It’s a new year, and that means it’s time for a new and improved Porn Detection Stick! Last year the Porn Detection Stick was only capable of scanning for pornographic images on your computer. The software on the stick was able to analyze images based on a complicated algorithm to determine if the pictures it found contained pornographic material.

Well scanning for naughty images is so 2010, and with the arrival of 2012 the new and improved stick can now scan and analyze your computer’s video and determine if it is of a pornographic nature.  The Porn Stick can scan external hard drives as well as flash drives. The software uses 11 different detection methods to not only scan images, but also video in various formats like MOV, Mp4, MPEG1 – MPEG4, ASF, AVI, and many others. No video format is safe, and that means it can detect porn on both a PC or Mac.

So before you download that next Digital Playground movie beware… you never know when someone might stick it to you. The Porn Stick Detection Pro (Now with video detection) retails for $99.99.

Native Union is bringing the kitsch to IFA 2011. The company till now has been known for making retro yet functional accessories that bring the fun back to your mobile devices.  In the past they have specialized in making the average conversation an art form and now they are tackling video.  Play, is a video memo pad shaped as a word bubble that combines a video camera, audio recording system, and 2.4-inch color LCD screen.

The Play video memo pad can store three minutes of video in one full-length message or  several shorter messages at one time. You can leave Play just about anywhere as it has a magnetized back. It also has three buttons on its face for ease of use that will appeal to all ages big and small.

Play will be available  at the end of September for £49.99 ( $80 USD), is available in green, pink, blue, purple, red, white and black. Now you can visually leave a message displaying how desperate you are for someone to bring home milk.

One thing is for sure – celebrities seem to really love the HP TouchPad. If you haven’t sped through your commercials lately – you will notice that Russell Brand, Lea Michele, and Manny Pacquiao have all put their face on the HP TouchPad and given it a little glitz.

However Russell has really taken a shine to the HP TouchPad because his videos also show you how he multi-tasks with the device, in that special Russell Brand kind of way.

I mean didn’t you ever want to get schooled by a Brit on technology? I know I have. Take a gander at the videos below to see why these celebrities really like the TouchPad A LOT.

iGloLEDset is a programmable strip of 120 full color LED lights controlled by an iOS or Android device. With the app, you have complete control over all aspects of the light strip including colors, patterns, speeds, and animation. With all the programmable presets, you can have a custom light-show for every and any occasion.

What’s in the Box

-One iGloLED Strip: 120 lights (16.4ft / 5 meters)
-One iGloLED WiFi Controller Unit
-One Universal Power Supply

Design

The iGloLED light strip comes in a rolled up spool. The strip itself is a copper-colored ribbon with circuitry covered in a UV resistant transparent silicone. It has a rubbery and flexible feel to it. It’s also pretty light. According to iGloLED’s FAQ, the case is splash resistant, but not weather proof.

Set up

The unboxing of iGloLED can be a little intimidating because it looks like a bunch of wires surrounding a rolled up strip of LEDs. It is actually quite simple; there are essentially three connections each with a connector. Just match up the three different types of connectors and you’re good. There are two wires that hang off of the iGloLED strip on both sides. There’s a power cable and a control cable, male on one end of the strip, female on the other. The two male cables plug into the iGloLED WiFi controller Unit, and the controller unit plugs into the universal power supply which plugs into the wall. That’s it for hardware set up, the iGloLED is now broadcasting a wireless signal. iPhone/iPad/iPod touch set up is very easy. Download iGloLEDset from the App Store for free. Connect to the iGloLED WiFi network and launch the app. That’s it. Apparently, the Android set up is a little trickier, and the app costs $2.99. The Android set up can be found here.

Features

There are 120 LEDs on one 16 foot iGloLED strip. You can connect up to three strips (additional strips sold separately) totaling 49 feet of lights. Each LED light on the strip has the ability to display virtually any color of the rainbow, enabling iGloLED to perform some very nice fading effects. Once plugged in, the light strip will begin shining away with an animated rainbow pattern. To control the lights you need to fire up the app. The app comes with 85 presets installed. The presets have the colors, type of movement, and direction pre-programmed. You can slow down, speed up, or pause all of the presets. Speed can be adjusted by the device’s accelerometer if desired. Alternatively, you can choose one of 14 color schemes and separately choose a movement type and a direction–350 combinations total. Next, there are 100 programmable presets where you can customize your own patterns. The iGloLED app has a real time feature where accelerometer-controlled balls choose the location and color of active lights on the strip. The real time feature can also be used with up to four fingers. The last main feature of the iGloLED app is the ability to split the strip up into eight segments and individually control each segment. This means you can use a different preset on 8 individual segments of the LED strip. LED strips that are daisy chained together are recognized by the app as one strip. The app can individually control multiple WiFi units.

