I’m still not sure what to make of this, but apparently there is some new miracle heater called the Heat Surge. It’s Chinese technology that you just plug into any standard wall outlet. Supposedly it only uses about as much energy to run, as a standard coffee maker, but will produce 5,119 BTU’s as on-board heat turbine silently forces hot air out into the room so you feel heat instantly. It has a UL listing and everything. Even if all that is true, the odd part is that those anti-tech, iPhone shunning Amish are busy as Christmas elves building mantles for these heaters, trying to keep up with demand so that customers can get their new fake fireplace before Christmas. If you ordered a mantle in the last 48 hours, the heater was thrown in for free. But now it will cost you from $249.00 to $337.00.

This is all centered around the Heat Surge Roll-N-Glow fireplace that actally rolls from room to room. How the Amish got involved in this I have no idea, but I do know that as they slave away on fireplace mantles, barns are going un-built, shunnings and exiles seem few and far between. What’s next? Will they trade in the horse and buggy for a Model T? It all seems like some sci-fi plot, where huge events are foreshadowed by strange behavior. What are they really doing? What happens when we take these heaters into our homes? Could this be the long dreaded Amish invasion that some of us have feared, where they turn the tables and take our technology, leaving us to plow fields and milk cows? Will I punished by our new masters for writing this? Probably not, since they have no internetz. Still I’m growing an old man beard and wearing plain clothes…just in case.

This self-contained and waterless toilet is called the EcoJohn Sr Toilet. Quite simply, it burns the crap you normally flush, into white ash. It operates just like a regular toilet, except that water doesn’t take away your waste. Just close the lid and the waste is whisked away like South Park’s Mr. hankey the x mas poo on Christmas eve. It’s final destination is a burn chamber where it is cremated. A small bit of smoke is belched out and filtered through a catalytic converter before hitting the air.

There is some water involved, just minimal. The toilet is equipped with a small reservoir that holds about a quart of water. Press a special rinse button, and it’s easy to keep the bowl and auger clean. It’s the perfect water saving device, though I’m not sure how I would feel about having a chimney on my toilet.

There have been lots of rumors about the highly anticipated Android-powered, HTC Dream phone. Now it’s official. T-Mobile confirmed today that it plans to launch an Android mobile phone made by HTC. They are hoping to make it a direct threat to Apple’s popular iPhone.

A spokesman for Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent company gave no details on the launch date, but according to the New York Times, the phone will hit stores in the United States before Christmas. Maybe even as early as October. Apparently the device will have a touch screen and will slide out to reveal a full five-row keyboard.

My aunt has a table built into a sewing room in her home that is just for cutting fabric and wrapping gifts. I always thought it was a goofy idea to have a table dedicated to such a use. Then, a couple years ago at Christmas I was wrapping a gift for my wife on our kitchen table and deftly hacked one of her new placemats in half while cutting the wrapping paper. Let me warn you guys, that is a big deal to a woman. That is when I saw the brilliance in a table solely for cutting stuff.

Evidently, lots of people see the validity of a table of that sort. If your home does not have a table for the purpose fret not, Birkiland has your fix. The company offers a product it calls Cutting Table No. 1, which is basically a cardboard table specifically made for cutting stuff. The table features three drawers under the top for storing junk.

Microsoft is dropping some limited edition green and red Xbox 360 controllers at the end of September, priced at $64 each. The red one comes with black accents and even comes with a bundled Play & Charge with red battery pack.

If red and green seem like odd color choices, I agree. Red and green says Christmas to me. I guess they would be an ideal pair for playing a Christmas Eve game of Halo with some holly adorning your controllers and a bunch of new games under the tree.

Geeks love robots, despite the fact that they will one day destroy us all in a fiery Armageddon. Some geeks also love calculators. Combine the two and you’ve got any early geek christmas. These calculators are designed to look like older style robots and they have alot of personality.

They have a magnet that can hold paper clips, the can hold notes and they have movable hands and feet. They even sport a detachable push button night light. Oh yeah, did I mention that they are also calculators? You can get them in three colors: white, blue and lime green. The price is $14.95. What are you waiting for? Go get one!

I haven’t seen anything this cool since the Pac-Man Christmas tree in Madrid. Unlike the Pac-Man tree, this Pac-Man-inspired modular block lighting system can stay up year round.

This wall mural is on display at the Maison & Objet 2008 show in Paris. One thing you’ll notice right away is how outnumbered our yellow friend is. That’s a ton of ghosts for an 8-bit hero to gobble. They could have put some fruit in or more dots. The second thing you’ll notice is that the woman’s rear has been blocked from our view. Oh well, you can’t have it all right? We’ll always have Paris my secretive Pac-Man loving geek goddess.

If you’re looking for an extravagant after Christmas gift for yourself, you might want to look into Vivid Audio’s latest offering. The Giya G1 has an interesting eclectic, almost organic look that resembles some magical artifact. It comes in a variety of automotive paint finishes and is being tauted as a real treat to ears with better then average sound quality.

