This is my favorite time of year. I love all of October, Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is my favorite holiday. Halloween decorations are popping up all over the neighborhood already and I just love seeing all the pumpkins and ghosts on the lawns.

I’ve got a few Halloween decorations around the house too. The kids love it. A big favorite in the house is the “ghost” mouse. I think he’s only second to the candy dish with the hand that grabs you when you reach in for a treat! I think they just like seeing the trick or treaters jump when it grabs their hand!

I’m browsing around now and I’m bummed out that I can’t find anywhere to buy this cute little gadget this year. If you happen to see it some place, or something like it, please come back and let us know.

It’s not the most comfortable mouse to use, so I only have it out for a few weeks. The shape is odd, but not odd at the same time. I just find myself holding it all wrong, so that might be a problem if you do a lot of mousing during the day. I do find myself wishing the scroll wheel was a bit bigger.

I’ll be on the lookout for more holiday themed computer gear for you, and please do stop by and let me know if you come across something spooktacular for us!

The brand new Nintendo DSi was announced and is being released in Japan first on November 1, 2008.   Soon to follow will be release in North America, Europe and Australia in 2009.

I will admit that I’m a bit disappointed it’s not going to be made available here before Christmas here in the states, since we were planning on buying DS Lites for our kids this year to replace their gameboys.  It  seems a little silly of me to do now when the new DSi will be coming out shortly after.  I may have to rethink my holiday shopping plans and come up with a new theme for under the tree.

Enough of my holiday shopping woes, let’s take a look at what the major differences are going to be between the current DS Lites and the upcoming DSi.  The first big difference is extra goodies on board.  You’ll have a built in camera, MP3 player, improved speakers, dual touch screens with the ability to edit photos on those touch screens,  SD card slot, slightly bigger screen size, built in Opera browser, and the ability to visit the DSi store to download games that you can then store in your DSi and play anytime.

Wow, that was a lot of stuff. One thing that is also changing is that there will no longer be a Gameboy Advance slot. You may have heard me complain in the past that they stopped making Gameboy Advance games and all four of my kids still have GBAs. It was frustrating for them that the only place they could get games was in the used section at Game Stop, (which is why I was planning on buying the DS Lites this year over holilday break.)

So, for those who have an extensive collection of Gameboy Advance games, they’re about to become even more obsolete. At least you could still enjoy using them in the DS Lite, if you upgrade to the shiny new DSi you have to start all over with a new set of games. Another thing I should mention quickly is that you’re going to be replacing any adapters you may already have, as that will also be different.

Color is probably not important, assuming that they will make just as many skins and covers for the DSi as they do for the Lite. However, the DSi is only being released in black and white to start off with. I sort of liked the variety the GBA and the Lite had with different colors and special editions, so I’m hoping that’s a tradition that Nintendo will carry on and we’ll see some of those in the future with the DSi.

I’m sure everyone is wondering about the price tag. Back in the spring the DS Lite price dropped from 179 to 149, and I’ve seen it in a few places for 139 and even 129 on mega sale. From everything that I’ve read this morning it looks like the price tag on the DSi is going to be that familiar $179, but I am not 100% positive on that at this moment.

So far that’s all I’ve found about the upcoming DSi, if you know more or come across a good video about it, let me know. Leave a comment or feel free to email me.

I mentioned in my last post that I’m a point and shoot kind of photographer.  I love to take pictures, but I’m not really well practiced enough to use an SLR style camera.  I currently am using the Canon Powershot S5, which is as close to an SLR as you can get with a point and shoot camera.  I still have great features, but automatic everything!  I hihgly recommend it to everyone that is looking to move into a higher class of camera, but doesn’t want to go for a complete SLR model.

Enough about the camera! Let’s talk pictures and photo editing for a quick minute here.  If you want the best snapshots to print and hang on the wall you sometimes have to make a few little adjustments here and there.  Not everyone has PhotoShop on their computer, nor the time to learn to use it.  Honestly, I have PhotoShop on my computer, I know how to use it, and I still would rather use Picnik for photo editing!

Let’s start with the best feature of Picnik …. its FREE!  Compared to photo editing programs like PhotoShop that cost hundreds of dollars, free is a pretty nice feature.  Secondly, I would say the best feature of Picnik is that it’s fast!  you open your photo, click what you want to do and ZAP! it’s done.  It really is that easy.  You can crop, resize, adjust, correct red-eye, and add fun features.  And if you’re using Flickr, Webshots, or Picasa, popular online photo storage sites, you can edit your photos right from your account in just a quick click.

There are  a few premium features available for a paid membership to Picnik, but don’t worry it’s not going to break the bank.  You can upgrade to premium for only $24.95 per year.  Still much cheaper than buying a fancy editing program and then taking the hours of time to learn to use it the way you want.

I use Picnik with my Flickr account on a regular basis.  Here’s some before and after for you to compare.  Each only took me a few seconds of editing in Picnik!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

You can see a huge difference in the before and afters. Making a few quick photo tweaks, especially if you’re going to use your pics online, will make a huge difference in the final result. Okay, I’ll stop talking now so you can go play with all the cool features in Picnik

There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.

Okay, so this isn’t a gadget, and it won’t organize your life, and it certainly won’t take messages … but it sure is fun. I couldn’t resist this cute t-shirt with a fun one liner printed on the front. Basic black tee with white print, sporting a cute binary code joke. A great way to show off your geeky humorous side on the weekends or hanging out after work.