Performance

Seeing the iGloLEDset in action can be a mind-blowing experience. Controlling it yourself is even better. The set up could not be easier. The application has a lot of features and the info icons do a fantastic job at explaining each button and feature. The app gives you absolute control over your lights in every way imaginable, except one. The app will not let you choose individual colors to add to your color scheme, you need to choose from gradients. For instance, if I want a Red-Yellow-Blue LED strip, I need to choose a Red-Yellow gradient and a Yellow-Blue gradient to accomplish this. The problem is that the app may not have the gradient I want, or it might be in the wrong direction. The only other real issue I had with the application is that it freezes and crashes a lot, which freezes the lights. Sometimes the only way to unfreeze the lights is restarting iPhone and relaunching the app. Most of the gripes I had with iGloLED are problems with the application not the iGloLEDset device, which will likely be fixed with future updates. The one issue I have with the hardware is that it can’t be integrated into your current wireless network. This means that you have to disconnect from your home network and connect to the iGloLED network, which is not password protected, in order to control the lights.

Conclusion

iGloLEDset is a very unique and impressive product. There could be a number of uses for a programmable lightstrip. The iGloLED website features videos with the strip along staircases, wrapped around robots, accenting fish tanks, and even pimping out the inside of a car. The iGloLED kit costs $299 and each additional strip (no WiFi unit) costs $199. This is a pretty pricey investment for glorified Christmas Tree lights, especially considering that the app is still pretty buggy, so there’s no doubt that iGloLEDset is a luxury item, but hey…it might be just what you needed to spruce up your fireplace or seamlessly transform your Christmas Tree into a Hanukkah bush. Either way, the iGloLED will woo your guests and make one hell of a conversation piece.

The Good: Completely Customizable with iOS/Android, Ability to daisy chain multiple cords, displays almost any color, very impressive and fun to watch
The Bad: App freezes, can’t create color schemes with individual colors, Android App isn’t Free, Expensive, not weather-proof, can’t integrate into existing WiFi network.

Poised and professional and most of the time concealed behind her fab sunglasses, Lady Gaga explained her passion for writing music and the importance of experiencing quality sound reproduction. She went on to explain why she chose the design of a triangle to exemplify the three things she would die without: love, fashion, and writing. Like with any genius, there is a method to their madness. Monster insures that the quality of the sound is still rich, despite being ‘fashion’ earphones. And even though these are likely to be labeled for women, Lady Gaga herself describes the Heartbeats designed to be ‘unisex’, at least for her fans anyway.

Jimmy Iovine let a few cats out of the bag with news of collaborations with Apple as well as HP. Noel Lee also suggested they may bundle her next album with the Heartbeats as well. This is all speculative and all remains to be seen, but we are excited nonetheless.

The Heartbeats by Lady Gaga will come in a red designed carrying case with an assortment of eartips for all different size ear canals. There is also the famous ‘linguine’ cable to avoid tangled earphone wires. There will also be a version available with ControlTalk which works with both iPhone 3GS, Shuffle, and other new iPod and music devices.

The official launch will be on October 18th and suggested prices for the basic version of the Heartbeats will be $119.95. However you can get them on pre-order exclusively at Best Buy for $99.95.
The Heartbeats that feature ControlTalk will retail for $149.95 and will only be available in the color black on black.

Finally, Heartbeats by Lady Gaga Haute Couture Ultra High Definition Headphones with ControlTalk will be making their appearance in time for the holidays and will feature a red jewel shaped crystal earpiece design… there are no images available for that one yet and it will retail for $179.95. Stay tuned.

