Apple iPod Touch – $229-$399

“The funnest iPod ever”—a slogan that, had I heard it before making my decision, might have convinced me not to buy one. Having most of the features of the iPhone, including the accelerometer that allows the Touch to register simple movement, the most popular MP3 player is more like a PDA that happens to play music better than it does anything else. Three different models of the 2nd Generation iPod Touch are currently available, from 8 GB (the most popular) to 32 GB (which falls somewhat below the iPod Nano).

Apple iPod Classic – $249

The iPod Classic has a few intriguing features—Genius playlists and Cover Flow presentation, most notably—but its real selling point is its capacity. At 120 GB, the 6th generation of iPod Classic is a digital music player for users who think more is more and the most is even better. In fact, given no options with more memory, users have only one choice to make when purchasing an iPod Classic—black or silver.

Apple iPod Nano – $149 or $199

For those users who can’t stand having some great lump of technological wizardry bulging from their pockets, the iPod Nano is a popular compromise. Already possessing all of the features of the iPod Classic in a smaller package with less memory, the 4th generation iPod Nano also has an accelerometer that, as with the Touch, allows users to view their music collection or videos using the screen in either portrait or landscape mode. The iPod Nano comes in nine different colors, the most popular being black and blue, and two different sizes—8 GB or 16 GB.

SanDisk Sansa Fuze – $79.99-$119.99

See? I told you there’d be a non-Apple product eventually.

SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze may owe its popularity to its price—it is, after all, the cheapest MP3 player on the list that also plays videos. The Fuze has a few other features that make it stand out, though. It comes with a 30-day trial subscription to Rhapsody which, unlike Apple’s iTunes Store, doesn’t require users to pay per track. It also has a built-in microphone, a feature that even the vaunted iPod Touch doesn’t have. The Sansa Fuze can be purchased in 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB and five different colors.

Apple iPod Shuffle – $49-79

Much controversy surrounds the 3rd generation of the smallest iPod, which could see it lose its place to the Sansa Clip once stores run out of the 2nd generation model. The first and second generation Shuffles cater to users who want to fiddle with their music as little as possible—going so far as to lack a screen with which to navigate your music selection. The third generation takes the minimalist approach one step further and offers no controls on the device itself. Instead, Shuffle owners must use a remote included as part of the headphones that come with the shuffle. This has the unfortunate effect of requiring users to purchase new Apple headphones should the included pair ever become lost or broken. While the 2nd generation Shuffle came in a plethora of colors and a couple of different memory sizes, the 4th generation is only available in 4 GB and in two different colors—black or silver.

If you’ve seen the movie Hackers (1995), you may remember that it used to be plausible that the most popular password was, simply, “god.” Try to set a password like that nowadays and see how far it gets you. So what are the world’s most popular passwords in this security conscious day and age? A number of lists have been made.

We’ll start off with a list published by the University of Maryland in early 2007. According to the university’s Michel Cukier, these are the most popular passwords—if you’re a hacker. The following list of passwords are the most commonly-guessed passwords used by hackers to gain access where they’re not allowed.

1. [username]
2. [username]123
3. 123456
4. password
5. 1234
6. 12345
7. passwd
8. 123
9. Test
10. 1

The following list was generated by PC Magazine in 2007. Supposedly, these are the most popular passwords on the internet today. Luckily, according to security expert Bruce Schneier, these passwords are used by a small number of users—only 0.22%, in fact. Apparently, it doesn’t take much to be one of the most popular passwords.

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182
10. [user’s first name]

If you happen to be using one of the world’s most popular passwords, you may want to think again. This is one area where popularity hurts.

Cell phones are purchases that many people spend a lot of time researching and thinking about before shelling out the cash and having to use a phone for an extended period of time. The best phone for you may not be the best selling mobile. Wirefly which has a website for comparison shopping for mobile phones and cell phone wireless plans recently published a list of the most popular phones in highest demand. Many are not shocked that the best selling phones were Motorola’s RAZR designs.

Wirefly’s List of Most Popular Cell Phones of 2006:

1. Cingular Wireless RAZR by Motorola (in various colors)
2. T-Mobile RAZR (in various colors)
3. Verizon Wireless RAZR (in various colors)
4. Cingular Sony Ericsson z520a/z525a video phones
5. T-Mobile Motorola v360
6. Verizon Wireless Motorola v276
7. Sprint Nextel Motorola i850
8. Sprint Nextel Motorola i710
9. Cingular Motorola v220
10. T-Mobile Samsung T309

If you are are a hardcore gamer and have to play games on your cell phone, then the MobileRated Gamers choice list of most popular mobile phones may help you decide your next mobile purchase.

The MobileRated Gamers Choice Top 10 Most Popular Mobile Phones of 2006:

1. SonyEricsson W810i (3.35%)
2. RIM BlackBerry 8100 Pearl (2.72%)
3. SonyEricsson K750i (2.60%)
4. Nokia 6600 (2.59%)
5. Motorola RAZR V3 (2.49%)
6. SonyEricsson K800i (2.30%)
7. Nokia N70 (2.19%)
8. Nokia N73 (1.99%)
9. SonyEricsson W300i (1.95%)
10. Nokia 6620 (1.92%)

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Currently in the lead is Cingular Wireless, with slightly over 57 million subscribers and a steadily decreasing ‘churn’, which is an industry term referring to the amount of customers canceling their service each month. Cingular Wireless was formed in 2001 as a merger between SBC Communications and BellSouth, and then another merger in 2004 when Cingular bought AT&T Wireless for $41 billion dollars, pushing them into the number one spot as most popular cell phone carrier in the US.

In 2006 Cingular aggressively advertised a claim that they had the fewest dropped calls of any carrier – however the market research company that they used as a source, Telephia, later denied that the claims Cingular were accurate. Slightly behind Cingular in subscriber numbers, with slightly under 57 million subscribers, is Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless was formed in 2000 by a $90 billion dollar merger between Vodafone AirTouch and Bell Atlantic Corp. Shortly thereafter the assets of GTE Wireless were added to Verizon Wireless’s business, making them at the time the most popular cell phone carrier. In 2004 Cingular lost their number one position in subscriber numbers when Cingular merged with AT&T Wireless.

Third place in the US cell phone provider market is Sprint Nextel Corporation. Sprint runs a CDMA cellular network, as does Verizon Wireless, in contrast to Cingular’s GSM network. They have approximately 52 million subscribers currently. Sprint Nextel was formed in 2005 by the No. 3 and No. 5 leading cell phone providers in the US, Sprint and NEXTEL. Sprint Nextel offers cell phone service under two brands, Sprint PCS and Nextel, as well as offers wholesale access to its PCS wireless network to companies including 9278 Mobile, Virgin Mobile, EarthLink Wireless, BeyondMobile, Working Assets, Telispire, Excel Wireless, STI Mobile, Liberty Wireless, Powernet Global, PlatinumTel, ConnexOne, Disney Mobile, Movida Wireless, Helio, Primus Wireless, Voce, Jitterbug Wireless, Humane Wireless and Qwest.

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