Productopia

The dust from this fall's price war has settled, and in the end, what was true before is true now -- experts say the key to video game nirvana is matching what's important to you with the hardware you buy. Our latest report on video game consoles lays out the details on where the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Sony PlayStation 3 score direct hits, and where they are shooting blanks. You'll also find lots of info on the latest handheld video game consoles, including the Nintendo DSi and Sony PSP Go.

Though some manufacturers have moved on to greener pastures, plasma TV fans still have a bunch of great sets to choose from. Panasonic plasma TVs in particular, such as the Panasonic Viera TC-P50V10, draw kudos for dark, cinematic blacks and terrific picture quality overall. Samsung and LG also come through with plasma TVs that get their fair share of admiration from critics. Our latest report on plasma TVs fills in the details on the sets that deliver the best picture quality, and the ones that satisfy by offering terrific value.

With flu season upon us, many parents are relying on hand sanitizer to combat germs. As the use of hand sanitizer mounts, so do stories of children becoming ill after ingesting it.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers has confirmed that this is a potential hazard and not a myth. Most hand sanitizers have a concentration of at least 60 percent alcohol - that's significantly higher than a bottle of vodka or whiskey (hard liquor contains about 40 percent alcohol by volume). The high level of alcohol is necessary to kill germs, but swallowing a few squirts could bring a child's blood alcohol level to .10; that's considered legally drunk in most states.

Mint users rejoice! We reported in September that competitor Intuit (maker of Quicken Online) had acquired Mint and we were worried that Mint as we knew it would cease to exist. But, now that the deal has been finalized, Mint CEO turned Intuit VP Aaron Patzer says Quicken Online will be phased out and current accounts will be migrated to Mint.com over the next 6-9 months.

Our report on personal finance sites gave the edge to Mint over Quicken Online, but the latter service has a few features that Mint doesn't. Patzer acknowledged this in a interview with Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch, revealing one Quicken Online feature in particular that Mint should have. That is "the ability to manually enter cash transactions or record checks which have not yet cleared." Patzer also talked about integrating Mint with other Intuit products such as TurboTax.

Read our full report on personal finance sites, for more on Mint and other services.

Digital video recorders, or DVRs, were once thought to be the weapon that would kill advertiser-supported TV. After all, conventional wisdom asks: Who wouldn't simply skip past all of the commercials when watching a time-shifted program? Well, according to an article in The New York Times, a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral. Instead of killing off commercial TV, the DVR might be what saves it. Nielsen, the company that tallies up viewership for TV networks and advertisers, reports that more and more people are keeping their fingers off the clicker as commercials drift by when watching programs recorded on their DVRs.

Not content to wait until the day after Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart is putting some home-theater electronics up for sale in their brick and mortar stores this Saturday. Scanning through things, we found some ho-ho-hum deals, but also two that could peak the interest of budget TV buyers.

Just what we needed to hear before the holiday binge-eating begins (and after plowing through the 'leftover' Halloween candy): Now it looks like exercise really doesn't help you lose weight. Studies have been quietly pointing this way for a while now, and an article in The New York Times makes for a nice summary of the recent thinking: Exercise -- without changing your eating habits -- just doesn't lead to significant weight loss.

Among the two-day sale items featured in the Kmart Black Friday circular is the Jazz T20 camcorder for $20. Given that similar pocket-sized camcorders like the Pure Digital Flip Mino (*Est. $130) and Creative Vado (*Est. $90) sell for far more, the Jazz seems like a bargain in comparison. Unlike most full-sized camcorders, pocket-sized models like these lack many features and functions that make for more polished video, like manual focus and a microphone jack. They're designed to produce point-and-shoot video that can be quickly uploaded to Facebook and YouTube, or for people who just want to record on the go. For more information about these mini camcorders, check out our full report on digital camcorders.

Reports are in on the fall harvest of home-theater projectors, and from all indications it's a bumper crop. While performance is up across the board, prices are down -- way down -- and that's the real news. Some stratospherically-expensive projectors will, of course, still draw oohs and aahs from those who crave every morsel of technical perfection, but the rest of us can enjoy performance that's nearly as good (and in some cases, just as good) from projectors costing far, far less. Our latest report on home-theater projectors gives you the lowdown on a cornucopia of high-performance, low-cost projectors. You'll also find news about the first full HD (1080p) projectors to come in under the magic $1,000 barrier (albeit by just a buck or so).

Kmart is offering a Black Friday sale on the Hamilton Beach 10-cup programmable Hamilton beach BrewStation, advertised in their leaked circular for $19.99. This coffeemaker normally sells for $39.99 on the manufacturer's site and at most major retailers. Surprisingly, we found it for much less - a whopping $13.99 - at Amazon.com (sold by Todays Concept).