mySimon Shopping Picks

Dell calls its new Inspiron Mini 9 laptop "your new best friend." The petite laptop is an ideal travel companion if you want to blog, keep a journal, surf the Web, send email, and listen to music while on vacation. The Mini 9 has a 9" display and 4 hours of battery life, and weighs all of 2.3 pounds. Under the hood, the $349 base configuration will get you an Ubuntu Linux OS, 512MB of RAM, and a 4GB hard drive, but of course you can spend a little more if you want additional upgrades (Bluetooth, Windows XP, more memory, webcam, larger hard drive). It's not something we'd want to spend 8 hours a day with, but for vacations it sounds like it has everything we need.

"Michael, where would you like to go today?" That's how K.I.T.T. greeted David Hasslehoff in "Knight Rider," and that's how the Mio Knight Rider GPS greets you when you turn it on. In the exact same voice, thanks to Mio's partnership with Universal Studios. (You can then change it to one of 300+ other names.) K.I.T.T. (William Daniels) will give you voice guidance and turn-by-turn directions (accompanied by LED synthesizer lights), and make you feel like a 1980s TV star. The GPS device doesn't ship for a few weeks but you can preorder it from Radio Shack. Shiny jacket and curly wig not included.

According to the Circulon website, it takes almost 10 minutes to boil 2 quarts of water on an electric coil stove, but less than 5 minutes if you use an induction cooktop, because with induction cooking, 90% of the energy generated goes directly to the pot or pan. So dinner gets cooked faster and energy bills are lower. Unfortunately, induction stoves are still really expensive. But you can get this portable Circulon induction cooktop for less than $300. It has adjustable power levels with 7 preset cooking temperatures (from 150 to 430 degrees), a timer (for slow cooking), cooks safely (no open heat source), and cleans up easily with a damp sponge.

Look, another pocket video camera! Except this one records in HD. The Kodak Zi6 can record 720p at 60 frames per second, a step above the 640x480-pixel VGA resolution you get with other pocket camcorders. Available in black (pink is coming soon), the Zi6 has a 2.4" LCD and an expandable SD/SDHC card slot that holds cards up to 32 GB (you'll need a memory card because the camcorder doesn't come with much built-in memory). You can upload your videos directly to YouTube quickly and easily, thanks to the built-in USB connection. But if you want to clean them up first, the Zi6 comes with editing software. More budget camcorders.

Remember those Kohler WaterTiles from a couple years ago? They're panels for the sides of your shower, so water sprays at you from all directions like a human car wash. Kohler has taken showering to the next level with SoundTiles, matching speakers that stream your favorite music and Internet radio right into your shower. Kohler worked with Polk Audio to create these waterproof, coaxial, 4" x 4" speakers, which are controlled by the Kohler DTV II or any stand-alone home audio system. We hope for your spouse's/roommate's sake you have a good singing voice.

If you've been thinking about getting a portable DVD player and a digital photo frame, you can get both in one device, the LG DP889. On the train to work, you can watch DVDs on the 8" screen. Once at work, you can display digital photo slideshows on the same screen. Or better yet: In the car, the kids stay entertained with Pixar DVDs, and once you get to Grandma's you can show off up to 250 photos. The device has audio/video input and output for flexible viewing, and a 3-in-1 memory card slot and USB connection so you can connect almost any digital camera. More portable DVD players. More digital photo frames.

Introducing the Peek, a handheld device for email and only email. No phone, no text messages, no Web browser, just email. Designed for "everyday people," or people who don't want all the bells and whistles of an iPhone, Blackerry, or Treo, the Peek is super easy to use, has a well-designed QWERTY keyboard, a full color display, and supports Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, and other major email clients. The fee is $20 a month for unlimited emailing - with no contract. We're wondering if we can get our grandmother, who's a bit scared of "computers," to use one.

Jazz up otherwise boring/conservative outfits with bib necklaces. Named (we assume) for the amount of neck and chest real estate they occupy, bib necklaces come in a wide variety of styles (from early Roman to urban chic), materials (beads, stones, fringes), and price ranges. The one shown here is on sale for $105 at Banana Republic and looks versatile enough for both work and weekend.

We're sure there's a joke about PUMAs in here somewhere... Just in time for election season, Toms has created these Split Decision shoes. The right shoe depicts the Republican elephant; the left shoe the Democratic donkey. Like other Toms shoes, they're made of lightweight burlap with leather insoles and lightly textured bottoms for traction. And for every pair you buy, Tom donates a pair of shoes to a child in need.

The July issue of Consumer Reports had an article on the best digital photo frames. We like the looks of this 8" HP display, which got the highest CR score, because you don't need a computer to use it (it accepts most memory cards); it can display single pictures, slideshows, or videos; and it looks like a normal photo frame. It even comes with 2 interchangeable faceplates - one black and one that looks like wood (shown here) - so it will complement almost any decor. More digital photo frames.

