Hallmark -- the largest greeting card maker in North America, and about to celebrate its 100th anniversary next year -- is diving deeper into the digital domain with its new Hallmark Digital Scrapbook products.
Essentially, these clever $20 products are dolled-up USB drives with embedded software that lets you create and share personalized memories with friends and family -- or give them as gifts.
Everyone's favourite four-fingered, yellow family will soon be playable on the Apple iPhone and iPod touch in The Simpsons Arcade, a pocket-sized throwback to Konami's beat-em-up arcade game from '91.
As Homer, you'll punch, kick, butt slam and jump through Springfield in order to find a doughnut embedded with malevolent plans before Mr. Burns could reach it. How could fried dough ("doh!") with sprinkles be so evil?
'Zippity' doo-dah, here's an interactive learning toy for kids.
What do you get when powerhouses like Disney and LeapFrog join forces?
The answer is the Zippity Learning System ($89.99; leapfrog.com/zippity), the first TV-based system designed for preschoolers that fuses full-body movement with interactive learning.
Look up, way up. Now kick back and relax...
In case you missed our feature on great gadgets for the bedroom, here's another recommended one to consider.
iPhone lovers need not squint to watch videos on its small 3.5-inch display – that is, if you've got the WowWee Cinemin Swivel ($350; wowwee.com).
This Windows XP-powered machine features a 4.8-inch touchscreen display, full QWERTY keyboard and integrated Wi-Fi for you to chat with friends and family via the built-in webcam.
From Dynamism, the UMID (US $449; dynamism.com) is truly small enough to slip into your back pocket (er, just don't sit down) or clutch purse, and offers about five hours of battery life between charges. This conversation piece is ideal for running out to a coffee shop to pick up email, surf the web, access Facebook or Twitter, post blog entries or edit office documents. A smaller keyboard, however, means you're likely going to "hunt and peck" to type words rather than lay down all ten fingers comfortably on the keys at the same time.
Halloween has come and gone, but you likely still have vampires hanging around your house -- especially if you love your high-tech gadgets and gizmos.
With many of your consumer electronics products plugged into AC sockets -- with an average of 40 items per household connected at any one time -- they're still "sucking" electricity, even when not in use.
You've likely invested heavily in your home theatre -- widescreen HDTV, audio-video receiver and speaker system, perhaps -- so why not control it all with ease by picking up a clever universal remote?
Think about all the portable electronics your family uses on a daily basis, be it dad's BlackBerry, mom's iPhone, and of course, the kids' beloved Nintendo DS gaming systems.
Instead of buying your spouse or children more gadgets over the holidays, maybe you can treat yourself to a simplified way to keep everything charged up and ready for action?
A tech reviewer such as yours truly receives a lot of gadgets, games and gear to test-drive -- er, no violins, please -- but you can imagine my confusion when a winter jacket arrived at my home office the other day.
Can you guess what's Canada's most popular video game system?
Hint: It doesn't connect to your television.
Danny Bradbury is a technology journalist with 20 years' experience. He writes regularly for publications including the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Financial Post, and Backbone magazine. Danny also writes and directs documentaries.
