Street Tech Holiday Gift Guide 2005

Well my digitheads, it's that time of the year again when we celebrate the nobility of humankind and our highest spiritual values through the grotesque and unbridled consumption of everything edible and packable into brightly colored boxes - wait, it's where we celebrate the goodness in those we care about by bestowing gifts, physical tokens of our love and respect, upon them - yeah, that's it. Anyway, whether spiritual values or valued customers (or a heady combo of both), 'tis the season to max plastic!

But what to get? Every e-tailer, website, blog, and personal home page seems to have a gift guide these days, so why should we be any different? We can feverishly fill up an Amazon Wish List with the best of 'em. But here at Street Tech, we do like to keep things a little more sober than many of our cyber-comrades who seem content to toss every brushed steel box and blinking geegaw into their gift roundups, often while having no actual hands-on experience with the products. The contents of our guide are almost entirely products that we've built, used, worn, played with, or read for ourselves. These are things we know are great, products we're almost certain will tickle the fancies of their recipients.

So, you've drooled over the rest... and wondered how many hours of overtime you'd have to put in to pay for that 52" Plasma HDTV that your significant other saw on several gift guides. Screw it. Get 'em a Treo 650 future phone and some fuzzy D&D dice and they'll be just as happy (and you won't have to pull overtime at the Cube Farm from now until Ground Hog's Day).

[All reviews by Gareth unless otherwise noted, with an assist by Nate Heasley.]

Stocking Stuffers

Make Magazine (makezine.com, US$34.95/year, $14.95/issue)
If you ask us, the "O'Reilly Factor" is not the "brain child" of some sexual harassing ratings whore on Fox who likes to call people pinheads, it's TIM O'Reilly, of O'Reilly Media, and his uncanny ability to identify and magnify emerging technologies and techno-cultural trends. This is no more apparent than in one of O'Reilly's latest ventures, Make. This quarterly, full-color bookazine is a hardware/life hacker's dream guide. Each issue profiles "Makers," do-it-yourselfers who are involved in everything from building "feral" robot hoards to garage cold fusion labs. Each issue has oodles of beautifully documented how-to articles, reviews of tools, software, resources and other cool finds, tips and tricks for DIYers, you name it. This is the artifact that generates the biggest buzz from every geek who spies it on our coffee table.

Robot Magazine (botmag.com, $6/issue)
This is one of the items on OUR holiday list (we haven't gotten our "free trial issue" yet). You know the field of hobby robotics is finally starting to take hold when there are two magazines available (Servo being the other one). The table of contents and content available online makes us enthused about the potential here for another great robot mag. Check out this how-to for an amazing replica of the iRobot PackBot built by the Mythbusters using the new Vex Robotics Design System.

Fuzzy d20 Dice (ThinkGeek.com, $10)
Not since the d20 flaming dice tattoo have we been so tempted to fly our geek colors as with these 20-sided fuzzy dice for your car (or for hanging from the cube farm mirror you have on your monitor so that dweeb from sales can't sneak up on you).

Jim Leftwich's Flying Spaghetti Monster T-shirt (BoingBoing.net Store, Prices Various)
It's been called the Internet's fastest growing religion: Pastafarianism, the belief that the universe was created by a monstrous plate of spaghetti (with meatballs). rAmen, brother! Artist, interface designer, and Street Tech pal Jim Leftwich, has created a T-shirt design to honor our great noodly overlord.

Street Tech's Chairman Cory Tee (giantrobotprinting.com, $8-up)
We didn't want Jim Leftwich and Boing Boing having all of the T-shirt design fun, so we got in on the action by convincing Giant Robot to produce a shirt designed by Street Tech's own Nate Heasley. The shirt pays tribute to Boing Boing editor, sci-fi author, and EFF people's hero Cory Doctorow. The revolution WILL be marketized. Show your support for 21st century copy rights and IP by wearing THESE colors (which don't bleed, as long as you wash them with like colors in cold water) . $1 from each sale goes to support the EFF.

Mimobots USB Flash Drives ($70-$190, lab.mimoco.com) Here's something for the adult vinyl toy collector on your shopping list -- no, not THOSE kind of adult toys, we're talking about the collectable action figures, dolls and other objects created or inspired by artists who do fringe comic books, anime characters, underground art, etc. Mimobots are hyper-cute little USB "designer drives" which hold up to 2GB of data. They come in nifty packaging and even have drum and bass dance mixes pre-loaded onto them. Prices range from US$70 for 256MB to $190 for the 2GB model. Be the envy of every horn-rimmed geek hipster, club kid, and Japanese schoolgirl on your block.

