I’ve wanted an electric toothbrush for a while now and it seemed like a good time to get one seeing as there are all these sales about. It seems to me that they are much better at providing oral care that the traditional toothbrush. The one I chose was the Philips Sonicare Toothbrush.

I brush my teeth on a daily basis just because I dislike going to the dentist so much. I know I should brush them twice a day too, and some days I do, it all depends on how tired I am at night. Now you’re also meant to brush for 3 minutes too. I have to admit that I don’t do that. But with the Philips Sonicare Toothbrush I’ll be able to do that because it has a built in timer function.

There’s no better feeling than clean teeth and there’s no excuse for not looking after them. Spending 2 - 3 minutes in the morning (and evening) is a lot cheaper than visiting the dentist. Nobody likes visiting the dentist do they? The Philips Sonicare Toothbrush has a built in re-chargeable battery that will last you for 40 minutes. That’s 20 brushes before you have to recharge. The Philips Sonicare Toothbrush has 3 cleaning settings too: Zoom, Timed and Sensitive.

Brushing your teeth has never been so much fun and because it’s a gadget I’m sure that it’ll get much more attention than the traditional toothbrush I have. It feels good to be starting the year with healthy teeth and gums.

As 2008 draws to a close I’m going to take time out to look back at some of the best gadgets that the year had to give us. Without a doubt it was the year of the iPhone. The Smartphone from Apple was the most talked about device in 2008. I wonder what Apple have in store for us in 2009? We’ll find out soon enough because Macworld is just around the corner (I expect updates to the Mac Mini and the iMac range). There were other great gadgets in 2008 too, so let us take a look back.

Apple iPhone.
The must have gadget that had everyone talking. Apple introduced touch screen technology to the masses with the innovative iPhone. With it came the mobile iTunes and App stores. Access to thousands of albums and applications were a finger tap away. No doubt Apple has changed people’s expectations of what a mobile device should be.

Twitter
Not a gadget, but a micro-blogging and social networking website. Twitter really took off in 2008 allowing people to blog about what they were doing in 140 characters. Why 140? It’s to do with the amount of character that can fit in a single SMS message. It’s even got the starts twittering. Look out for Stephen Fry, Robert Llewelyn and John Cleese.

Netbooks.
Maybe one of the more surprising gadgets of 2008 were the netbooks that appeared. Sure they were around at the back end of 2007, but these nifty portable and small computers could be carried anywhere without much bother. Their ultra cheap price made sure that they would be popular with people wanting internet access wherever they were.

Blu-Ray.
The battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray finally came to an end with Blu-Ray becoming the champion. But will it be a success? There are already services that allow us to download high definition movies straight to our computers bypassing the need for a disc all together. Is it too late for Blu-Ray to even get off the ground?

There were many innovations during 2008 and I look forward to seeing what the big technology companies have to offer us in 2009. Thinner LCD TV’s will be big I think as well as the Nokia N97 (A possible rival to both the iPhone and G1).

My favourite gadget of 2008 has to be the iPod touch that I got. It’s been absolutely everywhere with me. A truly great gadget. I have nothing more to say to you this year. We’ll start the year off with a look at some exciting upcoming gadgets. Until then, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

I’ve always wanted a projector for some unknown reason, saying that, I do have a reason to want one these days. As some of you may know I’m doing a Special Effects degree and having the ability to see my work on the big screen is always a bonus. There are times when I can’t get to a big monitor or display, so a projector at home would be ideal.

The Acer PD 723P Projector is a great little buy in my opinion. As always I’ll list some of the specs in a minute, but I wanted to tell you why I thought it was a good buy first. Weighing in at 2.3Kg it’s not the lightest projector out there, but it can be transported if you need to. Another great selling point is that the Acer PD 723P Projector is available to buy today for less than £250. That’s amazing value. Now on to those specs:

• 2000 ANSI lumens
• 1 x VGA input - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)
• 1 x composite video input - RCA
• 1 x S-video input - 4 PIN mini-DIN
• 800 x 600 Resolution
• 4000 hours bulb life cycle

As you can see there are no HDMI inputs on the Acer PD 723P Projector, but I am assured it can display HD images. Overall this is a great first time projector. You’re not going to break the bank buying the Acer PD 723P.

