Taking a look at this new online shopping tool Help a Chick Pick you at first glance think it might be another splashy Web start up. Turns out that isn’t quite the case – the site is a new offering from retail super giant Wal-Mart.

Help a Chick Pick, and the newly relaunched Help a Guy Buy, are attempts by the retailer to appeal to a more Web savvy user base. Wal-Mart describes these sites as being able to “customers not only identify the gift profile of their significant other, but the perfect gift, at the perfect price, to complement it.” They of course point you to Wal-Mart listings.

NEC is out today with some new widescreen desktop displays targeted at business owners. These new AccuSync displays are the 19-inch ASLCD194WXM and the 22-inch ASLCD224WXM as well as the 17-inch ASLCD174WXM. Pricing is set at around $230, $330 and $210 respectively.

These new AccuSync displays are designed to refresh this particular NEC product family. They offer native resolutions of 1440 x 900 for the ASLCD174WXM and ASLCD194WXM, and 1680 x 1050 for the ASLCD224WXM; thin bezels; dual-input technology; built-in speakers and contrast ratios of 800:1 for the ASLCD174WXM, 1000:1 for the ASLCD194WXM and 900:1 for ASLCD224WXM.

With the buzz of the possible Microsoft takeover of Yahoo still fresh in the air, Google wasted no time in jumping in to say the deal could possibly create a monopoly which threatens “the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.” This, from Google’s chief legal counsel, prompted a quick response back from Microsoft’s chief legal counsel saying the merger will “create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising.”

Google’s David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, had this to say on Sunday – “The openness of the Internet is what made Google — and Yahoo! — possible. A good idea that users find useful spreads quickly. Businesses can be created around the idea. Users benefit from constant innovation. It’s what makes the Internet such an exciting place.

Here’s another cheap Chinese knock-off that fell off the back of the truck recently. I thought the PX-3600 was bad…These ripoff consoles are just getting stranger and stranger. This one may look like a PS3, but that’s where the similarities end.

First, it’s tiny and comes in clamshell packaging. You don’t even plug it into a television, and it’s got a little screen that pops out of the side. Yes, just like all of the other knock-offs, this one has the personality of a wet fart trapped in a paper bag. Check out a video review after the jump.

When going for that authentic game feel, sometimes it’s not enough to just slap your Wiimote into a fake plastic(And often silly looking) gun. We’ll, the modder that came up with this one obviously would agree. And he did something about it. He lovingly stuffed the Wiimote’s innards into a custom-built Colt .45 case.

Why settle for the Nyko pistol when you can have a Wii weapon that will actually get you shot by the police? Very nice job, but I have to wonder if they are a tad too much in love with the Wii for their own good. After all, it must have taken some serious time and geek devotion to complete this project. Those hours could have been spent playing, with any off hours devoted to the search for some geek goddess who might actually understand their obsession. So goes the familiar tale of a geek and his passions…Truth is, sometimes they use guns to compensate for having a tiny Wiimote.

Citizen’s Eco-Drive line of watches run on natural sunlight as well as any artificial light absorbed through the crystal and dial. They claim that it converts any kind of light into electrical energy and that runs the watch. As long as it gets regular exposure to light, the watch will continuously recharge itself for a lifetime. The Radio-Controlled aspect comes into play with the ability to have radio synchronization on demand, or you can let the watch do the synch automatically.

The Citizen Alterna VO10-6573H features a durable aluminum case and is water-proof up to 100m. The watch is 10.2mm thick and only weighs 104g, with an accuracy +/- 15 seconds a month . It’s got a nice eye catching design overall, which it better have, since it will cost you $339.

iPods are one of the most common devices that thieves will steal easily if given half a chance. Therefore, it’s better to have it disguised as something else. And while you might look a little odd listening to your vintage 80′s walkman, no one will ever suspect that there’s a valuable iPod inside.

This clever iPod concealer has authentic looks right down to a see-through clear plastic front. Unfortunately you can’t get one of these for your own right now. This one the owner made himself. Ever think you would see an iPod in an old Walkman? I know I never thought I’d live to see the day. He gets points for originality. Who knows, this sort of thing may just revive that old 80′s walkman style, that seemed so cool back then.

Vudu is making some moves to keep in strong competition with the yet-to-be-released second version of AppleTV, this time offering a software update and more high-def content. This software update to version 1.2 comes not much more than a week after Vudu gave their system a 25 percent price cut bringing it down to $295 and closer to AppleTV’s $229. AppleTV had recently announced the “take 2″ version will add on features that will allow users to download video content to the appliance without the need of a computer in between, which is a feature that Vudu possessed and AppleTV did not.

The recent software upgrade for the Vudu video system brings some new features to improve user experiences with choosing videos to download. A new indicator will evaluate the current broadband speed and indicate if the selected video will download and show well without any skips or extended delays. When searching for a video it can also recommend titles for instant start based on the connection speed.

