The Samsung Galaxy Nexus launches today on the Verizon's LTE 4G network and is the first phone to feature the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. The new OS brings an all new interface and simplifies the overall experience on an Android phone.

The interface is rich with pictures, interactive widgets and has a more magazine-like feel about it.

The large 4.65 inch vibrant Super AMOLED 720p display is easy to read and the pictures from the 5 mega-pixel low-light camera are quite clear. It also features 1080p video recording capabilities.

Overall, this is the hottest Android smart-phone offering to date and is available for $300 with a 2-year contract on Verizon.


I have also posted a write-up on WouldntMind.com: Great Holiday Gifts for Cool People You Know, WouldntMind.com Holiday Gifts for Good Little Boys and Girls and a WouldntMind.com: 2011 Holiday Video Gear Wish List.

I am always on the lookout for more great gift ideas for friends, family members or your favorite kids. Please feel free to share in the comments below if you have your eyes on something I haven't considered.

This website is all about "great products" that can be turned into "great gifts". The past few months I have been posting each week some of the cool new products as they come to market. Be sure to check out Wouldntmind.com for a complete line up of reviews and product evaluations.

Recently I also compiled a couple lists of great gifts of Him and Her as well as a list for the Little Boys and Girls.

Be sure to check these write-up for great suggestions on product people Wouldn't Mind getting.

I have also mentioned Nielson's research on popular items on kids and adults minds. Check out the Nielsen's report here.

Today at an event in San Francisco, creator Ren Ng demonstrated his company's (Lytro) brand new camera architecture that allows a very bright F/2 lens with an 8x optical zoom to capture the entire viewable scene within a new file format. It is quick with instant capture...no shutter lag. Each picture is roughly 22 megabytes in size which would make it comparable to a RAW file captured in a high-end Digital SLR camera.

What is captured by the camera is quite different than traditional cameras today. Lytro's light-field technology creates a new, proprietary file called and LFP. Inside of this file is what Ng called "11 mega-rays" of data. Thus the camera's light-field sensor can capture more than 11,000 points of light in each picture. This data can then be processed currently on a Macintosh application to create 2D or 3D imagery, changes to the focus and outputted at an assortment of sizes.

Ng has won awards on this area of research and the Lytro company was formed with $50 million in funding to produce this camera. Ng says the camera will go on sale in early 2012 in a $399 (8 gigabyte - 350 pictures) and $499 (16 gigabyte - 750 pictures) formats.

There is a lot of unanswered questions but the demos today were impressive. There are supposedly a set of accessories like a tripod mount. There is no flash, no Windows support, no video capture, no evidence of GPS, no expandable memory and no wi-fi connectivity.

It is also unclear what the images look like at higher resolutions for print applications. Lytro keeps referring to high-def which basically refers to 1080p resolution. The demos today were outputted to TV's and Facebook at 1080x1080 resolution. The images can be shared online and even allow viewers to manipulate the pictures themselves.

While it has a long list of short-comings, the instant picture aspect is very enticing. You can preorder the camera here it you want to be the first on your block. I think I'll wait a bit.

As I am sure many of you know, Apple is suing Samsung and vice versa over a dozen patents in dispute. There is a lot of discussion as to what is and isn't a copy-cat and what intellectual properties are protected. A member of Reddit has posted a series of side by side comparisons to review the supposed similarities between Samsung's tablet product and Apple's iPad...