Firefly: The Complete Series DVD Box Set (amazon.com, $30)
If you missed the series on TV, you should pick up the DVD set, with 14 episodes, 3 of which were never aired. Because the series was cancelled, you'll watch every one with a little sigh, but it's definitely worth watching. Just think of it as a long movie (with a slightly anticlimactic ending), instead of a short-lived TV series. [Will Eatherman]

Netflix (Netflix.com, $15/mo.) The gift that keeps on giving. A great gift for those hard-to-please people on your list. A little more thoughtful and innovative than ye old Barnes & Noble gift certificate. [Will Eatherman]

Darick Chamberlin Star Wars Watches (at Burger King, $2)
Darick Chamberlin, artist and author of the amazing cyberpunk tortured-text Cigarette Boy, did the illustrations for the nifty line of Star Wars watches Burger King is currently selling. The watches have Darick's illustrations on both sides of the band, a "hologram" on the back of the watch, and come in cool tin tubes with Darick's art on them. For kids (and geeks of all ages).



Toys, Kits and Robots

Sumovore Kit (Solarbotics.com, $89)
I had the pleasure of building one of these kits for a hands-on review in Make no. 4. It's probably the most satisfying kit-building experience I've ever had. It's not one for beginners, but if you're relatively confident in your soldering skills, and you have the patience to work methodically and read well-documented instructions, you should be okay. When you're done, you not only have a very cool robot that can truck around your cubicle, but it's a competition-ready mini-sumo bot that you can enter into games against other sumos. Other kits like Tab's Sumo Robot are not actually suitable for official combat, but this bot is. And it's no slouch in the ring, either. At the most recent Eastern Canadian Robot Games, the top three competitors in the mini-sumo class were built from this kit! One of the many exceptional features of the Sumovore is that it comes with a simple "brain," built with all-analog BEAM technology, but it's designed to accept plug-in "Brainboards" that use popular hobby robot microchips, such as the Basic Stamp 2 and the PIC 16F877A. These are sold by Solarbotics as kits too. Outfitted with one of these boards, you can program your Sumovore to do much more than plow opponents off of a sumo ring.

Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots by Gareth Branwyn (Solarbotics.com, $19)
Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots Parts Bundles (Solarbotics.com, $32 for Walker, $21 for Mousey)
Dave Hrynkiw, the chief meatbot behind Solarbotics, was the technical advisor on my robot book, Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots. His robotics store and web portal was a favorite of ours long before we had a working relationship with them. They have always been the definitive source for all things BEAM, so we're thrilled and honored that they carry my book and have put together special parts bundles for two of the three projects: the Coathanger Walker and Mousey the Junkbot. Even though my book is a couple of years old now, it's still basically up-to-date (with a few exceptions) and the three projects have gone through thorough field testing (and bug discovery) thanks to dozens of readers who have built the bots and shared their experiences here on our bulletin board (ShopTalk) or on the Makezine.com forums (for the Mousey project version that ran in Make vol. 2). So there's a growing user community for these three cool DIY robots.

Roomba Discovery (www.irobotstore.com, $280)
I held off on getting one of these robot domestics for the first few generations. The product looked promising, but I wanted to make sure it was more "clean of floor" than "proof of concept." My parents surprised me with one last year for Christmas and I couldn't be happier with it. It does what you'd expect of it: light vacuuming in any room in which you use the included IR "virtual walls" to pen it into. It still has drawbacks. Your rooms need to be fairly open and clutter free, it likes to eat throw rugs and power cords, and it'll hump furniture in broad daylight (we're convinced it has a "thing" for our umbrella stand), but these are minor inconveniences (okay that last one is more free entertainment than annoyance) when compared to the chore of vacuuming. We're also keeping our eye on the Scooba ($399), the latest iRobot cleaning bot that washes floors. Maybe we'll review that model next year.

Robosapien V2 (wowwee.com, $250)
We haven't seen the Robosapien V2 in action yet, but we're fairly confident, based on the first version and on the incomparable talent of the designer, BEAM guru Mark Tilden, that it will be amazing, delivering for two fifty what other robots do (and often, intermittently) for thousands of dollars. We're very excited with what Tilden has managed to accomplish with the Wowwee robots. For years, skeptics looked at BEAM technology and said: "It's cool for creating entertaining little desktop critters, but what can it do that's practical?" Tilden has proven how far you can go with the creative use of networked analog electronics and minimal digital processing. And keeping with the BEAM philosophy, and the Rodney Brooks/MIT AI Lab's architectural approach that inspired it, the V2 is an example of building upon the success and proven, simple, robust systems of previous versions to create something bigger and better. Robosapien V2 can now speak, respond to sounds, has a vision system that can identify things like skin tone, and has much more dexterous, life-like body movements. And if there's a hardware hacker/robot builder on your gift list, consider getting them a first-gen Robosapien (for well under $100) and one of the hacks books now available, such as The Official Robosapien Hacker's Guide or The Robosapien Companion.

