Gadgettes, the blog

Memo to Santa: Ask parents before gifting tech toys

Tech toys are all the rage this holiday gift-giving season, and I have a request for all the cool, creative, and wired aunts, uncles, and friends who are choosing presents for the kids in their lives. Please consult with parents before you buy a child a high-tech gift, especially any toy or gadget that has an online connection.

Just as you wouldn't spring a puppy on a family as a surprise, you should check in with parents before you give a tech toy. I can testify on behalf of frazzled parents, even those of us with a techie bent ourselves, that we are dancing as fast as we can to more

Girls rule in science competition

Young women won the top two prizes in Siemen's national math and science competition for the first time in its 9-year history. Besides winning substantial scholarships and the glory of primacy, at least one winner has had her research published in a professional journal and was deemed to be working "at a graduate student level." Young women accounted for 48 percent of entrants in the contest.

So much for speculation that girls just aren't into science.

Gadgettes 69: The Weird Holiday Stuff Episode

You already know how to find a neck tie for dad, and a necklace for mom this Christmas. But what about an oddball gift for that special nerd in your life? Gadgettes to the rescue!
Listen now:

Download today's podcast

A woman's guide to buying speakers

Men and women see things differently. Take audio: A guy might be impressed with a big honkin' speaker, but a woman probably sees a hideous box. Being a guy, I might not be the most sensitive to what females want from a hi-fi, so I'm more than willing to hear about it from the other side. I stumbled upon a well-written piece on a speaker manufacturer's (Klipsch) site that does just that. It's jam-packed with great advice--and don't worry--it never even mentions Klipsch speakers. Sarah Knight's is a fun read. Here's an excerpt: "It'more

Will the Wii be a set-top box?

REDWOOD CITY, Calif--Will Nintendo try to turn its Wii console into a platform for delivering movies and other content to consumers? The company is experimenting with it.

The company has created a service in Japan that lets consumers get TV listings via the Wii, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, said at the taking place here this week.

Nintendo went forward with the project because a TV Guide Network-like service similar to what Nintendo is offering didn't exist. (TV in Japan is notoriously weird: in the past, PCs and TVs had to be fitted with an array of more

Gadgettes 68: The Good Idea Episode

As we rapidly approach the holidays, it's time to start taking stock of some unique, and undeniably good gift ideas. Look no further. The Gadgettes are here to help you in your quest.
Listen now:

Download today's podcast

When ringtone love misses the mark

There's always potential for massive dorkiness when parents venture into a new pop culture arena like customized ringtones. I had stayed away from this trend, due to a general state of information overload as well as concerns about that promise a free ringtone and then surreptitiously subscribe you to ongoing charges.

But this week I have been getting to know my iPhone better and the new version of

The new iTunes feature is easy to use. You buy a ringtone-designated song from iTunes for 99 cents, select the snippet you want to use, and then pay another 99 cents to make it into a ringtone that you can upload to iPhone. Now there is theoretically a

Okay, getting the ringtone is easy, but who is there to solve the existential angst of deciding which song to use to announce the incoming call of that special someone? My husband Michael is a musician, so I didn't want any old piece of pop dreck to signal his calls. Given my taste, it was at least going to be a very special piece of pop dreck.

Finding my iPhone mojo

But there is good news. Now that I have used it for four months, I may finally be ready to swap my Blackberry Pearl for the iPhone, at least some of the time. I appreciate the fact that I can do just about everything but blog on the iPhone. Emails, messaging work well. The calendar application on the iPhone motivated me to finally get into using synchronized iCal on my Mac in addition to a paper calendar. The visual appeal of iPhone's interface finally got through to me. While my Blackberry can do email, messaging, internet browsing, and calendars, it all looks better on the iPhone.

Gadgettes: All episodes (a complete archive)

Here is a list of all of the past episodes covering everything from Episode One through Episode 67. Any future episodes will be posted in their own entry on this blog.

U.S. women go for digital SLRs

Apparently all those advertisements saying you'll get better pictures of your kids with a digital SLR camera are paying off.

The primary digital SLR (single-lens reflex) user in the United States is a woman 51 percent of the time among those surveyed, according to new study results released Monday by the Photo Marketing Association. Among those households where women are the primary user, the average annual income is at least $75,000, and they're much more likely than most to have children under 6 years old.

"You can always find females among prosumers and photo artists, but seeing more