Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for colleague

We know it's getting a little late to be buying stuff for your colleagues, but hey, you're professional acquaintances and they won't mind too badly if their seasonal presents are slightly delayed. Just tell them you celebrate Festivus, or something. So here you are, some simple suggestions of what to snag that hard to shop for coworker. Bosses in the house: skip forward to the pricier gear, we're sure you've got someone working for you who's just dying for you to pimp their presentation.

See also: for him, for her, for son, for daughter, for dad, for mom.

$0 - $100

RIAA toilet paper - We're pretty sure you and your pals feel the same way about the RIAA and MPAA as we do. Which is why RIAA TP is sure to get a chuckle, whether or not they actually make use of the stuff. Attack with hot cup of coffee + bran muffin and / or E. coli-stricken Taco Bell for maximum damage.
$6 per roll - Buy from Jinx

Sneak King (and other BK Xbox 360 games) - The next time you head over to the BK, snag your Xbox Achievement addicted coworker a copy of Sneak King or one of those other $4 Xbox 360 games. They're no Rainbow Six Vegas or anything, but it's got to be the cheapest way to get them a few gamerpoints over the long holiday weekend.
$4 - Buy at your local Burger King

Laser-guided USB launcher - The endless hours of office shenanigans you had with Nerf objects back in the deezy can be carried on into the new millennia by way of lasert-targeting USB-enabled foam dart rocket launchers, replete with cheesy computer animated launch countdown software. You have no idea how happy this makes us -- which, in turn, means your coworkers are likely to be every bit as stoked.
$55 - Buy from Ninja Gizmos

Lexon's On-Off alarm clock - We can't deny it, sexy Lexon's tilting On-Off alarm clock is a great white elephant gift. It's cheap, it'll go in any decor, and what the hell, get one for yourself, too. Go on, go get it!
$37 - Buy from Unica Home

USB-powered heated G-Gloves - There's any number of USB-powered devices that were launched this year, and for those able to get their hands on the gear you can go with anything from hamster wheels, to chameleons, to a seat warmers and ass coolers to our pick, the G-Gloves (whatever those are). They're actually heated fingerless gloves perfect for those drafty wintry typing sessions
$25 - Buy from Rare Mono Shop

Noteworthy mention: Davis Key Buoy

$101 - $250

Slingbox PRO - While you can save a few bucks and go for the $180 Slingbox AV or Slingbox Tuner, for that extra special colleague you might as well drop the $250 necessary for the Slingbox PRO. Not only will it clearly stand out more in his or her home entertainment setup, it'll also give 'em the room necessary to grow as they add more A/V devices that require streaming. If you know they've got HD gear though, you may also want to spring for the $50 "HD Connect" (i.e. component video) dongle required to hook it up.
$180-$250 - Buy from Sling Media

Samsung Blackjack - Buying a cellphone is always a personal decision, but few will likely be disappointed if you decide to spring Samsung's new flagship Smartphone on 'em. Of course, to get it for less than $250 you'll also have to sign your coworker buddy up for a two-year contract -- but at least they'll think of you when they get the bill each month.
$200 (after rebate) - Buy from Cingular

Star Wars Force FX lightsabers - Definitely not for everyone, but if there's a colleague you know particularly well, these full-size lightsaber replicas should be enough to make them forget the daily grind while the two of you battle it out for Jedi / Sith supremacy on your lunch break (just be careful, they aren't actually meant for dueling). Of course, one of the big selling points of these is that they provide genuine lightsaber sound effects, although that likely won't stop your pal from supplanting them with his or her own.
$90-$180 - Buy from Think Geek

Philips 9-inch Digital Photo Frame - There's plenty of cheaper digital picture frames available, but this Philips number strikes a good balance between style and features. With two different designs to choose from, each sports a 9-inch widescreen display and enough memory card slots to accommodate just about any camera your coworker may have. For that extra special touch, you can also load up the frame's internal memory with up to 150 photos of your choosing.
$250 or less - Shop for Philips Digital Photo Frame

$251 - $500

Dell's E207WFP 20-inch LCD - C'mon, who likes looking at those endless Excel spreadsheets on a puny 15-inch CRT? We all know corporate isn't about to free up any funding for monitor upgrades this century, so why not save your pal's vision and give him a little extra room on each side of those "work documents" for a little Engadget browsing in his / her spare time. Dell E207WFP. Do it. And if you can't, make sure someone in requisitions can.
$289 - Buy from Dell

