GPS - The Garmin Nuvi 880

Even been in a new city, and needed to get somewhere fast? You have the essentials - a car, and a map. You think that's enough? Not really.

Does you map tell you where the gasoline bunkers are? Can you find a path to your destination in such a way that you can drop in on a Chinese restaurant that is within your budget on the way? Add to that the fact that you want to take a route that has minimal traffic. Your map can't help you out with any of these things. Welcome to the age of the GPS.

Global positioning systems are devices that help you navigate through a city, with all the relevant info that you need. Many Cell phones, Palmtops, and Pocket PCs have GPS's built into them nowadays, but they come nowhere close to replicating the functionality of full blown GPS systems.



The Garmin Nuvi 880 is a case in point. It comes from a long line of Nuvi Series, that have provided rock solid performance. First introduced in the CES 2008 show, the Garmin Nuvi 880's most outstanding feature is it's accurate voice recognition.

Till now, voice features on GPS's had been restricted to the device giving you instructions. Like 'turn here', or 'keep going straight'. The actual voice recognition facilities have been shaky at best. You would require a quiet stretch of road, and speak with crystal clear clarity into the system for it to understand what is being said. That limitation is powerfully addressed with the Nuvi 880.

It recognizes just about everything you say, and you can instruct it verbally. You can activate the voice mode via the remote, which attaches onto the steering wheel, and you can say "Find address xyz", and it will tell you how to go along. It comes built in with City Navigator® NT, which has millions of Points of Interest (POI), like restaurants and theatres. You can tell the Nuvi 880 what you're interested in, and it will take you there.

Also bundled, is the MSN Direct service which gives you minute by minute updates on Traffic. You can instruct Nuvi to take the path of least resistance.

All in all, a great companion on the roads. Keep this guy with you, and you can travel all over the place with ease.

Find the best prices for it at www.pricealerter.com

The Sony S2 sports Walkman

Getting up in the morning to go jogging is always difficult. I should know! You see, it's all about what you look forward to. If there are pretty gals (or hunks) on the road that you expect to see every day and check out, it makes it that much easier.

But what if the road is empty? Or worse, has only old fogies taking their morning walk? How do you motivate yourself? Unless you're a professional trainer, it's damn difficult to keep up a routine, especially if you love your sleep.

A little bit of music can take off the edge. I remember the times of Walkmans, and Discmans (I'm an old fogey too!). The problem with them was they bounced around, interrupting your rhythm. And there was always the danger of screwing something up because at the end of the day, they were mechanical, and had moving parts.

And then there came the mp3 player, which blasted all other gadgets out of the sky. Perfectly designed to jog with, they have become more and more sophisticated, and have a bundle of features that not only make your exercise routine enjoyable, but also help you out a bit!



Like the Sony S2 Sports Walkman. By now, regular readers of this blog have understood what it takes to be an "Irresistible Goodie". And this sure fits the bill. First of all, there's the unusual look. Unlike other players, it manages to carve a distinct impression. It looks like a cigar. And anything that looks compact, and yet different, is cool.

The controls that manipulate the player, take up just one line, emphasizing the simplicity. The Sony S2 Sports Walkman also helps you to track how much you have run or travelled via the pedometer, which uses an advanced G-Sensor. You can also keep track of how many calories you have burned. It allows you to enter your height, weight, and stride to accurately measure this.

It neatly straps on to your arm with the strap that comes bundled into it. You can enter your goal via time, or distance. Once that goal is reached, the music stops to let you know that your workout is done. It comes with headphones that attach onto your ear so that they don't fall off.

As a final touch, you can keep a log that stores your activity by date so you can actually measure your progress over a period of time. Pretty cool.

Find the best prices for it at www.pricealerter.com.

Hitachi UT37X902 Ultrathin LCD Monitor

The latest display of Goodies at the International CES exhihibition highlighed (as usual), gadgets that were on the cutting edge of technology. It's from exhibitions like these that goodies junkies like me get to know of the latest tech on the market.

Take for example, Hitachi's latest LCD entrant. What separates it from the rest?



You mean apart from the Ultra slick, ultr thin, and obviously ultra cool screen? Well, leaving aside the fact, that "Irresistible Goodies" rely entirely on looks, this LCD screen packs quite a punch when it comes to features that score over the competition.

It achieves it's minimalistic design by making a few adjustments. Take for example, the HDMI Input. HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It is the latest standard for interfacing screens with cables and set top boxes. The idea is to have a single place where high definition digital audio and video can be fed into the interface, which is basically just a connector. The interface supports all kinds of surround sound, and is now an industry standard.

