Valentine’s Day is only eleven days away and you’re still not sure what to do for your significant other… Why not bake them cookies with a special message?

Willams-Sonoma is the exclusive retailer of the cute Message-in-a-Cookie Cutter set. The set includes 3 shaped cutters (scalloped-rectangle, heart, and star) which are customizable using pre-made words or letters. When you use the cutter to cut your dough, it leaves an imprint of the letters. The possibilities for this cutter extends beyond Valentine’s Day and are practically endless… Have a fight with your best friend? Bake them “I’m sorry” cookies. Is your husband, family member, or friend returning from their tour of duty? Bake them “Welcome home” cookies. Read on. »

At CES 2010, Oregon Scientific unveiled the Wireless Appliance Manager. It is a savvy and rather sexy geekery that monitors and shows you–in real time–how much power you’re sucking from the line and how much money the line is sucking from you. Not to mention the amount of CO² you emit. Again, in real time.

The Manager comes in two versions: basic and advanced. The basic version–retailing at $60–can only receive a signal from one appliance. The advanced version–retailing at $80 plus extra transmitters–can receive signals from up to eight appliances at once. With either version, a programmable timer allows you to control sockets which turns the Manager into a control panel for your lights and appliances.

I can’t wait for the product to be available to consumers. I wasn’t able to find out a release date on the Manager, but I hope it’s sometime soon. These would make great gifts for anyone: the budget conscious, the greenie, or the curious.

[Parts of this post via Popular Mechanics]

A homemade gift can go a long way with someone. Much further than an expensive gift. A homemade gift shows you took the time and energy to actually think about the gift and craft it for that person instead of going to the shelf in a store and picking something out.

With today being Christmas, I’ve been thinking a lot about the gifts I bought my relatives. All of it was bought the 23rd and all of it was made in China. As part of my New Years Resolutions, I want to start making more gifts this year. Not only Christmas, but birthday and anniversary gifts as well. Maybe even a few ‘thank you’ gifts for my clients.

Although a bit late for Christmas, here’s a roundup of a few DIY gift ideas that can be used year round (after the jump). Read on. »

Well, guys, it’s Christmas Eve and, if you’re like me, you’re still not done with your Christmas shopping. But lets face it, we’re not going to be able to get it down today. All that’s left are the items that have been picked over for weeks now–and those never make good gifts.

Thankfully the folks over at C|NET give us five great last minute gift ideas and they only require a printer! Read on. »