Cisco has announced today that they are killing off the mildly successful, consumer-oriented Flip video camera line and eliminating 550 related jobs. Once the darling of the blogosphere and often given responsibility for jump-starting the handheld video market, Flip’s camera hasn’t kept pace with advancing video-equipped smartphones like Apple’s iPhone.

Everywhere you look retails are starting to prep for the make-it or break-it Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, that, for many, will be the deciding factor of their profitability this year.