The Hitachi UT37X902, in it's bid to get thinner, has only one of these. Most LCD's have two. But then who needs two? It's not as if you're going to have more than one feed at a time right? Anyway, I'm all for the idea of sacrificing functionality of cooler looks. Hey, they matter Ok?

Another problem that plagues LCD TV's, is the viewing angle. The pixels of an LCD light up to the required color depending on the electricity that is passed through them. This effect takes place only when viewed head on. Most LCD's can't be viewed properly from the side due to this.

However, the Hitachi UT37X902 has an amazing 80 degrees viewing angle, which is way more than most LCD's have at the time. This makes it an instant winner in more ways than one. Of course it's fragile. With biscuit like thinness, it has to be. Emmiting very little heat, and almost no noise, it must be placed 0.8 inches away from the wall while mounting, so that the heat can easily siphon off.

All in all, this Irresistible Goodie is just 1.5 inches thick! That makes one hell of an LCD screen, and worthy of a mention in this (oh so prestigious!) blog.

Find it's prices at www.pricealerter.com

The Canon HF100 Camcorder

The latest entrant into the world of camcorders, is the Canon HF100. Canon camcorders are relatively new. Other manufacturers have come in first and made a niche for themselves, as well as a reputation. But it looks like the bigwigs at Canon weren't sleeping. They've been observing the market, letting the others go ahead and make mistakes, and then BOOM! - they come in with the best of everything that the market has desired till now.



The picture of the Canon HF100 above, shows everything that is necessary to classify it as an "Irresistible Goodie". It's shiny, it's sleek, it's got pretty buttons in various colors, and it's certainly got the oomph factor.

Camcorders were classified by their storage media. Digital, or analog. Gone are the days when digital was a second cousin to analog. Digital rules these days, and the times of the cassette recorder inside camcorders are gone. Let's face it, people who carry camcorders aren't exactly National Geographic material. Even if (and it's a big if) analog is superior to digital in some ways, those ways aren't going to matter nearly enough for most people to accept the headache involved in dealing with tapes.

The Canon HF100 takes digital storage media to the next level by not having any in-built storage at all! The only storage is an SD/MMC flash card. While you might feel that this is unnecessarily inconveniencing people, I don't think so. Who needs inbuilt storage anyway? As soon as your SD card is full, transfer the videos onto the computer, delete the files, and you're as good as new. I think Canon has made a great conceptual leap here.

One of the nicest things about the Canon HF100, is that it's small. At 73 by 63 by 129mm, it weights 380 gms. Easily small enough to carry around, and it certainly doesn't compromise on features. It eliminates the problem of the hand shaking, by incorporating an optically stabilized lens (Would love to have these on my binoculars). The buttons are comfortably large (in spite of the small size of the camcorder itself), and it has the usual set of features you would expect from any high end camcorder.

So, when you go shopping for your camcorder, be sure to put the Canon HF100 on your list of "Irresistible Goodies". Find it at www.pricealerter.com

The Gyroxus Gaming Chair

Video games are expanding their reach both audience wise, as well as in their scope. Gone are the days where the only things that would change with each game was the actual gameplay, or what you saw on the screen.

Video games have usually been the first to herald in new technology, and most of the hardware that has now become standard, was first tested out on avid gamers. This is because gamers are a community by themselves. There is competition and prestige involved in having the latest and best hardware.



To that end, the Gyrox gaming chair might well be a standard part of any home users repertoire. It's essentially based on the idea that gaming has to be as real world as possible. This includes not only the visuals, and the sound, but also the way your whole body responds to the experience.

The Gyrox gaming chair attempts to mimic the feelings that you would normally experience were you really inside the video game. Imagine you're playing Quake, and whenever someone blasts you, your whole body rocks in response! Your gun shakes, and there's just that extra little bit of menace as you turn around to take revenge on your antagonist....you're not safe sitting outside the box anymore.

Those who will find it even more exciting, will be the gamers who specialize in racing games. If you watch these guys play, you will see them frantically leaning from side to side even without a Gyrox gaming chair! Just imagine the excitement you could feel as you take on that sharp curve, while simultaneously slowing down. The chair will move you forward, and to the left, as you lean into the curve.

The chair has the controls for the game coming right out between your legs, and you can sit forward, or lean back just as you like to play. With complete 360 degrees, motion, and forward and backward tilts, the Gyrox gaming chair allows you complete freedom. As much freedom in fact, as in the game itself.

