By the looks of things...very. But if that isn't your cup of tea there are plenty of other Shapeways designs to choose from: Wiimote, Link's shield and Pokemon to name a few. Each stylus can also be personalized with tiny, tiny text. If you are looking for a bargain, plastic versions run about $10. [Shapeways via Kotaku]

The Price: $300

The Verdict: The Stylus Tough 6000 is waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof to 5 feet, can withstand temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. In this camera, Olympus even acknowledges the fact that its xD format is pretty much useless, and includes a MicroSD adapter, so you can buy a much more useful MicroSD card instead. (I used a 4GB SDHC one for this test, and didn't notice any performance holdbacks.)

As much as the puke yellow finish didn't really go over well with the rest of my ski party, it's easy to see in the snow, one of many characteristics that jive with Blam's key requirements for a good snow gadget. It did get a little scratched up as you can see in the gallery, but the scratches were superficial, and kinda made it look tough.

Besides sheer durability, Oly added some great UI enhancements. I typically don't give Olympus much credit for UI, but the main controls are straightforward and the icon-based menu is less confusing than the menu on most cameras.

I didn't have much trouble controlling the camera with heavy gloves on—the zoom buttons and scroll wheel are laid out correctly for that—but the UI addition that makes this a real Snowmodo contender is the tap control: You toggle between shooting and reviewing, and change flash and macro settings, just by tapping the sides and top of the camera. It sounds weird, and at first it's a little confusing, but it takes just minutes to figure out, and once you do, you'll love it.

One big problem I ran into was that video resolution and frame rate were both set, as a default, to the lowest specs (QVGA, 15fps). So the video you see below is a little choppy and low-res, in spite of the fact that I could've shot 30fps VGA. I didn't realize how bad my video was—and how much better it could have been—until after our days on the slopes had ended. The fact that there's no HD sucks in this day and age, but I am sure Oly will get there soon. BTW, someone a lot better (at skiing) than me shot this:

Camera wise, there were some great things and some not-so-good things. It's a basic 10-megapixel 3.6x optical zoom with a great wide-angle setting for one-armed self portraits and shooting in tight areas. I am partial to including the sun in outdoor shots because I like lens flares, but in this case, the optics were a little weird: During video shooting, the lens flare was a blinding bar, straight up and down, and in the still shot, I got the mushy pink flare you can in one of the following four sample shots:

And though the 6000 is good for most daytime outdoor shooting, it's no good indoors without a flash or tons of ambient light, meaning it's not the best choice for everyday use. To pay $300 for a camera you only use on vacations might sting a bit, but hey, if you're into destination-oriented pursuits like snorkeling and snowboarding, $300 for a great beat-around camera might sound pretty reasonable. [Olympus Product Page]

Snowmodo is our snow sport winter meet up at Lake Tahoe, with prizes, discounts, tons of fun snow activities, a party and GADGETS. If you can make it (and people are coming from TEXAS) please RSVP. I'll let you wear my hat (below).

The Pogo Sketch looks pretty similar to previously-released Pogo Stylus for the iPhone (and probably uses the same type of tip), except that it's a little bit bigger. And there's no special tech at play here, except a foam-type tip, so it won't add any professional-level tablet features to your trackpad. It merely provides a way to use a capacitive surface without your finger.

But if you don't want to kick down for a real Wacom tablet, need to draw a couple of quick things, and don't want to look like you have Alzheimer's, this might do the trick. I mean, it's only 15 bucks. [One Ten via Gizmag]

The Price: $750

The Verdict: If the Kindle was the Sidekick of ebook readers, the iRex 1000S would be the G1. Its functionality is broad, but it lacks the stability, comfort and focus of Amazon's perennially sold-out little snow speeder.
As a technology statement, the iRex is impressive: It's the first ebook reader I've played with that has a 10-inch E-Ink screen. I'd seen the displays at tradeshows, but having one in my hand is different. It's nice to have all of that real estate without a lot of weight and no backlight or glare. (I'm assuming the E-Ink upgrade is the main cause for the 1000S's Hugh Jass price tag.) This is also the first ebook reader I know of with a Wacom touchscreen and an accompanying, almost Windows-like interface of pop-up menus and floating dialog boxes, plus the more typical launcher-style icons. This UI reveals the reader's computer roots, which is exciting but also frustrating.

