Holiday Gift Guide 2008: VUDU $99 for a limited time ($200 off!)

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Men, Techies, Under $100

If you, or someone you love, is a big movie buff with an HDTV, we have to recommend the VUDU Christmas Special that is going on right now. The VUDU set-top box normally sells for $299, but for a limited time it can be had for just $99. Now, you also have to buy $50 in movie credits, so the total cost would be $149, but that $50 is would go towards rentals and purchases of VUDU content, including their fantastic HDX 1080p movies. Rentals cost from $1-4 dollars, and purchases are obviously higher.

We recently reported on a lot of the Internet content that has also just made its way to the VUDU service, so all in all, we think this would make a nice gift - either for someone else, or for yourself. Our only complaint with VUDU remains that their speeds are limited, which provides a very, very poor experience if you want to rent HDX content. No matter how fast your Internet connection is, VUDU caps downloads at 4.0 Mbps. That means that my super fast 50.0 Mbps FiOS connection means absolutely nothing, and I still have to wait hours before I can watch an HDX flick. If they got rid of that, it would unleash HDX, their flagship offering. A personal niggle for sure, though. If you don’t care, pick one up!

If you miss the sale, you can typically find some nice VUDU deals on Amazon.

Read More | VUDU Store

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2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Palm Centro

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cell Phones, Features, Handhelds, Hot Deals, Women, Men, Teens, Under $50

Don’t wanna splurge on something like an iPhone or BlackBerry? After checking out the Palm Centro, we think this might be the device to pick up for that loved one. You can get one for as low as $49.99 on AT&T, and it’s a great introductory smartphone - a huge step-up from your typical flip camera or music phone. It supports instant messaging, web browsing, has a full QWERTY keyboard, 320x320 touchscreen, media player, 1.3-megapixel camera, 64MB internal storage, and Bluetooth. Seriously, that isn’t bad for a $50 smartphone. Oh, even better? Pick it up on Amazon, and it’s free with contract.

Read More | Palm Centro on Amazon

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2008 Holiday gift Guide: Samsung SC-MX20

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cameras, Features, Portable Audio / Video, Family, Men, Under $250

If you want an inexpensive camcorder that gives you a bit more quality than what you’d find with a Kodak ZI6 or Flip Video camera, we think the Samsung SC-MX20 would be up your alley. This camera offers some nice features that the other low-end cams just don’t have, like image stabilization, face detection, and a 24x optical zoom. It accepts SD and MMC cards up to 32GB, and has an internal battery life of 3 hours. The Samsung SC-MX20 retails for $250, but we found it on Amazon for 15% off at $212.

Oh, and for those of you who just have to have the high definition version, the Samsung SC-MX20C can be had for 30% off on Amazon, for $592.60.

Read More | Samsung SC-MX20

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2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Lost seasons 1-3 DVD sale alert

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals, Movies, Family, Women, Men, Under $100

We typically reserve the Holiday Gift Guide for items that you should be able to get your hands on throughout the shopping season, but we felt that this Lost Season 1-3 DVD deal on Amazon was way too good to pass up. For today only, you can get the first three seasons of Lost on DVD for just $58.99. That is a savings of 67%, or $120.98 off the regular price of $179.97. That is ridiculous. Ridiculously delicious, that is. If you Lost as much as we do, you’ll know that this is a true bargain.

Read More | Lost Season 1-3 Amazon Sale

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2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Wicked Lasers SONAR II Burner

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Misc. Tech, Science, Men, Techies

So we’ve been trying to stay fairly frugal in our 2008 Gift Guide, but we’ve gotten a bunch of email from people asking where all the high-priced items have gone. We figured today we’d answer that with the Wicked Lasers SONAR II Burner laser. We’ve been playing around with one for a few days, and we can definitely say that it exhibits a cool factor (and geek cred!) Why? For starters, it’s a fricken laser. Secondly, the specific laser diode that’s in this one is the same as you’d find in a Blu-ray player. Yeah, a Blu-ray laser, in the palm of your hand. Sick, right? You’ve got a 405nm violet beam at your fingertips. Of course, all that power comes at a price, and if you wanna get in on the action, the Sonar II Burner will cost you $1,999.99. See? We weren’t kidding.

