Nintendo Ltd. (OTC: NTDOY) continues to sell the hot Wii gaming console in record numbers, and those numbers will probably become higher this holiday shopping season as gift buyers opt for the $250 gaming system over $350 and $500 systems from the competition. The only bad thing about Nintendo's Wii is that the physical interactivity is causing some to throw those gaming controllers all over the place. Hey, Nintendo can't legislate intelligence from its customers, right?

To keep the clueless from throwing their "Wii-motes" all over the living room and through windows and television screens, Nintendo added locking hand straps early this year to all shipping gaming controllers so that they could be secured to player's wrists.

Well, that apparently did not go far enough (unbelievably), so the company is now offering free silicon rubber covers, or "jackets" for these Wiimotes. So, if that remote somehow flies out of your hand, at least it will hit the wall or television set with a simple, rubber thud instead of a loud, glass-breaking crash.

Up to four rubber controller jackets will be offered per Wii owner, although the jackets won't ship until mid-October. If you have a Wii and find that the controller flies out of your hand on occasion, you may want to head over to Nintendo's website and request your jackets. Until you receive them, use those wrist straps and be careful, will you?

It was bound to happen -- automakers stopped competing on ancient specifications like horsepower and safety and started competing on technology-laden offerings inside new vehicles. In my opinion, safety is still the single largest feature of any vehicle. After all, these are rapidly moving barrels of steel competing for road space with a thousand other drivers. Yet, safety seems boring to many of us since we can't touch or see it. Enter new car technology like Bluetooth, GPS navigation, and iPod-integrated satellite stereo systems and you have a technology arsenal inside that new car.

And, we're not talking high-end luxury vehicles here -- many of these tech appointments can be found standard in some mainstream vehicles as well as affordable options in others. How much tech is too much for the average driver? That's a question that will be played out as the customer-uncentric auto technology engineer crams ever more gadgetry into all these newer vehicles. Hear that beep-beep-beep when your neighbor backs up his new SUV? That is the motion detector telling him or her that there are no objects behind them. No kids, bikes, etc.

Therein lies a central problem I see here -- engineers are trying to assist everyday vehicle maneuvers like using driving directions and backing up safely with technology. Notice I said "assist" -- but customers will expect these new features to 'replace' old habits. In other words, customers may use these new features (if they can understand them) to take over from paying attention while driving all these new cars. In a classic tale, and something I agree with, engineers don't understand the fine-tuning of how the average customer thinks and acts, but designs to how any logical driver would think and act. How many logical drivers out there in bumper-to-bumper traffic or with kids screaming in the back seat? Raise those hands higher, please. Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is about the only company I can think of who designs to how customers will use products, not to how the company 'thinks' customers will use its products. Maybe Steve Jobs and Co. should consult with the auto industry soon?

Wireless, wireless and more wireless... That's what I'm reading. Bluetooth serves as the prime example of what I'm writing about. The omnidirectional wireless transference of all manner of data between electronic devices is what will be a growth focus for many technology companies for a long time to come. For right now, Bluetooth requires that interacting devices be in fairly close proximity and that they utilize limited bandwidth. Sweet little conveniences such as a wireless computer mouse and wireless cellphone headsets were just the beginning. Now, nearly your entire PC can go wireless and I envision entirely wireless home entertainment systems becoming the standard in the very near future.

If that little voice in the back of your head keeps whispering "Bluetooth" as an investment direction, there are a lot of different companies that you can look at. The following list is in alphabetical order and is not meant to imply endorsement of any of the companies as particularly suited for investment.

Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR) is a supplier of chips and integrated circuits. Agere works in a limited partnership with Motorola (Freescale) and Infineon under auspices of the StarCore joint venture.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) is a world leader in business telecommunications solutions in mobile formats and broadband Internet. Ericsson is deeply involved in the expansion of world wide communication systems. (See also: Ericsson Mobile Platforms)

Intel (NASDAQ (GS):INTC) Is a manufacturer and developer of business and consumer technologies and is continually expanding the landscape of technology equipment, user applications and solutions.

