Electronics

The majority of television manufacturers today favor LCD over plasma and there are a wide range of brand names to choose from. As a result, they're getting cheaper every year. It used to be that plasma was cheaper than LCD for the same screen size, but now the opposite is true (although the new LED types of LCD TVs are still more expensive). LCD also has more selection in terms of screen size, ranging from under 20 inches to 55 inches and larger. For the purposes of this article, the search for the "best" is divided into three size ranges: under 37 inch (small), 37 inch to 50 inch (medium) and over 50 inch (large). Granted, opinions on what constitutes small, medium and large varies per person, but so does what qualifies as "best".

Small: Samsung LN32B650 - This 32 inch television proves that even though Samsung trails behind Panasonic in terms of plasma television, it can make a great LCD. While it runs around $850 (more expensive than most of its competitors), it has a fantastic picture quality and can even play JPEG, MP3 and most importantly MPEG files from its USB port (thus guaranteeing that in a few years we will no longer have DVD movies, but rather SD movies). It even supports RSS feeds via an Ethernet connection.

Medium: Sony BRAVIA KDL-46V5100 - The picture...

 The gaming industry peaks around the holidays with the release of tons of video game options that will make your head spin, and the challenge for you - or Santa - will be in trying to decide which top video games to buy for your kids. 

Of course the kids already know exactly which video game they want, but chances are you're pretty clueless on which ones to get. To help guide parents on the many types of kids and teens rated games out there, KOL, AOL's website for kids, has created a Holiday Video Game Guide that previews a few of the best "E" Rated (for Everyone) games for 2009.

And just in time, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), a non-profit self regulating group for computer and video games, has come up with a free iPhone App that helps parents navigate the maze of new game ratings out there. The app will display the rating on the game and includes a game rating summary. The new ESRB app is available for free at www.esrb.org/mobile/ and at the iTunes app store.

The game industry is also turning out literally hundreds of mobile gaming apps

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