Accessory Gifts For The Hi-Techie
Hi-tech items are among the season's most popular gifts. If you're unsure what to buy the tech-lover on your list, The Saturday Early Show has some great suggestions for you.
Janice Chen, the editor in chief of Computer Shopper magazine and the editor-at-large of CNET.com, shared her ideas.
Chen points in the direction of accessories.
The Web site tests and reviews electronic products, and offers advice on using products, such as how to set up your new plasma TV.
The company's labs tested all the products Chen mentions. The labs run both objective tests (how fast one computer is compared to another) and subjective ones (which photo printer produces the best prints).
iPod Accessories: Many people received iPods last year, and many more will receive them this year. With all of those iPod owners out there, iPod accessories make up a hot, expanding category of goods.
Speakers that enable you to "dock" your iPod and listen to your stored music without earphones are among the most popular items. If you're looking to buy iPod-compatible speakers, the BOSE SoundDock ($299) is your best bet.
These stereo speakers work with all dockable iPods but have no other inputs, so it's a dedicated device that can't be used with anything else. While there are other speakers out there, none can match the sound quality of the SoundDock.
"It performed better than we expected in our tests," Chen says. "They sound like bigger speakers."
The only downside is that the sound deteriorates some when you are over three feet away from the speakers.
The product includes a small credit-card-style remote and ships with adapters for the Mini and other generation iPods. (Only the first two iPods are not compatible, because they didn't come with a dock connector.)
If you want to buy an iPod accessory, but don't want to spend a lot of money, consider the ISKIN EVO2 ($30). This is a rubber case that protects iPods (both 20GB and 40GB sizes) and comes in nine different colors -- four of which glow in the dark. There are holes for all ports and controls, and a small flap in the back protects the docking port when it isn't connected. The iSkin has pores on the back to help keep the iPod from overheating.
Digital Camera Accessories : Digital cameras are another very popular holiday gift. Of course, many people already have digital cameras, so here are a couple of components that folks with cameras will certainly enjoy.
The Epson Picturemate ($199) is a portable photo printer. It's super-easy to use, and CNET testers found that Epson's photo quality was top-notch. You don't need a computer to use the printer. You can simply plug the camera directly into the machine (it's roughly the size of a boom box) or slip your memory card into one of the provided slots.
There is no LCD display on the machine, so you'll have to print out an index to choose the photos you want to print. Although other brands of photo printers do have LCD displays, Chen says the quality of the Epson prints outweighs the inconvenience of not being able to preview your photos on the machine itself.
It takes about two or three minutes to print a photo. Epson sells the paper and ink you'll need as a package deal. Each print winds up costing about 29 cents, which rivals the price of many photo labs.
For the avid digital photographer, there is the Epson P-2000 Photo Viewer ($499). This is basically like a digital photo album. It enables you to store digital photos, as well as music and home videos, and view them. The photo viewer is for people who take a lot of pictures and find themselves running out of memory on their memory cards, or frequently needing to download photos to a computer. The viewer includes a 40 GB hard drive, which insures that you'll never run out of memory on vacation, for example. The other great thing about this product is that it has a big, bright screen for viewing photos. Many people struggle to view photos on their camera's screens; using the photo viewer is a great way to share pictures with mom, dad, grandma and others.
More Fun Ideas: When you're armed with a Swiss Army knife, you have every tool you could possibly need at your immediate disposal. Now, this pocket-sized wonder comes equipped with a USB drive that easily detaches from the knife and plugs into your computer, MP3 player, etc.
The Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Swissmemory is $64 for 64 MB of memory, $81 for 128 MB. It's a perfect gift for the computer user on the move!
Finally, an item that's not exactly high-tech, but is lots of fun. Jakks TV Games makes a joystick that plugs directly into your TV. The joystick is pre-loaded with five old arcade games: Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position, Galaga,and more. Kids probably won't be captivated by the crude graphics of these games, but they're fun, nostslgoc stocking stuffers for adults. The joystick is widely available at toy stores, Radio Shack, Wal-Mart and other retailers. Cost varies depending on where you buy it: $20 - $30.