With the cost of a higher education growing every year, you wouldn't want to see a minute of school time wasted on frivolous activities. There will be plenty of time for TV watching and game playing during school breaks. In that spirit, unrealistic as it may be, we suggest some gadgets that might be counter productive at academia.

1. High End Laptop
A high end laptop like the MacBook Air or Voodoo Envy gaming laptop is almost guaranteed to be lost, stolen, dropped, damaged, or have beer spilled on it. Game machine just means easier to play games on instead of studying, why even introduce the temptation?

2. Desktop Gaming Machine
It might make more sense to leave the over-clocked, tweaked out, game machine at home and send your student off to school with a less expensive laptop. There won’t be the temptation to game the nights away instead of hitting the books and you won’t have to worry about the machine getting stolen.

3. TIVO
Sure, someone might be able to add a few minutes to their day by fast forwarding through the commercials but we say the less TV, the more studying. Don’t get us wrong Tivos are great products we just don’t think they belong in dorm rooms.

4. Game Console
Maybe they got through high school dividing time between studying and game playing but college is serious and we say leave the PS3 or Xbox at home, at least for the first semester. The only exception might be Nintendo’s Wii since you can get exercise with it and even socialize while using it.

5. Segway
Okay, so it’s long shot that you could even afford one of these but we just wanted to put a plug in for some human-powered form of transportation, namely, a bicycle.

Five Gadgets Every Student Needs to Avoid a Computing Disaster
It's only the beginning of August but already time to start shopping for the high tech necessities every student is going to need to succeed at school. Whether you're buying someone's first laptop computer, upgrading the old one, or looking for advice on essential gadgets for today's student, Here are some suggestions for what to buy along with some tips on good deals.

A Reliable Computer, seriously
Computers don't last forever. If your student is using the old hand-me-down computer with 512 MB of RAM running Windows 98 it's probably time to upgrade. First, you’ll need to decide between a desktop and laptop, or you could buy one of each. You’ll also have to decide between Windows and the Mac OS. Mac’s can run Windows applications easily but not the other way around. A desktop can deliver a lot more performance than a similarly priced laptop. With a desktop you'll get more storage, a real keyboard, better graphics processor, bigger monitor, and more expansion options but laptops are what every student wants so what are you going to do?

eMachines recently announced some new desktops including the T3656 which comes with 1GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive and sells for around $299.99. The T5274 has 2GB RAM, a 320GB hard drive and retails for $399.99.

Hot Back to School Deal from Apple
Apple launched a Back to School promotion campaign that offers a free iPod when you buy a qualifying Mac. You need to purchase both products and then submit a rebate to get up to $299 back on the iPod.

A good anti-everything application
It's too easy for anyone, especially students to click on the wrong link and find their computers loaded up with malicious software like virus' or spyware. There are many commercial applications to choose from like McAfee and Symantec. These companies maintain expensive labs to identify and combat malware. Unfortunately, you end up paying an annual fee for these programs which can add up when you're maintaining multiple computers in a household. Fortunately there are some very good applications like ones from Avast who offer "home" versions for free. PCPitstop.com offers some free tests for anything that could adversely affect your computer.

Extra Ink
You can often find third party ink cartridges for sale on ebay and other places. The ink may not be the very highest quality but we’ve found them to be quite adequate for most tasks and we’ve saved a lot of money too. Just in case the ink is out of stock or too expensive you should consider upgrading the old printer to a new model.

A fast, high resolution, inkjet printer can be amazingly inexpensive. Maybe it’s because manufacturers know they’ll make up for giving the printer away when you buy lots of expensive ink cartridges. The HP Photosmart D7460 is a wireless printer and it’s a fast color inkjet that gets good reviews. A mutifunction printer might make a lot of sense for a student. They can copy and scan documents and many of these devices produce high quality photo prints. The Canon Pixma MX850 that gets high marks from users .

External Backup Disk
It would be a terrible shame to spend a lot of money on computer gear only to lose that important term paper(not to mention that photo and MP3 collection) from a hard disk malfunction.. External hard drives that hook up to the computer through a high speed USB connection and very often include back up software can be relatively inexpensive.

