Santa came early this holiday season, and for the past few weeks I have been using Nokia's E62 smart phone. I would like to preface this review with one caveat. This is the first smart phone I have used extensively. So if I gloss over or (miss completely) any features that are important to you, feel free to speak up in the comments and I will try to address any questions you may have. My newb-ness in the world of smart phones aside, I have been using PDAs and cellphones for quite a while and what I was looking for in a smart phone was basic PIM features, a decent third party software library, and of course a device that was still usable as a phone. Basically, I what I wanted was a device that would help cut down on the amount of crap I carry with me on a daily basis. (On any given workday, I have a PDA, a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, a mp3 player, and a cellphone. That is not even getting into the contents of my briefcase.)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Slanket. A blanket with sleeves. Well, the guys behind the Slanket were kind enough to send me one to review. Like I said before, the Slanket is one of those "duh, why didn't I think of that" products. The concept is simple, put sleeves on a warm cozy blanket so you can work a remote, surf the web, read a book, or do pretty much anything without having to lift the covers (letting cold air invade your warm refuge). Invented by a cold college student freezing his tail off in Maine, the original Slanket was a sleeping bag his mom attached sleeves to. Today the Slanket has evolved into a large fleece blanket, suitable for use where ever you may get cold: in bed, on the couch, your favorite reading spot, at the big game, or at the campsite. Retailing for about $50, the Slanket is available in a variety of colors. So, is the Slanket worth your hard earned cash?

For the last month or so, I have foregone my usual iTunes purchases. Instead I have been trying out some alternative music stores. By far the best I have found is eMusic. They offer unrestricted high quality mp3 downloads starting at $9.99 a month for up to 40 downloads. What is really nice is that they have "download managers" (what eMusic uses to download music) for Windows,  Mac, and Linux (their "store" also works with whatever browser you would like to use). While their library of over 1,000,000 tracks is mainly made up of independent or non-mainstream artists, there are quite a few big names available on the service.

No one likes to clean floors, but most everyone likes to have clean floors. It's a fact that you can't have the later without the former. iRobot's Scooba aims to change that, by taking the burden of scrubbing the floor (vinyl, tile, or sealed hardwood) on its robotic shoulders. Close kin to iRobot's Roomba line of robotic vacuum cleaners, the Scooba shares the same basic puck like design and cleaning "A.I." as the Roomba, while exchanging its cousins vacuum system for floor washing gear. I put the Scooba to the test in my own home to see how well it fared in the real world.