Those good old times when you could pass off a pair of cute socks or a delicate tea-set as a Christmas present are getting washed away under the tide of relatively affordable gadgets and accessories for dressing them up. Who wears socks anymore when you can buy clothes with embedded thermal chips for keeping you warm at every other sale? OK, so we’re not quite there yet, but we’re just trying to make a point. That’s because it’s much more fun unwrapping gadgets and gizmos instead of traditional Christmas presents since we practically live and breathe technology these days. Here’s a list of seven peripherals that you could consider gifting your loved ones this Christmas, if they’re of the technologically-inclined ilk.
Sony PlayStation Move motion controller: Those TV ads we’ve been seeing lately about a happy family getting their dose of exercise with the PS Move may have at least a couple of kids tugging at shirts and going, ‘I want, I want’. Sony’s selling it for Rs. 2,499 in India. The motion controller features DualShock 3 action buttons, an in-built rechargeable Li-ion battery and motion sensors. It functions in harmony with the PS Eye camera and the sphere uses internal RGB LED to supply visual feedback. A maximum of four motion controllers may be hooked up to the PS3 system and the said advertisement should give you a good idea of what to do next. It mainly involves moving around rather vigorously and pretending to hit invisible things in tune with the title being played on the gaming unit.
Razer Tron gaming mouse: Trust Razer to come up with a gaming peripheral just in time for a widely anticipated movie. The Tron gaming mouse sticks to the resurrected Disney yarn’s futuristic mood with blue lights on the black frame. Can’t remember if that nephew is a right- or left-handed? It’s all good, the mouse has an ambidextrous design and even plays out light as also sound effects at startup and shutdown. A 7 foot braided cable keeps it tethered to the PC’s USB port, while the lights shine out in sync with in-game actions. It ships for $99.99 (approx. Rs. 4,500) through the Razer website and functions with the Windows 7/Vista/XP OS and Mac OS X or higher system.
Micromax X235 phone: What is a GSM-dual band phone doing in this list of peripheral gifting ideas for Christmas? We’ve listed it out here because it claims to be not just a regular handset, but also a sort of universal remote control. This candybar style gizmo may be used to control the AC, stereo FM radio, digital camera, Bluetooth, MP3 player, DVD and TV. Infibeam’s selling this budget-friendly handset at a discounted price of Rs. 1,949. It’s dressed in black and comes bundled in with a transceiver, battery, charger, hands-free set, user guide, service guide and warranty card, the last mentioned of which is good for a year.
MicroVision Optical 3D Angelina series in Pumpkin glasses: Two reasons we’ve picked MicroVision 3D glasses over Calvin Klein or Gucci when it comes to enjoying 3D without sacrificing the style quotient; they’re way cheaper and the company’s shipping it out to various countries too. You’ve got to be heavy with dough or deeply in love to be gifting someone other than yourself a $225 (approx. Rs. 10,000) pair of 3D eyewear from Gucci without flinching. Instead, order the Angelina series in Pumpkin for $35 (approx. Rs. 1,575) through the company’s site. The lenses employ a 99.9% polarizer and a special optical retarder with high transmission and low haze. And unlike the Gucci glasses, they can be used outdoors too since they can block out UVA and UVB rays.
Belkin F5L001-BLK laptop cooling pad: There may be nothing particularly “Christmas-sy†about the Belkin laptop cooling pad, but cooling pads are the kind of peripherals that a lot of people don’t bother with unless they’ve got a notebook that heats up abnormally fast. So it’s always a good idea to gift that notebook-toting friend or family member a laptop cooling pad if they don’t have one. Priced at $29.99 (approx. Rs. 1,350), it functions via USB and uses natural convection along with fan cooling to dissipate excess heat. The accessory is available through Belkin’s online portal with its sleek wave-like chassis painted in shades of black or white.
Logitech S715i rechargeable speaker dock for iPod/iPhone: Rashi Peripherals has started offering a portable speaker dock system from Logitech just in time for the holidays. The Logitech S715i for iPod or iPhone amplifies the audio capabilities of the said Apple devices with the help of two 3†laser-tuned neodymium drivers, four 2†passive radiators and a couple of 0.5†neodymium tweeters. For Rs. 9,995, Logitech also throws in a remote control for adjusting the volume, play, pause, skip, shuffle and other functions. It works from up to 30 feet away from the system and the rechargeable Li-ion battery runs for around 8 hours before needing to be powered again.
Garmin chirp: Our last pick is a cool little wireless beacon from Garmin called the chirp. It’s the kind of chip that would make almost any geocaching lover go ‘ooh!’, provided they have a Garmin device like the Oregon, Dakota or other GPSMAP handhelds in the first place. The chirp may be programmed to deliver other geocachers location hints when they approach the owner’s geocache. The unit automatically transmits program coordinates in order to allow cachers a peek at each stage of the user’s multicache. The replaceable battery’s good for around a year and another handy thing about the chip is the fact that it’s waterproof. Garmin’s selling the chirp for $22.99 (approx. Rs. 1,000) through their official website.
We could recite about a dozen more accessories and peripherals from our Christmas wishlist, but we’re too busy licking the stamps and posting those letters telling Santa that contrary to widespread rumors, we’ve actually been very good this year. Have a wonderful Christmas shopping spree!
