Monday, April 4, 2011

Apple Tv

Apple Tv

Techie Toys and the Holiday Season

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 08:24 AM PDT

The Holiday season is here. For many it means conference with house and friends to celebrate. To others it means reflecting on the past year. Still for others it means only one thing…new techie toys! While there are many options this year, here are my top five recommendations:

5) The Boxee Box – While Apple Tv and Google Tv are strong contenders in the streaming video market, the Boxee box combines style, functionality, and flexibility in a unique holder that, in my humble opinion, makes it the current standout in this market. Additionally the remote unit of the Boxee Box alone is a piece of Techie goodness that other manufactures need to mimic. (I’m finding at you, Google…)

Apple Tv

4) Apple‘s new iPod Nano with touch screen. While other products in the Apple line up have gotten much glory over the past few months, the new iPod Nano has been mostly overlooked. Gone is the video camera from this newest version, but it’s small size and touch screen more than make up for that. And at 4-8 times the keeping capacity of the iPod shuffle, it’s sure to make any techie a happy camper.

3) Like a sucker punch in the e-book reader world, Barnes and Noble has issue its Nook Color, a color seven inch touch screen running android 2.1. While not directly competing with the iPad per se, it absolutely closes the gap in the middle of ereader and tablet. And for those so inclined, it looks like that gap will be even narrower once the Nook Color is rooted. (For those unaware, “rooted” mean to “break” the operating system to allow unauthorized code and programs to be run on it. As of this writing, the Color Nook has been rooted, but the rooting process has not been streamlined enough for the casual user to be able to do it.)

2) The Microsoft Xbox Kinect is going to be the big “must have” video gaming item this season and I think will put Microsoft in the leader position for sales in 2011. Sony and Wii don’t have whatever nearly as sexy as the Kinect in their line up. This season, they are just going to have to sit back and take their lumps. Meanwhile, any techie worth their salt would be happy to find a Microsoft Kinect under the tree.

1) The estimate one techie gift his year is, of course, the iPad. While there are other alternatives currently ready (Archos 5, 7, and 9, Asus EeePad, Dell Slate, Samsung Galaxy Tab, etc.) and a whole slew on the horizon, one thing is clear: Apple‘s iPad is still king of the hill, and will be for some time. While Google’s Android Os has made a good showing, it has an up hill battle against the iPad. Ipad has the user base, the ready apps, and a singular stable Os to control on. Easy and fun to use, the iPad is a great gift for anyone, techie or non-techie.

Happy shopping and have a happy holiday season!

Techie Toys and the Holiday Season
Posted by Kenny E. Ross at 1:02 AM

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