In this down economy, people have been asking me (since I have a reputation as a gadget freak) what would be great gifts for this holiday season and would be ones with "a high geek factor and a low price."

The Flip Mino HD has been one I've recommended at $229 as has this Asus netbook at $329.

Usually I've rarely had good luck with low-end products that purport to do big things that more expensive gear performs, but the two above are exceptions to that rule.  So I was naturally skeptical when the box arrived for me to evaluate the $129 Pinnacle TV for Mac HD USB mini stick (more info on it here).

I opened it up, installed the software, and waited the 15 minutes or so that it took to seek out all the possible stations in my area the included antenna could pick up. To say that I was stunned, surprised and delighted when suddenly a gorgeous high definition TV station appeared on my Apple 24" Cinema display, would be doing this little product a disservice!

Every available over-the-air station worked flawlessly and it was easy to switch back-n-forth between channels. As I fooled around with it and viewed some content, I realized how much I would've loved having this device when the debates were going on (too often I had stuff to do at my desk and could've had live TV running watching them, instead of having to record the first half and watch it later).

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