As the clock winds down on holiday shopping, here are a few more gift ideas for the geek in your life. And if your loved ones don’t like them, they can always take the return money and buy the latest whiz bang thing after CES in January. (Dave and I are both going, by the way.) Just keep in mind that half the products announced at CES never make it to market, so maybe these gifts are their best bet after all. At $50 or less, they shouldn’t be too hard on your wallet.
Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB HDTV Antenna
Now that OTA TV is making a comeback, it may be time to invest in that HD antenna. The Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB gets good reviews from users on Amazon, and it rings in at a manageable $37.84. Some locations will have a hard time getting OTA signals no matter how good the antenna, but this should boost the chances of a decent signal, and some high-quality, freebie television watching.
iPod Building Block Speakers
Shaped like Legos, but apparently without the commercial naming rights, these iPod docks are a cute, kitschy way to broadcast tunes locally. The iPod Building Block speakers are reportedly compatible with the iPod®mini, iPod®Touch (1st Generation), iPod®nano (1-4th generation), iPod® (3-5th generation), and iPod® Classic. Pick a color (no red or blue in stock, unfortunately), and the speaker dock is yours for only $21.99.
Life of George
If you’ve got any geek youngsters to buy for, check out the Life of George kit while traipsing through Legoland. The kit includes a set of Lego blocks and works with an iOS or Android app to give users specific building challenges. Kids can compete for high scores based on time and accuracy, and the total price comes to only $29.99. Not bad for a Lego product.
Panasonic Earphones
There’s a reason these Panasonic earbuds have been on all the tech gift lists. The audio is good, they’re cheap, and you can get them in a rainbow of colors. For under six bucks, they make the perfect stocking stuffers.
Peel and Stick White Board
Sometimes even the geekiest geek needs to go analog. These peel and stick white boards are good way to capture a brainstorm anywhere. The large white board runs 24″ x 36″. Or you can pick up a notepad of full of sticky white boards in size 5.5″ x 8″. The larger version costs $14.99. The notepad is only $3.99.
Thanks!!! I just ordered a few of the earbuds.
Mari- bought the Panasonic headphones (for myself) – got the $12 ones with iPhone microphone.
They are really incredible (for $12 headphones.) Incredible enough that I am going to order another 2 pair –
sound quality is noticeably better than iPhone headphones and they are quite comfortable.
I am really rough on headphones (and lose them a lot) so these are just perfect.
Thanks for the tip
No way am I sticking that antenna in my bedroom or living room. I need the most amazing (VHF) antenna that looks good too. I’m still pissed about the 2009 digital transition… when ATSC HD was coming across UHF, everything was peachy. When most here flipped to VHF, I pretty much lost OTA. Thanks, FCC. Ah well, guess I’ll keep Verizon in business.