You're buying so many tech gifts this year, so wouldn't it be nice of those companies actually gave you a present in addition to their products? Yes, we thought so, too.

We saw an interesting deal between Sharp and new video-on-demand service Vudu, where the purchase of a new Aquos LCD display gets you a free Vudu set-top box and $50 in download credit. You'll put that to good use, for sure.

But instead of melting your brain on all that video, wouldn't it be nice if you actually read a book now and then? Click your way to Sony's site, where you'll find a deal that will put 100 classic books in your hands when you buy one of its Readers, a competitor to the Amazon Kindle. The books offered include such classics as Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn' and H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine.'

Finally, if you're looking for an audio experience, buying the Microsoft Zune will garner you a $20 gift card from Best Buy or $15 in downloads from Amazon.com.

Let's see, that's video, words, music... looks like we've covered our bases.

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It's the worst nightmare for the networks: YouTube beating broadcast television in the ratings. Recent polls suggest it's that's already happening, but our most recent Switched Show (listen here; direct link to mp3) suggests we're not so sure -- and that we've got some strong opinions on the subject of how you'll watch television in the not so distant future. PLUS: We read our personal tech wishlists for the holidays. Don't forget to subscribe to the Switched Show for FREE.

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Brooklyn-based Etronics knows you didn't plan ahead. It knows you wrote a reminder to yourself but misplaced it. It knows you meant well. Really. It did. That's why, if you're lucky enough to live in or near the five boroughs of New York City, you can purchase a cool toy from them by 3 p.m. on December 24 and still get it delivered that very day. Yes, it's true.

We don't mean to encourage bad planning on your part but with enablers like this what's any self-respecting true procrastinator to do? We say wait until the last minute and give it a whirl.

A flat fee of $25 covers the delivery charge -- and that includes delivery of heavy items, like TVs, or really huge gaming accessories (example only -- they don't really sell these).

Of course you could always go for a gift card -- or even an online gift certificate -- but all that does is reveal how little effort you put into getting a present. So we say get something with real heft. And don't worry -- your secret is safe with us.

One last note: In a quick look at what they have available, we saw a lot of "Out Of Stock" items, so your procrastination may still have gotten the best of you.

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Looking for a way to spread a little holiday cheer without expanding your carbon footprint? Many are switching over to LED lights this season to save electricity, even NYC's Rockefeller Center. But, you can go even further. Check out these solar-powered, LED Christmas lights, which will light up your holiday season -- even if you're living completely off the grid.

The $30 set from Hammacher Schlemmer includes 50 lights and a rechargeable base station. The base holds two rechargeable AA batteries, which it juices up during the day. At night the lights will glow for upwards of eight hours -- assuming of course the thing didn't get buried in the snow the day before. They're the perfect way to show your true holiday color: green (even though the lights themselves are blueish white).

From Shiny Shiny

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LCD (liquid crystal display) high-definition televisions have taken the HDTV market by storm. When they started to go mainstream nearly a decade ago they were expensive and couldn't match the picture quality of the rear-projection or plasma sets of the day. These days, though, they're inexpensive, efficient, look great, and are super-lightweight. All that has combined to give them huge popularity among consumers. LCD's popularity is so clear that Sony is getting out of the rear-projection television (RPTV) market, focusing entirely on LCD televisions.

Sony already ditched their plasma production line this time three years ago to focus on LCD and rear-projection. That the company is focusing solely on LCD is an indicator of just how dominant the technology has become. The problems that plagued early sets, such as poor contrast ratios and dull colors when viewed from an angle, have been all but eliminated. Meanwhile, other TV manufacturers like Toshiba and Philips have also ditched rear-projection televisions. RPTV's rely on an internal bulb to beam an image onto the back of a plastic screen. Rear-projection televisions are even cheaper than LCDs inch-for-inch, but they can't match the form of the one- or two-inch-thin flat-panel displays, a feature many shoppers find appealing.

If you were in the market for one of Sony's SXRD rear-projection sets, better hurry up and pull the trigger while you still can. Or, you could just save your pennies for a few more years until OLED televisions get cheap enough to kill off LCDs.

From Engadget.

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Do we send too many discounts and deals your way? Hardly. In gift-giving, it is indeed the thought that counts but that doesn't mean you should also count away all your dollars when we can easily help you save a few. Something you may not know is you can often find great deals at so-called regional electronics chains instead of only relying on the big nationals or Amazon.com. And the good news is that all of these retailers let you get the same deals online and have merchandise shipped wherever you want. Here are three that could work for you.

