Category: Gift Guide

Today we have my personal favorite category of geek gifts, Gadgets.

There was way too many things to pick from but I was able to narrow it down to 5 items.

First we have the Zune 80, Microsoft’s new MP3 player which has been getting much better reviews compared to the original Zune. A great new user interface and new software to interface with your computer all helps take the new Zune to the next level.

On the other side of the table we have Apple’s newest MP3 player, the iPod Touch. Using the same user interface as the iPhone, the iPod Touch is considered by many to be the best portable media player ever (although I believe that to be the iPhone).

One of the biggest problems that will occur when you start building out your home theater system is all of those remote controls. You could always buy one of those cheap remotes at the grocery store but those won’t give you the control that you may want. The Logitech Harmony 880 WILL give you the control you want, with an extremely easy set up, just hook it to your computer using the included USB cable, and tell the software what components you have and the software will basically do all the rest. I personally own one and it has changed the way I interact with my TV.

The Asus Eee PC is a super tiny laptop that runs Linux. Weighing less then two pounds, the Asus Eee PC is very easy to carry around with you, much easier than the $400 15″ discount laptops you will undoubtedly find in stores like Best Buy this holiday season. The Eee PC comes with 4GB of solid state storage and is priced at about $400.

The last gadget on this list is the Slingbox AV which allows you to watch the Television you pay for, wherever you are. Working with a wide variety of hardware the Slingbox AV let’s you watch TV from your house wherever you are in the world, as long as there is an Internet connection at both ends. The Slingbox AV is perfect for anyone who travels regularly and would like to watch some familiar television.

There may be one more in this series, most likely it will be of products that I consider to be honorable mentions but I don’t think should be at the top of the list. Check back later for that post.

Other Holiday Gift Guides:

Computer Gear
DVDs and Movies
Video Games

Today we have a list of some of the best games of 2007. I tried to keep each game an exclusive for the console it works on. I included a Playstation 2 game in this guide since it is still going fairly strong.

For the Playstation 2 owner, God of War 2. A hugely successful game that got some of the best reviews ever for Playstation 2 games.

For the Nintendo DS owner there is the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The game is still fairly new but has recieved rave reviews from almost everywhere I’ve read.

For the PSP fan I chose Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. This is the first of two Ratchet & Clank games in this guide, mostly because they seem to be the only good titles for the newer Sony consoles, hopefully that will change next year.

The PC gamer has it a little bit tougher then the console gamer. Crysis is an incredibly intense game that will cripple all but the fastest PCs out there. Even though this game takes some pretty tough specs to run well it is still a very well done game that both looks gorgeous and is very fun to play.

The XBox 360 has a little game called Halo 3. All you really have to know is that Halo 3 had the largest entertainment release in history.

It seems that the only games that do well on Nintendo consoles are the Nintendo games. This year isn’t any different with Super Mario Galaxy being one of the most anticipated games for the Nintendo Wii. (Not to mention that it is one of the first games made exclusively for the Wii, not just a game originally developed for the Gamecube, then ported to the Wii).

For the Playstation 3 we have the second Ratchet & Clank game fo this guide, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction. This is the game that makes ME want to buy a PS3. (I love Ratchet & Clank games).

I hope you enjoy the gaming this holiday season.

Be sure to check out the other holiday guides below.

Other Holiday Gift Guides:

Computer Gear
DVDs and Movies
Gadgets

Todays gift guide features some pretty cool and geeky DVDs and Movies.

Heroes Season One on HD DVD and DVD. “Heroes is a serial saga about people all over the world discovering that they have superpowers and trying to deal with how this change affects their lives.” -tv.com

Transformers on HD DVD and DVD. “From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg comes a thrilling battle between the heroic Autobots® and the evil Decepticons®. When their epic struggle comes to Earth, all that stands between the Decepticons® and ultimate power is a clue held by young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf). Unaware that he is mankind’s last chance for survival, Sam and Bumblebee, his robot disguised as a car, are in a heart-pounding race against an enemy unlike anything anyone has seen before. It’s the incredible, breath-taking film spectacular that USA Today says will appeal to the kid in all of us.” -amazon.com

Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-Ray and DVD. “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is Steven Spielberg`s extraordinary film about a man named Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who becomes obsessed with meeting extraterrestrials after encountering a UFO on an abandoned road one night. Against the wishes of his wife (Teri Garr) and children, Neary, along with another witness to the sighting (Melinda Dillon), travels to a mysterious mountain where the government has built a landing strip hoping to attract the aliens.” -overstock.com

Harry Poter Years 1-5 Limited Edition Gift Set on Blu-Ray, HD DVD, and DVD. The package includes the first 5 movies in the series along with an Interactive DVD game, 5 collectible bookmarks, 16 collectible cards, and 3 hours of special content.

Other Holiday Gift Guides:

Computer Gear
Video Games
Gadgets

Everyone has a geek in their life and whether that geek is you or someone else, chances are you’re going to have to buy for a geek this holiday season. Sometimes that is a little hard to do because you may not know what kinds of things to buy.

So here it is everyone, the first ever CyberSurge Geek Gift Guide. This isn’t the whole guide more posts will be made as the week goes on, today all of the gift ideas are going to be in the form of computer gear. The rest of the week will feature other categories of items such as movies, video games, gadgets, etc.

Currently I am planning to have this guide be 5 parts long, one a day this until Friday, but who knows I may come up with new categories or think of new items to add later.

Even if you are a geek and don’t have to buy for anyone, I still suggest reading this because it may help you come up with ideas of what you want others to buy you.

First off I’ll point you towards the Western Digital 120GB Passport USB 2.0 Hard Drive. This is a very small lightweight portable hard drive that is USB powered and holds 120GB worth of data. The drive comes with synchronization and encryption software so that you can save data on the drive any way you want to. The drive comes with a 22-inch USB cable so all you do is open the box, plug it in, and you’re ready to go.

The Kingston DTI 4GB USB Flash Drive, a 4GB flash drive for about $35, how could you go wrong? Every geek needs a flash drive and this is a great option. Not only is it extremely affordable for the storage that you get for it but from what I’ve heard it is no slouch when it comes to data transfer speeds.

Many geeks are also PC gamers and what could be the better gift than a graphics card? Well, Nvidia recently released a new GPU, the 8800GT. Many reviewers have said that this is one of the best cards that Nvidia has ever made. At a price tag of right around $250 is the PNY XLR8 8800GT, a great performing graphics card and right at that $250 sweet spot.

If the PC gamer is more of an AMD/ATI fan a great option would be the Radeon HD 3850 which is a little bit less expensive compared to the 8800GT but it still performs pretty darn well, not to mention that it is one of the first cards to support DirectX 10.1 which in the future will give you much more realistic game play.

Almost any geek would appreciate a new mouse. All of that time spent in front of the computer can leave your mousing hand real tired and cramped. The Logitech MX Revolution is a cordless mouse that is extremely comfortable while at the same time having all of the features that you would want from a fairly high end mouse.

I have never really been a huge fan of ergonomic keyboards but I do know quite a few geeks who swear by them. The best ergonomic keyboard? The Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000.

Like I said above, this is the first of many posts in this series, look for the others the rest of this week. I will add links below as they become available.

Oh, and have fun shopping for your loved ones.

Other Holiday Gift Guides:

DVDs and Movies
Video Games
Gadgets