HolidayGiftGuide2009

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  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Home theater setups

    by 
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    12.23.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Congratulations, you've reached the end of your holiday list and have only one person left -- unfortunately, they're the one that never leaves the living room. With eyes constantly glues to the screen, a simple sweater or even the finest Williams-Sonoma has to offer just won't cut it. Luckily, we're here to help, especially if that poor soul is limited to some old school XGA projector, juggling multiple remotes or still waiting to make the jump to Blu-ray. Dig in after the break and see what will distract them from the HDTVs unnatural light long enough to say thanks. %Gallery-80859%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Stuff you don't want

    by 
    Vlad Savov
    Vlad Savov
    12.23.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. That whole gift giving time is very nearly upon us, and if you don't know what to get your closest and dearest by now, you may well be beyond salvation. To honor those lost souls, and to appease the anti-consumerists out there who think there's more junk in stores than there is sand in Dubai, we present the dark side of the Engadget HGG. Here, nestled in the same familiar price categories, we pick out the best of the worst gadgets to see the light of day in 2009. So join us after the break, and should you find yourself unwrapping one of these in a couple of days... you have our condolences. %Gallery-80837%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Fun Stuff

    by 
    Donald Melanson
    Donald Melanson
    12.21.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Still haven't found just the right gift for that particularly hard-to-buy-for someone in one of the more neatly defined categories? Well, then look no further, 'cause we've collected a wide assortment of other products right here that may have little in common with one another, but will each undoubtedly bring a smile to the face of anyone that receives one of them. Just try to remember you're not shopping for yourself.

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide 2009

    by 
    Paul Miller
    Paul Miller
    12.19.2009

    Have you checked into Engadget's massive 2009 Holiday Gift Guide? If not, you're making the biggest mistake of the season. Seriously. Don't let this year mark the end of happiness. Help us help you... just study the guides below (and stay tuned for even more)! Accessories Cellphones e-book readers GPS Netbooks PMPs Smartphones Television / Displays Toys Laptops Desktops Docks & Clocks Video Cameras Digital Cameras

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Desktops

    by 
    Ross Miller
    Ross Miller
    12.17.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Let's face it, not everyone needs (or wants) to carry their computer around on the daily routine. Sacrificing portability can have its advantages -- and while nettops and all-in-one PCs have become a much more dominant force this year, the traditional, highly upgradeable desktop tower is still the reigning bang-for-the-buck champ. Just make sure your certain special someone has enough desk real estate for whatever potentially-enormous chassis you decide to take home and wrap. %Gallery-80501%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Video Cameras

    by 
    Ross Miller
    Ross Miller
    12.11.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Whether you want them to or not, there's a good chance you've got a family member or two (or more) that feel compelled to capture every single moment on video, including those times when all you're doing is sitting around watching previously recorded memories. That's just an inevitably we face each and every family gathering, and if you must endure, might as well get them the best possible fidelity, right? Then again, maybe you are that memory-capturing individual -- in either case, we think we've got a few suggestions to maximize your holiday enjoyment. %Gallery-80100%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Docks and Alarm Clocks

    by 
    Joseph L. Flatley
    Joseph L. Flatley
    12.09.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. The portable media player is one gadget that's achieved across the board, almost universal acceptance. People of all ages and demographics have grown to rely on handhelds for their tunes and videos -- whether on-the-go or in-the-home. Although a majority of the docks and alarm clocks we come across have the iPod or iPhone in mind, we've found a selection of items that cater to all sorts of devices (and all sorts of budgets). %Gallery-79913%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Laptops

    by 
    Nilay Patel
    Nilay Patel
    12.08.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Buying a laptop as a holiday present for someone is fraught with danger: you're more than likely buying someone's primary machine, and they're going to think of you every single time they boot it up, whether it's to do work, play games, or gently stalk old flames on the "Face Book." Worry not, though -- we're here to help, with a grab-bag of laptop choices that offers something for everyone.

