The Bagel Drive plugs into any available USB port offering 512MB or 1GB capacity

Why give your computer a boring compact USB drive when you can offer it a delicious bagel drive packed with high quality bytes direct from Bubke’s bakery? This USB 2.0 flash drive available in 1GB and 512MB capacities, includes technical support by Tanta, the wired bubbe herself. While not certified Kosher, all but the most observant should find it acceptable, given that epoxy schmeer is parve.

The bagel itself is perfectly natural – you’ll be hard pressed to leave it to your laptop and not take a bite out of it yourself. As you can see, it plugs easily into any available USB slot, only blocking 5 or 6 neighboring slots (depending on your machine’s configuration).

But I’m sorry to say, that I am unable to give the drive a perfect review. As you can see, the Bagel Drive has a generous layer of cream cheese. But where’s the lox? Talk about cheap. It just isn’t a bagel without a nice layer of Nova Scotia lox (and I’m not talking that pink colored lox schmeer – I want the real thing, and so does my computer).

Don

And if your computer is on a diet? Oy vey. The drive uses the FAT file system! Would it really hurt the data to use the NTFS (Not too fat system) instead?

But I’m being picky. Give your computer a Bagel Drive. It will impress your friends. It will really mess with the heads of the TSA security people when you travel with it. That alone is worth the $24.95.

Legos Mindstorms might turn anyone to a career in engineering or robotics

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 – an interest, a hobby, maybe even a career.

Electronics Lab 130-in-one project kit. Ok, I’m biased here. My road to an electronic engineering degree started with an old radio shack 50-in-one kit. And while you may think it’s all about computers and software these days, make no mistake – electronics is hot, and going to get hotter. Check out starting salaries for analog engineers compared to programmers and you’ll see what I mean. These kits come in many sizes and price ranges.

Physics Solar Workshop or Thames and Kosmos Wind Power. Everybody is talking about alternative energy. Thomas Friedman, in his new book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America” suggests the next boom will be in energy technologies. And just looking at these kits makes you want to stop and play.

Lego Mindstorms. Be very careful – you may find yourself unwilling to actually give it away. What other toy teaches you basic mechanics, electricity and programming all at once? Yes, it’s the most expensive item on this list, but worth every dollar.

Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game Win/Mac. Can’t afford a Mindstorms set? That’s ok. Not all videogames involve racing or explosions. Those who remember “The Incredible Machine” will recognize this modern variant. Create the most amazing machines (Shhh, but don’t tell anyone you’re learning physics at the same time).

Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens: The Secrets About Money–That You Don’t Learn in School! I know Kiyosaki is not everyone’s favorite, but there’s no denying that most kids (and adults) are woefully ignorant about finance. This recession will end, and the people who understand money will do better than those who don’t. And while this isn’t a toy or gadget, maybe it will help them appreciate what it takes for you to get them that new IPod or video game, or better yet, help them afford to get their own one day.

Contamination in real life does not come with labels

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, if you follow some basic safety precautions, you and your guests will have a healthy Thanksgiving, and enjoy peace and calm – at least until you hit the malls on Friday.

Your first stop should be the U.S. Department of Agriculture Seasonal Food Safety and Safe Food Handling web pages, where you can be reminded of general safe food handling techniques and those specific for Thanksgiving.

Multiple cutting boards can reduce cross contamination

A good quality wood cutting board is as safe as the newer plastic or silicon boards – but do you really have time to properly clean and sanitize boards during meal preparation? Cutting those fresh veggies on a board that initially held some raw beef or turkey, without proper sanitation in between, can lead to cross-contamination, one of the main causes of food borne illness. A set of different colored or sized plastic boards makes it easy to keep track of which food was used on which board, and are easily cleaned and sanitized in your dishwasher afterwards. The SiliconeZone 11×15 set, or Farberware set are good choices.

