Essential hacker stocking stuffers

stockingstuffers_20071221.jpg

Like most of us, you've probably got some last-minute shopping to take care of. Or maybe there's a special someone in your life who keeps asking you for gift ideas and you need to start dropping hints to avoid another button down and a neck tie. Whatever the reason, here's a quick and dirty hacker gift guide with a variety of gift ideas that should put a smile on someone's face.

Make sure to add your own favorites to the list in the comments area and pass it along. I'm focusing primarily on smaller items that are available in local stores, but feel free to toss in whatever you think is important and shouldn't be missed.

Reading Material:

Gadgets:

Toys:

  • Air Hogs Havoc Heli Laser Battle - remember the Picco-Zs and their clones from last year? Here's two of them in a single package, enhanced with a trigger that let's you zap your friend's heli down.
  • E-Sky Lama V4 Helicopter- Yeah, I'm crazy for helicopters right now. The counter-rotating models like this one are about $100, ready (and easy) to fly, and very hackable.
  • WowWee RoboSapien V2 - fun for the kids. More fun with a soldering iron - Hacks

Gear:

  • 2GB or larger micro SD card, plus various SD and USB adapters - perfect for scooting files around, the size of a finger nail, and you can put a full Linux distro, anti virus software, or a Puppy Linux virtual machine on it - Hacks
  • Mini Multimeter - always handy.
  • Bike Multitool - a good one will pack allen and hex wrenches, screw drivers, and a knife into a pretty small package. Perfect for voiding warrantees in a pinch. Oh, and there's a chain tool, too - Link, Link
  • Soldering Tools - whether it's a new Weller or just a pair of helping hands, it'll be welcome in any stocking - Link, Link

What have we missed here? Add your wishes to the comments. Then find a completely non-tacky way to get this list into the hands of someone who wants you to be a happy hacker.


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Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: Anonymous on December 22, 2007 at 8:32 AM

Something I've been wanting for a while has been a small, lightly featured, keychain sized multimeter. I would really just be happy with getting a quick idea of the voltage and direction of current. I've toyed with the idea of just using a pancake motor, and judging the speed to get a quick and dirty estimate, but are there any preexisting keychain multimeters that I should look at?


Posted by: Links? on December 22, 2007 at 5:57 PM

This article could use some links.

Links to the items, or links to the hacks, or links to Makezine/Hackzine articles about the hacks, etc.

MakeFan:


Posted by: Jason Striegel on December 22, 2007 at 8:09 PM

MakeFan:
What, you think this is the interweb or something? :)

Links have been added. Please toss in any others that you think should be listed.

-J


Posted by: Jason Striegel on December 22, 2007 at 8:11 PM

@comment #1:

I searched a bit but didn't see any keychain multimeters. The smallest I've seen are about the size of a stack of 5 credit cards. It's a good idea, though. If you come up with something usable, please let us know.


Posted by: MakeFan: on December 23, 2007 at 10:27 AM

Ah, much better. Thanks.


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