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Greenpeace: Majority of consumers think manufacturers should recycle mobiles

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Consumers say mobile phone manufacturers are releasing too many new models, according to a survey Greenpeace commissioned across six countries.

In all countries surveyed, consumers were most likely to say that mobile phone manufacturers should be responsible for providing people with the means to recycle their phones, while four in five surveyed said that it was important that a new smartphone can be easily repaired if damaged.

“The humble smartphone puts enormous strain on our environment from the moment they are produced — often with hazardous chemicals — to the moment they are disposed of in huge e-waste sites,” said Chih An Lee, Global IT Campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.

“Over half of respondents across the countries surveyed agree that manufacturers are releasing too many new models, many designed to only last a few years. In fact, most users actually want their phones to be more easily dismantled, repaired and recycled.”

Mobile phones are some of the most frequently replaced of all small electronics products.

A United Nations University report in 2014 showed that up to 3 million metric tonnes of e-waste is generated from small IT products, such as mobile phones and personal computers. This represents a massive waste of resources and a source of contamination from hazardous chemicals.

Key findings from the survey:

  • Chinese (66 percent) and South Korean respondents (64 percent) are more likely to have ever had their phones repaired, compared to those in the US (28 percent) and Germany (23 percent).

  • Nearly half surveyed believe that mobile phone manufacturers should be most responsible for making recycling accessible. This sentiment was strongest in Germany (61 percent).

  • Except in Germany (86 percent), over 90 percent of respondents surveyed in all countries said that “designed to last” is an important feature of a new smartphone.

  • Four in five respondents consider it important that a new smartphone is not produced using hazardous chemicals.

  • Four in five respondents believe it is important for a new smartphone to be easily repaired if damaged.This rises to as high as 95 percent in China, 94 percent in Mexico and 92 percent in South Korea.

  • Apart from respondents in South Korea, the most common reason for replacing their last phone was the desire for a more up-to-date device.

“We believe true innovation means gadgets designed to last, to be repaired and recycled. It is time for tech leaders to rethink the way they make our electronics so that they are as innovative for our planet as they are for our lives,” said Lee.

“If tech brands want to lead us into the future, they need to move towards closed-loop production and embrace the circular economy; something that can be good for their profits, for people and for the planet.”

Greenpeace East Asia conducted the survey as part of its True Innovation campaign, which challenges the technology sector to embrace innovation to protect our environment and our future.

Lifestyle, Tech

Live-streaming apps dominate buzz at South by Southwest

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A live-streaming app called Meerkat, calls to online activism and pedicabs with a “Game of Thrones” Iron throne seat were the top topics of conversation at South by Southwest over the weekend, as 33,000-plus members of the technology, marketing and media industries poured into Austin, Texas.

“You never know what’s around the corner at South By Southwest, it could be a small thing or it could be life changing,” said David Rubin, Pinterest’s head of brand, at the social media company’s annual barbecue on Saturday. He said the festival is a good place to schmooze with clients and do some recruiting.

“Pinterest is about creativity and the employee base is quirky and interesting, so it’s a good place to meet potential employees,” he said.

Here’s a look at top topics so far at the annual gathering of the Technorati.

LIVE-STREAMING APPS

An app called Meerkat is dominating conversations. The simple app allows people to live stream anything at the touch of a button. The app used to let users automatically Tweet live streams too, but that came to a stop after Twitter confirmed it acquired Periscope, a Meerkat rival, for undisclosed terms and limited Meerkat’s access to Twitter.

At a panel about government patents, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker had used Meerkat to stream her official swearing in of the new chief of the U.S. Patent and Trademark office Michelle Lee on Twitter. “Being the first (at)cabinet official to share key events on this exciting new platform,” she tweeted. Countless others streamed other panels and events.

Meanwhile, rival live-streaming app Stre.am is a finalist for SXSW’s innovation awards.

ONLINE ACTIVISM

Some major political figures are using the festival to call for online activism. Former Vice President Al Gore gave a rousing talk about the need for urgent action on climate change. Gore called upon SXSW attendees to get involved in supporting climate change legislation ahead of environmental talks in Paris in December.

“We are at a fork in the road, we can win this, but it requires passion,” he said.

In a keynote, Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud of Saudi Arabia discussed her efforts to bring women into the workplace and announced a new breast cancer awareness campaign that will rely on social and mobile media to spread the word in the Middle East, including the Twitter-ready hashtag (hash)10ksa.

