Slashdot Mirror
Non-Geeky Gifts for Tech Geeks
An anonymous reader writes "FiringSquad.com has just put out another holiday gift guide. They've gathered together, along with the usual video cards and whatnot, several non-techie toys with a techie slant. With the exception of an mp3 and a digital camera, everything else they recommend is stuff I haven't seen on any list before. They have things ranging from $10 to $7500. My favorite has to be the Blendtec blender. 2 horsepower motor. Turns hockey pucks into mulch."
A bit pricey, no? $300 for a flashlight? A $3600 capaccino machine?
Maybe I'm just poor or cheap, but most of these are outrageous. Who is their target audience? Fortune 500 execs?
The author is impressed with the expense of the items he has chosen and not their utility. Couldn't get through the whole article because the f**kin ads were just too annoying.
Non-geeky gifts for geeks? Why bother? They're geeks for a reason - they like geeky stuff! It's like getting a pair of socks for xmas... you don't want them, you don't need them, and you'd rather something that plugs into your PC. USB socks, there's a gift...
Yup, the thought of giving someone an mp3 player has not occured to me. Honestly.
First of all, they are a bit expensive for a christmas gift, which is more than enough to exclude them from consideration from me. Or, if I choose a cheaper model, they are "a cheaper model". Giving away a "budget mp3 player" is about as fun as giving away a "budget whatever"...
Secondly, most people either already have one, or don't want one. Third, if they still haven't got one, but want one, they probably want to choose their favourite model themselves, and would be more happy for money. Finally, as even the article suggested, I don't want to become tech-support.
Apart from all that ranting about mp3-players as christmas gift, I must say that I find most of the suggestions on the list completely ridiculous. These are things geeks want, not things geeks should give away. If you are reading this site, you are already a geek, and knows what geeks want. The thing is, your friends, family, significant other, etc, are most likely not geeks (at least not all of them). Give them something they want, not something you want!
The subs and the Core 2 Duo are fairly geeky things to want, I would think.
Out of curiosity, what's your preferred alternative?
MPEG - open, but filesizes are too big
Quicktime - proprietary, not as widely used
WMV - proprietary
RealVideo - proprietary, with plenty of Slashdot hate toward the company
Ogg video - no market penetration
XVID/various "divx" AVIs - low market penetration
I suppose the best open and reasonably widespread alternative is mpeg 4, but I'm interested in what you think websites ought to use instead of Flash.
I'm not the parent, but MPEG4, from what I've seen. I don't really have any experience with divx, though. Am I missing something great? I definitely don't want to mess around with Flash. I'm tired of being bugged about needing the latest player, I don't see what problem it solves that's worth more bloat, etc.
What you do with a computer does not constitute the whole of computing.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Every item on that list was geeky--most just didn't happen to be geeky in a computer-centric fashion.
A few points here:
1) Pod espresso machines are NEVER as good as you can make with really fresh, properly ground coffee, in a good machine, with some significant practice. At the same time, they're probably not as bad as most people are likely to get, since people are lazy. On the other hand, espresso geekery is absolutely first-rate.
2) Knife hardness != knife sharpness.
3) Subwoofers should be purchased with the speakers, and should be designed together.
4) Actually, I'm going to stop. This was just a crappy article all 'round.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Amen! I'm always amused at "gift guides" that are composed of items that are hundreds of dollars. Just how the hell much money do these people think my family is worth at Christmas? A really expensive Christmas gift to me is around $50. If I were married, I'd probably spring for $100 or so for my wife.
Yet I see guides like this, hear radio ads telling me to by diamonds that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, or even to do something stupid like buy a new car for my hypothetical wife. A new car? Do these people honestly think I would make such a huge decision without the knowledge, full acceptance, and blessing of my wife?
Am I just the world's biggest cheapskate?
Wait, no, I think I know what's going on here. They want me to think I'm a cheapskate if I don't buy hundreds of dollars worth of crap for my family for Christmas.
Well, I'm sorry, the joke's on them. I think that along with the lesser-expensive gifts I give to my family, a really nice one is not begging them for money the rest of the year because I'd be in debt beyond my imagination for burning through money like that. And call me crazy, but I also think that a really nice gift for one's spouse instead of earrings or a new car that you don't need is—gasp!—a realistic plan for retiring some day so that we can spend wonderful decades together without having to work our asses off for useless junk like, well, a $300 flashlight or a $3600 cappuccino maker!
Honestly, $300 for a fucking flashlight? If someone game me one of those, I wouldn't be grateful, I'd be extremely condescending. "You spend $300 for a fucking flashlight? Did you win the lottery, or are you just too damned stupid to know that you can get a really good one at Target for less than $10?"
What scares this geek is that there are obviously people out there who actually buy this junk. What's doubly scary is that they're pitching it to my friends and family as if I actually would want any of this crap. God, I hope they're not that stupid.
It doesn't matter that your $50k in debt--as long as you can make the minimum monthly payment!
What national debt problem?