The Theatre comes with a 3-inch capacitive touch screen, a built-in FM tuner and accelerometer, plays all your standard digital files and has a 12-hour audio battery life. Haier's also apparently throwing in 35 free music downloads and a free audio book if you sign up for a 14-day trial with eMusic, but even without that that hassle you're looking at a pretty great deal. [CrunchGear and MobileTechReview]

I call this a deal on a phone with a terrific UI on a terrific network, but I'd pay double these rates if the Palm had a more sizable app library. But if your'e set on palm, remember what we said: For $80, even if 3x as much, the Pre is a much nicer piece of hardware. All Things D's John Paczkowski says it best: "If Things Get Really Bad, Palm's Pixi Will Make a Great Happy Meal Prize" [Amazon via All Things D]

Sony HDR-UX20
Format(s) Supported : HD: MPEG4 AVC/H.264 SD: MPEG2

2 3/8 x 3 3/4 x 5 3/8 inch (58 x 93 x 134mm)
1 lb 3 oz (560g) with Battery

Memory Stick slot : Memory Stick PRO Duo™ Media
Microphone : Yes (Built-in Zoom)
S/S & Zoom button on LCD : Yes
Viewfinder : Color Wide 16:9 (123K Pixels)

Imaging Device : 1/5" ClearVid™ CMOS sensor (with Exmor™ technology)
Pixel Gross : 2300K
Processor : BIONZ™ image processor
Recording Media : 3" (8cm) DVD (DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+RW/DVD+R DL), internal Flash memory (8GB), Memory Stick Duo™ Media, Memory Stick PRO Duo™ Media
Still Actual : 1990K Pixels (4:3), 1490K Pixels (16:9)
Still Picture Resolution : 4 megapixel
Video Actual : 1120K Pixels (4:3), 1490K Pixels (16:9)
Video Resolution : 1920 x 1080

Sony HDR-UX20
Format(s) Supported : HD: MPEG4 AVC/H.264 SD: MPEG2

Weights and Measurements
Dimensions (Approx.) : 2 3/8 x 3 3/4 x 5 3/8 inch (58 x 93 x 134mm)
Weight (Approx.) : 1 lb 3 oz (560g) with Battery
Assignable Dial : N/A

Flash : Yes
Manual / Auto Lens Cover : Auto
Memory Stick slot : Memory Stick PRO Duo™ Media
Microphone : Yes (Built-in Zoom)
S/S & Zoom button on LCD : Yes

Viewfinder : Color Wide 16:9 (123K Pixels)
Imaging Device : 1/5" ClearVid™ CMOS sensor (with Exmor™ technology)
Pixel Gross : 2300K
Processor : BIONZ™ image processor

[Sony — Thanks Hawkskater0]

The good news is that when Microsoft said that their red ring problems are fixed on newer units, they were probably right. They went to "an unnamed ASIC vendor based in the United States and redesigned the chip." Probably ATI, is what EETimes thinks. Moral of the story is to not skimp on chip design so you can save tens of millions, because that may come back and bite you in the ass down the road. [EETimes]

Seth Sandler, an undergraduate student at UC San Diego, built a portable multi-touch pad out of a cardboard box, a piece of glass, paper, and his Philips SPC900NC webcam. The camera picks up on the shadows created by your fingers when they're placed on the pad's surface. A tracking software then transfers the motions onto a computer screen. Multi-touch goodness at an incredibly low cost—looks like I can afford to eat this month after all! [New Scientist]

Hop-On markets the phone as an ideal choice for kids, teens, seniors, and world travelers. If you ask me, it also sounds like a good option for anyone who... well... may not want the government tracking their activities, if you know what I mean. [Telecoms.com]

Sure, you could just visit gasbuddy.com on a mobile phone that has a web browser, but if you've already GotMobio then why not add this one as well? That is, if you don't live on a farm, otherwise the whole suite is pretty worthless. And gas is pretty cheap there anyway (it's almost $4 here in the Bay Area). – Jason Chen

Product Page [GetMobio]

Also announced are two 17-inchers and three 19-inch models, all varying in specs and colors. Surprisingly, the prices are very reasonable. The 17-inch models are $160, the 19-inch models are between $200 and $230 and the big 22-inch beast is only $330 (!!). Too bad they aren't shaped like firetrucks or french fries. –Travis Hudson

HANNS.G ships five LCDs [Electronista]

Get an FM radio monkey for anyone who's born in the year of the monkey or just acts like a monkey. $16. Product Page [e-Goods via Technabob via ubergizmo]

This Al Bundy look-alike will hold your tape, pens and paper clips. Guess where the paper clips are. $19. Product Page [Gifts for Professionals via nerd approved]

Nerd laptops sleeves will show everyone you're a nerd even before you take out your laptop with all the Warhammer 40K stickers on it. $35. Product Page [Barrysfarm via Techie Diva]

Talk to the fist, because the finger ain't listening. $29. Product Page [Things You Never Knew via Nerd Approved]

The card itself will be under $50 but still feature DX9 and 128MB of RAM (possibly less depending on which manufacturer you buy from), which means you'll be able to do at least a little gaming while you hoard your money away like a squirrel with law school loans. – Jason Chen

Press Release [nVidia via Slashgear]

Now Jajah's taken their mobile web page and made it PSP compatible. Now, this doesn't quite mean that you can make calls with your PSP. It just means you can use your PSP with Wi-Fi and initiate a Jajah call to go to your cellphone. Useful if you're using a really old phone that doesn't have at least a WAP browser. – Jason Chen

PSP (PlayStation Portable) gamers around the globe: Call with JAJAH! [Jajah]

French ISP Neuf Cegetel has come up with a computer that costs pas beaucoup. $53 buys you the computer gets you a month's worth of computer plus ADSL line rental, $39 gets you a mouse, keyboard and camera, and a 14-inch color monitor is $132.

