Category: Holiday Gift Guide 2008

For the sports fan, season tickets, real or digital: We all know a hardcore sports fan. When your buddy already has the home, away, and alternate jerseys hanging in his closet and piles of merchandise branding his living space, it's a good indication that you should give him the action itself with season tickets. Most teams' Web site allow you to purchase online and many have special programs ...

For the party giver, a soundtrack solution: You can't show up at a holiday party empty handed and expect to get a third serving of eggnog. While we're fine that a bottle of wine or a plate of cookies have become the obligatory in-hand party gifts, we think you can spruce them up this year by attaching a mini-USB drive with some festive ribbon. Load the drive up with some Frank and Dino MP3s ...

For anyone with an Xbox, an Xbox Live Gift Card: If you have watched someone double-kill, stick, and warthog-assist their way to 'Halo 3' glory; or perhaps seen them yell at the television for hours as their lowly San Diego State Aztecs get drubbed by the black-out Georgia Bulldogs, only to scream for joy at a (finally) successful onside kick in 'NCAA '09,' then you may want to take note: ...

For the conscientious, give a gift to charity: It's the age-old question: What to give someone who already has everything? How about letting them give to someone else? Most charities let you donate in someone's name, but donorschoose.org gives the giver the opportunity to pick exactly where the money will go. It's Web 2.0 for philanthropy: Schoolteachers and administrators create projects ...

For your significant other, or family: the DIY Blockbuster If you decide to go the DIY route and make your own gift, put away the construction paper and macaroni, whip out the camcorder, and make mom a DVD. Whether it's holiday greetings if you're far away or your kid's show-stealing turn as the second wise-man in the school's nativity play, you can package your masterpiece with a bag of ...

Are you tired of receiving Internet holiday greetings? Well we're not tired of sending them, especially these customizable e-cards from Jibjab.com. Upload a photo of your mug onto the card and the flash based editor offers you a surprising amount of tweaking, even letting you animate your mouth to give your caroling card just that much more detail. Type in your recipients' e-mail and blast that ...

For the tech averse, some tech support... Not all of us have advanced degrees in computing and some people just seem to be prone to computer troubles. Help out a friend next time their machine goes south and get them some professional help on call with a gift card for the Best Buy Geek Squad ($15, bestbuy.com). PC or Mac, the Geeks do it all, including handle repairs and set-ups for other ...

For the traveler or person on your frequent long-distance speed dial: Skype Credit If that jet-setting family member decides he'd rather stay in Budapest, he or she can keep in touch if you give them Skype credit (starts at $10, skype.com). The free-to-download Internet phone service is popular with the international crowd and can make calls to any phone around the world for a fraction of ...

For the gamer, a subscription to Gamefly: Do you know someone who camps out in front of the game store before every major videogame release? Skip trying to buy them the latest and greatest... let them choose for themselves. Gamefly.com will send them a game from their constantly updating, multiple-console library and your gamer can keep it as long as they want. Once the final boss is ...

For the videophile, a Netflix subscription If you have a movie buff on your list, brush them up on Fellini with a subscription to Netflix. For $4.99 a month, the online DVD rental site will ship your recipient the top three movies or TV shows of his or her choice (selected by adding movies to a 'queue'). After intense scrutiny of plot, composition, and dialogue, he or she can pop the DVD ...

Looking for a perfect gift for the BlackBerry-addicted member of your household? You know, the one who wants to be buried with his handset when he or she goes to the great inbox in the sky? How about an ornament that looks like their favorite device decorated up for holiday cheer? The ornament replaces the BlackBerry's keypad with "Merry Christmas" and displays candy, a gift, and a reindeer on ...

2. I'm perfectly capable of talking on the phone while paying for fast food -- what's the big deal? First off, no matter how interesting you may think you are, no one wants to hear your conversation in the first place, so forcing everyone near the counter to listen in on your bons mots is jerky. Take it outside, or take the call later. Secondly, it's annoying to the already stressed counter ...

Super-Secret Spy Lens (Video Junkie, under $50) So often ethics, morality, and general anxiety disorder get in the way of a great photo. Not so with the Super-Secret Spy Lens, which attaches to the lens on the end of your DSLR camera and allows you to shoot left, right, up, or down (it swivels 360 degrees), all while looking like you're shooting straight ahead. It doesn't affect the quality ...

Sticking to a budget of $50 or less this year for gifts? Good news: Some of the wackiest, most unique gadgets usually cost about half that. And, until recently, some of the most uniquely daffy gizmos of all could only be found in Japan, where those kinds of products tend to sell well. Now, however, you can find all this stuff online at sites such as Gizmine.com, acgears.com, and ...

Even geeks need to get in the holiday spirit. Just because we spend our lives playing video games, watching sci-fi movies, and Tweeting about 'Heroes' doesn't mean we don't like a little seasonal merriment. But we do have to do it our own way, like putting solar-powered LEDs on trees, sending out hand made light up cards, and instead of gingerbread houses we like to make gingerbread TIE ...