Domain Names and Websites

A great gift for a budding geek is a domain name and/or website. If the .com domain for their actual name is still available, snap it up now. For $10/year they can hang onto it for years without ever doing anything with it.

But if they want to do something with their domain, there are dozens of cheap webhosts for a few dollars a month. Or for free they can set up their domain on Blogger or Posterus. Posturus is especially good because if they can send email, they can blog.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

If you or your favorite geek was a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, now RiffTrax brings the MST3K experience to current DVD releases. The sell MP3 commentaries to play alongside DVDs, recorded by Michael J. Nelson from the original MST3K show. Now you can get

Custom Photo Soap

SoapCard.com sells these customizable photo soaps. You upload your photo and/or text and they mail you soap with your own personalized message.

Dirty Games

There's nothing like seeing your aunt and grandmother bust open a Christmas gift like this Sexy Slang board game and try to draw, Pictionary-style, terms like "Junk in the Trunk" or "Booty Call". Even worse, there are special extra kinky cards. See who turns red and who has no idea what the card is talking about. Now that's a family Christmas.





Another take on the same gift idea is the Dirty Minds game. It has cards with clean answers but a dirty-minded person like you will never guess them. For example:

1. I'm a four letter word
2. I'm a name for a woman.
3. I end in u-n-t.

What am I? Give up? Highlight here ( it's aunt you sicko ) for the answer.

Turning Starving Writers into Well-Fed Writers

Peter Bowerman, author of The Well-Fed Writer and its sequel now has a new book, the Well-Fed Self-Publisher. These are great books for someone that's interested in a career as a writer. Almost anyone with decent written English can learn to write adequately well to get published and earn some income. It's a great way to take an interest like fishing, hiking, photography, wake-boarding, college basketball, midget wrestling, or whatever your passion is and turn it into a career.

Neocube Magnet Toy

Neocube is a magnetic toy made up of 216 super-strong magnet balls. They pop apart and together in a really neat way, almost like mess-free modeling clay. There are several sizes available.

The Androgynous Manager

I saw this The Androgynous Manager book ("Blending male and female management styles for today's organization") at a used bookstore and immediately shelled out the dollar. I'm going to get a great WTF moment when my boss unwraps it. It should be as full of win as last year's Vaginas: An Owner's Manual was.

NFL Football Chess Set

For that rare NFL super fan that is also a chess nut, there is now an NFL Chess Set. The queens are Colts and Packers quarterbacks. Hmm...

Photography gifts for the Etsy online craft seller

If you're shopping for someone crafty that already or might sell their work on Etsy, taking a good product photo will be a big help to their business. A small light tent like this one solves a lot of lighting and background problems for them. It has a nice smooth background paper. The white sides of the light tent diffuse the light to eliminate harsh reflections. It comes with two small lights, which help eliminate shadows and get the color right.

iPod Touch - Much more than an MP3 player

If you haven't taken a close look at the iPod Touch, you might still be under the mistaken impression that it's just a fancy MP3 player. But it's so much more. With built-in WiFi support and the Safari web browser, it's a very useful portable web browser. I know several people that blog with theirs when they're travelling. With the iTunes store (and free access at Starbucks) you can buy more than music. I know a few people that no longer have cable television and buy season passes for their favorite television shows. The 3.5 inch widescreen is plenty for most shows. With the opening of the App store, more and more toys, utilities, and games are showing up every day. It's a lot like getting a great pocket-sized laptop for under $250.

Vex Robotics

For the more serious robot hobbiest, Vex makes two kits, the Vexplorer (partnered with Revell) and the full-blown Vex kits. The Vexplorer is a great introductory kit because it has all the parts to build a radio-controlled bot with a wireless color camera and a gripping arm. At the moment, the $300 kit is selling for under $125. This is an awesome deal. The same robotic kits are starting to be used for a lot of engineering school challenges. The more full-blown Vex kits start at $300 to $500.

Figure Drawing Lessons - The Structure of Man

I came across RivenPheonix's The Structure of Man the other day and am really impressed. It's a human figure drawing class on video. There are a lot of very positive reviews of it. The whole first 17 minute lesson is on YouTube and I think the first minute of all the other lessons are on there too. Under $50 for 43 hours of figure drawing lessons is quite a bargain. Perfect for a budding artist or comic fan.

Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story

This 20in. A Christmas Story Leg Lamp by NECA is a genuine prop replica from the beloved holiday classic! No Christmas is complete without the family sitting down to watch Ralphie's misadventures. Now you can light up the living room with a comical leg lamp, just like the one in the movie! And you don't have enter any sweepstakes to get it.

Or there are Leg Lamp T-Shirts, Leg Lamp Light Lite Strands, Leg Lamp Large Christmas Stockings, and Leg Lamp Christmas Ornaments.

Asus EEE PC Mini Laptop

The hottest geek gift this Christmas season is the Asus EEE PC mini laptop. Selling at only two to three times as much as a Nintendo DS or cheaper than the Wii that you can't find, the EEE is a useful tiny lightweight laptop for around the house or on the road. There is a growing line of EEE accessories available too.

