Holiday Tech Gifts

No More Silent Nights
The digital music revolution has been amazing for the casual music fan. More access, lower prices, easier storage — music in the digital age is almost perfect. Almost. The one glitch lies in the quality of the sound, which serious audiophiles hate. The Neuhaus T-2 Amplifier bridges the gap between convenience and high-end audio by bypassing your inferior PC soundcard to convert digital music files into beautiful analog sounds that are then amplified through classic vacuum tube technology. Unfortunately, the US$795 cost negates all that money you’ve saved downloading your music online, legally or otherwise. (neuhauslabs.com)

Home Video for the Holidays
As the market for small, easy-to-use digital video recorders grows, it’s only a matter of time before a company like Apple decides it wants to play. First, it added video recording to its third-generation iPhones, then last September it threw the industry a curveball by adding video capabilities to the popular iPod nano (most thought the iPod Touch would have a camera added). At 640 by 480 pixels and up to 30 frames per second, it isn’t the greatest portable camcorder on the market, but the usual iPod music and video features, along with the $169 price tag for an 8GB unit, make it appealing to music fans and potential YouTube stars, alike. (apple.ca)

A Christmas Story
If you’re like me, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that Amazon hates Canada and that’s why the Kindle wireless reader still isn’t available here. You’re probably also tired of waiting. Fortunately, Sony doesn’t share Amazon’s contempt of all things Canadian and has released its new Reader Touch Edition ($400) to the entire continent. Features and compatibility are mostly what you’d expect. The major selling point is the ability to handwrite margin notes that can be exported and printed. Take that, Kindle! (sonystyle.ca)

Reindeer Games
If the reason you don’t currently own a PlayStation 3 is either a) it’s too big, or b) it’s too expensive, now’s the time to reconsider. The new PS3 is more than 30 percent smaller and lighter than the original behemoth. (It also consumes 30 percent less power, if you’re into that.) But better than shedding weight is shedding price, and a new PlayStation with 120GB hard drive will only set you back $300 — almost 50 percent less than its debut price four years ago, and that’s assuming you can’t find a holiday sale. There is one catch, however.
The PS3 slim isn’t backward compatible, so it’ll render your collection of PS2 games obsolete. (playstation.ca)

The Picture Perfect Present
The leap from a point-and-shoot to a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) is a tricky one. There’s a massive tradeoff in terms of convenience versus quality, and very little room for people who aren’t professional photographers to enjoy both. This is where Ricoh excels, and its new GR Digital III might be the best overall camera available today. It doesn’t have the range of options of a DSLR (especially since it doesn’t have a swappable lens), but it does offer the highest photo quality of any point-and-shoot currently available, including 10 megapixels of RAW shooting power and an impressively fast lens. But enjoying the best of both worlds comes at a price — it costs around US$699 and currently has to be ordered from overseas, or
the United States. (ricoh.com)