Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for colleague

Whether they're your boss, cubicle neighbor, IT guy / gal, assistant, consultant, or mail room clerk, they deserve a little something for the holidays. A touch of gift giving at year's end can perk up the dreariest of drones and put a smile on the face of the most tyrannical task-masters. And even if you don't really want to get them something, you might stumble upon that magical key of consumerism that unlocks the door to a promotion, pay-hike, new workstation, or just a little reduction in heat for a few months. Of course, you've gotta pay to play, so we present the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide for colleague -- treat it with respect, it could make 2008 a much smoother ride.

$0 - $100

Logitech's Nano VX - Sit by a fellow (or dame) who's perpetually not leaving their work at the office? Don't you sympathize for those who have to pull out the tethered mouse on the go? Make burning that midnight oil a little easier by blessing them with this oh-so-portable critter, and don't forget to mention that it works outside of Excel, too.
$55 - Shop for Nano VX

Crappy USB gadgets, like a wireless USB missile launcher or USB Ferris Wheel Phone Stand - Spruce up the desk of your unfathomably boring co-worker? Chances are, you won't find something more vivid, useful and downright tacky than your average USB novelty gadget. Just make sure your desk is far, far away if you're not keen on random annoyances.
$35 - Shop for wireless USB Missile Launcher
$27 - Shop for USB Ferris Wheel

WiFi Detector Shirt - Got a colleague that's just as amped up about ubiquitous connectivity as you? Tired of seeing them wear the same threadbare Rush tour shirt from 1972? Whatever your reasons -- and we're sure they're legitimate -- there's really no excuse not to hook someone up with this totally 1337 piece of garb. Unless, of course, you can only afford one. Then things get hairy.
$29.99 - Buy from ThinkGeek

Biometric scanner - Getting your favorite (presumably red) stapler jacked is one thing, but getting your 14-page Word document full of interoffice love letters swiped is a whole 'nother mess. Prevent such catastrophes from ever happening to your favorite cubical dweller with a biometric scanner, but just make sure they have your digital back too, capisce?
Available pretty much everywhere on the cheap

$101 - $250

Logitech MX Air wireless mouse - If someone you know at the office is a major control freak, The MX Air may be just the thing they need to maintain some order. Part wireless mouse, part remote control, part Wiimote -- 100% geek porn -- it makes use of embedded MEMS sensors to ensure tight tracking, and the touch sensitive scroll panel, pause / play, and volume buttons will guarantee full dominion over any playlist. Give someone special a chance to micro-manage in style.
$149.99 - Buy from Logitech

Xbox 360 HD DVD player, Blade Runner Ultimate Collector's Edition - We're pretty sure someone in your IT department has an Xbox 360 laying around -- but do they have the el-cheapo HD DVD add-on? If you said no, pay close attention to this combo we've cooked up. First, this is probably the cheapest way to get HD DVD happening for a soon-to-be stoked associate of yours (which your pocketbook will love), and second, what geek wouldn't want this totally killer box set of arguably the greatest sci-fi movie ever made? Right? Right. When you present it to 'em, make sure you get down deep and quote: "He say you Brade Runna."
$199.99, $99.99 - Shop for Xbox 360 HD DVD player, Blade Runner box set

Wacom Bamboo Fun Medium pen tablet - Someone around your office hiding an inner artist? Notice any of your co-workers frantically doodling during meetings? Well, here's just the thing to soothe (or swell) their savage penchant for lewd cartooning -- the Wacom Bamboo Fun Medium tablet. The virtual drawing space comes in a variety of colors, and with four ExpressKeys, the "touch ring" zooming / scrolling controller, a surface akin to actual paper, and compatibility with Macs or PCs, those hilarious depictions of your boss in compromising situations should be getting a lot more detail.
$199 - Buy from Wacom

Noteworthy mention: Zune 80

$251 - $500

Sony Rolly - It's an MP3 player! It's a wireless speaker system! It's a dancing robot! Yeah, that's Sony's Rolly for you, an overpriced bauble whose charm and novelty wear off after about five minutes -- although it does succeed as a shoulder-bag-sized conversation starter at parties. Rolly: the device no one quite understands for the coworker you don't really know.
$351 - Buy from Sony Japan

Herman Miller C2 Climate Control -- You know that guy at the office who tends to sweat a lot and tends not to wear his deodorant, making for a lethal combo during summer months? Well instead of continuing to mock him on your coffee breaks, it would be much more productive to just shell out a few hundred bucks on Herman Miller's C2 Climate Control, a small desktop device that promises to cool, heat, and even filter the micro-climate that is his cubicle.
$300 - Locate dealers at Herman Miller