Often in the Middle East, “a woman doesn’t want to admit unhealthy status,” she said. “There are larger cultural issues involved to talk about breast cancer.”

CORPORATE STUNTS

Promotions are everywhere. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is employing pedicabs with Iron-Throne seats and hosting “SXSWesteros,” an event site that serves a “Game of Thrones” beer and allows fans a chance to sit on the show’s Iron Throne.

Meanwhile, smartphone battery pack maker Mophie created buzz with St. Bernard dogs that “rescued” more than 300 festival-goers low on batteries when they tweeted a plea for help to Mophie. The dogs, all locally owned by people in Austin, are part of the St. Bernard’s Rescue Foundation, which was created to raise awareness about rescue dogs.

“People don’t get exposure to St. Bernard’s ever,” said Mophie spokesman Kevin Malinowski. “People get them as puppies when they’re so cute, but once they grow up they can’t handle them, so this is almost an education.”

RUSSELL BRAND’S NO-SHOW

A documentary about actor Russell Brand, called “Brand, a Second Coming,” was a headliner for the film portion of the festival. Brand was set to appear at the Friday premiere and give a talk as well as discuss his daily YouTube show “Trews,” in which he talks about news topics. But that day Brand announced on his blog that he wouldn’t appear at the festival, saying he was uncomfortable with how the documentary turned out, and backed out of the talk.

“I apologise sincerely to the organisers of SXSW for my non-attendance, especially Janet Pierson, Brian Solis and Rynda Laurel from the interactive festival who were responsible for the keynote talk that I was due to do,” he wrote in the blog post.

Lifestyle

WIGWIRED: Out and Active

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Extreme Selfie. The prestigious Tillywig Award for “best toy” has gone to Lexibook’s Wi-Fi Move Cam, a sports camera made for action and adventure — pedaling down a mountain bike trail, hiking around the bend, snorkeling on the lake’s bottom and swimming out to the float.

Seek & find. Pricey boats are equipped with pricey fish finders and depth plotters. For anglers just paddling away from shore in a kayak, or even standing on shore or a pier, Deeper’s Smart Fishfinder is a more moderately priced alternative at $250. The fishfinder is cast using a rod and reel to send an image of what lies beneath the water to a companion app. Be sure to double-check the clasp before casting.

Spot on. For those heading into remote or rural areas and not expecting reliable cell signals, the Spot satellite messenger can be used to let social media friends know when you’ve reached the summit of the mountain or the bottom of the canyon but, more importantly, transmit an SOS when an emergency strikes.

Pocket trainer. Train for more than a game with the free Mountain Athletics app, which contains an instant goal tracker, training for endurance and strength, a timer and rep counter and athlete tips.

On break. Take the phone but turn off email. A recent survey found that work email is encroaching into the personal lives and downtime of many laborers. About 44.8 percent of those surveyed for the poll say they check work email at least once a day in their personal time.About 63.6 percent of those surveyed admit to checking work email while on holiday, and:

• 6.7% have gone through work email during a child’s school event.

• 5% have checked work email during a wedding ceremony.

• 3.8% have checked work mail during a funeral.

• 3.8% owned up to checking their work email while their spouse was in labor.

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Lifestyle

WiGWIRED: Behemoth TVs start to take off

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Supersized isn’t just for french fries.

Americans increasingly are replacing their once-enviable 50-inch TVs with even bigger screens. Think: 65-inches and up.

People are snagging big screens — pushing sales of them up 50 percent in the past year while overall TV sales have faltered. As prices fall, hardcore TV watchers and video gamers are finding sets affordable that a few years ago would have been playthings for wealthier people.

Jarvis Jackson, for instance, plans to spend up to $1,500 for a 65-inch TV with Internet capability. Jackson, who lives in Birmingham, Ala., says he’ll scale back on dining out and postpone other purchases to make room in his budget.

“You definitely can tell the difference between a 55-inch and a larger size TV,” says Jackson. “To get the right TV is important, especially when football season is coming up.”

Shoppers like Jackson are being enticed by new technologies like Internet capability that allows Netflix streaming, and Ultra HD screens, which offer a sharper picture.

Falling prices have also made big screens more accessible to the average person: TV prices overall have fallen 9 to 11 percent, and the average price of a 50-inch TV is down $75 from two years ago to $573, according to research firm NPD Group.

