Cool tech toys to give good girls and boys

High tech for the holidays: the greatest tradition since batteries were invented. Every year, the number of choices gets larger, while the gadgets themselves become smaller. And now it's time for the electronic gifting to begin.

Under $50

If you know someone who prefers to shop for their own digital toys, there's a way to help them out without worrying about getting them the wrong thing. Independent product-testing organization Consumer Reports publishes an annual Electronics Buying Guide. The 2006 version just came out, with ratings of stuff like digital cameras, TVs, home-theatre gear, MP3 players, and so forth, plus a lot of very practical advice on how to choose the right products for your needs. Only $12.99, and it includes an offer of 30 days' free access to the invaluable ConsumerReports.org Web site.

Logisys MS802

Yes, the Logisys MS802 is a computer mouse available in iridescent colours, with innards that light up in a way that some may find a little too hip and groovy for office work, but this is a mouse for gamers. Not just for its 800-dpi tracking resolution or low price of $25 (for people who often get mad when they lose) but because it's riddled with air-circulation holes to keep your hand cool. Game play still too intense? Flick the switch on the side and a quiet fan starts up to help keep you dry.

What about some decent wires? People always spend so much on good-quality home-theatre components, then settle for dollar-store cables to connect everything together. This used to be a fairly esoteric audiophile passion-and still can be a very expensive one-but companies like Monster Cable and Belkin have done a lot to mainstream the entry level of this market. In the $20-to-$80 range you can find a high-grade replacement for just about any connection-digital, analogue, or optical-to provide cleaner audio and video signals.

Interested in personalizing your iPod, phone, PDA, or handheld game device? A Winnipeg company called MyTego (www.mytego.com/) lets you upload a design into its large collection of brand- and model-specific templates, then mails you the (removable) stickers you can use to express your uniqueness. Between $10 and $30, depending on amount of coverage needed.

iZ from Zizzle

The Furby is back. The most astounding and desired toy of 1998 (which then became the most annoying and hated toy of early 1999) has returned ($40). More nonsense words, a greater range of facial expressions, a larger body with more smarts inside, voice recognition, "patented eyelid technology", and, most importantly, an on-off switch, the biggest feature lacking seven years ago. So, with the Furby thus neutered, the "Why did we buy that?" mantle will likely fall to iZ ($50 from Zizzle), a modern-arty three-legged figure that not only speaks gibberish and makes funny faces but also moves to music and plays synthesized beats, rhythms, and sound effects while its illuminated nose horn flashes different colours.

$50 to $100

Have you wanted to set up a wireless network at home but have some older computers you'd rather not open up and upgrade with new networking cards? Well, companies like D-Link and NETGEAR have just the thing: a small wireless transmitter/ receiver that plugs into a USB port on a desktop or laptop computer. For $50 to $80 apiece you can retrofit all your existing devices with these flash-memory-sized units, or just buy one and sneaker-net it between machines.

Although it's easy to find fantastic-sounding headphones these days-provided you're willing to spend $375 or so for something like the Shure E4c in-ear model-they aren't always the best choice for active people out exercising while trying to listen to music. They block too much ambient sound (such as approaching traffic) and tend to pop out when things get intense. Sony's MDREX81SLB Fontopia headphones ($90) have brackets that hook around the ears to hold the phones in place and deliver quite good-quality sound as well, with decent bass and clean high end.

$100 to $200

Last year's biggest sold-out tech toy was Robosapien, "the first affordable humanoid robot". Remarkably advanced, with a considerable repertoire of preprogrammed moves and the ability to chain up to 84 commands together-and with a remote control-there's no doubt a great many family pets have spent a year cowering before this walking, sound-effect-spewing, tail-grabbing figure. This year Robosapien is back. And he's gold. Coloured. Gold-coloured plastic (exclusively at Toys "R" Us for $120). Get together with a friend who has last year's silver-coloured model and battle for domination of the living room. Then send the victor out in search of the cat.

