Yes, I am using the words "cute" and "router" in the same sentence. But just look at The Belkin Travel Router ($59.99 ESP). Doesn't it look like a nice companion for your PC when traveling on the road? This is the perfect way to share a broadband connection with collegues at conferences. It can also be used as an 802.11G wireless adapter or access point. 

I just saw it on the Digital Life show floor, so I can't speak for its performance, but I think it could beat the 3Com Office Connect Wireless 54Mbps 11g Travel Router in a beauty contest. (It has a prettier name, too.)

(David Coursey's comment: But, what about the Apple AirPort Express, which can provide hotel room wireless as well as connect remote speakers to your iTunes library? Of course, it's more than twice as expensive, but that's Apple).

The new Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System ($2,300 direct) is the first Media Center PC we know of that uses the new Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. What does that mean to you? First of all, it can replace your TiVo, CD changer, DVD player/changer, DVD recorder, and more.

If that isn't enough, the system comes with a 200-disc changer. Load 200 CDs, click rip, and in a few hours (well, maybe overnight) you will have a complete MP3 library assembled for you. Better still, the system lets you load as many as 200 DVDs, giving you own personal video on demand service without ever having to pull a disc off the shelf. It even lets you burn DVDs of your favorite TV shows, after you have downloaded them from a legal service provider of course, so they don't clog up all you hard disk space.

Oh, and it looks like a Sony. Very nice. Read the full hands-on review here.

Believe it or not, my brother's nickname is D-LO (don't ask). So, when I found out about the DLO iBoom, I thought that not only would he get a kick out of this system's name, I'd consider it as an early holiday gift for him to complement his silver iPod mini.

While there are a bunch of iPod-compatible portable speaker systems out there, this one comes with extras like an FM tuner and look! A black nylon carrying case. So, not only will my brother get to breakdance to the hottest songs on the radio, he can bring the system with him wherever he feels like busting a move (most likely right outside my bedroom door to annoy me).

And with the iBoom's two tweeters and two woofers, you'll get a total of 20 watts per channel, which isn't wall-shaking power, but it's still pretty loud.

The system is priced at just $99, so that makes my wallet happy when it comes to budgeting for holiday shopping.

Check out more on the DLO iBoom in this review.

The first PDA on the U.S. market with a hard drive, the palmOne LifeDrive ($499 direct) is a device that digital pack rats should love. In fact, the folks at palmOne consider it a mobile manager, one of an entirely new class of handheld products. Its 4GBs of storage should be enough for almost anyone to carry all their critical documents and media. Be forewarned, though: You'll have to recharge the device frequently, and we did encounter some irritating bugs and crashes during our testing, which prevented us from awarding it even higher marks and an Editors' Choice.

Read PC Magazine's full review.

The AOL Optimized PC by Systemax ($299 direct, with 17-inch CRT monitor, AOL contract required) is a great choice and an excellent value for the computer novice, and not just because it's an inexpensive PC. We'd recommend the AOL PC for people who know a bit about PCs and "just want to surf the Web"—with or without a broadband connection. Though it's not aimed at the übergeek, it's a compelling choice for the computer novice or people who stay after work to surf because they don't have a computer at home.

Read PC Magazine's full review.

The FlexRadio SDR-1000 "software-defined" ham radio transceiver is the coolest toy I've seen lately. It is also a cutting-edge piece of communications equipment as important today as the transistorized radios that began replacing "hollow state" tube designs nearly five decades ago. This is the next-generation of radio gear, and not just for hams.

The SDR-1000 is packaged in an uninteresting black box. I saw it demonstrated last weekend at the Pacificon amateur radio conference in San Ramon, CA.

Most modern amateur radios can be computer-controlled, but require a box full of radio parts to do the transmitting and receiving. The SDR-1000 turns this paradigm upside-down, pairing a PC loaded with digital signal processing software with a minimalist transceiver. That's what it means for the software to "define" the radio.

Today, the SDR-1000 is the ultimate combination of computing and amateur communications. It  represents an entirely new way of thinking about radio design--software replacing hardware--and the specifications and feature set that result.

The reliance on software means that there is no such thing as a "used" SDR-1000, as every radio can run the most current version of the software (top right). This open source software, currently available for Windows but coming soon to desktop Linux, has developed an international development team and is being revised frequently. The application does not require a huge amount of computing power or an expensive PC to run.

A 100-watt SDR-1000 (bottom right) costs about $1,400, with the optional built-in tuner adding $235. This is considerably less than many conventional radios that don't do as much, but certainly isn't cheap. Especially for a box that doesn't contain nearly as much "radio" as the competition and uses "free" GPL software to operate.

At present, the PowerSDR user interface is still too geeky to be useful to the average ham radio operator. Fortunately, the software can be totally customized for a particular application or even the individual user. That makes the SDR-1000 the most customizable amateur radio ever built, but today such customization remains the realm of programmers, not mere users.

That will change over the next year and, eventually, the major manufacturers may introduce SDR boxes of their own. Whether these large Japanese companies--Yaesu, Kenwood, and Icom--have the good sense to support an open software platform remains to be seen. (I'd bet against it, which is why these companies may never offer an SDR amateur transceiver).

If $1,800 drops into my lap anytime soon, this is what the money will buy.

We've always scratched our heads at the whole SLI concept. Given the performance horsepower in a GeForce 7800GTX, adding a second graphics card really only adds performance at the margins—if you have a high-resolution display.

Of course, Nvidia will point out that future games may require more graphics horsepower, and so you might only have one card today but want to add one in the future. Or you could get two 6600GTs if you can't afford a single 7800GTX, trading a fairly small increment in cost for some performance gain and configuration headaches. As SLI matures, some of the configuration headaches become less onerous, but it won't ever be as simple as a single card.

ASUS has listened to some of the arguments against SLI, and is poised to deliver an answer—the EN7800GT Dual Limited Edition. ASUS's designers built an SLI graphics subsystem on a single board, using two 7800GT GPUs. Slated to ship in early November for a whopping $800, ASUS is planning on shipping only 2,000 of these boards.

Read Loyd Case's full review from ExtremeTech.com.