“TVs are more affordable than they’ve ever been, so a ‘supersized’ TV today is still far less expensive than smaller screens were three or four years ago,” says Jamie Bastian, a spokeswoman for Target, which expanded its selection of big-screen TVs to include 70-inch versions this year, up from last year’s 60 inches.

Although TVs 65 inches or bigger account for just 2 percent of sets sold, they’re the bright spot in a market that has been slumping in part because more people are using tablets and cellphones to stream movies and TV shows.

Overall, TVs 50 inches and bigger accounted for 25 percent of the sets sold in the past 12 months, up from 14 percent in 2012. NPD expects the figure to reach 30 percent this year.

The advent of flat screens and high-definition television prompted a rush to upgrade a decade ago, but things like 3-D TVs have failed to entice buyers in recent years. But experts say Ultra HD is a simple enough upgrade to gain widespread adoption in the next few years.

While overall TV sales have dropped as much as 10 percent annually since 2010, big-screen TVs have become the fastest-growing category. During the year that ended April, 800,000 65-inch TVs or larger were sold, a 69 percent jump. That equated to a 50 percent increase to $1.6 billion in sales in a TV market totaling an estimated $18 billion.

Lower-income shoppers are accounting for a larger share of the supersized TVs. In the year that ended in April, 61 percent of TVs 60 inches or larger were purchased by shoppers with household incomes of $75,000 or less, up from 45 percent a year earlier, according to NPD.

Retailers are taking advantage of the demand. Amazon.com plans to feature some 100-inch models this year, while Chicago-based electronics store Abt is expanding its warehouse space by nearly 30 percent, in part to accommodate bigger TVs.

Best Buy is increasing its selection of 55-inch-plus TVs by 20 percent. But big-screen TVs come with hassles: Best Buy delivery people sometimes have to open the box on the customer’s front lawn or go through a patio door because the box won’t fit through a regular door. Best Buy says a 55-inch Samsung TV weighs 37 pounds whereas a 75-inch Samsung TV weighs 83 pounds.

“I don’t think anyone would have estimated the appetite for the size of these TVs,” says Luke Motschenbacher, director of Best Buy’s TV business.

Viral

Smartphone apps remind patients to take meds

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Medicine only helps if you take it properly. And adhering to an exact schedule of what to take, and when, can be challenging for patients who are forgetful or need to take several medications.

Doctors warn about the consequences and urge patients to use various techniques, such as using divided pill boxes or putting their pill bottles beside their toothbrush as a reminder to take their morning and bedtime medicines.

Still, only about half of patients take medication as prescribed, resulting in unnecessary hospital admissions and ER visits that cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $290 billion a year.

To help combat the problem, many doctors are trying a more high-tech approach: They’re recommending smartphone apps that send reminders to patients to take their medications and record when they take each one.

“I think it’s going to become pretty standard” for doctors to recommend them, said Dr. Michael A. Weber, a cardiologist at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Weber began recommending apps to patients a few months ago and already has seen better lab results from a few using them.

“Some people say, `That’s a great idea,'” Weber said. “Even ones who claim they’re conscientious, like the reminders.”

He said the apps are particularly helpful for patients with symptomless conditions, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Those patients are less likely to regularly take their medications than someone with pain or an infection.

“I don’t think they’re going to change the world,” Weber said, though he recognizes benefit of apps. Even so, he said smartphone apps won’t do much to help people who simply don’t like taking medicine, fear side effects or can’t afford their prescriptions.

It’s too soon to tell how well the apps keep patients compliant or how long they keep using them.

Darrell West, director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the independent public policy group Brookings Institution, said some doctors have reported better medication adherence, but there haven’t been large scale studies on the effectiveness of such apps.

The apps began appearing a few years ago and now there are dozens.

Available functions include providing more detailed information on the patient’s medication and illness, prompts to refill prescriptions, email alerts about possible drug interactions, doctor locators and more.

Some have symptom checkers, and one called iPharmacy can identify pills when patients enter their shape, color and imprinted text. Others are just for women on birth control pills or patches (myPill) or patients with complex chronic diseases, such as cancer (CareZone Cancer), diabetes (Diabetes Pacer, which also tracks blood sugar and exercise) or HIV (My Health Matters, from drugmaker Merck & Co.). For those patients, getting off schedule or ignoring symptoms can have particularly serious consequences.

