Tech Toys; A gift-giving and -getting guide of the season's greatest

Ryan Pitts Online producer

We're all geeks now.

Maybe it started when we had to program the VCR clock for our parents. Maybe it started when companies figured out that interface and usability ought to be priorities and gadgets got a lot simpler.

Whatever happened, technology surrounds us - at work, at home, at play - to the point where we don't even notice most of it anymore. Things just work. So we use them. And we want more of them. This really does make Christmas the most wonderful time of the year: We have a built-in excuse to indulge, and tech companies are happy to roll out plenty of shiny, shiny things.

That's what this holiday gift list is all about: shiny things. Those items that tech makes a little bit more useful, or a whole lot more fun. We're not talking big-ticket presents, such as flat-panel TVs, or flooded markets such as cell phones and digital cameras. Great presents, to be sure, but those for which you should definitely comparison shop. Start with some side-by-side reviews at a site such as cnet.com.

But shiny things, now, we've got some experience with those. Here are some of the cooler tech toys we wouldn't mind unwrapping this year, as well as some suggestions on where to find more.

Nothing wrong with a little techno-lust, right?

Look for good ideas: idonline.com/notable, momastore.org

HOME STUFF

IROBOT ROOMBA ROBOVAC

Price: $250

Three reasons to buy: Floors get dirty, I am lazy, robots are cool. Plus, WIRED's testing crew says this little unit cleans more thoroughly than vacs that cost five times as much.

Online: irobot.com

NOT-SO-WHITE WALLS

Price: Unavailable

This interactive wallpaper is designed to display text and low- resolution images, so hook up the computer and turn your wall into a dynamic gallery of your digital snapshots. The product is being developed commercially from an Italian artist's thesis project, so it might be a little more realistic to expect it by Christmas 2005.

Online: www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/gallery/notsowhitewalls

MEM OVERHEAD RAIN SHOWER

Price: $7,500-$8,500

This rectangular showerhead system installs in the ceiling and makes your morning shower mimic a rain shower. The water flows over you unaerated, with settings for heavy rainfall, light rainfall and mist. You can even add a unit that emits rainfall scent. It's a good thing the MEM's so expensive, because if I had one, I'd never get out of the shower. Ever.

Online: dornbracht.com

SHOWER SLATE

Price: $10

As long as you're going to be in the shower for a while, you might as well get some work done. The shower slate - which really isn't anything more than an underwater slate designed for scuba divers - lets you take notes when inspiration strikes, mid-scrub. And who doesn't do their best thinking in the shower? I prepared this story as I bathed.

Online: amazon.com

Q BBQ

Price: $185

This steel gas grill is a Transformer. In briefcase mode, it's a foot wide and 2 feet deep, with a handle for maximum portability. In grill mode, it has dual burners (powered by those little propane canisters) and enough cooking space for several burgers or steaks. The manufacturer won't ship outside the UK, but you can find these for resale on eBay.

Online: firebox.com

CANDELOO RECHARGEABLE LAMPS

Price: $50

These small, cordless lamps charge while they sit on their bases, then light up as soon as you lift them off. Take them anywhere; they'll stay lit for up to five hours. Plus they look kind of like little upright slugs.

Online: momastore.org

GADGETS

Look for good ideas: gizmodo.com, engadget.com, gadgets.com

ILLUMINATOR WIND-UP FLASHLIGHT

Price: $28

You know how they tell you to always keep a flashlight in your car? This is that flashlight. The light's provided by three ultrabright LEDs, and it's battery-free. Crank the handle for one minute and you've got continuous light for an hour.

Online: momastore.org

AIPTEK MINI PENCAM

Price: $70

The PenCam is a digital camera, but it only hits 1.3 megapixels. It's also a digital videocamera, but only holds up to 2 minutes of video. And it's a webcam, too, but again, the resolution's not the greatest. So why do I even mention it? The PenCam measures 1" x 1" x 3.5" - small enough to hide easily with your ninja skills. It's perfect if you need to, you know, spy on people and stuff. (It's also on sale online right now for $39.99.)

Online: aiptek.com

BUSHNELL INSTANT REPLAY BINOCULARS

Price: $600 (but you can find it for half that online)

These binoculars can snap 2.1 megapixel digital stills and up to 30 seconds of digital video, which you can then watch via the onboard LCD view screen. Take it to the game and you've got instant replay, on command. When the Cougs are playing well, these might even distract that guy behind you from the hip flask he snuck in. (Word of warning: The camera lens is separate from the binoculars, so your video won't be zoomed in to the same degree.)

