This is what modern holiday shopping looks like.

As much as I hate to say it, it’s time to start thinking about holiday shopping. Personally, I think the holidays have devolved into a ridiculous festival of consumerism. However, for many families, celebrating the holidays by buying gifts is an important tradition.

If you can’t afford to buy gifts for people without taking out a no fax cash advance, it might be best to explain that. Or you can consider thoughtful gestures in place of gifts. However, if throwing a little money around during the holidays makes your family or your significant other’s family happy — and you have enough money to do that — here are some ideas for big gifts that don’t cost big money.

Holiday shopping easier than ever

The good news is, you can buy just about everything on the Internet nowadays. One of the hardest parts of the holidays has always been going to stores where a lot of stressed out people fight over the last Tickle Me Elmo. Thanks to the wonder and magic of the Internet, you can avoid all of that this year. I highly recommend it.

Of course Internet shopping  means shipping, which means planning in advance. That’s why I am telling you now to get started. Take the crazy stress out of the holidays by making a list, checking it twice, and ordering all of the material crap your loved ones want over the Internet. Need some ideas? Let’s get started.

Motorola Droid, $199

You might have relatives or close friends who are on the fence about whether to switch from their five-year-old flip phone to a smartphone, even though they know they’d love one. OK, I admit, I am talking about myself. The Motorola Droid, which has gotten great reviews and runs on Verizon, which has the largest coverage area in the country, is a great gift idea.

The $199 price tag comes attached to a two-year contract, and you must redeem a mail-in rebate. If you or the gift recipient doesn’t mind a slower processor and the absense of a real keyboard, you can pick up the HTC Droid Eris for only $99. Not a bad idea if you have cash concerns.

Netbook, $299

Every time a gift-giving opportunity arises, my boyfriend mentions that he wants a laptop, and I always think “Yeah, right, when we win the lottery.” However, netbooks, the little laptops that are geared specifically toward internet use, are getting downright affordable.

Prices for netbooks have been slowly creeping downward, from $400 to $350, and for the holiday season, many are going on sale for $299. Check for offerings from HP. If $299 sounds like too much for one gift, consider getting family members to chip in for other family members.

E-reader, $259

For book lovers, e-readers are becoming the newest craze. The Amazon Kindle will retail for $259 this holiday season, as will the Barnes and Noble Nook. Of course, as with most technological devices nowadays, these gadgets do much more than display text. Check out the features on these two products to pick the one that’s right for the recipient.

For a less pricey option, the Sony Reader is only $199, but make sure saving $60 is worth it. Grilling your relatives about which features they want in their gadets might take some of the surprise out of it, but what is the point of spending that much money if you’re not getting the person exactly what they want?

Since you’re here, I can assume at least one of these things:

1. You are intrigued by the Google Operating System.
2. You need a payday loan (or payday loans) to help with a short-term budget snafu.
3. You look to Personal Money Store for news and views on finance, politics, entertainment and the generally bizarre.
4. You wish to be a member of Tarlow’s Army, a club I’m starting… right… now.

Tarlow’s Army?

More on the Army thing later. What I want to know is this: If you are a faithful Windows OS user, whether it be XP or Vista, will you automatically stick with Windows 7 after it is officially released later this year, or will you consider switching to the newly announced Google OS (aka the Chrome OS). People are making a lot of noise about Google’s latest plan to control your computing experience, and I’m curious as to whether the trip will be one I’ll want to undertake.

Open source pricing

Saul Hansell blogs for the New York Times that by the second half of 2010, netbooks on the shelves of your favorite computer store will be sporting the new Google operating system, called the Chrome OS. This will be entirely separate from the Android OS found in T-Mobile and other cell phones (and coincidentally on some netbooks). The new OS will be based upon Ubuntu Linux. And like that open source OS, the Google OS for PC will also be free.

Microsoft’s Windows 7 is far from free

Weight that with Microsoft’s Windows 7 cost of at least $45 per netbook, writes Hansell. Even if netbooks retain the older Windows XP OS (Vista is too fat to work in netbooks), that cost is still $25. The Google operating system will have it beat hands down on price.

What about performance?

According to Hansell, Chrome OS is claimed to be faster-starting, simpler and riddled with fewer security holes than Windows 7. There have been no official side-by-side tests thus far, so that could just be marketing hype. Considering that the Google operating system is based on Linux, it may not be as big a hit with the casual user as Google would like, considering that installing software or making system changes on Linux is more involved than it is with Windows or even Mac OS. Netbooks appear to be all about on-the-go convenience, and it remains to be seen if Google has tamed Ubuntu to fit in that small box.

Raring to go…

When it comes to World Wide Web access, however, Chrome OS is raring to go. Reading E-mail, writing documents and playing browser-based games are all things the average computer Joe wants to do, and this Google operating system is geared up to run.

Here’s how Google describes it

The user experience, as Google sees it, should be as follows:

People want to get to their e-mail instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.

There is a tiny little downside here: no local software. Browsers don’t yet do everything, and there are two decades of Windows applications that have been written, performing functions that can’t yet be replicated in a browser. If you want to load music onto your iPod, for example, you need a computer that runs iTunes. Web sites often require programs to run alongside the browser, like Adobe’s Acrobat viewer. Even Google writes Windows programs for its Picasa photo editing product and Google Earth 3-D mapping system.

But over time, more and more functions can be moved onto Web sites.

When will the browser-based revolution fully arrive?

