Notebook Power Cord: Buying a power cord in the US was the last thing but when I found that there are situations where knowing where to get them from is a really useful piece of information, especially for people coming into the US from foreign destinations. And yes, you can always find a cable in your nearby electronics store like the Bestbuy, Circuit city etc but it would definitely be atrociously expensive (anywhere between $30 to $100) for a piece of wire/adapter.
If you have a laptop which was bought in the UK or India, the adapter will most probably be capable of accepting 100 to 240 V as input. So, all you need would be a plug to fit into the vertical sockets. Here are a few places for you to find this. Just search for 'Notebook Power Cord' in the following websites.
Few of the sites above are repeated 'not by mistake' but because you can buy from then either Online or In-store.
S-Video Cable: The best source to get an S-Video Cable for cheap in the US, believe it or not, is Walmart(Wal-mart). Yes. You can also find these cables at a variety of stores like Radioshack, Circuit City, Comp Usa and in some places at Dollar Tree too :-).
Here is a snap of the S-Video cable at Walmart. You have two types, a gold plated one and a regular copper plated one.
Gold Plated S-Video Cable ($7.96 - as of 09/24/07) 
S-Video Cable($3.94 at Walmart - as of 08/20/07) OR $1 if you are lucky to find it at the 'Dollar Tree' store. Here is how it looks. 
|