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Your Holiday Present Wish List
Paul Boutin from Wired approached me to help them do a Holiday Present list for last-minute shoppers ... but I'm lazy, so I figured I'd ask you guys to help (in exchange for your services, the $750 writers fee will be donated to the EFF to help make sure that the net is still free next Thursday). Anyway, this is part one: The Call For Recommendations. Read on to see what we're looking for. Part 2 will come in December, and it will run both on Slashdot and in the print version of Wired, in time for your last-minute shopping. (Yeah, that's months away, but print moves a little slower then us ;) )
We're looking for suggestions in 3 different price tiers.
- Cheaper Then a Playstation 2 ($300 or less)
- Cheaper Then a Playstation 2's rumored eBay sale value ($301-$1500)
- Unlimited (Mommy, can I have a stealth bomber for Christmas?)
The suggestions posted in this discussion will be milked for ideas for creating "The List". If you post an idea, you run the risk of seeing your name show up in Wired and Slashdot (Santa reads at least one of them right?) and helping distribute Christmas (or fill-in-the-blank with whatever excuse for presents you can come up with in december... Merry Yaksmas! ) cheer to good little boys and girls.
Try to include a URL to a site where more information can be found on your Present Proposal. And try to include helpful information like price, and just why this is a good present idea.
And we'll pick this up in December.
"...print moves a little slower then us."
That's because print takes time to proofread.
--
Non-meta-modded "Overrated" mods are killing Slashdot
(Hey Ryan! Here's your proof!)
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Thats all.
I'd like just one vendor to actually commit to providing me with a >56k connection.
Not much to ask...I'll even pay for it.
This sig left unintentionally blank.
Try a Christmas holiday without consumerism. Your electronic appliances work just fine without replacing them. Spend some time with friends and family. Save some money. Enjoy yourself.
Check out The Center for a New American Dream.
- Cheaper than a Playstation: If the "free" in "free time" equates to "free (as in beer)," I'd like some more of that. That is to
say, End the Culture of ultraproductivity in
the US.
- Cheaper than a PlayStation2 on Ebay:
A maid, or at least a helper to come once a week and help me get my house in order, so I can do all the things that a homeowner is supposed to get done in the course of normal life that I don't have time to do (see above).
- Unlimited:My own lobbyist. Or a patrol of them. Not to badger pols into legislation that only benefits me, but to nudge the government into a lane of common sense (Patents on hyperlinks? *Bzzzt* Oil prospecting in National Parks? *Are you nuts?* Solving social problem with unenforcable laws and empty talk on TV? *C'mon guys. This is the real world.* And what happened to the 40-hour work week? huh? HUH? I *like* life outside of work.
Or something like that.-O
Under $300:
Games, of course - Grandia II, Final Fantasy IX, Majora's Mask -
But you're probably looking at gadgits. So I'll say a GameBoy Advanced (yes, I know the US version is a year away, but I can dream), or a Wonderswan (same deal - but I want to play Final Fantasy I-III (the real I - III, not "we'll call IV FFII and VI FFIII! Bwahahaha!").
The other item would be a Playstation One (small footprint) with the LCD panel and a car adapter so I could take it on trips.
$300 - $1500:
One of two things:
A Voodoo 6000 (128 MB RAM, 4 processors, needs its own external power source - can you say Unreal Tournament at 1024x768 4x AA at 100 frames a second? Oh, yes. Check it at http://www.3dfx.com/prod/vood oo/ v5-6000-overv.html
Creative Labs Jukebox http://www.nomadworld.com/products/j uke box/ - 6 gigs of MP3 storage from a name I trust.
$1500+
It took me a little bit, but I'd want one of those Honda gas-electric cars http://arstechnica.com/ rev iews/3q00/honda/insight-1.html - save gas $, save the planet, and stick it to OPEC all at the same time. (Now, if only they'd make an ethenol version so I could help out Kansas farms at the same time...)
