CrunchGear this Week

The strange days of post-thanksgiving excess and crushed consumers are over. Of course, that means that the pre-holiday rush has begun, and CG’s holiday recommendations are coming fast and furious. But there’s been some controversy: old man Dvorak trashed the OLPC, our own Peter Ha alleged that the PS3 “stinks,” , and also that Leopard should die, causing an influx of fanboys to leave their folky brand of wisdom in the comments, and Mr. Biggs stirred up the PR kids when he suggested a little truth on their part. On the tech side, some small towns in the UK are demanding to be removed from GPS maps, and we found that the Pleo robo-saurus is actually pretty fun, not to mention cheaper than an Aibo. If you’re looking for gadgets, keep an eye out for the 32GB Creative Zen — it’s cheap, spacious, and pretty good-looking too. In phones there was an outpouring of information from Blackberry users here, so if you have or want tips, drop by. Doug also found this cool Linux phone for under three bills. Keep an eye out for more CG recommendations if you’re trying to think of gifts for your geek.