Productopia | Christine Frietchen

We're happy to announce the launch of the very first ConsumerSearch iPhone app, available for free from the iTunes App Store. Of course, if you have a web-enabled phone, you can access ConsumerSearch wherever you are. But the app has some cool extras that make accessing our reviews quicker. You can still go straight to our editors' top picks in more than 450 categories, but you can also use the app's barcode scanner to find info on a specific product, and once you've narrowed down your choice, you can use the app's price-comparion feature to check prices online or in local stores. We can even give you directions to the store. That means you'll have access to critical decision-making info, right when you need it most. Read more

If you've noticed an uptick of spam in your junk mail folder lately, you're not alone. Scammers go into overtime around the holidays and into tax season, aiming to trick you into forking over personal information. These email sneak-attacks are called "phishing" and it's nothing new. What is new this year is that a lot of the bogus emails look like they're coming from banks, software companies and tax-preparation firms, hoping to trigger your click by making you think you won't get your tax refund or that there's been an error on your tax return. Here's how not to get suckered. Read more

It seems like everything gets more expensive -- and for the type of items we use everyday like groceries and gas, that's no illusion. But according to a recent article at dealnews.com, some stuff should actually be less expensive this year. Some of the items on the list are no-brainers ("older technology, for example, always gets less costly as newer tech takes its place," says our own electronics editor Carl Laron), but other entries are more surprising. Read more

It always seems like there's one person on your list that's a stumper: it's two days before Christmas and you still have no ideas. Here are a few offbeat suggestions that might fit the bill for hard-to-shop-for folks. We asked ConsumerSearch editors for a handful of ideas that have crossed their desks over the last year.

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