UPDATE: That's about $13 a month more than a broadband subscription, so the computer will cost you $156 a year.

Admittedly, you don't get a lot for your 50 bucks-plus—a 512KB flash disk, Linux operating system, Firefox, Abiword and Gnumeric spreadsheet, but the computer—which looks like something Barbarella might have watched Desperate Spacechicks on, is compatible with all sorts of peripherals, including external hard drives, Internet phone headsets and digital cameras.

The $53 initial outlay is just $13 more than the cost of an average broadband subscription in the land of the Fromage-Mangeurs. Perhaps it is a ploy by Neuf Cegetel to get more people online, as just 61 percent of French homes have computers, compared with the European average of 64 percent. But that's still way behind the 75 percent over here. Another pic and video after the jump.

– Ad Dugdale

France caters to market for most simple of computers [International Herald Tribune]

How does it work? Well, just visit jajah.com from either your PC or your smartphone's browser, log in, and enter in the person you want to call. Jajah will call you, then the recipient, and connect the two. The best part is that if the person you're calling is also a Jajah member, the call is free (barring any mobile minutes you burn up on your cellphone plan).

We spoke with Jajah yesterday gathered additional information.

Jajah says they have 70-ish phones supported right now, and any phone with a mobile browser should be able to log in and initiate calls. They've also got Java and Symbian plugins for an embedded version, so you won't have to pull up the webpage—you can start the call from the app.

The service is mostly targeted at mobile professionals and people who have family over seas. Instead of making expensive calls from their cellphones, they can have Jajah initiate the call and pay substantially less. It's not quite cheaper than using Skype or even a calling card, but unless you're always in the office or always have your calling card with you, this is an easier alternative.

As for the quality, Jajah claims that from what they've seen, most people can't tell the difference between a Jajah call and a standard call. We had noticeable delay on one of our test calls between two cellphones, but Jajah blamed that on the quality of the "last mile" provider, aka, the cellphone provider.

There are also conferencing and scheduling features, which makes getting together with multiple people cheaper and easier (if you've got their information entered in) than otherwise.

Although the price is a bit more expensive than other options, the convenience of being able to dial up people from your smartphone makes Jajah something worth looking into. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Jajah]

Mobile users sign up above first, then go to:
mobile.jajah.com

Some may take longer to reach the break-even point than others—like the Toyota Prius and a residential windmill, for example—but a couple of them should see returns in a few weeks.

Some notable examples are the battery charger, the electricity usage monitor, an espresso machine, a coin sorter, and even a laptop. Laptop? Yes, if you're cheap enough that you take your laptop to the library or the book store to siphon off their electricity, you can indeed save money with a laptop. – Jason Chen

25 Gadgets That Actually Save Money [The Simple Dollar]

Product Page [Via uberreview]

Everex NC1500 [Everex]
Everex StepNote NC 1500: $500 Green Laptop [CrunchGear]

Product Page [Sanyo via DigitalTrends]

Evergreen [via Trusted Reviews]

"It, however, said that the project of the Intel has all the functionalities of a common computer, being able to twirl an operational system complete, as the Windows, without the necessity of a simplified version."

We've never had a problem with twirling anything, but this might take the cake. Look for the $400 laptop in more developed developing nations like Brazil, India, and China.

Intel wants in on the bargain-basement laptop market [ArsTechnica]

What we have here are a set of hot lights on a tripod with blue-tinted photography bulbs, a diffuser made of an Ikea clothes rack and a sheet, and some reflectors made from car windshield shades. The result is an inexpensive, easy-to-use photo set-up on the cheap.

Putting Together a Budget DIY Lighting System [Shuttertalk]

Five Mice Under $20 [ExtremeTech]

Only the best here at CES, baby. I walked by this lovely display of $1 DVDs. Mostly all animated stuff. I noticed that all the characters in the movies looked like they were drawn in Japan, whether it was Alice in Wonderland or KidsSongs. This led me to believe that these cost about 5 cents to make and hence, they can be sold at $1 for an insane profit. Either that or someone's got a really horrible collection of stuff they want to sell.

If you're tired of investing in the coolest, most expensive cell phones on the market, the winds of change may be blowing. Looks like chip companies have been banding together to bring us phones as cheap as $20 by 2007. Promising us the quality we're accustomed to, the companies are saying that the key to making lower-priced handsets is building in fewer features, and are now working to do things such as integrate key functions into a single chip for just $5. Not bad. Right now, phone producers use about 150 components to assemble a phone; this would obviously ratchet that down—hopefully to around 50 components.

With production prices at that level, the wholesale price of a handset, which includes distribution and other costs, will be at or below $20," said Horst Pratsch, vice president for Entry Platforms at German chip maker Infineon. "Most consumers get their phones directly from their wireless operator, and the retail price is based on the wholesale cost to mobile carriers."

Chip makers drive race to $20 cellphones by 2007