New baby in the house? Old camcorder on its last legs? Here's your chance to score some MiniDV goodness for a song: eCost has the Canon ZR830 camcorder for $134.99. It's a Canon-recertified model with a 90-day warranty, and you'll pay a few bucks for shipping, but at least there's no rebate.

An entry-level camcorder, the ZR830 combines a 1/6-inch CCD (bigger is better, and that's on the small side) with an unusually long optical zoom (35x!) and a widescreen LCD. It includes a handful of program modes for various shooting conditions (snow, … Read more

I know, it's already a portable video player--I mean one with a bigger screen. Buy.com has the Memorex iFlip on sale for $59.99 shipped, a pretty significant savings over the $199.99 list price.

Similar in design to a portable DVD player, the clamshell-style iFlip features a 7-inch widescreen LCD, stereo speakers, dual headphone jacks, and an iPod dock/charger that promises up to five hours of video playback from its rechargeable battery. It's designed for 5G iPods; I'm not sure if it'll work with 3G nanos. (Class? Anyone?)

I suspect that videos will … Read more

My Cheapskate-in-law Charles reports that Dollar Tree has H&R Block TaxCut Basic 2007 for... drum roll... a dollar! You'll have to visit an actual brick-and-mortar to get this deal (click here for Dollar Tree's store locator), but it's worth the drive if you've got a store nearby: The download version costs $14.95.

This version of TaxCut is best for folks with, well, basic tax-prep needs. Note that the program covers only your Federal return; the State edition will run you another $29.95.

Who says there are no second chances? (Maybe Patriots fans, I dunno.) If you missed out when Fry's offered Norton AntiVirus 2008 free after a pair of mail-in rebates, the deal has returned at Buy.com.

Once again, it's the three-user edition, meaning you can install it on up to three PCs. The software protects against viruses, spyware, rootkits, and the like. CNET liked it, though readers definitely did not. As I said last time, if you're unhappy with the software yourself, you're only out a couple stamps.

Speaking of the rebates, this deal requires a … Read more

In case it's not abundantly clear by now, I'm a bit obsessed with MP3 players. Today's deal: the 4GB SanDisk Sansa Connect, which sold for $250 when it debuted about 9 months ago but can now be had for just $89.46 shipped.

Why the steep initial price tag? The Sansa Connect leverages built-in Wi-Fi to stream Internet radio, download music from online stores, view Flickr photos, and share tunes with other Sansa users anywhere in the whole wide world! (Microsoft's Zune has Wi-Fi, too, but it's limited to wireless syncing and local sharing.)

The … Read more

Sheesh, how cheap can MP3 players get?! Granted, the Creative Zen Stone holds only about 250 MP3s or unprotected WMAs (and that's assuming they're encoded at a relatively low bit rate), but for $29.99 shipped from Newegg.com, so what? Toss it in your gym bag, coat pocket, pants pocket, Altoids tin (seriously, it's really tiny), or wherever and listen to your top tunes anytime, anywhere.

The $29.99 price is for a new player, black only, and it includes free 3-day shipping. The Stone itself knocks off the $79 iPod Shuffle, which does have one … Read more

I won't tell you what I paid for my Westinghouse LTV-46w1 when I bought it a little over a year ago, but I will tell you I love it. (I frequently refer to it as my "third child," much to Mrs. Cheapskate's chagrin.) I'll also tell you that you can now scoop one up for the extremely less-than-I-paid price of $869.

This is a 46-inch LCD with a built-in HD tuner, Clear QAM support, and output resolutions of up to 1080i. It pairs beautifully with my media-center PC, but I've also used it with … Read more

Most cable companies charge at least $3 per month for your modem, which adds up to $36 per year. But there's no law that says you have to lease their modem; BYO and you can pocket that cash instead.

You'll start recouping your investment around month seven with the D-Link DCM-202 cable modem, currently on sale for $19.99, shipped, after a $20 mail-in rebate.

Before you buy, you should call your cable company to make sure they support the DCM-202. But judging by the roughly 400 Newegg buyers who rated this modem 5 out of 5, compatibility … Read more

One of the nice things about using a notebook is that if there's a sudden power outage, you won't instantly lose your work. Desktop users aren't so lucky, which is why it's essential to plug everything into a battery backup (aka uninterruptible power supply). If the lights go out, you'll still have a few minutes in which to save your work and power down the machine safely.

Best Buy has a CyberPower battery backup on sale for $29.99. It includes six wide-spaced outlets, all of them surge-protected and three of them powered by the … Read more