Throwing an award-winning Oscar party is never easy, but you can add a touch of glamour by following the tips I put together over at  Yahoo! Tech. Honestly, I can’t stop finding great tips, so I’ll be posting a few more on this post. In the meantime, check out these sites below to find movie-themed drinks, food, and even music.

1. Invites: Evite.comhas lots of invitations you can use to get your party started.
2. Food: Epicurious has put together five dishes in honor of all the Best Picture nominees. Cook up a formal British dinner for Atonement or cook up a hearty Southern meal to honor No Country for Old Men. Simply genious!
3. Drinks: That’s  the Spirit has plenty of drink recipies, but if you want to keep it current check out Defamer for the scoop on that Blue Slushee in honor of Juno.
4. Music: iTunes.com has the latest soundtracks for Juno andMichael Clayton.
5. Ballots: Print out official  ballots over at Oscar.com and get your guests involved.
6. Gear: You have to watch the Oscars in high-def so if you don’t have the biggest HDTV, then talk to friends who do and try to either co-host the party at their house or buy a projector if you can’t borrow one.  Also ask your friends to bring their digital cameras to take plenty of pictures, and break out the digital photo frames to play a slideshow of all the nominees. 

Share your ideas below.

Popularity: 46% [?]

For years,  gamers have wondered how science was going to make their experience in virtual worlds more real. VR goggles were one way of doing it, but what about mind control? Why not? The technology has been available for years, so why not use it for a little R and R time? Well, gamers everywhere should be rejoicing at what could be the biggest breakthrough coming to the consumer world. Emotiv has announced the upcoming release of it’s sensor ladden neuro headset capable of picking up brain waves that allows the user to move objects and control their avatar in a virtual setting .  This thing can pick up 30 different emotions, facial expressions, and cognitive action so gamers have plenty of ways to interact with others using thought control. The bad news is gamers will need to practice their poker face a lot more because this headset will makes impossible to hide your emotions behind a computer. The gaming headset is only in prototype form, but will be selling for $299 later this year along with a game. It may someday be compatible with other games, but for now you’ll have to exercise your  mind with whatever game they decide to include. Tennis, anyone?

Popularity: 48% [?]

More often than not, mail order products often border on the unbelievable when it comes to authenticity, making you wonder whether it works as advertised. The Japanese seem to have no qualms about it, as evident by the MPION MP3 player. This unique portable audio device might not come with the big brand name backing of Toshiba or Sony, but what it offers is something special that no other MP3 player in the market can bring you at this moment - it has the ability to give you a facial while you’re listening to your favorite tunes.

Sounds totally crazy, right? Apparently, this 128MB flash based MP3 player comes with a negative ion generator located behind to help clean your skin pores when applied to the face. Apparently, the manufacturer claims that this works far better when compared to the traditional soap and water method. I seriously wonder how effective these claims are. If you’re in Japan and want to try it out, be prepared to part with approximately $170 for it.

Popularity: 35% [?]

This week has been a very significant one in the format wars as news came from Toshiba that it will stop making HD-DVD players and devices. This means the format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD is pretty much over, and Blu-ray has been declared the winner. Thank goodness because as you all know high-definition televisions and players will be big sellers this year as we get closer to the DTV transition and the last thing we need is a format war. Now we can focus on buying our Blu-ray discs and players without much worry. But what about those of you who already chose HD-DVD players and bought a bunch of $30 DVDs? Unfortunately, if you bought an HD-DVD player in the last week, you might be out of luck as Toshiba issued a statement saying they wouldn’t be giving any refunds or sweeteners to HD-DVD buyers according to  SMH Australia.“They [customers] understood that there were two competing formats and understood that one of them would probably prevail … so they made the decision to go with HD DVD.”

Hey but at least you can round out your movie collection by buying HD DVD movies for half the price over at  Amazon who’s trying to get rid of them for a low price. The question is would you want to. Prices of Blu-ray players have actually gone up as Ben Patterson notes on
  his post here. He says the Sony BDP-S300 has a $399 compared to the $299 price it had a few months ago, and the Samsung BD-P1400 is also $399 compared to the $270 price it had in December. Obviously, you’re in good shape if you have a Playstation 3, but if you don’t, you might want to hold off on buying that high-definition player until prices go down.  Do tell us where you stand?

