Geek Christmas Gift Ideas

Anonymous Coward writes "EDN magazine for December 12 has an article on Christmas gifts for techies. The best are a mouse pad that uses your hand as the mouse and Hokey Spokes (Why didn't I think of that?)." Getting desperate for ideas yet? I'm currently in the juggling fedex tracking numbers phase of christmas ;)

exercise??

[miltimj]

Hokey Spokes? Cool...

Oh yeah, but when do nerds have time to pull themselves away from the monitor to actually get some exercise?..

My Christmas list

[bareman]

Well, for all of you that are still wondering what to get for ME for Christmas...

Just make an anonymous donation to an open source project on my (or anyones) behalf.

Thank you and may the joy of christmas be with you.

nah, the ultimate geek gift...

[ElectronicEnima]

the ultimate geek gift would definately be an early release of the linux nwn client (or getting it before everyone else)....

agh

[tps12]

Enough already. There's more to life than consumer electronics and parts for your PC. "Geeks" has become synonymous with "xtreme consumer." You don't need a TiVo (or even a TV, for that matter), or a watch that uses Bluetooth to irradiate your testicles (okay, maybe that's a keeper), or a new Palm Pilot for writing out next year's Christmas list. Go outside, read a good book, snuggle with a loved one.

The most useful thing a g**k could use...

[TRoLLaXoR]

How bout a life?

The Best gift for a techie...

[FortKnox]

...is cash. The cold, hard kind. Techies know exactly what they want, and if they don't have it, its cause they don't have the moolah to buy it. Don't sit and dream of what they want, cause you have a 90% chance of being wrong. Give me cash, and I'm happy. Who is going to object to cash??

Re:Micro RC Cars

[BadlandZ]

You mean the ones I get about 2-3 spams a day that people are trying to sell? I'd not even consider them simply because of the spam factor.

Oh look, it's all "Me, me, me!"

[flatpack]

Yet again Christmas rolls round, and yet again we get an article in which geeks across the world can indulge in willy-wangling posts about who wants the latest and greatest geek toys. Since when was Christmas just about how much consumer electronics one can acquire?

What about intangible things such as goodwill, family and happiness? I know these things are deeply unfashionable to modern corporate consumers in USia, but they're what Christmas is supposed to be about. Whether you believe in God or not, you should be spending time trying to make others happy, not indulging in naked avarice.

I'm sure this is going to get me flamed, but why can't we have more focus on how we can make others happy rather than how we can make ourselves happy, before Christmas truly does become nothing more than Giftmas, the celebration of all things commercial.

Re:Oh look, it's all "Me, me, me!"

[mccalli]

Since when was Christmas just about how much consumer electronics one can acquire?

About mid-1980s.

Cheers,
Ian

A real christmas gift...

[tigress]

Personally, I think the best christmas gift for a geek is... a christmas without computers. I'm serious, christmas should be a time for relaxation and spending time with your family.

I know for a fact that I will be spending my christmas with my family. Sure, I might bring a laptop to entertain myself during the trainride, but the christmas itself will be spent without any computers or network connectivity at all.

For you other geeks out there, please do consider giving yourself and your family the rare gift of time spent together. =)

Not doing Christmas

[EllF]

My family and I are entering the second year where we don't swap gifts, but instead just get together and enjoy each others' company. It's wonderful.

When I was seven or eight, the excitement of the holiday was "getting stuff", and if there were kids in the picture I imagine we'd all still do the gift thing. What's the point of a bunch of adults spending money they don't have on shit they don't need, though?

The most enjoyable part of the non-loot-oriented approach is how relaxed we all are. There's no rush to the stores, no fretting over our wallets, no concern that someone's been left out. Our only obligation is to drive home and see each other, share a meal, and talk.

I suppose it's a minority view, especially among the /. crowd, but I'm still really surprised by how many comments mention the stress and dread of this time of year.

Re:RTFF

[bwalling]

I'd bet that if you asked the sites, you'd get some that wanted the cache. They're not serving up any ads at all right now, and their regular visitors are being shut out. Sure, it's not a simple issue, but it is one that needs to be addressed a little better than the weak answer in the FAQ.

Knuth

[gleather]

The box set of Knuth's Art of Computer Programming (First 3 volumes) is on sale at my local B&N. As soon as I post this message, I'll be forwarding the link to my folks. Now THATS a geek-gift.

Re:The Best gift for a techie...

[Apathy costs bills]

Right. So if I give my girlfriend $150 for Christmas, and she gives me $150, then we have achieved what? Cash is a miserable gift if only for its fluidity; no gift should be cancelled out by its reciprocal.

Re:xmas gift

[poot_rootbeer]

I work in an IT department at a major university and I don't see these extreme geeks you appear to be referring to.

Two possibilities:

1. No one you see at work is a real geek because geeks don't want to support PeopleSoft for a paltry $32K/yr, or

2. The geek is YOOOUUUUUUUU.

Hope that helps.