8 Gifts you can get the computer enthusiasts in your life that they'll appreciate

If you have someone in your life whose life revolves around their computer and you don’t know what to give them…this is Uncle Tom’s list of 8 non-computer items a computer enthusiast will find helpful. 

 

I’ve used computers personally for close to 30 years now. This is what I’d find useful as a gift:

 

1. Brother P-Touch labeler and extra batteries and label tape. The enthusiast will have lots of items that look identical and they’ll need to know which one is which. Your gift helps distinguish them at a glance.

2. Power strip. You can never have enough outlets. Get one with a long cord, too.

3. A shredder that can handle DVDs and CDs. 

4. A $50 Amazon gift card. They’ll need to order something after the holidays.

5. Stand alone physical kitchen timer with a loud annoying bell. This is for when they’re engrossed on-line, yet doing laundry or cooking at the same time.

6. Ream of copy paper. Occasionally they’ll need to print something. Sometimes they’ll even need to print it on nice paper for someone else to look at.

7. A box of Zip-Loc style bags and a box of snap-top containers. This goes well with Present #1.The enthusiast will have lots of small items they need to keep separate from each other. 

8. A box of personalized Post-It or Sticky type notes. The P-Touch is for permanent labeling situations. Your enthusiasts will need to make quick temporary notes on many occasions.  

 

Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

 

Tom Briant

Editor, MacValley Blog

 

 

 

Carmeggdon dispatch and no Lion yet

Dispatch from MacVallley’s Carmeggdon command post :)

For our out-of -state readers, Carmeggdon refers to the closure of part of a vital freeway in Los Angeles. This closure means inconvenience to many individuals. It is not as bad as an earthquake by any means. I know, I lived through the 1994 earthquake.

Back to Apple related topics. Still no Lion in the Mac App Store or new MacBook Airs in the brick and mortar Apple Stores. (Sigh) I had hoped to spend this weekend salivating over the new goodies.

And on the topic of new stuff, it appears that Apple will release an update to its LED Cinema display, now with Thunderbolt ports

Bits and Pieces

Oops! Amazon let loose the date for Office 2011 for the Mac. It's October 26.

Let's see what dumb things Microsoft is up to. Microsoft held a funeral parade for the iPhone and Blackberry to celebrate its release of Windows 7 Phone to manufacturers. They held this exercise in silliness just for hardware partners, not for the local Eyewitness news cameras. But I'm sure some video will leak out.

But the prize for silliness and a sense that marketing types are just naturally high comes from this ad for Norton Antivirus. Just watch it.