Still more apps take distinct approaches. For instance, Mango Health lets users earn points for complying with their medication schedule. Those points can be turned into gift cards or charitable donations.

CEO and founder Jason Oberfest, formerly head of game platforms at MySpace, said Mango Health partners with doctors and health insurers who are recommending its app to patients and customers.

The app, featured in Apple’s iTunes store, gives a history showing users daily results and point total, plus graphs comparing an individual’s adherence to other app users.

According to the company, 46 percent of its monthly visitors use the app daily and 60 percent are still using it after four months. For widely used classes of drugs for depression, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the company claims at least 80 percent of its users take their meds as prescribed. That’s compared to 59 percent or less in independent studies of overall patient adherence for those drug classes.

“We’ve heard from people using the application as old as their mid-’70s and older,” Oberfest said, but it’s especially popular with the 35-to-55 age group, people familiar with video games.

Here are some tips for choosing an app:

-Check whether it’s available for your smartphone’s operating system. Some are only available for one system or haven’t been updated for the latest phones.

-Ask your doctor’s opinion. Some may not be up on the different apps but have staff members who can help patients pick and install apps.

-Start with one of the many free or low-cost apps. Search your app store for “medication reminder.”

-Think about what you’ll really use. If you only want reminders to take your pills, that’s all you need. If you’re taking multiple drugs or change medications often, you might prefer an app with information on your condition, drug interactions and other details.

-To protect your privacy, pick one with password protection.

-If your life is hectic, consider one with a snooze function.

Lifestyle

Game developers take up social issues at S.F. conference

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The video game industry is taking itself more seriously.

Besides the usual talk of polygons, virtual worlds and artificial intelligence at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, there are discussions led by game makers about such socially conscious topics as designing for gamers with disabilities, battling depression at game studios and tackling hate speech in online game communities.

The organizers of GDC, which kicked off Monday at the Moscone Center and continues through Friday, have expanded the conference’s advocacy-themed sessions with panels featuring such titles as “Beyond Graphics: Reaching the Visually Impaired Gamer,” “How to Subversively Queer Your Work” and “Women Don’t Want to Work in Games (and Other Myths).”

“It’s something that in some way or another has always been part of the conference, but it’s something that we’ve found interest in genuinely continue to grow as the industry has become more diverse and inclusive,” said Simon Carless, executive vice president of UBM Tech Game Network, which organizes GDC and several other technology conventions.

This year’s conference has attracted about 23,000 game developers and executives from across the globe. Carless and other GDC organizers, which includes an advocacy advisory committee made up of game designers, hope that examinations of racism, misogyny and homophobia in games aid the industry’s continued fight for wider cultural legitimacy.

Rosalind Wiseman, author of the book “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” which inspired the Lindsay Lohan film “Mean Girls,” was part of a Tuesday discussion about gaming and social hierarchies among boys. The panel examined how the games that young men choose to play effect their popularity, as well as their social competence in moments of conflict.

Other speakers include Adam Orth, who left Microsoft Corp. last year after fiery Twitter exchanges about “always-on” technology; Manveer Heir, a game maker who works on the “Mass Effect” sci-fi series, which features gay and lesbian characters; and Toshifumi Nakabayashi, who organizes an annual game workshop to support Fukushima disaster victims.

Despite the refreshed focus on real-world issues at the convention, how to view and interact with ever-changing virtual worlds will ultimately take center stage at GDC. PlayStation 4 creator Sony Corp. teased its rendition of virtual reality technology during a Tuesday presentation called “Driving the Future of Innovation at Sony Computer Entertainment.”

Meanwhile, a handful of developers are showing off software using the VR goggles Oculus Rift, which captured attendees’ attention at last year’s conference. The exhibit “ALT.CTRL.GDC” highlights 14 games that utilize such alternative control schemes, like a piano-powered version of the sidescroller “Canabalt” and a holographic display called Voxiebox.

This year’s conference, the largest annual gathering of game creators outside the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in June, is the first since Sony and Microsoft respectively released its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles last year. Several sessions scheduled this year are dedicated to creating games for those systems, as well as more popular mobile platforms.

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Lifestyle

Outdoor gear expo has luxury for people and dogs

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Wilderness gear is going soft, and not just for people. Dogs are getting their own luxury outdoor items.

