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It's been a tough 2009 for many of us which means you might be celebrating Christmas with an orange and big bag of humbugs. If, however, you do have a bit of spare cash stuffed down the back of the sofa you might be interested to know what the must have gadgets of 2009 are. In alphabetical order, here are a few:
Amazon Kindle
Reading books is so last century. Now everyone is reading computer screens. Or they will be. 2009 is set to be the year of the e-reader and Amazon's Kindle is proving to be the one thing people are really really talking about. The Kindle can hold a staggering 1,500 books (isn't that a town library?), is wireless and requires no contact with any computer. Ever. What's more the reader is lighter than an average paperback and is supposed to stay charged for days. The screens have always been the problems with these things but apparently this one's just like looking at paper. Test it out yourself.
Cost: $259 from Amazon
Music games are big and who could ever be bigger in music computer games than Liverpool's favourite mop-topped sons The Beatles? Well Jay Z and Eminem is who. And they are going to bust Mr Sir Paul McCartney's face this Christmas. Full of 'booming' tracks as the press release says including Rhianna, The Killers, Queen, The Black Eyed Peas and Marvin Gaye, you get to hone your late night skills with a new turntable controller. Gran will love it.
Cost: Renegade Edition featuring Jay Z and Eminem CDs - $199/£139.99
Standard DJ Hero Bundle - $119/£89.99
available through DJHero.com and GAME
Just how much money have you got this Xmas? Because this toy is quite expensive. And you know how much cheaper new technology gets throughout the year. But this new camera is very exciting. Why? Because it's 3D. Yes, that's right. A 3D camera. Mad, isn't it? Fuji have come up with it. Apparently it's all in the enhanced parallax (the left eye right eye stuff) and Fuji's clever little printing centre.
Cost: $599.95 from FUJI or £479 from JESSOPS
Oranges used to be the fruit of choice for Christmas but in the past few years we've all got used to Apples. 2009 is no different with the latest iPod on offer - the iPod Nano 5th Generation. So what do you get? Well a video camera is one thing. Plus a larger screen, FM radio, voice recorder, a built-in speaker (presumably meaning bus journeys are going to get even noisier) and a pedometer. However the video recorder is not a camera, which bears reading again and the memory is no bigger than previous iPods. I've always had problems with my Nano, but then I got it as a present so I don't really care.
Cost: $149 from Apple US or £115 from Apple UK
If it's winter then it usually means another year of ISS Pro Evolution. I have no idea if you like football games, and quite frankly I don't care. So what if the latest updates have not been all that was expected. Get some Christmas cheer, get the new Pro Evo and enjoy all the new players in all the right teams.
Cost: $59.99 from Amazon or £34.99 from GAME or from Play
In the 90s the West went Karaoke crazy. Then there were celebrity singing contests on the television and the clever guys at London Studio encouraging every man, woman and tone deaf dog to party with their vocal cords through the creation of Singstar. While all this was going on a chain of Karaoke bars called Lucky Voice were inviting people to hire a room as if they were in Japan and sing sing sing. Well now they're telling everyone to stay home (a slightly strange message for a business dependent on people spending money in one of their bars for the opportunity to do something which they are now being told they can definitely do veyr cheaply at home with a bottle of old gin and a David Bowie wig) by selling what might be this year's most annoying and most popular gift under the tree on Christmas morning: A pink microphone and a little technobox that plugs into a PC. It's cheap and it's simple, which means it probably won't last until the turkey sandwiches. Simply go to the Lucky Voice website, download the songs you want and start singing. You will need to buy the microphone!
Cost $81 or £49.95 (Microphone: $33 or £19.95) from Firebox
Man appears to have a fetish for extremely small things: IPods, mobile phones, Jeannette Krankie. So it's no surprise that the new shape of computers is XS (Extra Small). Netbooks (or mini-laptops) are primarily for those of you who can't stand to be without the world wide web for more than a few seconds, but there are some very powerful little machines around right now which will serve you well whatever your purpose. A lot will depend on the Christmas budget you have, and exactly what you want your Netbook to do. The Asus N10 for example comes with a big enough keyboard for serious typing but is extremely portable and has a lot of smart features. It looks sexy and the security system operates through your fingerprint which is just very very cool.
