The Flip MinoHD Camcorder camcorder is an excellent holiday gift for someone you know who is on the go or someone who is extremely mobile.  This little camcorder can store up to an hour of HD video in its 4GB internal memory and has a flip out USB plug, which eliminates the need to carry a cable around with you to hook it up to your computer.

It’s lightweight and compact which makes it easy to carry around so you can capture all the crazy hijinx that you might get into at a moments notice, and it also comes with its own software which will allow you to edit your video and email it to anyone you want.  It also allows you easy upload access to any of your favorite sites like Facebook, Youtube, or Myspace.

In today’s ever growing fast paced mobile world it’s good to have a portable camcorder on you so you are able to capture video of any event you are at.  With the Flip MinoHD’s small size, you are almost always guaranteed that you will be able to take it anywhere that might not allow camcorders such as a concert or even a private event.

I was a little worried when I first saw the flip out USB plug on the Flip MinoHD but after having the chance to use one of my friends’ and play with it a little bit, I found it was able to withstand a pretty solid amount of abuse without damaging the plug or the camcorder.

All in all the Flip MinoHD Camcorder is an amazing holiday gift for that one person you can’t think of anything to get.  And it’s pretty fairly priced for an HD camcorder of its size.

• 5 tech gifts for the holidays: #2 Harmony 1000 & #3 Palmsize RC Helicopter
• 3 reasons I will not buy an iPhone
• Is technology becoming a burden?

The #2 item on my top 5 list of tech items is the Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote. This sweet all-in-one remote has a color touch LCD screen, rechargeable battery, and hooks up to your computer via USB cable. This baby is fully programmable to turn on all your media devices, dim your lights, and even activate certain remote controlled fireplaces. All of this is done through an intuitive computer program that comes with the remote. You just enter your device models and the remote control does the rest. As someone who used to do home theater installs, I highly recommend the Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote for any media centric person.

This is a staple item for anyone that has multiple pieces of home theater equipment that they need to turn on to enjoy their favorite show or movie.

Next up we have one of the hottest tech toys for 2007.

#3 is the Palmsize RC Helicopter. This little guy has some impressive aerial stunts it can perform, as well as a decent flying time per battery charge. I work at a company that allows people to play with toys throughout the day and I see several grown men playing with this as well as a few women.

The Palmsize RC Helicopter makes a great gift for anyone who is interested in flight, geek gifts, or just a plain toy fanatic. And while you’re at it, you can check out all the other interesting things that ThinkGeek.com has to offer.

They have some of the most interesting tech toys around and they’re definitely on my top list of places to buy new things from.

And there you have it folks, only 2 more gifts remain on my 5 tech gifts for the holidays list. Check back soon to catch the final 2 tech gifts of the 5 tech gifts for the holidays list. If you’re not a holiday person or just aren’t in the spirit, check out some of my other posts.

• 5 tech gifts for the holidays: #4 Pleo Dinosaur & #5 Nintendo Wii
• Easy Tech Talk’s Holiday Gift Pick
• 5 tech gifts for the holidays: #1 Canon SD850
• Is technology becoming a burden?
• Cache and cookies, two things we love in real life and hate on the internet.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple as much as the next person and the iPhone has many of the features found on most cell phones on the market today and makes use of them in a much better and more user friendly way. The layout of the iPhone allows for easier internet browsing and the storage capacity for music make this one of the top tech gadgets of the year. Yet the iPhone makes use of the EDGE network, instead of the 3g network which allows for much faster data transfer speeds for downloads and streaming and is used by less advanced cell phones already on the market. It is also a very bulky, expensive product.

Now on to why I will not be buying one of these phones. First off, the price is a little steep for my budget. My phone cost me around $200 and I can browse the internet and store music on my phone just like the iPhone and even though my cell phone doesn’t have the same storage capacity, my phone runs on the 3g network, which allows me to download things faster that the iPhone can.

Secondly, is the lack of multi-carrier support. Apple made several people upset by limiting the carrier to Cingular only as well as making some people’s iPhones useless when they released a firmware update that caused many unlocked phones to not operate anymore. It took one high school student an entire summer to crack the “lock” on the iPhone, and when people started downloading the crack so they can use their phones with other carriers, Apple was forced to release a firmware update that basically broke any iPhone that was unlocked using the crack.

Third, the size of the phone, although necessary for the visibility factor, is still a little too large for a cell phone for my liking. I don’t understand how people can comfortably talk on their blackberry, and the same holds true for the iPhone. Having to rest the screen on my face while I make a call to someone seems a bit annoying and I can’t imagine how often you have to clean off the screen from all the oil and dirt from one’s face that would get on it after each call.

At one time everyone wanted their gadgets and anything technological to shrink in size for easy portability, yet this seems to be a step backwards. Some gadgets get smaller yes, but it seems that if we want to have a ton of features in our gadgets, then they are doomed to be big and bulky.

For those of you who haven’t gotten an iPhone and have the funds to buy one, you can click here to buy one from Apple’s online store

• Innovation is dead
• Is technology becoming a burden?
• How often do you do it?
• Easy Tech Talk’s Holiday Gift Pick
• Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

Each day I check several RSS feeds, 4 separate email accounts, turn on several pieces of equipment at work, and make sure my cell phone is fully charged for the day, and I know there are people out there who have multiple cellphones, 2 or 3 computers at the work place or home, and several other gadgets to maintain. Which begs the question, is technology becoming more of a burden on our daily life?

More and more people are relying on the internet, several workstations, cell phones, and other gadgets to get through their work day, and all of these items require some sort of upkeep. Our lives seem to be becoming more dependent on our ipods and laptops and we are allowing this to be the norm. All of these objects require time and money to maintain, things that we are sometimes short on, and yet only a few companies are trying to combine these gadgets into one super gadget that is capable of multiple tasks within a single unit.

A great example of this is the iPhone(aff), which combines the ipod, with a phone, and also has internet connectivity.  This kind of device allows people to have one device that can perform the tasks of several others.  There are other devices such as this but this one has really taken technology to the next step.

So my question to you is this; do you feel that technology is becoming more of a burden on your daily life?  Or do you think that it makes your life easier?

• Innovation is dead
• 3 reasons I will not buy an iPhone
• The Technology Age is Over
• Addressing an issue
• Recycle old electronics and cell phones