If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is reach for your laptop (without getting out of bed/off the couch), you might like the Chumby. The size of a large fist, the Chumby is a plush gadget with a 3.5" screen, speakers, and Wi-Fi that combines the basic functions of alarm clock, Internet radio, iPod speaker, digital photo frame, and Web browser. Note: It doesn't have its own browser; you get all the widgets you need, including news, blogs, stock quotes, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, eBay, and hundreds more at Chumby.com. Available in 3 colors, the Chumby might not be as cute as the Sony Rolly, but it's a million times more useful, and costs just $180.

Bed Bath & Beyond should have had us on the payroll the other night. We spent more than an hour vacuuming their floors as we tried out various uprights to replace our old Dirt Devil, which finally gave up the ghost (and stank up our apartment as it burned through yet another rubber belt thing). Now, we'd been hearing multiple people at the office rave about their Dy$on vacuums, but the full-size ones are just ginormous, and the new compact DC24 couldn't seem to pick up a simple ball of hair on the carpet. So when we heard this Miele Powerhouse eagerly sucking up all the nasty stuff BB&B customers had left on the floors; saw its $100-cheaper-than-the-little-Dyson price tag; and learned about its lifetime warranty (we can take it back if we decide it - pardon the pun - sucks), we brought it home. Yay for clean carpets!

You'd think, after browsing through the September issue of Lucky magazine, that a good fall tote bag costs at least several hundred dollars. Nonsense. You can get this patent "Palazzo" tote bag from Crate and Barrel for $34.95. The bag is right on trend for fall (patent! purple! contrast! boldness!), has magnetic closure with an interior pocket, can be cleaned with a damp cloth, and comes in several color combinations. So you can get one for toting groceries and one for your gym gear.

As seen in the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens: Photo wall clocks from Target. Instead of numbers, there are circles where you can insert your own photos. A perfect gift for grandmothers or people with large families. Plus it's probably fun to say things like "It's Mike after Mark." Preorder now for delivery in a few weeks. See also: Target's "splat" wall clocks.

The worst thing about cooking is cleaning the pots and pans afterwards. Not anymore (at least, not if you have a dishwasher), because Calphalon's new Infinite Circulon collection of hard-anodized, non-stick pots, pans, and skillets is completely dishwasher-safe! Plus the bottoms are made from stainless steel and aluminum (safe for glass and induction cooktops) and the stainless steel handles are oven-safe to 500 degrees. But if $300 for the 10-piece set is a little out of your price range, the good news is you can buy individual items separately. See all Calphalon cookware.

The second season of Heroes comes out on DVD this week, just in time to ease your Olympics withdrawal. Volume two begins four months after the Emmy Award-nominated first season's explosive finale, just as the heroes are struggling, once again, to adapt to normal existence. The 4-disc set contains all the TV episodes, plus some bonus features with untold stories and an alternate ending to the season finale. Compare prices on the first season of Heroes.

Coming soon from Sony: The 10-megapixel Cyber-shot T700, an ultracompact camera with a huge 3.5" touch-screen, 4x optical zoom, and 4GB of internal memory, so you don't have to worry about filling up (or losing) memory cards, although there is also a slot for an additional memory card, should you want to use one. The camera not only recognizes smiles, it also recognizes blinking - if someone blinks while you're taking a picture, the camera automatically takes a second one. The T700 will be available in silver, red, pink, gray, and gold.

No, this is not a teapot or an adult toy. It's a sinus irrigation system called a neti pot. You fill it with water, stick it up your nose, and flush out your nasal cavity. It sounds disgusting, but it's safe (they've been doing it in India for hundreds of years), and we wish we'd had one last weekend when we were in Steamboat Springs, CO for a wedding at 9,000 feet and our sinuses felt like sandpaper. We also wish we had brought along some anti-anxiety meds for that harrowing gondola ride up the mountain, but that's another story.

We usually have a hard time getting excited about jewelry (it sparkles; big deal) unless it's something unique and unlike anything we've seen before. Which is exactly why we're excited about Han Cholo jewelry. Designed by a DJ who grew up in the LA music and art scenes (and who used to work for Grand Royal), these rings, pendants, bracelets, and earrings reflect various hip hop, science fiction, and fantasy themes. Shown here is the turntable ring, but we've also got our eyes on the breakdancing and boombox pendants.

CNET recently gave the Nikon D3 an Editors' Choice award, saying the D3 is "a camera that reaches new heights in imaging with extremely low noise at astronomical ISO sensitivities, while maintaining the pro-level control and body design Nikonians have come to expect in the company's flagship cameras." Designed for professional sports photographers and photojournalists, the D3 has a 12-megapixel full-frame sensor, 2 live view modes (one for when you're holding it, one for when you're using a tripod), a 3" LCD, continuous shooting at up to 9fps, 51-point auto focus, and low shutter lag. We wish there was a way we could write this one off our taxes. More Nikon digital SLRs.