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Tech Gifts for the Holidays

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the tis-the-season-to-blah-blah-blah dept.

MrCopilot pointed out that every year there are a slew of gadgets geeks desire for Christmas, and approximately 7 million web pages dedicated to compiling lists of them. So why shouldn't we join in the fun. Here are stories from Dallas News, CBS News, Seattle Times, E Media Wire, Detroit News and MSNBC. So lets take a crack at your own list. There's still another day or two where things could conceivably be shipped on time for the holidays. I highly recommend Rock Band, although my aching hands might disagree.

26 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. Some of us are celebrating festivus by VMaN · · Score: 5, Funny

    .... you insensitive clod :)

    1. Re:Some of us are celebrating festivus by vil3nr0b · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's right and those of us celebrating festivus want that fucking laser from Boeing.

    2. Re:Some of us are celebrating festivus by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

      I would celebrate Festivus, but those damn poles are too expensive...

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    3. Re:Some of us are celebrating festivus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Mark above as troll. It is a link to some info gathering farm: "gotcha: MyMiniCity is designed to capture information from all its visitors. thank you for your participation."

  2. Not really tech gifts... by Ryukotsusei · · Score: 3, Funny

    I read over a few of the lists... they seem more like lists for tech enthusiasts rather than actual.. geeks per se. Where the hell is Hubo? No segways? Motor scooters? Play pen balls? Although personally, I'm aiming for ice skates this winter.

  3. Almost anything from ThinkGeek by Selfbain · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you gave me a 10k gift certificate for ThinkGeek, I bet I could spend it.

    --
    Well, it has never been successfully tested.
  4. My Pick for geek toy... CyBook Gen3! by Brew+Bird · · Score: 3, Informative

    Has to be the Bookeen Cybook Gen3.
    http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx
    The only thing that could make this thing cooler is a wifi connection.

    1. Re:My Pick for geek toy... CyBook Gen3! by SharpFang · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Content:size ratio.

      A paperback book with 1MB hardly fits in a pocket and is maybe 6h of reading for an average reader. A 1GB SD card is easily months of reading, pluggable into a device that is the size of the 1MB book - and thanks to the e-paper, the batteries won't die on you while you read and the readablity will be just like with a paper book.

      Imagine you want to read the whole Pratchett's Discworld series on your daily way to work, 1h each direction, on a train daily. You either go to a bookstore and (with lots of luck if it's all in stock) buy some 10 pounds of paper, then remember to take one part for your travel, or two if you're about to finish the 'current' one. You pay a small fortune.

      Or you rent them at a library. Good luck getting them all, good luck getting them in parts and none of the parts missing, you're bound by return schedules and you need to go to said library.

      Or you visit piratebay and download the whole series in ebook format, then read it on your pocket reader. Cost: zero. You have them all, no management. You read on your own schedule. They fit on one tiny card. And so on... And if you feel like the author deserves the money, you buy the DRM'd versions from Amazon and promptly delete them, or just buy the paper version and put them on a shelf in your house, never opening them.

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    2. Re:My Pick for geek toy... CyBook Gen3! by eln · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The e-book thing is an idea that simply refuses to die. Every couple of years, we get more hype about it, but it's never really gotten that far. My personal take on it is that it's a solution looking for a problem. An e-book reader is not really any more convenient to carry around than a paperback book, and is less durable. The only real advantage is the ability to carry around your entire library with you, but so far that hasn't been enough to overcome the disadvantages inherent in reading for extended periods of time from a small electronic device.

    3. Re:My Pick for geek toy... CyBook Gen3! by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Did you go to college? Heaving around all those textbooks SUCKED, especially when I had to walk to campus! This is the one great usage I can see for e-books, or at least PDF releases of texts, but I doubt the printing industry is going to give up on leeching off of college kids.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    4. Re:My Pick for geek toy... CyBook Gen3! by Pollardito · · Score: 3, Funny

      You are going to read 4 minutes from 15 different books in a 1 hour trip. that sounds more like a ransom note than a good reading experience
  5. Hand-Brain coordination by starglider29a · · Score: 4, Funny

    My kid is a genetic gamer, with Controller Thumb to prove it. I wanted to give him a gift which would allow him to use his hand-skills and yet challenge his brain.

    I gave him a slide rule.

