Woot!

Dear Wives and Girlfriends,

If you live in the Eastern Time Zone and have been wondering why your husbands and boyfriends have developed a habit over the last year of going to bed after 1:00am, it's probably not "you". Of course if your significant other isn't going to bed because he's on the phone with your best friend "just chatting", then it may be you. That's for you and Dr. Phil to resolve.

The reason many of us geeks find ourselves going to bed after 1:00am is the Internet. No, it's not porn that's keeping us up... well, statistically I guess there are some for whom porn is the cause of late-night computer use, but the cause I am here to discuss is Woot.

Each day at midnight Central Time, Woot posts an item for sale, and it's usually at an outrageously bargain-basement price. The item is available for sale until it sells out or until midnight the next weeknight, when the next item goes live (unless you see flashing lights, in which case a Woot-Off is underway). I just started converting our family movies from mini-DV tapes to AVI files and needed more storage, so I picked up a 250GB hard drive last night for $49.99 + $5 shipping. Who can beat that? It's better than the Friday after Thanksgiving deals!

Lest you think Woot is the lone culprit, there are others: MidnightBox, 1deal1day, SnapGone (currently down), and steepANDcheap. But just a warning, wives and girlfriends, checking these sites can become habit-forming.