Sony Bravia KLV-40ZX1M Really skinny women? Pass. Really skinny TVs? Yes, please. Less than half an inch thick up top (.39″ to be exact) and only 26 pounds, Sony’s waifish 40-incher is the sexiest flatscreen going. It still manages to pack in all the necessities, like a high-def 1080p resolution and 120Hz frame rate for [...]
Sony Bravia KLV-40ZX1M
Really skinny women? Pass. Really skinny TVs? Yes, please. Less than half an inch thick up top (.39″ to be exact) and only 26 pounds, Sony’s waifish 40-incher is the sexiest flatscreen going. It still manages to pack in all the necessities, like a high-def 1080p resolution and 120Hz frame rate for smooth onscreen action. Sony even engineered a new LED backlighting system to fit the slim case. [$4,000; sonystyle.com]
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MSI Wind U100
This is the year of the netbook: the cheap, portable laptop. No DVD drive, no nuclear-powered CPU — just WiFi and enough hardware to handle most tasks. Our favorite so far is the 10-inch-wide, 2.2-pound MSI Wind because of its large, 80-gig hard drive and relatively spacious keyboard. Whether checking our fantasy football team from the couch or the airport, we don’t know how we ever lived without one. [$550; global.msi.com]
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Nikon Coolpix P6000
The P6000 sits between point-and-shoots and dSLR cameras, offering both manual control and pocketability. But this 13.5-megapixel shooter’s killer app is its built-in GPS, which “geotags” images with the location where you shot them. Once uploaded to sites that support geotagging, such as Flickr, the pictures can be keyed to a map, showing exactly where you were robbed by those Gypsies in Rome. [$500; nikonusa.com]
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Dell Studio Hybrid
You want a PC in your living room because it lets you watch high-def movies, record TV shows, check e-mail, listen to digital music, and show friends hilarious YouTube clips on your flatscreen. You want Dell’s Studio Hybrid, specifically, because it’s small (8.8 inches tall in a stand) and stylish. Option it out with a Blu-ray drive, TV tuner, and remote, and for a grand you’ve got a single do-it-all box. And it’ll blend in with your style, since Dell will deck out your Studio Hybrid with bamboo or leather for $100, or one of six colored plastic shells for free. [from $499; dell.com]
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Microsoft Arc
A travel mouse sounds great in theory, until your hand cramps up after 15 minutes of trying to click tiny buttons on something the size of a ping-pong ball. Microsoft solved the problem and added a dash of style with the wireless Arc. Its back half-folds out to afford a respectably man-friendly rest for your palm, and when it’s time to stow it for takeoff, the Arc’s back half tucks underneath. The Arc’s tiny transceiver barely protrudes from a USB port, and slots into the mouse’s underside for storage. Even Mac users can get in on the action, if they don’t mind swallowing their pride. [$60; microsoft.com]

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By Spangler Adam Fri, Dec 5, 2008