Sure, the merchant you're buying that big LCD-screen television seems to be doing fine despite the economic downturn, but should you bet a great deal of money that it will still be around in a few years? Like CompUSA? That's what your doing if you buy an extended warranty, and last season 37% of those purchasing major appliances and electronics did, according to Consumer Reports. Store love it; they get to keep 50% or more of the premium, a much better margin than on the item itself.

Even the Consumer Electronics Association expects fewer of you to buy this option in 2008, and not just because you fear the company will go belly-up. Modern electronics are considerably more reliable, so many of us don't perceive a significant risk. The buying public is also showing a growing awareness that extended warranties are a bad bet; you're betting that the item will fail, while the seller is betting it won't. You're also betting that the cost of fixing the problem will be more than your warranty premium.

Face it: the company wouldn't sell the warranty unless the odds against catastrophic failure weren't in its favor.

This year, shoppers also needs to consider the dire outlook for companies such as Circuit City. If it goes down, will those warranties be honored? And while some companies sell programs that are actually run by a third party, this only muddies they question of whether or not it will be honored if the company goes under, or if the warranty provider goes bust. If it does, that warranty could be worth only the recycling value of the paper it's written on.

I've lost two cellphones to water, one from a washing machine, one from a wave. I gave up on having more nifty gadgets on my phone so I could get one of the rare waterproof phones on the market, the Casio G'Zone. I really like it, but it is a bit clunky.

Now there's a new product coming on the market that may allow me to get a phone like everyone else and still not worry about water exposure.

The Northwest Maritime Institute, which offers boating related classes at its campus south of Cape Cod, came up with Golden Shellback. The company cautiously call it a splash-proof coating, but then demonstrates it doing things like protecting a iPod Touch video in a bucket of water.

Golden Shellback Waterproof Coating from gCaptain.com on Vimeo.

The coating isn't simply a spray-on application. The clear waterproof polymer coats everything inside, too. So water can wash in and out of the phone or whatever and not hurt it. There are two big catches: it won't be out for a few months and it has to be professionally applied in a vacuum.

When you think of electronics, you don't normally think of the dollar store but I found five cool gadgets that impressed me, considering that each one was only a buck. Well, maybe I'm easy to impress. See what you think.

• Hand-held game system with eight different games. The games have blocky black and white graphics but it would serve to entertain a kid in the backseat of the car on a long trip and it's better than shelling out up to $130 for a Nintendo DS or $170 for a PSP.

• Folding travel clock/calculator with 16 different time zones. Okay, so our cell phones do everything but serve lunch but this is still a neat little gadget for a buck. It makes a great desk accessory.

Last week, CompUSA announced that it would be selling or closing all remaining stores in the United States. Consumers have been panicking, especially those who bought service plans for their computers. They were afraid they'd be left high and dry.

I am one of those consumers with a computer from CompUSA and I also purchased the TAP (Technology Assurance Plan.)

Rumors were flying about whether or not those plans would still be valid, and they are still valid and will be honored.

The plans are administered through Assurant Group (what CompUSA employees sometimes refer to as "the underwriter"). It does business under different names in different states, but the parent company is Assurant Group.