Christmas gifts for tech-geeks

Christmas gifts for tech-geeks

Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, Jakarta

vmahmud@yahoo.com

Christmas is the season of giving, even if you don't celebrate
the holiday. In fact, the year-end holidays are a perfect excuse
to buy something for yourself in order to keep up with the most
up-to-date technology.

Things have changed greatly in the past five years, with more
and more people embracing the latest gadgets and tech tools.

Audiocassette tapes, floppy disks and VCRs are slowly going
the way of the dodo, so you'd better get a handle on the current
tools. Here are some excellent, useful gifts for the season.

Instead of those terrible, scratch-prone, data-corrupting
floppy disks, Universal Serial Bus (USB) drives are considered
their next-generation replacements. With its light frame and no
moving parts, the USB Drive -- also known as Thumb drives or Key-
chain drives -- can store at least 60 to 200 times more data than
a floppy. Simply plug it into your USB port and watch it work
flawlessly.

Those who are still using Windows 98 and older programs would
need to install special drives, ranging from 64 megabytes (MB) to
512 MB.

There once was a time when digital cameras were only for elite
professional photographers. Now, thanks to the advances in
digital photography, prices have fallen dramatically while
quality continues to improve. Nikon, Canon and Olympus are the
top three favorites, although "traditional" film companies Kodak
and Fuji also provide excellent consumer-grade digital cameras.

Get a camera that has a zoom function and built-in flash. Most
importantly, purchase one that offers a minimum three mega-pixel
resolution, since they provide the best picture quality when
printing on your Inkjet printer. On that note, Fuji, Hewlett-
Packard and Canon are but a few vendors that offer high-end photo
printers for printing at home.

To get an idea of the various photography hardware on the
market, check out www.dpreview.com for reviews and user comments.

Notwithstanding the recent crackdown on piracy, DVD movies
continue to be a major source of entertainment in Jakarta. Rent
it or buy it, you can view them at home or in your car during one
of the city's many traffic jams. Portable DVD players with built-
in LCD screens allow you to watch Pirates Of The Caribbean
wherever you are. Another alternative is to go to your local car
accessories dealer and get one mounted on the ceiling or on the
seat-back.

Tired of real life? Why not try a virtual one? Computer games
are now bringing in more money then all of Hollywood's
blockbusters put together. Contrary to old-school thinking, games
are no longer just for kids -- proven by the fact that video
games designed for adults are bestsellers. You can play the Hand
of God in The Sims, be a wronged cop out for revenge in Max
Payne, or play a total thug in Grand Theft Auto. Granted, some of
these digital entertainment products have questionable moral
attitudes (Postal, anyone?), but remember, it's only a game.

Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's X-Box and Nintendo's
GameCube consoles are readily available at Taman Anggrek, Ratu
Plaza and Mangga Dua mall, just to name a few, despite the fact
that they are not officially distributed in Indonesia. This
hasn't stopped thousands of people from buying them, and there is
a growing number of service centers for these game consoles.

If your life is so hectic that you need a computer to put it
all together, maybe it's time to get a Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA). You can choose between Microsoft's Pocket PC and Palm
Computing's Palm OS-based PDAs.

The Pocket PC is said to be ideal for surfing the Internet and
playing games, while the Palm OS is considered to be more stable
with a longer lasting battery. Both offer the same kinds of
features and it is up to the user to select a model based on
individual needs. For beginners, Palm's Zire series is perhaps
the best bet.

Finally, what's Christmas without Christmas carols? MP3
players have now replaced the Walkman as a portable music player.
Depending on your needs, you can easily get one that can store a
few songs to literally a year's worth of non-stop tunes. These
players are either based on frictionless solid-state memory or
one with a hard drive and related accessories.

Apple's iPod is perhaps the world's best MP3 player, offering
a long-lasting battery and up to 40 gigabytes of memory. It also
has excellent peripherals to further extend the usability of the
device, such as a microphone for voice recording as well as
powerful external stereo speakers. Considering the iPod's premium
prices, you can also take a look at some of the digital voice
recorders available on the market, such as Korea's Elson brand,
as they also provide USB hard-drive storage facilities in
addition to MP3 playback capabilities.

Simply select one that fits your needs and requirements. You
can perhaps even charge it to the office, since it can be used to
record meetings and brainstorms, too.