Sennheiser PXC-450 Noise-Canceling Headphones - The workplace can actually be a pretty rowdy environment, especially if you work for one of those fast-and-loose Web 2.0 companies, so the one or two people who actually do want to get something done are often foiled by the unruly mob. Well, you can help those diligent workers keep their sanity while also keeping them from tattling on you to the boss with Sennheiser's PXC-450 noise-canceling headphones, a pricey pair of cans that feature second-generation Noise Guard technology and a bundled airplane adapter so Danny Diligent may be inclined to beef up his road trip schedule. (Of course, if you'd rather just buy yourself something nice with that scratch, JVC makes some cheaper more giftable phones, too.)
$450 - Shop for Sennheiser PXC-450

$501 - $1000

Data Robotics Drobo - Your colleagues might've outgrown the robots of childhood, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't love a robot to keep a close eye on their data. Drobo is designed keep all your bits in one redundant, hot-swappable virtualized file store. Meaning your particularly clutzy office mate can finally stop worrying about a drive head crash deleting his latest copy of the TPS report.
$496 + cost of drives - Shop for Drobo

BenQ MP612 projector - The 800 x 600 resolution won't make for the greatest movie nights at the office, but the 2,000:1 contrast ratio and 2,500 ANSI lumens will do wonders for making your colleague's presentations pop. There's also a built-in speaker for blasting all that motivational music that no PowerPoint should be without.
$700-ish - Shop for BenQ MP612

HTC Advantage - Got a featurephone junkie on your hands? If they're the type that can't fit their "handheld" computer into their pocket anyways, you can't do much damage with the HTC Advantage. It's the "all that and the kitchen sink" of smartphones, and they'll have office gadget supremacy for a solid month or so before the HTC Shift hits.
$900 - Shop for HTC Advantage

$1000+

Moller M200G hovercar - Toyota would like you to believe that the only suitable vehicle for gifting during the holiday seasons is a Lexus wrapped in an oversize bow, but since successful folks like yourselves probably already park among numerous luxury vehicles at the office, something a little less mainstream is required. Enter the Moller M200G volantor, a 100MPG "hovercar" that cruises 10 feet above the ground and promises to make short work of that normally painful commute. Work in a downtown metropolis with limited parking? No problem: Moller also offers a version capable of docking with skyscrapers.
$90,000.00 - Buy from Moller

Dell XPS M1330 - Let's face it, the notebooks that most companies distribute to their employees can most accurately be described as craptops: they're bulky, underpowered, and outdated long before you get them. Why not hook up your favorite co-worker with a svelte 13-inch model that they'll actually enjoy traveling with? The m1330 has enough processing (plus HDMI out) for impressive presentations by day, while still offering enough graphics power and storage to load up games for those long, lonely nights on the road.
$1,249.00 - Buy from Dell

Microsoft Roundtable - Since teleconference meetings are an absolute nightmare, and no one at your company seems interested in upgrading the experience, perhaps it's up to you to push everyone into the 21st Century. Sure it'll cost you a cool $3,000 to put Microsoft's 360-degree Roundtable camera in the conference room, but considering the accolades you'll get from your co-workers and your newfound ability to check out that hot account rep in the New York office, that's probably a small price to pay.
$3,000 - Buy from Microsoft

[Wayne @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:11PM]

Just in time for vacation.

[Derry Quinn @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:48PM]

Why no apple stuff?

[Josef @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:58PM]

Because this list is for at work. Apple stuff is for those perpetually unemployed guys who hang out at Starbucks and work on "their novel".

[Josef @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:59PM]

That should be *people* at work...

[Jon Doe @ Dec 22nd 2007 4:13PM]

Yah as if unemployed people can afford a Mac. Hell even employed people Mac's are expensive as shit with the overpriced warranty with is a requirement for obvious reasons.

[Curtis McHenry @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:14PM]

Little Late.

[Josef @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:58PM]

*people* at work...

[Josef @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:59PM]

Me am bad at internets.

[Sourabh @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:20PM]

Time to update this in the sponsored header :)

[Drew @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:22PM]

These gift guides would have made sense if they came out about a month ago.... Or even just a couple weeks ago. But the weekend before Christmas?

[jmattick @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:28PM]

I believe the favored phrase is "Better late than never."

