Top 4 Holiday Tech Gifts for 2008

After much review and testing here are my Top 5 Holiday Tech Gifts for 2008. Some of these are great for techies while others are great for newbies and tech-phobic family members. There are so many items that I could choose from and I really tried to pair down the list to really practical and cost-effective tech gift ideas. Let me know in the comments what else should be on this list.

The Peek – Email with no hassle. This practical, simplified device has really captured my attention recently. It does what it does extremely well and doesn’t suffer from what I call “Featuritis” – the laundry list of options and features marketing depts try to get engineers to cram into gadgets which in theory, make them more versatile and convenient BUT in reality tends to make gadgets more complicated and difficult to use. The genius of of the iPod was that it stuck to doing one thing easily and exceedingly well. Well the Peek is like the iPod of email. It’s no blackberry or iPhone, it only does email. There are absolutely no extra features, no calendar or camera or phone or web functions. But this device, which is really slim and light and 3.8 ounces is geared towards non-techies and non-business types. That’s right, this is a gadget that for non-techies! You can’t open attachments other than jpegs, you can have up to 3 email accounts, works easily with Gmail, Yahoo and other mail providers. It was very, very simple to setup just type in my email address and password, no worrying about exchange, smtp stuff etc…On the device it doesn’t display formatting like bold or italics and you can’t create folders. The network is run by T-Mobile and you get incoming email and the ability to reply and send emails. There’s a $20 monthly fee for email service, but there’s no contract. Now before you say “are you for real” think about how many people really don’t need, can’t afford or don’t really know how to use a smartphone. And the economics isn’t bad either when you compare a 2yr contract with data plans you’re talking at least $1,500 over 2 years for all costs compared to about $500 for the same 2 years with the Peek. Once I stuck my head out of my own little “smartphone” world I realized there really is a substantial market for this device – go figure – email is still king. Pick it up online at: www.getpeek.com or at Target (if you can get one, they are flying off the shelves).

Netbooks – Basic computers for Internet Surfing and Office Applications – At a fraction of the size and cost of standard laptops. Asus first introduced its EEE line last year, and it was such a hit that we know the market is flooded with competitors. If you look at the bestsellers in computers on Amazon, you’ll find that with the exception of an Apple Mackbook, the top ten list is all netbooks! Other than layout of the keyboard, a lot of these mini computers are pretty similar in that they all tend to offer the same things: an energy efficient Intel Atom processor, a choice of Windows XP or Linux as the operating system, and a choice of Solid State harddrive which has no moving parts and is shock resistant or a standard laptop hard drive which can hold a lot more data at the same price. They generally run with an 8.9 or 10 inch screen. You’re not going to want to use this computer as your main work computer as there are a lot of limitations, this is not a gaming computer, you also wouldn’t run intensive programs, but it’s perfect for office applications and surfing the web. You can toss this in a book bag, or purse without a thought, as they generally tend to weigh under 3 pounds. I recommend either the Acer Aspire One or the Asus EEE 1000Ha, the only major difference between these two is the screen size.

The Flip Mino HD video camera – www.theflip.com HD video camera under $230 (non-HD models $179) that fits right in your pocket, smaller than a pack of cigarettes. I was a fan of this little guy when it was first introduced and it’s back. The Flip Mino HD is a handheld, pocket sized video camcorder that’s a slight upgrade to the previous Flip Ultra. It’s pretty simple to use, you don’t need to adjust any settings to instantly start capturing video. There’s no tapes or media to deal with because of the built in memory that lets you record for up to an hour, and all you need to do is plug it in via USB, which neatly flips out of the top of the device so you don’t even need to worry about storing the cables. It even comes with simple video editing software, so you don’t even need to know how to use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. The resolution is 720p and you can capture still images from the video.

Pulse SmartPen by Livescribe – The Pulse smartpen captures handwriting and simultaneously records audio and synchronizes it to the writing, so you never miss a word. It’s like Tivo for your notes. The smartpen has a mini-camera, mic and speaker all in a pretty comfortable sized pen that writes with real ink. The pen can record audio and link the recorded audio while you are taking notes on their special paper. So instead of trying to capture every word someone says you can simply jot down hilights or bullet points because the pen is capturing all the audio being said. Then later you flip your pages back to your notes, use the pen to touch one of your bullet points and from the pens speaker or included headphones you will hear exactly waht was being said at that moment. This device has changed how I take notes and has enabled me to focus more on listening than writing which has made me way more effective. it also synsc your audio and handwriting to the desktop for archive, you can also keyword search on your notes – which is awesome. Ohh and did I mention there are other apps being devloped for the pen that take it to another level and that you can also draw with the pen and then convert your drawings to flash movies – that’s insane! Architechts, engineers and people who love to communicate visually will oove that feature. The Pulse is available in two models. Priced at $149, the 1GB model provides storage for over 100 hours of recorded audio. At $199, the 2GB model doubles the storage capacity and provides more flexibility for downloading future applications. An awesome gift for students, notetakers, admin, biz professionals, anyone who takes alot of notes. View a demo of the pen: http://www.livescribe.com/smartpen/videos.html