Productopia

In a recent ConsumerSearch poll of 1,200 readers, we asked about buying American-made goods: 67% said they were trying to buy more American-made products or would like to buy them if they were easier to find. And that's the problem, really -- finding them. You'd be hard pressed to find made-in-America consumer electronics these days.  And even some iconic American companies -- such as Singer and Samsonite -- now manufacture entirely overseas.

In researching our reports, we're making note of products or companies that still produce goods in the U.S. Here's a sampling of what we found...

December 20 is this year's drop-dead date for on-time holiday shipping, but if you want to take advantage of free shipping offered by some online retailers, you need to act faster than that. We've looked at this year's free-shipping offers and thrown them into a chart for your reference. In addition, hundreds of retailers are participating in Free Shipping Day on December 17, so if you order on that day, you can take advantage of free shipping and on-time standard delivery. The catch is that you have to order on that day.

There are several types of knife sharpeners out there -- everything from no-fuss electric models to  zen-like manual sharpening systems. Which you choose depends partly on what type of knives you want to sharpen and how hands-on you want to be. If you go the quick-and-easy route, try an electric sharpener like the Chef's Choice 120 Diamond Hone 3-Stage Professional Knife Sharpener. But if you're as interested in the process as you are in the result, experts say a manual sharpener is for you. Manual sharpeners can also be used on more types of knives, even short pocket knives. We found the best reviews for the Spyderco 204MF Tri-Angle Sharpmaker System. Read about more types in our knife sharpener report.

Warner Brothers, the studio that gave Blu-ray the final boost it needed to make it the de facto standard for high-def discs, is giving the format another bump with a program aimed at cutting the cost of switching over from DVD to Blu-ray. DVD2Blu lets owners of certain Warner Brothers DVDs swap them at relatively low cost for Blu-ray Discs of the same title. The swapped-for Blu-rays cost either $7.95 or $9.95, depending on the movie, and shipping is free if you spend $25 or more for the upgraded discs. But before you get too excited, let's step back for a second and see how good a deal this really is.