Crave

(Credit: Othmar Muehlebach)

Swiss designer Othmar Muehlebach conceived of a toaster that not only looks like an inkjet printer, but also toasts bread like one.

The gizmo has an iMac-esque stand and you can drop the bread on the tray at the top, which will then feed the slices into a slot where it'll be toasted. This design won a second-place Berner Design Award in Switzerland, but so far there's no sign of it going into production.

I wonder if there's a butter cartridge for this gizmo, and does anyone knows its tpm (toast per minute) speed?

(Source: Crave Asia via Boing Boing)

HP's "lunchbox" photo printer churns out borderless glossies as large as 5x7 inches.

(Credit: HP)

At this time of year, when the parties are nonstop and the shutterbugs are out in full force, nothing beats a photo printer. I've used one for years; they're great for churning out snapshots wherever and whenever you want.

A high-end model that normally sells for $150, HP's Photosmart A646, is on sale for $79.99 shipped. That's after applying coupon code SVMY478761 once you get it into your shopping cart.

Also, that's two-day shipping, not the usual pokey 5-15 business days. Something to consider if you're scrambling for holiday gifts.

The A646 accepts SD, XD, and Memory Stick media, though you can also connect any PictBridge-compatible camera or even a USB flash drive. (It works with PCs, too, natch.)

Got Bluetooth? The A646 does, meaning you can wirelessly print photos from your phone. Sweet!

The printer sports a 3.5-inch touch screen for previewing your pix and adding creative elements like borders, clip art, and captions. It can crank out borderless prints as large as 5x7 inches.

CNET hasn't reviewed the Photosmart A646, but PC World has. They liked its versatility and feature set, but were less wild about the print quality. (I tend to find that very subjective.)

Ultimately, printers like these are just plain fun. Do keep in mind the ink costs, however: HP's 110 tricolor cartridges list for $23.99, but you can find them for as low as $19--less if you're willing to go the remanufactured route.

Backup deal: Today only, Staples has Norton Internet Security 2010 (one-user) for $9.99 shipped. It's normally $49.99. There's a mail-in rebate involved, and it nets you a prepaid Visa card, not a check. (I like the cards better, frankly.) In my experience, Staples' "easy rebates" do live up to their name.

Epson PictureMate Show

(Credit: Epson)

Families around the world are sure to take tons of digital snapshots of loved ones for the holiday season, but how to get the photos off the camera? Epson's new PictureMate Show compact photo printer brings images to life with a dual purpose: you can also use it as a digital photo frame.

The Show works as both a digital photo frame and a compact photo printer thanks to its small size and 7-inch WVGA tilt screen that beautifully displays hi-res photos. Transferring pictures to the viewer is made easy using the 270MB of internal memory, but there's also a media card reader and a USB port on the side for downloading images from any digital camera.

Once you have the photos loaded, you can perform simple edits like cropping or resizing, but you can also set the device to automatically correct your photos before printing.

Unlike other portable dye-sublimation printers, the Epson PictureMate Show uses the company's own proprietary "Advanced MicroPiezo" technology, optimized for photo printing. Epson tells us the product produces vibrantly colored 4x6-inch photos in 37 seconds, but we'll need to put it to the test before we give our official review.

The Epson PictureMate Show is available now for $300. More pics after the jump.

Print Magic can produce hard copies of text, photos, and Web pages.

The App Store offers a handful of solutions for transporting data from iPhone to printer, but few work as easily as Print Magic.

The $6.99 app makes it a cinch to print text, Web pages, and photos, all without wires: it connects via Wi-Fi to any printer on your network (or any shared printer on your Mac).

Well, almost any printer. While the app had no problem detecting my Brother HL-2170W laser printer and MFC-440CN multifunction, it couldn't figure out how to print to the latter.

Ideally, you should take Print Magic for a test drive before plunking down your 7 bucks. You can't just yet, but developer Wellala says a printer-testing trial version of the app was just submitted to Apple for review. Look for it in about two weeks.

Assuming you're able to print successfully, you'll definitely enjoy the results. You can print any text just by copying it to the iPhone (or iPod Touch) clipboard, then firing up the app and tapping Print.

Web pages work much the same way, except you copy the URL. As for photos, Print Magic provides direct access to your library--just tap the one you want to print.

The app doesn't support documents or e-mail attachments, but it's ideal for turning snapshots into prints, Web pages into real pages, and any copyable text into hard copy.

My only suggestion: wait for the trial version to make sure Print Magic can work its magic on your printer.

If your eyes aren't crossing yet from reading about all those Black Friday deals (and if you follow The Cheapskate, we're guessing they aren't), we've got another bargain to tell you about on this pre-Cyber-Monday Sunday.

(Credit: Brother)

Staples is knocking $70 off the $119.98 Brother HL-2140 laser printer, which puts the device at $49.98 with free delivery. That adds up to a solid deal for this home and home office peripheral.

The monochrome printer measures 6.7 inches by 14.5 inches by 14.2 inches and weighs 15 pounds. It has a print speed up to 23 ppm and resolution up to 2400x600 dpi. It has an input paper capacity of 250 sheets and an output capacity of 100 and comes with a one-year manufacturer limited warranty.

More than 300 customer reviews on the Staples site added up to an overall 4.3-star (out of 5) rating for the device, with easy setup, fast print time, compact design, and sharp detail rating among commonly cited pros, and a few people dinging it for flimsy construction and easily jamming. CNET users weren't far behind, giving the printer an average of 4 out of 5 stars.

