Productopia | Editors Notes

For a laugh, check out our art-house homage, "Une Affaire Humide." While perhaps a tad unrealistic, it does sort of sum up how we feel about product research. We think that "love what you buy" means getting the right product for you - not the most expensive or flashiest gadget, but the one that fits your needs and your budget. See the short YouTube video here.

More and more people are skipping car GPS receivers, The New York Times reports, and getting turn-by-turn directions from smartphones instead.

"More than 40 percent of all smartphone owners use their mobile devices to get turn-by-turn directions, according to data from Compete, a Web analytics firm," reports the Times' Jenna Wortham. "For iPhone users, the figure is even higher, eclipsing 80 percent."

And while smartphone sales keep rising, GPS device sales have plummeted, the Times says. Smartphones now look and perform a lot like traditional car GPS units, thanks to apps from major GPS makers. The Navigon Mobile Navigator (*Est. $90) and TomTom for iPhone (*Est. $100) both get good reviews, as do some cheaper apps like the MotionX GPS Drive by Fullpower (*Est. $3 per month or $25 per year).

The end of General Motors' Pontiac division will be lamented for years to come. No, not because anyone's going to miss stuff like the G5 coupe (a rebadged Chevy Cobalt) or the laughable G3 Wave (a rebadged Chevy Aveo). Those cars exemplify the kind of dealer-placating product decisions that helped shepherd GM towards bankruptcy, muddled the Pontiac brand's identity, and ultimately contributed to the division's outright cancellation. What people will miss are  bright spots in the lineup. There were a few, after all, and if you want a piece of that good history in your garage, you'll need to act fast, because the dealer stock is drying up.

We've just updated our report on Blu-ray players, and the biggest news is how far and how fast the prices of some really excellent choices have dropped. The Panasonic DMP-BD60K, for example, delivers terrific picture quality, especially with Blu-ray Discs, and a reasonably complete mix of features at a street price of around $150. You can also find some lesser but still decent Blu-ray Disc players for even less -- as low as $100 with careful shopping. That $100 price is significant, as that's the price most experts have long said would be the tipping point for mass adoption of the Blu-ray format. So, does that mean that the time is finally right for most people to make the switch to Blu-ray?

If you grew up in the 1960s, '70s or '80s, the sound of a Polaroid camera is probably one of your fond (or not-so-fond) holiday memories. Although Polaroid instant cameras are a thing of the past, you can still have some instant-photo fun this holiday season thanks to Fuji's Instax instant cameras.

The Maclaren website and phone system were overwhelmed to the point of crashing yesterday as worried parents tried to request repair kits for their strollers. This comes as a result of a massive recall of every single Maclaren stroller sold in the United States over the past 10 years. According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, twelve children lost fingertips when they were caught in the strollers' hinges as they were being folded and unfolded. Reaction among parents ranges all the way from shock to apathy.

In the latest update to the ConsumerSearch report on ebook readers, the Amazon.com Kindle 2 (*Est. $260) retains its title as the best ebook reader. But the competition is getting fierce. The Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600 (*Est. $300) is a viable alternative to the Kindle, many reviewers say. Once you look past the Kindle and the Sony, you're faced with a large number of also-rans like the  iRex Digital Reader DR800SG (*Est. $400), the Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro (*Est. $200), the Cool-er ebook reader (*Est. $250) and the BeBook (*Est. $250)

Humidifiers can be useful appliances, particularly as the weather turns colder and heaters dry out the air. Used occasionally, they can also be soothing for people with colds or upper respiratory infections that dry out the sinuses or throat. As described in ConsumerSearch's full report on humidifiers, most models are designed to be used in large spaces like a bedroom or family room.

That said, if you need something for a very small space like an office cubicle, or if you're a frequent traveler and want something you can easily pack, these humidifiers are too big for the job. In that case, you might want to consider two mini cool-mist humidifiers, both of which are about the size of a squat hardcover book and use plastic water bottles (like you'd find in any convenience store) instead of a reservoir: the Air-O-Swiss 7146 Travel Ultrasonic Humidifier (*Est. $50) and the Sunpentown SU-1051 Mini-Humidifier (*Est. $50).

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.

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.