So be prepared to be blown away. Take gaming to the new level, and be the envy of your friends with this latest "Irresistable Goodie".

Get the best prices at www.pricealerter.com

The Golden Shellback Cotated Phones

In their search to differentiate their products, manufacturers have been trying to find new angles to 'coolness'. They realize that some people have different ways of looking at products. And those ways can be used to market them effectively.

For instance, I might look at a phone, as a phone. But there is another person out there, who views it as a delicate piece of technology that you don't want to drop, or get wet. Remember the G-Shock Watch that came out years ago? The manufacturers were claiming that even a truck could run over it without damaging it.



Now, the same principle is being applied to phones with the Golden Shellback Coating. Lots of people carry around their phone in their back pockets, constantly on the look out for objects that brush against it. Or those who are worried about spilling their tea on it. This cool new "Irresistible Goodie" material coats your phone, and makes water proof, and oil proof.

In the near future, these phones are going to be sold pre-coated, which means that you can choose whether or not you want your phone to be coated before you buy it. Of course, that must add to the cost, but hey, that's the price of having an Irresistible Goodie on your hands.

The coating is applied to sensitive electrical equipment via the process of "Vaccum Coating". What it essentially means is that the substance is heated, and the vapors are deposited on the surface of the phone. It's not a paint, and isn't associated with any hazardous chemicals. It's also completely safe, and provides life long protection.

The thing about Shellback protection, is that the phone looks completely normal, and doesn't change it's appearance in the least. The film is transparent, and is completely insoluble in water, as well as in oils. It doesn't exude any Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC's) unlike other coatings, and is completely undetectable.

So how will you let your friends know that you're carrying an "Irresistible Goodie"? You can casually (or "Accidentally") drop it it into your coffee, and then act completely calm, as you wipe it off amid looks of horror and disbelief! You naughty thing, you...

Find out the prices of Golden Shellback coated phones at www.pricealerter.com

Giant Twist Freedom DX Electric Bike - Cycling Power

I've ridden a cycle all my life, and believe me, it can get really exhausting sometimes. It doesn't just depend on the terrain. Factors like the sun, the direction of the breeze, and even your mood, can dramatically increase the strain on your legs. I often used to wish when I was younger, that my cycle would grow a silent motor, and I can just put up my feet and relax.



Now Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd has brought out a bike that would have fulfilled my dreams as a kid. It's actually pretty creepy if you think about it. What happens is that when you switch it 'on', the cycle monitors how much effort you are putting in with your legs, and provides a boost to the pedals via it's batteries to compensate for any extra effort that might be needed.

For example, you're happily cruising along the road using nothing but your own legs, when you hit a steep incline. As you go up, you feel the strain, and instead of getting up from the seat to cycle harder, you flick a switch on the handle of your Giant Twist Freedom DX Electric Bike, and voila - You feel the strain on your legs reduce, and you can go back to cycling at your normal rate, as the bike compensates for the incline!

It's a cyborgish feeling, with the machine compensating for the human body. The body is still necessary however. At no point of the cycling, are you made to feel that you can let go of the pedals. The back up is there just for support, and not to take over completely.

The three modes - Eco, Normal, and Sport are used interchangeably depending on your mode. In 'Eco' mode, it's all your legs, with no backup. In 'Sport' mode, the battery powers the bike completely. It's in the normal mode, that the man-machine integration takes place.

The battery can last for upto 75 miles, which is twice of what currently existing bikes can support. At an estimated price tag of $2000, the bike may be quite a hit in developing countries where it can be positioned as a low running cost alternative to traditional transport.

Another "Irresistible Goody" for you tech freaks out there. Find out more about this bike at www.pricealerter.com

The new Disney's Wall-E

Developing toys that have grown out of pieces of fiction is hardly new. He-Man and Superman toys are all based on their respective franchises, and if the series proves successful, the toy itself turns out to be very successful too.

Unfortunately, such movies, cartoons, and serials have been known to bore adults. Not so, with Walt Disney's latest film 'Wall-E'. Wall-E has been breaking new ground in cinematic history, as an ecologically minded film. The primary protagonist is a robot named 'Wall-E'. For those of you who haven't seen the film, I'm not going to ruin it by telling you the story. Just two words of advice - watch it.



Capitalizing on the success of the theme, Disney has announced a new Wall-E toy. One of the defining characteristics of the toy, is the cute/sad looking expression. For a toy, that goes down very well. I wondered what exactly it was, that was creating that effect, and played around with my fingers covering various parts of the eyes, and found that it was primarily the straight line on top of the eyeballs that was contributing to what has become the defining Wall-E look.

