You’ve got a few hours left before all of the free “Get it before Christmas!” shipping deals come to a close, and you’ve still got people left gift-less. What ever will you do?
Give’m the gift that just about everyone would love: pornography booze the gift of music! We’ve had all sorts of aural accessories come through our office in the last year, so join us after the jump for a quick, last-minute recap of some of our favorites.
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When I first saw the 4moms Origami stroller, I knew it would be a hit. It’s a robotic stroller that unfolds like the Autobots getting ready to roll out and has one of the nicest interfaces I’ve ever seen on a stroller (which is saying a lot). Why did it make me so excited? Well, first this stroller will beat the pants off any of those feature-rich Stokkes or Buzzes out there. Pull this thing out on the playground and you are the true Ninja Parent. Bugaboo? Whatever. My kid is riding Optimus Prime.
I’m pleased to report that the buggy is as cool as it looks on video. The one-handed operation is seamless and incredibly satisfying and the fun LCD readout – complete with trip meter, battery level, and external temperature sensor – is just icing on the cake. → Read More
Orb Audio is roundly seen as being a company that produces decent to excellent mini speakers at a price that is, at the very least, acceptable to a wide strata of the speaker-buying public. We reviewed a set of Orb home theater speakers and our reviewer found them excellent for cinema playback. The company, seeing a niche, has just released the Orb Audio Booster kit, a $356 package with two basic speakers and a little amp, for computer use.
Installation is dead simple: you plug in the speaker wires into a port on the back and then connect the speakers using simple, push-type mounts. You can then add up to four inputs – two RCA and two mini-jacks – and an optional $299 Super Eight subwoofer. Orb, to their credit, screws the speaker wire to the small green connector cage out of the box. → Read More
I was about to add this coffee maker (excuse me: espresso maker) to the Luddite gift guide but instead I felt it deserved special mention. As a fan of pod-based coffee-makers, I love almost everything about the EA82 – except its price.
This thing is a dense block of coffee-creation goodness. Operation is simple – add some water, whole beans, and a cup. You select the type of coffee – espresso or regular – and press a button. The machine does everything from grinding the beans, heating the the milk and water, and blowing out delicious coffee with just the right top of frothy crema. → Read More
Not everyone needs a Google Nexus. Some of you – and your friends – are happy to exist in a plane without technology, a world dedicated to quiet reflection and acoustic jamming. Here are some of our picks for the Luddites on your list this year.
There are no hand-hewn axes in this list – this is gear that will keep you living in the Hipster Age while still maintaining a connection to the past. → Read More
Another day, another Tokyoflash watch. This one, the On Air, has an LCD screen with backlight and you tell time by reading the numerical minutes read-out as it rotates around in place of the hour hand. It is, to be fair, pretty darn ingenious.
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Iomega’s Mac Companion hard drive is a 2TB ($349, 3TB model is $449) desktop drive with a few features that make it interesting to the average Mac (or PC) owner. While it doesn’t have the bells, whistles, and network access of many NAS and home storage devices, it does look good next to your iMac.
The drive is clad in brushed aluminum with a black glossy top panel and a two-port USB hub in back. You can also daisy-chain Firewire devices through the rear Firewire ports for 800mbps data transfers. → Read More
Whoa. I thought Pleo was hot but this thing is out of this world. It’s basically a little walking robot that can see, hear, and recognize you from a distance. Originally designed to help teach autistic children, the Nao is now a fully-featured and surprisingly friendly-looking robot that can walk, play catch, and talk to you. The company, Aldebaran Robotics, updated their original Nao robot, adding a 1.6GHz processor and HD cameras.
This guy won’t be cheap – he’s a service robot and the movement is so surprisingly smooth that I don’t doubt it will be in the upper thousands when it’s finally available. You can pre-order right now although I suspect that these guys choose you rather than the other way around. → Read More
If you’re an Aunt, Uncle, Grandfather, Grandmother, Godmother, Godfather, Foster Parent, or just plain old mommy or daddy, you might have some kids on your holiday shopping list. These are some interesting toys that I’ve come across this year and all have a certain high-tech edge that adults and kids alike can enjoy.
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These new e-reader-tablet hybrids are shaping up to be the hottest gifts of this year. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is flying off both virtual and real-world shelves and Barnes & Noble has offered up a worthy opponent in the form of its Nook Tablet. But even at their relatively low prices, these e-readers might still be a bit pricey.
