Yamaha Tenori-on

Last year, we recognized the Tenori-on as one of the but lamented its over-the-top cost. Recently Yamaha for the holidays from $1200 to $999, so owning one is now somewhat more feasible. The design remains inspired: You interact with a 16-by-16 grid of LED-illuminated buttons to manipulate and build musical loops. A total of 256 sounds are built in, and an integrated SD Card slot lets you copy original samples from your computer. You can also use the Tenori-on's MIDI-out port to connect with your PC's music software or with your other hardware instruments.

See our of the Tenori-on in action for more about this device.

Pure Digital Flip MinoHD: High-Definition Minicamcorder

Pure Digital's Flip MinoHD (around $210 street) brings high-definition video recording to your pocket. This tiny 720p-resolution minicamcorder doesn't have enough advanced features to replace a , but it will do an admirable job of capturing spontaneous moments and enabling you to post them online. It stores up to 4GB of video (enough for about 1 hour of recording), but since it has no media card slot, you can't add storage.