Paris Treat Dec. 25: Edible Christmas ornaments

I recently tested the Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S, which debuted this fall for $96. The camera may be a good substitute for people who thought that instant film was dead. (Polaroid film disappeared from store shelves earlier this year after production ended.) The new camera's instant film is sold in a twin pack, with 20 photos costing $20. The images are smaller than Polaroids, too: Each print is about the size of a credit card. While testing the camera on a recent trip to San Francisco, I found that the price of the film forced me to be more selective about my photography. Rather than shooting off 10 frames of the same thing, I was aware that each click was essentially a buck. Even though I was sparing with my landscape shots, it turns out the Fujifilm Instax Mini was a crowd-pleaser. My 8-year-old niece and 3-year-old nephew were completely enthralled by the magic of watching instant film appear. (Obviously, they're too young to remember Polaroid). They ended up collecting the snapshots like baseball cards. With the holidays just around the corner, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S could be just the unexpected gift for kids. Weighing just over half a pound, this camera feels slightly heavier and bulkier than a typical digital point-and-shoot. But it's still kid-friendly. The device is also great for using at a party, so that everyone gets to see the progress of the revelry as the hours go on. As for the photo enthusiasts who mourned the end of Polaroid film, take heart: limited-edition Polaroid instant cameras may be available in mid-2010 through the Impossible Project, which promotes the use of instant film. There's also talk that Polaroid cameras are poised to make a wider comeback. Learn more at fujifilmusa.com/mini. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Our blog coverage of travel gear

I've spent a couple of weeks testing Apple's wireless Magic Mouse ($69, apple.com), and I never want to go back to using a regular computer mouse. Imagine an iPhone-like touch screen grafted to the surface of a mouse. That essentially describes the Magic Mouse. Gesture with your fingers in short swipes and flicks along the mouse's surface, and you'll guide your cursor around the screen. The major catch: It only works with Macs— specifically, only with Macs running the latest versions of Apple's operating system. The minor flaw: Battery life isn't as long as might be hoped. In my use, battery energy level was depleted by 25 percent after the first 100 hours of use. The travel perks… • This mouse works fine on any flat or semi-flat surface. No mouse pad is needed, whether you're using a countertop in a diner or a tray table on an Amtrak train. • If you're a lefty, no problem. The Magic Mouse is ambidextrous. • You'll no longer face the frustration of trying to use a tiny laptop touchpad to surf the Web while on the road. Move a finger in circle along the surface of the mouse, and you'll pan 360 degrees through an online map. Run a finger down the center of the mouse to scroll a webpage. The mouse is considerably more precise than a touchpad so playing video games while you're in your hotel room is now a much more compelling activity. Flicking gestures make it easy to edit photos while traveling, too. • Each Magic Mouse runs on a pair of standard AA batteries, which are easy to replace while on the road and won't drain your laptop's juice (as USB-tethered mouses do). [Magic Mouse info page] MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Which new netbook is right for you?

Updated this summer with powerful new features, Evernote's free mobile application lets you record memories while you're on the go, using your iPhone, Blackberry, or Palm Pre. Jot down a funny anecdote or a bit of historical trivia using your device's keyboard. Or just speak the message, using the built-in voice-recording software. The app will synch up all of your info—and any photos—with a Web service that makes them accessible from your home or office computer. The niftiest trick? Evernote can recognize text that appears in photos you take. There are lots of surprising travel uses for this text-recognition feature. Let's say you check out a hip new restaurant like The Breslin in New York City. And let's also say that you may have knocked back a couple glasses of wine during your meal. In hindsight, you may be a little fuzzy about which ingredient made the house smoked ham so delicious. Now let's say you anticipated this problem by taking a photo of the menu. Evernote lets you search for keywords, such as the restaurant's name or a word like "ham." Then it fetches the image of the relevant menu. (A-ha! The ingredient was piccalilli!) A month passes. You're standing in the aisles of the wine store and you wish you could remember the name of the great wine you sampled at The Breslin. Whip out your smartphone, search on the words "wine" (or "pinot," etc.), and the image of the menu with the exact details of the wine will appear. What if you tend to take photos of lots of churches when your on a trip, but when you come home, you can remember which one is which. Easy! Take an additional photo of the name of the church as it's written on a sign or a paper bulletin while you're there. Then, when you come home. Search on "church" on Evernote, and all of the churches next to their relevant names will appear. Tag your notes by trip name, or search for them by date or the geographic location where you recorded them. Organizing your happy memories just got a lot simpler. But nothing's perfect, of course The app can be slow to use on AT&Ts; service. So I would use it selectively when wireless service is intermittent. Free, download from Evernote's site. EARLIER iPhone: Priceline's new app is best for last-minute hotel bids Travel tech tools: binoculars, headphones, watches, cameras: Save vs. Splurge 15 Essential Digital Apps Smart Travelers Must Know

It's only been available for a day, but Priceline's new Hotel Negotiator app for the iPhone and the iTouch is already one of the top 5 free travel apps on iTunes. No wonder it's popular. This app finally makes it practical to bid on a room at the 11th-hour through Priceline's famous blind-booking system. Say you've spontaneously decided you're going to need a hotel for tonight. But you don't want to spend more than 10 minutes getting a deal. Priceline's app will help you make a quick, smart bid. It tells you the average successful bid by other Priceline users—who've generally had more time on their hands to craft their bids—think is the lowest possible bargain for your preferred type of hotel in the neighborhood you're visiting. A tip: Lowball your bid, meaning, pick a lower bid than the one the Hotel Negotiator app tells you is average. After all, you're booking at the last-minute, and hotel rooms are a "perishable" good. The hotel owner may be aching to sell the room at a discount as the clock ticks down because his room will go vacant otherwise. (The exception, of course, is if there's a big convention or sporting event going on in town.) Here's how the app works: Shake your iPhone or iTouch, and the average recent winning hotel bid in the neighborhood where you're standing will be displayed. Specifically, you'll see the median successful bid made by other Priceline customers in the previous month in the class of hotel (such as four-star) that you've selected. Enter a bid above or below that average bid, and then find out if your offer is accepted. Bid on a room up until 11 p.m. ET of the night you need it. Up until now, few vacationers who've found themselves needing a hotel on short notice have had their notebook PC and a WiFi connection readilyy at hand—and have also happened to have the time to make a smart bid via Priceline (which takes some research and, often, multiple bids). This app speeds things up, letting you make a bid that will get you a great deal quickly. As usual, you don't know for sure which hotel you'll stay at, and the less you offer the less likely that your offer will be accepted. But if you offer too little for a room and are rejected, you can make another pretty quickly. Jf you're out of time, you can buy a hotel using Pricline's traditional hotel listings, where the name and full details are shown and you pay the standard retail room rate. Of course, this app is also good for booking a room months out, too. But using a regular computer instead of a smartphone might still be easier for such a purchase. Download Priceline's new Hotel Negotiator app for free. If nothing else, it's fun to watch. On the opening screen, spokesman William Shatner "breaks through" your device's screen. If you give it a try, let us know if you think it's worthwhile or have any discovered any tricks to maxing it out. EARLIER Think You Know Priceline? iPhone: Top Language Translation Apps Travel: "There's an App for That?"