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The Twelve Days of Christmas Gadgets
Hugh Pickens writes writes "If you still have some last minute Christmas shopping to do and are looking for cool gifts for the tech nuts in your life David Pogue has put together a list of twelve cheap tech gifts and gadgets that real-world people can give to real-world friends, bosses, employees and family members — nothing over $100. How about a Zapped edition of Monopoly for $25 where there is no paper money in the game. You put your iPhone or iPad in the middle of the Monopoly board — and each player gets a fake credit card. You pay or collect money from the bank electronically, just by placing your card briefly on the touch screen. Or how about a Sound Oasis Sound Therapy Pillow for $38? The speakers are in the pillow, you don't feel them, and you can drift to sleep with music playing without disturbing whoever is trying to sleep next to you. Then there's the Tagg Pet Tracker ($100, plus $8 a month after three months) that snaps onto your dog or cat's existing collar. You can use the pettracker.com Web site to find your pet on a map, using your phone or computer. Our favorite is the Cirago iAlert Tag for $50. If you walk away from your smartphone (iPhone, Android phone or BlackBerry), your key chain beeps to alert you and it works the other way, too. If you leave your keys somewhere, the phone beeps to alert you as you walk away! But the weirdest and most memorable of the suggestions are the Necomimi Brain-Powered Cat Ears for $100. It's a headband with fluffy white cat ears attached that perk up, flop down and otherwise turn, cutely and catlike, in sync with your brainwaves. There's a good deal of debate online about just how much the ears' motion is, in fact, governed by your brainwaves but one thing the Necomimis do extremely well is get attention, start conversations and make your holiday gift memorable. Now go start wrapping."
Just had a look at TFA and begorrah this stuff is dire. A pet tracker with a fuppin subscription fee, a few lousy Bluetooth gadgets from China, a board game, a dead boring run of the mill USB battery charger extender pack. Real ground breaking stuff :)
Kawaii
Linux distro (free; $6 on a Kingston flash drive). I guess Ubuntu is no longer in high regard because of that Amazon deal, but take your pick.
The true Christmas gift is here : Santa
Nevermind buying stuff like that, just turn a schlong out of a block of rubber on a lathe, drive a 6mm metal rod in through the centre and connect it to a Makita SDS drill
Crap in a wrap.
Seriously, who buys shit like this? It'll all be in the garbage within a few days, unless it breaks even sooner. It's a set of stupid slashvertisements for complete imbeciles.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
I think I saw that one in Naked Gun 2 1/2.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Nevermind buying stuff like that, just turn a schlong out of a block of rubber on a lathe, drive a 6mm metal rod in through the centre and connect it to a Makita SDS drill
Bosch SDS-Max claims a higher power/weight ratio...
I've just spent four evenings wrapping presents - I love the idea of the boxes which suggest something completely useless inside of them.
I wish Happy and Safe Holidays for Everyone!
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
...just turn a...block of rubber on a lathe
You remind me of that scene in Galaxy Quest when Sam Rockwell's character asks Tim Allen's to look out over a barren landscape and see if he can "...construct some sort of rudimentary lathe...?"
Us apartment dwellers need to make due with crappy, Chinese dongs from the adult book store I'm afraid.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
They're probably fine for dogs. At that price I assume they've got GPS and cellular service, as opposed to being a long-range powered RFID variant?
Neither of my cats are willing to wear a collar, and both of them will have gotten them off in a couple of days. (Most of my previous cats were ok with collars, but you do have to leave them stretchy enough so that they can get out of them if they get the collar stuck on something, and one of my cats has a neck that's fatter than her head anyway, so any collar I put on her is quickly hidden under furniture somewhere.) And cats are much safer if you keep them inside, though of course some cats will occasionally get out anyway, especially if you live in silly California houses that don't have airlocks for the doors.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
And his mom?
Makers Unite: Here are instructions for those who would like to make their own cat ears:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Animatronic-Cat-Ears/
Credit Card Monopoly sucks balls. Not only does it take forever you can't trade while someone else is rolling. e.g. I'll give you these 3 properties and $1000 for Boardwalk. Sorry you have to wait, effectively a banking holiday where while you are waiting for someone else comes along and make a better offer because he has access to the swiper. You are at the mercy of the "banker" to type in the correct amount of transfer, "woops I guess you have $1000 less in your account, prove you had it!" Only brainwashed people think it's cool.
Did Apple select most of these gadgets? I guess I'll just buy the "Necomimi Brain-Powered Cat Ears"... Thanks...
The G
"How about a Zapped edition of Monopoly for $25 where there is no paper money in the game."
How about not. Take a terrible board game, and then add the frustration of dinking with an iPad app on top of it. If you want to improve Monopoly, replace your paper money with chips, ditch the popular "free parking" house rule, and implement the auction rule whereby if you pass on buying property, it goes to high bidder among other players w/ starting bid = $1.
The auction rule makes property disappear more quickly, and free parking is a terrible (but popular) house rule that extends a game that tends to drag on as it is.
Better yet, cruise on over to boardgamegeek.com and discover that board games can be *so* much more than Monopoly. Like try a game of 1830 on for size.
"Or how about a Sound Oasis Sound Therapy Pillow for $38? The speakers are in the pillow, you don't feel them,
and you can drift to sleep with music playing without disturbing whoever is trying to sleep next to you."
No one here has someone sleeping next to them.
Crank those suckers up to 11.
'
That really is one of my favorite films of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTzVW82FaRs
My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.
How about a Zapped edition of Monopoly for $25 where there is no paper money in the game.
How about I kick you in the teeth for suggesting Monopoly Without The Thing That Constitutes Most Of The Fun Edition.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Brand-New-6-in-1-Educational-Solar-DIY-Toy-Kit-Boat-Fan-Car-Robot-/200856537614?pt=Educational_Toys_US&hash=item2ec3fb8a0e
But this is an outrageous amount of fun and learning for the price. Plus it comes with a tiny solar panel you can include in your survival kit for camping!
Up next, a new Best Albums of 2010 article?