Popularity: 44% [?]

Now now, isn’t this one of the prettier notebooks that you’ve laid your eyes upon in a long while? Sure, it might not come with the super slim form factor that made everyone gush over the MacBook Air, but at least MSI’s efforts with the 12.1″ slim PR200 Beloved Edition comes with an optical drive. Developed by MSI for White Day in Korea, the PR200 Beloved Edition is no slouch when it comes to performance, featuring Intel’s 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor that is more than enough for your everyday office tasks. Other features include a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera and an HDMI port for those who want to watch high definition shows.

Source: AVing

Popularity: 25% [?]

While rumors of a Zune phone has been circulating since time immemorial (feels like it anyway), a corporate reorganization certainly points toward that way - just check out this mockup of a smartphone UI which made an appearance in a June 2006 Microsoft patent filing. Perhaps the acquisition of Danger will steer Microsoft towards developing a full touch screen user interface instead of plodding on with their Windows Mobile platform? Granted, Windows Mobile ain’t all that bad but when you compare it to Apple’s UI, the latter wins hands down. All I can say is this - more choices and healthy competition is always good for the consumer. Go Microsoft!

Source: Crave

Popularity: 39% [?]

With Valentine’s Day coming round the corner, it makes perfect sense for retailers to try pocket as many consumer dollars as possible during this busy period in order to capitalize on your feelings for your loved one. AT&T is no different, hoping to gain a small bonus by releasing its Pantech Duo dual-sliding handset in red. Other than the change in color, everything else inside remains the same as a standard Pantech Duo including 3G support, a 240 x 320 resolution display, powered by Windows Mobile 6 and providing support for push email services, AT&T’s Mobile Music Service, and AT&T’s Video Service.

Source: 14U

Popularity: 56% [?]

Modu Mobile has developed a modular phone system that was just nominated by the Guinness World Records as the lightest phone in the world, tipping the scales at a mere 40.1 grams while measuring 72mm x 37mm x 7.8mm. Despite being so small and light, it is still capable of dishing out similar functions to what other standard handsets have on offer including a speaker, Bluetooth connectivity, MP3 playback, and 1GB of internal memory among others. The Modu is tipped to be launched in Italy, Russia and Israel on the 1st of October this year, and in all probability will arrive Stateside next year. A single Modu with two jackets bundle will retail for approximately $280.

Source: Slashgear

Popularity: 42% [?]

Inquiring minds wanted to know how music phenomenon Justin Timberlake and sultry actress Jessica Biel maintained their love while he was out and about performing his Future Sex/Love Sounds Tour – the mystery has been solved. The pair kept in constant face-to-face contact with Webcams, like this high-definition Hue HD Webcam ($80), compatible with Macs and PCs, bends to shoot from any angle, and folds up for easy travel. Plus it’s cute! www.huehd.com

Popularity: 53% [?]

Valentine’s Day is next week, and if you don’t know what to get your sweetie, then check out some of our recent posts full of Valentine’s Day gift ideas.  This year everyone is seeing RED. Just check out Sony’s VAIO bundle that includes a matching case and mouse, or head over to JoinRed.com to find the latest red Dell computers just launched by Bono, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell. Sales of these products will actually spread the love to AIDS victims in Africa who need of medical attention. Don’t want to spend a fortune?  Check out the cool Aloha Blooming Tea and spend a relaxing evening with your partner. But to really show someone how they light up your life, then you must get a pair of geeky proximity-based shirts. These cool shirts have LED hearts that light up when you’re  within hugging distance. Any pink ladies in the house? This year Apple joined the pink gadget wagon with a very pink iPod nano, perfect for the girl who’s not afraid to show her girl power.  We’ll be posting more gift ideas as we go along, so keep checking back. And please, don’t forget to tell someone you love them, even if you do it anonymously.

Popularity: 35% [?]