Read More | Wicked Lasers Sonar II Burner

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2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Kodak ZI6 Pocket Video Camera

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cameras, HDTV, Movies, Portable Audio / Video, Women, Men, Under $250

If you wanna pick up a YouTube-ready video camera for Mom, we are hard pressed to find something as good as the Kodak ZI6, for the price. This little camera shoots in 720p high-definition at 60 frames per second, and can also take regular old still images as well. Other cameras, like the Flip Mino can’t do that. It supports SD cards in sizes up to 32GB, which basically means you’ll be able to shoot video until your (rechargeable) battery dies, as opposed to worrying about how much space you have left. You can pick them up from Kodak for $153, they’re available in pink, as well as black. Get it quick though, because they are on sale now. After 12/15, they go back up to their normal price of $179.

Read More | Kodak ZI6 product page

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2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Monster Beats by Dr. Dre studio headphones

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Cell Phones, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Men, Techies, Teens, Under $500

We’ve been big fans of the Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones since we first got our hands on them. They’ve got a nice style, with a hip-hop vibe, and a fantastic noise-canceling feature. The earcups are surprisingly comfortable, and fold away on the inner side of the glossy black headband, which can then be stored in the included case. The Beats by Dr. Dre studio headphones do requier two AAA batteries for the noise cancellation feature, and you’ll get about 50 hours of listening time on a pair of those. They also include two audio cables, both of which even fit into the original iPhone headset jack, and one of which also includes a mic, so you can take calls. The Monster Beats by Dr. Dre stereo headphones can be found on Amazon for $349.

Read More | Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones

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2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Roku Netflix Player

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Family, Women, Men, Techies, Under $100

Sure, Netflix has come to the Xbox 360, but if you want streaming access to the Netflix service and don’t own a game console, this is your cheapest barrier to entry. Definitely a great gift for movie buffs, the Roku Netflix player is able to stream over 12,000 movies and television shows from the Netflix Watch Instantly catalogue. The set-top box currently outputs at 480p (DVD quality), but we know that high definition streaming is on the way. The box is tiny, so it takes up barely any space, and setup takes just a couple of minutes - very simple. Of course, a Netflix subscription is required, but once you have that, everything else is a piece of cake.

Read More | Roku

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2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Apple Time Capsule

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, PC / Laptop, Wireless / WiFi, Family, Women, Men, Techies, Under $500

Yeah, we know, the Time Capsule is a router and backup device. Not that exciting, right? Well, not all gifts are meant to spur excitement - this one is practical and functional. If you know someone who owns a Mac, and doesn’t take advantage of Time Machine, then they need a Time Capsule - especially if they use a MacBook or MacBook Pro. The Time Machine sports either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, and is a combination wired/wireless network attached storage device. Even better, it doubles as an 802.11n/g router as well. The 500GB Time Capsule sells for $299, while the 1TB version will run you $499.

Read More | Apple Time Capsule

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Holiday Gift Guide 2008: T-Mobile G1

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cell Phones, Features, Handhelds, Women, Men, Techies, Under $250

We’ve been messing with our T-Mobile G1 for a few days now, in preparation for a full review, but we are confident enough in the device to list it here in our Holiday Gift Guide. The T-Mobile G1 is the first phone on the market that features Google’s Android OS. Along with the Google love, the G1 features 3G speeds, a physical QWERTY keyboard, and a 3 megapixel camera. The software itself features all the goodness you’d expect from Google, meaning integration with Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, and Google Maps with the super-cool Street View Compass mode. There’s also a store that allows you to download apps, games, and the like. If you want to get someone a smartphone, and they are on T-Mobile, this is the one to get. You can pick it up from T-Mobile for $179.

Read More | T-Mobile G1

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