Holiday Gift Guide

Welcome to E-Gear’s 3rd annual Holiday Gift Guide. We’ve assembled an exciting assortment of audio, video, imaging, wireless and other assorted electronic gear, categorized by price. We’re sure that there’s something here to please the most fickle tech buff on your gift list.

About a Girl

From Radica’s line of Girl Tech products comes Plan Girl, a sleek, handheld, feature-rich PDA with an address book, calendar, calculator and more. It has a password-protected “secret mode” for entering private data and a translator that is programmed for seven different languages and time zones of 40 major cities. With games, an included 3-volt lithium battery and a $14.99 price tag, Plan Girl is a sure thing. www.girltech.com

Playstation 2 Road Warriors

Any fan of racing video games already wants Gran Turismo 3 for PS2, but the GT Force wheel ($99.95) from Logitech will further amplify the fun. The official wheel for GT3, GT Force has rubber handgrips, two gear shifters, four action buttons, force feedback and realistic pedals. But if its price is too Gran, check out Radica’s Gamester Pro Racer ($24.99). This PS2 controller provides racing wheel action in a hand-held size. Plus all the buttons are pressure sensitive. www.logitech.com www.radicagames.com

Digital Video for the Rest of You

PCs can lack a certain spark, but not with ATI Technologies’ DV Wonder ($49) PCI card. With three FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports, it’s compatible with any FireWire device, including hard drives, scanners, CD burners, digital cameras and digital camcorders. As part of the DV Wonder package, Ulead Systems’ VideoStudio 5.0 digital video editing software for Windows 98/2000/ME and one FireWire cable are included. www.ati.com

Battle of the Bulge

You might want to keep your pants on. Especially if they’re a pair of Mobile Pants from Dockers. Featuring seven “invivisible” storage pockets, these pants allow for a great game of hide with little seek. Oversized mesh pocketing allows for greater storage space. A hidden zip “vault” pocket in the right leg pocket keeps small valuables—like SmartMedia cards—in place. Deep stowaway seam pockets, featuring zippers that blend into pant seams for a clean look, are ideal for carrying mobile items (think cell phone, pocket PC, etc.). For a cool $52, Mobile Pants—available in khaki, black and olive—will win you bets in the office of who can hold more in their pockets. www.dockers.com

Emergency! Turn on the Tube!

$100. If you are stuck to the side of the road waiting for AAA or the local tow truck to pick you up, the Jeep-branded TV Lantern could be a handier companion than it first appears. It features a 5-inch black-and-white TV screen built into a lantern-shaped chassis that houses a flashlight, twin-tube fluorescent light, emergency flasher and a weather band AM/FM radio. For you campers it also has a built-in compass, thermometer and a noise-based mosquito repeller. Yeah, so where’s the Swiss Army knife? To find it at a store near you, call 800-354-8785. www.jeepunpaved.com

Hands off Those Mobiles

Don’t let mobile phones keep your hands tied. The new M205 ($39.95) headset from Plantronics is its tiniest headset yet. An ear piece fits in your ear and a small mic dangles from a wire leading to the volume and on/off controls. The more robust M135 ($49.95) and M175 ($64.95) have noise-cancelling microphones. The M135 is an over-the-ear design, while the M175 can be either over-the-ear or headband style. www.plantronics.com

It’s all in the Paper

Love to take/make pictures? Know someone who does? Give ‘em some paper…some Kodak inkjet photo paper, that is. New from Kodak is the Ultima Picture Paper for Borderless Inkjet Prints ($9.99 for 20 sheets), a high-gloss paper that provides borderless prints with the look and feel of professional photographs. Micro-perforated for easy separation, the new paper enables users to create true, 4×6-inch pictures. Also new from the company is Kodak Picture Paper for Inkjet Prints ($9.95 for 25 sheets). This affordable, matte-surface paper is coated on both sides for versatility and is ideal for printing 2-sided album pages or any other kind of photo. www.kodak.com

