Top 10 Geek Gifts for the 2009 Holiday Season
Greetings everybody!
It is that time of year again, with a little over a month left before Christmas, it is time to start figuring out what you are going to buy! The big question is what are you going to get that geek in your life? I have compiled another list again this year of great geek gifts to get that geek in your life assuming they don't already have them. Here we go!
#10. Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt
Are you so good at Rock Band and Guitar Hero that you want to take your act on the road? You can do something like that with this awesome electronic rock guitar shirt. With this shirt, you can let everybody enjoy your awesome guitar skills! The shirt comes with a mini-amp that you can clip on your belt that will allow you to tweak your sound and crank up the music so that you make sure that everybody can hear you. ThinkGeek is selling this awesome shirt for $29.99.
#9. Kill-A-Watt Graphic Timer
Are you or your loved one concerned about the safety of your electronic devices and just how much energy you are using? If so, than this Kill-A-Watt Graphic Timer is for you. Not only will it protect you from voltage spikes, but it will also protect your precious appliances and gadgets from over current, over voltage and even under voltage. This device will not only let you measure your power usage down to the minute, but you can program it to function at different times for up to 7 days. There are a number of other features, but if you are looking to track your energy usage to help cut down on your electric bill or just want to protect your appliances and gadgets, you should definitely check out the Kill-A-Watt Graphic Timer from ThinkGeek at the reasonable price of $69.99. If you can use it to save on electricity or protect your appliances, this wonderful meter could easily pay for itself over time.
#8. The Laptopper Portable Shelf
Have you ever been sitting in your car outside of a coffee shop using their wifi? Kind of uncomfortable isn't it? Well now you have a place to comfortably set your laptop while you are surfing the net. This portable shelf will slip on your steering wheel or even over a headrest to give you a place to set any laptop 17" and smaller as well as whatever other gadgets you may be using. Whether you just want to watch a movie or participating in a wardriving competition, at $14.99, the Laptopper Portable Shelf from ThinkGeek is great for anybody!
#7. Rovio - WiFi Roaming Bot
O Rovio, Rovio, where for art thou Rovio? Are you looking to keep an eye on your home while you are away on vacation or just want to check up on that new babysitter? If so, the wifi connected Rovio is just for you! This cool little robot is equipped with a webcam, microphone and speakers. You can control Rovio manually or set up way-points to monitor your house. Rovio can be controlled from any internet connection around the world. What is really impressive is that you can control it with a PC, Mac, an iPhone and even your PS3! The Rovio also has built in LEDs to light its way in poorly lit areas. At $229.99 from ThinkGeek, Rovio seems reasonably priced, especially considering the fact that it has a base station it returns to for charging similar to the Roomba.

Rovio - WiFi Roaming Bot
#6. Grab-It Pack Gadget Holster
I don't know about you, but I am always looking for ways to carry more gadgets with me. I have been made fun of on numerous occasions for having my pockets so stuffed full of stuff that you would suspect I just robbed an electronics store. Now you can carry more items and get more strange looks than ever before with the Grab-It Pack Gadget Holster! Strap this around your waist and legs and you will turn a lot of heads when people see just how many gadgets you can carry! ThinkGeek sells the Grab-It Pack Gadget Holster for $24.99.
#5. Scottevest Quantum Jacket
Maybe the Grab-It Gadget Holder isn't quite your style or maybe it doesn't have enough pockets to put stuff in, so why not try Scottevest's Quantum Jacket! Not only does this jacket look far less goofy, but it is also breathable and water resistant! Did we mention this jacket has an amazing 28 pockets?! Just think how many gadgets you can carry with you from phones to mp3 players to portable gaming devices when you have 28 pockets to store them in? Just think how much fun you could have have going through airport security when you have to empty out 28 pockets! Don't forget, this jacket has their patented Personal Area Network (PAN) to manage your earbud wires! If you head over to Scottevest, you can get this jacket for $250, but can you really put a price on carrying 28 pockets worth of gadgets while staying warm and looking good all at the same time?
#4. Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router
Have you ever wanted to say that you are the proud owner of the world's smallest wireless N router? Now you can! This tiny wireless N router from TRENDnet will make sure you can transfer data across your wireless enabled devices quickly and easily. A product like this is great if you are stuck in a hotel with crappy wifi that you can only get if you are standing on the toilet with your arm stretched out like a fountain. Just fire this up where you can get the signal and you instantly have a good enough signal that you can get anywhere in the hotel room. For $79.99 from ThinkGeek, the TRENDnet Mini 300Mbps Wireless N Travel Router might just be the best router for the road warrior in your life.
#3. Ironkey Military Strength Flash Drives
How important is the security of the files you move around? Do you carry your financial documents on a thumb drive so you can have access to them anywhere? What about confidential plans from work? Now you can rest easy because with an Ironkey USB drive because you won't have to worry about your data falling into the wrong hands again! With hardware encryption, the tough looking Ironkey can stand strong against both virtual and physical attacks. These drives have so much encryption and security on them thanks to a built-in encryption chip, even the military is using them in Afghanistan! The only way to access the information on the drive is with the password and if somebody tries to hack into it and enters the wrong password 10 times, the encryption chip self destructs and makes the drive useless and nobody will ever be able to get your data. If security is what really matters to you, you can't go wrong with an Ironkey Military Strength Flash Drive. ThinkGeek sells a 1GB model for $69.99 and a 4GB model for $139.99. Although they aren't cheap, you should ask yourself just how much your data is worth.