The included speakers are made using patented cabinet construction and bass loading. The smaller speakers use double drivers on the front and back of the speaker in a bipole radiating fashion and the dual 12″ are positioned on the sides. Are you ready for the price yet? Luckily, you are probably sitting down. These come with the hefty price tag of $54,000 and will be displayed at CES 2008. I’m pretty sure the Bionic Man’s ears aren’t worth that much.

I wish I had known about this one before Christmas. I would have put it under the tree for myself. He would be a great companion to the Dalek Web-cam or K-9 remote controlled dog. As any Doctor Who fan knows, Daleks are out to destroy all life in the universe and generally hover around saying “Exterminate. Exterminate.”, before firing lasers at you and sending you to the great beyond, despite the fact that their arms are basically an egg whisk and a sink plunger.

This remote controlled Dalek is a foot and a half tall and able to track moving objects. Plus, you can direct him by radio control. The best part is that he responds to over 30 voice commands. He comes loaded with sound, movement and heat sensors, a bunch of sound and light effects, and his memory stores over 50 Dalek phrases. He’ll cost you about $180 but when you consider that this is probably the best R/C dalek ever, that’s a fair price.

The Presto printer can receive emails and photos without having to be hooked to a computer. Think about it. That makes it a breeze for the elderly to get into the action. Those who are not comfortable with the computer won’t have to go near it. (Everybody knows that computers, like robots, steal old peoples medicine.) The printer comes with a $10 per month service, even though the service doesn’t seem to cover the internet connection.

It’s sort of like an Email to fax setup. After setting it up you can even SPAM-filter incoming messages. All you need is a regular phone line. It sells for about $150. All in all that’s not alot to pay to keep the elderly or computer-shy informed and be able to send them photos and emails. Grandma will be happy because she gets neat pictures through the magic box and Grandpa’s ears will be happy because she’s occupied and won’t nag him about watching TV all day. Everybody wins.

Yujin has just released these Japanese cell phone emoticon toys and they are possibly the cutest ever. If you are looking for an after Christmas gift to give to yourself, these are as geeky as you are likely to get. Use them in your e-mail exchanges and they will laugh hysterically, cry, go into rages and more. With a combination of letters, symbols, slashes. and dashes, they produce a wide variety of expressions and emotions.

Take a look at this video here, for some cuteness overload. You are bound to go into a coma after seeing this slightly creepy cartoon. Fans of Japanese toys will love these and they are nice and cheap. You can get them for about .90 cents U.S.

Walletex, the makers of the credit card sized MP3 players now have some neat Christmas versions available. Both Christmas and Hanukkah. The Hanukkah version features a dreidel and candles, while the Christmas version has classic scenes. Just store the MP3 player in your wallet. You could even give them out as expensive greeting cards, by putting photos and music on them.

Get them in 4GB,2GB,1GB,512mb and 128mb versions. The 4GB sells for $106. Needless to say, these make perfect stocking stuffers.

One look at eBay and you can see that “Guitar Hero III” or “Rock Band” are being sold for big bucks. These two rhythm simulators are among this year’s hottest holiday presents and are sold out at the retail level leaving the online auction house as the only alternative for snagging yourself a set. However one Australian youth’s dreams of a music-making Christmas have been shattered by his father as a consequence of being caught red handed smoking pot in the family’s backyard.

The trouble started when the father, whose identity is being withheld but makes his living as a school teacher, came home and caught his son in the company with some friends toking up. As a lesson the anti-dope Dad decided to place his son’s Christmas gift, the guitar/game combo of “Guitar Hero III”, on the eBay auction site and up for sale.

Admit it, you like to be different and have unique things that your friends and neighbors would love to have. With the holidays it’s pretty hard to break free and be different since everyone is doing the same ideas: Christmas tree in the corner, lights on the house, maybe a talking Santa outside your front door. But if you really want to stand out in the crowd having a 7-foot-tall upside-down Christmas tree in the corner of your family room may be the ultimate.

What you see is what you get: a pre-lit, 7-foot-tall X-mas tree. The tree comes with 800 pre-strung lights on it and 3,700 PVC branch tips spread across its 54-inch diameter. It might not be suited for hanging your Christmas ornaments on it but you have to admit that there is plenty of room under the tree for presents. It weighs 84 pounds so better make sure that it’s securely fastened to the ceiling (unless you want to lay a trap for Santa.) A nickel under $600 and it’s yours forever.

The never-ending flow of gadgets which use USB for power can sometimes cause my head to hurt. Especially when I see ones which promise to warm parts of your body. One of the most recent to journey down this road is the USB Hand Warmer, priced at around $11.

The USB Hand Warmer, as the name implies, warms your hand. You plug this little device into your computer’s USB port to draw the 5v necessary to power it. You wait it appears close to half an hour for it to heat up to 50 degrees. You can then unplug it if you so desire and you have a heater to wrap your cold hands around.