Geek Gift Guide 2009

gadgets

Geek Gift Guide 2009

Comments 23 November 2009

Last year I put together my first Geek Gift Guide. Take a look since most of those gifts would still make great gifts for the geeks on your list. But here is my latest list of perfect gifts for the geek in your life, or the geek in you.

Paper product: Action Method

Price: $5-$15

action methodAs much as I love my laptop, I don’t use it to take notes in every little meeting I am in. What I love are Action Method notebooks. The Action Book was designed by the Behance team and is based on the Action Method. The four distinct zones on each page provide a flexible template to get the most out of meetings and everyday brainstorm sessions. Each page of the notebook is divided up into 4 sections.

  1. Capture Action steps, relentlessly. During a brainstorm/meeting or on the run, ideas can come and go unless they are captured as action steps.
  2. Tend to your Backburner. Keep a “Backburner” to catch ideas that may someday become actions. Whether it is an idea for the future or some small errand you want to remember, put it in the backburner and then forget about it.
  3. Think beyond lines and boxes. The dot matrix on the front and back of each page serves as a subtle guide for your notations and sketches.
  4. Preparation and Focus Items. Plan for meetings beforehand and be sure to address your focus items.

The Action Method was designed to help us push projects forward by organizing our ideas and focusing on action steps. The Action Book is used by leading creatives in the agency/advertising world as well as at top design studios and innovative companies across industries. The 2008 TED Conference also featured a limited edition TED Action Book to help participants make ideas happen.

Artwork: DNA Portraits

Price: Starting at $199

photogallery_dna_01The perfect gift of original art that no one could ever replicate! I love these portraits because they are simple and modern and yet would fit in almost any home setting. Here’s how it works.

  1. Go to their e-store to begin customizing your art piece.
  2. Order your complete DNA collection kit.
  3. Collect a cheek cell swab using the swab they provide. It’s painless & effortless.
  4. Send the sample back to them and take care of the rest.

If you are giving the artwork as a gift, when placing your order simply select “this is a gift” instead of selecting a color. Then the person who is receiving the gift will get the DNA kit in a nice metal presentation box.

Gadget: Magic Mouse

Price: $69

apple-magic-mouse-side-viewIt wouldn’t be me if there weren’t an Apple product on this list. The Magic Mouse is the world’s first Multi-Touch mouse. Need I say more! It’s the perfect gift for anyone with a Mac who uses a mouse. It’s a great upgrade to any computer. It will change the way you use a mouse.

Apple Gift Cards are always good too.

Organization: Grid-It

Price: $22

grid itEvery geek has a laptop bag, or a back pack, or something that they keep all of their gadgets in. But the hardest thing is not organizing your gadgets, it’s organizing all the wires, chargers, and other accessories that you have for them.

The Grid-It organization system is a unique weave of rubberized elastic bands made specifically to hold personal objects firmly in place. Designed to provide endless configurations of digital devices and personal effects. Slim design and conveniently sized for your current laptop bag or travel case, lets you easily find what you need. It also has a rear zippered pocket for additional storage.

I hope you enjoyed my little gift guide. And keep in mind that geeks aren’t always just about gadgets, we appreciate good design and clean lines, there are food geeks, and fashion geeks, tea geeks, all kinds.

Take a look at what I got Drew for his birthday. It’s a print by an Etsy artist from Drew’s favorite movie Say Anything. It was the perfect gift. Not the most expensive, not the most “geeky” but just right.

So pay attention to the geek that you are shopping for, many times the best choice is the one you wouldn’t expect, the one that comes from the heart.

I hope you find the right gift for your geek this holiday season.

Let me know what you are shopping for in the comments.

gadgets

I want a netbook

Comments 19 January 2009

CES this year sure was an exciting show, but the product that interested me the most was the HP mini 1000 Mi Edition. I have been very happy with my computing combination of iMac and iPhone, but lately I have been traveling around a lot more, and it would be nice to have a small laptop to surf the web with. What I like about the HP is the fact that it is very small (only 1″ thin and 2.25 lbs), but with a reasonable sized keyboard (92% of full size), it runs on linux, and the price starts at $329!

I don’t think after being such a hard core apple user that I could go back to windows even for a small netbook so I am happy that HP is giving consumers the opportunity to try a new OS. But I still find myself scratching my head, where is Apple on this?

It would appear that there are two arguments in the “where is the Apple netbook” debate.

