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.