Electronics are again at the top of a lot of gift lists for the coming holiday season, according to the results of a Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll released this week.

Here, are the five hottest electronics gifts, listed in order of respondents’ intentions to give them. I’ve added some reasons why they’re hot at the moment and, for some, details on the kind of people who are buying them:

• Video games and accessories. Planned as gifts by 28 percent of respondents. In a year where many people plan to cut back, as other survey data underlines, these are gifts that cost a lot less than most hardware. Nearly half of households with kids under 12 are planning such purchases, but so are nearly a quarter of homes with no such youngsters—underlining that games and extra Wii nunchucks aren’t just being bought for kids anymore. It helps that some of the hottest game titles of the year appeal equally to young and old players—notably Beatles Rock Band.

• Video-game consoles. Planned as gifts by 14 percent of respondents, including 25 percent of homes with kids under 12. With no new versions of consoles out this year, and the economy softening, prices have dropped for most brands. Also, after two seasons in which getting a Nintendo Wii consoles required military-level planning, the promise of its wider availability may be prompting some Wii holdouts to plan a purchase. (See our video buying guide for game consoles.)

• MP3 players, including iPods. Planned as gifts by 13 percent of respondents. A dying category, by some accounts, given rising sales of cell phones with music players, notably a certain Apple smart phone. But adding interest here is Apple’s new version of the Nano, which adds a decent camcorder and FM radio to a device that’s little bigger than a cigarette lighter. (See our MP3 player & iPod Buying Guide.)

• Laptop or netbook. Planned as gifts by 11 percent of respondents. The arrival of the new Windows 7 operating system is helping boost interest in PCs, as are dropping prices. Low price is the likely reason for pint-sized netbooks gaining traction, too. (See our Computer Buying Guide.)

• Video cameras. Planned as gifts by 11 percent of respondents. Ever-tinier price tags for ever-tinier cameras probably help explain cameras’ popularity as gifts. An insatiable appetite for images from social networkers is likely also a factor, as people seek cameras to keep their Facebook page and the like supplied with fresh photos. (See our Camcorder Buying Guide.)

Surprised that flat-panel TVs and Blu-ray players, though seemingly hot, aren’t high on the holiday gift list? The reason, I suspect, is that those who plan to buy them this holiday season are likely doing so for themselves, or for the household. Your thoughts?—Paul Reynolds

If you’ve been eagerly anticipating the three-day Black Friday shopping period to get a great deal on a new Blu-ray player, you may not have to wait: Best Buy is now selling a BD-Live model with access to streaming movies from Netflix for just $99.99.

The player, NS-BRDVD3, is the same one we wrote about recently when it was priced at $180. Apparently the everyday price is now $150, but the model is currently on sale for $100.

Though we haven’t tested this specific player, we do have another Insignia model in our labs that has excellent HD picture quality. It didn’t do as well with standard DVDs, however.

The real question is whether prices will fall below $100 during the Black Friday holiday shopping spree. Based on the first major Black Friday ad we’ve seen, from Sears, the answer is no. Sears will reportedly have special $150 price tags on two Blu-ray players: Samsung’s BD-P1600, and Sony’s BDP-S360. Both are BD-Live-ready models, which require optional memory for the BD-Live feature to work, that currently sell for about $200.

We’ll continue monitoring Black Friday websites such as BlackFridayInfo and GottaDeal to see what new entry-level Blu-ray price points emerge as we get closer to Thanksgiving. And look for similar blogs on other CE products, such as TVs. —James K. Willcox

Whether you’re photographing a World Series game at Yankee Stadium, as I did last night, or your child’s soccer match, capturing sharp images while freezing the action in a sporting event poses two special challenges: You’re typically far from the action and your subjects are usually moving quickly and unpredictably.

The only practical way to conquer the distance problem is to use a powerful telephoto zoom lens. Unless it’s a very pricey one, though, extending a telephoto lens to its maximum length can introduce yet another problem, a significant reduction in the light that reaches your camera’s sensor.

Too avoid an overly dark picture, you need to either use a relatively slow shutter speed (which would cause moving subjects to appear blurred) or crank up the camera’s ISO setting to increase light sensitivity. The latter can easily introduce graininess into an image, as we’ve found with many of the point-and-shoot cameras in our Ratings (available to subscribers).

If your camera has the necessary features, as virtually all SLRs and some point-and-shoots do, there are a couple of ways to cope with the unpredictability of your subjects’ movements: Set the camera’s autofocus to “continuous,” which automatically maintains focus on a moving subject, and shoot using “burst mode,” which takes several shots per second, increasing your chances of capturing just the right image. (The icon for burst mode is usually three overlapping rectangles).