Removable Storage
Two forms of storage we highly recommend are flash drives and optical discs. You can get 2 GB flash drives for under $20 which will store 4 years worth of term papers. Blank DVDs not cost around $.30 each and hold over 4 GB of data. You can back up all your docs to a few of these in spread them around for safe keeping.

Buying and owning an HDTV can be challenging. There are many things to consider and problems to avoid. Here's a list of some common mistakes for buyers and owners of HDTV sets.

1. Keep chemicals away from TV, ammonia in Windex can damage coatings. Liquids sprayed on the screen can seep in between the bezel and panel and cause all kinds of problems. Best to use a damp cloth preferably not wood-based paper products like newspaper or paper towels which can create tiny scratches.

2. Don’t buy a Plasma TV if you’re going to be watching TV in a brightly lit room with a lot of windows. Unlike LCD TVs plasma TVs have thick glass panels which can create a lot of glare.

3. Don’t pay too much attention to those formulas that use room size to determine screen size. Buy the biggest TV that fits with your furnishing. Also keep in mind if you don’t have an upconverting receiver or upconverting DVD player, a lot of programming that comes from DVDs and standard def programming that shows up on your screen with big black borders around it.

4. Don’t pay extra for big brands. Many of the smaller LCD brands like Olevia, Vizio, and Westinghouse use the same LCD panels and even the same electronics that the big brands use.

5. Don’t leave the brightness up too high. Many TVs ship with the brightness setting 21 in “showroom” mode. In a normally lit living room a lower brightness level is perfectly adequate and saves energy too. Some new TV sets have light sensors built in that automatically adjust the brightness according to ambient lighting conditions.

6. Don’t get fooled into buying expensive add-ons from the saleperson at your local big box retailer. Most HDMI cables work just fine for most programming. You may want to consider a higher bit rate HDMI cable for 1080p programming or high end HD audio.

Thin is in. Not only do thin gadgets look cool, they often use less power. Here's a collection of some of the thinnest gadgets in the world.

MP3 Player
If you thought the Apple iPod Nano was thin then check out this MP3 player that's as thin as a credit card. The Walletex Wallet MP3 player is about as thin as you can get and it’s waterproof to boot. It stores up to 4 GB and they claim you can get over 4 hours of play back on a single charge.

Thin TV Sets
This past January we saw the thinnest Plasma TV at CES, the 50" Pioneer Kuro “concept” Plasma TV. It was 9 mm thick and was displaying video (honest it was). We haven't heard any more about it since January although it might have something to do with the announcement that Pioneer is going to stop manufacturing their own Plasma TVs (they recently selected Panasonic to make the panels for them). Sony has started selling its 3 mm thick OLED TV that offers amazing image quality. Once you see the gorgeous picture quality of an OLED TV, you’ll want to own one.

Announced at CES 2008 and due to ship any day are two super thin LCD TVs from JVC. The 42-inch LT-42SL89 and 46-inch LT-46SL89 HDTVs. Both are members of the Procision family. Depth runs from 39 mm (1.5”) to 74 mm (2.4” inches) at the center of the panel. Joining the 39 mm club, Hitachi has a series of super thin HDTV sets which are part of the Director Series and the UltraVision V series. The sets are also 39 mm thick and include some impressive features like 120Hz, de-judder smoothing circuitry, and fanless ventilation. The hitch is they don't include built-in tuners which isn't a big deal if you are feeding the TV from cable or satellite.

Thin Laptops: MacBook Air vs. Voodoo PC Envy (from HP)
First there was the Macbook Air, so thin it fits inside a standard-size manilla envelope. The MacBook Air is an impressive laptop but can be a little on the pricey side at well over $2,000 for a decently configured model. It also lacks some useful features like an ethernet adapter (you can’t be all WiFi all the time). HP is offering a Windows-based competitior to the Macbook Air with the Envy133 which comes from the Voodoo PC group and edges out the Air’s thinness by a fraction of an inch. The MacBook Air is 0.76” and weighs just under 3 lbs. while the Envy133 measures 0.70” but weighs a tad more than the Macbook at 3.4 lbs. Both laptops offer similar features like a 13.3” LCD display with LED backlight. The big difference is the Envy133 runs Windows out of the box.

