Crave

Vizio, known for low-buck LCD and plasma TVs available from places like Costco and Sam's Club, told CNET's News.com that its first 1080p product, the GV47L FHDTV (pictured, $1,999), would hit stores soon. According to the rep at Vizio we spoke with, it could arrive as early as the first week of January. The company had been avoiding butting heads with the 1080p competition because it was waiting for the right price. Apparently, 47 inches for just less than two grand is right enough for Vizio.

We reviewed a good-performing 47-inch 1080p TV in October, the … Read more

We dredged the series of tubes for you: here's today's roundup of link love.

--ONLY IN JAPAN: Japanese man makes Wii from tofu (Kotaku)

--GAMING: Amazon to sell Wii and PS3 on Tuesday (CrunchGear)

--APPLE: MacBook Pro batteries are inflating (Gizmodo)

--GREEN TECH: Reva Electric Car Company receives $20M funding (Treehugger)

--YEAR IN REVIEW: Top of the Tube in '06 (Webjunk TV)

--APPLE: Top 5 "I'm a Mac" parody commercials (Gizmodo)

--USB WTF: Firefly Squid USB flash drive (Plastic Bamboo)

--GAMING: Ron Jeremii (Wonderland)

For all you last-minute holiday shoppers, your procrastination may have paid off. The Boy Genius Report says demo units of the Palm Treo 750 have started arriving at Cingular stores, which could mean an official release is imminent. It's been rumored for some time that the smart phone would hit in Q4 2006, but still, there are no details about specific availability dates or pricing.

As a refresher, the Treo 750 is the U.S. variant of the Palm Treo 750v, which was released in Europe in October this year. It runs Windows Mobile 5 and sports the new, … Read more

Now that the Playstation madness has subsided, Sony may be turning its attention back to the PSP. But if a report in the Financial Times is correct, the competition for its next move could be just as hairy.

The newspaper says Sony plans to launch a video service for the handheld gaming device, a move that would put it in direct competition with the iPod. The service "will allow PSP owners to download a film from the Internet to a PC and then to transfer a single, legal version of the film to a Sony device," according to … Read more

All you Hemingway wannabes out there no longer have to freeze in the winter in your old drafty Defender. New, improved versions, resembling Papa's old British jeep, are finally on the way.

Rumors of a Land Rover Defender returning to the North American market are true. The car will be back in 2007 as a 2008 model. Soft-top, long-wheelbase and short-wheelbase versions are also "in the works," according to Atlantic British, which would probably know as the leading U.S. supplier of after-market parts for Land Rovers in the United States.

Land Rover wants to recreate the … Read more

I've seen plenty of offbeat gaming peripherals, and these are some of the strangest. The Fragpedal Deluxe, sold at ThinkGeek, finally lets you put your feet into gaming. The Fragpedal Deluxe is a set of two hard panels, each with two buttons. You set them on the floor under your desk and bind the buttons to different commands. Tap your left foot to throw a grenade, stomp your right foot to taunt an enemy, et cetera. Few of us are nimble and dainty enough to handle keyboards and mice with our toes, but stepping on a set of buttons … Read more

We've grown somewhat weary of iPod and MP3 accessories, as should be abundantly clear to anyone who reads this space regularly (all two of you). But everytime we're tempted to impose a moratorium, one comes along that we just can't resist. Today's example: the "i-Snake."

We don't know where to begin, but let's start with what we like: its name. Things start to go south in a hurry after that. One immediate question is its use--if there's an obvious one, we plead blind ignorance. Another point is its design, if it … Read more

I guess there are a lot of things you can do with a home planetarium projector, like the HomeStar Pro Planetarium that I read about on Uncrate. You can use it to create spectacular ceiling art for your next party (just make sure nobody spills anything on the $350 projector), or to woo that cute astronomy geek next door. Or, you could (gasp) actually learn about the night sky. It's got all kind of cool stories behind it, you know, like science-y stuff and mythology and whatnot. For real.

But, since it's Monday morning and I've already … Read more

Speaking of parental duties, what kind of values does something like a toy ATM machine indicate? At least a play cash register implies some responsibilities, such as work, commerce and what it takes to buy something. But an ATM?

Hammacher Schlemmer claims that the toy "helps children learn money management as they maintain a savings account up to $999.99." Two points here: First, so far as we can tell, many kids think of ATMs only as machines that spit out money. Second, $999.99?? That says it all. Maybe the smarter ones will teach themselves how to … Read more