Santa isn’t here yet, but retailers are already setting up trees and stocking their shelves with Christmas merchandise. The holiday season is creeping up on us once again, and with it comes the hustle and bustle of shopping and searching for presents. The day after Thanksgiving is the day many Americans, enjoying a rare Friday off (and a dearth of football games) head for the malls to inaugurate the Christmas shopping season. Even as more “early-birds” flock to the Internet for holiday shopping, “Black Friday,”as it is known in the retail industry, is regularly cited as one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
In past years, tech gadgets have always been at the top of many holiday wish lists. This year seems to be no different. Here are a few gizmos that may keep wallets empty (until the next holiday season), but still remain popular among Binghamton University students.
Game Consoles
– PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 is Sony’s seventh generation era video game console, third in the PlayStation series. Features such as video chat, Internet access, digital photo viewing and digital audio and video will make it a versatile home entertainment system. The PS3 will be released for sale on Nov. 17.
Retail price: $499
– Nintendo DS Lite
The Nintendo DS Lite is a high-powered hand-held video game system in a sleek folding design. It is a slimmer, brighter and more light-weight redesign of the earlier Nintendo DS model. It is available in coral pink, polar white and onyx black.
Retail price: $129.99
Portable Audio Players
– Apple iPod nano (second generation)
Featuring a thinner design, brighter display and extended battery life, the new iPod nano is available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models. The iPod nano also comes in five colors: black, pink, grey, green and blue.
Retail price: $149, $199, $249
– Microsoft Zune digital player
Zune is a 30GB digital media player that stores up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video, featuring wireless networking. The 3-inch color screen features a landscape mode for video viewing. Zune is available in black, white and brown.
Retail price: $249.99
Cell Phones
– Motorola KRZR K1m phone
Following in the footsteps of the revolutionary RAZR phone, the new KRZR K1m introduces a new design. The KRZR is equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology, an integrated music player, a 1.3 megapixel camera and support for MPEG4 video capture and playback.
Retail price: $499.99
– LG Chocolate
The VX-8500 Chocolate offers a slider design including support for V Cast Music, glowing touch-sensitive navigation keys, a powerful integrated music/video player, a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder, stereo Bluetooth capabilities and a microSD memory slot for extra storage. A touch sensor click wheel, similar to an iPod, sets the phone apart.
Retail price: $499.99
Digital Camera
– Casio Exilim Card EX-S100
The EX-S100 3.2MP digital camera is a high-performance, point-and-shoot camera with a 2.8x optical zoom lens. The camera also features a 9.7MB built-in flash memory with external SD/MMC memory card slot, fashionable and multifunctional USB-compatible cradle and world time of up to 162 cities in 32 time zones.
Retail price: $399.99
Toys
– 20 Questions Guessing game
This hand-held device asks questions by flashing them on a scrolling display screen. You respond by pressing the appropriate buttons beneath the screen. The Radica toy is based on the Internet version of 20 questions.
Retail price: $19.99
– TMX Tickle Me Elmo by Fisher Price
Ten years after the first, TMX Elmo (the X stands for 10) was unveiled to the world on “Good Morning America” on Sept. 19. The most secretly guarded toy of the pre-holiday season, if not all time, TMX Elmo was shown only to a few toy-industry insiders prior to his release. This secrecy didn’t stop thousands of pre-orders from piling up. Three different tickle spots trigger rounds of laughter and movement. Elmo slaps his belly, falls forward with his butt sticking out, topples backward and kicks his legs over his belly. Elmo requires 6 AA batteries, which are included.
Retail price: $39.99