In the US, the debate between the Kindle and the Sony Reader is one of closed platform versus open one. (Ironic that Sony is the "open" platform here.) The Sony does have a DRM-heavy ebook retail operation, but it also plays, among other things, the many free PDF-format ebooks that are widely available on the internet. iRex doesn't really help you buy books, but rather it equips you with a versatile array of options for easing "large documents" into its memory.

For one, you can "print" to the 1000S. It sounds high tech, but it basically involves converting the document you're looking at in Windows to a special format that gets saved on the 1GB SD card the 1000S calls its home drive. Another means to get content is PressReader, a third-party Windows app that securely transmits "800 newspaper titles from 81 countries, including The Telegraph, Washington Post, USA Today, Die Welt, NRC Handelsblad, Le Figaro..."

The 1000S currently supports Adobe PDF, TXT, HTML as well as the DRM'd Mobipocket PRC, but I couldn't figure out quite how to introduce the PRCs I did have to the system. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying the process isn't as easy as 1, 2, 3. Along those lines, there's a folder marked "Audible," and another marked "music," but it wouldn't take my Audible recordings or MP3s and besides, without a speaker or headphone jack, I'm not quite sure what they'd do with them anyway.

A perfect example of how this advanced device makes no sense for Grandma (or even Mom, Dad, Big Sis, Big Bro, your kids, or any but the most nerd-tastic of your friends and neighbors) is the dictionary look-up function. I can set the stylus to instantly look up words that I tap, but when I do, the 1000S can't find any dictionaries. The nice thing is, you can add as many dictionaries as you want to the thing, but I don't happen to know where digital dictionaries come from. Maybe I'm dumb, but technology is supposed to help me with that, not make it all the more painfully obvious.

I wanted to like the iRex. Its nine capacitive buttons are a fun departure from the typical interfaces of the day, though I found myself using the stylus most of the time to get around. That scared me, because, as a Wacom touch surface—which you can even draw on—the screen itself doesn't react to your finger. Lose that stylus, and you lose the easiest way to work the thing.

Though I am someone who thinks that a gadget like this is only as good as the lush garden of content surrounding it, I can see how people who are into shadier sourcing of ebooks would find the 1000S a way cooler alternative to Sony's Reader. But for those people, I just hope that iRex works to make the firmware less buggy. In the few days I've been using it, I've had numerous freezes and crashes, and several full-battery false alarms—I thought the thing was fully charged only to find out, a half hour later, it was running on fumes.

If you do buy one—and the daring (+ rich) among you may want to—whatever you do, don't pop out the SD card without selecting "Safely Remove." That's as bad as stealing Jobu's rum. As in, very bad. [Product Page]

The 1040 is a super-slim cam, and in fact, the thinnest Stylus yet. It ditches the big zoom lens typical of other Olympus cameras for a more common slick, boxy style with flat controls on the back. As far as specs go, it's basically the 1050 SW without the huevos, a 10.1MP point-and-shoot with 3x optical zoom and a 2.7" LCD screen. Also out in October, the 1040 will run $200. [Olympus]

The Price: $400 retail, we've seen it as low as $340.

The Verdict: It's tougher than Glass Joe, but it's no Mike Tyson.

I tested the 1030SW under fairly rigorous conditions, and for the most part it stood up to the challenge. After dropping the camera to the ground from around six feet, it took pictures without any problem. Next was the underwater test. I didn't take it to the limit, but I did bring it with me in the tub. The camera works under water, and there are options designed for capturing images of sea life. The pictures didn't come out too well, but that could be my fault as it is likely designed to shoot fish in clear water and not sitting in a bathtub, taking pictures of my...er...feet.

Things got a little trickier during the freeze and crush tests. I left it in the freezer for about two hours, and when I took it out I had a "Battery Empty" message. Worried that I damaged the camera, I let it thaw and it came back to full power after 10-15 minutes. For the crush test, I placed all 170+ pounds of myself on top of the camera. At first I heard a little unnerving crunch, and when I picked it up, I saw what looked like a crack in the LCD screen. However, after about 15 seconds, it went away and I was left with the same crack-free screen I had when I started.

As for the pictures, they came out well for the most part. In optimal conditions, they looked great. When I was under water, or in a dimly lit room the snapshots left a little something to be desired. I was able to correct some of the shots with the various exposure options, but it's still a point-and-shoot.