As if by Magic

Picture this: it’s Christmas morning. The gifts are scattered all over and the tree is lit up. Everything’s great. But you wish that the loved ones who aren’t there could share the experience with you. Well, no matter where they are, with Ceiva’s Internet-connected digital picture frame, they can! They don’t even need a computer or Internet access. So snap away with your digital camera, download and send your favorite memories. All the recipient needs is a regular phone line, a power outlet, a subscription to the Ceiva network and a warm heart. Priced at $199, the frame can display up to 20 photos via slide show or manual flipping through. www.ceiva.com

Pictures on TV

That new digital camera is great, but it’s hard to share pictures with the aunt and uncle who refuse to get a computer. With Microsoft’s TV Photo Viewer ($159) you can now share those digital masterpieces with anyone who owns a TV. Just use the enclosed software to move your pictures to a 3.5-inch floppy disk. The Photo Viewer connects to the TV and reads the pictures of your floppy disk. The size of the picture is only limited by the size of your TV. It’s a great way for the whole family to enjoy your photo talents. www.microsoft.com

Good to be Small

Weighing in at just 3.8 oz., the CDM-9100 from Audiovox Communications Corporation packs a whole lot of punch for such a little guy. This cell phone features Web browsing, two-way messaging, built-in speakerphone (one-way, for checking voice mail hands-free), caller ID, vibrating alert… all this, and much more. Ranging from $99 to $129 depending on your service plan, this is a knockout of a gift!

www.audiovox.com

Progressive Scan Priced Progressively Lower

For the price of many interlaced players, Samsung offers the DVD-P401 ($249) DVD player with progressive scan (480p) component video output. The 3:2 pulldown function presents film-based material with crisper detail. The DVD-P401 also decodes Dolby Digital/DTS and will play CD/CD-R/-RW. It also has a graphic user interface and a Spatializer effect that simulates 3-D sound through TV speakers. www.samsungusa.com

Be A Rock Star

Pass the microphone on the ikTV Karaoke Video Station ($149). This one device plays music CDs, music video CDs and MP3 CD-Rs. It easily hooks up to your TV and stereo system and displays song lyrics on your TV. The Karaoke Video Station comes with one microphone but includes input jacks for up to four mics.

Sayonara English

Another year, another several stockings worth of electronic pocket helpers from Seiko Instruments Austin (SIAS). Among the most interesting is the RM2000 ($199.99) Japanese-English translator for business travelers, exchange students and vacationers. It displays Japanese words in easy-to-read, phonetic Roman text. Seiko also makes pocket dictionaries/thesauruses and translators for many European languages.

www.seiko-austin.com

Shadow Wars

Know someone who needs a shave? Make a thoughtful gift of Braun’s Syncro System electric shaver. Boasting the world’s first self-cleaning shaver, the Syncro System features a four-way moving head, side-to-side oscillation and one-hour charging. Unsurpassed closeness, comfort and convenience for a price ranging from $139.99 to $199.99, based on the features of each model. www.braun.com

Plays Everything

Have a movie and music lover on your list? Then you’ll want to consider this do-everything DVD player from Apex Digital. Model AD-7701 is not only a progressive scan DVD video player, but also decodes and plays the multi-channel DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD discs as well as HDCDs, video CDs, CD-Rs with MP3 files and does karaoke. All that for $349. www.apexdigitalinc.com

Wired…Without the Wires

Want to help a loved one get it together? NETGEAR’s Multimedia Wireless Starter Kit ($349) uses WhiteCap, a 2.4 Ghz wireless networking technology that claims to eliminate interference problems—caused by household items like microwaves or 2.4 Ghz phones—that 802.11b sometimes has. With a speed of 11 mbps, you can transmit audio or video around the house to other PCs without the need for running any new wires. www.netgear.com

Boom, Shake the Room

Know someone who needs big sound but has limited space? Cerwin-Vega is out to make those people happy with its RL-28W dual 8-inch powered subwoofers ($499.95 each). Featuring unique dual stacked 8-inch woofers, the RL-28W is powered by a 200-watt discrete amplifier. The sub’s continuous variable output and crossover controls provide adjustable volume level and frequency coverage. Frequency response measures 35 Hz to 120 Hz and the cabinet measures 23 3/4 inches high, 10 inches wide and 22 inches deep and weighs 50 pounds.

