I rarely buy extended warranties. Mostly I’ve found them to be full of exclusions and loopholes that the provider uses to keep from paying off. So I was a little surprised to be having a conversation last week with my college roommate about extended warranties. He’s a heavy eBay seller and buyer and someone that I expected would avoid the extra expense of warranties like the plague. He told me that he generally does avoid them - except for one warranty provider. Plus he had a secret tip for me that I’ll use to enroll most of my gadgets at a big savings.

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Michael Arrington over at Tech Crunch wrote an interesting article stating that he thinks netbooks aren’t good enough.  Needless to say, there’s a lot of criticism of Arrington’s article.  I am, of course, am one of those critics.

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I just took a quick look at some of the goodies offered on Geek Stuff 4 U, and they have definitely got something for those looking for unique and geeky gadget gifts.

Let’s take a look at some of the items that caught my eye…

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Still having trouble deciding what to get the budding techie on your list? You know the one…the youngster who is fascinated by your fancy feature phones, the teenager who has discovered text messaging and Facebook, the young entrepreneur who wants a way to keep in touch with the office when she isn’t able to be there; these are just some of the people who might like to receive a Palm Centro.

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Ever since 9/11, air travelers have been forced to take their shoes off, take their laptops out of bags, and…well you know the drill.  Now the TSA has worked on developing a standard for letting us keep our laptop in its bag as we go through through the checkpoint.  I got to take a look at Skooba Design’s version, called the Skooba Checkthrough.

The bag is actually a lot smaller than it looks and a lot larger than it looks.  I know; how can it be both?  Well when all zipped up, it’s a little thinner than the backpack I used to use; however I have everything I normally carry in it.  The only thing missing is my digital camera, but when I get another case for it, it should fit too. The Skooba Checkthough is relatively slim, but can hold a lot of gear. Continue Reading

If you’re using a BlackBerry Curve (83xx) or Pearl (81xx) - here’s a cute Charlie Brown Christmas theme created by Dan Black of Blacksberry theme site. It’s completely free and based on that lovable Peanuts cartoon. Use the link below to download it over the air (OTA) to your phone.

Peanuts Christmas Theme (OTA) - BlackBerry 83xx
Peanuts Christmas Theme (OTA) - BlackBerry 81xx
via: BlackBerry Forums

Today’s HP Magic Giveaway sites are MediaBlab, Neowin, and BostonPocketPC. Bear in mind that each site will have their own requirements for the giveaway, and they may also have their own rules that will not apply on other sites.

Here’s a quick synopsis of today’s giveaway sites’ details…

MediaBlab:

One common thread among the HP Magic Giveaway contests is the idea that this huge prize deserves to be shared. Most of us don’t really need 4 computers at home, but we all know a person or an organization who could really use some help. For my giveaway, I’m asking you to tell me about who you would share some of this great hardware and software with and why. The winner will be selected randomly because it’s too difficult to judge the merit of one person’s reasons for sharing against another. As long as it’s feasible, I’ll be delivering the hardware to the selected winner in person. As a bonus, I’m donating an hour of my time to either help you set up this new gear or solving some existing computer frustration.

Contest rules:

1) You must be subscribed to Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle newsletter on 6 December 2008 when the winner is announced. If you’re not already subscribed, you can subscribe here.

2) You must post a comment to the official contest announcement (this page) about who (person or organization) you would share the prize with and why. Include city, state, and country in the body of your comment. Your real name and the same email address you subscribe to the newsletter with must be used in the comment entry form so that you can be contacted if you are selected.

Read the rest of the rules at Jake Ludington’sDigital Lifestyle.

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Amazon has quite a few Motorola RAZR V3 phones (blue, pink, black, silver) up for sale for $95 each with free Super Saving Shipping. These unlocked phones are quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 ) and do NOT carry any warranty beyond Amazon’s 30 day return policy. Unfortunately they’ll only support poky GPRS data connections. However if you’re looking to replace an older RAZR and you’re on a GSM carrier, these could be a better choice than signing another lengthy contract with your cell phone carrier. Remember, all these RAZR V3 phones are GSM models - in the USA you need to be using AT&T or T-Mobile to take advantage of this deal.

Amazon RAZR V3 Unlocked

What can I say; I have enjoyed my first generation MacBook Air more than any laptop I have ever owned. It fits in my purse and has basically become my main brain, going with me everywhere and shoving my MacBook Pro into seldom-used obscurity…with the exception of those times when I need to access the XP partition (via VMWare) to get into Microsoft Money (a day job requirement).

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Today’s HP Magic Giveaway sites are Morningside Mom and Thoughts on Poetics & Tech. Bear in mind that each site will have their own requirements for the giveaway, and they may also have their own rules which will not necessarily apply on other sites.

Here’s a quick synopsis of today’s giveaway sites’ details…

Morningside Mom:

Hp and Microsoft has delivered the prize package to me - and as of today, Saturday November 29th - the contest has begun. Now it is my turn to explain the rules to you. Here they are:

1) This entire prize package will be awarded to one person.

2) However, this winner will be chosen based on how they plan to use this prize. To be more specific, I will be awarding this prize to a winner who will put the package to positive change or towards a charitable cause. For example, this person might work at an underprivileged school, the winner might know someone working at an underfunded health clinic, or maybe they’ve heard about a Boys and Girls club that might need a donation. Regardless, this person should plan to have these computers affect lives positively.

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