If you’re in the habit of taking your iPad or laptop with your wherever you go, then it might be time to consider purchasing gadget insurance. Many consumers are unaware that their gadget warranties (even extended warranties) don’t cover theft, water damage and cracked screens.

One of the top players in the gadget insurance game is Worth Ave Group, which has been in business since 1971 and is familiar to any college students who’s worried about dorm room theft. Wave Ave insures laptops, iPads, smartphones, TVs, e-readers and gaming systems.

Gadget insurance is less expensive than you may think. For an $800 laptop, coverage is about $140 with a $50 deductible. (Note that prices vary according to your geographic location.)

Read more about the ins and outs of gadget insurance on the Reuters Money Blog.

The Blackberry Playbook from Research in Motion is a good tablet choice for fans of the Blackberry smartphone.  For gadget-lovers who have their heart set on an iPad, the Playbook will probably not be an acceptable substitute.  That said, the Playbook is great for Web browsing with a simple-to-navigate interface and high performance Flash implementation.  The Word to Go app provides a tablet word processing solution.  High performance and an LCD display make this a great tablet for multimedia.

Read some interesting comments about the Blackberry Playbook on ZDNet.

See a head-to-head comparison between the Blackberry Playbook and the iPad tablet in this YouTube video, then find out more about the Blackberry Playbook on the Blackberry website.

Apple’s new iPad supports the touch screen technology that has made the iTouch and iPhone so popular. We doubt if Apple tested the iPad on any non-human users, but here’s a YouTube video that shows the appeal of the iPad for a cat named Iggy.

Do you think its claws scratched the screen?