Online: bushnell.com

AMBIENT ORB

Price: $150

Plug this glass orb into the wall, and it shifts through thousands of colors to clue you in on everything from the weather to the day's stock trends (green is up, red is down) to whether your significant other is logged into IM. There are plenty of free information channels to subscribe to, or you can code your own. The idea behind this gadget is to make access to your information as simple as glancing at a clock for the time.

Online: thinkgeek.com

TOMY WONDERFUL SHOT

Price: Unavailable

Direct from Japan, a digital camera that hangs off your dog's collar. You will know exactly whose butt he's been sniffing.

Online: www.tomy.co.jp/wonderfulshot

SOUND-ACTIVATED LUMINESCENT WIRING

Price: $28

This thin, glowing cord (available in red, green and blue) has a built-in microphone that picks up music and makes the wiring pulse to the beat. It comes with a 12V adapter, so it's designed for use in the car, but nothing's stopping you from decking out the apartment walls.

Online: ramseyelectronics.com

More ideas at spokane7.com: Minox Night Vision mini spotter, Garmin iQue 3200 navigator, Voltaic solar-charging backpack

SNOW TOYS

AIRBOARD AIRSLED

Price: $270

This is not your father's sled. This is not your children's sled, either. It's your sled, because it can hit 75 mph downhill. (For ye of little faith, I'll just direct you to the video clips at the manufacturer's Web site. Insane.) The Airboard sled is inflatable, with a nylon-reinforced body and hard rubber runners underneath. It rides like a bodyboard: stomach-down and headfirst, with a helmet on if you have even half a brain you'd like to hang onto.

Online: airboard.com

HUB SNOWBOARD JACKET

Price: Contact manufacturer

O'Neill announced this snowboard jacket early in 2004, and it's just now coming out - in Europe. If you can get your hands on one, it has an integrated mp3 player with controls woven into the fabric on the left arm and space for headphones that come up the inside of the coat. And with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, you can even make hands-free calls via the microphone built into the collar. Got any buddies visiting Europe?

Online: oneilleurope.com

BURTON SHIELD IPOD JACKET

Price: $380

This is like O'Neill's Hub jacket, with integrated music controls on the left arm, but instead of a flash mp3 player, it has a protective, molded chest pocket for your iPod. Sounds a bit risky to me, but then again you probably don't turf as often as I would.

Online: burton.com

More ideas at spokane7.com: Insta-Snow powder, MSR Denali Ascent snowshoes, Spring Brook Little Bear snowshoes, Burton Headphone Beanie

TOYS AND GAMES

Look for good ideas: thinkgeek.com, discoverthis.com, bigfuntoys.com, gizmag.com

NINTENDO DS

Price: $150

Its dual screens, wireless functionality, high-res graphics and sweet Nintendo game library make this the must-have handheld gaming device of the season. (That season ends next spring, by the way, when the Sony PSP comes out.) Parents, this is your children's GameBoy on steroids, but if you want one for Christmas, you'd better order quick - some stores already are shutting down pre-orders because the DS hype is so huge.

Online: nintendo.com

ATARI PADDLE 13-IN-1

Price: $25

Self-contained TV games are everywhere right now; with batteries and a TV, you've got everything you need to play a ton of the games that were sweet when you were 8. This one packs 13 titles into the classic Atari paddles, including Pong, Breakout and Night Driver .

Online: thinkgeek.com

FLYBAR 1200

Price: $300

The flybar is just a pogo stick - with 12 rubber thrusters inside, each storing up to 100 pounds of thrust. Which means it can send an average adult 5 feet into the air. The distributor probably should ship these with an envelope pre-addressed to one of those funniest home video shows.

Online: flybar.com

LAZER TAG TEAM OPS

Price: $45

Maybe it's a little more realistic to ask first-person shooter fans to step into the real world with Lazer Tag. The Team Ops set comes with two guns and a goggles with a heads-up display to show target lock and track game stats (such as who just killed who) in real-time. Add in the Team Comm headsets ($25) to keep in touch with your teammates via radio.

Online: lazertag.com

JAPANESE AIRSOFT FIRING TANK

Price: $160

This radio-controlled replica of a Japanese tank fires plastic BBs up to 75 feet. It also comes in the Mini BB tank size ($25), which is only 8 inches long. Again, the manufacturer won't ship overseas, so look for these on eBay.

