In tough economic times there’s a special need for gifts that come at a cheap price but that feel expensive. So here are 10 items with a low cost and high WOW factor. As with our other gift guides, friends and family of Spot Cool Stuff are advised to read no further lest you ruin the surprise of your gift this holiday season. The rest of you, carry on . . .

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Spot Cool Stuff does not understand why most of the world’s alarm clocks wake their owners with a jarring buzz or annoying beep. We can imagine some worse ways to be awoken—eg. via cobra bite, bucket of cold water or missile attack—but not many.

Imagine instead being woken by the sound of birds chirping, wind chiming, jungles jungling (or by the radio playing or whatever tune you wish from your iPod) as a soft bedside light gradually brightens over a period of several minutes. That’s how one starts one’s day with the Philips HF3490 iPod clock radio.

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Most audiophiles know the value of noise canceling headphones, which shut out large portions of the background sounds leaving the headphone wearer to experience the purity of their music.

Airplane travelers who have used noise canceling headphones know of their benefits too. The loud drone of the airplane engines is one of the major factors leading to flight stress and jet lag. Noise canceling headphones (even without playing any tunes through them) shut out most of the harmful aircraft noises thus helping travelers land at their destination feeling more relaxed and awake.

But what most of those people don’t know is that the best noise canceling headphones are not made by Bose, contrary to what their marketing campaign would have you believe. The Bose Quiet Comfort 3 are very good headphones. An even better pair of noise canceling headphones is. . .

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When Spot Cool Stuff travels with an iPod we always have it in a waterproof case, whether we plan to being near water or not. A case that protects an iPod from water also protects it from sand (which, we suspect, is a more common cause of iPod mortality than water is) and from everyday dust and grime. A good waterproof case will also protect an iPod from knocks and dings.

Not all waterproof iPod cases are created equal. In fact, most are inferior. Some are little more than glorified zip-lock bags—they’ll work okay at first, not so much after a few months. Other cases are prone to accidental opening, provide an obstructed view of the screen or make operating the iPod cumbersome.

Here’s our selection for the best waterproof iPod cases. Read on or click directly to the portion of the review that interests you:

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Make phone calls via Skype from an iPhone as you would from a computer

A few weeks ago we reviewed the best Skype phones. There’s now a new phone to add to that list: Apple’s iPhone.

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Spot Cool Stuff has been a long-time fan of the Kindle Reading Device. The recently-released Kindle 2 is as thin as a magazine, as light as a paperback and has enough storage capacity for 1,500 books! More than 240,000 books are available for download at Amazon’s Kindle Store as are scores of newspapers and magazines. And Kindle books generally cost 30~50% less than their dead-tree counterparts.

But you don’t necessarily need a Kindle Device to enjoy some of the Kindle experience. If you have an iTouch or iPhone there’s an app that will allow you to read Kindle books.

Here’s a rundown of the benefits and limits of the Kindle iTouch app:

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The Monster Beat headphones is one of those products that’s named after what it truly delivers: a powerful bass. Deeply powerful. Heart-stoppingly, jaw-shakingly powerful. Knock-the-paint-off-your-walls powerful. You get the idea.

There is no set of noise canceling set headphones, and quite possibly no set of headphones of any sort, that delivers music with as much thump. If you are a music purist, delight in your trebles, or a big fan of audiobooks then you’d be better off reading our review of the overall best noise canceling headphones. If you are a connoisseur of rock, techno, hip-hop or some other beat-heavy genre, and relish in your bass, then these are the headphones for you.

Our other impressions of these headphones:

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The holiday season is upon us. And so is the need to find cool gifts. Here’s a roundup of some of the presents that the friends and family of Spot Cool Stuff will be finding under their trees shortly. If are one of those friends and family then please don’t read any further. Otherwise, check out our gift recommendations for the photographers and music lovers in your life, as well as for those who (seemingly) already have everything.

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