Xtatix Freefone FM

We played with one of these last year and they made a good running companion. Essentially, it's a screenless MP3 player inside a pair of light headphones. Well, they've upgraded this little fellow with an FM tuner and 1GB of flash memory. Potentially good for running on the treadmill and listening to the TV piped over the FM band, perhaps? $89.99 with rebate. More »

xtatix Hands-On

Checked out the MP3-tastic goodies at the xtatix booth. Standard fare—mini MP3 players, FM receivers/transmitters, all shiny, all precious. Was especially impressed with the earphone MP3, the Freephone. It's a light flash player, feels like only a few ounces. It uses a unique USB connector that basically looks like a mini-audio jack which powers the battery and updates the device. Special hotness: it works just like a flash drive, so none of that PlaysForSure bullshit DRM needed. More »

Grandma Essay Contest - Somebody's In Trouble

OK. I'll admit I was pretty lax with the rules of this contest and that's my own fault. But it seems that entrant Andy has 8900+ friends or, as he admitted, a very simple PHP script and Asheesh, who ran up in the polls pretty quickly which is fishy, might have also used a script. While I commend them on their hack-i-tude, I've decided, since we didn't really have any rules to begin with and a number of contestants took it upon themselves to twiddle the numbers for no good reason, to name Donna the winner because quite obviously she doesn't specifically care if she wins or loses or else she would have written some Perl script. More »

Grandma Essay Winner - Vote For Your Favorite

Well, we've finally reached the end of a long, hard battle. I can honestly say that some of these entries were pretty good and, thanks to my crack judges David and Scott, we can honestly say that the following five entries are some of the best "Give Grandma a Gadget" writing to come out during 2005 in the Month of August on the First Day of Said Month. Read on after the jump and then make your choice at the very bottom of the story. Remember, our contestants are vying for the charming Pocket Candy by Xtatix. Every vote counts! More »

Grandma Essay Runners-Up

Well, today is the day. Is everyone excited? I know I am. Before we post the top essays, we decided to post a few of our favorite essays which didn't quite make the final cut but were worth sharing. More »