Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! Byte-Sized is taking the rest of the week off after today, so let's not delay!

Presenting the Byte-Sized Gadget of the Year.... (drum roll...)

The Flip Mino (both reg. and HD)
Price: $179.99-$229.99
Available at theflip.com

The Flip Mino hasn't missed anyone's radar, especially if you are a regular reader here at Byte-Sized. It's tiny design and sleek interface and accompanying GUI is best-of-breed, and the pricetag is more than reasonable considering its impressive usability and uploading capabilities.

I adore this gadget, and I literally carry it with me where ever I go. If you are in the market for a camcorder, or are looking to be the impromptu star at your family's Christmas party, birthday party, baby shower or bridal shower, this is a gift that will not only be talked about for years but will be appreciated by the recipient every time they pop it out of its little felted case.


***So thanks for tuning in to this special edition of Byte-Sized! Drive home safely from where ever you are, and do me a favor -- don't turn on your computer for the next few days. This time of year is meant to be spent cast in the glow of your family and friends, not your 40" widescreen monitor. Happy tidings to all, and to all, a good night!

-- amber

Labels: Flip, Flip Mino, Flip Mino HD, gadget of the year

Happy Friday, everyone -- and to the screaming hoards of female fans that are going to try to get a better seat than me tonight (good luck with that, btw): Happy Twilight Premiere Day!

Let's get to the other geektastic headlines to tide you over until you can punch out and head to the theatres...

-First we have hospital employees accessing private medical records of celebrity patients, now we are getting reports that employees at Verizon Wireless have been accessing the private phone records of Pres.-Elect Barack Obama. Who are these people and how is it possible that they aren't caught sooner?

- Feeling the need to go green, but don't how how you can help beyond separating out your glass and plastics? Our friends at Digital Trends have a feature today on how to recycle your electronic devices, with tips, sites and suggestions for how to responsibly dispose or or donate your unwanted devices. Kudos to them for the great research! ... FYI, i learned this in my daily web travels -- if you recycle nothing else, make sure you siphon out your aluminium cans from your trash bins. They are the most easily reused with the least amount of energy.

- It's been confirmed that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King has broken records for first-day sales with 2.8 M -- the most ever for a PC game.

- Going back to the green beat for a moment, it may warm your heart to hear that scientists at MIT are looking into how to harness the wasted heat from power plants, data centers and your clothes dryers to help generate more energy, even at lower temperatures than previous experiments.

** And, before I go -- a big thanks go out to Kodak and The Flip for getting me out units of their tiny HD video cameras in enough time to review them for the holidays -- you guys rock! Stay tuned for my breakdown of these top players, set to run as part of my holiday gift list coverage starting in December...

But for you early gift-givers: Based on early impressions, either one of these is a steal!

Labels: barak Obama, cell phone records, Flip, Kodak, MIT scientists, recycling electronics, twilight film, wasted heat, World of Warcraft