LaCie's 500GB SAFE external HDD - If there's two things you can count on being true in the office, it's that your leased lappie doesn't have nearly enough hard drive space for all your podcast downloads and quarterly reports. And secondly, people love to snoop. Solve both problems for your intra-office bud by giving him / her a half terabyte of external hard drive space with a trio of privacy-protecting security measures.
$279.99 - Buy from LaCie

Tychi Systems' BioKnob - Continuing on with the whole "scandalous workplace" theme, this gift is best suited for offices mates that have a whole lot to conceal. So if you're hiding your stash of D&D cards in Joe's bottom file cabinet, you might want to restrict the access before your religious lunchtime activity is found out. Just don't let our boy Marc Weber Tobias find out you're using one of these things, he might write a scathing exposé.
$499 - Buy from GoKeyless

MOTORIZR Z3 - You know that officemate who relies way too much on the company phone to conduct personal calls day after day? Get them what they really want before accounting comes storming down the hall after receiving this month's phone bill -- and get it in black, because black goes with everything, right? Just make sure they're not too discerning about their phone's OS, the RIZR one still uses Moto's craptacular Synergy interface.
$400 - Buy from Ace Photo & Digital

Notable mention: Archos 604 WiFi PMP

$501 - $1000

Blue laser - Every pointy-haired boss really wants something to show off during the next boardroom presentation. So why settle for a plain old red or green laser when you can go high-end with 475nm gallium nitride blue beam of death? Okay, so you could buy a PlayStation 3 or HD DVD add-on, and tear it apart just to get to the blue diode inside, or you could grab up one of these things and burn a blue hole through the wall. They're brand new, exotic, and the talk of the town -- at least, until burnt orange or fuchsia diodes come around.
$999 - Buy from ThinkGeek

Toshiba TDP-FF1AU portable DLP projector - Instead of simply feeling bad for your poor coworker lugging around one of those heavy traditional projectors, you can pick up one of Toshiba's one-pound battery-operated DLP projectors for your favorite road warrior. It has native SVGA resolution and a 400 lumen brightness for keeping the jokers in the back of the room awake., and with a 1500:1 contrast ratio, they might even be able to read what's on the screen. It can run for up to two hours off of the built-in batteries for those on the go sales meetings, too; not a bad blend of price, performance, and portability.
$699 - Shop for Toshiba TDP-FF1AU

$1001+

Nvidia Quadro Plex 1000 - Every office has that guy who won't shut up about WoW, and for him the Quadro Plex 1000 may just be the perfect gift. Possibly the ultimate workstation gaming rig, if he wasn't staying up all night on quests before, he will be now. Just make sure the boss doesn't figure out what he's really doing with company graphics rendering equipment.
$24,500 - Buy from NVIDIA.com

Panasonic 103-inch plasma - For the person who's got everything, there is absolutely no doubt they won't have this -- assuming your colleague isn't Mark Cuban. Although the Panny 103-incher is without a doubt a fantastic gift, we would love to hear how you were possibly able to surprise anyone with it, it's large enough to be seen rumbling down the road from about three miles away.
$69,999 - Buy from TVAuthority.com

[Leon @ Dec 22nd 2006 8:07PM]

Or you could be Orthodox and celebrate on Jan 6th

[Dave @ Dec 22nd 2006 8:47PM]

Anybody know the brightness / viewable distance of these new blue lasers versus the green ones? How far can they be seen?

[Lawry Goldstein @ Dec 22nd 2006 11:07PM]

There are charts you can find for hte visablity of different wave lenghts. Overall:
( blue > red ) < green

Other then that the blue will be fairly weak because they are only .2mw to 2mw unless you pay more where you can get up to 5mw. If you want a bright blue laser get your wallet out, my favorites are from wickedlasers(.com), however they are $2,000+ and have a few issues, so be prepared to RMA a few times, they go up to 60mw. The site also sells up to 300mw green pointers. (A normal red pointer you buy for $1-5 is .5-2mws! These things are unbelivably powerful)

You can use the code 3467 with 'add to your cart' in order to get 5% off.

[Glowstick Man @ Dec 23rd 2006 3:17AM]

Why stop at USB-powered heated G-Gloves I bought my mum a pair of these and the USB-powered heated slippers to go with them. Makes the perfect combo.

[Yolanda @ Dec 9th 2008 11:47AM]

** TickleMe Plant - It Moves **
A great green low cost gift that will make everyone smile is to grow a TickleMe Plant and watch it MOVE when Tickled! The leaves quickly fold and even the branches droop when tickled. I found this to be a great stress reliever in my office and what a conversation piece!. You may have seen the TickleMe Plant in the botanical gardens.. Now it can be grown indoors year round.
No green thumb needed. I found it on line at http://www.ticklemeplant.com