The holiday gift-giving season is a great excuse for Techno Logic to test-drive electronic gear on your behalf. Your appreciation is thanks enough.

On-the-go gadgets

For technophiles, there are slick little portable devices that make traversing the urban jungle more fun and productive. The iPod Touch (eight-gigabyte, $329; 16-gigabyte, $449) should keep you from jonesing while you wait for the iPhone to arrive in Canada. It's wafer-thin at only eight millimetres, but Apple has packed a lot of functionality into this package that connects to your Mac or PC just like any other iPod. The touch interface is amazingly intuitive and lets you scroll through playlists and photos lickety-split, not to mention zooming in and out on the Web pages that you can view when connected via Wi-Fi. The screen is crisp, the sound bold, and the iPod Touch will top many lists this season.

Keep your fancy new iPod safe in your backpack and control it remotely with a Timex Ironman iControl watch ($150). It has the chronograph, timer, and alarm features that are standard for watches these days. Plus, it wirelessly syncs with your iPod and gives you the ability to play, pause, change tracks, and adjust the volume.

The TomTom Go 720 ($499.95) is a portable GPS navigation system with a touchscreen, so those of you who want to find your way through the depths of Surrey on foot will be able to take this device along. Plus, it allows you to upload changes to maps and download maps from other users. Back at the car, the Go 720 has Bluetooth, so you can link it to your cellphone to make hands-free calls. There's also an FM transmitter, so you can connect your MP3 player and broadcast the signal through the car radio.

The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet ($430) is a little Wi-Fi–enabled computer that gives you access to the Internet and your e-mail, and even allows you to make phone calls using Skype or Gizmo. It's also a media device, able to play music and videos that you've downloaded to it, or even stream Internet radio stations. You can also keep up with your RSS feeds and instant-message your mom; it boasts a 10-hour-plus battery life too.

The Stiletto 2 ($399.99) is the latest model of portable satellite radio from Sirius. Lighter and slimmer than the earlier models, it not only gives you access to hundreds of commercial-free radio stations, it has Wi-Fi functionality too, so you can listen to Internet radio stations. Plus, the device supports MP3 files; with the push of a button, you can store any song from a Sirius channel as a favourite.

For technophobes, a five-pack of coil-bound steno books ($3.21) and a 12-pack of roller-ball pens ($9.99) can help you record your thoughts.

Fun at home

The options for technophiles who like to kit out their dwellings with electronics are many. Regza is the newest line in high-definition LCD televisions from Toshiba, with two models sporting a revised design that has a thinner frame. The bezel around the 40-inch version ($2,099) is only 20 millimetres, compared with the 48-millimetre bezel on the older 37-inch model. This means the 40-inch set fits into the space taken up by the 37-inch one. The 46-inch model ($2,599) fits into the amount of space taken up by a 42-inch TV. Both Regza sets are full 1080p, and come with three High Definition Multimedia Interface inputs.

Perhaps the biggest holiday surprise of all is the sudden availability of TiVo digital video recorders in Canada. London Drugs was the first to announce that it would be carrying the 80-hour, dual-tuner TiVo ($199). Spend an extra $79 for the TiVo wireless USB network adapter to easily connect your new TiVo to your home network.

Technophobes can keep the air flowing at home with a handy Holmes fan ($29.99), which has two wide blades for maximum air circulation. And you can keep up with current events using the Sony personal radio ($19.99), which is equipped with a single small speaker.

Neat computer stuff

While choosing a computer is a very personal decision (Mac OS X or Windows? Multimedia or gaming?), there are some neat accessories that are good for any technophile's system.

Microsoft's Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 ($119.95) combines a small, wireless mouse with a one-gigabyte flash-memory stick. The mouse communicates with your computer through the memory stick, which plugs into a USB port and does double duty as the transceiver; the mouse is rechargeable too.

For those into videocasting, Sony's NSC-GC1 network-sharing camera ($299.99) makes camerawork a snap. Shoot your footage with the small, lightweight device, and the software will not only stabilize the images, it will also prepare the video for simple uploading on any computer.

I'm not sure how many technophobes have computers, but for those who do who are also cat lovers, the Allsop mouse pad featuring a cat's face is a bargain ($9.99).

Cameras

Nikon's D40x digital SLR ($629.95; add a zoom lens for $100) is a 10.2-megapixel camera that can shoot at speeds up to three frames per second. It has as many manual settings as a professional rig, but will provide as much automation as you want. It will give you crisp, high-resolution images that you can adjust in-camera, so you can correct red eye or convert an image to sepia tones without a computer.

If you want to print photos quickly and simply, the Epson PictureMate Snap Printer ($99.99) is for you. Connect it to any digital camera or pull images from a memory card, and you can print lab-quality four-by-six-inch prints with a matte or glossy finish. The PictureMate is lightweight and compact, so you can pack it in your camera bag and make prints on the fly.

Technophobes will appreciate Fujifilm's line of single-use film cameras ($6 to $10).