#1 The macbook air is as close as apple is going to get to a netbook, it’s small and portable, yet powerful enough for apple to sell it.

#2 The iPhone and iPod Touch are Apple’s versions of a portable internet browsing device.

Now while these both seem like good arguments, I still don’t buy it. I don’t think Apple is trying to get into the netbook game because they have stated that they can’t build a computer for less than $1000 and be happy with it. Now while the Macbook Air is very portable, it is also very expensive. And while the iPhone has good internet capabilities, it doesn’t match the kind of work I can get done when I have a keyboard and a webcam.

These factors are really making me lean toward the HP. Apple give me a break on this, I would gladly pay $600 for an Apple netbook than ran OSX, just throw me a bone here.

What would you do? And how do you feel about the whole netbook catergory of laptops?

gadgets

Geek Gift Guide

Comments 04 December 2008

Around the holidays everyone is scrambling to find the perfect gifts. Well I thought I could do my best to give you this geek’s wish list for perfect gifts.

1. The Kodak Zi6 – Now while many people may see this camera as a flip knock-off, I see a bigger better screen, rechargeable batteries, and no red light in the front while recording (unlike the flip) This allows for super secret stealth recording. Plus (and I hate to say this) I do love pink gadgets.

2. The Sanctuary – This takes all your gadgets, keys, and everything else coming out of your pockets at the end of the day, and puts it in one neat box that also hides all the wires and keeps everything neat. You might say, ok Sarah that’s nice but what is so special about this?

It comes with a universal charger compatible with over 1500 electronic devices from most major brands and a USB port. It can charge whatever you got! All you need is a spot that will hold the 9″ x 9″ box (23 x 23 cm). Oh and in case you were wondering, it works with 220V and 110V.

3. Canon 5D Mark II – With 21.1 megapixels and HD video can you really blame me for wanting this?

“Professional photojournalists and wedding photographers already choose the EOS 5D for its discrete size and outstanding image quality,” said Mogens Jensen, head of Canon Consumer Imaging. “The addition of HD movie recording opens a new chapter for EOS. It creates new possibilities for EOS photographers to capture and share their stories and to stay relevant in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”

Now I don’t blog about photography because it is my first love. Before the internet, before social media, before I was a blogger or a vlogger, I was a photographer.

If you are thinking about picking this up for yourself or as a gift do yourself a favor and only buy the body. DO NOT get the kit with the lens. Just buy a fixed 50mm EOS lens to start with and you will be much better off.

4. Polaroid PoGo Printer – A mini polaroid printer that can print via bluetooth from a cell phone or from being plugged into your digital camera is awesome in my book. The printer prints 2” x 3” borderless, sticky-back prints. A must gift for all your friends who take a million photos at the party. Now they can have this tiny printer and stick the picture right to your back.

5. Revel lighting – Reveal is a new type of ambient interior lighting. It creates the impression of sunlight streaming through a window and onto an interior wall. The image projected by REVEAL is unique
and cannot be recreated by any other device. Multi-plane analog images create real depth of focus. Air currents through the projector create organic non-repeating movement in the trees. The lamp color closely mimics multi-spectrum sunlight. How cool is this! You know you want it.

6. TriniTEA Electric Tea Maker – This is the ULTIMATE tea gadget! I am so sick of coffee drinkers getting all the gadget fun. So this goes on my list for all us tea geeks. This wondrous appliance does it all – heats water, steeps leaves, and keeps tea warm. Variable timer and temperature control let you adjust the strength of an infusion, ensuring a perfect cup of tea each time.

7. Apple Macbook – You know it can’t be a wishlist of mine without Apple products. I have been moving around a lot and realizing that life without a laptop is not as easy as it seemed. So the new macbook seems the most practical. We all know the reasons to buy it so I am not even going to waist your time with why it is amazing.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season. And remember, jewlery never hurts either.

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

It might look a little different since the last time you saw it, but take a look around and let me know what you think!

Looking for more about me?
Check out the About Me page.

Subscribe

 Subscribe in a reader

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

  • Twitter

    Photos on flickr

    Friend me up!

    Twitter  Flickr  Delicious  FriendFeed  Facebook  Viddler  Last.fm  LinkedIn  Tumblr  Google Reader  Meetup  Yelp  

    © 2009 Random Sarah. Powered by Wordpress.

    Daily Edition Theme by WooThemes - Premium Wordpress Themes