Abt Electronics, a stalwart of the Windy City and one of the biggest consumer electronics retailers in the country that still happens to be family owned, is offering a Panasonic 32-inch high definition LCD TV for only $698 and free shipping. This normally goes for about $200 more.

Go West to Frys.com, which has the iRobot Roomba 400 for only $89.99 while it lists for $119 elsewhere. This little automatic vacuum cleaner seems smarter than some small dogs – or that kid you knew in school who ate the paint chips.

Finally, look to New York's B & H Photo and Video for a decent deal on the Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-ray Disc player. They're listing it for $289.95 while it often goes for about $100 more.

Happy shopping folks! Let us know how it goes.

Do we have a deal or three for you!

This week it was easy to find a few good prices on product the big box electronics retailers are trying to move off their Web sites. Some small items, some big. All still in time for you to be the Santa of everyone's dreams. (We couldn't find a good deal on coal, so we hope there are no naughty boys or girls on your lists.)

Find your way to BestBuy.com for a deal on an HP M632 Photosmart 7.2 megapixel digital still camera. It's only $79, which is a decent price. It qualifies for free shipping but in-store pick-up may suit you better just to be sure it's under the tree in time.

Amazon.com has the 8 gigabyte iPod Touch waiting for you at $369 and its free super-saver shipping should still get the package to you by Friday if you order right away. The Touch is the iPod that looks like the iPhone. No, it's not a phone but the display is cool enough to make you cool enough, which is part of the allure, right?

And while we're on the topic of iPhones and the iPod Touch, J&R Computer World has a little deal going on some "open box" protective screens for these devices. We know, we know -- "open box" makes you nervous but when it comes to products with no moving parts or plugs, a good deal is a good deal. Take a look.

Only one week to go before the big day. Snap to it! You don't want to disappoint.

Forget past passions of online bidding for hard-to-get holiday gifts. This year the hot items you can't find are (of course) the Nintendo Wii and (surprise!) Amazon's new Kindle wireless electronic reader, which is garnering final bids of $1,000 and up on Ebay.

Kindle is sparking a new fury of interest ever since Amazon sold out of all units and isn't able to deliver any more until after Christmas.

The idea of e-book book readers isn't new. (Does anyone remember the Rocket eBook? One of our early favorites, indeed.) Our question: are the people bidding on Kindle going to give it as a gift or do they just want one for themselves? It is better to give than to receive....

From BetaNews

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MacBooks have always had a clean, sophisticated look to them. Even so, some style mavens might call the somewhat limited color selection (anything you like so long as it's black or white) a little ... muted? If you're one of those aesthetes looking for something a little more visually appealing, you may be interested in hearing some of the talk of a mysteriously hued MacBook spotted near Apple's headquarters in California.

The finish is described to be dark and metallic, a sort of gunmetal, but more interestingly they're said to be quite a bit more thin than your standard 13-inch. Beyond these scant details, though, more specifics on the rumored new MacBooks remain a bit of a mystery. Surely, though, there must be a new model MacBook that Apple is putting through the final testing stages, and if that's the case, it should be showing up in a brightly-lit, wood-paneled Mac Store near you -- maybe even in January?

Should these rumors be true, you may want to hold off buying any Macbooks until the middle of January 2008.

From AppleInsider

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Hi friends. In the mood for a good deal on a gift? We did a little poking around this morning to find some worthy stocking stuffers you might consider -- especially since the price tag is nice.

Amazon today is offering deals on SanDisk Sansa MP3 players, including a 68 percent off the list price for a 4 gigabyte Sansa e260, which will now only set you back $79.

eCost is wasting no time moving a small collection of JVC Everio High-Definition Camcorders. This is an excellent device that we've used personally and while a little on the bulky side compared to other consumer models the large hard drive and HD capability make for a fine experience. Normally priced at $1,700, eCost is willing to give it to you for $779. Move fast, though, not many are left.

Don't underestimate what a truly capable universal remote control can do you for you. Buy.com has a deal going on the Harmony Advanced Universal Remote, normally listed at $249 but right now going for $166.93 and you get free shipping.

We'll keep our eyes and ears open to help you out with your last minute shopping. We know you're just like us, waiting until the last possible moment...

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Today, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime announced that due to massive demand for the Nintendo Wii, the company will offer a rain check program for those who can't get the console.

The program, announced by Fils-Aime on a conference call with Switched.com and others in the gaming press, will be offered via Gamestop retailers on December 20 and 21. If the store is out of stock, you can buy a "rain check" for a Nintendo Wii that you are guaranteed to get in the month of January. You will have to pay for the rain check in full at $249 and pick up the Wii by January 29.

