Future's Holiday Gift Guide

I thought to myself this morning, in the -20 degree temperatures here in Chicago: self, how do you combine your love of technology with the holidays? Well, I think it's pretty obvious… Gift List! So, read on to find out what I think you should buy for yourself, or someone else who loves geeky gadgetry.


For stocking-stuffers or cheap friends (actually, you'd be the cheap one):

SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive

I use my flash drive almost everyday (waka waka), so a guy like me would appreciate having a 16GB flash drive since they're so easy to lose. Memory is cheap these days, so 16GB for around $30 aint bad.

Power Support Air Jacket for iPhone 3G/3GS

I've never been a fan of putting cases on electronics, especially anything that's made by Apple, but the Power Support cases are fantastic. It has a soft-touch material, so it's not as slippery as the phone itself. It only covers the back, and comes with a protective clear sticker to go over the screen. For those that hate cases, but really need one, this is the best case out there for the iPhone.

For the 50-bucks-should-do-it crowd:

Double Horse Chinook R/C Helicopter

There's something about flying aircraft indoors that just satisfies everything in life. I'm sure every one of you at some point in your life (probably when you were 5) wanted a remote control car/airplane/helicopter/robot. This gift will definitely fill that void - for about 2 weeks before it breaks into pieces. I've had 2 R/C helicopters in my life, and the average lifespan for both was about 2 weeks… but those two weeks were so fucking fun.

Google Storage + Free Eye-Fi memory card

Ok, not really sure how you can gift this to someone, but I suppose you could give them the money to do it (since you need a google account). Basically, when you sign up to add 200 or more gigabytes of data from Google, you get a free Eye-Fi card. What the hell is an Eye-Fi card? It's actually pretty cool - it can be used with any camera that accepts SD memory cards (most cameras, but make sure they don't have some other memory card requirement, like Sony's Duo Pro cards). When you pop the 4GB memory card into your camera, you can wirelessly transfer the songs onto your computer, or directly to Picasa/Flickr/Facebook. Pretty awesome for people that like taking pictures and using Facebook (which is like, every single girl in the world). Anyways, click here to learn more. Oh, and to check camera compatibility, click here to learn more.

For the I-still-have-an-income crowd:

Canon PowerShot S90 Digital Camera

At $399, its a pretty expensive point-and-shoot camera, but it's the highest quality camera out there for the size. 3" LCD screen, 3.8x optical zoom, high-iso, and a quality 10MP sensor make this camera the best picture-taking pocketable-device. For those that are more interested in the big boys (DSLRs) I highly recommend my camera: the Nikon D90.

Barnes&Noble Nook eBook Reader

Ok, this isn't really a Christmas/Chanuka gift because they're sold out through mid-January, but its still a great gift. In the eBook world, there are three major players: the Amazon Kindle, the Nook, and the Sony eBooks. Never get a Sony, since they aren't tied to the massive collections of books that Amazon or B&N have. The reason why I picked the Nook over the Kindle is because the Nook has an awesome feature - a full color touch screen powered by Android located directly below the e-ink screen. Having this screen opens the door to countless possibilities with this device; for example, listening to pandora while reading a book (maybe I should read a book about grammar, cause I have no fucking clue why we even have a semi-colon).

So that's my list… I hope you don't think less of me. For those of you that just want to give something free, go and bake some cookies or something. Since most of you are on the East Coast, I can't do that for you, but here are my free gifts to you:

Evernote.com
I use Evernote every single day. Basically its a cloud-based note taking application. I have it on my iPhone, PC, Mac and work computer. I use it for keeping an up-to-date To Do list, flight confirmation numbers list, apartment dimensions list (for when I'm at Home Depot or Ikea), holiday gifts list, and more… Seriously, you should start using this right now if you don't already - ITS FREE!

Mint.com
Some people have issues linking their bank accounts with online services, but Mint is one of those things the internet has brought us (like Pandora) that's truly wonderful. I have all my checking and savings accounts, credit cards, Schwabb, and even 401k accounts. The iPhone app is awesome, and I check it everyday for monthly budgeting purposes.

Dropbox.com
I started using Dropbox about a month ago, and I love it. The free account gives you 2GB of space in the cloud. What it does is sync a folder on your hard drive with the folder on their servers… which means you can share your files across multiple computers easily (and since it's syncing the folder on your physical drive, you can still access these files offline after syncing). As mentioned above, I lose my flash drives pretty frequently, so using dropbox to transfer stuff from computer to computer is a great alternative.

Happy Holidays!

- Future

Christina Hendricks Falls Victim To The D.E.N.N.I.S. System

Sorry Snozberries guy.

Misc. bonus pic after the jump


More celebs caught staring here.

Hat tip to BMar - this was actually his find he's just too slow and the people (I) demand it.

Get Your Sparks while they last

The FDA is weighing a decision to ban caffeinated alcoholic beverages. Which is garbage. They're viewing this as a ban on Sparks or similar products. But it reasonably would prohibit bar staples, such as red bull and vodka* or rum-and-cokes. More pointedly, it would prohibit irish coffees, which I can imagine that more than a few congressmen have quaffed on occasion. However, if the type of nanny state government that Bloomberg has imposed on New York become instituted nation wide (no trans fat! no smoking in bars!), this will be on the list.