If who haven't had enough of Wall-E in the movie, you might want to consider owning him for life! Think of the example you set your kids, by giving him a role model like Wall-E to play around with.

The thing that makes the Wall-E toy, an Irresistible Goodie, is the neat things that Wall-E can do. The Wall-E toy comes with a sophisticated navigation system that prevents him from crashing into things. And he comes with a remote control that has a touch sensitive pad that allows fine grained control of his movements. You can also make Wall-E feel different things with the various emotions that are built into him.

Wall-E will also follow you around the room as you talk to him. He can sense when you come in, and react accordingly. He can also act as your personal music player, and can play MP3's with his inbuilt speakers.

Find out more about Wall-E at www.pricealerter.com

HTC Touch Pro

After the introduction of Apple's iPhone, the world of mobile computing has undergone a revolution. I never could understand why mobile phone manufacturer's couldn't wake up and smell the roses. Bulky keys on mobiles are out. The future belongs to touch screens.

HTC (The company that manufactures the handsets used by O2), has started branding and marketing their own phones like the HTC Touch, and the HTC Touch Diamond. These new generation phones rely heavily on the touch screen. HTC recently pioneered the TouchFlo technology used in the HTC touch, and the HTC diamond.

The idea that you can launch programs with your fingertips without taking out the stylus was revolutionary enough to make the HTC Touch Family "Irresistible Goodies". HTC's Touch Diamond has been the latest thing to hit the market, but many business users have cried foul because it lacks an inbuilt keyboard.



Much as I despise the keyboard, I realize that there are some people who just don't have the time to learn a new keyboard recognition language, and the latest HTC Touch Pro fulfills that need. It has all the features of the HTC Touch Diamond, but with a built in keyboard as you can see in the picture, it has a neat little pull out keyboard which is barely noticeable.

In keeping with the style of "Irresistible Goodies", it's sleek black body is sure to set pulses racing. In addition, it features the next generation of the TouchFlo technology called the TouchFlo 3D. It completely replaces the 'Today' Screen of Windows mobile, and is used as the de-facto launcher of programs.

Allowing upto an astounding 8 hrs of talktime, it comes with a whopping 288 MB of RAM, and 512 MB of Flash Memory. With a CPU speed of 528 Mhz, it far outstrips the capabilities of regular computers upto just a few years ago!

I find it difficult to imagine what other features any business user, no matter how powered, would need from this gadget. It's got wireless, BlueTooth, and a 3.2 Mega Pixel camera. Throw in the 2.8'' display screen, and you've one hell of a tool there.

Of course, if I had the moolah, I wouldn't carry it around for it's functionality. After all, it's an "Irresistible Goodie!". Find it, and more at www.pricealerter.com.

GeForce GTX 280

I remember the days when games like Mario and Contra ruled my life. For me, Graphics was anything that was colorful.

Days of Prince of Prince of Persia, and doom were the highlight of my youth, and after that, I lost touch with games for a while. Now that I'm back in the computer scene, I realize something. There are three things in life that you cannot get enough of.

Memory, CPU, and Bandwidth.

Graphics cards, as you know, come shipped with their own memory. There was a time, when a card with 32 MB was it. You were God. Now of course, 32 MB is peanuts, and is insufficient to run most graphic intensive games.



The latest entrant to the graphics card scene, is the long awaited GeForce GTX 280. As seen in the picture, the card exudes power and confidence.

Even though I know intuitively, that the mere appearance of a device doesn't mean anything, the sleek black (Always a sexy thing), body holds the promise of an 'Irresistible Goodie'.

nVidia has been the market leader in terms of performance since 1999. Up until now, the defining card for gamers has been the GeForce 8800 GTX.

Tests that have been conducted by http://www.nvnews.net, however, have shown that the latest GeForce GTX 280 outperforms the 8800. This means that with this latest entrant, games will be able to have the very best in 3D performance.

The mechanics of the Graphics cards have always been beyond me. Avid games talk about Transparency, Layering, etc., and do detailed comparisons. However, I stick to my initial assertion that the three most important things are Memory, CPU power, and Bandwidth.

The GTX 280 comes with a massive 1GB GDDR memory, and 1.4 Billion transistors. Anything with that much computing power and memory has to be the best in class till date. In addition, it's memory bandwidth is 141.7 GB/sec. This completely blows away anything else on the market.

