Uber Geeks Holiday Gift Guide

Johann Ramirez sent us Hardware Extreme's Christmas Wishlist which has tons of lust worthy objects that you have seen on Slashdot in the past, and several more that will make you feel strange things in your loins that might be unhealthy in the context of electronics. I want me a head mounted monitor and this wall mounted stereo santa!

Comments

How about some real presents...

[webword]

...jobs for my friends out of work!

Who'd want that Nakamichi stereo?

[Jon Chatow]

... when you can get the B&O BeoSound Century, which is far nicer? Of course, if you want a good stereo, rather than an aethetically pleasing one, you wouldn't get one that was wall-mounted (perhaps one from these people?), but B&O's products are quite good in terms of audio quality, given their form factor.

Extreme?

[rasactive]

It looks like Hardware Exterme's hardware wasn't extreme enough to handle slashdotting. Anybody got a mirror?

Do you really think more junk will make you happy?

[Astral Traveller]

I swear, the hedonistic tendency I see in some of my more computer-oriented friends to slaver over faster processors, more memory, better graphics, and absolutely useless gimmicks like cube-shaped computers and flat-screen monitors saddens me. That we as a culture are so shallow to think that adding a paltry 50MHz to our gigahertz+ processors or having more hard drive space for porn and stolen MP3s will somehow make us happy is the tragedy of the modern age. No electronic pet or game console will bring you any more than a second of joy, until your eyes wander forth to the "next big thing".

So instead of asking for yet another slab of transistors and cathode-ray tubes this holiday season, ask for something that will last, something that will make you feel happy inside as a person. Ask a loved one to give money to your favorite charity in your name (if you read Slashdot, you've been planning on making a donation to the EFF anyway, right? No excuse not to do it now, and you'll get to be cool like Wil Wheaton!). Or better yet, don't tell anyone what you want for Christmas, and then see what they get you, because those gifts are the sort that require true thought on the part of the giver, and it's the thought that counts in the end, right?

Please try to raise yourself above the primal materialism that runs rampant this time of year, and remember what the season is all about. While you may not get the l33t357 b0x, you'll be happier in the long run.

Re:My Problem...

[damiam]

What kind of stuff do you want that costs $3000??!! I'm 13 and my wish list is only about $250 total including a GeForce3 (which I don't really think I'll get). You're expecting too much.

Re:My Problem...

[dangermouse]

I'm 22 and my wishlist totals exactly one million dollars. (It consists of one million dollars, actually.)

But that's an absurd wishlist, and it's not the one I tell people about when they ask me for gift hints. That one's real short, and is full of things that cost five or ten bucks.

The trick is to know your audience.

Re: We did this and we're happy . . .

[raresilk]

My domestic partner and I decided to go the charitable route. We've talked about it on previous holidays, but never had enough motivation to actually do it until this year. We added up what we usually spend on our Christmas holiday giving and celebrating, for family, friends, and each other. We rounded it up to the nearest round number, and made a donation in that amount to the Afghanistan relief effort (1/2 to Unicef, 1/2 to Oxfam.)

Then we made a nice Christmas card with color photos of Afghanistan refugees receiving food relief, including one bearded guy with a sack of USA wheat on his back that sweetly reminded us of Santa. We explained our decision in the card, including the total amount of our contributions - not to brag about it, but so that it would be clear this was not just our cheap attempt to blow off gift-giving. We asked that the recipients consider making similar donations in lieu of their usual Christmas gifts to us. The cards went out Thanksgiving weekend.

We've received no negative reactions, and many positive ones to date. It remains to be seen whether anyone will take us up on our request to donate instead of a present, but honestly we're looking forward to a Christmas tree with absolutely zero gifts under it.

Is this site in bed with Sony?

[Nonesuch]

There are plenty of cool geek gifts not made by Sony, so when 6 out of 13 items on their list are Sony products, you have to suspect something is up...

I like some stuff Sony makes, but I wouldn't call their products "geek friendly".