Gifts For Geeks

Way back in October we solicited ideas for Christmas presents for geeks. This was done with Wired, and the results appear in the current issue (the lime-green colored one: unless you're blind, you can't miss it. You'll only be able to find the first copy, tho). The authors' money will be a nice Christmas present to the EFF. Thanks go to Paul, who did all the really hard work compiling the final list from all your ideas. Now read on to see the list.

1. PlayStation2 - Sony list price $299.99; winning bids on eBay $550-1,375. Supplies are extremely limited. CowboyNeal has been waiting for his for months.
2. Beowulf parallel computing cluster; 3 nodes for $1,305.95. A build-your-own supercomputer: three bargain PCs with Ethernet cards ($415 each), one four-port network hub ($16), and one Building Linux Clusters book from O'Reilly and Associates ($44.95), which includes Red Hat Linux and cluster software on CD. Perfect for trolls who lack a single iota of creativity, or that guy you know who always wants to simulate weather patterns.
3. Car MP3 player - empeg $1,199 (and it even runs Linux, if you're into that sort of thing).
4. IC-R3 handheld wideband radio/TV receiver - Icom America $599. 500-kHz to 2.4-GHz spybox tunes in to everything but cell phones. Voyeurism isn't just for breakfast anymore.
5. iPAQ H3600 Linux-compatible handheld - Compaq $499, but good luck finding one. Apparently there is quite the shortage.
6. Nomad Jukebox - Creative Labs $499. Give this, instead of a CD player, to your loved one in the Napster T-shirt ...
7. Matrix- and Blade Runner-styled trench coats - TrenchCo. $375-482.
8. CD-RW drive, $150-350. No drive fits all machines, so verify compatibility before you buy. Many popular drives have to be back-ordered, but others are always in stock.
9. Voodoo5 5500 AGP or PCI graphics card - 3dfx Interactive $299.99. Better graphics than PlayStation2, on your computer instead of your TV.
10. Klein Bottle - Acme $25-250. Designed by astronomer-author Cliff Stoll.
11. MindStorms - Lego MindStorms $50-200. Classic Lego building blocks, updated with motors and microchips.
12. GlobalMap 100 GPS - Lowrance Electronics $199.95. I get lost in my backyard. I wonder if this thing has a map of my back yard.
13. TiNi Pocket PowerPlier - SOG Specialty Knives and Tools $84.95. Just keep those fingers free of extra holes.
14. Broadband Internet access $39-50 per month (plus installation charges). Check for availability in your area. Consider moving. I know I do almost every day.
15. Interactive Yoda - Tiger $39.99. A Jedi craves not these things. But if he gets one for Christmas, that's different.
16. Non-computer games - Looney Labs $5-35. Card games that modify their own rules, and board games for the brainy.
17. EverQuest - Sony $29.95 (plus $9.89 monthly service fee). Addictive multiplayer game lets you collaborate with others on the Net. Suitable even for a 200-MHz PC with a 28K connection. And the graphics look like ass. But I have many friends who've lost countless productive hours all for the lucrative reward of being able to take a bear by yourself in a virtual world.
18. Tech-book gift certificate - Fatbrain.com $10-25. Let her choose her own robot-building manual.
19. Klein Bottle knit cap or Mobius ear band - Math Hatter $12-22.
20. Penguin Caffeinated Peppermints - ifive brands $12 (four-pack). Essential fuel for all-night hacking: sugar and caffeine wrapped in a handy breath mint. I'll never forget the time Trae ate a whole tin at ALS and traveled forward through time.

Comments

Re:It's a great Pagan holiday fscked up by Christi

[Azog]

This whole Buy Buy Buy has been perpetrated by the Christian culture that treats religion like a commodity

Slow down there. I don't think you can fairly blame Christianity for turning Christmas into a huge commercial buy-a-thon. Blame Capitalism for that.

From the Christian point of view, Christmas is to celebrate God's gift of Jesus to the world, and to look back at the Christmas story of Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem. The angels and the shepherds, the three wise men, and "Peace On Earth".

Listen to the words of some old Christmas carols to see what Christians think Christmas is supposed to be about.

It's true that some Christian organizations do treat religion as a commodity, but that unfortunate fact is recognized and condemmed by many Christians, who know that it's not supposed to be that way. It's also true that many aspects of the western european style Christmas celebration were ripped off from pagan winter festivals. But that's not really relevant to the question of why Christmas has become so commercialized.

Most sincere Christians hate the whole commercial aspect of Christmas even more than you do.

Torrey Hoffman (Azog)

Aquatic Pod Suite

[Ellen Spertus]

I'd like the Aquatic Pod Suite from Hammacher Schlemmer. It only costs $91,100, and that's including the Bose stereo and diesel generator.