If you are going on an outdoor adventure and looking for a light, easy camera to take, this is a good bet. I wouldn't recommend pushing it to the advertised limits, but it's definitely sturdier than other cameras in its price range. [Olympus]

• Canon PowerShot SD870 IS: $295
• Canon PowerShot S5 IS: $336
• Olympus Stylus 790SW: $224
• Olympus Stylus 820 Red: $191
• Sony VAIO VGN-FZ220U/B Notebook: $1200 (Biggest discount of the bunch, retails at Newegg for $1300 and Amazon for $1500)

Some of the items don't stand out on price alone, but free three-day shipping and bundled accessories sweeten these deals. All of the cameras include 1GB memory cards and cases so little Sally won't spit on your feet when she finds out you bought her a present that is missing a key piece. Check the I4U link for the full rundown, and start shopping! [Newegg via I4U]

The Stylus 820 is a bargain-priced $249.99, and it has a 2.7-inch viewscreen, a 5x optical zoom and 8-megapixel sensor on board. Spend 80 more bucks ($329.99) and you get an 8-megapixel Stylus 830 that now has dual image stabilization, combining both digital image stabilization (which we haven't been too impressed with on its own) with good old mechanical sensor-shift stabilization. Olympus says this trickery can smooth out camera shake and also somehow reaches out and stabilizes subjects who are moving around a lot. Got kids? Good luck with that. For that wizardry you sacrifice .2 inches on the LCD viewscreen, slightly smaller at 2.5 inches.

That Stylus 830 shares a cool feature with the Stylus 1200, called In-Camera Panorama, just like what was introduced on the Olympus SP-560 UZ. Instead of futzing with putting together all those groups of panoramic shots in an image editing application, this baby can take three pictures for you as you pan across a scene, and then stitches them all together for you right there inside the camera. Neat. That 12-megapixel Stylus 1200, the top of the Stylus group for $349.99, gives you a faster f/2.8 lens (the other two are f/3.5) but for that you have to give up a bit of zoomosity; it packs a 3x optical zoom instead of the 5x of the other two Styli.

All three of these pocket-sized point-and-shooters will be available next month. [Olympus]

As is the case across the point-and-shoot camera landscape, this tough little Stylus 790W adds face detection technology, automatically adjusting focus and exposure for those lovely mugs you're snapping so many pictures of. Olympus has also made its imaging system a little more intelligent, keeping the 7.1 megapixels but adding a TruePic III image processor to reduce that pesky graininess. It's also smart enough to compensate for seriously backlit situations, taking out some of the contrast when shadow areas look way too dark. Neat.

It keeps a lot of the other features of its predecessor, such as that 3x optical zoom lens with digital image stabilization and the 2.5-inch LCD that we liked so much when we saw it in Vegas. For the frivolous, Olympus now makes this slim babe in pretty (and some not-so-pretty) colors, too, as you can see in the images in the gallery.

And then the best news we saved for last: After all that new coolness, when the 790SW ships in September it'll be cheaper than its predecessor, just $299.99 compared to the retail price of $380 for the old Stylus 770SW. Not quite the level being disposable yet, but a great price break nonetheless.

Only available in Japan (or through an importer), the official NDS Pencil Stylus is basically your regular DS/DS Lite stylus, but thicker. The stylus lacks lead and therefore has no need for an eraser. If you think holding a pencil will improve your game (but won't help on your homework), you can grab one for a costly $10 import, around $5 less than what you might pay for the added frills of the HORI package. – Kevin Hall

Buy it [videogame.brando.com.hk via technabob]

Cheapassgamer [via TechEBlog via Kotaku]

Use your ballpoint pen as a stylus [AVING]

This 770SW is one tough customer, but its compact size still allows for 2.5-inch color viewfinder. It's a 7.1-megapixel shooter with a 3x zoom, and feels incredibly solid. That viewscreen is tack-sharp, too. All this toughness isn't cheap, though—the camera will set you back $380. Neat stuff, and worth it. Take a look at the hands-on gallery for some close-up peeks. – Charlie White

Product Page [Olympus]

Seriously, this is a bad idea. Unless of course you're Bruce Dickinson and want one of these to go along with your solid gold diapers. – Jason Chen

W-ZERO3 [Coffret Jewlry via Kotaku]