Thin Cell Phones
There’s Motorola’s razor thin MotoRAZR V3 at 13.9 mm thick which started the thin cell phone movement and now there are other super thin cell phones starting to appear on the scene. Nokia has a very thin cell phone coming soon called the E71. It's 10 mm thick and has all the E series features like WiFi, HSDPA, A-GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a front facing camera for video chat. It's not going to be cheap at over $500 when it goes on sale in the US which is any time now.

LG will be shipping a new addition to its Black Label Series which currently includes phones like the Chocolate and the Shine. The new phone called the Secret (model number LG-SU600, we think), is made of carbon fiber, weighs 116 grams (4 oz), is 11.8 mm (.46”) thick, has a 5 megapixel camera with face detection (who needs a camera now?), 120 fps video recording and includes a tempered glass, touchscreen display.

Thin Camera
BenQ's new 8 megapixel T850 camera is 14.9 mm thick (at thinnest part) and includes a "swipe" gesture interface, which BenQ claims is unique among touch screen cameras. It will come in black and red and include a 3x optical zoom, 3-inch display, image stabilization and face technology. The price hasn't been announced just yet, but you'll be able to get this one in black or red when it launches in the (presumably) not too distant future.

Casio’s Exilim EX-S10 is another skinny camera measuring 13.8 mm at its thinnest part. It’s a 10.1 MP camera with a 2.7 inch display. It weighs 4 ounces and has some cool features like a Movie Button and motion blur technology that can snap a picture when someone smiles.

Summertime and the gadgets are easy. The barbecue season is in full swing and it’s the right time to check out some cool barbecue gadgets. Mouth-watering steaks and sausages are a great way to enjoy a lawn party.

Branding and Barbecues
Let’s not talk about brands like Weber or Big Green Egg. This is a home version of the cattle ranchers branding iron. If personalizing your steak with your own custom brand sounds appealing then check out the Monogrammed Barbecue Branding iron for around $60.

Tumbling Steaks
How about a high tech tumbler for marinating things before you put them on the grill. Reveo MariVac Food Tumbler Marinader goes round and round to make things taste better for $199. ($150 on amazon.)

Barbecue Light (not lite)
For barbecuing after dark you might want to spend $14.94 on the Outset magnetic light that has 3 bright LEDS and holds fast to your grill with a strong magnet.

High Tech Thermometers
A good thermometer should be part of every serious grill master’s tool kit. The Bonjour laser thermometer uses infrared light to measure the surface temperature of a pan or grill. It includes a probe thermometer for measuring meat temperatures. The Thermapen digital, instant-read thermometer costs around $90 and was Cook’s Illustrated top rated thermometer. It’s noted for its super fast response and small probe tip. You can buy a thermometer from Williams-Sonoma that has a voice alert to tell you when your meat is done.

Grill Recommendations
Here are few top picks for grills:
The Weber Genesis E-320 is a nice looking gas grill that is built to last with porcelain coated grates and a 10 year warranty on the 3 stainless steel burners. It comes with one side burner. If you don’t need a side burner, you can get the Weber Genesis E-310. The Weber Performer has a great feature; you start the charcoal with a propane gas burner and once the charcoal is lit you turn off the gas and start grilling. The Brinkmann 810 gets good reviews and a “Best Buy,” from Consumer Reports.

Portable Green Grill
Woodflame makes a very cool, or should we say hot, portable grill that burns a small hardwood cube in an enclosed space and uses forced air to produce a very high heat in minutes. The unit weighs about 15 lb is safe and efficient to use.

No, it’s not what you’re thinking. We’re talking about good old wholesome gadgets that newlyweds can use to make their honeymoons more memorable and fun.

Camcorders
Honeymooners, imagine the fun you can have video taping your favorite moments and sharing them with friends or other honeymooners. Make sure to bring along a tripod to take pictures of the two of you on the beach or in your room. Here are a few camcorder recommendations:

Sony calls their new TG1 “palmcorder” the world’s smallest 1080i camcorder. It’s very small, weighing 10 ounces and is a little larger than a pack of cigarettes. It takes 3 MP stills (not a lot by today’s 8-10 MP standards) using face technology to optimize images. The titanium body makes it more rugged and able to take some rough handling. Some reviewers prefer the Sanyo Xacti HD1000 to the Sony. The Xacti gets high marks for features like 1080i video and 4 MP stills and costs around $700.