John "Dark Paladin" Hummel
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Most O'Reilly books are overrated. Their current releases have been hit or miss, and most of the misses are bombs.
My preference for computer books is anything by Addison Wesley. *All* their books are top-notch and most are classics: Design Patterns by the Gang of Four, Networking series by Stevens, Computer Graphics by Foley et.al., C++ books by Lippman and Sudstroup(sp?).
O'Reilly does have the edge in terms of timing, especially books on Java API like Servlets, but you can see that they are too quick. O'Reilly made it big with the Perl series, but most of their reputation comes from those old books.
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
--weenie NT4 user: bite me!
"Computers are nothing but a perfect illusion of order" -- Iggy Pop
If they don't make O'Reilly gift certificates, they should, because I have about a baker's dozen worth of O'Reilly books on my current wish list. As the premier high-status geek-book publisher, one would think O'Reilly would have 'em by now... are ya listenin', Tim?
Free music from Jack Merlot.
For Christmas, I would love an http://www.eco-sphere.com/. It's one of those self-contained glass globes with shrimp, algae and bacteria inside. All you have to do is add light and they should last for a few years. Very cool. Price ranges from $79 to $489, depending on the size (from 3.25" diameter sphere to 9" diameter sphere).
Education is the silver bullet.
Obviously Lego Mindstorms would be high on the list of any geek (even if you have them, you need more to do the really cool stuff you've been planning to do...)
/* Of course I'm real, but can you prove it? */
Here's my present list:
Mobile phone: Ideally the 9110 or 9110i. If that's not availiable, I'll take a Matrix-esque 7110.
I wouldn't mind a Creative DAP Jukebox. Storage for 100 hours of MP3s (But only enough power to play them for about 5 hours).
I'll also take a Kawasaki Ultra 150 Jet Ski (Only £7,245!).
I wouldn't mind a BURN-proof 12x10x32 CD-RW drive.
Every slashdotter I know yould use one of These.
Leatherman Wave Multi-tools are nice, if I didn't already have one.
Want a rack for all your CDs? I'll have a Rolodisc rack. Cool!
If we're allowed whole new systems, I'll take an SGI 550 workstation, with the dual 866 MHz Pentium III Xeon processors and 2 gigs or ram, please.
I'll also have an Ergoview Task chair with headrest.
Since CmdrTaco's paying, I'll have a Panasonic Portable DVD player (Massive 7" widescreen LCD screen!).
If you have any spage change after that, $13,999.95 will get you (Well, me actually. We do GET this stuff, don't we?) a 16:9 Wide, 42" Diagonal Flat-Panel Plasma SDTV-Compatible Monitor. Cool!
A Radio Deadbolt would be cool (US only though
Head-mount Night-vision goggles would be nice.
This summer, I will mainly be avoiding traffic jams in my Armoured Hummer. I'll take the Scorpion III as well - it's cool.
$3,199 is enough for a nice Sony Digital video camera.
An SP9004 spud gun is on my list too, and a cair of Glasstron goggles. Nice!
Well, I'm going out now. If any karma whores would like to check out my links and use thier 1337 copy and paste skills in case there are errors, you can go right ahead.
Michael
...another comment from Michael Tandy.
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
Steps to the perfect gift. 1) Buy a TiVo ( http://www.tivo.com ) 2) Upgrade it with the instructios at http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/faq.html; 3) Buy the parts for the upgrade at http://www.9thtee.com/TiVoUpgrades.htm
This and recent discussions on moderation make me think /. could use a new moderation factor:
-1, Bad Spelling
-2, "Then" != "Than"
+5, Correct usage of "they're" and "their"
Or maybe just Open Source Spelling (tm) -- users could change one character of any post in each article. The community could then correct spelling errors: "then" => "than", etc.
:)
-----
D. Fischer
ShoutingMan.com
Cheap Option: An Nvidia MX Card. Speedy, but cheap. Then I could play UT at a reasonable speed.
Medium option: A Tivo - theoretically launched in the UK, damned if I can get my hands on one.