So, even if you can't get the actual Wii on Christmas, maybe you'll get a little piece of paper that says you'll get one some time in January.

Also, Fils-Aime promised that "six major retailers" will have Wiis this weekend, so... good luck!

And you thought everything was going to High Def in a handbasket? Here's more evidence we live in a lo-fi world: a more YouTube-capable experience is out from Helio, maker of the Ocean, an already cool mobile communications device (the word "phone" just doesn't cut it) that provides video, GPS and a whole slew of other features in addition to making calls.

Many mobile phones already let you watch YouTube clips and some even let you upload to the site but Helio's new YouTube application, available only on the Ocean so far, lets users log in to access more "core" features available on YouTube, such as ratings and access to personal videos. Plus, there's no fee for using the feature, which is always nice.

Best of all, the application lets you upload captured video, GPS tag it, and then share it. You can also browse, rate, comment and subscribe to other YouTube users' channels.

From what we've seen so far, this is certainly the most robust YouTube offering on a cell phone, particularly since it takes advantage of the Helio Ocean's new built-in GPS and high-speed 3G uploading and downloading capabilities. Take your video obsession with you wherever you go, assuming you actually have one of these babies. Do you?

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Just a few weeks after its release, the Amazon Kindle has already had its DRM cracked. DRM is of course Digital Rights Management, the bane of many legal digital music download users. DRM is applied to the Kindle's files to keep users from simply sharing digital versions of books, magazine, and newspapers with friends.

Surprisingly, the new DRM-breach doesn't enable enable users to subvert that DRM and share those files. Instead, the development has expanded the library of file types that are readeable on the Kindle. Currently, the Kindle uses a modified version of the MobiPocket file format, created by a French eBook company that was purchased by Amazon back in 2005 when the Kindle was just a twinkle in Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' eye.

But Reverse Engineering's Igor Skochinsky, the developer behind the DRM-crack, has discovered is that it's possible to take existing MobiPocket files and modify them to be viewable on the Kindle, something that was previously not possible thanks to the MobiPocket DRM. This means that the already reasonably impressive library (90,000 titles) of Kindle titles is now even greater. This is good news for readers, but some of the steam of this discovery was let out with word that Fictionwise, a major e-tailer of MobiPocket eBooks, is also now letting you directly download files in Kindle format, even for books you've bought in the past!

Anyhow, for other MobiPocket files that aren't going to be converted for you, Reverse Engineering provides a few scripts you can try to get them Kindle-ready

So what does all this tech-developer intrigue mean for you? More digital books for you early-adopting e-readers ou there -- -- assuming you managed to get one of the things to read them on.


From Reverse Engineering

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LG Electronics announced it is putting its second-generation hybrid high definition disc player on retail shelves, making good on a promise made in September at the CEDIA trade show to have the new devices ready for the holidays.

The LG Super Blu Player, officially known as the BH200, will carry a $999 price tag and is capable of reading high-definition discs in the two competing formats currently on the market, Blu-ray and HD-DVD. (Blu-ray is supported primarily by Sony and Panasonic while HD-DVD is the darling of Toshiba and Microsoft.) The player also works with standard DVDs.

Until the consumer electronics industry can settle on a single high definition format for discs -- something we don't expect to happen anytime soon -- a dual format player is the only solution for movie aficionados who just have to have the latest movie in HD.

While Samsung has announced its new hybrid player will be out soon for $200 less, during a visit to LG's headquarters in scenic Palisades, N.J., marketing vice president Allan Jason pointedly explained the value in LG's offering. "It's one thing to say you have a better price on a product. It's another to actually have product on store shelves," he said. LG says the BH200 is available at retailers nationwide, however a quick check of Best Buy's Web site shows product is sold out there and at its stores across the country -- even in Minneapolis, Best Buy's home town. Same goes for Circuit City online and at its retail locations, even in its Richmond, Va., backyard.

Kudos to LG for having a popular product. Too bad for those of us not fast enough to the store to grab one.

From BetaNews.

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The folks at I Am 8-Bit (you may remember them from such art shows as this one) and a design company called Couch (great name, eh?) have put their collective pixels together to create some nice Space Invader-inspired guitar straps, particularly for those of you with 'Rock Band' and/or 'Guitar Hero' gee-tars.

The vinyl strap comes in either blue or black, and will set you back $33, or approximately six tickets to see Tesla on its forthcoming reunion tour.

From Couch


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