The ads for big retailers are starting to leak out and tech deals are at the top of the list. If you are shopping for some new gear this year (like HDTVs, cameras, netbooks, computers, and more) check out these deals and plot your plan of attack.

Walmart

Best Buy

Kmart

Office Depot

Target

And of course, don’t forget Cyber Monday.

Forget the pedometer, no one cares how many steps you’ve taken in a day if you can’t find any relevant meaning in your movement combined with the rest of your day. That’s where the Fitbit comes in.

The Fitbit can calculate anything from the miles you’ve traveled and the calories you’ve burned to how long it took you to fall asleep and how many times you woke up in between. For $99 the Fitbit is definitely a calculating time savor, and with the health obsessions sweeping the states I can’t see how Fitbit can lose. I don’t know how I’d feel about wearing the little thing around all the time, but hey, it’s not as ugly as it could be.

The University of Washington has set out to manufacture another super power (sort of).

Researchers at the university are working on the first bionic eye designed like a contact lens. Forget correcting vision, how about improving it? Picture visual holograms for pilots, web surfing, science fiction in general. Circuits and antennas are all included within the contact itself. Currently a separate device will send info to the eye, but hey, it’s closer (and smaller) than anything designed currently.

Right now everything is still in prototype mode, it’s all still too big, too expensive, and too toxic for use in the real world. But it’s nice to know someone’s working on super vision.

We’ve made cameras disposable, accesorizable, and shiny. Now, at least in the design world, there’s another type to keep a watch on.

The OneShot Camera is just that. A simple lipstick sized digital point and shoot. It would come without an LCD display and without a memory card slot. So basically what you buy would be what you get. What do you get beyond a miniscule device? Simple charging, just shake the thing (like you would a bottle of orange juice) to recharge. Storage capability will make a huge difference, but I can see a market for this thing.

In the article he mentions a test underway by pharmaceutical company Novartis. In the study, patients are implanted with a receiver in their shoulder and then they take pills for their medical condition that are embedded with tiny chips. When the patient takes the pill it sends out a signal that texts the patient to remind him or her to take the next one.In the small study, it has boosted compliance from 30% to 80%.

Other companies such as MedPrompt and iReminder have reminder systems using phone, text or email.

As someone who is supposed to take medication daily for a chronic condition, I think this could be helpful for me. Unfortunately with time I would probably just ignore them. What do you think?

With practice on a manikin or resilient foam cushion, the iPhone internal accelerometer measures the movement of your hands as you simulate compressions, giving feedback to guide the usuer to the recommneded rate of 100 compressions per minute and depth of 1 1/2 to 2 inches.

Note: the training app is not cleared by the FDA for rescue use, but the company hopes that  in the future a similar application can be.

Over 325,000 Americans die each year from sudden cardiac arrest, and it is believed that over 70 percent of the time the arrest occurs in the presence of a family member or acquaintence. High quality chest compression can mean the difference between life and death.

iPhone App $5.99

Read online, click to hear words pronounced, see definitions using the built-in dictionary, be immersed with look and listen stories with voices and sound effects and even use “Story-Builder” to create new stories.

Kids can play with books online, even virtually turning pages.  This reminds me of the old Tinkerbell read along records I had as a child. With such a large library of enduring favorites, this is sure to please children of all ages.

You can purchase a monthly ($8.95) or annual subscription ($79.95) or get a free week-long trial at disneydigitalbooks.com

I don’t drive to school (currently) but I know loads of people who do. I also know loads of people who drive to work. And I know just as many people who need their coffee in the morning.

That’s why there’s the Emerson Auto Mug. It’s just like any other to go mug you’d take to work except it comes with a car power adapter this mug will heat your coffee as you drive, no luke warm espresso at the office anymore. Word is the mug is available at Bed Bath and Beyond.

We have lots of group projects in college, more than you’d think you’d have to deal with once you’ve left high school behind. The business world too is getting more collaborative in the digital age. Well it’s time to make collaboration even simpler.

Introducing the iTwin. Basically its two USB drives but if you plug one into your computer and your friend/buddy/partner plugs the other into his own computer you can share instantly! Instant access to the other computer, no wires, no more cramming around one small laptop screen to work on a single project. It sure sounds convenient to me. The iTwin is due out in 2010 for about $99.

So, the new ipod nano comes with a camera, as well as a screen for movies. Well, not there’s just the accessory to help you both watch and shoot your own miniscule masterpieces.

The kickester. The kickester is an ipod case that doubles as a stand for the ipod nano. No more holding the screen up to your face on an plane let it rest on your fold out tray, propped up by the extendable kick stand of sorts on the back of the case. So too does this stand make it stable and easy to film if you choose to. At $14.35 it’s not out of the range of most ipod cases to begin with, but it’s a little bit more useful.