If you're in the market for a reasonably sized, widescreen flat panel monitor, Dell just added one more choice to the platter. The SP2309W, which we saw officially announced back in September, is now available on the company's site. The screen boasts a 2048 x 1152 resolution, 300 nits of eye-searing brightness, a 80,000:1 contrast ratio, and all the DVI, HDMI and VGA ports you could ever need (well, one of each actually). The display retails for $379, and don't even think about stealing it. Seriously. Steven's watching, wise guy.

[Thanks, Lee]

November is here and it looks like Apple just pulled the retail trigger on its 24-inch LED-backlit Cinema Display. While it still says "ships: November" Apple just added the "Add to cart" button allowing you to place your order with standard 5 business day, 2nd day, or next business day shipping. $899 takes home a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution, DisplayPort, built-in iSight camera / mic, integrated stereo speakers, 3-port USB hub, and MagSafe adapter for your like-equipped MacBook. Sure, it'll look great next to all your Apple gear but you can get a similar panel (if not exactly the same) or better with more expansion for a lot less.

Update: It's worth noting that while there are plenty of bright, 24-inch LCD monitors on the market, Apple's is relatively inexpensive (possibly the cheapest) for LED backlit monitors of this size. We'll have to see how it stacks up side-by-side before getting too huffy about the price. As to the lack of additional ports for game consoles, etc: huff away.

[Thanks, Rob P.]

Chalk another one up for MPEG-LA, as the licensing group's members have dropped lawsuits against Vizio stemming from the one-time value HDTV company's refusal to license MPEG-2 technology, claiming it's suppliers had already paid the necessary fees. Despite Amtran's pleas, just like Target's TruTech brand televisions and DVD players, that argument appears to have quickly folded, . It remains to be seen what direct effect this will have on price, but between this and Vizio's notable Black Friday absence they must be serious about changing to a more upscale image, we wonder if Sony will invite them to a special reception. (Warning: PDF read link)

We've heard some rumors that were pretty far out in left field, but this one is far out. In fact, the only reason we're giving it even an ounce of credence is that it's a perfect market opportunity -- we mean, who isn't dreadfully sick of the plain jane digital photo frames that are impossible to distinguish from one another? At any rate, whispers have it that HP is working up a frame that will double as a slate PC of sorts, giving users a full blown web browser, e-mail client, RSS reader and access to other "widgets and lightweight applications." Predictably, the mythical unit will be marketed as a companion internet device, and we're told that it may even boast an Intel Atom CPU alongside a 10-inch panel and a WiFi radio. We'll find out if you'll really be burning $400 on this so-called conglomerate before the year's end.

Mitsubishi's new XD95U DLP projector may not technically fall into the "pico" category, despite the company's attempts to proclaim it as such, but that doesn't mean it isn't tiny, with it weighing in at just a bit over three pounds and measuring a very portable 7.5- by 8.1-inches. The projector's specs also look like they should be up to most anyone's presentation needs, and include a full XGA resolution, 2,200 ANSI lumens, a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, and just the bare necessities when it comes to ports (composite, s-video, and VGA). Not surprisingly, you'll have to pay a considerable premium for that all that portability, with the XD95U boasting a suggested retail price of $1,495, which might just be enough to get some folks to reconsider the $500 Dell M109S and its non-standard 858 x 600 resolution.

[Via Gearlog]

Further blurring the line between an LCD computer monitor and a bedroom HDTV is Acer, as its P244Wbmii boasts not only a 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) panel but also a pair of HDMI inputs. The 24-inch (TN) display features a 2-millisecond response time, 300 cd / m2 brightness, 20,000:1 contrast ratio and a VGA port for PC purists. Mum's the word on a price or availability, but all signs point to a Japanese first / only release.

[Via Impress]

So, we're not going to say this is the greatest thing we've ever seen, because we've seen some pretty awesome things in our years and years of living on the edge, but it's pretty, uh... heavy metal. Regardless, the so-called "Punk Skull" belt buckle is one multi-talented reminder of Death: he holds up your pants, but can also play MP3s (1GB player included) or display fascinatingly terrifying LED light patterns (LED module included) -- though sadly, not both at once. If that's not enough uses for you, the manufacturer suggests that the buckle is solid enough for you to use "as a handheld weapon," which is great, because we suspect that suddenly, a lot of people are going to start wanting to fight you. Available now for wholesale, we're pretty sure they'll be making their way to high-end retailers near you soon, and that they'll be horrifically affordable. A few more shots of the carnage after the break.