Online: gadgets.co.uk

SHOCKING TANKS

Price: $75

What's the deal with England and cool remote-control stuff that they won't sell directly to us Americans? Add these to the list: one part tank toy, one part that game James Bond has to play in "Never Say Never Again," where the loser gets a nice fat electrical shock. Yep, when you nail your opponent in Shocking Tanks, you also deliver a jolt through his remote control.

Online: gadgetshop.com

ANTWORKS SPACE AGE ANT HABITAT

Price: $20

This ant farm is an offshoot of a NASA Space Shuttle experiment on animal life in space. It's a block of clear-bluish gel that serves as nutrition and a tunneling habitat for the ants. And at 6 inches high and 5 inches wide, it's small enough to sit on your office desk - as long as it doesn't freak out your co-workers too much. If it does, leave it up and add the $20 Sea Monkeys Executive Set. (Eric Cartman not included.)

Online: thinkgeek.co

SCREAM MACHINE

Price: $80

One for the kids: This is what you'd get if you built a Big Wheel out of high-tensile steel, then chromed it out. You did have a Big Wheel, didn't you?

Online: razorama.com

FUNSLIDES

Price: $18

Strap these on over your shoes and you can surf around on carpet like you were wearing socks on hardwood. Potentially lame at home, though, so consider sneaking into your church's sanctuary.

Online: funslides.com

More ideas at spokane7.com: Star Wars Force FX Lightsabers, Desktop Rover with Wireless Color MiniCam, FlyZone Swift Flyer radio- controlled airplane

TECH TOYS

Look for good ideas: everythingipod.com, ipodlounge.com

iPOD

Price: $250-$500

When someone asks you how to use an iPod, you can hand it to them without saying a word and in 15 seconds they'll have it all figured out. That is why the Apple product is dominating the digital-music market, and why you don't need to bother comparison shopping on this one. The iPod really is as good as everyone says it is. The newest generation has a color screen and photo-display capability, but if you're just after music playback - like me - save yourself a few bucks and go with the regular model. (The iPod also has the best peripherals in the digital-music market; a few of those are highlighted here, but be sure to download the iPodlounge 2004 Buyers Guide at spokane7.com.)

Online: apple.com/ipod

SONY FONTOPIA HEADPHONES

Price: $40-$60

If you're looking to upgrade from the standard Apple earbuds, the Sony Fontopias are probably the best option for less than $100. They have great sound, they seal off your ears from external noise, and they're designed to drape around the back of your neck, instead of hanging in the standard Y-shape under your chin (maybe you like this, maybe not). The EX71 ($50) has a short cord, for use with a remote and a longer extension; the EX51 ($40) has just the normal cord. The EX81 ($60, and apparently only overseas) offers over-the-ear clips. Advantage EX71: They now ship in iPod white.

Online: sonystyle.com

ULTIMATE EARS HEADPHONES

Price: $550-$900

This company uses audiologists to make an exact imprint of your ear, so your headphones are guaranteed to be a perfect fit for you and only you. The tech inside these in-ear speakers is the same used by professional sound engineers, as well as artists like U2 and the Beastie Boys when they perform. Of course, you could replace your iPod three times over for this kind of money, so how hardcore are you?

Online: ultimateears.com

MONSTER iCRUZE

Price: $200

The iCruze installs in your car, giving you access to all your iPod tunes on the road. It connects with your audio system via a CD changer or satellite radio port, so the mobile sound quality is the highest possible. The iCruze also adds an LCD dis-

play so you can see song information on the fly, and it offers steering wheel control over your music.

If $200 seems a little pricy to you, there are plenty of cheaper ways to get iPod music pumping through your car stereo: short-range FM transmitters (although it's hard to get consistently good sound quality with these), CD/cassette adapters (ditto) and the simple line- in method (assuming your car stereo has a port).

Online: monstercable.com/icruze

DLO iBOOM

Price: $150

This boombox has a built-in FM radio, but you want it because it lets you dock your iPod snugly inside. It's not overly powerful (20 watts per channel), but it does work off of AC power or batteries, which isn't an option for many of the portable iPod speaker sets. And the boombox style makes it easy to carry around - again, this isn't necessarily true of some other speaker sets.

If you're after better sound quality and can sacrifice in some of these other areas, check out the Bose SoundDock ($300), or the JBL OnStage ($200) and OnTour ($100).