#2. Motorola Droid
My, how far we have come in a year. Last year's list included T-Mobile's G1 Android phone and this year, we have a vastly improved Motorola phone by the name of Droid for Verizon customers. With a 5-megapixel camera, turn by turn directions, a physical and virtual keyboard as well as turn by turn directions just to name a few of the features, many are calling this an iPhone killer or at least as good as the iPhone. With over 10,000 applications available on the Android Marketplace, now is a great time to be looking into getting the Droid on what many consider to be the best wireless network in the US. If you are in the market for a new phone and don't want to suffer the hell of the AT&T network just to have something as nice as an iPhone, check out the Motorola Droid which you can get from LetsTalk.com for $150.
#1. Mimo Mini USB Monitor
Not a day goes by that I think to myself, "Gee, I could be much more productive if I had room for a second monitor." Now I can and I won't need a new desk and power strip to get it! Any of the Mimo mini USB monitors might give you just the extra amount of screen you need to be extra productive without taking up as much room on your desk as a full sized monitor. These monitors are powered by a USB cable so you don't have to worry about trying to get a bigger power strip to plug a second monitor into or a new graphics card that can support a second monitor. Now you can keep email or whatever you want open on a smaller, secondary monitor while you work on your main screen so you can see when you get that important email you have been waiting for. Did I mention there is a touchscreen model? If you are into the touchscreen movement and want a monitor you can physically interact with, for a little higher price, you can have just that! You might have a hard time putting a price on productivity, but ThinkGeek managed put put a price on it, and depending on which of the three models you get, the Mimo Mini USB Monitor will cost you between $129.99-229.99.
Did we miss something? What geek items are on your Christmas list?
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Wifi is everywhere but I can’t get online
Like many geeks, one of my favorite hobbies is to go war driving. For years, I occasionally drive around town and even other towns just to see where and how many wi-fi signals I can get, but it isn't as entertaining as useful as it used to be.
There are two main things I enjoy about looking for wifi, seeing all of the strange and unique names that people set as their SSID and finding open wifi networks so that should the need for one ever arise, I know where I can find one. While I still enjoy the first, the latter has become much harder.
Over the past couple of years, I have noticed a couple of dramatic shifts when it comes to wifi. When I first started war driving, I noticed that very few people had wifi despite the fact that laptop sales were on the rise. Not long after that, wifi started to become a bit more common to the point that for a good portion of the town, I could detect at least one hotspot. Slowly more started to pop up but I would estimate that only around 20% had any sort of encryption or protection on them at all. Once in a while I would see some WEP encryption or at least a changed SSID but nothing that would keep even the newest of hackers out. Over the past year or so, I have seen a major shift. Not only has the number of wifi hotspots increased dramatically, but the percentage of encrypted access points has jumped to closer to 90%. I find this to be both a good and bad thing.
For years, I have been a proponent of locking down wifi networks mainly with WPA encryption mainly for security purposes, but it seems that my effort has come back to bite me. While stuff like this does help keep the harmful hackers at bay, it hurts those that desperately need wifi but have no ill intent. There have been a number of times in the recent past that I have spent a considerable amount of time searching for an open wifi network or at least a starbucks because I need to get on the internet to find a place on Google maps or to get a bit of information from my email. If I could find open wifi hotspots as much as I can find closed ones, I often wouldn't be forced to drive all over just to get online.
I believe that this could actually lead to more illegal activities than it will stop. Certainly it is harder to get into networks (assuming you use WPA since WEP is useless), but considering the vast majority of encrypted networks that I find are using WEP, cracking into the network for internet access almost becomes an option. I am certainly not recommending this practice since it is illegal (not that that has ever stopped me before, something that the podcast listeners will understand), but I certainly sympathize with those that are forced to do it because they need something and can't find an open access point. I believe that you should be able to get online anywhere at anytime and for a number of reasons, that is not possible anymore.
What do I propose to solve this problem? Businesses should put open wifi in all of their locations for customer convenience. I'm not saying that this should be mandated or that companies should risk the security of their network for a couple of customers, but I do think it is a big benefit for customers. I think that this message applies mainly to restaurants, coffee shops and pretty much everybody that serves some sort of food. Personally, if I find a restaurant with free wifi, I am far more likely to eat there than someplace else because then I can take my laptop or at least my iPod Touch in and get something accomplished while I am waiting for my order. If I am in a jam, need internet access and don't have time to go in, I will still sit in the parking lot and use the wifi, but I always make sure to go back at a later time and go in and purchase something. Providing free wifi will get my business almost every time. The cost of providing free wifi to customers is very little, and for nearly all businesses is likely to pay off, especially when you have customers that would like to get work done while they are at your establishment. I completely believe this will pay for itself many times over, so if you own a business, install wifi for the sake of your customers!
Free wifi for everybody!