Someone with a combined love of Nintendo’s DS and craft projects created with paper, not to mention some skills, has created what we believe to be the smallest replica of the Nintendo DS Lite. The little DS measures just 1.4 inches at its longest point and SonicScape Jun, the creator, even took the time to make a Nintendodgos game cartridge that actually fits in. The top also opens to reveal the double screens via a toothpick powered hinge.

From looking at the photos it appears that some incredible attention to detail and time was taken to make this little DS lite, but the maker of this paper design created a DIY video showing how you can make your own inside of 90 minutes with just scissors, pen knife, glue and this template. We’re thinking there is also an undisclosed prerequisite of skill that would significantly increase this time for most of us.

A recent study conducted by the FDA showed that contrary to previous reported studies involving iPod media players and cardiac pacemakers, Apple’s iPod players do not affect the heart beat regulators. We brought you news on a study of iPods and pacemakers last May by a high school student (along with help from local cardiologists) showing that 50% of the subjects studied showed interference in their pacemaker while holding an iPod within two inches for 5-10 seconds.

The recent study by the FDA was published Friday on BioMedical Engineering Online with tests concluding that the iPods did not produce enough of an electromagnetic field to cause any interference with a pacemaker. The study used four different models of the iPod: an iPod Shuffle, iPod nano, iPod with video and a fourth generation iPod. When the iPods were held a distance of 10 mm from a 3-coil sensor a peak strength of only 0.2 millionth of a Tesla was detected. This value would need to be hundreds of times larger to cause interference with a pacemaker, according to the study.

Delkin has a new CompactFlash card reader they are showing off this week called the ImageRouter. This device solves the problem of photographers having to download multiple CF cards to a computer after a shoot. The ImageRouter doesn’t really make the actual transfer happen any faster but what it does do is allow the multiple cards to do their transfer simultaneously so you don’t have to watch it and swap them out when each are done.

As if loading 4 of the cards at a time is not enough Delkin says that if you buy more than one you can daisy-chain them together with two ImageRouters letting you download 8 CF cards at the same time. Delkin doesn’t elaborate on their site on just how many can be connected at a time but does say that you can connect “two or more” and also mentions that the ImageRouter will help whether you have “four or fourteen CompactFlash cards”. We’re guessing that after a few connected together things might get pretty slow and according to SlashGear three is the limit.

The card readers connect through a USB 2.0 connection and reach transfer speeds of 19MB/sec reads. Two ImageRouters connected slows it slightly with a 17MB/second read and 15MB/sec write speeds. Delkin is getting these card readers ready for purchase by April retailing at $149. The BackupandBurn software can be purchased with it in a bundle for $249, which helps with automatically routing and naming files during the transfer.

The folks over at T3 did a pretty nice job with a mock up of a Wii Phone last year at about this time and this year they’re creating another stir. They’ve posted images today of what they envision as a lighter, slimmer Sony Playstation 3 which is reportedly heading for shelves as soon as this fall.

Sony does have a history of slimming things down just like they did last year with the slimmer PSP but it seems like an unlikely move from a company that’s trying to cut costs and increase the market for their latest game console, but maybe with Blu-ray pulling ahead they feel they have it made? T3 also is speculating that this new slimmer model would have the rumored 160GB hard drive in it as well, and of course a slim Blu-ray player.

JVC offered up earlier this week for consumer consumption some new high definition hard disk camcorders which deliver 1920×1080 recording. These are the JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5, priced at around $1,400 and $1,200 respectively.

The JVC GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5 can record up to 10 hours or 5 hours respectively of “full HD 1920 x 1080 MPEG2 Transport Stream video with MPEG 1 Layer 2 audio.” They use three 1/5-inch CCDs to accomplish this, also featuring an F1.8-F1.9 10x zoom lens and 1080 progressive 60fps HDMI output.

JVC said both camcorders will be available in March. You can get the full details after the jump.

A company by the name of Zvox, known for its single cabinet audio systems, announced last year its new 425 unit. The Zvox 425 seems to finely be available, with its maker pricing it at around $700.

The Zvox 425 is a single-cabinet home theater system which is 5.5-inches deep and contains an amplifier, five speakers, two powered subwoofers and Zvox’s take on virtual surround sound technology. It can either be wall mounted or put in front of a flat panel television to enjoy its audio.

A niche computer company by the name of Cannon PC yesterday announced some new Media Center PCs for high end entertainment set ups. These new computers are part of the company’s Cannon PC Pro A/V series and are known as the LX, EX and RX.

The Cannon PC Pro A/V PCs vary somewhat in their configurations and design looks. The LX is a traditional desktop PC looking design and offers such features as gold plated front audio connectors and two DVD drive bays for a custom configuration of dual DVD, dual HD-DVD, or dual Blu-Ray drives. The EX goes further, adding a 12-inch touchscreen panel and the ability to house 10 internal 3.5” hard drives for a massive 10 TBs of storage. The RX, meanwhile, will fit a rack mount solution.