A trend at the world’s largest outdoor-gear trade show is equipment and apparel that’s also fashionable, easy to use or comfortable — from roomy spoon-shaped sleeping bags and pillow-top air mattresses to espresso makers and camp stoves that do double duty boiling water and charging electronic devices. Other vendors offer rugged leashes, life vests and even energy bars just for dogs.

Barebones Inc., maker of a $2,000 safari-style tent, held a “glamping” festival at last summer’s Outdoor Retailer expo, which featured a wider assortment of luxury gear than the winter show. Glamping stands for glamorous camping, and the Utah company says the 160-pound tent lets people enjoy the outdoors without having to rough it.

With network and cable news anchors sporting jackets by The North Face on camera in the field, manufacturers don’t have to be reminded that backwoods fashion has hit the mainstream.

“We don’t pay for anything like that, but we like it when anyone wears our high-quality products,” said Todd Spaletto, president of The North Face.

Peter Metcalf, CEO of Salt Lake City-based Black Diamond Inc., introduced U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to his company’s “soft” and “sensual” line of jackets and stretch-woven pants as the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market opened. About 22,000 people were in Salt Lake City for the expo.

Jewell was CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc., or REI, for more than a decade before joining President Barack Obama’s cabinet last year. She was wearing a fleecy white REI jacket.

The merchandise bazaar for a lifestyle of outdoor adventure brought together 1,000 of the world’s manufacturers and distributors.

Shoppers weren’t allowed inside and no cash sales are conducted. Instead, storekeepers and big retailers placed orders for next year’s inventory. Suppliers range from industry giants Patagonia Inc. and Mountain Hardwear to tiny Ruffwear, which makes performance dog gear in Bend, Ore.

The expo has taken place in Utah since 1996 and pours $40 million into the local economy annually.

A year ago, organizers signed a contract to keep the expo in Salt Lake City through August 2016. The decision suspended a political standoff that had the 4,000-member Outdoor Industry Association threatening to leave over Gov. Gary Herbert’s land use policies.

Herbert, a Republican, responded by pledging to actively support the $5.8 billion economic sector in Utah with the appointment of an industry executive, Brad Petersen, as his outdoor-recreation chief.

Attendance was up 40 percent since 2006, according to the show’s organizer, Nielsen Expo Outdoor Group. The twin show in August brings out a larger crowd and is dominated by water sports.

Registered dogs were welcome even if the public was not. Nearly a dozen vendors at this week’s show were hawking specialized pooch gear, and dog parties are part of the activity on the show floor.

The dog outfitters say they’re going after a $53 billion pet industry and taking spoils from the big chains like PetSmart Inc. and Petco.

Kurgo Dog Products, from Salisbury, Mass., makes a jump seat that can restrain a dog inside a moving car. Also on display are rugged leashes, collars, harnesses and booties.

Competitors bow to Ruffwear Inc., the leader of the pack. Soon after he started making collapsible water and food bowls in 1994, the company’s founder, Patrick Kruse, was selling 8,000 a month to retailer L.L. Bean. Now he sells 47 different dog products, including a life jacket.

“We were the first to give dog products an outdoor perspective,” Kruse said. “We’ve had a lot of offers of investment, but we want to grow organically. We never had to borrow money.”

TurboPUP, run by a former U.S. Air Force C-130 pilot, says it can’t make enough of its doggy energy bars that can stand in for a full meal and come in a foil package that’s easy to carry.

“We started in a kitchen making 3,000 bars a month,” said Kristina Guerrer, TurboPUP’s CEO. “It’s been crazy.”

The main ingredients include olive oil, egg yolk, juice concentrate and chia seeds, and company bakers from La Pine, Ore., swear they’re good enough for people.

The jam-packed expo underscored a thriving corner of the economy. Outdoor-gear sales grew 5 percent annually throughout recent years of recession, analysts said.

The show favored Utah, a place of rugged mountains and canyons and a cottage industry for innovators like Voile Manufacturing, which makes lightweight backcountry skis for $600 a pair. Voile laminates 3,000 skis and snowboards a year at a factory in a Salt Lake City suburb.

The winter show highlighted such leaps in technology as the ski bindings made by Dynafit. The company’s most popular model weighs just 530 grams, or less than 19 ounces.

Dynafit is out with a new $1,000 pair of bindings, the Beast, that performs as well as a heavier alpine binding in absorbing jolts that could knock a skier’s boot loose from a ski. The company also makes exceptionally lightweight skis and boots.

