BLACKBERRY

Research In Motion, the company that makes the BlackBerry Playbook recently cut the tablet's price to $200, and Best Buy seems to have sold out their online stock. Additionally, RIM employees get to add their yearly $100 off in house products to the already discounted PlayBook

A pair of Monday morning notes on Research In Motion paint sharply contrasting views of the company that makes the BlackBerry.

The next-generation Apple iPhone, already being dubbed the iPhone 5 by analysts, may hold more than just media and contacts. Advancements in near field communications technology, or NFC, can turn Apple's venerable iPhone into a digital wallet.

Q&A with Kevin Mitnick, the author of Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker, about celebrity hacking, common mistakes and online protection tips for the average Joe

Following success in the United States, Starbucks will introduce its mobile payment app for more than 700 stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland beginning next month.

Amazon's Kindle Fire might end up being one of the most wanted items of the holiday season, and not just for tablets. It's $200 price tag has people's attention, but Kindle Fire is not like many of the tablets out there now. The Android tablet world has long suffered from comparisons to the iPad because iPad was the first tablet computer.

When the Apple iPad 3 hits the shelves next year, there could be several tablets that severely undercut its $500 price, but, until then, there are really only a few tablets that you would want to pick up to tide you over.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Pozen, Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Yahoo, Infosys, and Research In Motion. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: ASM International, ARM Holdings, Randgold Resources, ASML Holding, and Rediff.com India.

A few common thoughts to consider before you buy.

Samsung has released a 4G version of their ever expanding line of tablet computers, and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is now on the AT&T network for just under $500 with a two year contract. Compared to the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Tab 8.9 looks to be superior because it's larger, is 4G enabled and runs the Android system.

Big-box electronics retailer Best Buy has no regrets about stocking Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet, despite the product's poor reception and subsequent sharp discounting.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Spanish telecom Telefonica are teaming up to test a payment system that turns a mobile phone into an electronic wallet and identity card, the companies said on Wednesday.

Black Friday deals are popular because it's the busiest shopping day of the year. You don't have to get up at five in the morning to be a shopping beast this year because your smartphone can help you find the best deals even if you boycott the shopping holiday. Besides, the following Monday is a popular day for Web sites to have their last minute sales.

BlackBerry's PlayBook in on back order from Best Buy because the price has been dropped to just $200, but for this weekend only, another tablet computer is being offered for just $200, the Motorola Xoom. Verizon is selling the 10-inch Xoom tablet at a subsidized price because it comes with a two year data contract. Xoom runs the Android system, has front and rear-facing cameras and is both Wi-Fi and 4G enabled.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has moved next month's Asian developer conference from Bangkok to Singapore due to flooding in the Thai capital.

Research in Motion cut the price of its Blackberry PlayBook from $499 to $199 for a limited time to appeal to holiday shoppers.

Facebook has been working on an official phone codenamed Buffy, according to reports from AllThingsD.

Shares of Blackberry developer Research in Motion fell as much as six percent to $16.93 Monday following yet more downgrades, this time by JMP Securities and RBC Capital Markets.

Droid Razer will be a top seller during the Black Friday rush, but if you're heading out to the doorbuster and bargain sales, the Samsung Focus S is worth checking out. It's $100 less than the Razr, but has a 4.3 Super AMOLED Plus screen for super bright colors and eye-popping contrast. This is classic Samsung tech, and it's the type of display seen on other high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Black Friday excitement is in full swing with a number of stores offering attractive deals on high demand products

Best Buy is offering some of the hottest deals for Black Friday 2011 on electronics starting midnight Friday, Nov. 25 following Thanksgiving this week.