Cost: $697.20 from ANT Online or £482 from MISCO
or see various Netbooks
There's a theory about big Christmas releases which says something like, what companies really like to do at Christmas is make sure there aren't enough of their products in the shops and therefore create a huge demand to get on all the news programmes and make everyone go mental. But this won't be happening with the new PSP Go. I don't think. Unless enough of you read this. So, what's the news? Well the Go is the latest PSP handheld from Sony and a complete redesign at that. It is now wireless and does away with cartridges. Games, films and music must all be downloaded, much like on an iPod. The Go is slimmer but with a smaller screen. And it's a bit expensive. If you already have an earlier PSP the chances are you may be getting something else this year.
Cost: $249.99 from Amazon or £199.99 from GAME
There used to be nothing better at Christmas than sitting down and having a Luke Skywalker session on the tele. But now you can be Luke Skywalker. That's how good 2009 is. This Crimbo must-have enables you to train your Jedi mind skills by means of a headband and a ping-pong ball (it's much better than that, honest). The computer technology reads your brainwaves and translates them into levitational force. You must progress through the levels controlling the ball in different ways. All with your mind. Mental! Plus there are loads of Star Wars sound effects.
Cost: $163 or £99.95 from Firebox
The Nintendo Wii has helped a lot of people look very silly in the last couple of years. But their games have found favour amongst the young, the old and now the ruling classes. Encouraged by politicians and doctors alike, the Wii Fit package has now gone Fit Plus which means much more exercising. You can even weigh your pets. I don't know. Maybe it's me, but isn't all this fitness stuff just a litte boring?
Cost: Wii Fit Plus Bundle - $99.99 from Wii or £79.99 from GAME
Wii Fit Plus Game - $19.99 from Wii or £17.99 from Play
Amazon Kindle
Reading books is so last century. Now everyone is reading computer screens. Or they will be. 2009 is set to be the year of the e-reader and Amazon's Kindle is proving to be the one thing people are really really talking about. The Kindle can hold a staggering 1,500 books (isn't that a town library?), is wireless and requires no contact with any computer. Ever. What's more the reader is lighter than an average paperback and is supposed to stay charged for days. The screens have always been the problems with these things but apparently this one's just like looking at paper. Test it out yourself.
Cost: $259 from Amazon
DJ Hero
Music games are big and who could ever be bigger in music computer games than Liverpool's favourite mop-topped sons The Beatles? Well Jay Z and Eminem is who. And they are going to bust Mr Sir Paul McCartney's face this Christmas. Full of 'booming' tracks as the press release says including Rhianna, The Killers, Queen, The Black Eyed Peas and Marvin Gaye, you get to hone your late night skills with a new turntable controller. Gran will love it.
Cost: Renegade Edition featuring Jay Z and Eminem CDs - $199/£139.99
Standard DJ Hero Bundle - $119/£89.99
available through DJHero.com and GAME
Fuji Finepix Real 3D W1
Just how much money have you got this Xmas? Because this toy is quite expensive. And you know how much cheaper new technology gets throughout the year. But this new camera is very exciting. Why? Because it's 3D. Yes, that's right. A 3D camera. Mad, isn't it? Fuji have come up with it. Apparently it's all in the enhanced parallax (the left eye right eye stuff) and Fuji's clever little printing centre.
Cost: $599.95 from FUJI or £479 from JESSOPS
iPod Nano 5th Generation
Oranges used to be the fruit of choice for Christmas but in the past few years we've all got used to Apples. 2009 is no different with the latest iPod on offer - the iPod Nano 5th Generation. So what do you get? Well a video camera is one thing. Plus a larger screen, FM radio, voice recorder, a built-in speaker (presumably meaning bus journeys are going to get even noisier) and a pedometer. However the video recorder is not a camera, which bears reading again and the memory is no bigger than previous iPods. I've always had problems with my Nano, but then I got it as a present so I don't really care.
