Yes it’s that time again, a chill in the air, chestnuts and all of that. Yep, time to get gifts! Oh, and give a few too! So once again the writers here at CineGeek have picked a bevy of unique geek oriented items that we would love to unwrap under the tree. There’s no rhyme or reason to the prices for the items, they’re just cool things that we’d yes, like to give as well as receive. We’ll be releasing a new list each day for the next three days leading up to turkey day planning and black Friday shopping. So no need to make a list and check it twice, we’ve done the work for you. In fact, most of these items can be bought right from this here website so you don’t even have to leave your house! Without further ado, here is Stephen’s list. Continue below to look at Mike and Niko’s list from yesterday as well.
Editor Stephen Lackey’s Top Five Holiday Gifts
The Microsoft Surface
Sure, the apps are still coming but out of the box this is the first tablet device that can be a true contender in the ring for Apple’s iPad. The tiled interface is super slick and customizable, the fact that you can put a usable copy of Microsoft Office on the tablet and together with the highly innovative keyboard touch covers the device is not only solid for entertainment but a certain amount of productivity not possible on other tablets is totally possible here. You can control your XBOX 360 with the device and much more.
Diamond Select Toys Bottle Openers
Diamond Select Toys has brought us a couple of truly unique bottle openers that are sure to put a smile on any geek’s face. They had previously sent us The Silver Surfer bottle opener which was nicely detailed and surprisingly heavy. It looked a little like Han Solo caught in carbonite from a distance but it’s truly just the ex-herald of Galactus taking a break and lying down on his surfboard. It’s a stellar conversation piece and with its build quality it’ll be opening bottles for many years to come. Diamond also sent us a killer Death Star shaped bottle opener with some nice strong magnets on the back to allow you to stick it to your fridge when it’s not being used. Again there’s great detail in the design and it’s sturdy and well made. Star Wars fans simple have to have this magnetic bottle opener!
Mimoco Mimobots
Most geeks, heck most people have need of usb jump drives at one time or another. They’ve gotten so large now that not only documents can be moved from PC to PC with them but multimedia too. People as a rule love to impart themselves and their personality onto everything they have so why not do so with their usb jump drives? Mimobots are highly stylish little usb drives that are most commonly 8, 16, or 32 gigabytes in size and are designed after icons of pop culture. There are Transformers, various Star Wars characters, and plenty of super heroes. Perhaps some of the most fun ones though are he offbeat ones, most notably the two versions of Einstein. One version is a pretty typical rendition of the brainiac and the second one features an open brain! These little guys are tons of fun and the pricemakes them perfect for a small but thoughtful gift or a stocking stuffer!
Firefly: The Complete Series Blu-Ray
Firefly The Complete Series has finally come to blu-ray and it’s a must own for any true geek or just a fan of good science fiction. Yes the show did get abruptly cancelled but if you get this and the feature film Serenity the story will be finished out, if a little rushed. The bonus features here are also a must for the hardcore fan of the show because through them you get a sense of just what the show meant to the people that created it.
Portal 2 Sentry Turret Flashlight
Puzzle games seem to be all the rage these days and the Portal games broke the mold in that genre of gaming. They offer up truly creative gameplay and a super quirky sense of humor. If you or someone you know is a fan of these games then this little gadget is a must have. It’s a bright LED flashlight replica of one of the turrets from the game. It speaks random lines from the game and even comes in replica packaging from the game. The price also makes it an awesome stocking stuffer!
Mike’s List
Target Alarm Clock
http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Target-Recordable-Alarm-Clock/dp/B004PHQBSE/ref=pd_sim_sbs_misc_2
Who hasn’t fantasied about unloading on the alarm clock in the morning. Well now you can without having to worry about the neighbors calling the cops. Just be careful in which drawer you put the alarm clocks “gun”. Mornings are bad enough with out having to explain nine millimeter holes in your neighbors walls to the police at six o’clock in the morning. On the weekends you can sleep in and switch the clock to game mode to blast away at the pop up target until you feel like crawling out of bed.
Sugru Hacking Putty
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e976/
When did they change the way Play Doh smells? I bought some a couple of months ago just to breath in the redolent aroma and transport myself back to happier, simpler days. Well that didn’t work because somehow they have sucked the nostalgia right out of it. So I’m sitting around just playing with the stuff and all kinds of ideas pop into my head of things you could do with the stuff if you could get it to harden with a reasonable amount of strength. You can’t, but that’s what Sugru is for. It’s designed to be formed by hand into what ever shape shape you need. As it cures over twenty four hours it will stick to other bits of Sugru and nearly anything else. Let your imagination run wild. It’s like an epoxy that won’t rip your skin off if you try to shape it by hand.
High Amp USB chargers
http://www.amazon.com/USAMS-Compact-High-Output-Charger/dp/B007BJCV6E/ref=pd_sim_cps_6
and http://www.amazon.com/RND-Power-Solutions-Premium-Smartphones/dp/B004WX48J0/ref=pd_sim_e_4
I love USB, besides being a reasonably fast and extremely simple interface for pushing data from one device to another. It declutters our lives. Instead of having a different format charger for every different device most gadgets get their juice now from a simple USB cable. But as handy as the ubiquitous USB port and cable are everything has it’s limits.There is only so much power you can suck out of a computer’s USB port and this new generation tablets and big screen, multi-core phones are reaching the limit. I can leave my Nexus 7 plugged into the laptop at work all day at and depending on the charge it started with it may not be topped off when I leave the office. Making matters worse most wall wart and cigarette lighter USB power sources are pretty weak to boot. So hunt up some two amp wall wart and accessory plug USB chargers like these to keep your favorite gadgets fully charged and ready to go.
