The Kodak ESP 3250 is a good value--at just over $100, it won't break the bank, and neither will Kodak's low-cost ink refills. The ESP 3250 puts out great looking photos and decent-enough prints from documents, and while it's not super fast, it's not pokey, either. If you need a lot of extras--an automatic document feeder, a big LCD, or multiple paper feeds--look somewhere else. But for a three-in-one that performs well, I think this Kodak printer is a very good choice.

The Plustek SmartOffice PS282 is a handy and compact scanner that zips quickly through jobs and folds up so it doesn't take up a lot of space. Since it costs over $300 it competes with Fujitsu's ScanSnap line--an excellent set of scanners, which also come with the full version of Adobe Acrobat (Plustek does offer a suite of OCR and image-editing software). And the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 is cheaper as well. Bottom line? For now, Fujitsu has the edge, but Plustek does a decent job as well.

Update (11-4): As promised, the Barbie B Nails printer (the full names is Barbie Doll'd Up Nails B-Nails Digital Nail Printer) is available for purchase. Check PriceGrabber for the lowest prices (a recent check shows it about $275). Want to know what you're getting yourself into? Check out the updated video.

The CES show, where exhibits of the latest and greatest electronic gadgets are found, is also where some "do I really need this?" items are on display. Exhibit 1, the Barbie B Nails, an inkjet printer that puts custom designs on your fingernails. Or rather, I hope, on your kids' fingernails. It's quick (three seconds) and looks painless, although that depends on whether you'd consider it painful to have the Barbie logo on your fingernail. No word yet on price though this post (and video) from Gadget Review estimates it about $200, available later this year, in time for Christmas. Lucky you!

As M. David Stone rightly notes in his PC World article, "How Printers and Scanners Get GreenTech Approved, "Anything that chews through stacks of paper as its primary job description has to work pretty hard to qualify as green." Still, PC World has bestowed its "GreenTech" seal on a handful of printers; criteria include how well they minimize waste, their packaging and recycling efforts, and the manufacturer's commitment to energy issues. Winners include the HP Officejet Pro 8500.

One reader wrote looking for advice on scanning "several thousand photos." The scanner needs to be Mac friendly and optimized for photo scanning. Given that there are so many to scan, it might help to have an automatic document feeder, though I've never used an ADF to scan photos and am not even sure if you can do it. The Epson Perfection V500 has an optional ADF for an additional $199 (note: that link goes to a review of the V600, a similar scanner but with no optional ADF available). Anyone have any experience scanning a lot of photos using a photo scanner with an ADF? Let us know!

If you're planning on upgrading to Windows 7 soon, keep in mind that you'll need to upgrade your printer and scanner drivers as well. And that's not always easy to do, since those drivers may not exist yet --and may not be around for a while. That's according to Martin Heller of InfoWorld, in Windows 7's Spotty Driver Support. Heller checked for a Windows 7 driver for his HP Officejet Pro L7590 all-in-one and, while there is an entry for it on HP's download site, there's no actual driver for either the 32- or 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Instead, there's a "basic driver" workaround, that does allow basic printing, though HP warns that "some of the advanced product features are not available. " So before you upgrade, go to the Web site for any of your peripherals and make sure you'll still be able to use them in the way you need to.

Update (11-3-09): Jeremy Kirk of ComputerWorld writes that HP expects many drivers to be released soon. HP's Web site (check the tab at the top left for different HP printer and scanner lines) notes, somewhat alarmingly, that "If your legacy product is not listed, no support is offered for Windows 7."

Compact photo printers are getting ever-more compact and portable. Canon's new Selphy looks like a green beach bucket, but now compact photo printers are a bit more charming, thanks to Epson's PictureMate Charm. It can print borderless 4x6 photos in about 37 seconds (Epson says), with photos coming out smudge-, fade-, and water-resistant. Its compactness means a small LCD screen (2.5 inches compared to the larger 3.6 inch screens on the Charm's bigger brothers), but that's the price of super portability. Add on the optional battery, Bluetooth adapter, and carrying case for true portability. Retail price is about $150--but check here for the best prices. And come back soon for a full review.

There are a few ways out there to print only the part of a Web page that you want printed (thus avoiding the waste of paper and the aggravation of not getting the part you want on the printed page); but The Printliminator is the best and easiest way I've seen so far. Simply drag the tiny application into your Bookmarks (I tried it on Firefox and it took about two seconds); then, when you click on that bookmark, you'll get a handy four-panel icon on the screen that will enable you to remove all graphics or whatever elements you don't want to come out on the page. It's that simple. If you print from the Web a lot, try it out--and let us know how you liked it.

If you absolutely need to print something when you're on the go, and having a decent print is not important, then you're going to like the Printstik PS905 portable printer. Once it's set up, it can print directly from a phone or other device using Bluetooth, it's battery powered so you can use it anywhere, and it's small enough to fit inside a briefcase. But be prepared to have your prints come out looking like they were printed off an old fax machine.

If you're planning on printing your own Halloween cards (and you should), why not add some cool dripping-blood fonts (and there are some good gargoyle fonts here as well)? Got a party going on the 31st? Then you'll need to take a look at these awesome Halloween craft project materials. It's all from About.com Guide to Desktop Publishing Jacci Bear. Enjoy!