Cost: $149 from Apple US or £115 from Apple UK
ISS Pro Evolution 2010
If it's winter then it usually means another year of ISS Pro Evolution. I have no idea if you like football games, and quite frankly I don't care. So what if the latest updates have not been all that was expected. Get some Christmas cheer, get the new Pro Evo and enjoy all the new players in all the right teams.
Cost: $59.99 from Amazon or £34.99 from GAME or from Play
Lucky Voice Karaoke Party Box
In the 90s the West went Karaoke crazy. Then there were celebrity singing contests on the television and the clever guys at London Studio encouraging every man, woman and tone deaf dog to party with their vocal cords through the creation of Singstar. While all this was going on a chain of Karaoke bars called Lucky Voice were inviting people to hire a room as if they were in Japan and sing sing sing. Well now they're telling everyone to stay home (a slightly strange message for a business dependent on people spending money in one of their bars for the opportunity to do something which they are now being told they can definitely do veyr cheaply at home with a bottle of old gin and a David Bowie wig) by selling what might be this year's most annoying and most popular gift under the tree on Christmas morning: A pink microphone and a little technobox that plugs into a PC. It's cheap and it's simple, which means it probably won't last until the turkey sandwiches. Simply go to the Lucky Voice website, download the songs you want and start singing. You will need to buy the microphone!
Cost $81 or £49.95 (Microphone: $33 or £19.95) from Firebox
Netbooks
Man appears to have a fetish for extremely small things: IPods, mobile phones, Jeannette Krankie. So it's no surprise that the new shape of computers is XS (Extra Small). Netbooks (or mini-laptops) are primarily for those of you who can't stand to be without the world wide web for more than a few seconds, but there are some very powerful little machines around right now which will serve you well whatever your purpose. A lot will depend on the Christmas budget you have, and exactly what you want your Netbook to do. The Asus N10 for example comes with a big enough keyboard for serious typing but is extremely portable and has a lot of smart features. It looks sexy and the security system operates through your fingerprint which is just very very cool.
Cost: $697.20 from ANT Online or £482 from MISCO
or see various Netbooks
Sony PSP Go
There's a theory about big Christmas releases which says something like, what companies really like to do at Christmas is make sure there aren't enough of their products in the shops and therefore create a huge demand to get on all the news programmes and make everyone go mental. But this won't be happening with the new PSP Go. I don't think. Unless enough of you read this. So, what's the news? Well the Go is the latest PSP handheld from Sony and a complete redesign at that. It is now wireless and does away with cartridges. Games, films and music must all be downloaded, much like on an iPod. The Go is slimmer but with a smaller screen. And it's a bit expensive. If you already have an earlier PSP the chances are you may be getting something else this year.
Cost: $249.99 from Amazon or £199.99 from GAME
Star Wars Force Trainer
There used to be nothing better at Christmas than sitting down and having a Luke Skywalker session on the tele. But now you can be Luke Skywalker. That's how good 2009 is. This Crimbo must-have enables you to train your Jedi mind skills by means of a headband and a ping-pong ball (it's much better than that, honest). The computer technology reads your brainwaves and translates them into levitational force. You must progress through the levels controlling the ball in different ways. All with your mind. Mental! Plus there are loads of Star Wars sound effects.
Cost: $163 or £99.95 from Firebox
Wii Fit Plus
The Nintendo Wii has helped a lot of people look very silly in the last couple of years. But their games have found favour amongst the young, the old and now the ruling classes. Encouraged by politicians and doctors alike, the Wii Fit package has now gone Fit Plus which means much more exercising. You can even weigh your pets. I don't know. Maybe it's me, but isn't all this fitness stuff just a litte boring?
Cost: Wii Fit Plus Bundle - $99.99 from Wii or £79.99 from GAME
Wii Fit Plus Game - $19.99 from Wii or £17.99 from Play
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