All mySimon Shopping Picks

If your kids liked the Wall-E movie, they will love the Ultimate Wall-E robot. Designed for children ages 8 and up, the robot stands 16" tall and uses 10 motors and 2 microprocessors to play music, dance, talk to you, follow you around, explore, and more, all using the programmable remote control. If it also ran errands and washed dishes, we'd buy one in a heartbeat.

At home we've got a 4+ year-old iMac (the one that looks like a lamp), which we still love except for its crummy fist-sized speakers that do not do justice to our brilliant Pandora radio station preferences. So we're thinking of upgrading to these Logitech Z-5 speakers, because 1) they're omnidirectional (the sound comes out of all sides of the speakers), 2) the sound, while not blow-you-out-of-the-water-amazing, is 1000 times better than what we... more

Further proof that you can reduce, reuse, and recycle just about anything: An artist on Etsy.com is getting a lot of press for her one-of-a-kind jewelry made out of Barbie doll parts. Shown here is the "Sassy Smile Pin" perfect for lapels, scarves, and anywhere else you want to make a statement. Just what kind of statement, we're not sure. The artist also makes rings, earrings, and pendants, but so far, nothing out... more

If you grew up with Pat the Bunny (or read it to your kids), you'll appreciate this new parody book called Pat the Husband. The book is just as interactive as the classic: You can remove the Velcro pants from the husband and put them on the wife, pull a tab to make the husband nod his head in agreement, and more. Wrap this one up with the Porn for Women 2009... more

Can you believe it's been almost 25 years since The Cosby Show first aired on TV? In its 8 seasons, the show that TV Guide says "almost single-handedly revived the sitcom" won 6 Emmys, a Peabody, and 2 Humanitas Prizes. Find out why with this 25th anniversary commemorative edition Cosby Show box set, which comes with 26 DVDs plus a commemorative hardcover book. Bonus features include an interview with the director, a blooper real,... more

If you're a text messaging addict on a budget - and if you wear tight pants - check out the Pantech Slate. At less than 1 centimeter thick, the Slate is the "world's thinnest messaging device," so it just might fit in the back pocket of your skinny jeans. The phone's slim design, big QWERTY keyboard, and price point ($50 with a 2-year AT&T contract) are its main selling points, but it also offers... more

Remember Toms shoes? They're the Argentinian style espadrilles that got so much attention because for every pair sold, the company donates a pair of new shoes to a child in need. Well Toms now makes these crazy wrap boots that seem to be inspired by Ace bandages. They're basically the same as the regular espadrilles, with a long piece of elastic wrap that extends from the ankle. You use that long piece to... more

Getting directions from Point A to Point B does not have to cost as much as a cross-country plane ticket for the holidays. Sony now makes an affordable GPS unit that gets the job done nicely for under $200. Available in 3 colors, the Sony NV-U44 has a 3.5" touchscreen, text-to-speech functionality, and dual view mode with lane guidance. It's also got a photo viewer and what Sony calls Gesture Command, which sounds like... more

If you are the woman carrying the Acme Made Trixy laptop tote bag this morning in San Francisco's SOMA district, we apologize for stalking you. We were just trying to get a better look at your bag, and the little "Acme Made" tag was so small that we couldn't read it from a respectful distance. We admire your taste in bags, especially after looking this one up. The Trixy is actually 3 bags in... more

Pocket-sized camcorders have become quite popular this year, and thanks to the Kodak Zi6, they're now recording in HD. The new Flip MinoHD, a 3.3-ounce camcorder, lets you shoot up to an hour of 720p HD video on its 4GB of internal memory. Connect it to your computer using the built-in USB connection, and use its PC- and Mac-friendly software to you edit your masterpieces with your own music (and add titles and... more

PC Magazine calls the Pioneer Kuro PDP-5020FD 50" plasma TV "the best HDTV you can get," in part because the 1080p TV "delivers the best picture contrast of any HDTV available" and a "shoo-in" for their Editors' Choice award. CNET agrees, saying "Best-in-class black levels and excellent all-around performance places the Pioneer PDP-5020FD near the top of the picture quality heap." The TV has 4 HDMI inputs, 1 PC input, an antireflective screen, and... more

Welcome to the latest episode of New Adventures in Men's Underwear. In case you haven't been paying attention, women's underwear has kinda peaked with thongs and push-up bras; there isn't much left to do that hasn't already been done. Men's underwear, however, is a different story. For years it was all about white briefs and boxers. Then came solid colors! stripes! boxer briefs! Now it's all about graphics. On the outside you may be Regular... more

Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. Target now sells a gift card - for as little as $75 or as much as $1000 - that is also a functioning 1.2-megapixel digital camera. Or else it's a digital camera that's also a gift card. OK so that's not much resolution, but it might come in handy when trying to decide what to buy (at Target, of course). The card even comes... more

Multitaskers on tight budgets might like this small Acer Aspire desktop PC. The space-saving and energy-efficient desktop has an AMD Phenom X3 triple-core processor, HDMI port for expanded connectivity, 320GB hard drive, Vista Home Premium, and media card reader. It even comes with a keyboard and optical mouse. And it's only $480. More budget desktops.

If you've ever seen the Toothbrush Surprise episode of Mythbusters, you know why it's important to keep your toothbrush clean. The Zapi is a portable sanitizer that uses ultraviolet light to kill 99.9% of the nasty things living among your toothbrush bristles. Using 3 AAA batteries, the Zapi cleans manual and electric toothbrushes in just 6 minutes (you'll know it's done when it stops rocking). Choose from several colors.