*True story--I met a girl who ordered a red bull/vodka once at a bar. I told her that I'd never heard of a "Red Bull" and wanted to know what it was. She proceeded to extol the virtues of the drink, and buy another 3 or 4 for us in quick succession. This incident occurred in late 2006. The lesson learned: it can be fun to tell people that you've never heard of a common, well-known product and watch as they overreact.
Hattip-Sports Guy

Submitted

Family Blog This!


Tiger Woods Sex Tape Leaked - Watch more Funny Videos

Presented with Minimal Comment

Its the Jersey Shore nickname generator! I fed "scos" into it and it spat back out "The Condition."

h/t- my sister

More Tiger Fallout

One of the overlooked casualties of this Tiger Woods saga is the use of Tiger Woods in metaphorical circumstances. I'll explain:

I was reading an article by David Brooks in which Brooks stated, "The U.S. has its problems, but Americans would be crazy to trade their problems with those of any other large nation." He goes on to say that despite all of America's ills, she still is a leader in innovation and production, so let's not get carried away with all of the morose talk from the doomsayers.

I think in analogies. I use them all the time, often to my own detriment as they get pretty convoluted. I try to explain the weird world of search marketing to my clients using analogies. I try to demonstrate my own cleverness using analogies. I try to get people talking about something I don't understand to use them to help me out.

When reading Brooks' argument that we shouldn't get all crazy just because of this sizable economic disruption, the first thing that came to mind was, "Oh, this is would be like worry that Tiger Woods was finished as a golfer just because he had one bad tournament."

Immediately, all that I could think about was the recent series of non-golf related events that have plagued Tiger. And by "plagued Tiger," I mean "he totally brought this on himself but doesn't necessarily deserve all the BS that comes along with being famous in the twenty-first century and boning down with a bunch of floozies while married." Sure, he's a jerk but so was JFK, right? The only differences are the coverage and the outrage.

Maybe that's debatable, but what isn't debatable is that speaking the name Tiger Woods no longer invokes thoughts of golf excellence alone.

Tiger is the most relevant current sports figure to be as dominant as he is. That's why he's a perfect subject for analogies involving dominance. Sure, you could use an analogy with Roger Federer in his place but that would just sound obscure coming from an American. We haven't cared about tennis since Big Pete! You could substitute Kobe Bryant, only he has his own social baggage. Lebron hasn't won a championship, so how dominant is he, really? Jordan and Gretzky are too dated as references. Tom Brady has seen his skills decline since his injury and Peyton Manning only has one Super Bowl to his name. Baseball players, as a whole, don't carry teams the way that other athletes do.

So, if you want to use a sports analogy that requires a dominant force, who are you now supposed to use? With Tiger's recent transgressions, his metaphorical use is toast, at least, for now.

I'll miss you, Metaphorical Tiger. Real Tiger may be a philanderer but, in my mind, Metaphorical Tiger was was as great at everything else as he was on the golf course.

LiveBlog: First Big Dump

Headed to hike the Skiway.

Random Thoughts

I bet the hardest part of pharmacy school is the semester where you learn how to decipher the handwriting on prescription forms.

Actual subway ad: “Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald. We Fight for Injured Children.” This ad would be a lot more effective at grabbing people’s attention if they took out the “for”.

I think they should make a law that if you’re driving along I-95 and you hit some really bad traffic whose cause turns out not to be some horrific accident or dramatic drug-bust but just some routine construction work, and there’s a sack of rotten produce in your passenger seat, you’re allowed to hurl the rotten produce at the construction workers and not get in trouble.

Sometimes, when I jiggle the last few drops of gasoline out of the pump, I feel like I’m at a public urinal, especially when I get the stuff all over my khakis.

I was on the N train the other night, coming back from Queens, and this poor crazy guy barged into my car, crying, “Bear change! Bear change!” I wanted to help him out, but when I reached in pocket, I realized I only had a couple nickels.

Liveblog: Civil Procedure Final

Computer users are in a different room. I didn't realize I was so old fashioned...

Grand Old Teabags!

Exciting news this week for all you political junkies out there! Rasmussen, a polling outfit that has been cited approvingly in this space by some other contributors, released something intriguing. I'll let the fine pollsters speak for themselves!

In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

Did you catch that? No, not that the stupid donkeys are out in front, but rather that TEA PARTY PATRIOTS outpoll the GOP! So how about it, conservative blog contributors? Pullin for Palin? Bonkers for Beck? Perhaps feeling a bit Scozzafava-ed?

On a related note, there are still tons of tickets available for Glenn Beck's Christmas Sweater tour. There were only 17-20 tickets sold to this once-in-a-lifetime event in New York and Boston, where our conservative friends are based. Guys, what gives? Scos can perhaps be forgiven given the crushing weight of COBRA payments instituted by that good-for-nothing Ted Kennedy. But Brah? C'mon man, don't let a holiday season go by without experiencing "the latest incarnation of Glenn Beck's deeply personal tale of love, faith and family." Only $20!