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Talk about the gift that keeps on giving … the speaker is actually built right into the gift card and is super thin and functional enough to actually enjoy what you are hearing. You can plug an iPod, MP3 player, or any device that plays sound and has a plug similar to headphones into this speaker-card. It amazes me that the technology is still getting smaller! Now it is small enough, and cheap enough to be built into a pass along item like a gift card. This will surely be one card that won’t see the inside of a trashcan anytime soon.

If you are giving Best Buy gift certificates this Holiday Season, you might as well give away speakers: www.bestbuy.com

The innovators at SanDisk are at it again with the recent roll out of the Sansa Clip MP3 player. 4,000 songs on a clip sounds like endless entertainment to me. Combine this capacity with 15 hours of rechargeable battery life, and you will be glad you bought this player ($99 MSRP). One of my favorite features on this tiny MP3 player is the built-in FM tuner. Another great feature is the OLED color screen. This little-bitsy MP3 player seems too small to have a screen, and yet, there it is in full color.

The Sansa Clip, which is the size of most ear buds, can pack 8GB of data and impress the person in your life that is the hardest to please. I recommend the Amazon music store as a great place to pack this player full of music (for all of those iPod people who don’t know that music is sold outside of iTunes). Check Sandisk’s Sansa Web site out for more information: www.sansa.com The 8GB Sansa Clip is in stores now.

Samsung is going to make the long awaited Omnia available in the US in a CDMA version from Verizon. They of course released it in Asia and then Europe much earlier in GSM. This SCH-i910 is otherwise identical.

Similar in size and general appearance to the iPhone, the SCH-i910 runs Windows Mobile 6.1 with built-in 128 MB RAM and 8 GB of storage. PhoneArena says "...this is the first device with a built-in support of not only DivX, but XviD video.". Very cool. It also has a 5-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, and something I like – built-in FM radio.

PhoneArena has lots of details starting here - www.phonearena.com/htmls/Hot-new-phones-coming-to-Verizon-next-month-article-a_3375.html

UPDATE - 11/25/08: Samsung Releases New All-Purpose Smartphone for Holiday Season

Much of the US is accustomed to power problems from thunderstorms, but are not prepared and have taken no precautions. Give yourself peace of mind during thunderstorms and while traveling with the Duracell Powerpack 450 to provide portable backup power.

The Powerpack 450 provides AC output at a continuous 340W to power a variety of household devices like laptops and your blender while camping or picnicking at the lake.

The display showing runtime is a very nice feature. I'm not sure how much I would like it talking to me though. But for some people, the voice instructions giving step-by-step usage might make all the difference and give them confidence in emergencies.

More conventional features are a 150 PSI compressor, 2 ft. jumper cables, and a 5 watt lamp.

Get more info from Duracell, Xantrex or read the press release.

If you are in New York on Thursday, November 13, 2008 go to Father Duffy Square for a chance to win the most anticipated BlackBerry ever … the BlackBerry Storm. You will walk into a LARGE BlackBerry Storm that is like a “money booth” of sorts. You will have tickets flowing around you while you grab as many as you can. The prizes include the highly-anticipated BlackBerry Storm (plus $50 gift card for activation) and Bluetooth headsets. If you read this post, and go to the event and win the smartphone … let us know about it!

For more information on the BlackBerry Storm visit www.blackberry.com/storm or http://estore.vzwshop.com/storm

Etymotic Research recently announced the invention of the fifth generation of its noise-isolating earphones, the hf5. Following the lines of its multiple award winning predecessor, the hf2, the hf5 is designed to offer exceptional sound quality with a design made to fit the ear canal of whomever tries them on. Compatible with iPods, as well as most other devices, the hf5 retails at a hefty 149 dollars. However, given the design and research that went into them, they won’t fail to disappoint.

For more information visit www.etymotic.com or read the press release.

If you’re among the lucky few headed to Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII, you might want to consider fulfilling your need for aquatic thrill. The Florida Aquarium is offering a few programs that represent unique opportunities to ensure your trip has more than one “once-in-a-lifetime” memory. Certified SCUBA divers can come face to face with five different species of shark, while everyone at least six years old can swim with the fish in a 500,000-gallon tank featuring more than 2,300 of the cute sea creatures. All these aquatic adventures may leave your kids saying "what game?".

For more information and pricing visit www.flaquarium.org

You expect newer projectors to have good image quality, resolution, and contrast ratios. What you don’t expect is for that same new projector to be wireless and tell you when it needs to be cleaned or have its bulb changed. Toshiba’s TLP-X200U has all of this, however, and is finding a nice niche for itself in the projector market.

At less than 5 pounds and 3 inches high, this combined with its wireless network capabilities make it the ultimate tool for meetings on the run. Closed captioning, multiscreen functionality, USB ports, and voice activation make this nifty tool very practical. The icing on the cake, however, is the voice technology.

Company insiders report, “The voice guidance system conveniently directs users with an audible message through the projector's operating instructions and system warnings, such as the on/off status, lamp life, air filter checks and cooling fan status."

For more information read the press release.

Palringo is available for Windows and Mac (currently in testing) but its niche seems to be when used on a mobile handset like an iPhone or Blackberry.

For your existing contacts it supports Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live!, etc. but also adds a dedicated Palringo account. This Palringo service has easy to add or join Groups providing office and small business users a convenient way to communicate.

A feature that might prove useful is voice and picture instant messages. Send a quick voice message to a co-worker.

Beejive has a somewhat similar IM client and Fring competes on the iPhone. Read more

To help kick off the Holiday shopping season, Walmart just announced that they will be offering special Black Friday-type deals for one day only -- November 8th.

Included in these deals is a 2GB Sony Walkman MP3 player for $49, a $100 Walmart Gift Card with the purchase of a $399 Sony PlayStation 3, and select video games (including Warhawk, Resistance and MotorStorm) for $19.82.  But what really stood out is a Compaq CQ-139WM 15.4" laptop with 2GB RAM and 160GB hard drive for only $298. Better get there early, these deals will be sure to go quick!

For more information and to see more one-day only sales visit www.walmart.com.