Trading Your Tie for a Treo: The Holiday-Gift-Return Ritual
By Anne O'Dell
In the lethargic haze immediately following the gift-giving holidays, many of us will slide out of a gluttonous stupor to find ourselves a little hungover, a little bloated, and in the possession of one or two gifts which, though given with the best intentions, don't really do a thing for us.
Whether it doesn’t fit, you already have one, or you’re just too lazy to go out and buy the batteries to use it, you, dear consumer, should feel no guilt about returning the gift for something you can really enjoy.
On the other hand, perhaps you’re one of the fortunate ones whose all-wise friends and relatives give nothing but gift certificates. Lucky you. But what on earth are you going to get with a half-dozen Best Buy gift cards?
To save you from emerging with a pack of 3.5-inch floppy disks and a pair of hideous, iTunes-playing sunglasses, we’ve come up with a list of the hottest, trendiest tech accessories and gadgets that almost anyone would love to have. And they’re all so new that they won’t be played out until March at the earliest.
TechTethers
Released in December 2005, Mary Medina’s TechTethers are the perfect solution for ladies who lose their cell phones or miss calls while trying to fish a phone out of a cluttered handbag.
Available at Fred Segal and Nordstrom, these stylish strings of pearls, Swarovski crystals, semi-precious stones, and beads of precious metals or painted china keep cell phones firmly connected to a purse or pocket. TechTethers can also be used for PDAs, digital cameras, or any other electronic device that never seems to be at your fingertips when you most need it. Prices range from $20 to $85.
As Paris Hilton and Madonna have already been spotted using the chic leashes, we predict this item will reach an Ugg boots level of popularity and omnipresence in Southern California by next winter. To avoid being labeled as a sequacious poser, buy one before you start seeing knockoffs at mall kiosks.
Squeezebox V3
Slim Devices’ newest audio-file-management device is a marvel of beautifully streamlined design. The Squeezebox V3, a network music player, allows users to access any song on their computers as well as hundreds of Internet radio stations from any room in their homes—all without shuffling through and loading CDs.
The device can also display news feeds, animate music, play files in six standard and emerging formats, synchronize music in up to 20 rooms, allow the user to easily navigate libraries of 100,000 songs, and even create music mixes. Perhaps most impressive to the devoted technophile, the Squeezebox is compatible with not only Windows and Macintosh operating systems, but also Linux.
The Squeezebox V3 is available in black and white and starts at $250.
A similar device starting at $399 is the Roku SoundBridge M2000. Although not Linux-compatible or as feature-heavy as its less-expensive competitor, this model offers a big, bright 512-by-32-pixel display, which is sure to impress those who value a fashionable form over an esoteric function.
Treo 650
Having been eagerly anticipated since its announcement in October 2004, the latest PDA from palmOne boasts an inconceivable gamut of features. As the newest addition to its line of smartphones, the Treo 650’s portfolio includes Bluetooth connectivity; a removable battery; Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; an mp3 player and an FM radio; and, as are de rigueur in any PDA, a camera for stills and video, email, and Web access and a phone. The Treo 650 smartphone is still small enough to fit in the user’s pocket and has a dazzling full-color display screen, an improved keyboard, and a nonvolatile memory in case of power loss.
But you’re going to have to act fast to get this PDA while it’s still hot. On December 21, 2005, palmOne announced it would be releasing several new Treo models in 2006. Rumors circulating in the techie world suggest that one of these units, nicknamed “Hollywood,” will be a very fancy first attempt at the European market and will not have an external antenna.
The Treo 650 starts at $299 and is available wherever palmOne products are sold.
Nokia 7280
Although light on nifty features common to bulkier models, such as a QWERTY keyboard or a battery that will outlast the chattiest user, the Nokia 7280 is the coolest-looking phone known to humankind, and we’re not being hyperbolic.
Its red glow when receiving an incoming call is said by Nokia to “exude mystery and excitement”; and the unique rotator, which eliminates the need for a 12-button keypad, will allegedly make the user “stand out like a flame in the darkness.”
The rotator, however, poses some problems when trying to dash off a quick text message or quickly enter a phone number, making this gift a perfect, if pricey, solution for the notorious “drunk dialer” in your sphere of acquaintance.
The phone’s features include Bluetooth technology, a speakerphone, and an FM radio; currently, it can be had for $450 from the Nokia USA website.
Phase One P45
Digital shutterbugs, respect. Whereas most digital cameras will have between four and eight megapixels of resolution, digital imaging company Phase One has released their P45, a 39-megapixel monster of digital photography. The brand-new P45 is the latest in Phase One’s P series of digital backs; it boasts the best image quality available and can capture up to 117 megabytes per shot.
Although the Phase One website touts the camera as the ultimate tool “for the world’s most demanding commercial photographers,” there’s no reason the devoted hobbyist shouldn’t own one. After all, at around $30,000, these babies are priced to sell.
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