apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't know if it is really 'bugging' me but I'm currently struggling with trying to figure out what my next geekdget should be.

I want something that will play back xvid movies, surf the web, has a long battery life, has a wealth of other applications, is relatively small and has good bang for the buck!

So I'm walking the path between UMPC ($$$) and personal media players. It sucks because the longer I wait, the more options I have to choose from! ><

I have been having issue with my NYC "free" cable. The signal starts getting fuzzy after a few months and I have to unplug my whole system of amp, and several splitters for all of the connections to my TVs, cable modem and PVR named Divo. Any ideas on how to keep the static out?