Take this 3-ounce videocam everywhere, and never miss a shot again.

Criticizing the Mino is easy on paper. The video quality isn’t any better than what your point-and-shoot digital camera can do. It doesn’t look (or feel) like a “real” camera. It doesn’t take standard batteries. But the truth is, none of those things matter once you actually use one.

Check out the full review after the jump

Now playing: Net flicks, sans DVDs

Despite the bold promise of Internet video, the reality is that your couch is much more comfortable than your computer desk. But there’s that old “last mile” problem—how to get the movies and other video content from the Net to your TV. Netflix has offered video streaming for well over a year, but the MPAA’s insistence on DRM-protecting the content delivered to paying customers, and Apple’s refusal to license its Mac DRM solution (while scofflaws continue to download things for free) has kept Mac users shut out. Roku has mostly solved both of these problems, with its new Netflix Player, a set-top box that brings Netflix’s streaming content directly to your TV.

All The World’s A Screen

If you create screencasts or software training tutorials, you’ve probably been using Ambrosia Software’s Snapz Pro, which has been the go-to product for this specialized task for many years. Well, there’s a new kid in town, and it’s fair to say that Vara Software’s ScreenFlow offers some significant advantages over Snapz Pro, to the extent that it’s in a category all by itself.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm

Your Mac is already great at Web surfing, but the ATI TV Wonder HD 650 lets it surf TV channels too. If you have a fast system, the USB TV tuner feeds fluid broadcasts from analog and digital over-the-air channels, cable TV, or another source. The device even buffers live TV and saves shows like a standalone digital video recorder. But even with a high-end computer, the included software sometimes disappoints—and it has a confusing interface. Plus, the tuner can bog down a midrange Mac, slowing down all other apps in order to keep the video smooth.

One-Trick Pony Gets Analog Video Onto a Mac

Computers can’t understand the analog waves that make up old VHS tapes and pre-DV camcorder videos. These curvy patterns contradict the binary world of “off” or “on,” so you need to digitize those sources before your Mac can “see” the picture. Pinnacle’s Video Capture for Mac is a fin-shaped box that handles this job—and little else. Plug in an analog video source, and the unit translates it into a 640-x-480-pixel MPEG-4 file your Mac can recognize. It works, but armchair archivists will immediately wish it had a few more features beyond its single trick.

The brains behind your TV tuner

Digital video recorders that connect to a TV rely on a hardware-and-software combination to capture and play shows—Mac DVR solutions are no different. Tuner hardware turns airborne signals or a cable feed into something the computer understands, but it’s the software that drives the user experience. Elgato’s EyeTV 3 app is designed to work with any of the company’s TV tuners, but it also supports hardware from a dozen companies, including some that only offer PC devices. The application presents the video window, allows browsing through a channel guide, lets you make basic edits to recorded shows, and more. While its interface could be improved, most of its functionality is intuitive, wringing every last feature out of your TV tuner hardware.

Powerful but POKY video compressor

Sorenson Media’s Squeeze compresses video into file sizes aimed for the Internet, digital media devices, or DVD, and in formats such as QuickTime, Flash Video, and Windows Media. Essentially, there’s no flavor of video it can’t create.

Our level 10 knight battles a level 11 troll to become Lord of the Swamp.

Practically everyone has played a board or two of Bejeweled, the match-three puzzle classic that sucks casual gamers in on Macs, PCs, consoles, iPods, and mobile phones. Puzzle Quest starts with the same gameplay, but adds strategy and RPG elements to keep things interesting.