The Smorgasbord

The other day we had to get an alarm clock for the oldest who’s know in college (who happens to have a problem getting out of bed everyday!).  I was looking for different kinds of alarm clocks online (loud and annoying ones) and I came across these different and unusual ones that seem kind of fitting being back to school time and all! Some of these could make great gifts for college students, friends, and family! Buy one now and you have one less thing to buy at Christmas time.

Puzzle Alarm Clocks that require manual intervention to turn off

The Puzzle Alarm Clock may look childish but try saying that when you have to put it all back together in your morning haze. When you set the alarm, the puzzle pieces pop up and the alarm will not stop till you put the pieces back in their correct spot. By that time, you’re awake and the Puzzle Alarm Clock ‘s job is complete! Puzzle Alarm Clock Features: – Large and easy to Read Backlit Display – Easy to Set – Remote batteries included.- No Snooze Button. – Clock Requires 3 AA Batteries (Not included) – Color pieces may vary.

Extra Loud Alarm Clocks

iHOME has a great loud alarm clock that works well and is a very reasonable cheap price:

If a Sonic Boom alarm clock can’t wake you up, you’re probably asleep for good! In addition to extra-loud beepers, their startling bed-quaking vibrators will rattle you out of any slumber. Your alarm clock will get your attention every time if it’s the Sonic Boom bedside clock with a detachable bed shaker. Variable tone and volume controls let you set the most effective alarm. Position the bed vibrator under the mattress or a pillow and it will pound the bed when it’s time to wake up! Includes AC adapter.

Sonic Boom SBB500ss Sonic Bomb Loud Plus Vibrating Alarm Clock NEW!
	USD 35.48 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-09 09:37:54
Sonic Alert Boom Vibrating Alarm Clock - sb300ss
	USD 10.99 (3 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-04 20:53:11
SONIC ALERT BOOM SBB500SS SONIC BOMB LOUD ALARM CLOCK W/BED SHAKER-THE LOUDEST!!
	USD 36.90 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 17:20:32
Sonic Boom Alarm Clock Shaker
	USD 32.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-04 21:10:11
Sonic Alert SBP100 Loud Boom Alarm Clock & Bed Shaker
	USD / 29.40 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 17:43:05
NEW Sonic Boom SBB500ss Sonic Bomb Loud Plus Vibrating Alarm Clock FREE SHIPPING
	USD 36.49 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-05 18:37:30
Sonic BOOM high volume alarm clock/phone ringer with bed shaker NO RESERVE
	USD / 22.50 (7 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-04 23:27:54
Sonic Boom SBB500ss Bomb Plus Vibrating Alarm Clock NEW
	USD 38.95 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 02:25:27
Sonic Boom "Skull" Alarm Clock w/ Bed Shaker for Deaf
	USD 56.95 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 03:18:24
Sonic Boom Alarm Clock Dual Power LOUD w/Bed Shaker NEW
	USD 39.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 00:03:51

Now you will never sleep through the alarm again. This specially designed Timex extra loud alarm clock emits a loud alarm that you won’t be able to ignore – even if you are a sound sleeper or hearing impaired. It features an accurate quartz movement, a sweep second hand, an easy-to-read dial and luminous hands that glow in the dark. 41/2″ x 3 1/4″. Uses 1 C Battery (not included).

DELUXE SCREAMIN' EAGLE ALARM TIMER 110DB EXTRA LOUD NEW
	USD 9.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-10 18:21:45
Advance Time 6028AT 90 dB Extra Loud Alarm Clock LCD
	USD 10.49 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-09 06:52:08
Timex T126r Extra Loud Digital Alarm Clock / Red
	USD 17.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-11 16:50:57
Extra Loud Vibrating BEDSHAKER ALARM CLOCK wakes you UP
	USD 59.90 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 15:55:46
Extra Loud ALARM CLOCK and Pillow/Bed SHAKING Vibrator
	USD 49.90 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 03:17:48
Sonic Boom SBA475SS Extra Loud Alarm Clock w/Bed Shaker
	USD 36.95 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 19:00:14
New Sonic Boom Analog Vibrating Extra Loud Alarm Clock
	USD 39.95 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 20:40:41
Timex ADVANCE ALARM CLOCK PERP BATTERY LCD EXTRA LOUD
	USD 7.19 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-10 14:09:02

Annoying Alarm Clocks

I like these annoying alarm clocks the best because you REALLY have to wake up to turn them off. The first is the “helicopter alarm clock” which shoots up in the air when it goes off, and you actually have to find it, and replace it before the alarm goes off.