The new Canon PowerShot SX200 IS packs in a lot of features considering that it’s still just a compact camera. For starters it’s got a 12x optical zoom to compliment its 12.1 megapixels. It’s also capable of going up to IS0 3200, it has got a 3.0″ LCD screen, an optical image stabilizer, and for those who dig HD – you can record HD video with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. The SX200 IS also has HDMI output so you can connect it directly to your TV. Design wise, it’s got a somewhat traditional and boxy looking design which might not appeal to everyone, but it does come in the color choices of black, red, or blue. The Canon PowerShot SX200 IS is available now for $349.99. Overall, this is definitely more of a prosumer compact, and we expect it to make great shots like most of the PowerShot line.

Design:
Lacie’s new iamaKey promises to be shock-proof, scratch-proof and water resistant. And the iamaKey does indeed have a sturdy design – just like a real key. It’s also got a silver metallic finish like ordinary keys and thus it will easily blend in unassumingly on your key chain.

The iamaKey feels like it will withstand the riggers of everyday use much better than your average plastic USB key, and it seems like it will also have a longer shelf life than ordinary USB keys. The iamaKey is definitely a USB key for the clumsier amongst us or those that work and play too hard for their poor little flash drive’s own good. The iamaKey also come with a little see-through plastic cap to cover the part the USB connector, the cap fits snuggly, but we imagine that it can be easily forgotten or left behind because it’s so small and see-through. And by the time we actually got to writing this review, we had already misplaced the cap.

Performance:
Lacie claims read speeds of up to 30MB/s and write speeds up to 10MB/s. In real world tests we got consistent 10MB/s read and write speeds on average when transferring video files on to the iamaKey. Below are the Xbench’s results. We also noticed that the iamaKey heated up significantly during use.

Conclusion:
If you’re in the market for a USB key that is quirky, rugged, and affordable – look no further. Lacie’s iamaKey comes in 2 capacities – of 4GB or 8GB and it comes standard with a 2 year warranty. The 4GB version retails for $17.99 and the 8GB is $27.99.

The Good:
Adorable design, more rugged than your average USB key, affordable

The bad:
USB connector cap is easy to misplace

Pantech C820 Matrix Pro

Hardware:
The Pantech Matrix Pro’s hardware is solid and feels sturdy. The Matrix Pro sports a metallic finish and curvy top and bottom. Unfortunately the Matrix Pro’s screen tends to attract fingerprints and smudges, so you might want to keep a wipe handy. Overall, it is not the most attractive phone in the world, but definitely pleasant looking, especially considering that many phones which manage to fit in two keypads end up being pretty fuggly.

The Pantech Matrix Pro is on the small size for a smart phone, width and height wise (4.17 x 2.0 x 0.85 inches) – so it will fit in your pocket easily. However, it will also bulge out of your pocket a bit because the inclusion of two keypads end up making it pretty thick. Though the Matrix Pro weighs 5.3 ounces, which isn’t all that much, for some reason the handset also feels a bit hefty in your hand. It’s also got a 2.4” screen with a 240×320 resolution. The screen is clear and pretty bright, and is pretty much on par with other similar Windows Mobile smartphones.

The keyboard on the Matrix Pro feels good to type on and key presses feel slightly stiff but comfortable. The keyboard surface area is smaller though then lets say the T-mobile G1, and is made up of just 3 rows, and as a result it is a bit more cramped. However I still found it comfortable to use. The numeric dial pad is made up of totally flat keys, sort of RAZR style, but they are also comfortable to dial with. The sides of the phone sport dedicated volume controls, a camera button and a record button. Its front face holds dial and end keys as well as a circular navigation key that looks like it’s ready to be a scroll wheel, but it’s unfortunately not one.

In the box you get a sync cable, software CD, charger, 3.5mm headphone adapter, a case and a manual.

Interface / Home screen:
One of the strongest aspects of Windows Mobile 6.1 over its predecessors are the slick updates to the home screen layout which includes a new slide panel layout that now lets you easily access things like recent calls, get access to your voicemail, text messages, mms, email, appointments, AT&T services (xpress mail, instant messenger, media net, media mail) and settings (profile wireless manager, ringtones, background image and task manager) without leaving the home screen. You can now also scroll through, and play music from your Windows Media playlist. The slide panel home screen can even show off the album art associated with the track you’re playing. While this new home screen option is very welcome, the rest of the Windows Mobile 6.1 interface is starting to look old.

