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Plastic doesn't stand still. Creative people continue to push payment cards in new directions, from allowing use of a prepaid card for medical marijuana purchases to accepting credit card payments on your iPhone. We've got these and other wacky, wonderful innovations and gadgets below.

When traveling, whether for business or leisure, it’s always important to gather the gadgets you’ll need for your trip. Some are essential, some are fun, but forgetting any of them can make for an unpleasant trip. For the sake of being obvious, we’ll assume that you don’t forget your laptop or cell phone. Here are some of the less-obvious gadgets that you may want to consider when traveling:

It’s Halloween and, as such, here’s a handful of gadgets to get you started in the exciting world of ghost hunting, plus a couple of tips and tricks. Enjoy…

2008 ushered in some great new gadgets and some welcome improvements to some items already on the market. Using two simple criteria -- did it work as advertised, and did it make life better? -- Eric Benderoff gives us his 10 favorite gadget picks of the year.

When I first began using Windows Vista, I dismissed the Sidebar as a gimmick. It didn’t help that the default gadgets Microsoft offered were of limited utility and that some early gadgets caused performance problems.

Over time, though, I’ve become a Sidebar convert. I haven’t encountered a performance problem with a Vista gadget since SP1 was released. More importantly, the selection of third-party gadgets has grown tremendously, and there are now plenty of good business-focused tools to choose from.