Book ’em

The Kindle isn’t the only high-tech gadget
worthy of a place under the tree

ALREADY OBSOLETE: The Kindle 2

by MICHAEL CITROME

The Amazon Kindle is now available in Canada, just in time for Xmas. It’s not exactly new, considering this model has been out in the States and most of the rest of the world since February, and there isn’t much point to explaining what it does because everybody already knows it as the iconic e-book.

Why should you buy it? The $259 USD price tag won’t break the bank, you have access to thousands of reasonably priced titles through the Kindle store with free wireless delivery, you get free, unlimited access to Wikipedia, but not the U.S.-spec web browser, and it has enough shiny geek appeal to get you envious stares in the metro without actually being cool enough for anyone to try to gank you for it.

Why shouldn’t you buy it? If you’re not satisfied with the content of the Kindle store, Amazon makes it tough to import your own literature. There’s no native PDF support and converting documents to be Kindle-able is a pain. The absence of the web browser cuts down on the Kindle’s potential as a real-life Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and your iPhone does all that already anyway. Plus there’s no SD Card reader so you can’t expand on the 2 GB of built-in memory.

But your decision will probably come down to one factor—how much of an early adopter you really are. Because, fact is, the Kindle may already be obsolete. Many industry-watchers agree that next-generation e-book readers with colour touch screens and support for streaming audio and video are nearly ready to hit the market, and may be cheap or even free with the purchase of some magazine subscriptions as publishers are eager to eliminate costly glossy print in favour of weightless bits and bytes.

Amazon Kindle 2 International Version: $259 USD at amazon.com

Silver screen: The new iMac may be the most exciting one yet. It’s an upgrade in every sense from the previous generation of aluminium iMacs, with a more powerful processor (up to a 2.8 GHz quad-core CPU) a standard terabyte hard drive and improved graphics that put it in gaming PC territory. But the most thrilling thing about the new Big Mac is its completely ridiculous 27-inch 2560x1440 LED-backlit screen that has, according to Apple, 78 per cent more pixels than a 1080p HDTV. That’s right—nearly twice the resolution of an HDTV. Stunning.

And at less than $1,800 for the base model, this desktop radiation giant is a bargain compared to previous top-shelf iMacs. Just make sure you want the weird, wafery Magic Mouse because that’s the default pack-in.

Apple iMac 27-inch: $1,799 (Core 2 Duo) to $2,099 (Quad Core) at the Apple Store, 1321 Ste-Catherine W.

To go size: Netbooks have been heating up the value end of the PC market, packing basic computing into a package small enough to keep handy without having to think about it. Dell’s Mini 10v is one of the best of the bunch, justifying its already-low $300 price tag with impressive specs like a 160 GB hard drive, a 10.1” 1024x600 widescreen, a gigabyte of RAM and nearly six hours of battery life with the optional six-cell battery. Plus you get free shipping and a choice of overly bright colours including “Pretty Pink” and “Passion Purple.”

And one more thing—the Mini 10v is famously capable of being turned into a pocketable Hackintosh by replacing its default Windows XP set-up with a cleverly hacked version of Mac OS, making it the smallest MacBook around. Don’t tell Steve.

Dell Mini 10v (Obsidian Black with three-cell battery): $299; six-cell battery upgrade is $40 and optional system colours are $30 and up at dell.ca

Photo finish: Having a digital picture frame on your cube farm desk means that you’ll never have to choose your photos wisely—you can just keep all of them on slideshow and hope that no inappropriate ones come up when your boss drops in with some TPS reports for you to fill out. And the latest models support audio and video playback and Internet browsing, making them more entertainment device than plain picture frame.

The HP DreamScreen 100 is the sexiest of these new digital frames. Its 10.2-inch screen is sharp and bright, and built-in Wi-Fi lets it stream photos, music and video from your computer. You can even connect to Facebook and see your friends’ photo albums.

HP DreamScreen 100 Digital Picture Frame: $239.49 at amazon.ca

Built tough: What’s half G-Shock, half camera and red all over? It’s the Casio EX-G1, a ruggedized 12-megapixel digital camera that Casio claims can shoot underwater continuously for up to an hour, down to a depth of 10 feet, perfect for shooting that Aquaman/Little Mermaid sex tape, and can survive a seven-foot drop, so even the klutziest can’t destroy this thing, despite its 2.5” screen. Oh, and it’s only about 1.5 iPhones thick, with a non-extending (!) 3X optical zoom. Go ahead, take it in the bath.

Casio EX-G1: $300 USD, coming in December

So long, salon: Even though surveys show women buy more mobile phones, portable computers and digital cameras than men, there are few truly girl-oriented gadgets. The Barbie Doll’d Up Nails printer from Mattel is one. It’s basically an inkjet printer designed to print on fingernails. Choose or create nail designs on your computer using the included software, insert your hand—a built-in camera makes sure your fingers are aligned—and get fabulous. Imagine having all nine members of the Wu Tang Clan, plus say, Alex Trebek, printed on your fingernails. Perfect for girls, grown women, boys who want to be girls and anyone else with a burning desire to push sassiness further than it was ever supposed to go.

Barbie Doll’d Up Nails: $179 at Toys R Us (various locations)

FABULOUS FINGERS: Barbie Doll’d Up Nails