Overall, navigating through the OS didn’t feel sluggish and overall the phone had good pep, though there were pretty minor delays, like a second or so delay when switching between landscape / QWERTY and portrait views. The handset comes ships with just 256MB of ROM and 128 megs of RAM, but it sports an SDHC slot for up to 32GB expandable memory.

For those of you looking for a touch screen, the Matrix Pro does not have one, however between both keypads you don’t feel like you’re missing one. Also, the OS is designed well for phones without touchscreens. That said, we do wish that the circular navigation button on the front face doubled as a scroll wheel.

Call Quality:
Call Quality was very good on the Matrix Pro, testing in New York City, I could hear callers clearly and vice versa. I generally had full bars as well, but then again I only have gotten a chance to test in an area which is known to have good coverage. The speakerphone worked ok, but often callers on the other end said they had some difficulty hearing me when talking to them on speakerphone. Also the speakerphone does not get quite loud enough for noisier environments. Overall, the phone’s battery can manage to last a few days with light use and even over a day with moderate use. In contrast, most smartphone I’ve worked with tank out after a day of even moderate use.

Software:
The Matrix Pro comes with plenty of software including an instant messaging app that gives you access to AIM, Yahoo and MSN messenger, a weather app, a PDF program, a Java VM app for running other Java based apps, a mobile banking app as well as AT&T’s optional specialized services like Xpress Mail and MobiTV, and AT&T’s Navigator application which takes advantage of the built-in GPS. Office Mobile is also included which contains Excel, OneNote, Powerpoint and Word Mobile. Oddly, there are some apps, like the Mobile Banking app which have icons in the menu system but aren’t actually installed on the device yet until you manually download them. The handset also comes with a great selection of games, including Guitar Hero 3 Mobile, Brain Challenge, Bubble Breaker, Jewel Quest II, Midnight Pool, Ms. Pac Man, Scrabble, Solitaire, and Tetris. Unfortunately many of these like Ms. Pac-man and Guitar Hero 3 are just demos, which is a bummer.

Internet:
The Matrix Pro does not have Wi-Fi abilities, instead you have to rely on only 3G for surfing the net speedily. The Matrix Pro comes preloaded with Internet Explorer, of course. Using DSLReports’ Mobile speed test, the Matrix Pro came up with a 120kbit/sec result. Surfing the net with AT&T’s 3G network in NYC felt pretty fast, even when using bloated Internet Explorer. However, I would highly recommend downloading the free Skyfire browser which is a lot faster than I.E. and also emulates the closest desktop surfing experience possible on a Windows Mobile smartphone. Skyfire also renders web pages better than Internet Explorer and overall takes better advantage of AT&T’s 3G network. In order to understand just how much faster Skyfire is, check out the loading time comparisons below.

Internet Explorer:
1:05 for ChipChick.com
8 Seconds for m.cnn.com

Skyfire:
23 Seconds for ChipChick.com
5 Seconds for m.cnn.com

E-mail:
Windows Mobile of course integrates with Microsoft Exchange beautifully and does a good job of playing nicely with imap and pop3 accounts. However, the Matrix Pro also comes with support for AT&T’s Xpress mail which is a $4.99 a month push email service that lets you get your mail as soon as the email server receives a new one. It’s compatible with most personal email accounts including Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Windows Live Hotmail (MSN, Hotmail and Live), Comcast, EarthLink, and others. Xpress Mail also saves the devices from running scheduled sync if there is no mail and it enables you to to sync contacts and schedules with your phone.

Multimedia:
A trial of MobiTV is included. MobiTV offers the ability to stream TV popular TV shows to your handset. I was able to watch streaming episodes of Lost without a hitch. Granted the screen isn’t big enough for watching video for serious lengths of time, but it was awesome being able to watch some TV while waiting for the train. Other notable preinstalled multimedia apps include Pandora for free music listening, a trial for XM radio Mobile and for MobiVJ which provides access to music videos, and there is also access to AT&T’s music shop.

As for audio and video playback, the device comes with the standard Windows Media Player which lets you access your music by artist, album, and genre. Album art and star ratings can also be viewed while listening to tracks. Unfortunately the Matrix Pro comes uses a proprietary headphone jack. The T-mobile G1 is guilty of the same offense. We can’t understand why companies would bother making a multimedia handset with anything but a 3.5mm jack. However, to their credit, at-least Pantech does ship the Matrix Pro with a 3.5mm adapter.