The only drawback with these new flash-based camcorders is that you may have to buy extra memory cards which aren’t cheap (compared to tape or DVDs) and you ultimately have to transfer the video on the cards to a hard drive or burn DVDs. For a great all around HD camcorder that still uses good old tape, we recommend the Canon Vixia HV30. It consistently gets high marks from users and experts and it stores video on miniDV tapes which are cheap, easy to manage and easy to edit the video.

We’re starting to see more still cameras that take videos and more camcorders that take high resolution stills. The Kodak Easyshare V1233 has some impressive specs, a great price, but gets mixed reviews. Complaints about ergonomics and image quality are common although some users love it. The Easyshare V1233 takes 12.1 MP stills and 720p video which could fill up your memory card fast.

iPod Accessories
Altec Lansing InMotion iM7 costs about $150 and gets very good ratings. Reviewers like the sound quality and design features. The only drawback is, at 10 lbs, it’s a little on the heavy side and might not be better suited to a honeymoon that doesn’t involve air travel. For a more portable speaker system check out the Griffin Technology 1202 Journi. At 5 lbs, it’s lighter than the Altec Lansing system.

Possibly the best solution for honeymooners sharing music whether it’s on the plane or one the beach is a headphone splitter. The Griffin SmartShare Headphone Splitter costs about $12.00 and has individual volume controls which could be a key to marital bliss.

Two Kindles Are Better Than One
You can’t keep active 100% of the time, so when it’s time to relax, how about a good book or even better, how about 1,000 good books? The ultimate gadget for the well read honeymooners just might be the Kindle which now costs $359 from amazon.com. You can download individual books which will cost you $9.99 each and you can also subscribe to the major daily newspapers and magazines for additional fees. Everything is downloaded over a widely available, high speed, EVDO data network (included with the unit).

There are plenty of gadgets honeymooners can take along to help their marriage start out on the right foot and grow. At the same time, there are a few gadgets we think would be better left at home. Here’s that list:

iPod or Any Other MP3 Player
You’re supposed to be tuning into your new partner in life not tuning into the latest Radiohead album. Unless you’re going to bring a headphone splitter or set of external speakers we recommend you make your own music and leave the iPod at home.

Gameboy
Marriage is serious commitment and not a game. The only games you should be playing on your honeymoon should be on the beach or in the privacy of your room. A handheld game player could definitely send the wrong message. The only reason to bring one along is if your spouse is into them too and you bring one for him and one for her. In that case, our recommendation would be the Sony PSP 2000.

Laptop Computer
This is your honeymoon! No emailing, no slingboxing, no game playing, no sneaking in a little PowerPoint. Leave all that stuff at home and do some gazing into your soul mates eyes instead of the computer screen. Okay, if you can be real discrete and keep it to a minimum then consider taking along an Asus Eee PC. For about $400 you can get a 4G version or a very small full-function notebook computer with a 7 inch screen that will get you online and checking email in a snap.

Blackberry Phone
Better to buy a throw-away, burner phone and use it only to make reservations then be tempted to scroll through incoming messages. On the other hand, you might be able to get away with something like the Blackberry Pearl or Blackberry Curve that you can both watch video on together or use the headphone splitter to listen to music.

Bluetooth Headset
Unless you're going to be driving in one of the states that require hands-free cell phone use, we say those things aren't going to do anything for romance unless you both have very high geek quotients or met at a tech conference. If necessary, you might be able to get away with a stylish headset like the Plantronics Discovery 925 that you both can use.

Okay, so what else is new, you’ve waited until the last minute and are starting to feel guilt pangs for not getting the old man anything for Father’s Day. Not to worry, because there's still time to get a great gift. Here are some recommendations for gadget gifts that will make any Dad happy.

Digital Photo Frames
Digital picture frames make great gifts. They’re not all that expensive and go great on a desk at the office or the hotel night table. You can buy an 8 inch frame or even a smaller one to take on the road for under $200. The Pandigital DPF802 is an 8 inch 800 x 600 photo frame that gets good ratings and sells for around $150. The Kodak SV811 is a similar frame that sells for a little over $100. The Westinghouse DPF 0561 is a smaller 5.6 inch photo frame that can be purchased for around $80. For the ultimate in portability load up a keychain photo frame with some pictures of the family and gift it to Dad. The Tao 1.4 inch Digital Picture Keychain holds 56 photos and costs $29. It has a rechargeable battery.

