There are just a few things to know about Mother's Day. First, remember the holiday. This year Mother's Day takes place on Sunday, May 12, so you don't have many shopping days left. Second, book a table. Restaurants are packed on Mother's Day, so if you're going out to celebrate, get on Yelp, OpenTable, or some other dining site now. And third, don't limit yourself to the classics and the clichéd. When choosing a Mother's Day present, the sky's the limit, as you'll see below in our selection of gifts for the mom who . . .

Standalone e-book readers—Nooks, Kindles, and their ilk—are plummeting in sales; only a third as many Americans will buy one this year as did in 2011, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. That only confirms that a rise in "e-reading" on tablet and smart phones is killing the need for dedicated digital-reading devices. Right?

It's amazing what you can find out from an auto show. This year, in the course of covering the New York International Auto Show, we came across some exciting electronics news: Readers no longer need commit to a book format the whole time they're reading, even when behind the wheel.

Through March 31, Barnes & Noble is offering a two-for-one deal on a couple of its electronics devices: Purchase a Nook HD+ tablet (starting at $270), and B&N will throw in at no charge a Nook Simple Touch e-book reader, normally $80.

They may say they'd rather read on paper, but one study found that for adults between the ages of 60 and 77, reading on digital devices such as tablets causes less strain on the brain.

Almost every e-book reader on the market has a 6-inch screen, but the Kobo Mini ($80) has a touch display of just 5 inches—the same size as some bigger smart phones these days. The Mini's a decent-enough performer but, as with phones with 5-or-more-inch screens, it isn't the optimal size (or the best value) for many people.

A couple of weeks ago, editors and testers on Consumer Reports' electronics team shared their personal holiday wish lists with the world. It's great fun to dream about your ideal techie gift—but not all gadgets are equally wonderful, wished for, and wanted. Not to sound ungrateful or &Scrooge-like, but here's what our experts DON'T want this year!

With little more than a day until the first post-turkey sales kick in, here are the most enticing specials on electronics items, culled from our recent posts on particular stores and product categories.

More consumers want a tablet for the holidays than want even money or world peace, according to this year's Consumer Electronics Association holiday survey. With that kind of competition, what are your chances of getting a good deal on one during the Black Friday shopping period? Not terrible, actually, if you're willing to hustle.

Did you buy e-books between spring of 2010 and this past May? You could be eligible for credits of up to $1.32 per book under a legal settlement proposed between state attorneys general and a number of major publishers who were accused of conspiring to fix the prices of e-books.

Type on the screen of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-book reader is exceptionally crisp and stands out in unusually sharp contrast to its background, according to our tests. And, true to Amazon's claims, the illumination from the screen's built-in LED lights aid reading in almost all light conditions.

The Amazon Paperwhite e-book reader, based on ongoing tests in our lab, appears to match the high performance of its rival, the Barnes & Noble Nook with GlowLight. But Amazon's $119 device no longer has a clear edge in cost: B&N has cut the price of its lighted-screen e-book reader by $20, bringing the GlowLight's price to $119 as well.

Amazon's new Paperwhite e-book reader appears to offer effective screen lighting without any major sacrifices in other areas of performance. That's my preliminary take on the device after spending some time with it here in Los Angeles, where Amazon today announced the Paperwhite and other devices. The new reader will be available October 21, at $119; with free 3G, the Kindle Paperwhite will sell for $179.

At the Amazon press event today, the company dropped the price of its least expensive Kindle e-book reader by $10, to $69—making it the least expensive quality e-book reader on the market.

Amazon today announced the Kindle Paperwhite, an e-book reader with an LED-lit touch screen. Aimed to compete directly with the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight, Amazon's new device uses LED lights along the bottom edge of the screen to illuminate it.