ION iCade Arcade Cabinet for iPad
http://www.amazon.com/ION-iCade-Arcade-Cabinet-iPad/dp/B004YC4NH6/ref=pd_sim_MI_8
I don’t really want an iPad. I’m not really into retro gaming. But I want this Cabinet. Look at the joystick! Look at the buttons! I know I would get tired of it in a few hours and then it would just sit around and collect dust but that’s okay because I would always know it was there and it was mine. You get one free game from Atari’s Greatest Hits from Apple’s app store there are a bunch of classic Atari arcade games available and all of the old Atari 2600 games are out there for purchase. Some third party game developers are building in support for it now as well so your not stuck with just an Atari experience.
Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection [Blu-ray] (2012)
http://www.amazon.com/Bond-50-Complete-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B006U1J5ZY/ref=tmm_blu_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1353383148&sr=1-1
Bond is back baby! Having just seen Skyfall I am really wanting to go back and sink into the Bond mythos and this is just the ticket. All of the Bond films are here* expect for Skyfall but they have left an open slot for when it comes out on Blu Ray because they know your going to want to pick it up as well. This also marks the first time nine of the twenty two have been issued on Blu Ray. That’s twenty two movies and one hundred and thirty hours of special features. So if you start watching these right after you unwrap gifts on Christmas morning you would finish on New Years Eve with enough time to take a disco nap before heading out to ring in the new year.
*Yes I know Never Say Never and the original Casino Royale are not part of the box set, those were not produced by the same company that produced all of the others and are not considered part of the official Bond cannon.
TV-B-Gone Universal TV Power Remote Control Keychain
http://www.amazon.com/TV-B-Gone-Universal-Remote-Control-Keychain/dp/B0006GD9CE/ref=pd_sim_e_3
I have a problem, actually I have a lot of problems so anytime I come across a gadget that solves one of those problems I’m interested. I suffer from Tvitus. At least that’s what I call it. If there is a TV on I can’t keep my eyes from wandering to it. It doesn’t matter how inane or annoying the program that’s playing it takes all of my concentration to not just stare and drool at the TV. It does not matter who I am with or the conversation that is going on my eyes will inevitably veer off to the glowing screen no matter if it’s football, COPS, Oprah, the news or a million other things I do not care anything about. This little gadget won’t cure me but it will allow me to manage my condition by turning the damn things off. It’s got all of the Off codes for TV remotes programed into it and it’s designed to cycle through them as fast as it can. So just point this little gadget at the offending machine and let it do it’s thing. Of course “with great power comes great responsibility” a wise man once said, so if your lucky enough to find one of these in your stocking don’t abuse your new found gift and remember getting caught messing with the TV in some surroundings might be a danger to your health in itself.
Niko’s List
1. The Hobbit: Pocket Edition – http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f101/
Hopefully by the gift-giving days, you have all seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Don’t wait for next year’s sequel. Finish the story now with your own copy of the fantasy classic – J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. ThinkGeek has a nifty pocket-sized edition that’s both great for the go and nice display piece, with the dust cover for this hardcover book featuring the cover illustration used in the book’s release.
2. iFlash Four USB Ports Home/Wall Charger – http://www.amazon.com/iFlash-Ports-Charger-Apple-iPhone/dp/B0080XGJPY/
Running out of outlets for all your USB chargers? Then condense with this four-USB-ports-in-one wall charger. As often as I find myself fighting for outlets with friends to charge my phone, this cuts the work down. A nice addition to any tech road kit.
3. Cards Against Humanity – http://cardsagainsthumanity.com
Cards Against Humanity is a despicable game that lets your friends show how horrible they really are. This multiplayer party game lets a judge choose the most appropriate and funniest submission. Similar to Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity stands out with its politically incorrect answers and its Creative Commons license. The game is FREE to download and print to cut out your own cards, as well as to make your own. You can also buy a professionally-produced version of the game, when they’re actually in stock. They go fast.
4. Game of Thrones Statue: Tyrion – http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Game-of-Thrones-Statue-Tyrion___414277
All Song of Ice and Fire fans know that Tyrion is a badass pimp of an imp, and Dark Horse has immortalized Tyrion Lannister in the visage of his Emmy-award-winning actor Peter Dinklage. This is an impressive statue and is an especially nice shelf companion to the Song of Ice and Fire books I suggested last year.
5. Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One pre-order – http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Cinematic-Universe-Assembled-Collectors/dp/B0083SBMGW/
This really should be a “nuff said” item, but here we go. This is the complete first act of the Marvel cinematic universe, covering Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Marvel’s The Avengers in a 10-disc limited edition Blu-Ray set, supposedly including extras not in the original releases of these films. This is a pre-order, as the actual item won’t be released until spring 2013, but I can think of few gifts better than finding all of the Avengers waiting for me on my doorstep on a sunny spring day.