Noise Canceling Headphones
For the frequent flier Dad, a noise canceling headphone is always an appreciated gift. Put one of these headphones on and the roar of the jet engines vanishes, replaced by the soothing music from your MP3 player. The Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones get good ratings from users and experts. These Bose headphones are light and small but aren’t cheap at around $350. Sony's MDR-NC500D are even more expensive at around $400. Sennheiser makes the popular Sennheiser PXC-300 which sells for around $200.

Slingbox for Sports Fans
If your father is a huge sports fan and doesn't already have a Slingbox then maybe you should consider getting him one of these devices that will let him watch whatever is on the TV at home on his computer at work or wherever he is. You can get a Slingbox AV for around $100 or move up to the Slingbox Pro version which supports HD for under $200.

GPS for Joggers
The Garmin Forerunner 205 is a GPS device that you wear like a wristwatch. It tells you how far you ran and how long it took. Serious runners rave about this GPS device. You can buy the Garmin Forerunner 205 for around $180. Amazon is taking pre-orders for the Garmin Forerunner 405 which is supposed to ship any day and sell for around $300. It looks more like a real watch and has a touch screen bezel which makes it easier for runners to control.

Watt’s What
Last but not least, here’s a gift for the technically savvy Dad that could help save the environment too. You plug anything into this wattmeter and you can tell how much power it’s using. It’s especially interesting to see how much power some products use even after they are turned off.

Father's Day is coming up soon. The best time to tell him how much you love him. Each year, it's a hard time choosing unique gifts for your dad. For the sports fan, TV-watching dad here’s some TV and sports related gadget recommendations.

Universal Remote Control
If your household is like most multimedia-enabled homes you probably have a basket-full of remote controls. This year you can make everyone's life simpler and give your Dad a cool present at the same time with a universal remote that can consolidate all or most of your remotes. The Logitech Harmony 880 will set you back about $200. It has a color LCD screen and gets good ratings from users who say it can control all their devices. The Logitech Harmony 1000 is a bit pricey at $400 but it’s like having a small computer with large color touch screen in your hand. Users say it’s easy to program and fun to use.

Blu-ray DVD Player

It might still be a little too soon to buy a Blu-ray DVD player. While we wait for Profile 2.0 to appear in stand-alone players you could easily rationalize getting Dad a PlayStation 3 that already includes a Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player and is a pretty good deal at around $300. Just think of the cool simulation and sports games many of which support 1080P high definition resolutions. NBA 2K8 gets high marks for realistic graphics as does MLB 08 and Madden NFL 08.

HDTV Sets
Okay, before you say, "I can't afford to buy my father an HDTV set," maybe you can be creative and get the family to pool some money and buy a reasonably priced HDTV set. For example, the Vizio VU42LF is a 42 inch LCD TV that supports 1080P and can be purchased for under $800. The Toshiba 42LX196 is another 42 inch, 1080P LCD TV that costs a little over $1000. The Olevia 242T doesn't do 1080P but only costs a little over $700. For a little under $500 you can get a 23 inch Samsung LN-T2342H that does 720P.

Following the Games Away From Home
If your father is a huge sports fan and doesn't already have a Slingbox then maybe you should consider getting him one of these devices that will let him watch whatever is on the TV at home on his computer at work or wherever he is. You can get a Slingbox AV for around $100 or move up to the Slingbox Pro version which supports HD for under $200. For a more portable gadget that gets Dad instant sports scores away from home, check out the Wireless Sportscast that pulls in sports scores to a handheld device.

One of the finest examples of digital technology products are digital cameras. They are compact, easy to use and now-a-days they have replaced the old traditional film-roll cameras and made photography simple to everyone. Digital Cameras are distinguished by the number of megapixels they sport and their storage capability. Lately digital Cameras have evolved with the advancement of technology and today there are various types of cameras available with different specifications and price range. Here are a few worthy and popular digital camera models with their specifications for you.

