.FLYINGHEAD HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS
.TITLE Wireless stocking-stuffers
.AUTHOR Tim Hillebrand
.SUMMARY Once again, the winter holiday is upon us, and gift giving is imminent. Whether you’re a wireless enthusiast or a wireless wannabe, there are a lot of toys available for stocking-stuffers. In this article, author Tim Hillebrand offers some suggestions for gifts to give, or hints for you to discreetly drop to friends and loved ones.
.OTHER
Whether you’re a wireless enthusiast or a wireless wannabe, there are a lot of toys available for stocking-stuffers. I offer here are some suggestions for gifts to give, or for hints to discreetly drop to friends and loved ones.
If you haven’t already set up your own wireless network, what are you waiting for? Ask Santa Claus for a wireless router and you’ll be in business. There are so many of them out there to choose from, and they all do the job for around $70 or so. I personally use Belkin, like the one in Figure A, and am pleased with their products.
.FIGPAIR A A wireless router let’s you disconnect from the desk, but stay connected.
Perhaps you need to extend or intensify the wireless signal in your environment; all you need is an additional access point for around $50. If you’re not in a position to free yourself from dial-up yet, consider buying a WiFlyer wireless access point, shown in Figure B, that will give you a wireless environment.
.FIGPAIR B WiFlyer let’s you take your own wireless access point with you.
Take it with you when you travel and use it to set up a wireless network (broadband or dial-up) in your hotel or meeting room, and all for about $150. You can look for coverage of WiFlyer in an upcoming issue of Computing Unplugged Magazine.
Before you can take advantage of a wireless access point, you have to find one. There are two great products that will do this for you without having to boot up a computer. Kensington makes a nice little unit that can also function as a keychain for $30.
For the same price, with a slightly larger girth, is the Wi-Fi Locator by Hawking. It has the added advantage of a directional antenna to pinpoint the Hotspot more accurately. Coverage of the Hawking Wi-Fi Locator will be featured in a future issue of Computing Unplugged Magazine. You can find both devices in Figure C.
.FIGPAIR C A Wi-Fi sniffer will help you locate a signal while you’re mobile.
Turn a laptop or desktop into a wireless entity with inexpensive USB Wi-Fi or Bluetooth adapters, like the one in Figure D that just plugs in, and you’re set to go for around $30.
.FIGPAIR D A wireless USB adapter can give your laptop or desktop a wireless connection.
These little radios enable you to network with peripheral devices such as printers, routers, scanners, GPS, or PDAs.
.BREAK_EMAIL There’s a lot more on Santa’s list. Tap here to read on.
It’s really neat to be able to forget about docking with a cumbersome cradle when you want to sync your PDA. Why not do it from anywhere in the house or office wirelessly with a Bluetooth connection? I’ll be covering one of these little devices in a future issue of Computing Unplugged Magazine.
Who doesn’t need more memory? And it’s getting cheaper all the time. An extra memory expansion card or two, shown in Figure E, is always a welcome gift.
.FIGPAIR E You can never have too much memory.
Be sure to pick the right one if you’re giving it as a present. There are several kinds out there such as SD (Secure Digital), MMC (Multimedia Memory Card), CF (CompactFlash), Memory Stick, and Smart Media, just to name the major ones.
Of course, you pay according to the amount of memory. The prices can range from about $30 for 128 MB to thousands of dollars for a 20 Gigabyte CF card. I picked up a one Gigabyte CF card the other day for under $200, and the prices are getting cheaper all the time. Those little finger-like USB memory sticks, like Figure F, are handy as well, particularly for laptops and transferring data.
.FIGPAIR F Just slip one of these handy USB flash drives in your pocket to transfer data from one system to another.
I personally like to stick to SD and CF cards for my PDAs, laptops, Tablet PC, cameras, and desktop so that I don’t have to juggle too many different cards.
This suggests another nifty little stocking-stuffer in the form of an expansion card reader. These will plug into any free USB port and accept expansion cards of all different flavors, which are then read as if they were just another drive on your machine. You can pick up an external one, like the model in Figure G, for around $30-$40; I found an internal one on the Internet for only $18, so if you shop around you can really find a deal.
.FIGPAIR G You’ll need a reader for all those external memory cards.
Speaking of cameras, turn your PDA into a camera capable of zooming, snapshots, and video clips of Internet quality for less than a hundred bucks with the Veo Photo Traveler 130s in Figure H.
.FIGPAIR H The Veo Photo Traveler will turn your handheld into a digital camera.
It just plugs into the SD slot of your PDA, and since it weighs less than a humming bird’s beak, you’re in business without the need to carry bulky, extra camera equipment.