Expensive option: Terabit optical connection to my house. then I could play UT online at a reasonable speed. And download porn at the same time!
_____
My Journal
Hmmm...Let's see what I want:
:Cue:Cat by DC
1) Microsoft Windows 2000
2)
3) CD's from my favorite music authors (including Metallica & Dr. Dre)
4) Internet Filtering software (ie. Net Nanny)
5) A DVD Player approved by the MPAA
=-)
Doh!
I love my Handspring Visor. Everyone college student should have one, or at least sort of PDA for keeping track of your schedule and assignments.
Handspring
_______________________________________________
All circuits busy.
Just a few cents...or maybe more
~KONala
The new offering is the "Beach World". These are salt water and have little red shrimp in them. The shrimp are bigger than the critters in the original sphere and the red color is truly striking - when they aren't being hassled! To avoid predators - and dickheads shaking the sphere - they turn clear when disturbed. It takes about an hour for the red color to come back, and you can bug them to death if this happens too often.
The other issue is temperature change. Both spheres can live in a about a 20 degree (F) range between 60 and 80. You need to keep the temp as constant as possible to keep them happy. Sudden or frequent changes can mean death. You can't leave these things in a window where they can get direct sunlight for even 10 minutes. The volume of water is very small - and in direct sunlight - it's only a few short minutes to micro boiled shrimp.
Sooooo......what this means is: I love these things and I have a couple. They are great pets for semi-responsible people and outstanding converstation starters.
BUT..... We quit selling them in the store because too many people were killing them. No matter what we said - they seemed to treat these things like paperweights instead of living animals. If you are going to give one of these as a gift, make sure the person you are giving it to is capable of keeping a dog or a plant alive. Also, keep these things in mind:
You MUST make sure they get enough light - you can't walk off and turn the lights off for a week - they will die.
You can't let it sit in your car while you finish your holiday shopping. 20 minutes in your 40 degree car is death - and not the manufacturer's fault.
It's better to give them a gift certificate for this and wait until April to actually send the sphere if they live in a cold climate. These things have to be shipped overnight Fed-Ex to live through the ordeal. Shipping gravely stresses them and they must recover - that means they must be removed immeditately on arrival. If grandma waits 3 weeks to open this at Christmas, she will get a nice ball of dead green slime to stare at while she cuts you out of the will.
You CAN NOT treat these things like a "snow sphere". Shake it and watch it snow dead shrimp on the minature beach.
Enjoy your Bio Sphere!
"Reality is independent from perception." - RDH
($301-$1500) - 22in Flat-Screen monitor
Unlimited - A trip on Mir (need I say more?)
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Got Rhinos?
I sit at my computer most of my waking hours. I stare endlessly at a flickering screen whether I am actually working or just geeking out.
Since this is the way it goes... I may as well do it in style with the Aura, kindly supplied by Poetic Technologies.
At the impressive price of $7,769.00 USD (or for the economically challenged (me) $11,340.00 CDN Funds (Don't forget the GST)) this puppy will obviously fall under the Unlimited catagory.
A nice comfortable catheder and a bowel bag and I won't have to function as a human again.
- Xabbu
- Jimbob
You can hear NOTHING outside when you are using them. They block outside noise by 23dB (that's more than two orders of magnitude). Because they block out so much sound, you don't have to turn them up so much to hear it, so they actually protect your hearing.
Absolutely nothing can touch them for listening to tunes in a noisy office, on a plane, or a train. You can also walk down the street with them and nobody knows you are wearing a $300 pair of headphones. Sonic bliss anywhere. Despite their small size they have amazing bass response due to the seal they produce in your ear canal.
Very highly recommended. You won't be able to listen to the Sony headphones anymore after getting used to these (the Sony's will sound like shit by comparison).
Dr. Burris T. Ewell
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I'll be handing out some of these Christmas Gift Exemption Vouchers during the weeks leading up to Buy Nothing Day.
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