New add ons for your gadgets.

I love gadgets! I particularly love gadgets that don't cost a lot but add functionality to the one's you have. I've profiled several add ons that you may want to get. All of these are less than $20.

1) An FM transmitter.

This lets you take your music from your laptop, iPod, Palm, mp3 player, or computer and transmit it over radio waves. You can then use any radio tuner in your house or car to listen to that music or movie.

Here are some cool ways to use this:

• If you have a laptop with a DVD player in it, put it in the car to watch movies on long trips and listen to the sound over your car stereo. (If you want it for this, you may want one that plugs into your cig adapter.)
• Listen to your favorite music in the kitchen from your computer in the office.
• Watch a movie in your room on your computer with surround sound from that great stereo.
• Play MP3's on your old stereo system with the great speakers by transmitting to the radio tuner.

You will have to tweak it a little. I bought mine at Wal-Mart but here is a FM Transmitter at Amazon if you like to order online (it is a little more expensive - I found mine at Wal-Mart for $19.95.) Anyone receiving a laptop or MP3 player for Christmas needs this!

2) A Car Chargers for your electronic device

This allows you to charge your laptop, mp3 player, pda, palm, anything on the go. Do not order the one from the company that makes your product unless you want to pay a premium. Get the cheapo one at WalMart or this one from Amazon.

This is a must if you want to watch movies on your laptop in the car! That laptop won't make it over an hour or so. It is also great for those of you who take digital cameras on trips -- you can charge your battery for your camera on the go!

3) Extra Memory Card

NOw, this one item may cost a little more depending on how much memory you want. Computers aren't always handy to download things -- you'll be happy if you have an extra SD card or flash card or whatever type you have. Again, walmart has cheapies!

4) Rechargable batteriess -

This is an absolute must! You will simply go broke with all of the electronics around! RAdio Shack has some great recharging stations. It is also very environmentally friendly. Here are some online stations.

5) USB Flash Drives

This is a must! The students I teach who lose floppies always lose their data. I've yet to determine if it is the cheap floppies, the state of the lockers, or some sort of mega magnetic force generated by all of the magnetic devices in their lockers but floppies aren't reliable.

I like the memory keys that go on keychains. Everyone should have one, no exceptions. It is simply the way to get data, backup data, etc. IF it is with you all of the time it provides a perfect backup for mission critical items such as your financial software.

Merry Christmas!