Nikon D300 features exclusive EXPEED Image Processing System with a new 51-point auto focus system, two new LiveView shooting modes and Nikon's 3D Focus Tracking feature. It reacts with lightning speed, powering-up in a mere 0.13 seconds and shooting with an imperceptible 45 millisecond shutter release lag time. It is also capable of shooting at a rapid six frames per second and in continuous bursts can shoot up to 100 shots at full 12.3 megapixel resolution. D300 features a new Active D-Lighting mode that, when enabled, provides remarkable real-time highlight and shadow correction with optimized image contrast.

The new Canon EOS 5D offers advanced photographers a lightweight, robust digital SLR that uses Canon's superlative EF lenses without a conversion factor. Its full-frame 12.8 Megapixel CMOS sensor combines with Canon's DIGIC II Image Processor, a high-precision 9-point AF system with 6 assist points, and "Picture Style" color control to deliver images of superior quality with enough resolution for any application. With its wide-angle capabilities, 2.5 inch LCD and magnesium-alloy body, the 5D is the perfect addition to the Digital EOS line.

Take a good, long look at life through the Casio EXILIM EX-Z700 with its Super Bright and extra large 2.7" TFT color display. Ready in seconds to shoot brilliant photos, you will never miss another shot thanks to the SUPER LIFE battery, which is capable of taking up to an impressive 460 images on a single charge. Incorporating 7.2 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, and CASIO's unique Anti-Shake DSP, you are sure to get quality photos whatever the situation with the EX-Z700.

Avoiding traffic jams is top on every commuters list this year. Real time traffic information often requires an extra device to receive the data sent on FM, cellular, or satellite signals. You'll also often have to pay a monthly, annual, or lifetime fee. MSN Direct, bundled with some units like the Garmin nuvi 680 is available for 120 cities and not only gives you traffic info but adds gas prices, weather, and movie times. Some GPS devices like the Navigon 7100 include free lifetime traffic.

Text-to-speech (TTS) lets the GPS device give you audible street names, directions, and points of interest (POI) information. This feature is sometimes called spoken street names and is pretty standard in most high-end devices. The Navigon 2100 is a new low price GPS device that offers TTS.

Mother, the word makes us feel enormously happy and provides a sense of immense gratification. And why not, mothers shower unconditional love on her children, takes care of the house, the entire family and balances the wheel of life firmly alongside her husband.

If you love your mother and feel she deserves the best then Retrevo makes your decision easy in deciding what you should be gifting your mom this Mother's Day; and yes it’s not going to make your wallet feel light as well. Retrevo brings you a wide range of extremely affordable consumer electronics products under $100 like iPod Shuffle available in several colours which can store 240 songs priced under $100; you may also want to gift her an Apple iPod classic that comes in black or white and has a big 2.5-inch colour display. The iPod’s and all the cool gadgets mentioned below are less than $100.

You can pick the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000, a good quality webcam that you can use to have video calls with your Mom. If you want top of the line webcam that delivers great quality images even in low light, you may consider Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000; both have built-in microphones.

Simplify Mom’s digital camera dealings with a 2GB flash memory card with built-in WiFi so you don’t ever have to hook up the camera to a computer to download photos. You can also get Mom a highly rated, fast photo printer that makes glossy prints for around $.25.

Other offerings include Swarovski USB Drives, iRobot Roomba 4150 for taking away little load off house cleaning chores, Microsoft Zune MP3 player or Amazon’s Kindle which is a new book reader that includes high speed 3G internet access for downloading books and browsing the web.

Best Gadgets to Take on a Spring Break

A Spring break goes very well with plenty of gadgets in the luggage. To help you find the best gadgets to use on your break, Retrevo analyzes reviews and ratings for thousands of consumer electronics products like GPS , Laptops, Camcorders, Digital Cameras from manufacturers like Garmin, Toshiba, Sony, and Canon. Here are some recommendations to make your adventures more fun and memorable.

High Definition Camcorders

If you’re thinking about buying a new camcorder you might as well go high definition or at least wide screen. You can get camcorders that record to good old tape, DVDs, flash memory, or hard drives. If you’re planning on doing serious video editing, tape may still be the way to go since applications like Premiere and Final Cut have been slow to embrace AVCHD the replacement format to miniDV.

The Canon HV-20 at $700 is still an all around good value. Canon recently announced its successor, the Canon HV-30 which offers a few minor enhancements including an improved LCD screen.

