BillyKnowsBest

E-Mail Enabled Wi-Fi Photo Frame

This might be the perfect grandparent gift.  Not only is it an electronic frame that displays jpeg photos, but it is enabled with Wi-Fi and and e-mail address, so you can send new photos to a web-based conrtol panel, RSS feed or email!  Set it up once from your PC or Mac, and the frame checks it's unique, free email address every few minutes, and immediately adds any new photos to its display rotation.  You can also send text messages to display or schedule photos to display on a specific date like a birthday or anniversary.  It's a perfect way to share the love.  $220-270 at ThinkGeek.com.

MoPods: Cell Phone Ringer Bling

I wrote a while back about the caller ID watch... this would be the next best thing, athough, again, it only works with GSM phones (just 1 year left on my Verizon contract!): MoPods flash and spin when your phone rings or vibrates.  Clip one on to your briefcase, purse or jacket and watch your Japanese teenager cred soar. £4.95 (plus £3.50 shipping outside UK/Europe) from MoPods or I Want One Of Those.

The Best Home Weather Stations

I've written before about the Ambient Wireless Weather Forecaster, but my weather-obsessed friend Jeff Ragovin brought a new one to my attention.  The graphic interface is a little more user-friendly than the last one, and it has a magnetized base so you can stick it on your fridge.  The weather information is provided wirelessly from Accuweather.com, and the updating service is free for most cities.  Buy it for $85 at Brookstone.com.  If you're looking for something more serious, check out the Honeywell TN924W.  It's the first home weather station that shows federal storm alerts (Look! It's a twister!) and comes with a wireless thermo-hygrometer, rain gauge and weather vane sensors.
It's $249 at avalive.com.  By the way, it's cloudy and overcast on Fire Island today.

Colibri 3003 Lighter

I picked up this cigar lighter (it has a fold-out cigar punch on the base) at the Smoke King, my favorite smoke shop in NYC -- it retails for $100, they gave it to me for $80 - a quick mobile pda check on my friend Jaime's Treo showed it available online for $70, but I figured the $10 differential was worth it for the immediate gratification of owning a battery-operated, wind-resistant SST ignition system lighter.  Of course, once I got home, I found it online for $58.45 at MyDiscountLighter. 

Cool Solar LED-Illuminated Address Numbers

Fewer things are more frustrating than trying to find a house number in the dark.  And while there are lots of cool house numbers, most are of little use at night if they're not illuminated.  These solar-powered LED-illuminated numbers are visitor and eco-friendly.  At $19.99 per number, they get a little pricey if you have one of those five digit California house numbers, though if you have one of those, you can probably afford them anyway.  Order them from ThinkGeek.com.

LED Headlamp Frames

These solve the age-old problem of how to hold the flashlight when both hands are occupied.  On sale for $17.99 at smarthome.com.

Hidden IR System

Hiding all of your media components allows your flat screen TV to look all sleek. But it totally defeats the purpose of remote control if you have to get up off the sofa to open the cabinet anytime you want to change the channel or volume.  That's where a Hidden IR system comes in.  You place a discrete IR sensor somewhere near your screen.  A single wire runs to a a small distributor box in your enclosed media storage, and controls up to eight devices with little wired IR "flashers" that you stick on the IR sensor area of your components.  It plugs into an ordinary electrical outlet, and is super easy to install. $109.99 (or $69.99 on "open box" special) at smarthome.com. 

NB: Save 10% on any smarthome.com order through 3/20/07 using the above link and coupon code ESPRING10

The Best Plastic Clamshell Opener: Pyranna

You may not know that they're called clamshells, but you know how difficult they are to open.  Those ubiquitous hard plastic packages that are are virtually impossible to open without injuring yourself, whether you use a razor knife or scissors.  Despite their propensity to injure, they show no signs of being replaced anytime soon.  I'd like to propose a design competition for a replacement... or a class action lawsuit. In the mean time, they've spawned a new product category:  Plastic package openers.  I first bought OpenX. Forget it. It's junk, despite the good reviews on Amazon. But the Pyranna really works - safely and efficiently.  Ironically, it (and the OpenX) are packaged in... clamshell plastic.  But it's the last clamshell you'll struggle to open.  $9.99 at Amazon.com.

Dock n' Talk: The Home Cell Phone Dock

Originally, mobile phones were meant to be just that -- mobile.  Once you got home, the cell phone went in its charger and you used a land line.  But as cell phones became ubiquitous and cell minutes plentiful, many of us started using our cell phones much more at home.  Some of us, especially the young'uns, have forsaken land lines entirely.  But those tiny phones that are so convenient for taking everywhere aren't always the most comfortable to chat on the couch with.  Nor can they offer the tactile pleasure of twirling the cord on your Princess phone while curled up in bed talking to your BFF about your new BF.  And it only takes a few sprints across the house to answer a ringing phone to remember why Ma Bell gave us extension phones to begin with.  Like the marriage of peanut butter and chocolate, the Dock n' Talk allows you to marry your cell phone service with your home phone wiring.  Simply dock your cell phone in the adapter connected to your home phone jack, and you can make and receive cell phone calls from up to five corded or cordless extension phones.  Better still, it works as a primary line, or as a second line on two line phones. $149.99 from smarthome.com. For $30 more,  you can get a docking station with built in desk phone and for an additional $74.99 you can connect your cell phone via Bluetooth adapter.

ED: Save 10% on any smarthome.com order through 3/20/07 using the above link and coupon code ESPRING10

The Best Automotve GPS Systems: Magellan/Hertz Neverlost

The final recommendation for Road Warrior "Week" 2007 is from my friend Juan, who has been bugging me for months to recommend Hertz Neverlost.  Juan travels a lot for business, has used "all of the navigation systems" (he's a little prone to exaggeration), and swears that Neverlost is the best.  Given his frequent resemblance to an idiot-savant, he's probably a perfect judge of the technology.  (He could rattle off ten different considered reasons why he likes Neverlost, but probably couldn't tell you where his keys are right now.)  Although you can't buy Neverlost, the technology is provided by Magellan, whose Roadmate GPS products are available at amazon.com