I can’t think of the last time I fell in love with a piece of hardware so fast as I did the Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Gigabit Router (Model: F5D8232-4).

I saw it on the shelf at Best Buy while looking to replace my crappy old Netgear router, and after reading some of the literature I could not resist grabbing the only one they had to take it home and give it a try - despite the $200 price tag.

I picked it up for two primary reasons:

• The cool display on the outside of the router actually looked like it could be useful for seeing what is going on with the connectivity.
• The box claimed a freakishly long range, which I reasoned would be worth it if I could actually get coverage throughout my large house.

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Google recently acquired a company called GrandCentral, which I was preparing to do a review of anyway after testing the service out a bit. This only makes the offering all that much stronger, and in my opinion it’s something everyone should try out.

Here is the Google acquisition announcement which took about 2 seconds to download directly from my voice mail:

GrandCentral links all of your phone numbers together and layers on a TON of new features. How? They are giving people One Number…for Life - a number that’s not tied to a phone or a location - but tied to you. This number will consolidate your voice messaging, route calls to wherever you are, and even allow you to screen your calls.
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Think Geek brings us the Annoy-a-tron - a gadget that’s very effective at disturbing that guy in the sales department or your “friend” down the hall.

With its thin design and embedded magnet for easy hiding, the Annoy-a-tron can be placed in a variety of locations. Select one of the three sound choices (2 kHz, 12 kHz, or alternating) and push the switch to the on position. Place it in a proper hiding spot and let the “fun” begin.
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I never imagined I could desire a blender so bad, but man do I want the $400 BlentTec Total Blender!

In what has to be the most brilliant marketing campaign of all time, the BlendTec folks decided to throw away (or at least blend) the manual when it comes to getting the message out about their product.
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Ahh, toys… the latest one to enter the fold is the Creative Zen Vision W personal media player. This device does just about everything.

But is it any good? Well, read on to find out.
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There is a very interesting new site called Bid Nearby which is a mashup, or combination, of eBay and Craig’s List auctions overlaid onto a Google map in a given area.

Simply go enter the item you’re looking for and the site will display a map showing clickable pins which pop up descriptions of the items for sale at each location.

You could use this service to help cut down on shipping costs by purchasing items that are local enough to drive over and take delivery.

Do you need to get a little something for that person who already has it all? Well, how about giving them an ice cube shaped diamond? Or better yet, an ice tray that lets them make em’ themselves! (Might even save you a few $$million).

There is a great little gift site called SpoonSisters.com which seems to have a lot of unique items. They bill themselves as a gift giving site, and I can see how that works for them.

Among their items are a few of the frozen variety.
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My living room wasn’t bringing the kind of audio visual pleasure it once did, so we had to take the step up to a new HD TV. The problem was, which one to get?

The absolute dimensions for our built in cabinetry dictated that we could go no larger than a 40-42″ flat panel TV, depending on the brand. After doing quite a bit of comparative analysis we finally decided on the Sharp 42″ Aquos LCD (LC-42D62U), which we got at Best Buy.
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The Wollemi pine tree is a rare species that dominated the southern hemisphere for over 100 million years. And when I say “rare” what I really mean is that it was thought to be extinct until 1994 when a hiker found a grove of about 100 of the plants in the middle of a one million acre wilderness area outside Sydney, Australia.

In order to help keep these trees alive, they have discovered a way to sell clippings from the trees which are now available for purchase from National Geographic for $100.
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I’ve got to give it up to the designers of this Aluminum tray. Although their English is atrocious, their ingenuity is to be admired. In fact, I think this is one of those “why didn’t anyone think of that before” inventions.
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The latest in home and office security protection is one of the most unique and effective methods I’ve seen yet.

Instead of setting off an alarm which people seem to just ignore, the idea is to completely blanket the protected area in a thick cloud of smoke!
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Sometimes it’s just plain easier to search for art online from the comfort of your own home than to go driving all over town. So, here is a quick guide to buying art online.

Before we get started, another great option is to find your nearest fine art show and go check it out. There are usually around 200 artists in attendance and you might just find a real quality piece of work that you can be proud of.
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