Electronics Shopping Picks

In the So Cute We Can't Stand It department, check out this tiny Mickey Mouse-shaped MP3 player. The size of a marble, the iRiver Mplayer is a 1GB music player that comes with headphones on a lanyard, so you can wear the player as a pendant. Control the volume with Mickey's left ear, skip tracks with his right ear, and twist both ears at the same time to go into shuffle mode. There's no... more

Look out Kindle; Sony's third generation digital book reader is here, and it makes you look, well, second generation. The Sony PRS-700 Reader has a 6-inch touchscreen display that understands gesture-based commands (like the iPhone). You can highlight with your finger, make notes with the virtual keyboard or a stylus pen, and even adjust the font size. And the device, which weighs all of 10 ounces, holds up to 350 books. Our backs and... more

If you're a text messaging addict on a budget - and if you wear tight pants - check out the Pantech Slate. At less than 1 centimeter thick, the Slate is the "world's thinnest messaging device," so it just might fit in the back pocket of your skinny jeans. The phone's slim design, big QWERTY keyboard, and price point ($50 with a 2-year AT&T contract) are its main selling points, but it also offers... more

Getting directions from Point A to Point B does not have to cost as much as a cross-country plane ticket for the holidays. Sony now makes an affordable GPS unit that gets the job done nicely for under $200. Available in 3 colors, the Sony NV-U44 has a 3.5" touchscreen, text-to-speech functionality, and dual view mode with lane guidance. It's also got a photo viewer and what Sony calls Gesture Command, which sounds like... more

Pocket-sized camcorders have become quite popular this year, and thanks to the Kodak Zi6, they're now recording in HD. The new Flip MinoHD, a 3.3-ounce camcorder, lets you shoot up to an hour of 720p HD video on its 4GB of internal memory. Connect it to your computer using the built-in USB connection, and use its PC- and Mac-friendly software to you edit your masterpieces with your own music (and add titles and... more