DIY Munny (KidRobot, $25)
Get into the whole hipster vinyl toy thing with a do-it-yourself kit from KidRobot. For $25, you can a white vinyl figure you can paint or otherwise deface and defame yourself. Comes with the figure, four "secret accessories," a hello-my-name-is card, and one of several surprise Munny coloring books. Also available in black and glow-in-the-dark. [Will Eatherman]


Mobile Gadgets, Computers, Home Entertainment

Game Boy Micro (Nintendo.com, $100)
Nintendo's Game Boy Micro sure has stirred up a lot on controversy. Everybody thinks the nano is genius at its almost-not-there size, but when Nintendo does it, it's a design blunder? Sure, you're not likely to spend a lot of time playing games on your nano (though we have to admit a growing bored-at-the-subway-platform addiction to nano's clunky Solitaire), but we're amazed at how readily one can focus one's attention down to such a small field of vision and feel realtively comfortable. Users of the video iPod report this in watching video content on its tiny screen and Micro users claim the same. It's really a matter of personal preference. If you're looking for a mobile game system that's an almost unconscious carry, and don't mind the Lilliputian window into it, the Micro is worth checking out. If size doesn't matter to you, you may be better off with a Game Boy Advanced SP, or better yet, a Nintendo DS (that way, you can play the much-lauded DS Mario Cart!).

Sony Playstation Portable (Sony.com, $250)
With all of the smoke and mirrors and vaporware and flashy movie premier-style roll-outs for new entertainment technologies, there are relatively few gadgets that live up to their hype and point to upcoming leaps in personal technology. The PSP is such a device. It's a seriously bleeding edge piece of tech that's given us a glimpse of where mobile technology and mobile media is heading. And besides the impressive hardware, the thing we're most excited about is how hackers -- despite Sony's ongoing efforts to the contrary - are developing all sorts of cool software and media ports to turn the PSP into a full-blown mobile platform. If you have a few extra bucks, you might want to consider the PSP Gigapack. It sells for is $300 and adds a 1GB Sony Memory Stick Duo for game add-ons, TV/movies, pictures and MP3s... and homebrew applications, as soon as hackers figure out their way around Sony's latest firmware upgrade.

iPod nano (apple.com, $200 - 250)
You know the famous quote about a techno-future in which technology becomes indistinguishable from magick? Well, it might be overstating the case to say that the nano represents this magickal future, but it sure as hell points in that general direction. I mean, it's hard to look at this thing and not seriously marvel at the fact that it's not that much bigger than a few sticks of chewing gum and they managed to fit a computer, a 2 to 4GB drive, a color monitor, a battery, and input/output hardware into such a tiny package. Years ago, we used to talk here on Street Tech about the "unconscious carry," the mobile computer you barely knew was in your pocket. The funny thing is, this term came up in discussing early PDAs and cellphones (which were heavy enough to unthread your pockets, never mind losing them there). The nano actually can be forgotten. I've only had mine for a few weeks and it's already almost gone through the wash.

Palm Treo 650 (palm.com, $550, around $280 with some service plans)
Getting the whole "future phone" thing right - a convergent combo of phone, camera, organizer, Web browser, text messenger, etc. -- can be a huge challenge. Far too many mobile platforms do one or two things right and royally suck at everything else. The Treo 650 is the closest to finding the sweet spot, at least for anything we've tested first-hand. [Cue personal moment of in-field techno-ecstasy:] We're at an outdoor cafe . A friend answers a call on his 650, quickly takes some notes, and returns a text message from a paramour on another continent. "I freaking LOVE this thing," he enthuses. "This is the only device I need." After dinner, we get into his Prius and it acquires the phone through a Bluetooth connection so his car can field calls. As we enter our next destination into the on-board navigation computer on the hybrid, I have this uncanny feeling that I've finally arrived in the 21st century.]

Garmin Forerunner 301 (garmin.com, $325)
Quit smoking, get off the damn couch and go running. If it takes tech to make you move, the Garmin 301 GPS will get your heart going (and tell you just how fast). It gives on the fly stats about your running and route following capabilties, and you can plug it in to your PC when you get back and it'll show you where you've run on a map. A virtual running partner keeps you on pace - you can even program him to run like he's a pack-a-day smoker just so you can feel better about yourself. This gadget is a little pricey at $325, but you can get it as low as $205 (at Compuplus.com) [Will Eatherman]

Alienware Area-51m7700 (alienware.com, around $1,800, after rebate)
We reviewed the Area-51 m7700 a few months ago. You can read that review here. We're still very pleased with the system, with a few notable exceptions. This thing burns so hot it could do double-duty as a dorm room hot plate. Seriously. I guess that's what you get when you try to cram the components of a high-performance desktop system into a laptop form factor. We're thinking about getting one of those laptop cooling pads to go underneath it. This level of heat can't be good, except for maybe cutting down on home heating bills. The m7700 is also loud. Those numerous active cooling fans in the case, and we guess a whining hard drive, add up to a sound that's disturbingly reminiscent of an anxious saw mill blade. Whether you can stand these drawbacks has a lot to do with your need for this type of portable desktop performance and system upgradeability, and the sensitivity of your hearing.

