Got gadgets?
Features are up, prices are down for electronic gizmos on this year's holiday wish lists.
Shopping for electronics can be daunting, but some online resources can help.
CNET (www.cnet.com) has features such as editors' top picks in various categories, a Personal Tech Radar section featuring monthly surveys of its audience about the most popular gadgets and a Digital Living section (living.cnet.com), which offers advice and explanations on gadgets. (It includes videos that are best seen with a high-speed Internet connection.)
Consumer Reports magazine (www.consumerreports.org) again is offering a free Holiday Giving Guide. It gives pros and cons about products, but you have to subscribe to get specific ratings. The magazine's December issue offers top picks for 2,800 products, but not all are electronic.
Computer gear
For computer-related gear, PC World magazine (www.pcworld.com) reviews a range of products, including digital cameras, printers, scanners and, of course, computers.
Digital photography sites
Professional photographer Rick Sammon has lots of advice on digital cameras and photography on his Web site (www.ricksammon.com)
You also can order his book there. Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Digital Photography: 107 Lessons on Taking, Making, Editing, Storing, Printing and Sharing Better Digital Images ($45 paperback with CD-ROM; $60 cloth cover with CD-ROM) handles digital photography in understandable language and with lots of photos to show the good, bad and ugly.
Steve's Digicams (www.steves-digicams.com) in Clearwater has its holiday advice for digital cameras, classified by price range.
On the light side
Not every gadget has to be for a serious purpose, nor does it have to cost a lot. And it's hard to resist a site (www.gizwizbiz.com/) that has a monthly "What the heck is it?" contest and a connection to Mad Magazine.
Dick DeBartolo's Giz Wiz Biz is a blast for gadget lovers. DeBartolo, who also can be seen on Tech TV and ABC, reviews both the serious and quirky. And since he's a writer for Mad, he has a great eye for the unusual.
He makes it difficult to resist reading about items with headlines such as "It's like a USB adapter that does yoga" (for a computer connector that bends and rotates) and "Something for the birds" (a singing alarm clock).
Our archives
For additional coverage on some topics, check Personal Tech's archives. Go to www.sptimes.com/Technology.shtml Scroll down and click on Archives. Some dates to look for this year:
