It's a curious use of a positive word: This isn't an incentive in the sense of the prospect of a nice dinner with your wife if you can close your store by 7:30; it's an incentive in the sense of not having said shop burned down because you didn't pay $1000 to that moody man and his friends who come by on the last Friday of every month. Unless AT&T is planning on dropping prices for light smartphone data users and increasing data prices for heavier users, these "incentives" aren't likely to save anyone any money.

This is far from the first time this exec, Ralph de la Vega, has hinted at plans like this, and it won't be the last. AT&T seems destined to tier their data plans—we're just waiting to see how. [NYT]

Instead, it pops the iPhone or iPod Touch into a Playstation-like grip, allowing you to hold it like a controller you're used to. But the controls will remain the same, and will maybe even be harder to manipulate when holding it like that.

But hey, if you want to try your luck it's only $17. [USB Fever via Engadget]

Joining the flagship London store on Regent Street which announced its closure two days ago, Nokia was hit with criticisms by analysts, including this stinging remark from John Strand, chief executive of Strand Consult:

"Flagship stores are important in fashion industry: Apple is fashion. Nokia is consumer electronics"

Double ouch. [Reuters]

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as they hate being Sagittarians, click here.

ION USB portable turntable and Zumreed headphones If your pal has lots of records, the USB turntable will help with backing them up and making digital copies, which can be transferred easily to a Mac or PC. And of course, they'll be needing stylish 'phones, too. [ION $140 and Zumreed $60, both at Urban Outfitters]

Griffin AirCurve and iTrip Autopilot Any iPhone or iPod owner is bound to be happy with a couple of accessories from Griffin. Take the AirCurve clear acoustic amplifier, which acts as a speaker with no batteries required. Combine it with a car accessory for Christmas, such as the iTrip Autopilot, and you're onto a winning match. [AirCurve $19.95 and iTrip Autopilot $99.95, both at Apple]

Optoma PK-101 and Samsung N310 Give the gift of film this birthday/Christmas, with the Optoma pico projector connecting to the Samsung netbook with ease. The netbook may not have an optical drive so DVDs aren't playable, but there's no stopping your recipient from downloading or live-streaming some films, to beam onto a wall in 480 x 320 resolution. [Optoma $229.99 and Samsung N310 $349.99]

Diana F+, 38mm super wide lens, and instant back+ Lomography is the recent revival of a '60s photography craze that results in the most brilliant photos. The Diana F+ is the most classic model, and pick up a few accessories while you're at Lomo's online store, including a super wide lens and instant back+, which produces instant photos a la Polaroid. [Diana F+ $95, super wide lens $40 and instant back+ $95]

Red Square superyacht and Bell-Boeing 430 helicopter What, your friend doesn't mean enough to you that you'd splurge $930m on their birthday present? And then another $2m on their Christmas present? Shame on you. [Red Square €630m, Bell-Boeing 430, around $2m]

Star Wars DVD boxset and Tauntaun sleeping bag Yes, we love Star Wars as much as the next person, but with the trilogy expected on Blu-ray anytime soon, we wouldn't go suggesting you buy a DVD boxset that's been around for years, would we? Nor would we recommend a Tauntaun sleeping bag as being conducive to a love life. [Star Wars DVDs $25.99 and Tauntaun bag $99.99]

PSPgo and $50 PlayStation Network gift card Giving a gift card isn't the most thoughtful present, true—but how else would you give digital downloads to someone, hmm? They should be so happy with the latest generation of PSP, they won't even notice that $50 only gets them a couple of games. [PSPgo $249.99 and PlayStation Network card $50]

Sony BDP-BX2 Blu-ray player and Battlestar Galactica Blu-ray boxset I've just finished watching BSG on Blu-ray, so can vouch for how incredible it looks in HD. Coupled with a Sony Blu-ray player, you're giving any sci-fi nut the perfect viewing experience—provided they have an HDTV, of course.

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite gift ideas for people with birthdays in December in the comments—include pic and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

But! It's "going to get fixed." He promises. (As AT&T has for over a year.) Besides, part of it's in your head—AT&T says they have a national dropped call rate of 1.32 percent, which is within two-tenths of one percent below the "highest-scoring provider." (Though it's, um, higher in NY on some phones, according to some people.)

Disconcertingly, he made reference to AT&T's favorite stat, that 3 percent of smartphone customers push 40 percent of data, and that they're looking at incentives—as the WSJ put it—that'll get those people to cut back, "in a way that's consistent with net-neutrality and FCC regulations." These FCC regulations. Meaning pay-per-byte data.

But you know what? If I could get data 100 percent of the time, sure, I'll pay more for it, Ralphie. [WSJ]

The xPhone is the future of humanity.

And I know what you're thinking—you're thinking this is nuts. This is a joke. This can't be real! No one makes touchscreen tech like Apple or RIM, and we haven't even seen the OS. So toast or not, this sucker is too good to be true!

Maybe it is. But after watching this clip, I know one thing. If I don't get my xPhone, I'm definitely learning German. [electrobeans via technabob]

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

Vinturi Wine Aerator: For wine to reach its full potential, it needs to breathe. For centuries, people have been doing this with decanters, letting the wine sit out of the bottle to release its aromas and flavors. That's great if you've got the time, but more often than not when you crack open that bottle you just don't... want... to wait. Or maybe that's just me. Pouring your wine through an aerator gives you the full effect of a decanter, just without the agonizing wait. They can be ordered directly from Vinturi for $40, but you can get them a little cheaper on Amazon. [Vinturi, Amazon]

Dripless Wine Pourer: Not only is every drop of alcohol precious, so is the easily stainable wood coffee table your drink sits on. This dripless pourer makes sure your wine ends up where it belongs: in the glass. For just $3, you can even spring for a multitude of these for your next dinner party. [Crate&Barrel]

Knuckle Duster Corkscrew: A straightforward rebuttle to those who think wine is for sissies. This may not be the most practical corkscrew in existence, but it's undeniably the most manly. It will no doubt come in handy the next time someone favorably compares a Rioja to a Beaujolais. $13. [ThinkGeek]

A home brew kit: This site has already gone on record as being serious supporters of brewing your own suds. The short version, if you need one: it's cheap, it's easy, it's fun. There are a lot of options out there, but I'd recommend the Brooklyn Brew Shop for its ease of use and adventurous seasonal flavors. For $40 you can get a one gallon kit and a supply of any one of their nine grain varieties, ranging from Eggnog Milk Stout to Grapefruit Honey Ale to to a more straightforward Tripel. For serious home brewers, a five gallon kit is also available for $125. [Brooklyn Brew Shop]

A covert alcohol storage and transportation system: You may laugh now, but you never know when you might have to smuggle beer into a situation where it's not generally socially acceptable. For whiskey, there are flasks. For more pedestrian potables? The Beerbelly and the Winerack. For stealth you'll want to go Winerack, but for sheer volume and the odd experience of displaying reverse-bloat the more you drink, you can't go wrong with the Beerbelly's 80 oz. bladder. Perhaps not surprisingly, these are made by the same company. One stop shopping! $30 for the Winerack; $35 for the Beerbelly. [The Beer Belly]

Bad Decision Blocker: Perfect for those who have that someone (or someones) in their lives that they can't help reaching out to when they've had a few too many. Bad Decision Blocker is an app that lets you deny yourself access to certain numbers at previously designated hours. Which, let's be honest, after 3 am should be your whole phone book. $1. [App Store Link]

Space beer: It's a long shot, since only 250 boxes available and you have to win a lottery to be eligible to taste or buy one. But if you happen to be one of the lucky few, what could be better than beer brewed from barley that's spent five months in space? Well, not necessarily better-taste wise. But you can't beat it for uniqueness. [Sapporo Breweries]

Coors Light Cold-Activated Cans: Let's be honest. The only reason it needs to be so cold is to freeze your tongue so you can't actually taste this pisswater. Get them a nice cask ale instead.

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite drinking gadgets in comments-include pics and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Games

The bestseller list is populated by high-profile—either in name or in publisher—listings, none of which are too surprising. The list, it seems, it sorted by revenue, because there's a relatively poor showing for cheap casual games. The top six are all franchise titles that cost at least $5.

The top rated list, however, is more heartening. The fantastic Spider: The Secret of Bruce Manor tops the group, joined by a healthy selection of games from a mix of studios, large and small. Just one of the top ten is a big-name franchise title.

Apps

Again, the popularity list must be revenue-ranked, because this is some pricey stuff. Navigon and TomTom are $90 and $100 apps, respectively, and their success shows what a little name recognition, and early start, and a generally good app will get you. Free texting app TextFree, which I sorta though might be banned from the store by now, ranks high, as does QuickOffice, even though the barebones office suite costs a whole $10.

Where the top rated games were generally indie and/or iPhone-exclusive titles, the top rated apps are a bit more mainstream. You've got the requisite appearances from Smule, you've got ReelDirector—the only app that lets you do any serious video editing on your iPhone—and you've got a CBS sports app. Because people like sports, and anything associated with them! (Also: paying for them.) Oh, and, uh, Pocket God is a game.

All in all, the crowd's put together a nice little app roundup for us. I don't see any glaringly terrible apps here, and the top-rated apps even include some of our own Essential iPhone Apps. Which is vindicating! (For everyone else, obviously.)

Anyway, what about the free apps?

UPDATE: It's worth noting that these rankings only include app released in 2009. Some older apps will likely have outsold many, if not all, of the apps on these lists. —Thanks, Dave from Popcap! [iTunes Rewind]

So yes, we know that Bada means "ocean" in Korean, but what about the phones? For starters, each handset will be 3G enabled, with Wi-Fi, GPS and multitouch WVGA screens. Bada's SDK will be released shortly, enabling developers and operators to create and customize for it. It will replace Symbian, which is used on their mid-to-low end handsets traditionally.

The TouchWiz interface, which we've seen on handsets like the Omnia and Behold, will be ported onto Bada, and will offer the following jargon:

"flash control, web control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control, and face detection. Also, it supports sensor-based, context-aware applications. By using various sensors such as accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity, and activity sensors, application developers can easily implement context-aware interactive applications"

Samsung's hoping to see an influx of applications thanks to the $2.7 million prize that's been put up for grabs, and so far, EA and Gameloft have been signed up to develop games for Bada.

We'll see Bada handsets trickling in in the first half of 2010, with Europe and Asia receiving them first, followed by the US and other corners of the globe.

It's a tantalizing prospect, but we're still eager to see exactly what Bada looks and feels like. With Samsung promising to deliver a full open source experience for users and developers, it could do a lot more for creativity than Symbian ever did. SDK users will apparently have full access to the contact, messaging and phone functions, which could see these "mid to low end" handsets actually offering something iPhone and Android users haven't even seen yet. [Samsung Bada]

It's zappier than we thought it'd be, considering the Chinese/Australian Optima hasn't done much to warrant our attention so far. The tester puts the OP5-E through its paces nicely, even showing us the ease of use when watching DivX files—demoing a shooty scene from Lie To Me, set in Afghanistan. Nice.

For now, it looks like this MID will be distributed solely in China, but Optima is obviously keen to get the OP5-E out to the rest of the world. With Nokia only releasing one Maemo device next year, Optima might just have a chance. [ARM Devices via Engadget]

Despite the difference in appearance, the Bravo/Passion sounds hot to trot, running on lovely, lovely Android 2.0, and a Snapdragon QDS 1GHz CPU.

Ai.rs has got the exclusive pics-and-info prize, claiming the screen is a 3.7-inch capacitive AMOLED (in contrast to the 3.5-incher previous pics had it at), the camera is a 5.0-megapixel AF job which can handle 720p video recording, and there's a 1400mAh battery—which is the only real downside to this otherwise terrific-sounding Passion/Bravo. Bravssion? Passvo?

Whatever it is, the US launch has been delayed until January, with the European launch slated for April. [Digitimes and Ai.rs]

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the you hate Japan-only gadgets, click here.

Without a doubt, 826 National's line of quirky stores and products offer the biggest and nerdiest bang for your charity buck. For example—at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply company you can purchase a set of vacuum suction cups for scaling the exterior of buildings. If the whole Spider-Man thing isn't for you, how about the power of invisibility? An "invisible" suit is available for the low price of $20,800. Of course, these products are meant as novelties only, but the proceeds benefit 826 National—a nonprofit tutoring, writing, and publishing organization for kids. The Suction Cups are priced at $19. [826 National Stores]
The Smithsonian museums are some of the best in the world—the storehouse of our nation's treasures. The products the Smithsonian Institution offers through their stores directly support the museums, and are patterned after artifacts in their archives. Designed to look like a classic car dashboard, this weather station includes dials for a clock, thermometer and hygrometer. $45 [SmithsonianStore]
If you have a love for modern art and design, you have probably paid a visit to the MoMa gallery in New York. In addition to their collections, MoMa also has a top notch retail store with thousands of unique gifts. The Icon Watch pictured here would be great for fans of classic gaming. All proceeds from purchases benefit the museum. $75 [MoMa]
It seems like the vast majority of products tied in with Susan G. Komen for the Cure are offering half-assed donations at best. At least KitchenAid is taking it seriously by donating $50 for each pink stand mixer sold (and there is no "charity premium" tacked on to the price). A bit tacky, but this is probably the best countertop mixer you can buy, making it a great gift for anyone that loves too cook. And I'm sure they can look past the pink when you tell them that the proceeds benefit breast cancer research. $300 [KitchenAid]
The (Product) Red movement has endured its fair share of criticism, but if you prefer to have part of your gadget gift purchase go to an organization raising awareness about AIDS in Africa instead of Apple or Dell, the option is there. Just make sure that the manufacturer isn't charging a premium for RED products. The RED iPod nano starts at $149. [Apple]
If you are going to get an indoor cycling bike for you or a chubby loved one, it only makes sense to buy the one endorsed by the greatest cyclist of all-time. Plus, proceeds from the sale go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research. $1000 [Dick's Sporting Goods]
If you are a fan of NPR, you can show your support by purchasing their exclusive internet radio from Livo. You can listen to NPR member stations from around the country, to the 16,000+ radio stations streaming on the internet, or to the music on your MP3 player. Plus, built-in NPR menus allow classical music fans to easily find, search and bookmark NPR stations, podcasts, and content, by topic or by program. $200 [NPR]
Zambi the baby elephant "responds to your voice and touch with trunk curls, ear wiggles and baby elephant trumpeting and chewing sounds." It also giggles and blows kisses. Surely, your kids will love it, and a portion of the proceeds go to benefit children in Africa that have been orphaned by AIDS. $34 with free shipping [Amazon]

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite charitable gift ideas in the comments—include pic and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Here's a brief history of cellphone cases. In the mid '90s, cases were bringing in a 45% profit margin for manufacturers, and were made of leather and worn either on a belt or hanging from a purse or wrist.

When clamshells became popular in the early to mid 2000s, cases became more-or-less obsolete, as the keys and screen were on the inside of the phone instead of the concrete-shock-absorbing outside. But iPhones and other touchscreen phones make the need for a case more relevant for people who tend to drop their phones.

I'm of two opinions on this. The first is that I have never dropped my phone, or dropped it so badly that it actually broke. But I do know a lot of people who do, so it's hard for me to say that cases aren't necessary for them. So while I may hate cases and think they cover up the nice industrial design of whatever your phone is with an ugly, rubberized finish, it's necessary for people who smear their hands in butter before they take a call. [Slate]

The idea is that customers will buy the handset, but also buy into a lifestyle—and for a change, one that doesn't revolve around apps. Instead, owners of the UNIK would buy little colored squares made from various materials (metal, rubber and transparent beads are mentioned), which can then be stuck together to form covers for the slinky-looking handset.

It's a fun idea, and it reminds me of being a kid in the schoolyard, trading cards or marbles—though hopefully children wouldn't be trading these UNIK squares. They're a choking hazard, surely. [The Design Blog]

When you buy a PC, the most important decision you make is selecting its OS. Do you want Windows 7, for a modern Windows machine-slash-media center? Are you a little more conservative, hanging back with Windows XP? Do you want a lightweight Linux OS on your netbook so you don't have to worry about viruses, or slowdown? Are you a Gentoo purist, building your OS flag by flag, penguin shirt moist from excitement? Or, god forbid, are you a hackintosher? Whatever choice you make, you're making a choice. You're selecting the interface with which you interact with your computer, and by extension, the entire digital world. This makes sense.

But this just isn't how things work in the mobile world. If you want Windows Mobile, you need to buy a Windows Phone, complete with a dedicated Start button. If you want Google's Android, you've got a narrow selection of handsets from a handful of manufacturers, many of which, at least for now, don't even support the same version of the OS. If you think webOS looks cool, buy a Pre. If you like Symbian, import a Nokia or settle for a Samsung. And most predictably, if you like the App Store, Apple—and only Apple—is ready to process your credit card. Like the Touch HD2's obscenely hot hardware, but don't care for Windows Mobile? Tough luck. Think the Droid is a perfect piece of machinery, but don't understand what all this Android hubbub is about? Shut up.

In the last half-decade, we've become acutely aware of what goes into our smartphones. New phones get a spec rundown that mirrors a PC's: Qualcomm processor X! RAM speed Y! Screen technology Z! It fosters a climate ripe for PC-style hardware wars, with new processor architectures competing head to head, an ongoing—and fruitful—resolution race, and each new phone edging out its predecessors with even more onboard storage, or support for a new input or output cable. It's fascinating to watch the competition unfold, but it's even more fascinating to see how tightly grouped development is. These are ARM-based phones, for the most part. They share memory types, display types, cameras, chipsets, processors and often, original device manufacturers. They're the same thing.

When you buy a smartphone, you're stuck with its OS. Your carrier might toss you a few software updates, and if you're particularly gutsy, you might install some custom-baked software of your own, though you're generally stuck with slight variations on and customizations of the handet's default OS. It's as if everyone in the mobile world is emulating what Apple does in the computer space, except worse: at least Macs have Boot Camp, for fuck's sake. (And before they did, they had the PowerPC excuse.)

I know something like this is miles over the horizon—you can't just will new hardware support into existence, and the entire industry is currently built around the bound relationship between software and hardware—and that some hardware (guess which!) is probably doomed to live out its entire life in a hollow monogamous relationship, but it's time for handset manufacturers, along with Google, Microsoft, the Symbian Foundation, and Palm, maybe, to start setting goals. Or at minimum, it's time for us to start asking them to.

For the companies, this would mean working on driver support for common componentry, opening up to the enthusiast communities who already do so much amazing software work on their own, and agreeing on some kind of common bootloader, from which users can choose to install their operating system.

For users, this would mean freedom. Going into 2010, our smartphones are more central to our lives than ever, and it's time to acknowledge that. Consumers treat smartphones like computers. The people who make them, though, treat them like dumbphones; prepackaged products, artificially limited for no good reason—at least, no good reason to the people who buy them.

It must be pretty embarrassing for HTC, with Motorola beating them to the Android 2.0 finish line with its Droid already on sale and performing admirably well. The Passion will be the first Android 2.0 device HTC releases, but by the time it goes on sale it's fair to expect it could be running on 2.1 by then. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz chip, the OLED screen has been sized to 3.5-inches and as you can see from the leaked pics, it comes in a nice graphite shade. It's purdy, in other words.

It's not the only leaked HTC handset we've been privy to, thanks to the leaked roadmap of 2010 launches hitting the net yesterday, and up to 20 new models hidden in the leaked Android 2.1 ROM last week. Even with the Passion's disappointing delay, it looks like HTC is still owning the Android space—game on, Moto. [Digitimes, pic via Unlockr]

In design/Lifestyle there's the Legend and the Salsa, due out in March and June 2010, respectively.

Then there's the Performance line, populated by the Bravo and its 3.7-in. OLED capacitive touchscreen.

The Social scene is comprised of the Tide and the Buzz, due out in April and May 2010.

I think they're social because they come with Twitter and Facebook onboard, which is what passes for being social with a cell phone these days. I kid. The Buzz is the first image up top.

Lastly, in the Productivity category there's the Photon, Trophy and Tera, each due out in April and May (no date for the Tera, however). All three phones are Windows Mobile 6.5.

In the spirit of giving and respect for a scoop, hit up Android and Me for the full specs for each phone detailed here. [Android and Me]

I mean, wasn't the original Verizon ad that started this off about the size of the 3G network? Now AT&T is countering with speed, which is great and all, so long as you don't live in any major U.S. cities like San Francisco, where those speeds are available, occasionally, like a fleeting wind (this according to the Gizmodo guys who live there, particularly Blam).

But a headless Luke Wilson is hi-larious, right? Enough to get consumers to vote with their hearts and not use their heads though? Not a chance. I'm siding with the Misfit Toys on this one.

It's an opinion. It could be off the mark. Let me know in the comments where you fall in this great big objectivity-free ad war between cell phone carriers. [Youtube via CNET]

With these two ads, Tarantino joins a long line of U.S. celebrities who have flown across the Pacific to do zany Japanese commercials. If you'll recall, Brad Pitt did a few Softbank spots not too long ago too. This one though, by far, is the most bat shit insane of them all. [CNET]

I say safe "again" because I honestly don't know where we stand in the back and forth debate between cellphone manufacturers, Chicken Littles and these-are-bad-for-you studies from legitimate scientists.

Were cellphones safe up until now, and this data just reinforces that fact, or was the last study a doom and gloom bombshell that had us all promising to use our phones a few minutes less each day—that is until we realized we love our phones and started using them normally again a few hours later? I can't remember, and neither can my sperm.

In any event, this latest study falls into the "safe" category. Good. And it's a huge study. Also good. Executed by the Danish Cancer Society ad published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the final report details brain cancer rates in Scandinavian countries over the past 30 years. The result? The researchers did not find "any clear change in the long-term time trends in the incidence of brain tumours." There was a slow increase in glioma diagnosis since the 1970s, they note, but the increase could be explained by factors outside of cellphone use. Time to use some minutes!

Regardless of the results, what I do know is that, tumor or no tumor, you'll never catch me wearing a Bluetooth headset. We don't need any additional data on that front. See you all next month when cellphones are bad for you again. [CrunchGear]

The playback is smooth, the sound apt. Iron out some of the interface quirks we spotted last week in that video and we'll have a nice little platform for OEMs to work with once Creative options this thing out into the ether. [Mobile990 via Engadget]

Images are about all that's offered up here. No specs, no dates, no explanation. Just pics and some well-groomed fingernails:

We'll keep an eye out for more. [BGR]

Click the image to view a larger version.

Based in New York City, Shane Snow is a graduate student in Digital Media at Columbia University and founder of Scordit.com. He's fascinated with all things geeky, particularly social media and shiny gadgets he'll never afford.

HDTVs and Monitors

This is the number one cleaning question I get from friends and family, and it's one of the simplest to answer. HDTVs and monitors are the worst kind of dirt magnets, begging to be touched—by your boss who wants to show you something on your computer screen, by your greasy little cousin who's getting restless during his umpteenth viewing of Finding Nemo, by your drunk old buddy from college who somehow still thinks it's funny to grope actresses onscreen on his way to the bathroom—and sitting in total vulnerability: in the case of your LCD screen, within sneezing range; in the case of your flatscreen TV, in your dusty living room.

The tempting, nearly instinctual response to a oily, dusty, mucousy panel of glass or glasslike material is to reach under the sink, grab that bottle of Windex and the paper towels and spray that stuff down. Do not do this. There are some TVs and displays for which Windex will do the job—CRT televisions, for example, and some glass-paneled screens—and if you've been using Windex in the past without incident, don't worry too much. But also, stop.

Spraying any kind of cleaner onto a screen isn't a great idea. These panels aren't weatherproof, so if your sprayed solvent runs into the crack between the panel surface and the display bezel, there will be tragedy. Furthermore, Windex is a glass cleaner: a lot of your screens' outer layers aren't glass, or have some kind of delicate coating. Ammonia-based cleaners, for example, can microscopically abrade some plastic surfaces, causing your screen to become slightly foggy over time. And for your cleaning tool, paper towels aren't terrible, but they're also somewhat risky—screen coatings can be extremely delicate, and paper towels can sometimes be a little rough. Plus, they're prone to leaving streaks, no matter what liquid you're using.

So, what's the trick? Water. Water and a soft, lint-free (ideally microfiber, which is better at picking up greasy smudges) towel. To clean your panel, dampen your cloth and strain it out as best you can—you don't want any drippage here—then run it, folded, gently across your screen, repeating until the screen has been thoroughly covered and any sticky residue has been removed. (For larger displays, perform cleaning in sections, so as not to let the water dry or collect and run.) Now do the same with a dry cloth, applying slightly more pressure, to lift away the dirt and moisture. Repeat if there are still grease deposits. That's it! A few bucks for some soft cloths, a little bit of water, and your screen is as good as new.

And those specialty cleaning kits? They do work, for the most part, but they're not necessary.

TV and Game Controllers

By the time your TV is in need to a deep cleaning, your remote—or your videogame controller—is probably in even worse shape. The kind of dirt a remote gathers is an order of magnitude more disgusting (and more human) than your panel, so you're not just cleaning, you're disinfecting. Interestingly enough, the cleaning method isn't too far from the one above: A damp cloth, with some water. This time, though, you'll want to throw a little isopropyl alcohol in the mix—a 40/60 booze and water split works—to help disinfect the buttons, and remove the oily brown buildups you can get between buttons. Again, soft cloth is better than paper towels, this time it tends to be a bit better at reaching between buttons than stiff, thin paper. Use wooden toothpicks for reaching into cracks, but nothing harder.

These are unique in that they're shared gadgets. And shared gadgets are, almost without fail, fantastic vectors for germs. So what I'm saying is, clean them or die.

Cameras

Body: Cleaning your camera body is like cleaning almost any other gadget—a very slightly damp towel will do the trick. (Though be gentle around openings, since point-and-shoot camera guts lurk awfully close to the surface, and any intruding water can wreak serious havoc.)

Lenses: Lenses are dirt magnets, and if they're dirty, you simply don't get good pictures. They're also delicate and expensive, so you can't just reach in there with a paper towel and be done with it. Lens cleaning kits are available at every camera store, and include a light cleaning solution and microfiber cloth. These are safe bets, but don't spend more than $15 bucks on them. Lens pens also work, but they're a riskier proposition—there's such a limited cleaning surface on those things, and I always get the sense that after a few uses, the cleaning element has been sort of tainted.

Again, though, stay safe with this one: Buy a microfiber cloth, and simply rub the lens with a circular motion until all visible smudges are gone. Never apply too much pressure—any dust or dirt on the lens can get picked up in your cloth and scratch your lens—and fold/refold your cloth to ensure you're using a fresh surface at least once during a lens cleaning.

Two small notes on lenses: Don't forget the clean the rear glass on any DSLR lens. There's a lot less surface area there, and since it spends most of its time inside the camera or a locking lens cover it probably won't be as dirty, so this should take much effort. And if you can, treat each of your DSLR lenses to a UV filter. While this is called a filter, it only block light that humans can't naturally see, meaning that in most photos, the effect will be generally unnoticeable. (More on that here) Point is, you don't have much to lose by buying one of the dirt-cheap filters, and it will provide a layer of transparent protection from dirt and scratches over your lenses at all times. And since they're flat and thin, they're easier to clean than convex lenses.

UPDATE: I've gotten a couple of emails from photo pros about this, and I think it bears mentioning: Before rubbing your lenses, it's good practice to blast them with a little air. Air pumps (like the one mentioned in the following subsection) and canned air will do the job, as will, in a bind, your lungs. The thinking here is that you should remove any potentially abrasive particles from the lens before rubbing it, so as not to drag them around, causing permanent damage. —Thanks, Jody and Ned!

Sensors: Point-and-shoot and bridge camera users don't have to worry about this, but DSLR users, who provide a chance for dirty to enter their camera bodies every time they change a lens, may need to clean a sensor one day. It's not as scary as it sounds!

First of all, you'll never have to actually clean a sensor, since DSLR sensors all have some manner of filter, either IR or UV, built in. But still, the surface is delicate, so you'll want to be cautious. Most cameras include some kind of sensor-cleaning function in their software; since most sensor taint is comprised of a stray speck of dust or two, a quick, severe vibration will usually do the trick.

If that doesn't work, and your photos are showing persistent, faded, unmoving spots in every photo, it's time for phase II: air. For this, I defer to Ken Rockwell:

After 17,000 shots I finally got a speck on my D70. Remember I also change lenses a lot. The Shop Vac wasn't enough. This time I used an ear syringe (blower bulb) from the drug store which you can get here. I put the D70 on BULB and pounded the bulb with my fist to create a jarring blast of air. That worked.

Rockwell advises to use an ear syringe; I'd say go with a purpose-design lens blower, since they're still only about $10, and you'll get better results without running the risk of pulverizing your DSLR's guts while trying to get muscle enough airflow through a hard rubber earwax remover.

Beyond built-in sensor cleaning and a few blasts of air, there are plenty more methods for cleaning a sensor, but they're all risky to varying degrees. Unless you're supremely confident (and careful) it may be best to leave this one to the guys are your local camera shop, assuming you still have one. A ruined sensor, in most cases, is a ruined camera, so tread carefully.

Laptops

Screen grime is the most common cleaning problem with laptops, and with the display cleaning section of this guide, we've got that covered. That said, laptops collect filth in a variety of other ways, and they can get real microbial, real fast.

To clean a typical keyboard—that is, a non-chiclet design—you've got three steps to try. First, use a damp cloth with the aforementioned 40/60 alcohol/water mixture, turn off the laptop, and run it across the keys. Fold it a few times and use the edge to reach between the keys. You can use this same cloth to clean the rest of your laptop as well, excluding the screen, but including the touchpad. If that doesn't do the trick, and you can spot some dust or hair in between keys, it's time for some canned air. You can pick this stuff up at most big box electronics stores or online for $10 or less, and using it is as simple as tilting your laptop sideways, and blowing air in the cracks.

If this doesn't work, it's time to start popping off keys. Since you're disassembling a keyboard that really isn't meant to be taken apart, there's a definite inherent risk here, but the results are practically guaranteed to be good. Here's an extremely thorough guide, if you're game for it. To give you an idea of what this entails, there's a point in this tutorial at which all your laptop's keys are swirling in a cereal bowl full of soapy water. It's gruesome.

Another problem area for laptops is fans, air intake vents and heatsinks. These all stand in the pathway between outside air and your processor, which needs said air to keep cool. Any blockage can cause your laptop to run hot, your fans to run high, and consequently, your battery to run low. Disassembly instructions will vary from laptop to laptop, and typically will involve removing your entire keyboard. Once you've done this, though, removing the dust is a matter of blasting with air, scraping with a clean toothbrush or even just wiping with your finger. It's not about total cleanliness here, it's about clearing your computers' windpipe.

Another helpful trick: Those white, last-gen MacBooks have a disgusting tendency to accumulate a beige (then brown, then black) residue where users' palm touch the laptop. This discoloration is more of a stain than a buildup, so you can't fix it with water or alcohol. The fix? Acetone. Seriously, the best way to wipe that crap off is with nail polish remover.

Desktops

We've covered how to clean most of the external pieces of a laptop already: any plastic surface gets a moist wipe-down; keyboards get compressed air. That's it! Your desktop is sparking clean! This feels so good! Now slide of your desktop's side panel, and weep. If you've had your desktop for more than a few months, and particularly if you keep it in a carpeted room, it's probably an absolute horror show.

The first thing to do is, you guess it, pull out that microfiber cloth. Wipe down every surface that's finished, which is to say covered in rubber (wires) painted (the inside of the case, and the plastic shell of an internal optical drive, or the decorated exterior of a video card) or inert (the blades of a fan, or the exterior of your heatsink). You can slightly dampen the cloth to help pick up dust from the corners of the case, but your probably don't need to, and it's best to keep this a dry operation, beginning to end. Next, whop out that can-o-air, and have at it. Pay special attention to dust buildup areas, like the heatsinks on your processor and video card, and the fan inside your power supply. This will likely cause some dust to resettle elsewhere, so you may need to repeat your wipedown/blow process once more. Again—cleaning the inside of your tower is less about maintaining a spotless appearance than it is making sure dirt, dust and hair buildup won't negatively affect your computer's performance, so don't get too anal about it, cosmetically speaking.

[image via]

Cellphones and Media Players

Cellphones, iPods and other media players are designed to be pocketed, so you can be a little rough on them during the cleaning process. A very slightly damp cloth or paper towel will remove whatever fingerprint or residue your shirt or jeans won't.

As much as these gadgets are intended to live in pockets, they have an irritatingly high number of places for dust to hide itself. Cellphones have keypads, or, increasingly, sets up buttons at the base of a touchscreen or on the sideof the handset, all of which give dirt a place to accumulate. The grilles over cellphones' mics and speakers is another refuge for sludge, and they're totally immune to simple wipedowns. For this, you've got to go one step further. Luckily, you've probably got all the supplies you need in your house already.

Wooden toothpicks and old toothbrushes help reach into cracks and crevices, like those around buttons or running around the perimeter of some display panels. (Samsung and HTC are particularly guilty of leaving spaces in places like that.)

Sometimes, as in the case of the tiny little mic/speaker grilles on some phones, you don't want to push dirt in, but rather pull it out. For those situations, lay a strip of scotch tape over the afflicted area, run your finger over it a few times, and pull it off. If that doesn't work, upgrade to duct tape—though you'll want to be a bit more gentle with that, since applying too much pressure can leave adhesive on your device, which is a pain to wipe off.

Your Tips and Tricks

If you have more cleaning tips and tools to share, please drop some links in the comments-your feedback is hugely important to our Saturday How To guides.

And if you have any topics you'd like to see covered here, please let me know. Happy housekeeping, folks!

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the you hate Japan-only gadgets, click here.

Bandai Tokyo Diorama Speakers: Do you know someone who is fascinated by Tokyo's Ginza district circa 1950? Or someone who constantly listens to the Godzilla Original Motion Picture Soundtrack? These speakers are the perfect gift for that person. Packed with LED lights and all sorts of moving parts, this is not your Kindergartner's diorama. $2000 [Bandai]

Bandai Gyoza Maker: Rolling a gyoza—essentially a Japanese dumpling—can be tough and is an art that is best mastered with practice. But who has time for practice or mastery? If you want to crank out neatly sealed gyozas every time, there's no better way than to do just that: crank them out. With Bandai's gyoza maker, perfect gyozas slide out a chute for your snacking pleasure. It's not the most authentic way to serve up this traditional treat but definitely the most efficient. $55 [GeekStuff4U]

Yamanote Line Watch: Is there someone close to you whose life is a little too stress-free? Who wishes they felt like they were doing something? Going somewhere? Get them the Yamanote Line Watch, a replica of signage on Tokyo's busiest commuter line, and give their life some hair-pulling purpose. [Seahope]

Sauce Dispensing Chopsticks: If you know someone who is proud of having recently mastered chopsticks, throw them a curveball by gifting them this sauce dispensing pair. They have the dual benefit of taking your chopstick game into the 21st century while also eliminating table clutter. This is a perfect gift for the person in your life who is defined as much by their laziness as they are for their love of Asian cuisine. $21[Oh Gizmo]

Fantasy Gift: 9h Capsule Hotel Pod: It's always nice to curl up in a nook (if not necessarily with a Nook) to take a nap, and the 9h luxury capsule hotel in Tokyo provides the nook of all nooks. Each pod is equipped with Panasonic control panels for setting the ambiance—presumably one that lessens the feeling that you paid money to nap in a coffin. Still, having one of them in your house virtually guarantees that no one jumps into bed to bother you while you sleep. [9hours]

Humping Dog USB Drive: Dogs always hump things—it's their nature—so why shouldn't they hump your USB drive? "Because they're too small!" you say. Real dogs may be, but this humping dog USB drive from Digital World Tokyo is a perfect perverted match for your Universal Serial Bus. In the end, though, do you really want to subject your ports to this little dog's dongle? We must urge you not to buy, unless you have a friend who really likes weird stuff. $32 [Digital World Tokyo]

Tuttuki Box: Are you or a love one embarrassed to prod and poke at things in real life? The Tuttuki LCD box lets you jab at miniature pandas, guys, and girls with a digital version of your index finger. If you know someone who is prone to stick appendages into holes, this is surely more adorable than the alternatives. $46 [Amazon]

Gundam Robot Slippers: Everyone can dance the robot. But for some people that's just not enough. Gundam Robot Slippers are the perfect gift for the hardcore robot enthusiast. Not only do they make your feet shiny and big, like a robot's, but the slippers emit a robotic crunching noise with each step. This benefits everyone: you sound more like a robot and the maker you've turned against is alerted that you're coming to destroy them. Gizmodo]

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite gift ideas for weird relatives in comments—include pic and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Maybe we'll finally see a Zing now. [WSJ]

I was at a fraternity house hanging out one night. One of my friends had his iPhone plugged into the speakers so we could have music. We had the usual speaker system, a receiver and some speakers. I was standing near the receiver when All the sudden the iphone cut off and started to smoke. The room filled up with what must have been hazardous smoke. After picking up the iPhone that was still extremely hot, the entire battery had been ejected from the phone and was sitting on the floor. The house smelled like burning electronics for the rest of the night and the iPhone left a square-ish burn mark on the table it was sitting on.

Fortunately, it sounds like the cloud of acrid, poisonous fumes proved to be only a minor inconvenience for the partygoers. Who knows? It might have even enhanced some of their experiences. [Thanks Bobby!]

It's currently most optimized for WebKit browsers—iPhone, Android, webOS and Symbian—but BlackBerrys work too. It's built entirely using Twitter's own APIs, hence the announcement post's title, "Takeout Dogfood." (Why not ice cream?) For now, you'll have to go to mobile.twitter.com to use it, but they'll eventually be transitioning m.twitter.com over to the new site as they work out all the kinks. And so far, it's pretty impressive, even if it does feel a tad slower than I'd like at the moment.

[Twitter, Twitter]

Promising 10 more Androids for the coming months, Motorola's La Jolla sounds like a cheap PAYG at most. Unearthed in source code of the Cliq, the existence of the Motus, Morrison and Zeppelin were confirmed, along with a new one to us—La Jolla. Specs appear to include a Qualcomm 7201A proessor, MAX7359 keyboard and Kionix accelerometer.

Thanks to the newly-released Android 2.0.1 SDK, manufacturers are now able to use differently-sized screens, like the 240 x 400 resolution WQVGA the La Jolla supposedly has. While it won't break any records or wow with its beauty, the La Jolla will help attract the lower-end of the market to Android, thus making it more popular. [AndroidAndMe via PhoneArena]