www.cerwin-vega.com

Tivoli Audio RadioWorks (Model Two with Model CD and Model Subwoofer)

$349. RadioWorks is a bundled package that contains Tivoli Audio’s new stereo Model Two radio as well as the company’s new subwoofer and CD player, which are each also offered optionally. The radio features the same technology that was built into the Model One mono radio introduced last year, including fine-tuning circuitry. Unlike the Model One, the Model Two and other RadioWorks products will only be offered in one color scheme www.tivoliaudio.com.

Between a Palm and a Pocket PC

Casio is also entering a new SKU into the PDA market, breaking into the sub-$300 price point. The Cassiopeia Pocket Manager BE-300 will begin shipping to retailers and distributors in September. It will run a Windows CE 3.0 OS and has a 32-bit color screen and CompactFlash Expansion slot. No price was set at press time, but should be between $200-$299, according to Casio executives. The company is also partnering with Go America to create a Wireless Web-browsing card for the BE-300. www.casio.com

Bright, Shiny and Thin

Have a loved one who must be both seen and heard? Present them with Sanyo’s SCP-6000 mobile phone, one of the thinnest and lightest available in the United States, and watch them make heads turn. Available from Sprint PCS for $299.99, the wireless Web surfing SCP-6000 weighs only 2.29 ounces and measures 5.07 x 1.54 x 0.39 inches. The large LCD can display downloaded images. A single-mode CDMA digital phone, the SCP-6000 goes into power save mode whenever it is not in a service area. www.sprintpcs.com

It’s a Road Thing

Spoil your favorite car enthusiast with Escort’s award-winning Passport 8500 radar and laser detector ($299.95). A new design, including a new waveguide antenna, state-of-the-art microwave receiver and new proprietary software, the Passport 8500 boasts results of up to a 200 percent improvement in sensitivity on Superwide Ka-Band radar over average detectors, with similar improvements on X and K bands. www.escortinc.com

Double Agent

Sonicblue is making an argument for the VCR with the DDV2120 ($349), which uses two VHS decks to automatically create commercial-free recordings. A technology called Commercial Free Copy records a show on one deck and re-records the show without advertisements on the second deck—all at the touch of one button. There are also commands that skip over commercials and movie trailers. Advanced home movie editing is also possible, aided by an S-Video input and mic input for audio dubbing. www.sonicblue.com

DVD on the Move

JVC’s Road Theater line of mobile electronics includes the KV-DV7 ($899.95) mobile DVD/CD player. Its 1-DIN size will leave room for a 1-DIN receiver in a 2-DIN dashboard. With a wireless remote control, it can be installed under a seat or in the trunk, as well. The KV-DV7 is shock resistant for bumpy rides and has two composite video outputs to support two monitors. The player has a headphone jack with volume control, slow motion, pause, forward/reverse skip and scan and search and repeat functions. www.jvc.com

Mini-plex Cinema

Zenith’s DVP7771 portable DVD/CD player ($899.95) fits a 7-inch, 16:9 LCD screen into a less-than-5-pound package. You can zero in on the picture with 4x to 16x moveable zoom. The DVP7771 will also play CD-R/RWs and MP3 CDs, to which you can listen through the built-in speakers, headphone jack or the audio output with Dolby Digital/DTS decoding. A remote or onboard controls operate the graphic menu. www.zenith.com

Triple Threat

Not one for wires? Why hook anything up when one unit can hook you up with a flat-screen TV, VCR and DVD player? The Panasonic PV-DF2000 ($899.95) does just that. It has a PureFlat picture tube and built-in four-head, Hi-Fi VCR and DVD/CD player. You can also listen to its FM radio on its stereo speakers with simulated surround sound effect. For the real thing, however, the PV-DF2000 has Dolby Digital/DTS outputs for six-channel audio. www.panasonic.com