Photo gift ideas for the eBay seller

It seems like everyone sells stuff on eBay. If you're shopping for a big eBay seller or even one just getting started, a great gift could help their business. I'd start with a good book on taking photos for eBay. This one is full of tips on how to take photos that create the ones that evoke the "I must have this" feeling.




One of the best tips for taking photos that sell is to use for selling tips is to use a light tent kit. This eliminates shadows, reflections, junk backgrounds, camera shake, and all sorts of other problems.

Fisher Price Pirate Ship in Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging

Amazon has launched their new Frustration-Free packaging and this Fisher-Price Pirate Ship is the flagship product. No more wire ties and impenetrable plastic clamshells.

• The Imaginext Adventures Pirate Ship Playset comes with two figures, separate helmets and swords, 2 flags, treasure chest with treasure pieces, and a working triple cannon
• Imagine sailing through uncharted waters as the captain of your very own pirate ship
• Place any of the pirate figures on the action points throughout the ship for extra action
• Host a gut-wrenching sword duel, shoot the cannon, drop the anchor, or extend the plank

Barack Obama, John McCain Action Figures

The election is about to be over, but if you're shopping for someone that just can't let it go, a great gift would be the Barack Obama Action Figure, the John McCain Action Figure, or the Sarah Palin Action Figure.




Following on the success of the Hillary Clinton Nutcracker, there is now a Bill Clinton Corkscrew.

Family Game Night

More and more we're turning to having friends over for game nights instead of going out. It's a great way for us little people to save up the money to pay off the $700,000,000,000 bailout to help those poor Wall Street employees keep their jobs. So while they're reduced to eating domestic caviar this Christmas, we'll be doing our part and eating $5 Little Caesars and playing Scrabble instead of going to Chucky Cheese.

Anyone that plays very much Scrabble realizes how defective the cheap set is. Spinning the board around so you can read or smacking the table when your husband plays kwyjibo sends the tiles flying. The Scrabble Deluxe Edition has a swivel base that allows the board to turn so players don't have to work upside down. The plastic grid helps keep tiles in line. The handy bag stores letters when they're not in use so you don't end up missing all the U's.

Settlers of Catan is one of the hotter family games. It's relatively new to the U.S. One of the most successful games of all time, Settlers of Catan is a trading and building game set in the mythical world of Catan. Players roll dice to determine which resources are generated each round and then must strategically trade those resources with other players to get what they need to build their settlements, cities, and roads. With multiple ways to gain victory points and a board that changes in every play, Settlers of Catan is a game that can be played hundreds of different ways. The base of a hugely successful franchise, with multiple engaging expansions, Settlers is the core game of many collections, and is a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. For 3 to 4 players.


Carcassonne is a clever tile-laying game. The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique roman and medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters, and in the fields. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine who is victorious. The game is for ages 8 and up and 2 to 5 players.

Gifts for the somewhat serious photographer

Everyone has a budding photographer on their shopping list. Here are a couple ideas for them. These pocket-sized white balance cards help fix yellow or blue color problems in photos, especially with cheaper lights. Great for photographing people, but they're also useful for still shots.





If they photograph models at all, or even just the family or kids, a good portable reflector can really help bounce light onto faces so they're not just buried in shadows. This one has several surfaces to bounce white light or gold/yellow which warms up skin tones.

Pulse Livescribe Note Taking System

The Pulse Livescribe Pen is the hot gift for students right now. It's a combination voice recorder and digital ink system. It lets students record a lecture while taking written notes, then later on their laptop the notes are linked to the lecture audio. They can also share the electronic notes and audio with classmates. It's also great for reporters or anyone else that takes a lot of notes and needs accuracy.

Talus Carganizer Car Organizer

This Talus Carganizer Car Organizer is the car accessory equivalent of switching to sweat pants as your usual outfit. It's the ultimate way to tell everyone that sees your car interior that yes, you've given up and are fully committing to being single for life.

Lego and Playmobil Advent Calendars

Every year now we get our kids Lego Advent Calendar. Getting to open a door each night really builds their anticipation of Christmas, while adding some interesting pieces and mini models to their Lego collection. We've gotten away with just sharing one between them, but this year I think we're going to have to spring for one for each kid.

Playmobil also has some similar advent calendars with different themes: Christmas in the Forest, Unicorn Paradise, Pirates, and Knights Duel.

Bakugan is Hot for Christmas 2008

Bakugan is one of the hottest toys for the 2008 Christmas Season. It is a trading card game, miniatures game, and marbles game based on the television series Bakugan Battle Brawlers.

'Bakugan is huge in the US and set to be the hottest must-have Christmas toy in the UK this year,' said Stuart Grant of toy retailer The Entertainer. 'We will be selling out fast.'

A spokesman for Bakugan maker, Spin Master, said: 'We are working with retailers to make sure they have enough to deal with demand. Our factories are working flat out.'

