Marketplace Blog

The Peek is like a BlackBerry without the phone. It's built for one function only: e-mail. And right now, Amazon is offering a pretty sweet two-for-one deal: Buy one Peek for $79.99 and get a second one free.

Keep in mind that you'll have to pay $19.95 per month, per unit, for service, but at least there's no contract; you can cancel anytime you want. Doing so would leave you with a fairly useless chunk of hardware--two chunks, actually--but there you go.

Actually, that's a big part of the Peek's appeal. Another is … Read more

Many folks regard the Aliph Jawbone to be one of the best Bluetooth headsets on the planet. I tend to agree, which is why I'm excited that eCost is offering the Jawbone for just $29.99 (after a $6 mail-in rebate).

Alas, that rebate (PDF) doesn't quite cover eCost's ridiculous $9.50 shipping charge, but even the final price of $39.49 is well below what you'll find elsewhere.

Renowned for its fashionable design and unparalleled noise-canceling capabilities, the Jawbone earned an four-star rating from CNET.

Users were a bit less enthusiastic, mostly due to the … Read more

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, gents, and nothing says, "I love you, let's put something crazy on YouTube" like a pocket camcorder.

Amazon.com has the Creative Vado in pink or silver for $59.99 shipped. No rebates!

Creative's answer to the uber-popular Flip Video Ultra, the Vado is an ultra-slim digital camcorder that's ideal for capturing life's little moments: the kids doing something cute, your breakneck run down the toboggan hill, an airliner splashing into the Hudson River, etc.

The Vado can record up to an hour's worth of … Read more

It's been awhile, but once again you can pick up a 1-terabyte external hard drive for under $100.

Specifically, Buy.com has the Fantom 1TB G-Force USB/eSATA hard drive for $99.99 shipped. That's an awful lotta storage for the money. And no rebates!

Though fairly industrial in design and not likely to win any beauty contests, the Fantom's got it where it counts: a 7,200-rpm drive, an 8.5-millisecond seek time, and your choice of USB or eSATA interfaces. It's compatible with most versions of Windows and the Mac OS.

A drive like … Read more

These won't last, so I'm going to make it quick: Dell's outlet store has the Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook on sale for as low as $178 shipped.

That price is for the low-end model, which features the 1.6GHz Atom processor, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB solid-state hard drive, and Ubuntu Linux. It's available in Alpine White or Obsidian Black.

Once you land at the outlet store page, click Outlet Laptops, then Inspiron & Mini Laptops, and then Inspiron Mini. Under Inspiron Mini 9, click Continue, then Check Availability and Prices. In the ginormous list of … Read more

Ladies and gents, we have a new low! Buy.com has the Magellan RoadMate 2200T GPS for $59.99 shipped (after a $30 mail-in rebate). It's a refurbished unit, but it's also the least-expensive navigation system I've seen yet.

Needless to say, this model is a couple years old, so don't expect a lot of bells and whistles. It does offer text-to-speech, music and photo players, an optional traffic-monitoring kit, and a "smart detour" feature. Hmmm. Come to think of it, you get some bells and whistles, after all. It's even waterproof!

CNET awarded the RoadMate 2200T 3.5 stars out of 5, … Read more

Seriously? Sony is still pricing the PlayStation 3 at $400? That was fine when Blu-ray Disc players were selling for about the same price (the PS3 doubles as one), but now that you can snag a standalone player for as low as $150 (and an Xbox Arcade for $170), it's time for Sony to seriously rethink the PS3's price tag.

In the meantime, the best deal going comes from Dell: an 80GB PlayStation 3 for $339.99 shipped (plus sales tax in some states). These are new consoles, not refurbs, and you don't need the usual Dell … Read more

A while ago, I replaced my 802.11g router with an 802.11n model. Much as I love the faster performance and better range, it saddens me that the old router is collecting dust on a shelf. (Yes, I'm easily saddened.)

To avoid consigning your own router to the same fate, consider an inexpensive upgrade instead of a pricey replacement. Newegg has the Trendnet Easy-N-Upgrader TEW-637AP for just $24.99 shipped.

Designed to piggyback on an existing router, the Easy-N-Upgrader bumps your network's Wi-Fi performance to Draft-N levels (up to 12 times faster than 802.11g, according to … Read more

It's a printer. It's a fax machine. It's a copier. It's a scanner. It's four, four, FOUR machines in one! And...wait for it...it's wireless, too! Yep, the Lexmark X6675 multifunction printer dispenses with pesky USB cables in favor of 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. Buy.com has the Lexmark X6675 for $91.99 shipped.

These are new units, not refurbs, and you don't have to mess around with any rebates. (If you do decide to go the USB route, however, it's BYO: cable not included.)

No mere entry-level all-in-one, the X6675 … Read more