Online: everythingipod.com, ipodlounge.com

DELPHI XM MyFi

Price: $350 (plus $10/month subscription)

I'm breaking the all-iPod rule here because this device is so different. The XM MyFi doesn't play mp3s at all, but just like your old Walkman picks up FM radio, the MyFi taps into XM's satellite radio network. So if you're a hardcore radio listener, this might be a decent option for you. After all, the iPod only plays what you put on it, so live news and sports content isn't even an option.

Online: xmradio.com/myfi

ROKU SOUNDBRIDGE

Price: $250

This streaming media receiver lets you play digital music wirelessly through a home stereo system. Use your PC to queue mp3s or an Internet radio station, and the SoundBridge picks up the media over wifi (or ethernet if you need to). If your computer's in a different room, use the remote to control your play list. The SoundBridge's slim design won't look out of place next to the rest of your home media components, and its screen makes it easy to read song, album and time information.

Online: rokulabs.com

More ideas at spokane7.com: Finis SwiMP3 waterproof player, Gravis Cellblock protective shell, DMC Xclef 500 100gb MP3 Player

COMPUTER STUFF

Look for good ideas: everythingusb.com, cnet.com

RADEON ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO

Price: $300

The All-In-Wonder series from ATI handles your normal graphics requirements for gaming and the like, but the real reason you want it is because it turns your PC into a TiVo. Just pass your cable TV hookup through the video card, and not only can you watch TV in a window while you work (it even comes with a remote), but you also can record shows onto your hard drive to watch later. Use the video-out capability to connect with your TV, or add on a DVD burner and, well ... you know where I'm going. The 9800 is the latest model, but you can downgrade to the 9600 and save yourself $100.

Online: ati.com

I/OMAGIC DUAL FORMAT DVD BURNER

Price: $200

Hey, speaking of DVD burners ... plenty are on the market right now, but this new model from I/OMagic is nice and slim, weighing in at only a pound. If you don't care about uber-portability, then by all means shop around; this external USB 2.0 drive is a good place to start. It's among the newer generation of burners that can handle dual-layer formatting. Most movie DVDs are dual-layered (with up to 8.5 gigs of data), while regular blank DVDs only hold 4.7 gigs. Backing up your movies always meant splitting them onto two discs, and who wants to do that? The new dual-layer burners just get rid of the problem, which is pretty nice, especially if you have a NetFlix account. Not that I know anyone who would see the highly illegal synergy there.

Online: iomagic.com

DELKIN BURNAWAY

Price: $300

This is one of those Swiss Army-knife gadgets that packs a lot of useful stuff into one device. First of all, the BurnAway can read the memory card from your digital camera and burn files onto CD - no need to hook up to a PC at all. So take it with you and never worry about running out of space for photos. Second, it hooks into a stereo for CD and mp3 playback or into a television so you can watch DVDs. And finally, it comes with a remote so you can control photo slideshows piped onto a TV. Not a bad vacation tool at all.

Online: delkin.com

USB FLASH DRIVE

Price: $30-$150

One of these thumb-sized devices can replace your old floppy disks - all your old floppy disks. Flash drives, which plug into your computer's USB port, range in capacity from 128 Mb to 1 gigabyte of data, so carrying large music or video files, not to mention every Word doc you need for school or work, is a snap. Pop it on your keychain or into your purse, and you'll always have storage handy. There are plenty of options on the market right now, but I'd check out the Lexar JumpDrive Sport ($50 or less for 512 Mb), mainly because you can pop on Lexar's JumpGear MP3 cap ($35). This gives you a flash mp3 player that's more versatile - and cheaper - than most.

Online: everythingusb.com

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

Price: $100-$300

You know how you feel so guilty for filling up your work hard drive with digital music files and downloaded video clips? OK, maybe that's just me, but an external hard drive means never having to say you're sorry to the IT department. If you watch for deals, you can find 80 gigs of storage for about $100, and up to 250 gigs for $250. The magic price point for getting a good deal is about $1 per gig right now. And once you transfer all your "work" music files onto personal storage, pump up your karma by installing the free iTunes player and sharing your music library over the network. Radio Free Cubicle for all your office mates!

Online: buy.com

More ideas at spokane7.com: Pavio Portable Digital Theater

More ideas at spokane7.com: RCA Astro TV, Venexx Parfume watch, Nyx illuminated clothing

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