Tech Talk / By Martha Knight

Cyber Monday isn’t just about deals in computers, smart phones and geeky gear. It’s not just about electronics. It’s not even when those items are priced the lowest of the year. There may be better buys between now and the end of the Christmas shopping season. There certainly will be some better buys on those goods, and most others, after Christmas.

Cyber Monday is a “new tradition,” just a few years old, but already popular. After all, Black Friday isn’t that old, either. Time was, frenzies for Cabbage Patch dolls, for instance, could occur early in December, and door busters created flash mobs before flash mobs were cool.

Cyber Monday is for ordering all kinds of stuff online. Perhaps the marketing idea is that, for those who went forth last Friday and did not achieve their shopping missions, this is the fall-back opportunity.

And then, there are millions of us who prefer to shop online—including some who used to shop by mail, many who might have shopped by phone a few years ago, preferring to skip the driving, the jostling, the crowds, the long lines at checkout.

Plus, there are online-only retailers, and there are products you won’t find anywhere but online.

For online shoppers, as for those who buy from TV shopping channels and TV commercials, “S & H” is a downside. We consider shipping and handling charges a bane, and maybe a rip-off, when they are tacked onto every product with a phone number. Come on, does it cost the company twice as much to have the “picker” find two of those items (the free one and the one I am buying) instead of one, and ship them?

On Cyber Monday we see a gazillion vendors offering free shipping. Really free, in many cases, no minimum order! It might not be overnight or two-day, it may be the bargain, when-we-get-there delivery, but still!

The National Geographic Store’s online deals include a $20 Nepali felted cardinal birdhouse, and boxed sets of DVDs of the TV channel’s specials, six of World War II, a handful of the Brain Game shows, and a whole season of their specials, each set for around $20.

CNET’s year-round bargain sniffer, Rick “Cheapskate” Brioda, presented his Cyber Monday faves, some of them likely to be around all week. Of course I would be fascinated by the drones. Like the one from StackSocial for inside $100, including an HD videocam—battery for the drone included (you need to buy them for the camera and the remote control and camera). It’s a palm-size drone, said to be easy for beginners but capable of more advanced tricks.

There are smart phone deals out there, and for folks with lots of gear that needs lots of charging, mobile chargers such as the $20 Poweradd Pilot that can charge two devices at once. A mobile charger gets charged at home or office, then goes with you so you can top off the devices you are carrying. Maybe one would be a life saver if you were to get stuck in a snow bank and your cell is out of juice.

As for phones themselves, many makers are offering popular models that can be bought unlocked, so you can shop for carriers that give you the service blend you want at the best price point. Avoid contracts if you can!

Cell phone accessories such as headsets make nice gifts. One that goes with Motorola phones, the MotoHint, can be had for $105 right now. Usually it’s been $150.

(Pop quiz: How did Motorola get started? What did the original company make originally? Where were its products used? If you know from your own recollection, you have been around quite a while. Otherwise, you are into geeky history.)

If you do not like the sound of silence, and those around you don’t like the sound of your favorite music, ear buds are a must. Who wouldn’t like more comfortable ones? Who with headphones doesn’t get tired of them after a few hours and want something less burdensome for the next few? Daily Steals has been featuring Logitech Ultimate Ears for $10 shipped. (Deep discounts plus free shipping—irresistible!)

Discounting isn’t all about Christmas shopping, even though it is serendipitous that it happens now. It’s like cars being discounted at the end of the model year, except that model “years” are a lot shorter for electronics. New models rush at us as fast as Android changes its sweet-treat version names and numbers.

When you need a break from shopping, maybe you can catch “Big Hero 6” in a ’plex near you. A company called Hyperion (which never was based in Coudersport) is responsible for the light-rendering software. The software took 200 million computing hours, over a six-year period, to develop. It had not been tried in actual movie production when work began on “Big Hero 6.” See whether the animation is a hero or a zero.