In this week’s post devoted to sale-priced technology you may find useful in your practice or at home, our first stop is rather unlikely.  At Kmart, all PNY 4 GB flash memory, including USB, SD, and micro-SD formats, is on sale for $12.99.  One stop and you will be able to pick up flash memory for your cell phone, digital camera, and for moving files from PC to PC.  I must confess a special fondness for Kmart.  I grew up with “Blue Light Specials.”  I am old enough to remember when there was just one Kmart store, the larger brother of the S.S. Kresge dime store chain.  It was located in Garden City, Michigan, at the corner of Ford Road and Middlebelt.  I drove by the original Kmart (still open) last fall when in the Detroit area to argue an appeal.  I got my first baseball glove there (a first baseman’s mitt I still have and sometimes use to play catch with my son and grandson).  I also had a problem as a child with disorientation and nausea from the old-style fluorescent lights used in retail stores.  As a result, I vomited on the checkout counter at that original Kmart when I was about 5 years old.  (I know, too much information.  Sorry.)  Later in life, we lived in Troy, MI, where Kmart had its headquarters before merging with Sears.  The uniquely designed headquarters building was less than two miles from our house.

While at Kmart, you may want to check the clearance section where yesterday I picked up two Black & Decker CP120B PocketPower backup batteries for just $10 each (the web site lists a price of $14.99, but retail stores are closing out this item for $10 or less).  The portable NiMH battery packs can be used for cell phones, digital cameras, music players, or almost anything that can be charged via AC or USB connections.  Read the Amazon reviews for ways this device can be used.  We live in the hurricane zone, and if the power goes out (as it can for days if a storm hits), one of these batteries will keep my cell phone going for days after the main battery dies.   It is also great for traveling.  Place it in your notebook PC bag and use it when, during a layover at the airport, you discover that your phone’s battery is dying yet you have many more calls to make.

Although we are well into summer travel season, there are still things you can do to make the experience more pleasant, especially when traveling with children.  When my kids were young, we had a Ford Econoline conversion van with an old-style CRT TV/VCR mounted between the front seats facing the rear.  The kids watched their choice of Disney videos for hours on end while we traveled.  Mobile entertainment technology has improved greatly since then.  This week Target has the RCA dual-screen, dual DVD, mobile player on sale for $189.  It is out of stock online, but a store stock check showed that it was available at all of the Target retail stores in my region.

Our next stop is OfficeMax, which has what many reviewers think is the best small office/home office multi-function laser printer, the Brother MFC-7840W, on sale for $239.99.  For several years, the older version (without WiFi) of this all-in-one (AIO) has been the primary printer, scanner, copier, fax machine for my home-based appellate practice.  If you are partial to a curved ergonomic keyboard, OfficeMax has one of the best examples of that genre, the Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 on sale for $34.99

Over at Staples, there is a great deal on a Samsung 18.5 inch LCD monitor for just $99.98.  I’ve written in the past about my good experience with Samsung LCD’s.  This one is on the small side if it is going to be your only monitor.  But as an add-on for a notebook PC display or in a dual-monitor desktop setup, it could be ideal.  If you are looking for a great cordless home telephone system with expandability, it is hard to beat Panasonic DECT 6.0 phones.  Staples has a 4-phone set including digital answering system on sale after easy rebate for $79.99.  We use the 5-phone version of this system in our home (connected to our Vonage VoIP service).  It has phone to phone intercom and a host of other neat features.  Sound quality is excellent.

At Best Buy, you may find a notebook computer for your college-bound student.  Apple is repeating its free iPod Touch promotion for students purchasing Macbooks for school.  Just show a student ID for a free 8GB iPod Touch instantly with a Macbook, Macbook Pro, or Macbook Air purchase.  I am not crazy about the Mac OS operating system, probably because I am used to Windows.  But remember that the Apple hardware is solid (if a bit overpriced – the so-called “Apple Tax”), and you can always use the free Bootcamp utility to install Windows on a Macbook.  I did that on my daughter’s Macbook.  It runs XP Pro extremely well.  She took advantage of the free iPod Touch deal last summer and loves it (perhaps more than the Macbook).  You should call the computer store at your student’s university to see if their prices are cheaper than Best Buy or other retailers.  Sometimes the university computer stores offer larger educational discounts on Macbooks.  You might try negotiating a deal with your student to let them keep the Macbook while you take the iPod Touch to use as a PDA, which it does very well if properly set-up.  Hope you have better luck in that negotiation than I had.