Digital8 is Enough

The DCR-TRV130 ($599.95) is Sony’s budget-priced Digital8 camcorder, the format that records digital video on standard Hi8 tapes. It has a 2.5-inch LCD display, photo mode with built-in flash, 1394 connection, low-light mode, image stabilization, 16:9 wide mode and digital effects, among other features. The camcorder also has 20x optical zoom and 560x digital zoom. www.sony.com

Removable Media

This digital culture is so detached. But not detached enough for RCA, whose new CC9390 MiniDV camcorder ($1,599) has a detachable 3.5-inch touch-screen LCD display for easier recording at extreme angles, like over the head or behind the back. It also has a 1.3 mega-pixel CCD, still-camera mode, 16MB MultiMedia Card, USB memory card reader, FireWire connection, 10x optical zoom and a 5x zoom microphone, which increases its sensitivity as the user zooms in on the image. www.rca.com

Complete Home Theater

$2,599. Among the many, many companies that are making home theater-in-a-box systems, Polk is at the higher end of the category and a reliable one at that. It is offering a new system, the DS7200 Digital Solution. It comes with a 5.1 channel amplifier with 350 watts of power (built into the subwoofer) as well as a DVD player. It features processing for both Dolby Digital, DTS, 96 kHz/24-bit audio processing and has six-channel audio inputs for connecting SACD or DVD-Audio players. www.polkaudio.com

The Tube is Going Flat

It hangs on the wall. It costs a bit more than a Magic Eye poster, but a whole lot less than a Rembrandt. The Fujitsu PDS-5002 ($14,999) is a 50-inch widescreen plasma display with a 500:1 contrast ratio. Its 1366 x 768 pixel resolution will display any high-definition video source or high-resolution computer signals up to UXGA resolution. Advanced Video Movement technology is said to reduce motion artifacts. The unit is less than four inches deep, yet packs in component, S-Video, composite, RGB and DVI connections. www.fujitsu.com

Let There Be Digital Light

The Sharp XV-Z9000U ($10,995.95) is the first high-definition, 16:9 aspect ratio home theater projector using Texas Instruments’ Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology. Sharp’s proprietary Computer & Video Integrated Composer (CV-IC) technology creates a 720p picture using interlaced-to-progressive conversion and enhanced 3:2 pulldown. The projector’s 2,000-hour, 250-watt lamp delivers 800 ANSI lumens and it has a 1,100:1 contrast ratio. Fan noise is limited to 32dB, and at only 21 pounds, the XV-Z9000U won’t break Santa’s back. www.sharp-usa.com.

Hot Wheels

For about $65,000 you could make someone very happy with a tech’d out SUV like this BMW X5s with 4.4-liter V8 engine and outfitted with outrageous aftermarket mobile multimedia and stereo system centered around Alpine’s IVA-C800 Mobile Multimedia Station/CD Receiver/Ai-NET Controller with its integrated monitor connected to a DVA-5205 in-dash DVD player. Rear seat occupants are treated to video via Alpine TME-M750A 6.5-inch wide screen LCD color monitors integrated into the headrests. Also included is an Alpine PXA-H510 Digital Signal Processor/Dolby Digital Decoder. The spoiled occupants get massaged in 5.1 digital sound via a slew of MB Quart speakers and Alumapro 10-inch Alchemy aluminum-cone subs. Installation by Ultrasounds (www.ultrasounds.com). www.bmwusa.com

A Commanding HDTV Presence

NetCommand is here. And it’s no geeky sci-fi Web site or Internet portal either. It is a software home theater control system developed by Mitsubishi in which electronic devices connect and interact with each other through a single FireWire (IEEE 1394) cable. All of Mitsubishi’s new projection TVs with integrated HDTV tuners will include NetCommand. The first of these is the WS-65869 ($5,299), a 65-inch widescreen CRT projection TV. It also has two progressive scan inputs, a high-definition input, 3:2 pull-down Film Mode and 3-D Y/C digital comb filters. www.mitsubishi-tv.com