Crazy Annoying Loud Flying Helicopter Alarm Clock Black
	USD 7.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-04 23:28:09
Flying Helicopter Alarm Clock
	USD 23.62 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 16:04:03
FLYIN HELICOPTER PROPELLER DIGITAL ALARM CLOCK WATCH W
	USD 18.47 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-05 07:37:05
Super ALARM CLOCK Loud Crazy Annoying Flying Helicopter
	USD 14.20 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-11 10:10:44
NEW ALARM CLOCK Loud Crazy Annoying FLYING Helicopter
	USD 16.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-09 02:16:54
9504 Helicopter ALARM CLOCK - New & Boxed
	USD 4.66 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-05 15:53:57
Crazy Annoying Loud Flying Helicopter Alarm Clock Black
	USD 15.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 16:59:43
NEW ALARM CLOCK Loud Crazy Annoying FLYING Helicopter
	USD 16.87 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-08 16:41:44
V5525 New Creative Clock Backlight Flying Lazy Helicopter Alarm Clock Toy Gift
	USD 10.02 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-05 04:06:01
FLYING LCD Flying Helicopter Alarm Clock Watch black
	USD 9.69 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-10 13:24:51

The second I remember seeing a long, long time ago when the prototype was invented by an MIT student as a project. The “clocky” alarm clock leaps from your nightstand when it goes off and just runs around the room relentlessly going off until you find it, catch it, and turn it off (at which point you should be REALLY awake!).

CLOCKY-Alarm Clock That Rolls Away-Almond/Off White/Cream-EXC USED COND
	USD 19.99 (1 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 21:39:51
NEW Clocky Alarm Clock On Wheels Orange by Nanda Home
	USD 39.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-11 02:57:39
Clocky Runaway Alarm Clock with Wheels the alarm Clock you have to chase!!
	USD 19.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 10:23:08
Clocky Alarm Clock on Wheels - Orange NEW IN BOX
	USD 29.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-09 23:32:18
Clocky Alarm Clock on Wheels Coco Clocky Brown Brand New In Box
	USD 24.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-10 02:42:46
Clocky The Robot Alarm Clock - Almond White - by Nanda Home
	USD 64.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-10 07:13:10

There are a lot of portable MP3 players on the market, and we review the Nextar T-30 with Christmas looming just months away…

I think a lot of people often wonder what’s out there besides iPod’s in the portable MP3 player space. Nextar now has the Nextar T-30 for under $100, and it’s just a half inch thin, and weighs only a few ounces. You get a 3.5″ display in 320×400, 4GB of internal storage, and 8 hour battery. It has an FM tuner (and recorder), and has a voice recorder and eBook reader. It even has an SD slot!

The iPod is so wildly popular (and still expensive) that competitors are coming out with quality products that have features the iPod doesn’t.  I’ve had iPod owners tell me “I don’t care about FM radio”, but you know, it’s nice to have when and if I want to use it!  And in my opinion Apple is very self serving (and stupid) for not equipping all new generations of iPod’s with SD card slots.  I’m sorry, if you are going to sell me a portable multimedia device capable of viewing movies, pictures, and music – there better be a damn card slot on it so I can interchange between my cell phone, laptop, digital camera, or whatever!  I think for $100 the Nextar is a steal…

Here’s the best prices you can get a Nextar T-30 for now (buy an Xmas gift early!):

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The Color Pattern Geek Clock is the perfect geek gift. You’ve seen those crazy geek clocks and watches that display the time in hexadecimal format. Only hardcore geeks can read those. Why not have a clock that looks as “techie”, but anyone cal learn to read? This Color Pattern Geek Clock is the perfect solution! Everyone that comes over will talk about it – and everyone will be able to tell time using it! Cool and useful.

Check prices on the Color Pattern geek Clock

This would great to buy now and put up for one less Christmas present to buy later!

Amazon is having a 50% off Blu-Ray Movie sale! It’s really funny too, since just yesterday I blogged about the LG Blu-Ray player. I checked my email this morning and saw this sale, and wow – it couldn’t be more timely! I don’t know how much I’ll spend, but I think I’m going to get about 6 of these while I can. They’ve got some great titles on sale too, like No Country for Old Men, The Doors, Gangs of New York, The Bank Job, Pirates of the Caribbean, and my favorite “Crash”!