Digital is cool, but analog is inexpensive and accurate

For making sure your turkey is truly done, a good meat thermometer is indispensable. The entire turkey (and stuffing, if stuffed) should be at least 165 degrees throughout. A basic analog meat thermometer such as the Taylor Analog Instant Read can be found for under $7 – a small investment considering the benefits. If you’d rather get a digital meat thermometer, you might as well go whole hog (or turkey as the case may be). With two probes so you can cook two items at once, and a remote wireless monitor so you can check the temperature without getting up every five minutes, the Maverick ET-7 wireless should do the trick.

Finally and perhaps most important: while preparing the meal, remember to wash your hands often. Use soap and water, not Purel or other hand sanitizers – those should be used only when soap and water is not available.

Follow these simple precautions and your family and guests will not just enjoy Thanksgiving, they’ll enjoy the day after as well.

For more information:

• USDA Safe food handling facts
• USDA Countdown to Thanksgiving

Would the real Fender Stratocaster please stand up?

Guitar Hero, Rock Band and all the variations of electronic music video games have two things in common: They can make players feel like rock stars, and they don’t teach a lick of music. Ok, maybe the drumming games do a bit, but you certainly can’t compare a Rock Band guitar with a real one, for all that they look the same.

And while it might be old fashioned, there is quite a bit of evidence that learning to play a musical instrument (that is, a real one), can have long lasting benefits. Studies show that kids who play instruments do better in school, have greater self-discipline, and lower levels of stress.

Believe it or not, a decent beginning guitar setup won’t cost much more that the Guitar Hero game. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Start with an acoustic or classical with nylon strings. They are much less painful on the fingers when starting out.
• Don’t buy a toy guitar – buy a real guitar. The Honor student series or Yamaha student series are good examples. Guitars from Hasbro are not. For an electric, you can even go with a real Fender Stratocaster for under $200. You can by online, but before you do – try it out in a local music store. But buy it at the store, and they may toss in some music lessons.
• The strings should not be so high as to require a great deal of force to push down, and should not buzz when played. And the guitar should sound good.
• Get an electronic tuner. The Korg GA-30 can be found for under $15 and is virtually foolproof. Making tuning easy will help beginners sound good – and sounding good will encourage more practice.
• Get some lessons, and try to find a teacher who focuses on helping students to play real music quickly, without bogging them down too much in theory to start with.

Guitar Hero is a fun gadget. But a real guitar is an investment that can last a lifetime.

Yes we can!

It’s completely useless, and a total waste of money (aside from perhaps helping the economy a bit). But for the Obama fan in your life, this completely useless but possibly inspirational talking bobblehead might make the ideal gift.

It also might make for a good investment. There are currently a limited number of these available (to be followed soon by a whole raft of “President Obama” bobbleheads that don’t talk. People do collect these things (believe it or not).

Of course chances are that it will end up gathering dust in a few months and you’ll wonder why you wasted any money at all on such a useless item. But then again…

Find one at:

• Amazon.com
• Things You Never Knew Existed

If you’re lucky, it’s a configuration error – maybe brought about by some new software you installed. Or maybe a virus, but one that’s not totally destructive.

If you’re unlucky, it’s hard drive crash. And the cost to recover your data can exceed $1000 (assuming it’s recoverable at all).

Backing up your critical data: files you need, irreplaceable family photos and videos – costs pennies. The CD or DVD burner you probably already have will do the trick. An external USB hard drive will also work. There are even online backup solutions (though those are less than ideal for large amounts of data such as video and music). But none of them will help you if you don’t use them.

Remember – hard drives are disposable items! They do not last forever. In fact, any hard drive more than 5 years old is living on borrowed time.

I’ll be writing more about backup solutions later. But for now, take 5 minutes and burn a DVD with the data you can’t afford to lose. Get in the habit of doing that at least once a week. Hopefully you’ll never need it, but if you do – making that backup will be the greatest investment you ever made.

Learn more: Why do hard drives crash?