[Ryan Block @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:50PM]

Yes and no. We did them in order of priority. Still, next year we'll start earlier or bunch them closer together.

[Ant @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:06PM]

@jmattick

unless its a cure for a disease right after you died from it.

[chezzo @ Dec 22nd 2007 5:57PM]

There's also the fact that everyone almost certainly is taking a holiday on Monday, so the last chance for them to give a present to their colleague was yesterday...

Also, regarding the Rolly -
$351 for a coworker I "don't really know"? No thanks!

[Vito @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:25PM]

Great list. One little problem....

It's "Capisce" not "Capiche"

[Andrew @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:25PM]

Man, how come my colleagues never get me this kind of stuff, haha.

[mr.me! @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:32PM]

You think were all millionaires or something?

[Jon Doe @ Dec 22nd 2007 4:13PM]

You never know....the CEO of ATT may be browsing Engadget right this very minute.

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 22nd 2007 11:08PM]

And the CEO of Verizon has Engadget bookmarked (on his iPhone lol)

[jared Rada @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:36PM]

xmas/and other gift giving events is/are in like.... 3 days... these guides are no longer useful... please delete

[KratosAurion @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:41PM]

A rolly though?

I'd love to see how that plays out

[slaw @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:46PM]

Weird endorsements...I smell something

[slaw @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:47PM]

and no i(something). And how could an Apple product not make this list...mmmmm?

[John @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:09PM]

I'd regift anything Apple.

[John @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:17PM]

Colleague: Wow! A Sony...Rolly? Never heard of it. What is it?
Me: It plays music. MP3s, I think.
Colleague: Oh, it's like an iPod. [inserting batteries] Where do I plug in my headphones?
Me: Well, you don't actually-
Colleague: Let me put it down and try to figure out these instructions. They're in kanji!
Me: Wait, no!
[Rolly rolls off the desk and makes a run for the copy room.]
Colleague: Hey!
Me: That's why they call it a Rolly.
Colleague: WTF?

[NovaLand @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:28PM]

The "Herman Miller C2 Climate Control" looks more like one of those cloth shavers. On the other hand, u can probably use a cloth shaver to remove hair from the armpits, but it will most likley hurt and get stuck.

[ratnikh @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:55PM]

Some cool ideas there, no doubt... but what demographic are you aiming at, Engadget? I don't know many people that spend more than $50 on a co-worker, let alone over $100 or even close to $1000. If you're aiming at corporate bigwigs, I think they will have plenty of ideas already.

If you weren't just phoning this one in, you would have seriously concentrated on gifts under $50, and preferably in the $10 to $20 range. Anything above that, in the workplace, can be awkward except for very close friends and co-workers. Which can also be awkward, dpending on jus how close.

With all the friends and family to shop for, co-workers do tend to get the shaft, but that doesn't mean you can't find appropriate gifts for them on the cheap.

[Matt Peckham @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:05PM]

We needed a great secret santa geek gifts... under $20. I mean, who is going to spend $300 on their co-workers.... fund managers? And don't they have secretaries to take care of this like weeks before it's too late?

We need a (last minute gifts for anyone (that you can buy locally).

For us guys, who procras.... oooh, Return of the Jedi! Sweet! Gotta go.

[wickedpheonix @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:07PM]

1) A little late?
2) A little too expensive? I mean seriously whens the last time you spent $90,000 on a car for a friend?!

3) The Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player is $180 now... didn't you guys report on that too?

[rlynd3 @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:32PM]

...

[davrone @ Dec 22nd 2007 2:34PM]

YAY!

[Neebs @ Dec 22nd 2007 3:54PM]

Still waiting for enemy...

[Carl Vitullo @ Dec 22nd 2007 5:19PM]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/
What about this? I think randomly spaced 2 or 12khz beeps are a fine gift!

[R1cebrner @ Dec 22nd 2007 5:47PM]

i wish i worked at place that paid well enough to get any of these things, let alone pay enough that i could afford to give them.

[Reader @ Dec 22nd 2007 7:11PM]

I was expecting the colleague gift guide to be similar to the other ones, but the highest price category being 80-100 bucks.

For next years I think that would make more sense because I don't know anyone that would spend over 50, much less a hundred, on a colleague.

[Jin @ Dec 22nd 2007 9:54PM]

VX Nano is $40 at BJ's, last I checked.

[Nick @ Dec 24th 2007 3:49PM]

attention people. Who cares if this is late. This article is for fun. If you actually base your gifts off these lists please turn off your computer and never use it again.