In any case, if you're looking to print out all those other deals you read about on CNET in the last few days, $49.98 isn't a bad deal for a printer by a reputable maker that appears to score well with consumers.

Got questions on how to choose a printer? Check out CNET's Printer buying guide. It breaks down printer users into various categories--home user, digital photographer, entrepreneur, budding novelist, etc.--to help you figure out what you sort of specs will best match your needs.

Is that a printer in your pocket, or are you just happy to see the $29 price tag?

Happy Black Friday, everyone! As promised, I spent the morning avoiding retail stores, though I did see a few advertised items that were mighty tempting. Anybody brave the cold, the crowds, the 4 a.m. alarm clock?

Anyway, remember the Dell Wasabi pocket printer from a couple months back? It was a killer deal at $29 shipped, but it sold out quickly.

Amazon is offering the Wasabi's kissing cousin, the Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printer, for $29.99 shipped.

This is one of those zero-ink (a.k.a. ZINK) printers that made headlines last year. That means it uses, duh, zero ink, instead heating the crystals embedded in special photo paper (like this $8.67 30-pack, which is worth tossing in the cart).

Consequently, the printer itself is tiny, measuring just 0.9 inch thick by 4.7 inches long by 2.8 inches wide and weighing a mere 8 ounces (with its rechargeable battery installed).

So the PoGo can literally ride around in a pocket and churn out prints on-demand. Prints from where? Any PictBridge-compatible camera or, better yet, most Bluetooth-equipped camera phones.

I bought that virtually identical Dell Wasabi back in September, and while the reviewers are right that print quality is only so-so, I gotta say I love the little thing. (Just wish I could print via Bluetooth from my iPhone!).

Because the paper has peel-and-stick backing, my whole family is having fun pasting little photos all over the place.

Consequently, I think this makes a great gift. And it's available in black or red (oooh, red!) for that same price.

Like just about everything I've posted this week, it'll probably sell out fast (grrr), so if you want one, hurry up and get clicking.

Lexmark's X4650 multifunction printer works over Wi-Fi--or with the bundled USB cable.

(Credit: Wal-Mart)

In the market for a new printer? Might as well get one that doubles as a scanner and copier. And one that works without wires.

Wal-Mart has the Lexmark X4650 wireless all-in-one printer for $59. Shipping will run you 97 cents, though you can skip that by opting for store pickup. Either way, plan on paying sales tax.

As most of you know, I hold Wi-Fi printers in the same high regard as chocolate-covered caramels and Jessica Alba. The X4650 connects to your Wi-Fi router for blissfully wireless printing and scanning.

Ironically, Wal-Mart bundles a 10-foot Tripp Lite gold-plated USB cable, just in case you're not planning to go the Wi-Fi route.

The X4650 offers dual-cartridge printing. If you want the best possible photo results, you can swap in a photo-ink cartridge for the black one and enjoy six-color output.

The downside is that, as with most inkjets, cartridges cost a pretty penny. Plan on dropping at least $25 for each replacement--a little less if you go the remanufactured route.

The printer supports all the latest versions of Windows and Mac OS X. Though it lacks fax capabilities, it can scan to your PC's fax modem (if it has one) and also offers a handy scan-to-e-mail option.

In short, it's a fairly basic multifunction printer, one that sold for $130 when it debuted about a year ago. CNET hasn't reviewed it, but the reviews I've seen elsewhere have been mostly positive. (The only real ding is relatively slow printing.)

In any case, $59 for a Wi-Fi-equipped all-in-one is a rare find. Definitely worth considering.

The lovely and brilliant Anna David joins the show today to fill Justin's diminutive shoes. Pray for him. He's still not feeling too well. Our beautiful new co-host tells us about her new Web site Annalytical Answers, where she answers your questions about dating, love and--yes--S. E. X. Wilson can barely contain himself.

Look! She's using a computer. That's tech!

(Credit: Eric Fischer)

Before we dive headlong into the questions that have continued to perplex men for millennia, Anna and the crew share stories about the post office and how no one there can smile. We think it's an actual work rule. Justin and Wilson vie for the affection of any lady that ventures onto The 404. In Anna's case, the win and subsequent fail goes to Justin. Justin, who ignores a question about a printer from a hot woman AND he's the printer expert? When is that really ever going to happen again? For shame, Justin, for shame.

We can't recap them all, but we spend most of the show with Anna answering questions from the chat room about dating. Some memorable questions: How do you get out of the friend zone? Does long distance dating ever work out? Is it really OK to date a cougar? Be sure to send in your questions.

All that and more on today's lovely show. If you want your dating questions answered, head on over to Annalytical Answers and sign up! In the mean time, we wish Justin a speedy recovery and be sure to check back for more 404 madness.

(Credit: Joshua Goldman/CNET)

Sony will be bringing its S-Frame DPP-F700 printer to the U.S. in January, the company announced Thursday. It's basically a dye-sub snapshot printer, but with a 7-inch LCD. The screen can be tilted up when the printer is in use and then folded flat against the printer so that when you remove the paper tray, you can stand the unit up horizontally or vertically.

I had a chance to play around with one and, well, it's a photo printer with a larger-than-usual LCD on top. The extra screen real estate is nice, though, especially when using the F700's editing options such as cropping and adjusting brightness, contrast, hue, and sharpness. And, of course, it's better than looking at just a photo printer.

Check out the slideshow below for more details or just because you're bored and/or love looking at pictures of tech products.

Also, quick poll, how long till point-and-shoot cameras are primarily set to shoot in wide-screen resolutions? Has anyone stopped shooting 4:3 in favor of 16:9?

Sony S-frame DPP-F700 digital frame photos