadeal.com/Tracker, //findnsave.com, MiamiHerald.com, blackfridayads.com, 2012blackfridayads.com, bfads.net.

Use your smartphone: Download apps that aggregate deals, including Black Friday App by DealNews.com, Shopkick, the Coupons App, Black Friday Survival Guide, Daily Shopper, Slice Price Drop Alert, Black Friday Smart Aisles App and TheFind App.

BE PREPARED

Parking will be crazy. Get a non-shopper to drop you off if possible. Head first for items that could out quickly, like electronics. Wear comfortable shoes and bring water. Be sure your smartphone is fully charged and watch your belongings!

FREE STUFF

•  At Macy’s in Aventura, receive a free pair of high-definition headphones with any $75 or more men’s or women’s fragrance purchase and Macy’s will donate $2 to Make-A-Wish. Receive a free sweater when you purchase jeans from American Rag for Juniors.

•  Also at Aventura Mall: At Montblanc, Receive free engraving or embossing with purchase. At Steve Madden, Black Friday shoppers can play the scratch card promotion for a chance to win free shoes and discounts up to 40 percent off.

•  At A Pea in the Pod: Receive a Free Britax Carrier with a purchase of $300 or more.

•  At Destination Maternity stores & destinationmaternity.com: Get a $75 restaurant.com certificate when you spend $125 or more.

•  At Motherhood Maternity stores & motherhood.com: Get a $50 restaurant.com certificate when you spend $75 or more.

•  At Dolphin Mall all Black Friday Weekend: Spend $350 or more on your MasterCard card in a single day at the mall and receive a $25 MasterCard gift card.

Most of all, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

INA PAIVA CORDLE

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Case against ailing former Broward commissioner is delayed

Seated in a wheelchair, her hands wrapped in white bandages, former Broward Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin waited in a hallway of the Broward County Courthouse Tuesday for a hearing that never took place.

Wasserman-Rubin, 65, had expected to appear before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Spencer Eig at noon for a status report on her pending criminal trial for public corruption charges, which she has contested. But the hearing was postponed until February, she said, after waiting outside the courtroom for nearly 15 minutes.

The former commissioner said she will need the extra time to recuperate from recent hand surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome, and to undergo additional surgery for Deep Brain Stimulation, a procedure used to treat neurological symptoms such as tremors and stiffness for Parkinson’s patients.

“It will give me more relief,’’ Wasserman-Rubin said of the novel treatment. “It will increase my mobility.’’

She explained that the procedure involves cutting her skull and implanting a device called a neurostimulator inside the brain to deliver mild electrical currents to parts of the brain that control movement. After about a week, Wasserman-Rubin said, doctors will fine-tune the device, which she compared to a pacemaker.

A second device, which she described as a battery, will be inserted in her chest. Wasserman-Rubin said the procedure also may help reduce the amount of medication that she is required to take.

“This is not the type of life that I want to keep living,’’ she said.

Wasserman-Rubin had been scheduled to go to trial earlier this year, but it was postponed because of her health.

She stepped down from the Broward commission shortly before the Broward State Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against her in July 2010.

Prosecutors charged that between March 2002 and April 2005, Wasserman-Rubin voted at least 15 times to support or fund grants written by her husband, Richard Rubin, for the Town of Southwest Ranches.

Investigators found that Rubin received three $15,000 bonuses — in addition to his regular compensation — for his work on successful grants that were supported by his wife. The town paid Rubin $1.1 million to write grant applications between 2001 and 2008, according to court records.

Prosecutors charged Wasserman-Rubin with seven counts of unlawful compensation and conspiracy to commit perjury, and they say she broke the law by voting on issues that resulted in a “special private gain” for herself or close family members.

Rubin, 67, accompanied his wife to the courthouse on Tuesday, but he had no comment on the charges. In June, Rubin completed a 10-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion after he pleaded guilty to underreporting his 2005 income by about $120,000.

Earlier this year, Wasserman-Rubin rejected a plea deal that would have allowed her to plead guilty or no contest to two felonies in exchange for two years of house arrest, eight years of probation and reimbursement of prosecution costs.

Had she accepted the deal, Wasserman-Rubin risked losing her state pension — an estimated $4,895 per month — her attorneys said. Her pension account has been frozen until the charges are resolved.

If convicted of all five charges against her, she could face from five to 55 years in state prison, prosecutors have said.

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