Electronics shelves, Net overflow with gift ideas
By Leonard Fischer
Gannett News Service
Take a look at these fun and useful gift ideas for music lovers, youngsters and office colleagues.
Music is a traditional holiday gift, and Apple makes it easy to give the digital variety. The company's iTunes Music Store (www.apple.com/itunes) sells gift certificates in $10 increments starting at $20. Gift certificates can be delivered via e-mail or snail mail.
In addition to buying tunes for friends or family, help them pump up the volume with these add-ons. Sony's Fontopia ear buds ($39.99, www.sonystyle.com) are a great replacement for the less expensive variety that ship with many CD and digital music players. Fontopias sport a lightweight design that fits comfortably in the ear, and "silent caps" block out background noise.
I'mASpeaker ($24.99, $34.99 for stereo version, www.tdk.com) is a stylish, on-the-go flat speaker (or speakers in the stereo version) that doubles as a CD wallet. The wallets come in a variety of bright metallic colors.
Also check out Verbatim's Vinyl CD-Rs (www.verbatim.com), which resemble vinyl 33s from yesteryear. They're a retro-chic way to "rip" your music library to disc and they cost less than $1 apiece in 25 or 50 packs.
Listening to music is one thing; making it is another. If you're looking for a gift for someone who wants to be the next American Idol, The Official American Idol Audition Kit ($29.99, www.auditionkit.com) includes everything the budding star will need, including a professional microphone and virtual recording studio software. The software explains how to upload an audition to a Web site, where visitors vote for the performance. Top vote getters might win an "American Idol" audition, tickets to an "Idol" concert or other prizes.
Getting your game on
Finding inexpensive gifts for tech-savvy kids and teens shouldn't be difficult this season — especially if they're into video games. Some options include Saitek's Cyborg evo ($39.95; www.saitekusa.com), a cool looking flight-stick controller that's comfortable for right- and left-handed players. It can be programmed for an array of popular PC games. Or consider the Ideazon Zboard (www.ideazon.com), a programmable keyboard with replaceable sets of key caps customized to work with many different games. The keyboard itself is $29.99. Each set of key caps is $14.99.
Help players keep their cool with Nyko's Air Flo Mouse ($39.99, www.nyko.com), which includes a small, built-in fan designed to prevent palms from sweating.
Other ideas for kids include the Sesame Street KidzMouse ($26.95, www.kidzmouse.com) that comes in Elmo, Cookie Monster and Ernie designs and makes fun sounds when it's squeezed or its buttons are pressed. Hasbro's Video Now player ($49.99, www.hasbro.com) is another great gift for young kids. It plays black-and-white videos from the likes of Hilary Duff and SpongeBob
SquarePants using special discs that cost about $8 each.
Giving at the office
Finally, if there's someone on your list who is always on the go, take a look at these useful gift ideas. Kensington's Wi-Fi Finder ($29.95, www.kensington.com) is small enough to fit on a key chain but powerful enough to detect nearby 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networks. It's a great way to find connections in airports, coffee shops and hotels.
Road warrior types will also appreciate a "thumb" drive-style Flash memory device for transferring files between home, office and at other destinations. Verbatim (www.verbatim.com) and Memorex (www.memorex.com) sell key chain versions starting at about $30 that include 64 megabytes of memory and Universal Serial Bus 2.0 connections for fast transfers. Finally, RoadWired's The Pod ($49.95; www.roadwired.com) makes a great gear bag for digital cameras, memory cards, extra batteries and even a camcorder.