Camera:
The Matrix Pro sports a 2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom. Both the camera and video recording/camcorder function give you a nice amount of options such different choices for white balance settings including Auto, daylight, cloudy, and fluorescent. You also have options for special effects: Normal, gray, sepia, and negative, and a self timer. The video recording is nothing to write home about with just  a 176×144 resolution. But it’s a nice feature to have regardless. The camera photos also were just mediocre and like most other average camera phones, photos taken in the daylight came out much better. And unfortunately, the camera sorely lacks a flash.

Conclusion:
I have to be honest and admit that until now, I hadn’t paid all that much attention to Pantech’s handsets. But after spending time with the Pantech Matrix Pro, I have come away pleasantly surprised at what a solid phone it is overall. For those looking for the best of both worlds as far keypads, an affordable price tag, and a solid feature set for a business phone with decent multimedia capabilities, the Matrix Pro doesn’t disappoint. The Pantech Matrix Pro C820 retails for $179.99 with a 2 year contract from AT&T. Alternatively you can pick one up from Amazon for just $99 with a 2 year contract.

The Good:
Dual keypad form factor is very cool, great messaging and email abilities, good overall performance, fast internet browsing and multimedia streaming, good call quality, solid feature set.

Bad:
No Wi-Fi, lacks dedicated 3.5mm jack for audio, Windows Mobile isn’t the hot shot OS that it used to be, camera lacks flash and its photos are mediocre.

The FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player is a pretty unique product, and in some ways it’s the first of its kind. There are an assortment of multimedia hard drives out there that are designed to carry multimedia content like videos and music from your computer that will play on to your TV. However, with these types of products you are locked in to that specific hard drive. The FreeAgent Theater on the other hand is just a hub. In a way you can think of it as a DVD or VHS player with its own built in software that plays movies off of a medium. In this case, the medium’s format is actually the popular Seagate FreeAgent Go Harddrives.

The FreeAgent Theater hooks up to your TV to play video, photo and audio files off of a docked FreeAgent Go Hard Drive. So lets say you downloaded some videos (torrents, cough) that you would like to watch on your TV instead of being constrained to your computer, all you have to do is sync the video or photo or audio file on to your FreeAgent Go hard drive and then dock the hard drive in to the FreeAgent Theater which in turn connects to your TV. If you have several FreeAgent Hard drives, you can easily swap them out. Want to set a side one FreeAgent Go hard drive for photos, while another one just for your Dr. Who collection? You can keep it organized in that way too and when you’re ready to play the files, just plop it in to the FreeAgent Theater. You can even rip DVDs on to the hard drive so that you can essentially play DVDs on the FreeAgent Theater, complete with menus and subtitles. The FreeAgent Theater also sports an impressive amount of support for different file formats. Here are the specs from Seagate themselves.

Supported Formats:
Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB/ISO), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX /Xvid)
Subtitles: SAMI(smi), SRT and SUB
Video resolutions: NTSC 480i/480p; PAL 576i/576p, supports video (HD and upscaling) up to 720p/1080i*
Audio: MP3, AC3 (5.1 audio – Dolby® Digital) WMA, WAV, OGG
Photo: JPEG files up to 20 megapixels
* supports MPEG-4, Xvid up to 1280 x 720 60fps and supports MPEG-2 and photos up to 1920 x 1080i 30 fps

Design:
The FreeAgent Theater itself is easily portable, and pretty lightweight. It’s got a glossy black exterior that wlll blend in well with most home theater systems, yet it’s much smaller than your average home theater component – size-wise it’s on par with that of a portable DVD player. You can easily transport it to a friend’s house and share your videos and multimedia, by just hooking it up to their TV. A small black remote is also included with the FreeAgent Theater.

Set-up:
The FreeAgent theater comes with simple fold out set up guide and a software disc containing Windows-only software. The FreeAgent Theater software lets you manage the different FreeAgent Go drives you may be using with the FreeAgent Theater. It also enables you to easily sync your media files on to a FreeAgent Go Drive, automatically or manually. The software is straightforward and easy to use. However, Mac users are out of luck. Also, even though the device supports VOB files from DVDs, the system does not come with DVD ripping software, so you’ll be left to your own resourcefulness if you want to transfer the contents of a DVD on to the FreeAgent Theater.