They have like 83 Blu-Ray titles on sale, but it only goes until August 29th. You can get a deal on the pre-order of Iron Man too while you’re in there.

The LG BH200 Blu-Ray HD-DVD Combo Player is now much more affordable than ever before, and even though Blu-Ray is now pretty much decided on as the standard for surpassing regular DVD’s in HD format – having the “HD-DVD” format option available is a bonus! If you’re wondering what the big deal is about a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc versus a traditional DVD movie – all you really have to know is that it’s displayed at nearly TWICE the resolution! If you thought a traditional or progressive scan DVD movie was a pretty good picture – if you own a flat screen LCD or Plasma television, you OWE it to yourself to upgrade your DVD player to Blu-Ray and HD-DVD!

Having said that – the LG BH200 is the one we picked because it not only plays in full 1080p output, but this player upscales the picture of traditional DVD’s to Full HD as well! It’s already setup to handle the “BD-Live” features touted ahead for Blu-Ray discs, but the LG “Super Blu Player” will also do MPEG’s, H.264 Quicktime, and DTS-HD audio as well. Oh, of course it has HDMI 1.3 out too. It also has S-Video and Component outs, but who would want to use those?

Guess what – it has USB “media host” too so you can set it up to access digital pics and MP3′s. Plugin your external hard drives, portable drives, or flash sticks for quick access and review of your multimedia files. The one thing we noticed was that this thing was practically silent when playing discs. It even has a network ethernet jack!

This would be a good treat for yourself and the old home entertainment center before you have to start saving to buy other people Christmas presents! Or, you could even put it away as an early present for that special someone.

Here are the best prices you can get on the LG BH200 Blu-Ray HD-DVD Combo Player:

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This “Sata HDD Dock” is one of the coolest things ever! I purchased some cables a long time ago where you can hook up a hard drive via USB, and I thought that was pretty cool. But you still have to deal with the cable. If you have hard drives laying around, or you repair PC’s for family and friends this is just the must have geek gadget tool! It’s a hot-swappable dock, and all you have to do is just plugin your drive in! That’s it! You can get them in Sata and eSata, and most will take 2.5″ AND 3.5″ drives – that means notebook drives too! The ones I looked at even had an eSata cable port on the back of the dock for even faster data transmissions! Who needs a flash drive when you have a port for an entire hard drive!

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Memory Cards keep getting lost? Get a “Memory Card Case” to organize them so you have them all in the same spot – each and every time!

I can’t tell you how many times I went to the Camera case and all the memory cards were gone. Or the times that I grabbed my digital camera and either no memory card was in it – or the card in it was full of pics (I wasn’t sure if I could erase yet). Flash memory cards are small, and the microSD ones are smaller than a thumbnail.

Of course, there’s already something you can buy to fix this problem – and it’s a “memory card case”. There’a ton of ‘em on eBay – and they don’t cost that much at all. In fact, it’s probably more expensive to replace a lost flash memory card than it is to get the case, not to mention the cost you can’t put on precious memories and pics and if they aren’t on your PC yet. These would make excellent gifts for Christmas or any occasion – you should stock up now!

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Gorillapod – the digital camera tripod with a twist

Looking for an innovative flexible tripod for your digital camera that will go anywhere and work in the worst of situations? I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to temporarity “mount” my digital camera for either a good picture or some short video.

I play in bands out in the bar and you can’t always get right in front of the stage for good pictures or video. And who wants to hold the camera steady for 10 minutes or more anyway? They make these little flexible tripods you can wrap around a post, pole, or nearly anything and then mount your digital camerea temporarily on. If you use your digital camera a lot, I highly recommend you get one of these and stick it in your bag. It’s definitely worth the $20.

Gorillapod uses its 30 adjustable joints to grip to trees, fences or posts–anything it can wrap its legs around–to provide a steady and secure platform for your digicam! No more hunting for flat surfaces at eye-level: just wrap or hang Gorillapod on any handy object and get in the picture! tripod,”camera tripod”,”flexible camera tripod”. Click here for the latest price. This would make a really cool gift idea for just about anyone.