Olympus DM-10 Digital Voice Recorder (Olympus.com, $180)
This isn't the newest, sexiest digital voice recorder, but it's the one that I've lived with for a year and that I've come to love. It's become one of those tech gadgets I can't imagine living without. I got the DM-10 last year for Christmas (thanks, Kate!). I'd had a much older voice recorder for a while and loved the ability to take notes and brainstorm ideas without having to write them down. I tend to get my "big ideas" when my mind is relaxed and unfocused (like right before I fall asleep, while I'm in the shower, when I'm bored waiting for a cab, etc.). So it works out that my mind is most open to creative thinking when it's most inconvenient to write things down. Enter the DM-10. It's actually become so second nature to me that I can wake up in the middle of the night, make a audio note, and then go back to sleep without really waking up. This has lead to some pretty funny recordings and most of them turn out to be more fever dream than big idea, but any technology that shortens the distance between the contents of your head and a recording medium is an innovation in my book. After using this device on a daily basis for nearly a year, I'm also continuous impressed with the thoughtfulness of the design, the usefulness of the LCD-based interface, and the ability to offload audio files to a Mac or PC. The built-in MP3 player? Not so much. It's okay if it's the only player you have and you want to enjoy a bit of tuneage on the road, but this baby ain't no iPod.

Olevia 26" LCD TV LT26HVE ($900)
If you're looking to upgrade to high-definition, but you don't have two grand, and don't need a 42-incher, take a look at the Olevia 26" LCD. It's basic, but for a no-name brand, it's decent (Street Tech Labs has last year's 27" model). With the LT26HVE, you get 720p high-def TV, which you can connect to the cable box with S-Vid or Composite connectors, or to your PC with DVI or VGA. It's the perfect TV for apartment dwellers, game rooms, or people who don't need their TV wallpapering an entire side of their living room. Although the suggested price is $900, Amazon sells it for $700, Datavision for $530, and Buy.com for $560 (after rebate). Not bad for a decent HD-ready LCD TV. [Will Eatherman]



Neo-Luddite Tech

Grado SR60 Headphones (gradolabs.com, $70)
We're not much about the sexy tech here at the Labs, we're about what works, what makes an honestly positive contribution to your life. That's what technology is supposed to do: augment you, serve you, increase your enjoyment of things. Years ago, this led us to the idea of "Neo-Luddite Tech," old tech, throwback hardware, perennial favorites that serve us so well, we see no reason to upgrade, to let ourselves be seduced by the latest gadgets with lots of fancy bells and baubles that aren't worth giving up the tech we already love to acquire. Such is the case with the Grado SR60 headphones. We've had a pair for years, and have recommended them in several ST Gift Guides. Audio gear has come and gone into and out of our lives, we've been through countless sets of earbud phones for mobile listening, but throughout, the Grados have been on our home entertainment shelves, ready to deliver surprisingly clean and full-spectrum sound for a very reasonable $70. If you have an audiophile's ear, but not an audiophile's pocketbook, give these perennial ST favorite phones a listen. If you've got a few more bucks to spend, the SR80s ($90) offer a better bass response, slightly improved overall performance, and bigger, more comfortable ear cushions.

40-hour Humax TiVo with DVD-R (tivo.com, $250)
TiVo didn't have such a great year, what with the growing roster of DVR competitors, the continued lack of a hi-def stand-alone TiVo, and the customer dust-ups over slipping a early cancellation penalty clause into the subscription contract, and a "feature" that was allegedly switched on in some users' boxes that automatically deleted select programs after a certain number of days. And now TiVo, Inc. has angered Hollywood with their introduction of TiVoToGo upgrades for sending TV content to video iPods and PSPs. But we still love ya, TiVo. You're the little DVR company that could... ah...we hope. We think. We really want you to succeed. You "suck less," and here at ST, that means everything. So keep up the good work, keep pissing off Hollywood, stop pissing off us consumers, and keep opening up TiVo to open source and third party development. And please continue on that track towards giving the hardware away for free. We like free. This TiVo box, by Korean electronics juggernaut Humax, has a 40-hour hard drive, TiVo, a DVD player and a DVD-R burner, which allows you to burn recorder TiVo programming to disc, so you can watch it wherever you damn well please. Communists!

Gareth Branwyn -[Monday, November 28, 2005]
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