Lets face it, are your wall outlets filled with numerous plugs crammed into a single outlet? Well here’s a safe alternative that will pay for itself in just a matter of weeks. The Coleman Cable 10 Outlet Smart Strip provides automatic power control as well as surge protection.  Its 10 outlets work together, auto switching your devices on/off and helping you save on power and money. This power strip monitors the flow of electricity to the control outlet and when there is a significant drop, it switches off the power to the six controlled outlets, three of which are transformer spaced.  There are also three ‘Always-On’ outlets for use with equipment that should not be turned off. It also provides protection from dangerous spikes and power surges with $200,000 in connected equipment warranty protection.

$46 BUY

Kindle 2 is the successor of the immensely successful Kindle. Kindle is an electronic book reader that utilizes wireless technology to view and purchase popular books from Amazon. It uses a special type of display to reproduce how text appears on paper. If you read a lot and want to save some money and some trees, Kindle 2 may be right for you.  

New Version Highlights

• Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
• At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
• 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
• Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
• Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images
• 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
• More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
• Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
• With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you
• Large Selection: Over 230,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available
• Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise

$359 BUY

Don't let this little device pass you by. Sometimes there are just simple little inventions that come along and make all of our lives that much easier and more enjoyable. This is one of those simple why-didn't-we-have-that-before items. Western Digital (WD) TV HD Media Player turns your USB hard drive or thumb drive into an instant media player for the TV. You just hook the shiny black WD TV Media Player up to your TV using HDMI, Optical audio, or RCA cables and plug a storage device into one of the two USB ports. Done. It's as easy as that. You can listen to your mp3 music collection with optical audio, watch high-definition video (up to 1080p), or view a slideshow of your family photos on your TV all from your USB device. The WD Media Player will even recognize and play directly from digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players. Supported media formats you ask? Just some of the gamut of file formats it supports includes MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA, JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG Video -MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, TP, TS, MTS, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264), PLS, M3U, WPL Subtitle -SRT (UTF-8). Supported USB file systems include FAT- 32, NTFS, and HFS+ (no journaling). Western Digital has already released several updates to the firmware, which is a positive sign on their ongoing support. We've been testing one of these with a bunch of different USB devices and are thoroughly enjoying it. We've been recording HD video from our  Hauppauge HD PVR and Sony Camcorder and playing them back in HD via a Sony Bravia TV. The user interface is simply beautiful with search, categories, thumbnails, lists, and cover art. We also created a slide show from our photo collection with background music and transitions. There's not much more that can be said for this device other than it rocks where so many others have failed. $106 BUY

Should one get a Sony Playstation 3 or Blu-ray player? Historically, the answer to that question would have been a Playstation 3 hands down due to price and features. But that's in the past and massive price reductions of other Blu-ray players has made the choice much more difficult. If you're a home-theater enthusiast who wants the latest audio interoperability with 7.1 analog output, DTS-HD Master and TrueHD audio support, a traditional component form factor, built in IR receiver, no fan noise, lower power bill, etc., then you should look past the Playstation 3 and get the Sony BDP-S550. The Sony BDP-S550 is a feature-rich, cheap solution for providing the best quality high-definition video on the market. The BDP-S550 displays full HD 1080/60p & 24p True Cinema video with 7.1 channel Dolby Sound, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. It also includes an ethernet connection for BD-Live (Profile 2.0) Compatibility and firmware updates, Xross Media Bar interface, and Bravia Sync. The player also upscales for those older DVDs in 480i format. $287 BUY

Is your movie and music collection taking over all your hard drive space? Time to get some serious storage. The Buffalo Technology LinkStation Quad has up to 4 terabytes of remotely accessible storage for your home or network. The Quad supports RAID 0,1, 5 or 10. The built-in Web Access feature allows you access to your files anytime and anywhere. All you need is a web browser. The Quad also has a built-in Bit Torrent Client that lets you access and download your files without the PC running during the download. The 1TB, 2TB and 4TB Buffalo LinkStation Quad are priced from $449.99 to 999.99. BUY

Linksys by Cisco demonstrated its “Wireless Home Audio Premier Kit” at CES 2009 in Las Vegas. The KWH A700 Premier Kit is a great bundle for getting started with setting up your wireless audio in any areas of your home. The Wireless Home Audio system utilizes Ethernet / 802.11n / DLNA in order to stream audio over multiple zones throughout the home. The kit includes one touchscreen DMWR1000 Controller, one DMC250 Director, one DMP100 Player, and two IR remotes. But Linksys also offers two lower-priced alternatives: the $849.99 Trio Kit (two players and the controller) and the $549.99 Executive Kit (a Director and stereo speakers).

$1,000 BUY

If your running out of sticky-notes or the classic cork board isn’t keeping your family in sync, Ambient Devices will be releasing their new InTouch Text messaging service, which allows their devices to receive messages, greetings and reminders from family members, friends and colleagues. Ambient InTouch Text messages will appear on Ambient wireless devices, which provide access to Internet information, such as weather, sports and stock prices. Ambient InTouch Text will be available in new Ambient products to ship in 2009.

When new messages appear, the Ambient InTouch Logo button lights up. Messages can be sent to any compatible Ambient device through SMS, email or a website. Ambient InTouch Text may also be used to relay messages from online applications and services that provide email notifications, such as online calendars and social networking sites. Ambient InTouch Text requires no set-up, Wi-Fi network, computer or cell phone.