Every gadgeteer has their own idea of the best holiday gifts for geeks. It seems only fitting to wrap up my own series of unusual gift guides with this guide to the geek gift guides (with commentary). ExtremeTech’s Geek Gift guide 2008 starts their list with the Patriot 64GB USB drive at $170. It’s a [...]

[Read more →]

Sure IPods, Cell phones and video games are what most kids want. But some gifts have the power to inspire and educate as well. And in tough economic times, if you’re going to spend on a gift, you really want to get your money’s worth. These are examples of gifts that might spark something – [...]

[Read more →]

In yesterday’s article “One feature to consider before buying that new GPS” about multi-point routing, a reader suggested he’d “throw multi-point routing in there with bluetooth, fm transmitter, and the like” and that this feature only makes sense if you think it sounds cool and have extra cash. But there’s a huge difference between multi-point [...]

[Read more →]

If you’ve never heard of multi-point routing, or route optimization, take a moment to read on before you buy that new GPS. GPS units for your car will be one of the hottest gadgets this season (as they were last season and will be next season). Once you’ve used a car GPS, you will never [...]

[Read more →]

When you think of Bluetooth headsets for your phone, you probably think first of Motorola or Plantronics. Think again – Sony’s Bluetooth headset might be just what you’re looking for even if you aren’t a gamer. With more and more states requiring use of these devices when using your cell phone while driving, this one [...]

[Read more →]

You may think that a surge protector is giving you the protection you need, but in many cases you’d be wrong – dead (as in, dead equipment) wrong. Most people know that electronic equipment should be plugged into a surge protector. A surge protector protect monitors the power line for short but intense voltage spikes [...]

[Read more →]

Energy consumption is probably not the first thing you consider when shopping for a game console. In fact, it’s probably far down the list. But energy use translates into cost, and you’d be surprised how much a game console can add to your household budget. All three of the main consoles: the Nintendo Wii, Playstation [...]

[Read more →]

Elance.com, Guru.com, oDesk.com and RentACoder.com are the major online freelance/consulting sites. You can spend hours searching for and bidding on projects on all of these sites (leaving you little time to do the work if you actually win a project). As mentioned in oDesk, Guru, Elance and RentACoder – Are they worth it?, to a [...]

[Read more →]

If you were recently laid off, or your budget is stretched, or you just need some extra work on the side, you might find yourself checking out one of the major online job/consulting web sites: Elance.com, Guru.com, RentACoder.com or oDesk.com. Can they really work for you? The answer is… maybe. Even though all four do [...]

[Read more →]

After working hard to prepare the perfect Thanksgiving feast, the last thing you want is for it to end with a bout of food poisoning or a trip to the emergency room. Yet about 200,000 Americans a day suffer from food poisoning, and as many as 1000 of them end up in the hospital. Fortunately, [...]

[Read more →]