I know I said I was going to write about some great sales items today, but I saw this and just had to give it a mention here. The Acer Aspire One is a great little gadget to have. With an 8.9-inch Widescreen, the Acer Aspire One notebook is an ideal solution for portable, on the go, internet browsing.

Featuring the Linpus Linux Lite Version operating system and an Intel Atom 1.60 GHz Processor, the Acer Aspire One is not a lightweight machine by a long shot. It also has a range of other great specs:

• 512 MB onboard SDRAM - upgradeable to a maximum of 1.5Gb
• Intel 945GME Express integrated graphics
• 8Gb SSD HDD
• 5 in 1 card reader
• High Definition Audio
• Integrated Webcam
• WiFi

I bought a laptop a few months back, but would seriously consider getting one of the Acer Aspire One notebooks, simply because of the portability. Recently I had to go to Bolton on the train and decided to take the laptop with me. I wish I hadn’t bothered to be honest. The amount of trouble we had with the trains was unbelievable and getting any work done was nigh on impossible. An Acer Aspire One notebook would have been a much better option because of its small, portable size; it measures 24.9 x 17 x 2.9 cm. Not only is it small and portable, it also boasts a good range of expansion possibilities with its 3 high speed USB ports.

At under £200, you have to seriously consider getting an Acer Aspire One if only for using whilst travelling.

I hope you all got some good gifts from Santa Clause yesterday. I got the usual; toiletries, socks and books. I really appreciate getting these things as gifts, especially the socks - you can never have too many socks!

I think, for the first time in a long, long while that this has been a really good Christmas. No arguing, no burnt food and a happy atmosphere. It really does make all the difference, although I have over consumed most things over these last couple of days.

The best part of Christmas is seeing the little ones opening their mountains of gifts, makes it all worth it, seeing their faces light up when the wrapping paper comes off a certain gift they’ve received. This year it was a bike and construction vehicles. There’s hours of fun to be had with those. We’ve got a sand pit in the back garden and I know that it will be a building site soon for these new toys.

A lot of sales start today too, but it’s far too cold and I’m far too stuffed to venture out. I’ll write about something I really want to get my hands on tomorrow for you. Until then, have a good day!

It’s that time again. Father Christmas is busy delivering gifts to the children of the world; I hope you’ve been good this year. I also hope that you get at least one thing that you really wanted. One of the best gifts I receive at Christmas is socks. I absolutely love receiving them, they one of life’s necessities. Socks seem to disappear in this house. They go in to the wash in pairs, but never seem to come out in pairs. A friend of mine has a theory about this. He reckons that as the washing machine is on its spin cycle, it creates a tiny black hole that only a single sock can pass through.

The sales will be starting on Boxing Day no doubt. Hopefully we can all grab a bargain or two, or three. I’m anxiously awaiting the announcements at MacWorld in early January as this will be a deciding factor for me… I really want to get a Mac. It all depends on available finances to be honest.

There’s nothing I can really suggest for you to buy today is there. You should all have everything done and be settling down with your favourite tipple. Or actually, you should be getting yourself ready for bed. On that note, I wish you all a merry Christmas.

This morning I was testing my compact digital camera and found that it was broken. It always seems to be the case that things break just before Christmas in this house; it was the tumble dryer last week. So I had to get a new compact camera. The one I chose was the Sony W110 Digital Camera.

It’s only 7.2 Mega Pixels, but it’s sufficient for pictures up to A3 size which is fine by me. It’s a compact camera and one that I’ll be using as an everyday camera. I’m aiming for a Digital SLR camera for serious photography, maybe a Canon EOS or a Nikon?

Anyhow, the price was right on the Sony W110 Digital Camera at under £100. I’ve already spent far too much on gifts this Christmas and didn’t want to fork out a lot for a camera so this one looked like the ideal solution. Reviews I’ve read about the Sony W110 Digital Camera all give a positive impression.