Interface:
The interface is clean and very easy to use. It is designed much like other Media Center software, though not quite as sleek as something like Windows Media Center. Even novice users will be able to get up and running with the interface right away.

Video Quality:
The device has the ability to playback HD videos up to 720p/1080i via upscaling. In practice, video files and photos – especially HD video, looked good on my 42″ 720P Samsung Plasma. We played back a 720P AVI file that had been filmed on a digital camera and also tested a HD DIVX movie file. Both played back without a hitch and were pleasant to watch on screen. Photos looked good on screen as well. The FreeAgent Theater will automatically turn your photos into a slideshow.

You can connect the FreeAgent Theater to your TV via Composite, S-video, or Component video connections, and for audio – the FreeAgent Theater provides Stereo, and coaxial S/PDIF connections. AV Cables are included to connect the FreeAgent Theater to your TV. However, if you have an HDTV – you’re gonna want to use component cables if you really want to experience the best image possible.

Conclusion:
Another notable feature of the FreeAgent Theater to its credit, is that it can connect to other drives via a USB connection. However, one aspect of this system that does concern us is that while the FreeAgent Go Hard drives do have a solid shelf life, eventually the FreeAgent Go hard drives will be updated with new models. So our question is, what will happen when you want to buy additional hard drives to use with the FreeAgent Theater for docking? We hope that Seagate has the foresight to make future hard drive models compatible with the system as well.

The FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player delivers an easy to use home theater experience for those who want to easily playback their multimedia files on their Televisions. It’s a great affordable alternative to complex media center PCs and other wireless solutions. The device is easy to set up and to use, and it also is conveniently portable. Unfortunately we’re disappointed in the lack of Mac support and we long for at-least a native resolution of 720p and an HDMI port so that users could really appreciate the advantages of bringing their multimedia files on to the big HDTV screen in their living room. That said, we imagine that the FreeAgent Theater will be popular with pack rats who have a lot of saved and downloaded media that they’d like to unlock off of their PCs and experience on the big screen. Also, in a way, the FreeAgent Theater is the answer to a modern day projector. Thus, it should also be popular with families who want to easily share and present movies, photos, etc without too much expense and complication involved. The FreeAGent Theater HD Media Player retails for $129.99 without a FreeAgent Go hard drive. Packages with a 250GB drive and a complimenting FreeAgent Go dock are available for $229.99 and a version with a 500GB hard drive retails for $279.99 .

The good:
Very easy to use, Solid amounts of files supported including Divx support, can play off ripped DVD files, portable, good video quality, good user interface

The Bad:
Software not available for Mac, would have liked to see HDMI included.

Update 03/09/09: While the FreeAgent Theater does not support MOV formats out-of-the-box, third-party software is available to convert MOV (H.264) video to either MPEG-2, Xvid or DivX format which can then be viewed using FreeAgent Theater. The FreeAgent Theater media player also supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats, and DIVX files with video resolutions for NTSC, PAL and HD up to 1080i and even provides support for subtitles.

Update 03/17/09: It turns out that Mac users are not totally left out in the cold if they want to use the FreeAgent Theater. If someone wants to use their Mac with the FreeAgent Theater – they must connect a hard drive to it that is a FAT 32 formatted drive. In which case they could connect an external hard drive via the USB port on the FreeAgent Theater, or they could reformat a FreeAGent Go drive to Fat32 and then be able to use their Mac to drag and drop files on to it.

Indeed – There are so many job classifieds web sites out there, who has the time to sift through all of them daily? Not only does Indeed let you search through popular job posting sites, it also offers free daily alerts based on your keyword and location. So every time a job posting for an “executive blogger” comes up, you’ll be notified right in your mail box of that days related job postings.

Fatwallet – If you’re going to buy something online, whether it be business cards at VistaPrint or a new Macbook from the apple Store (granted, if you are able to afford to buy anything at all), then you might as well make back some money on your purchase. Fatwallet offers money back from most of the popular online retailers. Cash back rates vary from one e-tailer to another, with most just a few percent – but you’d be surprised how much money that ends up accumulating over time. And either way – it’s extra money in your wallet. Since being a member in 2005, I’ve made almost $600 is cash back payments. FatWallet also has a strong user forum where people posts great coupons and steals. Other notable (and very addictive) sites for great bargains that we recommend is BensBargains.net, TechBargains.com and SlickDeals.net.