Netbooks are cool, even without spokesmodels

If all the third-party software developers have anything to say about it, never. Well, that’s not right. Almost never. But let’s step back and look at the big computing picture. On convenience and software compatibility alone, a Windows 7 netbook could have the upper hand over the Linux-based Google operating system. But many Windows users are really fans of how “Windoze” works. It’s bloated, it’s insecure and it dumbs down too many features power users want. Windows 7 appears to address at least the first two of those problems, but I can’t say for certain, as I wasn’t one of the beta testers.

My choice

What I do know is that the only reason I’d buy a netbook is to have a portable Internet tool that’s more powerful than my iPhone. Considering that once the Flash for iPhone matter is fully taken care of, the browsing experience there will be rather seamless and enjoyable. If I did buy a netbook, I wouldn’t want to hassle with Linux-style installations much. If I used Linux more often, perhaps I’d be singing a different tune. Yet as it stands, I’ll go with Windows 7, even if it means I would need a payday loan or payday loans to finance the purchase.

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Decreased demand for SUVs and large trucks has had ripple effects on the auto industry, and consequentially the manufacturing industry.

Your payday loan source keeps you up to date on the nation’s economy.

Eaton Corp., an industrial parts and systems maker, announced that it is cutting 5,200 jobs. Paired with cuts last year of about 3,400, the company has cut about 10 percent of its work force.

Eaton says the cuts are due to decreased demand for its products. The manufacturing  industry as a whole took a huge hit last year. The manufacturing index hit a 28-year low.

Connecting the dots

The auto industry is in dire straights and has asked the government for a bailout as big-name companies lose profits and workers. The demand for automobiles has greatly diminished and companies lost money on SUVs and trucks when gas prices skyrocketed over the summer.

The auto industry is one of Eaton’s biggest clients, specifically trucks. As the auto industry suffers, Eaton manufacturing is taking a hit, too. The overall downfall in the manufacturing sector is related to the troubles in the auto industry as well as the housing industry.

On a local level

President Barack Obama’s home state, Illinois, ranks fourth among states in terms of manufacturing jobs. Between November 2007 and November 2008 the state lost more that 20,000 manufacturing jobs.

Industrial employment in the state dropped 2.1 percent. Nearly 1 million of the state’s residents are employed in the manufacturing industry. Some manufacturing jobs don’t pay very well, but at least employed workers have the option of getting a payday loan when times get tight.

Besting Circuit City; more changes in the job market

In the wake of electronic retail giant Circuit City announcing it will liquidate its assets and close its doors, its main competitor is undergoing a change of leadership. Best Buy Chief Executive  Brad Anderson will retire this summer, and Brian Dunn will take over his post.

Though Best Buy saw lower-than-expected profits during the holidays, the company has managed to stay healthy and viable as Circuit City went bankrupt and finally decided to go out of business. Anderson says his strategy was to focus on customer types rather than products.

The invisible hand

In the case of Circuit City and Best Buy, the recession seems to be forcing the free market into a sort of Darwinian pattern as only the strongest companies survive. Another rivalry to keep an eye on is the one going on between Apple computer company and companies making Netbooks. Netbooks are small, cheap laptops.

Apple has long been a trend setter in the electronics industry. With iPhones, iPods and iBooks, it gained a huge following of technophiles who always needed the newest thing. But those types of customers are becoming replaced with a new kind of consumer — the kind whose main goal is to save money. Netbooks, by manufacturers such as eMachines, can cost as little as $250. Apple’s least expensive notebook computer retails for $999.

Your payday loan source keeps you updated on the economy.

Since its inception, the Consumer Electronics Show has gotten bigger and more extravagant by the year. But amid the current recession, this yearly technology extravaganza is following the pattern seen in households and businesses across the nation: It’s scaling back.

How far back?

CNNMoney reports at http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/05/technology/electronics_vegas.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009010512 that the convention expects fewer manufacturers, retailers and attendees than past years. Many businesses that would have previously attended can’t afford it this year. Same goes for consumers.

The items featured will also be scaled back, size-wise. In past years companies focused on displaying the biggest “insert item here” EVER. This year, the focus will be on greener technology and devices that help consumers save on bills.

By the numbers

Attendance is expected to fall by about 11,000, and about 300 fewer exhibitors will be there compared to last year. The convention will cover 1.7 million square feet. This may sound like a huge area, but it’s significantly smaller than last year’s space.

Companies will be focused on hard numbers, too. The Consumer Electronics Association reports that more businesses are asking for meeting space, a sign that companies are looking to do business rather than just arouse interest. In the past, CES was designed to get widen eyes and get technology buffs salivating. This year, companies are looking to make the sale. If you’re one of those who took out payday loans to get a ticket to the convention, be wary of salesmen who are being pressed to make sales.

Making connections

Looking over the list of products consumers can expect to see at CES, it is easy to draw parallels to the economy. TVs will be there, all right, but instead of trying to be the biggest, companies are advertising their most energy-efficient models.

The hot-ticket item this year seems to be a little phenomenon called netbooks. Small, inexpensive laptops are seeing rising sales as the sales of regular PCs and laptops drop. Netbooks go for about $300 or $400, and their screens are usually about 10 inches. They also use minimal power, thus making them more energy efficient. They generally don’t have disc drives because their primary purpose is to connect to the Internet. Nowadays that seems to be just about all people need.

Broken record

Recession, recession, recession. You may feel like this is all you ever hear about anymore. But the shrinking economy has caused even this extremely popular show in Las Vegas, the city of excess, to shrink, too.

So maybe it’s time to start paying attention. Until recently, I didn’t think the recession really affected me personally, and I thought I would never need payday loans. But after watching my bank account shrink and my bills grow, I know it’s time for me to get some financial education.