    1. Re:Hand-Brain coordination by still_sick · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wanted to give him a gift which would allow him to use his hand-skills and yet challenge his brain.

      Buy him some Playboys, but cut the naughty bits out of all the pictures.

      --
      ...Also, I didn't know Buggalo could fly.
  6. Re:My greatest gift... by dintech · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes AC, I'd like that too. You've been trolling here too long and I hate you.

  7. Please don't turn /. into digg. by dotancohen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What I want for christmas:
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.
    Please don't turn /. into digg.

    What the hell is with these top-* lists?

    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  8. Asus EEE PC by Kelbear · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Super-small laptop, with a 7-inch screen.
    The thing is hardly bigger than a DS. It can fit in women's handbags. Glove compartments.

    And yes it runs linux, it comes runs linux out of the box.

    Mine will double as a casual laptop and as a remote for my TV which will be using my computer as a source(via logmein).

    I can see both women and men loving this thing. $400 bucks or so.

  9. CHEAP ebook readers? by SharpFang · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If I want an e-book reader that does just that - displays the text - without web browser, wireless purchases, touchscreen, accelerometers, WiFi, EVDO, DRM, DMCA, PATRIOT, WMD and all this crap that does little to user experience and lots to the price. Not every country considers 2 salaries worth of money a good price for a device to just read books.

    It would be good if it was pocket-sized too.

    What would you recommend?

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    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    1. Re:CHEAP ebook readers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      JuiceBox -- http://myvogonpoetry.com/wp/index.php?p=57

      http://www.teleread.org/blog/2005/06/02/the-12-e-book-reader/

    2. Re:CHEAP ebook readers? by O2dude · · Score: 3, Insightful

      With that list of reqs/specs I'd just go with the original paperback:

      1. Low puchase cost
      2. Best in class - by far - battery life
      3. Best in class - by far - display resolution
      4. Lightweight

      --
      - It took western civilisation 2000 years to ensure popular literacy, and now we work with icon driven GUI's. Go figure.
  10. Pretty high prices by blueskatz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Every year, I see these lists and I wonder, do most people really spend that much on a single Christmas gift? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying anyone a $2500 self-tuning electric guitar (CBS list), or a new $2299 Apple iMac (MSNBC list) or even a $400 iPhone this holiday season. I swear these lists must be created by retailers or someone trying to convince you that you have to go all out and spend all your savings every Christmas, just so your friends and family will love you.

    At least some of these lists are surprisingly decent - the Dallas and Detroit ones are actually pretty reasonable - accessories for your friends and family that already bought their gadgets. Now those make good gift items.

  11. Rock Band? by CompMD · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't know, but instead of playing Rock Band, maybe people could learn to play real instruments.

    Get off my lawn.

    1. Re:Rock Band? by UncleTogie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do you really want to have to listen to your kid trying to learn how to play a real instrument?

      Heaven forbid we actually encourage a real-life artistic skill.

      Skill takes practice. Get 'em an electric guitar... with an ear monitor.

      --
      Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
  12. My list by hcdejong · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hydrodynamic building set
    Chaos tower

  13. Engadget Has... by ack154 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Gift guides for most of the family.

    I think they're still working on one or two more. Not sure.

  14. Go green, skip the gadgets by athloi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. Buy gadget
    2. Replace batteries
    3. Watch it break down
    4. Attempt to fix
    5. ???
    6. Profit (for the person who sold it)
    7. Massive unrecycled waste (your gift to planet earth)

    Good ideas: plants, books, tools, Slashdot membership, backrubs, fruit, nuts, candy wrapped in paper.

    This holiday is about loving your family, go be with them, instead of working extra hours to buy them plastic crap you won't even remember in two years!

    --
    technical writing / development
  15. Re:For the gamers by Kohath · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can help with this.

    How can you say that either game is "more awesome" than the other?

    You just say it. It helps if you actually have that opinion, but it's not really necessary.

    You're comparing apples and oranges.

    Apples are better than oranges. Oranges are too sugary and the non-juice parts of the orange are more-or-less pointless. Oranges are really a drink, whereas apples are a food. And, as a drink, oranges are too sugary and don't contain adequate caffeine. When apples are made into a drink, they're actually worse than orange juice though.

    You also have to buy the good apples. Discount apples have little taste.

    I would recommend Rock Band to anyone with more than two friends.

    Does God count as a friend?