[Via Random Good Stuff]

If you skipped Walmart's pre-Black Friday festivities pat yourself on the back, as -- despite its lawyers hard work C&Ding unauthorized early ad postings into oblivion -- CNNMoney reveals the "doorbuster" highlights probably not worth getting trampled for this year. Between 5-10 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving the already-discounted Magnavox Blu-ray player drops from $198 to $128 (a BDP-S300 might still be a better value), 50-inch Samsung plasma of unspecified resolution is only $798 (720p, bet on it), and Xbox 360 + Guitar Hero III & wireless guitar pack (all the real plastic guitar aficionados have moved on to Rock Band 2) drops in for $199. Slightly lower profile are a $398 HP desktop PC and $175 gas grill but c'mon, we all know it's the high definition (it'll be a lonely holiday without the suddenly too-good for us Vizio) that will have you shivering outside your local retailer with the soccer moms and other deal hunters.

[Thanks, Jason]

Okay, so maybe Circuit City only formally closed 155 of its retail locations, but let's put it this way -- if we're up at 3:00AM and looking at which store to camp in front of, we're picking the one that, um, isn't bankrupt. All that aside, five pages of mildly delectable Black Friday deals have leaked for the company, giving you a full fortnight to think things over and handpick the bargains that you'll be hunting for. Of course, savvy online shoppers like yourself aren't apt to find anything here too fantastic, but we'd wager that even a $7.99 laptop sleeve is a far better value than a $12 Guns N' Roses CD.

We know, you started yawning at the sight of the headline, your ears will pop with relief by the middle of this paragraph, and you'll finish up somewhere around the Read link. We get it. But there's something kinda special about the brand new iGala Wireless Digital Picture Frame from Aequitas, we'll call it "common sense." The photo frame sports an 8-inch, 800 x 600 touchscreen, 1GB of internal storage, WiFi and the traditional complement of card readers. What's new here is that iGala really puts that WiFi connection to use, featuring Gmail integration (for sending photos), an alarm clock and integration with Microsoft's FrameIt service for news, traffic and weather info. The frame also hooks up to Flickr directly, which is such a no-brainer these days that we're surprised we see still so many "connected" frames lacking the feature. A full touchscreen makes all of this stuff actually possible to use, and the $239 pricetag doesn't mean you have to get soaked for the convenience. iGala is available now from Aequitas' entirely sketchy online store -- we guess you can't win 'em all.

[Via Digital Picture Frame Review]

At this point, the whole subtly curvaceous / glossy black motif on the SyncMaster line has become a tad unexciting, but we suppose it still gets the job done. Today, Samsung has unleashed five new ones to chew on, and if you weren't an expert on spotting differences in dimensions, you'd have a tough time telling them apart. For starters, we've got the 15.6-inch SyncMaster 633NW and 18.5-inch 933SN, both of which get stuck with just a VGA port and a 1,360 x 768 resolution. Movin' on up, we see the 20-inch 2033SW (1,600 x 900) and 21.5-inch 2233SW / 23-inch 2333SW (1,920 x 1,080), all of which tout a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 5-millisecond response time, 170-degree viewing angles, DVI / VGA inputs and 300 cd / m2 brightness. Expect the whole lot to show up in Japan within the next month for ¥18,000 ($187) to ¥30,000 ($312).

With the holidays at hand, all these improbably-small projectors we've been seeing around for the past year or so are starting to land in force, and 3M's MPro110 is certainly a contender. The little unit shoots a VGA image onto screens as large as 50-inches (though we wouldn't recommend it), with a long lasting LED backlight backing it up. We got an up-close look at the thing last night, and have a few quick notes: the image is about as dim as you'd expect, and looks exponentially better the smaller the area you're trying to project on -- at about 30-inches in a decently lit room the image was insufferably dim, but at around 17 or 18-inches we were getting some pretty good definition brightness. The projector autofocuses plenty fast, which is clutch for a "handheld" projector, but it does get fairly warm despite its LED usage. Overall, we can't fault the projector too much, with a $359 pricetag and a "paperback book" form factor, but the application is certainly limited at the moment, and we're guessing these will be getting a lot better in the future. The MPro110 is now shipping.

The tiny projector craze has really been heating up as of late, and the introduction of the Kairen Projector X Pro920M only promises to increase the insanity. Measuring a diminutive 3.5 x 1.73 x 3.15-inches (not nearly as small as some), we hear it's got 10 lumens of brightness, a contrast ratio of 100:1, and a resolution of 640 x 480. The little projector... um, projects a 25-inch image from of a distance of up to 1 meter. It's going to be on sale in January 2009 in Japan for $400, and we can only hope it makes its way to North America at some point. Until that happens, we'll just have to make do in our wasteland of medium-sized projectors.

[Thanks, Lenny]