Most people would agree that DVDs put out a pretty nice picture. But those who watch high-definition programming via cable or satellite know that their sets can show more detail than the 480 lines of resolution that DVDs offer-720 is common among modern display technologies. Now you can get DVD players that "upconvert" the video signal to use more of the screen (provided you have an HDMI input around back of the set). The surprise is how inexpensive these players are. Toshiba's SD4980 is about $150, the LG LDA-531 is $200, and both play back many types of discs-even computer-burned ones full of DivX-format files. Owners of LCD TVs (which often have 768 lines) should know that the Samsung DVD-HD850 ($179) includes that resolution as an output option (but supports fewer video formats than the other two).

Looking for something more than a cellphone but without paying a fortune for a phone/PDA and service plan? Fido is the exclusive Canadian retailer of the hiptop2, a strange combination telephone/camera/minicomputer/e-mail client/calendar/Web browser/instant messenger, featuring an easy-to-use 47-key keyboard and a colour screen that swivels out so slickly, people will ask you to "do that again". It's $200 with a two-year phone and data-access contract, but the clincher is the $20-a-month unlimited-data option-less than half what purveyors of the fancy BlackBerries and Treos charge.

$200 to $500

If you always want to know what time it is, where you are, and how fast you got there, then consider the Timex Bodylink Trail Runner system ($370). Sure, grandpa's gold watch may have charm, but does it monitor your heart rate, speed, elevation, and distance while running or riding (using the global positioning system), capturing it all to download later into software that analyzes your progress? Probably not. And he spent 52 years working for that lousy company…

In terms of upscale DVD players that upsample to HD resolution, Sony has the DVP-CX995V ($500). It doesn't do DivX, but it will play Super Audio CDs in addition to video CDs, DVDs and discs full of MP3s. What else is there about it? Oh yeah, it holds 400 discs at a time, all out of the way, individually parent-controllable, and easily accessed through the "Disc Explorer on-screen graphic user interface". It's worth the price just for solving the storage issue.

Don't forget the Xbox 360. Due out November 22, this will be the first of the next-generation gaming consoles, with all the improved bells and shinier whistles. The 360 premium bundle ($499) includes a portable 20-gigabyte hard drive, a rechargeable wireless controller, high-definition resolution when hooked to an HDTV or computer monitor, Internet connectivity, a DVD drive, and remote control. Microsoft is positioning this as a game machine, yes, but also as a home entertainment centre. Unfortunately, if you want one for those purposes, you'll have to stand in line behind 10 million avid game players.

Over $500

Klipsch iFi speaker system for iPod

You don't have to own an iPod to enjoy the Klipsch iFi speaker system for iPod. You'll miss out on using the nifty iPod docking station, with its master?-of-the-playlist radio-frequency remote control, but you can just plug in any audio source as you might do with an ordinary set of add-on computer speakers. So, what makes these worth $630? Well, the sound that comes out of the pair of oddly bulbous speakers is full and rich, the attached subwoofer easily competes with similarly sized home-theatre subs that cost $350 on their own, and the whole system just generally looks ultracool. These are a fairly good buy even if you don't have a compatible iPod model-but if you do, then these are (practically) a bargain.

palmOne LifeDrive

The palmOne LifeDrive is described as a "mobile manager", presumably a step up from merely being a personal digital assistant. And what justifies that promotion (and $700 price) is an internal four-gigabyte hard drive, the first moving part built into a palm device. Boasting a gorgeous dual-orientation colour screen (wide or tall, depending on whether you're watching a movie or browsing the Web), MP3 playback, Microsoft Office compatibility, Net access, and the fact that it syncs up with Macs and Windows machines-this baby has everything but a telephone inside (although you might be able to work up some kind of voice-over-Internet thing).

Finally, HP makes an elegant line of home-entertainment PCs that run Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. However, if you're willing to give up some of the elegance (the sleek black case that looks like a piece of stereo equipment from the future) and get by with a standard computer tower-monitor arrangement, you can get all that modern media functionality (like Internet radio, iPod dock, and a personal video recorder) for less. The HP Pavilion m7160n Photosmart PC is only $1,299, but the upgrade to the more powerful m7070n model is worth the bump to $1,499.