Techpaulogy

Gadget Gift Ideas for the Holidays

I teamed up with Shellie Bailey-Shah over at Portland's KATU Channel 2 News to come up with some good tech gifts ideas for the holidays -- not HD TVs, but gadgets a little easier on the budget. Besides, I hear everyone already got their TVs at Best Buy last week during Black Friday, so we needed something else... here's some cool technology that you can grab in a pinch and will be a surefire hit for that gadget lover near you:

 

My list, in more detail:

fitbit - $99

The fitbit is a tiny, bluetooth enabled device that automatically tracks your fitness and sleep, great for meeting those New Years' resolutions or working off the Thanksgiving leftovers. It's basically a pedometer 2.0, that uploads all your data when you walk within 15 feet of the charging base station attached to your computer. You can also track meals/calories, and interact with other fitbit users in the online community (anyone familair with Nike+ ?).

Apple TV - $99

The new Apple TV lets you connect almost anything to that giant HD TV hanging on your wall. It provides the best photo slideshow I've seen on an HDTV, and also streams in movies from online sources like iTunes, NetFlix, Amazon.com. You can rent movies instantly too, if you don't already own them (buh-bye RedBox trips). In a similar vein, a Roku player ($60) will get you a similar array of online movie features for a better price, though you'll be foresaking Apple's signature (amazing) UI and access to things like iTunes over the airwaves (both units are wireless, and can be controlled from your iPhone/iPad).

Squeezebox - $179

A wifi-enabled streaming music player that lets you play the music on your computer, or stream directly from your Playlists on Pandora, Slacker Radio, or Rhapsody without any wires. This is a great unit to keep wherever you are in the house, or out next to the BBQ pit (well, hot tub in the winter). Sure, you can plug your iPhone into a speaker, but when you're the host of the dinner party where you want the music, I can guarantee you that you'll have the phone undocked to answer texts and calls and be remixing every song with that distinct iPhone ping. (You can find a similar gift in Sonos, which is a high end version of the same technology).

 

Jaybird wireless headphones - $99

Jaybird Sportsband wireless bluetooth headphones provide great sound, and don't look totally dorky like all other wireless headsets I've found. Go retro, and go cord-free! Works with iPhones and anything else that can pick up bluetooth.

 

Polaroid PoGo Mobile Printer - $50

Let's call this "Polaroid 2.0" - rememebr when you used to be able to take photos and have them spit out instantly, with just a littel shake? Well Polaroid's bringing instant back, and this time it prints from any bluetooth enabled device (most mobile phones). And, it does all this without messy ink, using "ZINK" Zero Ink technology... great for, well everything that old Polariod was great for.

 

Grove bamboo iPhone cover - $89

These hot, all-wood iPhone cases are made in Portland! Buy local. Not really tech itself, but for tech lovers, this is a sure hit. And, you can have them carve any design you want in the wood, or choose from their artists gallery.

iPod Nano watch - $50 

A new project project is about to launch, that is being crowd-funded by a renown Nike designer. The TikTok and LunaTik transform the Nano into the world's coolest multi-touch watches.

 

Well, that's a wrap! Keep an eye out for the Problem Solvers clip on KATU Channel 2 News. And let me know if you end up getting your hands on any of these gadgets this holiday season (even if you're getting a gift for yourself!).

Streaming Music Showdown - Last.fm vs. Pandora

I've been researching online streaming music tools for a long time, and it usually comes down to Pandora versus Last.fm. Both are free online radio stations essentially, wrapped in rich feature sets. Here's the scoop on both:

• Last.fm is my favorite, as it has the greatest social media / social networking capabilities. You can listen to so much good music, tag it, rate, it, and share it with the music community. Here's my Last.fm music profile, where you can see the level of detail it's capturing and allowing users to play with. It tracks everything - plus it integrates with iTunes, Media Player, etc. It also makes super cool charts to add to your blog that are updated dynamically (see over on the right sidebar). AND, it has its own stand-alone software you can download. Pretty amazing tool. You should definitely check it out, and add yourself as my friend.
• Pandora is also great. It's more hyped in the media, but has a slightly lower list of functionality. Here's my Pandora profile so you can see what's available (more clunky than Last.fm). First off, it's only usable via a Flash-based player in your web browser -- no separate software. They did add social features last week, but with all the pop-up windows and a separate Flash player, it's kind of hard to navigate. Pandora also offers tools for your blog, thought they are less customizable than Last.fm. I applaud them for all the improvements, but until they clean up the experience, I am sticking with Last.fm.

There are also some other options worth mentioning, which are useful or new.

• Pandora.fm is a mashup of Pandora and Last.fm that I use while listening to Pandora. It lets you track your Pandora music in Last.fm. Pretty great way to get the best of both worlds (sometimes Pandora offers a better music selection and offers some new ways to discover music).
• Musicovery is the new kid on the block, but given that it's entirely in a Flash player the user e peirence and overall functionality are still lacking. But, it offers a pretty cool way to visualize your music discovery process. I guess that's where Flash comes in, as a way to very slickly visualize things for Pandora and Musicovery, but it really makes using all of the non-music features (sharing, charting, etc.) a pain.
• Yahoo Music Unlimited is different because you have to pay for it ($6 a month), but I wanted to mention it because it is my second-most used streaming music service after Last.fm. The cool thing here is that you can play ANY artist and ANY song, so you can build specific playlists or play whatever song you want, whenever. Great for DJ-ing parties... the limitations of all the internet radio players above is that you can't select specific tracks or artists due to licensing restrictions, you can only choose genres and see what you get. Other options out there include Rhapsody (more options, more expensive), Napster, and Virgin Digital. What I am really waiting for, however, is for Apple and iTunes to get into the music subscription space -- that would kill all the rest since right now none of the others sync with my iPod. Not sure what the holdup is, since iTunes has been so successful licensing everything else?