Forget the fondue set, put away the vacation slideshow, and tell Uncle Frank to save his jokes for another time. Today is the age of interactive parties where you can push back the couch and transform your living room floor into a stage for rock concerts, quiz shows, dance challenges, and wacky team competitions. Ever your humble servant I’ve sacrificed my dignity over and over to try out all of the latest party video games, exposing national television audiences to my dancing, singing, drumming, and guitar playing abilities, including my new-found skills at playing games with my butt (thank-you CFTO News). To make sure your family get-togethers are more fun than futile, here’s my recommendations. [More]

Missing In Canada is a weekly feature where I will profile gadgets from other countries, consumer items that aren’t available here and (except for rare import shoppes) probably never will be. The Beforme combines a stethoscope with an MP3 player so that expecting mothers can record and listen to the heartbeat of their infant. It includes special software that can separate the heartbeat of the baby from the mother’s and display it as a graph on the player’s LCD display. Both the audio recording and the visual graph data can then be saved and uploaded to a PC using a USB connection or Bluetooth wireless connection. Mothers can then include it as part of an online journal or send it to others for a listen. Of course it can also play music. [More]

It's Friday and that means its time for me to lock you away inside one of the many puzzle rooms scattered across the internet. Can you escape in time to enjoy the weekend? This week its Onamis 4 which is a real stumper so I think the answer will be no, but you can find more No Escape games here. You find yourself trapped inside a power plant with many of the access areas locked by logic codes. To get through you'll need to have a piece of paper and a pen to make notes of the hints and numbers you'll find and be prepared to scan each screen for little spots to click on. The first lock, for example, is in the centre of the first screen. Good luck. [More]

Creating your own domino chain reaction is as easy as drawing a picture with Drawminos. Just drag-and-drop dominos in place, use your arrow keys to rotate them. When you're done you can hit play to see them fall and in when you're happy with your creation you can save it and send it to your friends to try. There's a set of pre-made domino sets for you to play with including one that spells out Merry Christmas. [More]

Twitter fans living here in Canada will have to give up receiving messages their feeds via SMS or text messages as the company just announced on their status blog that they can no longer cover the costs. "Unexpected changes in our billing have forced us into a difficult situation with our Canadian SMS service. We can’t afford to support this service given our current arrangement with our providers (where costs have been doubling for the past several months.) As a result, effective today we are no longer delivering outbound SMS over our Canadian shortcode (21212)." What this means is that you can still update your Twitter feed using your mobile through SMS or text messaging over 21212 (where you cover the cost), but you can't receive messages from the service (where Twitter would have to foot the bill). The statement goes on to promise that a future solution for Canada and other countries where Twitter has suffered similar problems is something they will continue to look into and believe that a solution will be found. [More]

Ideal for those with only the occasional document to destroy, Tom Ballhatchet's Hamster Shredder lets your pet hamster use his wheel to power a paper shredder feed at the top of its cage. The more the wheel turns, the more fresh bedding for the hamster. You get to maintain your privacy, your hamster gets a workout, and there's no electricity needed. No, you can't buy one, its just a concept and part of Ballhatchet's artistic exhibitions. [More]

The object of Endice is to move the dice into the spaces marked by the dotted outlines. You can move each die with your mouse the number of spaces that match the number displayed on the die's face. Some times there simply isn't enough moves, the trick is to then use one die to push another, which lets you squeeze out an extra move and allows for the game to take on a greater complexity, so much so you can expect to find yourself playing it all day. [More]

Telus has reached the point with the BlackBerry Storm that they are now comfortable enough with the way it runs on their network to start letting outsiders test the smartphone and its innovative clickable touchscreen. This does not mean that the company is any closer to announcing a release date or price, rather they are still holding to the promise that it will be out “in time for the holidays”. The Storm presents a new experience. It is its own creature with its own personality and system of nuances and tricks for switching between applications and unfolding hidden options. Regardless of what smartphone you have used before, it will take several days to adjust to the Storm’s specific way of doing things. [More]