Apps, accessories and more for Father's Day
It's close to Father's Day here in the US. Hopefully you've got the perfect gift planned. Perhaps you splurged on the ideal man cave, or you went less extreme and bought an iPhone, iPad or new Mac for the awesome father in your life. If, however, you're still scrambling for gift ideas, here are a few of our suggestions.
iPhone
There are several apps and accessories geared toward outdoor sports. The GPS Kit iPhone App (US$19.99) was just featured in Time Magazine and has a number of excellent outdoor uses, especially if Dad's into hiking, biking or geocaching. Bikers can pair it with an iPhone bike mount, such as this one from Bracketron ($39.95).
For the golfer, pair a golf bag mount with Golfscape GPS Rangefinder (currently on sale for $9.99). Golfscape just won an Apple Design Award and allows you to view distances on more than 37,000 golf courses around the world. You can see the distance to the front, center and back of the green and up to 40 mapped targets per hole. The golf bag mount ($29.95) is coming soon, so you'll have to give Dad an I.O.U. for that part of the gift.
If you've got a new father on your list (or know a busy parent), pzizz sleep is now a very affordable $5.99. Our own Dave Caolo swears by it. "Software like pzizz can let you take a restful nap that you know you'll wake from in a timely manner," he said. "That's important (re: bus pickups). Short naps can be effective stress relievers and re-energizers. pzizz is a tool that helps you achieve that." There is also pzizz energizer to provide said energy boost.
iPad
My father-in-law, like my husband, prefers to stay at home as much as he can. And while the women in their lives can coax them out shopping, both would probably prefer one of the many catalog apps that have sprung up for the iPad. We reviewed Catalog Spree and Catalogue for iPad recently, and both are worth adding to see which one your father prefers.
For car lovers, Ferrari has released several official cases for iOS devices. Only one is in the Ferrari store at the moment, costing a little more than $93.
In the retro gaming world, ThinkGeek has both the $99.99 iCade arcade cabinet or the just-released iPad Arcade Stick ($24.99 for one, $39.99 for two).
Mac and others
You can't go wrong with a good digital photo frame, and we like The Kodak Pulse frame, which allows you to add photos to the frame wirelessly. The 7-inch model is currently going for under $100 on Amazon.
To spruce up a suit or tux, try a pair of these open-source electronic cufflinks. iCufflinks from Adafruit ($128.99) look like a Mac's startup button and pulsate with a soft light for up to 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Feral Interactive Ltd. just brought Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga to the Mac App Store for $29.99, for dads who are gamers. Civilization V: Campaign Edition from Aspyr Media is also available for $49.99.
If you're still stumped for ideas, check out our past recommendations for that extra spark! Of course, you can never go wrong with an iTunes gift card, which are sold pretty much everywhere.