If the PDA you’re packing comes equipped with Bluetooth, consider asking for a wireless Bluetooth keyboard. This isn’t a toy, you can write novels with it. You shouldn’t even think about going on the road without one, because it allows you to leave your clunky laptop behind.
While you’re at it, why not also request a wireless Bluetooth mouse, a diminutive, tail-less critter for your PDA. Both, in Figure I, are available from ThinkOutside.
.FIGPAIR I A Bluetooth keyboard and mouse will turn that handheld into a mini laptop.
The keyboard goes for $100 and the mouse for $80, but you can use the mouse with any computer, not just a PDA. At this time, the ThinkOutside BT keyboard is not compatible with Palm OS devices, but works with Pocket PCs, and Symbian devices.
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As long as we’re talking Bluetooth, tell Santa that you need a Bluetooth headset, like the one in Figure J, for your new Bluetooth wireless phone. Or perhaps some Bluetooth headphones to listen to MP3 music on your PDA, recorded on some of your new expanded memory cards.
.FIGPAIR J While we’re Bluetoothing, why not a BT headset too?
Did someone say phone? Be sure to hold out for a nice Pocket PC phone with some real computing power, not one of those toy phones everyone else has. Ask for an HP h6300 SuperPhone, shown in Figure K.
.FIGPAIR K The HP h6300 combines a wireless phone and Pocket PC.
At $600, it’s a bit on the pricey side, but it’s definitely worth it, considering everything you get for your money.
If you’re in the market for a new PDA, don’t settle for anything less than a Pocket PC that runs on a Windows operating system. I recommend one of the new Dell Axim X50 series, in Figure L.
.FIGPAIR L The Dell Axim x50 Pocket PC line offers many configuration choices.
Depending on the features, they cost from $250-$500. The Axim X50v at 624 MHz, has 128 MB of ROM, and 64 MB of RAM with an SDIO, and a CF expansion slot. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and can function as a phone using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).
You know, with all this new paraphernalia, maybe a nice leather or canvas bag to put it all in would be a good gift idea. Check out the one in Figure M.
.FIGPAIR M A bag for all your gadgets and gear would come in handy.
Both eBags and RoadWired offer a full selection of bags and cases. And anyone would appreciate a leather or aluminum suit from Proporta to protect their pocket companion. An extra stylus or two from StylusCentral can come in handy as well.
A certificate for game downloads, e-books, audio books, like Figure M, and movies make great stocking stuffers.
.FIGPAIR N Books broaden your horizons, and enrich the soul, whether audio, digital, or print.
Why not get some healthy PDA software while you’re at it for weight loss, monitoring diabetes, and workouts? A good place to start would be Handango.
This one should be easy. I hear that Santa’s sleigh is equipped with GPS for the first time this year. Why shouldn’t you have one too? I’ll never understand why people would pay $2500 for a built-in GPS system in a new car when you can get a more sophisticated GPS for your PDA, like you see in Figure O, for around $150, including a Bluetooth receiver.
.FIGPAIR O With GPS maps at your disposal, you’ll never get lost again.
The built-in system can only offer GPS. It just sits there and depreciates, while you can do so much more with a PDA. You can take it with you and use it in other cars, even rental cars, or take it hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, or camping. Besides, a GPS system will make a real man out of you, whether you like it or not, because you’ll never have to ask for directions again.
Depending on whether you’ve been naughty or nice, you can send Santa your wish list the old fashioned way by writing a letter and burning it in the fireplace, as I used to do when I was a kid, or you can just send him an email at one of the following addresses: http://www.emailsanta.com, http://www.greetingsfromsanta.com, http://www.marlo.com/dearsant.htm, or http://www.christmas-santa-letters.com.
For yourself, or the gadget head on your list, there’s plenty to choose from to take the desktop on the road with you. Happy Holidays and best wishes for a wireless New Year!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Belkin products, visit http://www.belkin.com.
For more information on WiFlyer, visit http://www.wiflyer.com.
For more information on Kensington products, visit http://www.kensington.com.
For more information on the Hawking Wi-Fi Locator, visit http://www.hawkingtech.com.
For more information on the Veo Photo Traveler, visit http://www.veo.com.
For more information on ThinkOutside products, visit http://www.thinkoutside.com.
For more information on the HP h6300 SuperPhone, visit http://www.hp.com.
For more information on products from eBag, visit http://www.ebag.com.
For more information on RoadWired products, visit http://www.roadwired.com.
For more information on products from Proporta, visit http://www.Proporta.com.
For more information on StylusCentral products, visit http://www.styluscentral.com.
For more information on products from Handango, visit http://www.Handango.com.
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