The card doesn't come cheap though. It's initial price was $649, which is more than any other card you will find out there. If you're an avid gamer however, and you get your kicks from having the latest and best hardware, try and get your friends to match this!

Find the best prices for it on http://www.pricealerter.com

The SwissChamp

Ah. The legend of the Swiss Knife! Famously carried around by members of the Swiss Army, we have all heard of these Multi-Purpose Pocket knives.

Never mind the fact that the Swiss Army is more or less unheard of except for this particular little jewel. Never mind that most of the tools you find on the knife are ones that you can never figure out how to use (Apart from the knife that is).

The fact is, that watching someone carry around a Swiss army knife, is just too cool. The slick steel, and the 'clack' sound as the tools snap back into place, give the piece the status of an "Irresistible Goodie". The most famous company manufacturing Swiss Knives is Victorinox. Especially after they acquired Wegner, they are the de facto Swiss Army Knife producers.


And the most famous Victorinox knife, is undoubtedly the Swiss Champ. As you can see, in the picture, it's a dinky little piece fans, which fans out into numerous tools for various occasions and purposes.

With a size of 91 mm, and weighing in at 128 grams, the knife feels pleasantly heavy in the palm of your hand. Apart from the standard tools like a knife, saw, and scissors, the Swisschamp includes some pretty useful stuff like a pen, a magnifying glass, a pin, and pliers.

If you want your "Irresistible Goodie" to become even more irresistable, try and get it in a color other than red. Everyone has a red knife. If you have a black one (Like I do - Though it's not the swiss champ), the Victorinox Logo really stands out, and gives it a very stylish touch.

There are many nice Swiss Knife models to choose from, and if the Swiss Champ isn't your style, you can find one that is. Another nice part of owning a Swiss Knife and drooling over it, is checking out the Victorinox Website. It fills you with info, and gives you true stories of how the knife has helped save people's lives, making you feel like the ranger you aspire to be (You wannabe, you!)

So carry at least one of these around, and watch people's eyes pop as you flash it out to trim your beard, or pick your teeth! To get it at the best deals, find it at www.pricealerter.com

The Optimus Maximus Keyboard

Keyboards have come a long way in the past few years, and their functionality has been rapidly expanding to doing more than just type. They can now launch programs, and even perform specific actions for specific programs like opening an email, or going to the next song on Windows Media Player.

However, display of what to show on the key has always been a problem. If you make the keys configurable to launch any application, then you can't put a definite picture on it in the factory. So how to provide the service of configuration, as well as make the key look like the application?

Introducing the Optimus Maximus Keyboard.. Bye bye to a different keyboard for multiple languages, or any key having a printed picture on it to denote a function that you can't change. Think about LCD technology on each key of a keyboard! The pictures on the keys of the keyboard that you see on top are not really hard printed. They are LCD displays that reflect the Icon of the program that it triggers.

It connects via a PC or a MAC, and is attached with a USB cable. The keys are not movable, and all that moves, is a transparent cover. This is done to protect the electronics from wear and tear, greatly increasing the life of the keyboard. Also, every single button can be removed for ease of cleaning.

The inbuilt software allows you to further configure each key to resemble a series of keystrokes. This allows you to create 'macros' that you can build and customize your keyboard to speed up your regular activity. If you say, use keyboard shortucts to browse gmail, you can set a macro so that a single click tags the current message, archives it, and moves to the next message.

You are even allowed to edit the images that show up on each key. Ideal to brand your personality onto it!

Requiring 256 MB of RAM to run it, you're going to need a nice fast computer to use this baby. But if you're planing to pay the price for this one, you probably already have that :)

Find the best prices for it on www.pricealerter.com

The Apple MacBook Air

A month ago, I walked into the brand new Apple store that had opened close to where I was staying, and thought, "Let's go inside and peep around". I'm a Windows user, but let's face it - We often go green with envy (though we don't show it), when we see someone using a Mac, or Mac accessories.

Of course, as a writer, I can't afford to lose compatibility with any client who might be using Windows, but that's another story.

So I walk into the Apple store (For the first time in my life), along with my wife, and it's all themed white, with colorful gadgets displayed in rows. But what first caught my attention (as it was no doubt designed to), was this amazingly thin laptop! I didn't even believe that it was a working model. I thought it was a dead piece of plastic, until the screen lighted up, and the attendant introduced the two of us to each other. "Bhagwad, this is the MacBook air. MacBook air, this is Bhagwad".

I leaned closer, and examined it all around. It really was as thin as I first thought. It reminded me of a wafer, and I realized that laptops would never be the same again. At least not for me.

