Hasta La Gadget!

We don’t have clock radios anymore, we have audio systems. Witness the Yamaha TXS-140 Desktop Audio System, which wakes you gradually. Coming in a range of earth-inspired colors, the TSX-140 works with an iPod Touch and the iPhone. It can also play MP3 and WMA files stores on a USB flash drive. Oh, and it has an AM/FM radio.

What makes it special is the InteliAlarm, which wakes you with the audio source of your choice. It starts by filtering out uncomfortable high frequencies, then gradually restores the full audio spectrum. Finally, it beeps, to tell you to get the heck out of bed. It’s all gentle and stress-free. Until the beeping. You can pick one up for a list price of $399.95. Is it too late for a Black Friday deal?

I’ve heard it said before–heck, I’ve almost certainly said it myself–the only people who listen to podcasts are podcasters themselves. It’s a gross overstatement, to be sure, but there’s also a little bit of truth in it. I mean, I know I didn’t really start listening to them regularly until I actually started making one (the dearly departed PCMag After Hours and, more recently, Paying Dues and The Cross Hatch Podcast, thanks for asking).

Podcasts can provide hours of entertainment, from news, to music, to comedy. Before you jump in the car or get on that plane to get where you need to be for Thanksgiving, peruse this list of our favorite podcasts. There’s bound to be something on here that you’ll enjoy–and it’ll make the gridlock and the creepy full-body scanners (not to mention the family) that much easier to bear.

Check out the 10 Best Podcasts for Your Holiday Commute:

Carry an iPod-size rechargeable external battery to double or triple your phone’s talk time or your MP3 player’s playback time. They all have a USB jack; plug your device’s cord into that and you’re up and running again. The cheapest, smallest units provide a half-charge to a cellphone or MP3 player battery and take up little space in a purse or shoulder bag until needed; the largest provide 2-3 charges of a phone or music player. Recharge them by plugging into a laptop/PC’s USB jack, or into a USB wall transformer. Prices run $15-$50. The powerpack is good for 500 charges. One of the more sophisticated is the Energizer XP2000 Universal Rechargeable Power Pack, $30 street, with its own car and wall recharging transformers, four power tips, and carry case. There are many, many other choices.

Amazon is breaking out the Black Friday deals early this year. Every day until Cyber Monday, the site will be offering up five MP3 albums on the cheap, leading off what’s sure to be the biggest record for the foreseeable future, Kayne West’s new nearly universally praised record Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

The download version of the hip-hop opus will run you $3.99 for the next day or so–it’s the closest thing to a steal without actually stealing the thing (which is considerably harder, now that LimeWire has shut its doors).

Today’s four other selections are new records from My Chemical Romance, Ne-Yo, Robyn, and (shudder) Dane Cooke’s Greatest Hits.

The tech press yesterday scratched its collective head
yesterday, after it was revealed that Apple’s earth shattering announcement
was, in fact, the long awaited addition of the Beatles’ catalog to iTunes.

To plenty of music fans, however, the announcement was a big
deal. And now, the fab four is working its way up the charts, having secured
four of iTunes’ top ten album slots. Numbers six, eight, nine, and ten belong
to Abbey Road, The White
Album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the Beatles Box Set.

The top three spots are still being held down by more
contemporary artists like Rihanna, Rascall Flatts, and the cast from Glee.
Still. Not bad for a day in the life.