That’s why we’ve laid out some of the best accessories for the technologically advanced bookworm in your life.
By the way, if you’re on the hunt for some sweet accessories of the e-ink, e-reader persuasion, stay tuned. We’ll give those their own moment in the sun. → Read More
Most of us eat, sleep and drink at our desk. It’s our live and we can do with it whatever we please. If your loved one spends more time at a desk in front of a computer than anywhere else, the following gifts will likely light up their face. There’s something here for everyone from the Mac fanboy to the retro gamer. → Read More
While I’m fairly certain that this is a publicity stunt tied into the upcoming CES season, BEHRINGER (their caps, not mine) has announced the iNuke, an 8×4 foot, 700 pound iPhone/iPad dock. It costs $30,000 and pumps out – no joke – 10,000 Watts.
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These USB rocket launchers are nothing new, but this model now supports direct control via an iPhone or iPad, allowing you to remotely aim and rain down hellfire upon unsuspecting office mates from outside of the room. Casual Body Armor Friday will never be the same.
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Theo Jansen is an artist who makes wild animated, wind-powered robots that seem to have a life of their own. Once you set them up on a beach and let them go, they undulate, slide, and coil across the sand like some sort of steampunk gazelle. 3D printing service Shapeways is now offering two Jansen designs for sale, including a propellor-powered motor for getting your beest to move. You can purchased the pre-printed beests for about $100 and the propeller add-on for $40. They are about six inches long. Jansen will update the designs as he perfects his larger beests and upload them as they change. You can pick up your own beest here but sadly I can’t find a 3D file so you can print your own at home. → Read More
I find myself looking at the Nitro HD with mixed feelings. In some ways, it’s exactly what I’ve been asking for from LG, and in others it simply brings about disappointment. The software, in particular, failed to impress me.
Hopefully a much more clogged 4G LTE network from AT&T (compared to the like, seven people that are using it now) will still find a way to outweigh the lag on what should be a high-end Android handset. → Read More
If you’re planning a marathon next year or just full of delicious stuffing and turkey, you may want to look into getting a sports watch. These wrist computers offer GPS, heart-rate, and pace measurements for runners, bikers, and, most recently, swimmers and they can help motivate you to get off your duff and, what’s more, help you shave some seconds off your time.
I’ve used all of these except the Garmin and they range from $350 to about $200. When looking at a sports watch, take into consideration your daily regimen as well as your – or your intended recipient’s – favorite sport. Something like the Nike+ GPS watch is best for runners while the Polar RCX5 works for triathloners. Just starting out? Take a look at Garmin and Suunto for simpler sport computers designed to motiviate you to get off your keister. → Read More
Apple has sold over 17 million iPhones in this past quarter alone, so chances are that someone you’ll have to buy a holiday present for will already have one. Instead of the usual “cheesy card and sweater” combination, why not give them something that takes advantage of their constant electronic companion? Here are a few iPhone-friendly gift ideas to consider, all organized by personality type. Happy hunting! → Read More
There are things you need to be afraid of when you’re a new parent. There’s gluten, pull cords, Disney products, and BPA, to be sure, but what about wild robotic strollers that look as if they’ll eat your wee ones in one snap of their plastic jaws?
Luckily, the 4moms Origami stroller won’t close on the little ones and is in fact a automatic stroller with a bit of a twist. Instead of pressing down on some hydraulics, this thing opens and closes with the tap of a button. It is, in short, pretty darn amazing.
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AT&T sure isn’t wasting any time on shoring up their LTE lineup: just a few weeks after the HTC Vivid and Samsung GSII Skyrocket hit the scene, AT&T has announced that the LG Nitro HD will hit the streets on December 4 for $249.99.
Better known as the Optimus LTE outside of the United States, the Nitro HD sports a pretty impressive spec sheet. As the name would imply, the Nitro sports a high-definition 4.5-inch AH-IPS running at 720p, and an 8-megapixel camera sits on the Nitro’s rear-end. Under the hood is a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, along with 4GB of internal storage and a pre-installed 16GB microSD card. → Read More
Black Friday is an awful day compared to today. Sure, you might walk away with that one deal you had your eye on, but for the most part it’s a lot of waiting, fighting, and pepper-spraying. To make up for such an excruciating sale experience, retailers have given us Cyber Monday — the light to Black Friday’s darkness.
That said, we’ve decided to round up some of the best sales of the day just in case you chose to forego Black Friday proper (and why wouldn’t you?). → Read More
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