Emurse – Emurse is a free resume builder which provides all the tools you could possibly need to present a professional and powerful online resume. You get a customized web address for your resume that offers visitors the ability to save your resume as a Word Doc, PDF, text file, HTML file or you can offer potential employers the option to subscribe to it via an RSS feed. Emurse also offers instant notifications when potential employers view your resume.

Media Convert – Whether you need a screenshot of a web site or you need to convert a Word document in to a PDF, don’t fret if you don’t have the money to shell out for the necessary software. This site will take care of all of these things for you for free. Media Convert offers an assortment of useful services such as converting a Powerpoint presentation in to a video, generating image thumbnails, and combining multiple video files in to one – as well as many, many more useful stuff.

Hulu – In case you’ve missed the commercial with Alec Baldwin playing an alien, then allow us to introduce you to Hulu. Hulu offers free streaming episodes of popular TV shows as well as some movies. We’re talking big time network shows like the Family Guy, Battlestar Galactica, and Saturday Night Live – you know, the good stuff.

Mint – Mint is an all in one finance service which is aimed at helping you manage your money and manage your debt. The site helps you figure out your taxes, keep track of your transactions, and stay in control of your budget. The service will even send you emails and SMS alerts when there has been a change in your finances.

txtdrop – Practically every wireless provider has recently raised their text messaging rates. And lets face it – all those texts add up on your bill. Save some money easily by using this web site to send messages. The site also offers a Mac OS X Widget, Vista Gadget, and an iPhone optimized version of the site. However, if you’re an iPhone or iPod touch user, we recommend trying out the Pinger Textfree app which lets you send and receive text messages for free.

Weebly – Perhaps you’re looking to become your own entrepreneur and start your own business or maybe you already have your own business but don’t have the collateral available to hire a web designer and make your own web site. If that is the case, check out Weebly which is one of the best and easiest to use web-based web site creators. What especially sets them apart is that they also offer free domain hosting, so your site will have a professional .com address as opposed to some ugly yourcompany.freehosting.com. Of course, you will have to pay for the domain name, but those are usually just $10 a pop at GoDaddy.

If anyone has any other great recession helpful web sites that they would like to recommend, please let us know!

Read on to discover the best tech of the Greener Products Expo that will all  help you live a greener and more fulfilling life. Did we say fulfilling? Well, maybe that is stretching it – but some of these products will make definitely you feel better about yourself and/or your wallet.

The SolarGorilla charger is so powerful, that it’s able to charge most notebooks as well as most Mp3 players, cell phones, GPS systems and handheld video game consoles. It comes with a 20V power socket as well as a 5V USB port and a Neoprene case to carry it in. It’s also portable with a fold-up design that has traveling in mind. Sure, there are plenty of solar chargers out there, but most are only powerful enough to charge a cell phone or Mp3 player, but the ability to power a laptop as well makes the SolarGorilla stand out. It retails for $249.95.

When I think of recycling, I think of a confusing mess. The Mode Premium All-in-one Recycling Center aims to change all that by keeping all your recycles in a compact and organized fashion. The Premium All-In-One Recycling Center hold up to 3 times more than a typical bin by utilizing a compaction system that crushes aluminum cans and 8 oz to 2 liter plastic bottles and jugs. It also has a paper bin for reducing kitchen clutter by organizing all your recyclable materials into one place. Mode Premium All-in-one Recycling Center retails for $299.9

This Kiwi Gas Saving device is designed to plug into your diagnostic port (OBDII) near your steering column. Kiwi helps assess how much fuel your using and it helps you figure out how to reduce that amount. Kiwi kind of works like a game, encouraging you to increase your gas mileage with ultimate goal being to obtain the highest Kiwi Score – which will ultimately save you lots of gas money too. “Daily, Kiwi will show you how much money on gas you saved compared to the last trip you saved with Kiwi installed. Over time, you can keep track of hundreds of dollars saved throughout the year.” The Kiwi Gas Saving Device retails for $289.

Many people don’t realize how posionus food waste is too the environment and that it creates greenhouse emissions. The Insinkerator might look intimidating, and it certainly is an intimidating tool for grinding up food waste. The device claims to be a lot quieter then a standard disposer and it makes the process of consolidating food waste in to energy or fertilizer a lot easier. There are even some places over seas that use their food waste to produce fuel.

