When I saw the movie Wall-E, I knew I’d just seen another Pixar masterpiece. Pixar, maker of hit after animated hit, including Toy Story and Toy Story 2; Finding Nemo; Monsters Inc.; and my favorite animated movie of all-time, The Incredibles, is great because they realize it’s all about story, not great animation (although the animation is great).

Wall-E has been out on DVD for a few months now (of course, I got it immediately), but if you’re a serious fan (or your kid), you can get your own Wall-E.  The U Command Wall-E is a remote controlled robot made by Thinkway Toys. It has more than 1,000 combinations of motions, voices, and actions it can do. The eyes light up, it uses the original movie voice and even has sound effects.

Those of you with children are lucky; you can (and should) say you bought it for little Mikey or Ann. You see, if it’s for them, your spouse will probably go for it. Then, of course, you’ll have to play it with them!

If you prefer Wall-E’s main squeeze, the little white vixen Eve, you can go for her instead.

And by the way Pixar, I’m still waiting for The Incredibles 2. See, it starts with the Underminer taking an orphan hostage and back to his underworld lair…

So, I’m sitting here in the living room, keeping one eye on the TV while working on my laptop. Next to me are a remote for my receiver; one for my DirecTV dish; one for the DVD player; and one for the TV. That’s four remotes, and for my money, that’s three too many. It’s time for an all-in-one remote, and here’s what I’m thinking about getting:The Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote.

I know Logitech more from its computer peripherals, mostly mice (mouses?), of which I’ve owned many. I’ve always liked the company’s attention to detail.  As far as price goes, it’s one of the more reasonably-priced universal remotes on the market. It can control up to 12 components — more than enough for  anyone this side of Bill Gates.

Programming the remote can be done using instructions from an included CD or from the Logitech Website. Logitech even has an online wizard to help you with the programming chores. In all, the Harmony looks like a winner — and I know I’d surely rather use one remote than messing around with (and trying to keep track of) four!

Netflix, the Internet-based movie distributor, has figured out a way to deliver movies to you without going through the mail. It’s called the Netflix Player, and is made by a company named Roku.

The Player delivers movies to your TV set through your broadband Internet connection (if you’re on dial-up, you’re unfortunately out of luck). Through an onscreen guide, you decide what movie you want to wach. Pick the movie, start the download, then start watching! You set up a Queue, just you like you do with your normal Netflix service (note that you need an Unlimited Netflix account to use the Player. They start at $8.99 per month.) Netflix says it has more than 12,000 movies and TV shows ready to go, with many of them in HD.

The Player, which retails for $99, comes with multiple inputs, so you can hook up an HDTV, plasma, or an old barker of a set with ancient analog outputs.

I haven’t used the Player. I have, however, used Netflix often in the past, and found their service to be top-notch. If you’re a movie addict, it’s definitely worth checking out. It beats ordering movies online, then having to wait several days for the little red envelope to show up in your mailbox.

Many people complain about Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop operating system market. There are only a few choices beyond Windows XP or Vista — namely, Mac from Apple (there is Linux for the uber-geek crowd, but tech mortals still mostly avoid it).

Well, the exact opposite situation exists in the music player world — there’s iPod from Apple, and everyone else. That includes Microsoft, which makes the Zune MP3 player. Zune is Microsoft’s “iPod” killer. Fat chance of that, of course, but Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into the Zune, to make it at least a viable alternative.

And it is that. The latest update is 3.0, and includes a bunch of new features. There are new capacity players, including 16GB and 120GB devices. But two of my favorite improvements are to Zune Pass and the FM player.

Zune Pass costs $14.95 per month. For that flat fee, you get to download unlimited songs and use them on up to three computers and three players. Until now, however, you didn’t get to keep them; merely use them — if you let your subscription lapse, you lost your songs. Under the new plan, you get to keep up to 10 songs per month for good. That means Zune Pass effectively costs $4.95 per month. It’s a heckuva deal.

The other neat new feature has to do with the FM tuner. Let’s say you’re listening to the radio, and hear a song you like. You can select the song in Zune, and the next time you sync with your computer, it will be ready for you to buy. If you have wi-fi access, you can buy it immediately and download it to Zune. Pretty nifty.

Overall, the Zune is a worthy MP3 player. It may not have the “cool” factor of the iPod, but it’s worth considering, and has some features lacking in Apple’s player.

Hi everyone,

Let me take a moment to introduce myself: my name’s Keith Ward, and I’m your new host for the PriceGrabber GottaHave blog. We’ll be looking at all kinds of gadgets, both expensive and inexpensive, useful and not-so-useful; some may be just plain weird or goofy.

First, let me say that I owe a debt to the former author of this blog, Dian Schaffhauser. She did a great job with GottaHave; I’ll do my best to try and live up to her high standards, while infusing this blog with my own style and wit (or lack thereof, you may find.)

To start off with, I thought I’d highlight a few of my favorite gadgets. These are items I’ve used for some time and enjoy a lot. They’re available now, and have the added advantage of being relatively cheap.

First, you should know that my favorite all-time gadget is my 3G iPhone. That means that some of my other favorite gadgets are those that work with my iPhone. And the one indispensable gadget for my phone is my Griffin windshield mount. It allows me to easily view the phone when I’m using it as a GPS; more importantly, it increases my safety on the road, since I don’t have to fumble around with my phone up to my ear — I just hit the speaker button, and my hands never leave the wheel.

The mount was easy to put together, even for someone as mechanically inept as yours truly. It swivels nicely, and has a long reach (with an included extension.) The key factor for something cradling my precious iPhone, however, is how securely it holds the phone. The Griffin excels at that. It’s never fallen off the windshield, and holds the iPhone in place with nary a tremor. Get one, and make your driving safer.

Another key iPhone gadget is a Bluetooth (i.e., wireless) headset; they let you make and get calls hands-free. I’ve used a number of them over the years, and the best one I’ve found is the Motorola H710. Its best feature is the tiny form factor. It’s small and light enough that you barely notice it’s there. The answer and volume buttons are easy to use, and the call quality is terrific. It lasts for many days on a single charge, speaking to its excellent battery life. I’m no Siskel and Ebert, but I give it two thumbs up.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, and feeding your gadget appetite.