Here’s how I shot this image of Phillies’ outfielder Shane Victorino striking the ball in game 1 of the World Series between the Phillies and Yankees, from a distance of roughly 330 feet: I used a Nikon D300 SLR, which our SLR Ratings indicate can capture quality images suitable for enlargement at ISO settings up to 3200. I also used a Nikon 70-200mm. telephoto zoom, which has a maximum aperture of f/2.8 when set to 200mm. To get even closer to the action, I also used a Nikon 1.7x teleconverter which, allowing for the D300’s crop factor, gave me the capability of a 510mm. lens on a film camera, with a maximum aperture of f/4.8.

When shooting, I set the lens to its maximum focal length and aperture and the D300’s ISO to 3200, autofocus to continuous, and burst mode to its maximum setting (6 frames per second). Based on some previous test shots, I determined that a shutter speed of 1/1250 of a second would freeze subject motion without unduly darkening the image.

When the pitcher began his delivery, I pressed and held the shutter, following the ball until it reached the batter. The image shown is the only one of the sequence that shows the ball and bat together. Without burst mode, it’s unlikely that I would have been able to accurately time such a shot.

Have you taken a great shot at a sporting event? If so, share your technique by describing it below. —Jeff Fox

Carved your pumpkin yet? If not, here's some inspiration in the form of a time lapse video, an amalgam of sequential images condensing a longer period of time into a few minutes—in this case, the time it takes to play one verse of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

You can make one yourself, MacGyver-like, with a digital SLR camera and a graphing calculator. Darren Rouse at Digital Photography School has posted a tutorial explaining how:

[Tutorial courtesy of Chris Martino]

1) Set-up your shot. Use a tripod or sturdy location to place your camera. I put mine in front of the TV in the entertainment center.

2) Take a test shot. Take a test shot of the area to calculate your exposure and to set the focus. I knew I wanted about a 2 second exposure, so I took my test shot in Shutter Priority mode.

3) Adjust the camera settings. Switch the camera into manual mode. Use your test shots exposure information to set the aperture. Set the shutter speed to what you used in step 2. Turn off auto white balance. Set it to a preset or custom. Basically make sure any auto features are not on auto, otherwise you’ll get a nasty flickering (like I did).

4) Take another test shot. Only do this if you have easy access to the viewfinder, and use a remote to avoid camera shake. This shot is just to make sure the images are properly exposed using the manual settings.

5) Setup your intervalometer. I used a TI-83 calculator as my intervalometer. See the links below for the instructable. I set mine to fire in 10,000 TI-83 cycles, which worked out to be around every 26 seconds. [Here's the aforementioned link: "Turn a TI Graphing Calculator into an Intervalometer."]

6) Hook em up together. Hook up your calculator (or intervalometer) to your camera and press start.

7) Wait. For me, waiting wasn’t that bad since I was playing Mario Kart. But doing a nature time lapse will require a significant time commitment. For my example the time was just about 3 hours.

Compile the video. After the sequence is done and you’ve downloaded your images its time to make the video. I used QuickTime Pro as it was the easiest method and gave me the best results. I tried a few free applications, which worked, but I liked the flexibility QT Pro gave me. In QT Pro simply go to “File -> Open Image Sequence…” and then chose the first picture. Be sure to set your Frame Rate at something between 10 and 30. I used 15 for mine. If your files are numbered sequentially QT will be able to figure out which pictures to add. From there you can “File -> Save As…” a QuickTime .MOV or you can “File -> Export” to a number of different formats. If your video is long enough you can add music and the like. See the links for some sites to get free creative commons licensed music.

9) Post your video. I put mine on Flickr, but you can put yours on YouTube or any other video sharing site.

10) Enjoy.

If you've got a little technical know-how, this could be a nifty holiday project to show the relatives—you could demonstrate anything from carving the Thanksgiving turkey to decorating the Christmas tree.

And if you're thinking of buying an SLR, be sure to see our recent post, "4 steps to buying a digital SLR camera." —Nick K. Mandle

The Motorola Droid, the spunky phone Verizon recently introduced as the anti-iPhone in a barrage of clever commercials, is now in our hands as a press sample. My initial impression? The Droid lives up to its promise as one of the more capable and interesting phones of a busy fall season.