Wear it to work on casual Friday and enjoy the puzzled look you get from those that just don’t quite get the joke. Also great for lounging around on the weekend and enjoying some quiet time. Or for the really brave at heart, wear it to parent teacher conference day.  As long as you’re having fun, it’s all good.

I hope that everyone had a safe and good Labor Day weekend. I was unable to get online to write Monday and Tuesday, so I’ve missed you all. It’s back to school here in our household, and that meant shopping, and more shopping, and as the class teachers send home extra more detailed supply lists for classes like science and math there will be even more shopping still.

I wanted to share with you one of the more fun and interesting things I found while shopping. Of course this cute fellow resides on my desk and not in any of the boy’s backpacks. He’s a little too pink for them. There was a puppy version, but he was purple and they all passed on him as well. I am tempted to go pick up the puppy stapler to keep my kitty stapler company though, just because they are such a cute pair.

My cute feline friend here is a staple free stapler. I love these things. I generally buy my boy’s teachers each a staple-free stapler of some sort as a teacher gift every year. I’m thinking this year they will all be getting these adorable versions instead of the usual plain blue, red, or green ones that I’ve found for them in the past.

If you’ve never used a staple free stapler before, I highly recommend them. They are much easier to use, and they join the paper just as sturdily as a standard stapler. As an added bonus they take up less desk space, and you don’t have to keep those pesky metal staples in your desk drawer either.

We’ve been going over some fun and easy ways to make your cellphone stand out from the crowd. This is actually one of my favorite ways to do add some pizazz to anything. I suppose I’m a kid at heart that way. I’m talking about stickers of course.

I was one of those kids with tons of sticker albums full of different kinds of stickers. Glittery stickers, scratch and sniff stickers that were supposed to be different scents even though they all smelled like a mix of old bubble gum and plastic, and of course puffy stickers were like gold! Then there was the ever rare gel gooey full of stuff stickers. No one knew what was really inside those shimmer globs that reminded you of miniature lava lamps, and it’s probably better not to know.

For your cell phone you’ll want something a little more grown up …. unless you’re young at heart and want fairies and unicorns stuck all over everything. Or maybe you’re a guy and you don’t want anything purple or puffy any where near your cellphone. I would suggest getting the rhinestone stickers.

They’re not really “stickers” in the sense that you might think. They’re more like tattoos for your stuff. You can get them in designs, shapes, names, letters, monograms or you can get a plain sheet of single rhinestones and make your own creation. Use your imagination.

Having your name studded out on your cellphone should definitely eliminate any confusion at work. Unless of course your name is Jennifer and you work with three other girls named Jennifer.

Initials are always a good option

And by wired, I mean Wired Magazine, of course. The magazine all about how technology is changing the world every day.

There’s a new gizmo or gadget put to the test in every single issue. This is my favorite part of the whole magazine. I skip right to it every time, like when you were a kid and you got the Highlights magazine and skipped right to the picture find pages. They test the the hottest products on the market, from the newest HDTVs to the slimmest notebook computers, and put them through extreme tests, add a splash of entertainment, a twist of humor, and a rating scale of 1 to 10 to give you a great review.

Everything is Wired is well researched. There’s no hearsay, no gossip celebrity chatter, and no fluff. There is no popularity contest inside this magazine, it’s all about the technology and what it’s doing for the good of the world. Are you wired?

Here’s something a bit different from our usual gadget-like chatter. Wordle helps you create word art. You can either enter words of your choosing, or use an RSS feed or URL for a blog or website. I entered this blog to see what it would come up with. I picked a 50/50 split of horizontal and vertical words and a green color scheme to match the blog.

I suppose in a way this is an internet based gadget. Not all gadgets and gizmos can be held in your hand. But, they’re still pretty to look at.

I hope you’re having a great and safe holiday weekend. I’m getting ready to head out to Busch Gardens with the family later this afternoon. They are nearby and they have great fireworks every year. A few rounds on the water rides doesn’t hurt either.

In celebration of our heat filled holiday I want to share one of my favorite low-tech gadgets that’s great for summer (and all year round too…) the CamelBak Hydration bag. You fill it up with water and sling it over your shoulders like a backpack and you’re good to go.

These are great at amusement parks because you can refill them at any water fountain, or at your hotel room, or even in the bathroom faucets and avoid the $5 charge for an average bottle of water. Also super great when you’re camping, hiking, or even walking for charity. The big 3-day walks for breast cancer research always bring out a few cases of dehydration.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!! Don’t forget to use a designated driver, and be careful with those sparklers.

Buying gifts for Father’s Day can be tough, and if you’re like me and forgot until just now then you might be wondering what to look for when you go rushing about shopping like a mad woman.

I came across these Nascar Laptop skins and thought they were just perfect for my husband for Dad’s big day! You can tell by my choice that hub’s is a Kurt Busch fan, and the little men in the household follow suit so everyone agreed that this would be a great gift for dad this year. Whew, crisis averted.

There are other drivers and cool Nascar gadget gear to be had too. The sport has really come along in the past few years and the marketing department has their thinking caps on for sure.

Whatever you get dad this year, have a great Father’s Day weekend.