Elmo Live and Five Other Top Toys for Christmas 2008

Elmo Live is predicted to be one of the hottest new toys for Christmas 2008. Even though it isn't released until November 1st, you can preorder it now on Amazon at the regular price of $59.99. There are already other sellers lined up to sell it at twice that price. I'm sure if you wait until December to try to find one, you'll be paying $100 or more if you can even find one.

Of course the Nintendo Wii and even the Wii Fit game are still massively hot sellers and are almost never in stock. The best bet to catch either one of those is to talk to the guys at your local Gamestop or other smaller video game store and find out when they get stock in and keep calling them. Sometimes they'll even call you when they get stuff in. Or Amazon can send you a text message when they get them in stock.

The Nintendo DS is easier to find on store shelves right now, but at only $129.99, it has sold out both of the last two years and probably will again this year. With more games like Brain Age 2, My French Coach, and Guitar Hero on Tour, it's been a great gift for grownups too.

The rest of the must-have list is full of life-like animated toys. Amazing Amanda, a very realistic talking baby, doesn't get very good reviews from parents but is on a lot of little girls' Christmas lists. It laughs, cries, plays games, talks, goes potty, gets sick, eats, etc. All the pretend baby goodness that you can stand.

KOTA the Triceratops Dinosaur from Playskool comes out October 13th and is supposed to be THE hot toy for preschoolers this Christmas. Part toy, part ride, it's over three feet tall. It has very realistic sounds and motions. It responds to voice and touch.

The Biscuit My Lovin Pup from Fur Real Friends is the ultimate fake pet. He knows how to sit, speak, shake, lie down and other commands.

Cheat Sheet Shirts for Engineering, Math, and Science

Perfect for my friend's kid that's struggling with his Mechanical Engineering classes. Amazon has these cheat sheet tshirts for engineering, math, and science students. They're covered with formulas and diagrams. I might not actually wear them to a test, but they're the ultimate geek flag. Imagine your nerdy nephew wearing one to a kegger...


Or for the aspiring music major or anyone struggling to remember how to do 420 things, there's this shirt from shirt.woot!. You put the lime in the coconut...

Borat Mankini

If you always wondered where you can buy a Borat mankini, here it is. The ultimate gag gift for your boss, brother-in-law, or Ed Dale. The customer images and reviews should give you an idea of what you're in for. One size fits nobody.

Cyclist Gift Guide

For the cyclist in your life, here are two gift ideas.

The Topeak Road Morph G Pump is such a great step forward in on-bike air pumps that it would make a great gift for any cyclist, whether they're a road bike or a mountain bike rider. It unfolds to work more like a full-sized pump than any other compact pump. It'll get them back on the bike faster.

The Delta Airzound Bike Horn is awesome for anyone that rides in traffic or just wants to scare the piss out of other people. It's a 115 decibel air horn for the bike. A refillable bottle-shaped air reservoir goes into one of the bike's existing bottle cages. No batteries or expensive cartridges required. A quick blast of the horn will get car drivers' attention even through closed windows and over loud car stereos.

Ed Dale Mankini

I thought I'd throw up my own post to get in on the fun at Ed Dale's expense and to see just how high this ranks.

But while I'm here, someone should spring for a Do-It-Yourself Back Hair Shaver for Dan or Ed.

Custom Printed M&M Candies

You can now order custom printed M&M candies. $35 for three bags.

Father's Day Gift Round-up

Father's Day is nearly hear. This Executive Travel Putter, $35, is perfect for any golfer, from the die-hard to the beginner. Great for killing time around the office or even in hotel rooms. The putter breaks down into small sections to fit in the box. Five star review on Amazon.


The Leatherman Charge TTi, $109, is one of the latest multitools. Titanium handles, a real knife blade (in S30V stainless steel, not cheap 440C), and plenty of tools for almost any job.



This Fenix L2D-CE Q5 Premium, $99, is one of the latest LED flashlights. Many times brighter than even the big Maglites, it runs on two AA batteries and easily fits into a glove compartment, pocket, laptop bag, etc.

Whittling

This Old Time Whittling Kit would be great for boys of all ages.

T-Shirts for Video Gamers

I should do a roundup of places to get geeky tshirts sometime. But Penny Arcade has some great shirts for gamers.

Geeks Shirt

Here's a Dilbert-like tshirt complete with screened-on pocket protector and tie.

Indiana Jones Lego Sets

This is cool. Lego has released the first four Indiana Jones Lego sets. I hope Lego takes this as far as they did with Star Wars. These seem to be selling out everywhere.

Temple Escape is the big kit that reproduces the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, complete with the huge rolling boulder and seaplane.

Lost Tomb contains the Egyptian tomb from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yes, the one with all the snakes.

Race for the Stolen Treasure is the truck chase scene from Raiders. Or it could just be a generic treasure chase scene.

Motorcycle Chase is the odd set in that it's from The Last Crusade. A Sean Connery minifig?

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