If you can afford $1400 you can get the latest and greatest camcorder from Sony, the Sony HDR-SR12 1080p which has a big 3.2 inch LCD screen and stores AVCHD video to a 120GB hard drive it should be available in March.

The new Panasonic HDC-SD9 stores 1080p AVCHD formatted video to an SD flash memory card. It offers image stabilization and face detection technology which makes it harder to take a bad shot. It will also be available in March and should sell for around $1100.

For portability you can’t beat one of the new super compact handheld HD camcorders like the Sanyo Xacti HD1000, which shoots 4MP pictures or 1080p video. Users say image quality is very good but the grip is a bit bulky. It sells for around $650. Sanyo also has a waterproof variation that stores non-HD NSTC video or 6 MP stills. It costs a little over $400. Aiptek has a 720p, 5 MP pistol grip handheld, the Aiptek A-HD that sells for a very reasonable $150.

If you prefer to wait a few months the Samsung SC-HMX20C is due out in June. It has a 2.7 inch touchsrceen and records 1080p, on 8 GB of flash memory. It also has an SDHC memory card slot for additional storage.

Very Cool Helmet Camera

In case you want to capture the action from a closer point of view, you should consider this helmet mounted camera that stores video to memory. It’s weather proof and ruggedized so you can use it in the snow or rain. It's an impressive piece of engineering and sells for around $325.

GPS

You don’t have to live in Colorado to use Garmin’s new handheld GPS . The Colorado 300 is a handheld unit with a color display and lots of extra travel-friendly features like an MP3 player and book reader. Garmin announced new products at CES including the Garmin nuvi 260 and the Garmin nuvi 850 but last years models like the Garmin nuvi 360 or the Mio C520 can offer some very good values at prices under $300.

Universal Chargers

There are many products you can buy to charge your gadgets. We like the Solio hybrid solar chargers that have a built-in storage cell that can be recharged from the wall or the sun and then makes that power available to many different devices. The Solio Portable Hybrid Solar Charger and the new Solio Hybrid 1000 can both be purchased for under $100.

Lenmar sells a universal power pack the PPU1700W that can recharge devices like iPods through a USB connector. It’s great for keeping an iPod going for an entire long plane ride and can be purchased for around $30.

Digital Cameras

If you're still carrying around that 1 MP camera or you just never made the switch to digital there are some good values in digital cameras. If you want a professional SLR camera Retrevo recommends the Nikon D300 as the best overall value in digital cameras. It’s a 12 MP SLR that gets very high expert ratings and great user reviews. The Canon Powershot A560 can be purchased for around $130. It’s a 7.1 MP compact camera with a 4x optical zoom and face technology but no image stabilization. A step up from the Powershot A560 would be the Nikon Coolpix 5100. It has optical image stabilization and gets very good reviews but is a bit on the pricey side at $300.

iPod Boom Box

There’s a good chance most travelers will be carrying an iPod or other MP3 player wherever they go. To get a party going wherever you may be, an iPod Boom Box might be a good idea. The Griffin Technology Journi is a good candidate. You can buy it for under $100. It has a rechargeable battery that lasts for 8 – 10 hours on a charge it can also be powered by a USB port and gets good user reviews. Altec Lansing has the inMotion iM600 for around $100. It gets very good user reviews, uses some engineering tricks to make the speakers seem further apart, and even has an FM radio built in.

Book Readers

Two popular readers using electronic paper are Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader. The Sony Reader PRS 505 can be purchased for around $300. The Kindle which includes high speed 3G internet access for downloading books and browsing the web sells for $399. The Kindle has received mixed reviews due to some ergonomic issues but gets many rave reviews as a groundbreaking product. Books cost more to purchase on the Sony reader and you have to go through a computer connected to the internet to download them but the Sony gets good marks for style and usability.

Retrevo for All your Gadget Needs

You’ll find reviews and manuals for all popular gear and gadgets like GPS, Digital Cameras, Camcorders, Cell Phones, Laptops, and more from manufacturers like Sony, Garmin, Panasonic, Toshiba, and more. Have fun on your break. If you decide to stay at home maybe you should consider picking up an HDTV set. You can find the best values on Retrevo’s HDTV Product Advisor.