The camera has some pretty good specs too:

• 3072 x 2304 resolution
• 2.5″ LCD screen
• 4x Optical Zoom
• 8x Digital Zoom
• HD output
• Focal distance: 5.35 - 21.4 mm
• f (35 mm equivalent): 32 - 128 mm
• BIONZ image processor
• Colour enhancement and noise reduction system
• Automatic face detection for children and adults
• Automatic smile detection

I’m pretty excited about some of the features in the Sony W110 Digital Camera and look forward to trying them out when I get the camera. This leads me to my only gripe. The Sony W110 Digital Camera will not arrive until the 24th December. I hope that I’ll have enough time to charge the batteries and figure out the controls of it.

As a last minute gift for the home I decided to get the Breville DF30 Fryer. The reason I decided to get a new fryer was quite simple; the old one is broken. Quite frankly it’s dangerous to use. The Breville DF30 Fryer seems like a better option because it won’t have to be moved every time I need it. At the moment we have a deep fat fryer that’s a bit too big, so it gets put away after use. The Breville DF30 Fryer is compact enough to be left in the same spot.

I’ve not actually got it out of the box yet, so can’t tell you too much about how good it is as a fryer. I’m hoping it will be better than the current one. We actually have to use a fork to get the basket out of the oil, the connector broke on the handle. Thinking back, I’ve found that this is usually the first part to go on all the deep fat fryers we’ve had.

The Breville DF30 Fryer has some pretty good specifications though, and I hope that it’s easy to use. Some of these specs are:

• 3.6 litre capacity
• 2kg food capacity
• 2000 watt
• new lid design with filter and viewing window
• removable stainless steel bowl
• thermal cut off
• variable temperature control
• cool zone technology
• totally disassembles for effortless cleaning
• power on and temperature indicators
• brushed stainless steel lid and body
• carrying handles
• cord storage

These are all reasons that I decided on the Breville DF30 Fryer. Looking forward to the first batch of chips from the Breville DF30 Fryer now.

I thought it would be best to remind you all to get the most important things this and every other year… Batteries!!! People always seem to forget the batteries for the toys they buy for some reason. It’s something that’s overlooked each and every year in this house. I can’t tell you why though.

People should buy the batteries at the same time as they buy the gift really shouldn’t they. I keep telling myself that I’ll get the batteries cheaper at such and such store, but almost always never make it to that particular shop. Or it’s a case of “I’ll get them online”.

I’m sure that I’m not alone; there are thousands of you that do the same. I’m willing to bet on it. I always remember being disappointed when I found out a gift needed batteries and there were none in the house! I remember getting a remote control car and in those days they didn’t come with rechargeable batteries like they do now. I had to look at the car for four days before there was a shop open to get batteries!

Don’t make the same mistake folks. Christmas falls on a Thursday this year, so chances are you may not be able to get to a shop until Monday, or worse still Wednesday! Luckily, PriceGrabber can find you the cheapest batteries on the internet. We all know that it’s the last shopping weekend before Christmas and that it’s going to be really, really busy every where. Don’t over look the simple things like batteries; get them ordered online today to avoid disappointment on the big day.

It looks very likely that this year’s must have Christmas gift is the Wii Fit. It’s virtually sold out everywhere, or at least the Wii Fit without a Wii is. My sister has been trying in vain to get her hands on one. Sure, she can get one from eBay if she’s willing to pay over the odds for it.

I don’t see the appeal of the Wii Fit personally, but I suppose the kids will love it. Interaction at it’s best possibly?

I remember last year (and the year before) when everyone was trying to get hold of the Wii and it was out of stock. Nintendo are certainly doing well out of this. Is it good marketing or just lack of products? My money is on good marketing and hype generation.

Nintendo have certainly got it right with the Wii and the Wii Fit. There are better games consoles out there. Ones with better graphics and better games, but people seem to love the Wii…. I don’t know why that is. Simplicity of game play perhaps?

It’s certainly true that there will be a lot of disappointed kids all over the country come the morning of the 25th when Father Christmas fails to deliver the goods. I don’t understand why people don’t buy these things when there is plenty of stock in the summer. Oh well, you can bet that the same thing will happen next year too, but with a different gadget.
I’ve searched PriceGrabber for the Wii Fit, but alas to no avail. Even they can’t find any. They do have the actual Wii Console and other accessories though.