Oh – you can find (different versions and sizes) of them on eBay as well:

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Looking for a “Hi Def Camcorder”? The “Canon Vixia HF10″ is not only affordable, it records direct to flash media – which is why we think it’s the best bang for your buck right now!

This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!

I was shocked and amazed when I saw the Vixia HF10 for the first time. Weighing less than one pound and only a little less in size than a water bottle (3″x2.5″x5″) this little wonder is amazing. The one feature that makes it stand out most is the fact that it has an internal flash memory of 16GB. Wow! No more silly tapes, no spinning disk hard drives – none of that! And it has a slot for SD or SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) flash memory cards. You can buy a high capaticy SD card now for around $35, so that’s a big pro! Canon is not the first company to make a flash drive based digital camcorder, but they may be the first to do it as well as they have – especially at this price!

Here are the features of the Canon Vixia HF10:

• 12X Optical Zoom (200X digital zoom)
• 16GB internal memory and SDHD card slot
• SuperRange Image Stabilization
• 2 hours 1920×1080 Full HD Recording time
• 2 Channel Dolby Digital Audio
• External Mic Jack
• Mini HDMI Out
• 2.7″ LCD Screen

I’ve read a lot of really positive reviews, and it’s amazing to me that you can now buy an HD Camcorder for under $1,000! The Vixia HF10 got a 5 star review from c|Net – watch the video review:

One of the things that the video highlighted that I forgot to mention was the fact that you get about an hour of HD record time per charged (included) battery. What you want to do is order one of the double size aftermarket battery packs that will get you about 2 hours of recording time. It will stick out a bit and make the Vixia HF10 a slight bit more bulky – but it will be worth it.

Most places online are listing the Canon Vixia HF10 for $1,000-$1,200. The reason I wrote this review today was that I saw just this morning that Newegg (practially my favorite online electronics store) has it listed for only $829! I consider that a steal since my last digital camera was over $600. This would make the perfect gift for a birthday, Christmas, or Father’s Day! Newegg even has free shipping, how can you beat that with today’s price of gas?

Canon VIXIA HF10 Black High Definition Camcorder
Price: $829.0
Canon VIXIA HF10 2.7″LCD 12X Optical Zoom High Definition Camcorder

Like always – it’s always worth perusing eBay to see if you can get a deal. Here’s the latest eBay auctions for the Vixia HF10:

[nms:vixia hf10 -battery -cap -lens -cable -filter -tripod,5,0,0,smorgas.vixia.hf10]

If you’re looking for one of those double sized aftermarket batteries, eBay is a great place for that as well:

[nms:vixia hf10 battery ,3,0,0,smorgas.vixia.battery]

Looking for one of the 8GB or greater SDHC flash memory cards? eBay once again to the resuce:

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Here’s something you may not have seen – it’s the “Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card”. Most of us have SD cards lying around because that’s what we store all our precious pictures on in our digital cameras. How many times have you taken pictures, and then waited days (or weeks, or months) before uploading them to your PC or laptop? I can’t count the number of times that I have gotten out the camera and realized that it was full of pictures from a month back. Even worse, that meant fewer pictures I could take – because I couldn’t delete anything off the card yet.

This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!

Enter the “Eye-Fi”. Inside this flash memory card are some tiny electronics that will astound you. This SD memory card can connect to your WiFi network, without cables, or cradles – or anything! It can automatically upload all your pics to any PC on your network OR even upload them to Flickr, Fotki, Shutterfly, Webshots, Photobucket, Kodak Gallery, Sharpcast, Wal-mart, Snapfish, Phanfare, Picase Web Albums, TypePad, VOX, Smugmug, or Facebook! It can even resize photos before submission if you wish! What an unbelievably handy gadget to have!

This could possibly be one of the coolest gift ideas for just about anyone! Imagine giving this to Mom or Grandma – or anyone that hates having to get the cable or usb adapter out just to transfer the pictures every time!

Eye-Fi Wireless 2GB Secure Digital Memory Card SD
Price: $99.99
Photos should not be trapped in your camera. Set them free effortlessly and wirelessly. The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless SD memory card for your digital camera. It stores pictures like a standard SD memory card, but also uses your home Wi-Fi network to automatically transfer images from inside your camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo or social networking website for sharing or printing. No cables, no cradles, no fuss.

You might be able to find a really good new or used eye-fi in one of these auctions as well:

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