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Televisions

    by 
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    12.04.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Want a gift the whole family can enjoy? A brand new television is sure to do the trick and with more HDTV content available than ever from antenna, cable, satellite, Blu-ray discs or even the internet, there will always be something to watch. Whether it's their first flat-panel or an upgrade, these picks come through in several price ranges selected to maximize your, we mean their, viewing pleasure. The only question left we can't help you with? Who gets the first turn on the remote.%Gallery-79792%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Smartphones

    by 
    Chris Ziegler
    Chris Ziegler
    12.02.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. If your BFF's HTC has a code name like Blue Angel, Harrier, or Canary, trust us: the time has come to intervene and forcefully bring that particular chapter of their technological life to a close. It's 2009, after all, and with devices like the Pre, iPhone 3GS, and Droid all coming to market in the past few months, there's never been a better time to be a smartphone lover, buyer, or -- in this case -- giver. Of course, in the States, giving a phone as a gift isn't the easiest thing in the world since you've got contracts to worry about, but it can be done -- even if you've got to drag the lucky recipient kicking and screaming into the store and hold their hand to the dotted line. So let's get to it, shall we?%Gallery-79790%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: PMPs

    by 
    Laura June Dziuban
    Laura June Dziuban
    12.01.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. So your music-loving grandma wants a PMP, huh? Fair enough -- we've put our heads together to come up with a list of the best we could find in several price ranges -- and we tried to come up with a few that are off the beaten (iPod) path, too. The choices out there sure are varied, but we've culled out the boring and the poorly designed to come up with what we think is the... most melody-friendly group on the planet. Read on for our full recommendations!%Gallery-79789%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Accessories

    by 
    Darren Murph
    Darren Murph
    11.25.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. What luck. The Secret Santa recipient that you drew already has everything, so there's little you can buy him / her that they'll actually be impressed with. Thankfully, the peripheral market is here for you, and while some may considering these things "trinkets," others will be downright giddy to unwrap 'em. And whether you'd care to admit it or not, these are easily the most fun to shop for. Yeah, we said it -- what of it? Hop on past the break for a few recommendations on knickknacks, or "accessories," as it were.%Gallery-79783%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Cellphones

    by 
    Chris Ziegler
    Chris Ziegler
    11.20.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. True smartphones like the Palm Pre, Motorola Droid, and iPhone are all chewing up a majority of wireless mindshare these days, which makes it particularly easy to forget that there's this huge, vibrant catalog of cool non-smartphone handsets sitting right below them in your favorite carrier's lineup. They can play music, games, sometimes last for days on a charge (try that with a G1 -- we dare you), and often take up just a fraction of the space in your pocket that a more powerful handset would. They're not for everyone, but odds are you know a couple folks who fit the featurephone mold, and... well, it is the season of giving, isn't it? Follow the break for a few of our recommendations. Note: Looking to give a few smartphones away to friends and family? This particular guide's all about regular cellphones -- but don't worry, we'll be posting our smartphone guide in the not-too-distant future!%Gallery-79784%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: GPS devices

    by 
    Darren Murph
    Darren Murph
    11.18.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Look, we all know "that guy / gal." The one that never seems to end up at a meeting place on time, who incidentally is the same one that always gets tied up at the local fuel station asking for "directions." We've always heard that true friends don't let friends drive sans a robotic navigator, and if your BFF is still traversing the highways without any sort of GPS device on board, it's time for that situation to be remedied. There's a whole slew of options out there, so we'll be breaking 'em down as best we can based on how much dough you're willing to spend. Whatever you decide, just make sure you get one with the maps of your own country; after all, you wouldn't want that special someone to end up like this guy, right? Read on!%Gallery-79787%

  • Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: e-book readers

    by 
    Paul Miller
    Paul Miller
    11.16.2009

    Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. With the push toward convergence these days, does your prospective gift recipient really need a dedicated device for reading books on? Well, if they're a heavy reader their eyes might just thank you. The E Ink displays used on a majority of these devices is very similar to reading off of regular paper, and therefore much more easy on the eyes than those now-ubiquitous LCD screens we've all surrounded ourselves with. We've rounded up a few of our favorite devices, though be warned: with a market this much in its infancy, there's always going to be something just a bit more exciting right around the corner.%Gallery-79785%