Holiday Gifts and Thoughts

Now that we have passed "Black Friday" and "Cyber-Monday" the holiday shopping is getting even more serious as there is still plenty of shopping left to do. As the weekend winds down here are some of my thoughts on what is going on, at least as far as technology shopping goes:

• The shopping mall parking lots look to be quite full, not that I have any intention of actually going to a mall when there are so many ways to do my shopping on-line.
• Of course the key to on-line shopping is to get your shopping done early enough to take advantage of the free or low cost shipping. As we get closer to the holiday's having to pay for expedited shipping takes away much of the incentive for shopping on-line (other then avoiding the crowds).

• Even with my significant use of Catalog Choice I am still getting way too many catalogs in the mail and spending too much time stripping and recycling them. Even catalogs I like such as the great writing and productivity tools found at Levenger come way too often to be of any use.
• The need to constantly reinvent yourself is evident as I look through the very nice offerings from Wind & Weather and wonder why anyone still buys weather instruments (other then for purely decorative purposes) given the amount of weather info available via the Weather Channel or nice browser tools as Forecast Fox that keep you as current as needed on the current weather conditions as well as what is coming.
• Speaking of reinventing, there are some very interesting new products out this year including a power outlet that combines power and USB outlets in one standard wall outlet. In addition, I like the concept behind HP's DreamScreen 100 combining a digital picture frame with music delivery as well as access to social networking sites. The jury is still out on HP's execution, but for the earlier adopters out there it may be the product to go with this holiday season.

Well time for all of us to get back to shopping, but hopefully today's Holiday Gifts and Thoughts post will help all of you in your holiday shopping efforts.