“We’re finally a noun in ski language,” said Eric Henderson, a marketing representative for the company’s North American operations, based in Boulder, Colo. “It’s taken some time — 30 years.”

Dynafit, headquartered in Munich, Germany, was bought by one of Europe’s largest outdoor brands, Bolzano, Italy-based Salewa International, in 2003.

Lifestyle

WiGWIRED: People spent $10B in its app store in 2013

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Apple says people spent more than $10 billion in its app store last year, on apps such as “Minecraft,” “Angry Birds Star Wars” and “Sleep Cycle” alarm clock.

December was the most successful month in the store’s history, as customers spent $1 billion that month.  Apple says the year’s total was also a record.

There are more than a million apps available in the app store for the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod Touch. Besides games, there are newspapers, magazines, travel, business and health and fitness apps, among others.

Apple launched the app store in 2008, a year after the iPhone with 500 apps.

Lifestyle

Listen up, Santa: Audio gear tops gift lists

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Listen up, Santa.

Headphones, speakers and other audio gear are topping the holiday gift lists of many Americans.

Audio equipment is among the top-selling electronics gifts this holiday season, accounting for 13 percent of the $8 billion in consumer electronics sales between Nov. 24 and Dec. 7, according to research firm NPD Group.

Headphone sales rose 14 percent. Sales of sound bars, long, thin speakers that create surround sound, grew 80 percent. And wireless speaker sales nearly quadrupled.

The trend is being driven in part by the economy. Audio gear, which can range from $10 for ear buds to thousands of dollars for a home theater system, is being considered by some an affordable luxury during a still shaky economy.

Americans also have spent the last several years buying tablets, smartphones and TVs. Now, many are looking for ways to squeeze better sound from those gadgets.

“It stands to reason that people at some point want a better audio experience than the ear buds you get in the box,” said Ben Arnold, NPD’s director of industry analysis.

Indeed, Drew Smith, 21, began coveting better headphones when he got an iPhone 5 in August. Now, headphones are the only big present he’s asking his parents for.

“Because of my smartphone, I listen to more music and … I want a good set,” said Smith, a cinema manager who lives in Paragoule, Ark.

Likewise, Adam Daniels, 23, a commercial banker from Sharonville, Ohio, decided to buy a Phillips sound bar for his parents for Christmas after they purchased a 50-inch TV.

“They have a great TV, but the audio on it is terrible,” he said.

The trend this season is a continuation of an audio craze that started last year. That’s when Beats by Dr. Dre, oversize headphones that come in different colors and run about $200 per pair, became the “it” holiday gift.

Beats doesn’t give sales figures. But the company said it grew its share of the market for headphones over $99 from 71 percent last year to 78 percent this year.

Some competitors also have upped their sound game. This year, stores and analysts say Bowers Wilkins, Bose, Jawbone and JBL all are among those offering more products, colors and stylish designs.

“Audio has been really popular this holiday,” said Josh Davis, manager of Abt Electronics, a large electronics store in Chicago. “Last year, it seemed like all anyone wanted was Beats … But we’re seeing good competition this year among other brands.”

At the same time, prices have fallen for some audio gear. For instance, the average selling price for wireless speakers dropped 33 percent to $73 this year compared with last year, according to NPD. And Best Buy, Amazon and other stores have offered deep discounts on some audio gear.

Target, which says sales of headphones, wireless speakers and sound bars have “increased significantly” this year, offered deals on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday. They included the Beats Solo HD Headphones for $119 from $179.99; Sony Bluetooth speakers for $49.99 from $89.99; and a JBL sound bar for $99.99 from $199.

The deals influenced Rob Patak, 29, to give headphones as gifts for his roommate and friend. Patak, a customer support manager at a software company in Washington, D.C., bought wireless speakers art Marshall’s for $20. And when he saw Amazon was offering $50 off $100 Plantronics Backbeat Go headphones, he snapped up two pairs.

Price was also a consideration for Jeremy Sylestine, 34, a prosecutor in Austin, Texas. He had been searching for a sound bar for his 40-inch TV last year but couldn’t find one for a good price. This year, though, he bought a Samsung sound bar for $184, which was $70 off the original price.

“It was the only thing that was on my list,” Sylestine said, adding that he found “basically an unbeatable price.”