It's the holiday season. And what better way to tell the techie in your life you love them than by buying them the hottest new gadget. Here are
CityNews.ca's Top 5 Holiday Tech Gifts for 2008.
5. Sony Blu-ray BDP-S350
I was a strong supporter of HD-DVD last holiday (I still think it was the better way to go). Unfortunately it died an early death and
Blu-ray survived. Since then I have scoffed at the next generation of DVD and stayed with the tried and true standard DVD (along with some HD downloads via
XBOX Live and
iTunes). That changed when I witnessed the glory of the
Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player. This player could very well help Blu-ray become the standard in home entertainment. It's easy to set up and use, the price is reasonable (can be found at
Future Shop or
Best Buy for $269), and when you watch your favourite movie on Blu-ray for the first time it's like watching your favourite movie for the first time! It's also BD-Live Ready which allows you to use interactive features on Blu-ray titles (see
The Dark Knight below). More specs can be found on the
SonyStyle site.
If you're going to go Blu-ray this year these are some recommended titles:
Band Of Brothers - Amazing
HBO WWII series produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Looks and sounds great on Blu-ray. Special features include the feature length documentary
We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company, optional picture-in-picture commentary with the Easy Company veterans, and a 30-minute making-of featurette.
The Dark Knight - One of the biggest movies of the year deserves to be seen in high-definition. Incorporates the IMAX footage from the theatrical release and supports BD-Live for creating and sharing your own audio commentary. Also includes the special features
Batman Tech (looking at the gadgets and tools Batman uses) and
Batman Unmasked (the psychology of Batman). A digital copy of the film is included as well.
Wall-E - A must for any
Pixar fan. Crystal clear picture and sound makes this one of the best Blu-ray discs to show off the technology. The 3-Disc Special Edition includes the shorts
Burn-E and
Presto as well as a ton of other cool behind-the-scenes features.
4. Microsoft Zune
We all love our iPods (you have an iPod right?), but the hugely popular Apple player lacks a lot of features that the
Microsoft Zune has. No FM tuner is my biggest complaint (so you can still listen to your local traffic and news). The Zune has one and it works well. The iPod also lacks the social ability of sharing music.
Zune to Zune sharing fixes this by letting you send your music wirelessly to another Zune user so they can check it out a few times to see if they like it. The Zune can also sync to your PC over your wireless network and play unprotected WMV, H.264 and MPEG4 video files. Like the iPod you can get the Zune in many different colours and sizes. Prices range from $99.99 - $249.99US (TIP: I hear
ExploreMusic is giving away 20 of these this month).
3. Easy Bloom USB Plant Sensor
Great use of technology for the wannabe gardener in your life. The
EasyBloom USB Plant Sensor analyzes your soil and helps you pick plants depending on the condition. It also monitors dying plants and gives suggestions on what might be going wrong. Available in
Canada
online at Brookstone for $59.99.
2. Wii Fit
One thing Nintendo has done well with its
Wii gaming system is get people off their couch and moving. If
Wii Sports got you jumping and swinging,
Wii Fit will keep you on an exercise regimen. The
Balance Board that comes with the game is how you interact with the system. You use it to do your exercises as well as weigh and test yourself. During set-up of the "game" you get a
Wii Fit Age (this is based on your weight, height and a few balancing tests), you tell it your goal and it creates an exercise plan (if your Wii Fit age is 40 and you're actually 30 your goal should be 30). If you don't use it for a couple of days the game will re-calculate your weight and if you've put on any extra pounds it will give a list of common reasons why (one being because you're not sticking to your plan). Although it is exercise it does feel like a game and is a lot of fun. Your best chance at finding the Wii Fit in stock this year is at
HMV (it runs $99.99). If you haven't yet purchased the Wii system, that will set you back $269.99.
1. Flip Ultra/Flip MinoHD Video Camera
The
Flip Video Camcorder (top left) is a very compact video camera that uses a flash-based hard drive to record (no tape) and a built-in USB plug to transfer your video to a PC (no cable required). Given the physical size of the unit and the size of the memory, the Flip shoots amazing quality (and has been making waves with YouTubers for about a year now). Most recently
Pure Digital, the company behind the Flip, released the
Flip MinoHD. Same compact camera only with HD quality video. Both the
Flip Ultra and Flip MinoHD shoot 60 minutes of footage. Unfortunately Best Buy and Future Shop are only selling the Flip Ultra in
Canada
(for $169.99) so you'll have to cross the border for the Flip MinoHD (which runs $269.99US).
Did we miss a great tech gift idea? Email
brian.mckechnie@citynews.ca and let us know.