Available from Verizon on November 6 for $199, the Droid has attracted attention initially for being the first phone to offer the “free” beta version of Google Maps Navigation, which provides spoken turn-by-turn directions and other features previously available on phone only at extra cost.

Our Cars blog will be taking a closer look at Google Maps Navigation on the Droid later this week. Meantime, here are other highlights of the phone:

“Raw” implementation of the Android operating system. The Droid employs the latest, 2.0 version of Google’s Android operating system in a different manner than many other Android phones we’ve seen. Phones such as the Motorola Cliq have fine interfaces that sit over Android, and enhance its features and functionality. Droid does Android “raw,” without such customization. It doesn’t suffer for it, however. Instead, the Droid brings out the OS’s capability for personalization via the addition of widgets and other tools.

Full access to Android’s app store. In a surprising but welcome touch, about the only Verizon app you’ll find on the Droid is Visual Voicemail, a $3-per-month service that lets you “view” and forward voice mails. Verizon relinquished its customary tight grip on phone functionality by giving Droid users full access to Android Market, Google’s app store, which features some 10,000 free and paid apps. For example, you can use widgets to passively monitor power consumption, stay updated on Facebook or the weather, and other services.

It’s thin. Measuring 2.36 in. x 4.56 in. x 0.54, the slick-looking Droid is one of the thinnest slider-style phones with QWERTY keyboard we’ve ever seen.

It’s fast. Several of the latest smart phones, including the Samsung Moment, boast speedy processors. But, to me, the Droid seems noticeably faster than them all, both when switching apps and when downloading Web pages—provided there’s a strong 3G or Wi-Fi signal, of course. It also responds quickly if you need to abort a mistake, such as launching the wrong application.

Big, bright display. At 3.7-inches, the high-resolution LED touchscreen outsizes the the iPhone’s 3.5-incher. It appeared sharp and bright indoors and out, even when it was sitting in the sun. A built-in sensor automatically adjusts brightness for different conditions.

Nice navigation. Touch-sensitive symbols for Back, Menu, Home, and Search handle most of the operations. The touch-screen display is not multi-touch (like the iPhone’s), so it can’t interpret gestures. But I found it quite responsive. You can move about a Web page or document by dragging your finger along the screen. A double-tap and you can zoom in and out, thanks to Android 2.0. Slide open the keyboard and you’ll find a 4-way toggle/OK button, which comes in handy when you’re trying to maneuver the cursor to a specific word or Web link. But I found it a bit too easy to accidentally launch the touch-sensitive Search Key when I held the phone in my right hand.

Interesting interface. The Droid allows you to view all of your e-mails from different accounts (except Gmail) under one view. To keep them properly sorted, each account is assigned a distinct color, which appears a little bar to the left of each message. You can also do the same for multiple text-message accounts, if you have them.

Serious searches. The Droid’s search feature works pretty much like the ones on some other smart phones, such at the iPhone and Palm Pre. Just start typing a term and Droid scours you contacts, music, and documents for that term before it moves on to the Web, where it also considers your GPS location. You can also perform these searches by voice, which, thanks to Android 2.0, works quite well. But it doesn’t search your calendars, as does the iPhone.

Fine keyboard. The real QWERTY keyboard is responsive, well-spaced, and backlit for dark environments. The virtual keyboard was responsive, too, if a bit squished when the phone is in the vertical position. The wider version you get by tilting the phone on its side is better, but the virtual keyboard disappears when you turn the phone on its side to switch from narrow mode to wide—a mild annoyance. (You can bring it back by tapping a text field.) There’s no vibration feedback in either virtual mode; it’s available only for the soft keys on the bottom of the phone (Back, Menu, Home, and Search) and for some app operations.

Cool camera. The 5-megapixel camera comes well equipped, with auto-focus and auto-flash. You can launch the camera by pressing a button on the right side of the phone, or tapping the camera icon on the phone's desktop. Tapping the menu button after snapping a photo summons action buttons to share the image via Facebook, e-mail, SMS, Picasa, or Bluetooth data. It’s easy to toggle between still images and video, which you can record in true 16×9 format. The Droid seemed sluggish when taking next shots, but that’s typical of many camera phones.

Decent phone controls. The large virtual keys make dialing easy, and a proximity sensor disables virtual keypad when you bring the phone to your face; reactivates it when you pull it away. But, as with the iPhone, getting to the phone requires pressing a virtual button on the phone’s desktop.

We’ll have more details on the Droid as we test it more fully in our labs. In the meantime, check out our smart-phone Ratings, available to subscribers, for some other interesting phones. —Mike Gikas