Cheap GPSs

Some really good GPS units from Garmin:

For $119 shipped:
Garmin 205 basic

For $134.99 shipped: (this one has spoken street name features)
Garmin 260 (spoken street names)

Starter Guitar

This is the best guitar for the price for someone who wants to start learning.

Rogue Starter Acoustic Guitar, Black - $36 + $11 s&h

Fender 351 Shape Pickpack (12Pk) Shell, Med - $2.99

Definitely get the guitar picks. Using picks instead of your thumb will give you more control over the volume at which you can play (much louder).

Photography Gear - Ethusiast/Hobbyist

I've eyed the D90 for atleast a year now. I am probably going to byte the bullet and hit the trigger very soon. I'd also like to list the stuff I will buy:

Body + Lens (kit) - $1149

Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

50mm "prime" f/1.8 AF lens - $133

Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

SB-600 flash unit - $224

Nikon SB-600 Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

And don't forget the 8GB SD card to hold your pictures. - $17.99

Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS8GSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]

Don't forget amazon prime membership too:
get the trial here

Hackintosh Project

So, It's time for a new computer. I am not a big fan of Windows. Linux is very appealing but not very wife-friendly. Enter... Macintosh. However a decent expandable Mac (PowerMac), starts at $2600 !!!. This being a bargain blog, let me show you how to create your own Hackintosh by using the parts I describe.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L, P45, ATX, 45NMCORE2QUAD CORE2DUO Pentium D/4, PCI-E X16, PCIX2, PCIEX4, MAX8GB, DIMM4XD

CPU: Intel Core2Duo E7400 (2.8ghz)

Intel BX80571E7400 Core 2 Duo E7400 Processor

Video card: Nvidia 9800 GT

EVGA 512-P3-N973-TR 512MB GeForce 9800 GT DDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card

For non gamers, there's a cheaper video card Geforce 7600 GS.

You can pick up any case, and a power supply (recommend at least 450Watts). Any DDR2 memory will work. Any SATA hard drive / DVD drive will work with setup.

Coming soon: A picture guide to installing leopard on this computer.

High quality studio microphone (USB)

The snowball from the *blue* company is a great microphone for podcasting or just general high quality recording. It comes in at $79.99 (I've seen mic's costing 10 times that amount for the same sound quality).

As a bonus, because it connects via USB, you don't need any additional recording hardware on your computer.




If you want a good mic with a good camera they just released "eyeball". It comes in at $99.99

Netbooks that run Mac OS X

Short answer: Get either MSI Wind or Dell Mini 9. Both have hardware drivers available for the mac os x to run without a hitch.

The MSI Wind is available on amazon at a pretty good price (I would recommend the 160 version because it comes with a beefier battery)

$429 - MS Wind (160GB, with 6-cell battery)




$349 - MS Wind (120GB, with 3-cell battery)

ooma - VoIP without any monthly fees.

So you already have the well established VoIP providers like Vonage, Comcast, Sunrocket etc... These usually cost around $20-$40/month depeneding on the options you have.

• Pro: Very realiable. Features exactly the same as landline.
• Pro: Almost no startup fee.
• Con: VERY expensive monthly cost.

Then we reach in to the cheaper options like Skype that can reduce your monthly bill all the way to $3-$5/month while keeping most of the features.

• Pro: Very cheap, while keeping all the features of landline.
• Con: You generally need a computer or an expensive phone like the Linksys CIT400 ($175 used) to make calls like you would from a regular phone.

ooma is the third alternative and extreme case of the last case. You pay almost all your fees upfront, and then you pay nothing to make calls. The startup cost is $230 for the hardware and once you have that you can connect it your phone and use it as voip phone.

ooma Core VoIP Phone System with No Monthly Phone Service Bills ($229)

You can learn more on the ooma website.

Buy it from the amazon link above, its almost $20 cheaper that way.

720p in your Pocket! Flip MinoHD

Camcorders are among the latest gadgets that have scaled down to pocketable sizes. Pure Digital Technologies is one of the companies that has led the pack with its line of Flip Video cameras, enabling a new generation of YouTubers and spontaneous documentarians alike. As these compact video cameras have been shrinking, though, the race to larger HD resolutions has escalated. Pure Digital Technologies has just released the latest member of its lineup, the Flip MinoHD, which shoots 720p footage.


Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Black)

Its only $229 - I highly recommend it!

Lego - pneumatic cylinder truck

One of the most memorable things in my childhood was coveting toys that I didn't have. Top of this list was lego, since lego was not available in India when I was growing up, I had to rely on friends who had a frequently traveling relative abroad. Almost all lego stuff was really cool to me, untill one day I discovered a motorized truck that had incredible load capacity. This was my first introduction to a pneumatic machine (a machine powered by compressed air). I managed to find some penumatic cylinder trucks being sold on amazon for as low as $30.

1. LEGO Technic Excavator (only $30)
   


2. LEGO Motorized Bulldozer ($234.99)
   


3. LEGO Technic Mobile Crane ($299.99)
   

iPhone unlock tool

I will soon be posting a full instruction on how to get your iPhone on the cheap. Stay tuned.

Here is the link to a unlock tool that actually works. I got it for about $13 (including shipping), the prices change regularly (right now its around $17 shipped). This is probably the cheapest option out there since most of these are going for $25-$30 on ebay.

Link: Unlock All Apple iPhone 3G Turbo SIM TurboSIM Card Latest Version

There is only one caveat to using this. Sometimes* your iphone will display a message of "SIM Failure" or "Invalid SIM". If this happens you can either fix the problem by resetting your iphone (i.e. turning it off and then off), or sometimes you can fix the problem by just turning the airplane mode on and off. If that doesn't fix it the surest way to fix this is to turn off the iphone, pop the sim out, pop it back in, and turn it on.

* "Sometimes" is vauge. Here is the "problem" log:
day 0 - inserted the t-mobile sim card - It works!!! yay!
day 3 - whoops "sim failure". Restarted the phone - its fixed.
day 15 - whoops "sim failure". Airplane mode did the trick.

So there you go, you can't really average it out since I've only had the iPhone for less than 20 days.

I'll keep everyone updated.

Harmony remote recommendation.

This would be perfect with your new home theater system:

This is a good starting home theater package from denon for around $500

Black friday deals from amazon.

Black friday

Tools for photographers

A wacom tablet allows you to easily manipulate photos and draw on your screen.

Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch Fun Small Tablet

Wii motion plus:
Wii MotionPlus

Wall mount kit for your new HDTV:
Peerless PT660 Tilt Wall Mount for 32

HDTVs

LCDs

Top of line LCD from Samsung: (UNB Series) -- When money doesn't matter.






Best non-LED LCD from Samsung: (LNB750 series)

52inch


46 inch





Plasmas

"God of all Plama HDTVs" Pioneer KURO Elite 60" Plasma




If the Kuro is out of your reach, get this from Panasoci (TC-PV10 series)

58"


50"

More photography gear + Gift ideas

A gift for someone:

Pandigital 8.0-Inch LCD Digital Photo Frame with PanTouch $98.00

or Save some money and get the 7" without the pantouch:

Pandigital 7" Digital frame- $69.99

Pandigital PANWF01 WiFi Dongle with USB Adaptor - $24.99

Shun Classic 6 Inch Utility Knife $74.95

Photography gear:

Kata Ergo-Tech Series Sensitivity V Personal Gear Backpack for Digital Camera and 12 Inch Laptop Computer, Black $109.90

Tiffen 52mm Photo Essentials Filter Kit $32.97