The Lifehack 2008 Gift Guide

The Lifehack 2008 Holiday Gift Guide

It's that fourth dimension of year again – fourth dimension to sally along in search of the perfect gift for the special and not-so-special-but-they're-family unit people in your life. Given the economic situation this yr, I made upward a list with a few criteria in mind:

Nothing crazy expensive. Everything on this listing is under $400, and most is mode under. Sure, a 48-foot LCD Television receiver would be squeamish, or a 64 gigapixel DSLR, or that 128-cadre gaming PC y'all've been looking at for your teen, but in these uncertain times, I felt it would be best to go along things a bit more reasonable.
Lots of way. Proficient design doesn't have to be a luxury. In the past, way was what y'all traded for affordability, but these days it's easy to find fashionable classics for everyday prices.
Practicality first. With ane exception, I tried to find things that your loved ones will really be able to utilise regularly – things that volition make their lives a fiddling easier, a little nicer, or both.

Most items link to Amazon for quick shopping, and when I had a choice I made certain they qualified for Prime shipping (Prime members pay about $70 a year for "free" ii-twenty-four hour period shipping on every Prime lodge). Prices are in US dollars.

Feel free to share your ideas in the comments – let's help each other brand the best of this holiday season!

Productivity to Become
	Acer Aspire One netbook This tiny laptop, barely bigger than a hardcover book, packs everything you lot need to work wherever you might discover yourself. 1/6 GHz Atom processor, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB hard drive, and born wi-fi ability a laptop with i of the larger keyboards bachelor on a netbook and a lovely 8.nine" screen. Runs Windows XP (although at that place'southward a Linux-powered model for nearly $20 less). ($350)
	Fujitsu Scansnap S300 Color Mobile Scanner Minor enough to travel just about anywhere, the ScanSnap is favored by paperless role devotees for its ease of use. Powered by your reckoner'due south USB port, the ScanSnap scans documents direct to PDF, assuasive instant capture of important papers, receipts, articles, and whatever else you want to continue. ($360)
	RichardSolo 1800 portable charger for iPhone The geek'south charger, the Richard Solo 1800 is stylish and functional, providing just most a full charge to your iPhone's famously short battery life. If that strikes you equally all too pedestrian, consider this: it also has a built-in LED flashlight and laser pointer. Useless, of course, only doesn't the uber-geek in your life deserve something useless and shiny? ($70)
	SimpleTech Signature Mini 250GB Portable Difficult Drive 250 gigabytes in a case smaller than your Hipster PDA? Tiny, sleek, and sexy as hell – that'due south some kind of backup! ($85)
	TomTom ONE 125 3.v-Inch Portable GPS Navigator The Tom Tom one is a super-affordable yet full-featured GPS, with total United states of america maps and points of interest, turn-past-turn directions using built-in voices or downloadable "celebrity" voices, and both "official" and customs-contributed updates. ($100)
Practical Productivity
	Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen Perfect for students and people who attend a lot of meetings, the Smartpen takes taking notes to a whole new level. Sensors notice where you are on the special paper, allowing y'all to not simply capture your analog notes in digital form but command the born recorder as well. Notes and recordings can exist imported to your reckoner and even uploaded in sync, pregnant that clicking a spot in your notes brings up the recording at exactly that moment. ($200)
	Field Notes "The Kit" Field Notes pocket notebooks are sparse enough for the back pocket and have great retro, Indiana Jones-y charm. "The Kit" comes with 6 notebooks, 6 forest pencils, half-dozen ballpoint pens, and a Field Notes mini-calendar. ($27)
	Asus Eee Box PC Asus has crammed all the components of it's pop Eee PC netbook (sans the screen) into this compact desktop calculator, perfect for students and other coincidental calculator users, especially when space is tight. ($320)
	USBCELL AA Rechargable Batteries Unchain yourself from wall chargers with these AA rechargeable batteries. To recharge, simply pop the height and plug into whatever USB port! Great stocking stuffers for the gadget geeks in your life. ($twenty)
	Staple-Free Stapler A great stocking-stuffer for the part jockeys in your life, this beautiful piffling device attaches up to v sheets of paper without a staple. ($7)
	Epson Artisan 800 Wireless Photo All-in-I Printer Epson brings its photo printing expertise to the home in this all-in-ane printer. Best of all, it'south wi-fi enabled, allowing yous to gear up information technology upwardly anywhere in your abode and impress – or even scan – from any reckoner on the network. Two paper trays let you to switch from patently to photo paper (or between photo sizes) and Epson's archival-quality inks produce pictures that will last for decades.($230)
Productive Style
	Give & Take Card Box Anyone who has e'er juggled the task of accepting a card from someone while fumbling around for your own cards will appreciate this card case – one compartment holds your cards, the other holds the cards you're given. Of course, its modern styling doesn't hurt, either.($twenty)
	Blomus Notepaper Curl Holder Keep your thoughts directly with this ultra-modern twist on plain oldnotepads. Addingmachine rolls allow you to jot notes, brand lists, and doodle equally long as you desire! Mounts vertically or can be used on a desk- or countertop. ($25
	Bubble Calendar This behemothic wall (48"w x xviii"h )calendar combines stylish looks with the virtually satisfying activity known to humankind: popping bubble wrap. Popular each day's bubble as it passes! ($fifty)
	three-Bay Charging Station Another Vat19 production, this charging station has spaces for three gadgets with a concealed power strip underneath and infinite to hibernate all those ugly power cords and convertor "warts". Comes in glossy blackness terminate. ($45)
	db clay Version iii.1 Wallet db dirt wallets combine function and artistry, with beautiful imagery printed onto each waterproof, eco-friendly wallet. They're already sold out online, just they're now available in stores; check out their store locator to find a location near you lot. ($45 – $85)
But for Fun
	iPod Building Block Speaker Our friends at Vat19 sell these funky, fun footling additions to your iPod accompaniment case – tiny clip-on speakers for your iPod. They require no batteries, look like Legos, and sound decent given their size. ($twenty)
	xkcd "Bodily Size" stickers Highlight the obvious or mock the small with these snarky stickers from the snarky folks who bring us the xkcd comic strip. (five ea. 1", two",and 3", $5)
	Samsumg YP-S2 1GB MP3 Actor Samsung takes on the iPod shuffle with these cute-as-a-button (and almost equally minor) 1 GB mp3 players. Available in 5 colors,the S2 plays mp3, wma (including protected wma) and ogg files. Bookmarking allows you to pick up where you left off, making this a dainty player for listening to podcasts and audiobooks. ($34)
	Sony Cybershot T700 10 megapixels, 4x optical zoom, paradigm stabilization – everything you'd expect from a digital point-and-shoot these days. What sets the T700 autonomously is two things: information technology's super-slim trunk, of course, and 4 gigs of internal retentivity, enough to agree thousands of pictures. Yous can display all those pictures on the big iii 1/2" high-resolution screen. ($350)