99% of Perf Go Green’s PerfPower Eco-Alkaline Batteries are made of Biodegradable materials and they contain no harmful lead or mercury. When it’s time to recycle these batteries, the company even provides you with everything you need to send the batteries back to them. This way they can recycle the batteries. Even the batteries’ packaging material is made from recycled materials. The end result is great because not only are you not poisoning a landfill with batteries, but you’re also recycling these batteries so that they can be used again. Perf Go Green also offers an assortment of other environmentally friendly products such as trash and litter bags.

Be Green offers you several unique ways to “give the gift of green”. For every BeGreen PodDaisy Flower Card , Chili Pepper, or Forget Me Nots you purchase, a native tree is planted in an ecosystem restoration project in the United States. Each gift retails for $9.95 to $12.95. So where does the tech aspect play in to this? “An average tree will absorb more than 650 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) over its lifetime — that’s equal to the amount produced by driving about 740 miles.” If you look at it that way, that tree you just helped plant can help offset some of the damage we do everyday by just driving in a car.

Call2Recycle offers you a convenient way to recycle your old cell phones, recharge batteries or cordless electronic products. So before you think of dumping that old battery out, do the planet a favor and head over to their site and search for locations near you. Their drop-offs can be found at many popular retail locations like Best Buy, CVS or RadioShack.

Ever want to go vroom vroom with your usb key? Well now you can and its even in the shape of a Nascar. This officially licensed Nascar product offers a selection of USB keys that are 1:88 scale replica design. Each one is named after a famed driver, be it Dale Jr. or Jeff Gordon. The storage capacity is 4GB and comes pre-loaded with driver specific videos, pictures, and sounds. The tail-light even flashes indicating activity. All of this and an official Nascar logo lanyard too! The DataStick Nascar USB Flash Drive can be found in several retailers including Amazon for only $19.00

Just released is the Philips SIC4714BB/27 digital camera.  It’s not your typical looking camera and honestly I’m not sure if it’s trying to capture the Flip Mino crowd or what …but with just 1.3MP it’s going to have a very hard time. It shoots photos, video, and records voice memos  and it’s small enough to slip into just about anything. Some of the features include a VGA resolution, a 1.5″ LCD display and a SD expansion slot. No pricing is available yet, however I think you can find other ways to spend your money then on this useless item that doesn’t do anything more than your cellphone does. Especially when cellphones have a minimum of 1.3 MP these days too.

Looking to dip your TV and other audio/video equipment in gold? Well Bang and Olufsen is offering this option to high end consumers who buy select items. Not technically gold but gold colored, Bang and Olufsen have come up with the Beospray, which is applied to the anodized aluminum surfaces of some of its video and audio equipment. The Beospray enables designers to make utilize this exclusive golden hue for future design concepts. It’s being marketed to business to business clientele, hotels, and maybe The Donald… this certainly won’t come cheap (and iteven says so in the press release!) and it sure will look gaudy…

Samsung A767 Propel

LAST DAY TO ENTER IS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH.

The Propel is the perfect quick messaging device for heavy users. And as you might expect, Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest text messaging days of the year—inextricably linking texting with the universal language of love!

• 36% of texters intend to send a text or picture message in celebration of Valentine’s Day
• 61% plan to send a text message to someone with whom they’re currently in a relationship, while another 35% plan to send a text message to a friend of family member
• 40% of people who plan to send a Valentine’s Day text or picture messages plan to send five or more messages
• 48% of texters felt that receiving a Valentine’s Day text message would have the same or more meaning or impact than a card, and more than two thirds of texters (68%) felt that way about receiving a picture message
Full survey results are available here.

Regulations: The Samsung Propel being used in this giveaway is an AT&T locked and branded phone. It does not come with service or a contract. AT&T & ChipChick.com are not responsible for any lost packages or incorrect shipping addresses. The prize is not redeemable in cash and must be accepted as awarded. Approximate value of prizes may vary. By claiming the prize, the winner authorizes the use, without additional compensation of his or her name and/or likeness and/or voice/photograph and municipality of residence for promotion and/or advertising purposes in any manner and in any medium (including without limitation over the internet and picture data storage).