Lenovo Group (HongKong: ADR (LNVGY) is a leading manufacturer of PC's in China and has a growing global presence. Lenovo produces PDA's and mobile phones as well. Check out the link provided if you especially like global diversity.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: (GS) :MSFT) is the worlds #1 provider of software and is an ever expanding force in the worlds of corporate development, office information, personal computers and gaming. Microsoft is targeting web based services as a major growth focus.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is working in the areas of Internet connectivity, government systems, business communication mobility and a broad field of mobile devices / networks. Motorola is the worlds #2 manufacturer of wireless handsets.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is the worlds # 1 cell phone manufacturer. Nokia has a multi faceted wireless game plan involving wireless voice and data devices, domestic multimedia for entertainment and gaming, networks for video and data transmission and wireless systems for businesses. Nokia has not been shy in declaring that they aim for top of the heap in everything they undertake.

The companies I've listed here are all big players in your worlds of communications and computing. This group represents a cross section of technology leaders who strive hard to keep new innovations coming. I didn't involve WiFi in this writing but I would say WiFi is sort of like Bluetooth's big brother. The two platforms are not to be considered interchangeable. I should have also added Toshiba to the list but I couldn't provide a specific direction to point to research them. If anyone is researching the above companies, be sure to give Toshiba a look also. It's probably pretty obvious that my knowledge of these technologies is limited but once again, I sure have given you some places and companies to look into. Use the links and look around at your wireless hardware future. I'll be looking deeper into the individual focuses of these companies as 2007 gets under way. I'll attempt to provide you with some insight into where wireless technology is headed.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced that it has acquired two chip companies, one in the WiFi space and one in Bluetooth. The move would appear to put QCOM in competition with Intel for a piece of the wireless chip business. But why buy the two firms, RF Micro Devices and Airgo, when Intel owns almost the entire market?

Oddly enough, the news comes at the same time that Ericsson signaled that it might have a deal with Qualcomm on Wideband CDMA for third generation cell phones. The two companies have been fighting over the royalties due to Qualcomm for the technology. The battle has gotten so bitter that Ericsson and other cell companies have complained to the European Commission to try to move the issue into the arena of government regulation.

Qualcomm's stock has been battered by concerns over antitrust actions due to the royalties it charges cellular phone makers. The stock is down from $53 in May to about $36 today. There has also been significant concern that new wireless technologies like the WiMax standard supported by Intel, Samung, Motorola, and Sprint could damage Qualcomm's current lock on the broadband cell industry.

It would appear that someone woke up at Qualcomm. The only way to effectively fight WiMax is to make peace with large customers like Ericsson and acquire technology that will allow it to combat Intel on other wireless fronts. Qualcomm may have to give in on the amount it charges firms like Ericsson, but that is better than protracted litigation and losing a large customer completely.

With Intel's huge lead in WiFi and Sprint building a WiMax network in the US, it may be a bit late in the day for Qualcomm to come to its senses. If so, $36 may be a high water market for Qualcomm for some time to come.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Stock futures were a little higher on a fair value basis early this morning, pointing to a similar start to stocks.

There are no economic data of note released today. Oil prices were lower as OPEC, worried about the weakening dollar, is leaning towards further production cuts. However, Hugo Chavez claimed reelection was widely expected.

What's really making headlines this morning, a story that's been developing over the weekend, is Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE). The world's largest drugmaker saw its shares sinking as much as 12% in Frankfurt after it had announced it would halt the development of a key new cholesterol treatment, torcetrapib, due to safety concerns and higher death rates in trials. On the NYSE, some analysts are predicting PFE shares, which have closed at $27.86 on Friday, would plunge to $20.

The other big news item today is the announcement that Bank of New York Co. (NYSE:BK) will merge with Mellon Financial Corp. (NYSE:MEL) creating the world's largest securities servicing and asset management firm -- Bank of New York Mellon Corp. -- with $16.6 trillion under custody. In the announced stock deal, Mellon will pay a premium of about 6.5% over Bank of New York shares, worth $28.4 billion.

In other corporate news:

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced it is buying two micro-chip businesses to boost its core wireless technology product offerings. While the deals, to close in December, would be dilutive in 2007, they should be slightly accretive in 2008. Qualcomm is buying the majority of microchip maker RF Micro Devices Inc.'s (NASDAQ:RFMD) Bluetooth assets for $39 million and paying an undisclosed amount of cash to buy privately-owned startup Airgo Networks Inc.

LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE:LSI) announced it will purchase competitor Agere Systems Inc. (NYSE:AGR) for $4 billion in all stock deal.

Finally, on Friday after the bell, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) surprisingly announced that Chief Financial Officer Al G. de Molina will resign at the end of the year after only 15 months in the position. He will be succeeded by executive Joe Price.