So how does the MacBook air get to be this thin? Well, Apple has removed certain portions like a removable media slot (can be purchased separately though). It also incorporates a solid state hard drive, that has no moving parts! For me, this is a major breakthrough. Hard disks are one of the few remaining moving components in a computer, and are therefore more susceptible to failure compared to stationary electrical parts. This latest technology means one less thing to go wrong.

The MacBook Air has a low Carbon Footprint, with a Mercury and Arsenic free LCD glass, and internal cables that are not made of PVC. From what I remember, Greenpeace had earlier objected to Apple's ecological practices, and the MacBook air addresses these concerns.

All in all, the MacBook Air has broken new grounds in Laptop technology. It's sleek design, and ecological footprint, definitely give it the status of an "Irresistable Goodie".

Find the MacBook Air on Pricealerter.com, with the best prices.

The Sony Playstation Portable

Many of us, including myself, remember the days of the handheld video games. Colorful little rectangles with simple graphics that gave all of us hours of pleasure. These have slowly evolved side by side with the TV based Nintendo and Atari.

However, most 'Handheld Consoles' as they are called, have been flops, dwarfed by the cool features of their big brother counterparts. Even the latest ones including the Nintendo DS, have never really taken off. Only with the introduction of the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), have the consoles finally received the status of an 'Irresistible Goodie'

First, the juicy bits. The PSP is a sleek slab of glossy plastic. A high tech touch screen along with all the computing power of the latest pocket PC's, have blurred the distinction between Phones, Pocket PC's, and gaming consoles.

As with all Irresistible Goodies, it's not just the functionality that sets junkies like me drooling. There's something about the design, that speaks to you. Something about the way it feels in your hand that says, "I'm the ultimate in technology". With a screen capable of displaying 16 million colors, that might not be an overstatement.

The standard controls on either side of the screen, make it easy to play any sort of game from driving, to sports, to Ninja games. The PSP also makes it easy to take advantage of the latest genre - Namely Multi Player games, where you connect to people worldwide throughout the Internet and play with or against them.

But quite apart from gaming, the PSP doubles up as a music player too! It's capable of playing upto an amazing eleven hours of music. With sturdy inbuilt speakers, you can listen to music right off your memory card without the need for headphones. The LCD screen provides you with visual playback effects that are worthy of an Irrestible Goodie.

To cap it all, you can play videos, and enjoy wi fi Internet connectivity from it's packaged Microbrowser. It's the first to allow the use of UMD (Universal Media Disks). These babies look just like a normal CD - Only smaller. For me, that's the winning feature of the PSP. It's the ultimate 'blurrer'. Convergence technology at it's best!

Find out the best deals of the PSP at http://www.pricealerter.com

The 'iLiad' Reader

The world of reading is undergoing a revolution. Though some people say that books can never be replaced, electronic media is quickly overtaking the print media.

I made the transition from paper to electronic screens years ago, and have never looked back. I now just download books off the Internet for free, and can carry hundreds at a time. However, I have faced problems like reading in full sunlight, and low battery life.

I've recently come across the product called the 'iLiad'. It's one of the first devices on the market to use 'Electronic Paper'! This product is simply amazing. The screen is just like normal paper in it's consistency, and reflective properties. This means, that all things being equal, you cannot tell whether you're reading real paper, or from Electronic Paper.

Another cool feature, is that it doesn't draw power while it is displaying text! Since it uses reflective technology instead of a traditional backlight, I can read for hours on end without fearing for my battery life.

Manufactured by iRex Technologies, the iLiad consists of a display area of 124x152mm with a resolution of 768x1024 pixels (160 dpi). It runs on a Linux OS and has the dimensions of an A5 document.

Different people like to use different readers for their ebooks. The iLiad offers wide variety of formats in which books can be read like text, pdf, HTML, and recently, Mobipocket. Mobipocket is a popular reading program for Palm and Pocket PC based devices that I happen to use myself.

I'm also a big comic fan, and the iLiad makes it easy for me to view my JPG images as they are really appear on paper. I'm hooked! The existing Palmtops and Pocket PC's were always too small to read full blown comics on, and reading them on the computer means that I can't curl up on the bed with one. With the iLiad in my hands, it's just like the good ol days, with the blanket, and late night reading!

Since it's Linux based, others can write programs for it, extending it's usefullness to one and all. A truly magic breakthrough for avid book lovers like me!

You can find the best prices for the iLiad at PriceAlerter.Com.