Hobbs: Tech gifts can be found in all prices for grad
by Tucson Citizen on May. 19, 2008, under EdgeLast week, I gave college grads the gift of sound advice. Like getting socks on your birthday, the practicality of it may have been appreciated but it was despised because it was not what was wanted.
This week we are going to look at possible tech gifts for the grad in your life.
This may sound harsh, but all grads are not equal. The tech gifts that may be appropriate for a high school graduate may not be what a college grad needs.
I normally like to gift based on how well I know the person. If a high school grad is only an acquaintance, then I give them an item they should find useful, such as biometric or fingerprint scan pen drives.
These pocket-sized portable protected storage devices are useful to more than just the secret agents and conspiracy theory enthusiasts. Most people would like to have a place where they can not only save information, but know it is free from prying eyes. The price for fingerprint pen drives are constantly dropping and depending on the size you can find some real deals.
College-bound high school grads may find a handheld scanner helpful to digitize class notes. The DocuPen R700 from Planon Systems is a good handheld to start with. It is slightly larger than an ink pen so it is both lightweight and portable.
On the more expensive end of the spectrum, you could give your grad some much needed quiet time with headphones from the Bose comfort series. Costing more than $300, these headphones not only play music, they have noise cancellation that can provide instant peace of mind from noisy neighbors.
Two things I think college grads would like are the IOGear Portable Media Storage Unit and a Slingbox. Both of these devices are ways that new grads starting out can save money on entertainment by mooching off of their parents’ satellite or cable connection.
The Portable Media Storage Unit is 120 GBs of entertainment. It can store and play all major audio and video output types. It has a remote included, but it also has control buttons on the device itself. The easy hookup to TVs and radios make this a definite party starter.
If your recent college grad is headed to the cubicle farms of an office, you may want to consider the Herman Miller C2 Climate Control as a gift. With heating and cooling abilities, this cozy cubby companion can ensure the workspace is always the right temperature. At a price of about $300, this gift is definitely for a close relative – most likely the one that I never thought would get accepted to college much less graduate.
Quincey Hobbs has more than 10 years of experience as a team member at the University of Arizona’s Center for Computing and Information Technology and as an instructor at Pima Community College. Send questions to quinceyresponds@yahoo.com.
