Gifts Santa Never Thought Of

by Andy Patrizio, 3:00 a.m. 20.Dec.1999 PST

No one wears ties anymore, and giving perfume reeks of banality. Even cell phones and PDAs are becoming cliche as holiday gifts.

Here's a list of unique devices that may even get a "Wow!" out of the rich dot comers in your life, who barely raise an eyebrow these days unless they hear the word "options."

Highway to MP3 heaven: If the 10-disc CD changer in your SUV isn't enough to keep your mojo working, or if you spend way too much time in MP3 channels on DalNet grabbing tunes, there's EMPEG, a combination car radio/MP3 player.

The US$1,099 unit comes with 4 GB of storage, and has room for two 2.5-inch laptop hard drives, which max out at 15 GB these days. Thirty GBs of MP3s? You could drive around the planet and never hear the same song twice. But you'll have to go it alone for a while, as it won't be available until March.

Satellite dishes: They've been around forever, so what makes them a better present this year? Well, President Clinton, the friend of technology who brought you the v-chip and two communications decency acts, signed legislation earlier this month that for the first time allows satellite broadcasts to include local programming. The upgraded services will be available starting in January from both DSS and DirecTV. Dishes start at $249, although some are free with long-term commitments.

Taking movies higher: There are a number of portable DVD players on the market, but Pioneer has an especially nifty unit in the PDV-LC10. The $899 player has 24-bit digital audio, Twin Wave laser pickup, and 10-bit video DAC that give it tremendous audio and video quality.

The 7-inch TFT active matrix LCD screen is crisp and sharp, and the nickel monohydrate battery gives you about 3.5 hours of viewing time. Take it on the plane to watch The Matrix and gloat while the rest of the passengers are stuck with Notting Hill. And it can be used at home, too -— output jacks let you plug it into your TV.

Eye-high TV: Here's the perfect accessory to go along with a portable DVD player. The Eye-Trek looks like a stylish pair of sunglasses, but it has two screens in the lenses that simulate a 62-inch, wide-screen TV. In addition to the grand view, you get earplugs to prevent disturbing those around you.

Eye-Trek comes with audio and video adjustment controls, runs on batteries or an AC power, and weighs 5.5 ounces. At $899, though, you could just buy a genuine big screen TV.

Cut the tape: Lose the cassette player already! Who cares if you have 200 Grateful Dead bootlegs? In the digital revolution, cassette is an analog anachronism that has overstayed its welcome by a decade. Sony has finally (MiniDisc has been out since '92) put together a versatile product for recording tracks with the MXD-D3 MiniDisc player.

You get 74 minutes of CD-quality audio, random play, and the ability to reorder songs on the disc. And if you get sick of a song, you can cut it out and the gap is automatically closed. The $399 MXD-D3 also has a fast dubbing mode to quickly transfer songs from CD to MiniDisc.

A model cell phone: Remember when cell phones cost almost as much as a laptop? Now Qualcomm brings you the Ally McBeal of cell phones -- the Thin Phone. It weighs just 4.2 ounces (just a tad more than Ally), and the battery will last 2.5 hours, or three days on standby. You can even change batteries during a conversation, and at $99, it won't eat up all of your holiday budget. It's got all of the smart phone features, like voice mail, paging, and even rudimentary Internet access using a five-line text screen.

Think big screen: With a 22-inch diagonal screen, Apple's G4/Cinema Display is the largest LCD display on the market. It's only eight inches thick, making it perfect for showing digital video in tight spaces. Apple says it's twice as bright and sharp as a standard monitor, with triple the contrast ratio and zero flicker. However, it's only available through Apple's online store with the purchase of a 450 MHz or faster Power Mac G4, and prices start at a whopping $6,498.

Instant Web cam: You want to keep an eye on the house remotely but don't want to install an expensive security system or go through the hassle of setting up your own Web site. X-10's XRay Vision Video Camera Kit could be your quick and dirty solution. The $199 color camera can be set up to take snapshots at specified intervals and automatically post them to a password-protected Web page that the company hosts for you.

The software allows you to adjust for lighting, and the teeny camera, which passes pictures to your PC wirelessly, can be hidden just about anywhere. X-10 doesn't limit the number of people that can view the site as long as they download the software, so you can share pictures of the kiddies opening their gifts with the entire family.