Interesting comment

[Galvatron]

Christmas actually is one of the few other examples, aside from open source software, of the "gift culture" mentality at work that ESR is always talking about. Sure, there are some people who view Christmas as a time to get presents (especially children who don't really have the means to get themselves what they want). I think for most of us though, we enjoy giving presents more.

The fact of the matter is, anything that costs little enough for someone to give it to me as a Christmas gift, I could buy for myself. However, it does feel good to get someone that perfect gift. And, if someone gives you a really good gift, defined as something that you want, but can't justify buying for yourself, it makes you feel positive things about the other person, because it shows that they really know you.

The point is not to spend as little as you can get away with, while guilt tripping others into getting you things. The point is to demonstrate what a great person you are by getting your friends even better gifts than they get you. Likewise, with open source software, the point isn't to contribute just enough to keep the movement alive, so you can keep getting free software, the point is to contribute more than everyone else, so you will be worshipped like Linus.

I apologize for the rambling nature of this email, but I've been up all night, and I'm tired.

Re:Escape Cleaning Klein

[.c]

Okay, the Klein bottle and Klein mug are kinda cool until you realize that -

• You try and set the bottle down with anything in it, and you're gonna be wearing it.
• That mug is gonna be a BITCH to clean.

I think theirs is the geekiest shipping policy I've ever seen:

Canada Shipping: 1st bottle $7, primes (2nd, 3rd, 5th) $3, nonprimes(4th, 6th, 8th) free.

If these things weren't $US 80 a pop... :)

NR 21

[H*rus]

21. Bookbundle, The Top 5 thinnest books ever written, contains:

• A Female's Guide To Logical Thinking
• A Millenium Of German Humor
• Blind Dates that Worked Out
• Feminists Worth Marrying - The Complete List
• "On Human Rights" by Fidel Castro
• - $ 1.99

Looks like the /. Trolls didn't vote

[anonymouse cowerd]

Did no one want Natalie Portman for Christmas ?

Surely N P would be considered the ulitmate geek christmas present...

Re:Christmas isn't about presents

[dmorin]

You know, I used to think this way too, and then something occurred to me. I figure there's at least three (* somebody pointed out to me years ago that there's a fourth) stages of looking at Christmas (or gift giving in general):

1. Greed. Give me everything.
2. Anti-greed. "No, no, nothing for me...I just want to get everybody else things."
3. Other-awareness. Realizing that when you tell your mom not to buy you anything, that makes her *unhappy*, and that if you really want to concentrate on other people's happiness it won't kill you to make a Christmas list.

Anybody that tells me that having a christmas list means not thinking about other people's happiness, i point them to state 3. If it's evil to receive, then there's no point in giving.

Duane

P.S. The fourth state is "Now go do something nice for a total stranger, like volunteer at a soup kitchen, instead of thinking that your friends and family are the only ones that merit your help this year." Not a lot of people get to this one, unfortunately.

Escape Cleaning Klein

[Snowfox]

Okay, the Klein bottle and Klein mug are kinda cool until you realize that -

• You try and set the bottle down with anything in it, and you're gonna be wearing it.
• That mug is gonna be a BITCH to clean.

Re:It's a great Pagan holiday fscked up by Christi

[Steve B]

We celebrated this Holy Day tens of thousands of years before the Christians came along.

What, did you think Bill Gates invented "embrace and extend"?
/.

I must be blind

[DeadSea]

The only thing that is lime green on the wired page that I see is the search box. Searching on the front page for christmas, gift, or geek, turned up nothing. Searching their headlines for christmas, gift, or geek turns up nothing relevant. Maybe what Taco means is that its only in the dead tree version of Wired?

For those of you that are interested, CNN also has a geek gift list.

Non Computer Games

[Shimrod]

Always a good idea. Other good games for geeks:

• Robo Rally: Program your robot to tackle a dangerous factory floor full of escalators, pits, crushers and lasers. Not to mention other robots.
• X Net : Be the provider to offer the most popular content, be it games, recipes or pr0n. Buy a better connection to the backbone and serve even more!
• Mag Blast: Use your fleet to protect your mothership, while simultaneously trying to blast other players ships. It is require to make sounds simulating your attacks (Ptew Ptew! Put Put Put! Zap! Take that evil spacelord!)
• Illuminati: Secret conspiracies everywhere! Do you own the postal service? Who's the man behind the IRS? And what are those damn aliens up to now?
• Chez Geek: Name says it all really. Play with geeks, live with geeks, geeks everywhere
• Hacker: The computer crime card game (Anyone who even tries to remark that the game should've been named Cracker then will get his behind liberally kicked!) With an Interesting read on online free speech in practice.
• Silicon Valley Tarot Another 'name says it all, really' car game. Tell your own Silicon Valley future...