Product: Dimplex Mini Cube Electric Stove
Price: $100
Rating: Recommend*

We recently moved to a beautiful rental near the Santa Cruz mountains. Our apartment is a definite upgrade, but it has one major flaw – propane. All of our gas needs, from the stove to the heaters, are powered by propane. If you've never used the stuff you need to know two things: it takes a lot of it to boil a kettle of water and it's expensive. After our first bill ($100 for a little over three weeks of use) we quickly snuffed out the pilot lights in our heaters and looked for an alternative way to stay warm during the California coast's chilly months.

Most homes aren't decorated in monotones, so why should your gadgets drag down your color palette? While the number of Skittles inspired gadgets on store shelves is limited, there are a few bright punches amongst the various shades of black. Turquoise vacuum cleaners and lavender keyboards aren't for everyone, but for those of you who like to play with the rainbow there's a nice selection of colorful gizmos waiting to come home with you.

Top Row:
Colorful Turntables
Jaga Play Radiators are Colorful Heated Stacks of Fun
Miele Neptune Is Now Available in Turquoise!
Keyboard Protection for Chronic Crumbs
Don't Let Appliances Choose Your Kitchen Palette

Why hello there! I'm Sonia Zjawinski and I'm a freelance writer and editor who pens stories for Wired, the New York Times, and ReadyMade. On the side, I co-run the pet blog Pawesome with my best friend Sarah Han. My gadget lust started as an editor at Wired, where I was nicknamed "gadget girl". Ironically, in my real life I'm much more of a Luddite who happens to love playing with the latest and greatest, but not necessarily owning it all.

IKEA. How we love ye. The Swedish company has proven time and time again that they can not only make stylish and inexpensive furniture and décor, but they can also help out with problem areas around the home office. Following, a collection of some of the best IKEA solutions to help you get some work done in the comfort of your own home.

Most of us don't live with an overabundance of space, but we do live with an overabundance of stuff. While culling your home inventory is a good idea, you don't have to cut out all the geeky comforts you've grown accustomed to. You just need to find gizmos that more properly fit within your space. Here are a few small space tech items we've found over the past year.

So you found that perfect gadget to give to your geeky pal. You don't expect to wrap it in just any kind of wrapping paper do you? You gotta impress from the get go and we have just the stuff to make the kids around the tree flip their... you know.

We're not big fans of getting catalogs in the mail. It's a huge waste of resources, but occasionally, we have to admit, we discover new products we normally wouldn't find out about thanks to one of these paper bundles. Case in point, last week we received a mini catalog from The Container Store filled with inexpensive gifts for the holidays. To our surprise we found a lot of useful gadgets that could make a few people on our Christmas list very happy.

Product: iPhoto '11 Letterpress Cards
Price: $3 per card (+ iLife '11, $49)
Rating: Recommend

Now that you've survived Thanksgiving, it's time to get ready for the holidays. While gift giving is a big part of Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanza, holiday spirits easily fit within small envelopes. Sending greeting cards to family and friends is one of the least expensive ways you can let someone know they're a part of your life. Many of you may opt to send out e-greetings instead, but we think real cards offer something special that one just can't get from clicking an email link. That's especially true when it comes to custom designed letterpress cards.

A few weeks ago we flew back to New York City to meet up with old friends. Having moved from Brooklyn to California almost a year ago, we were eager to catch up, face-to-face, with a lot of folks who had come to be family. Obviously all our reconnections revolved around delicious dinners at some of the yummiest Brooklyn restaurants, and while the food was delectable we were a bit dismayed by what our friends considered to be perfectly reasonable dinner table etiquette -- glancing at their cell phones after almost every bite.

A few weeks ago we finally got a chance to watch Julie & Julia. With a combination of our two loves -- Julia Child and Meryl Streep -- it's a wonder it took us so long to finally sit down and watch it. While we could have done without Julie Powell's story, we smiled during every minute of Meryl's screen time. How amazing of a woman was Julia Child? And how amazing was Meryl Streep in capturing Mrs. Child addictive personality? Swoon.