Walk one block west from our office and you'll arrive at Ground Zero. Walk two blocks east and you might see Ben Bernanke entering the Federal Reserve. These two sites remind me every day about the challenges we face.
However, even closer to our office — right in our building in fact — resides Century 21, an outlet department store that remains as mobbed as ever. Notwithstanding the credit crisis and recession, it would seem that the holidays will not be canceled. Therefore, I thought I'd share with you five techno-gift suggestions that I consider a good bargain.
Make Someone's Smartphone Smarter ...
Apple and RIM devote virtually all their engineering resources to their respective smartphones. As a result, the earphones that ship with BlackBerrys and iPhones don't sound good and don't block external noise, encouraging people to crank the volume to dangerous levels.
Show someone you care by giving them quality in-ear earphones that block external noise.
A few weeks ago, I reviewed the Ultimate Ears triple.fi 10 vi, which I use with my iPhone. With a list price of $420, I wouldn't dare recommend them this year — not even at the $371 price I paid.
However, Ultimate Ears just shipped a less expensive model with the same feature set — the super.fi 5 vi. These earphones enable you to control music playback and answer and talk on the phone without having to fish your BlackBerry or iPhone out of your pocket. They sell for $190.
Enlighten Someone About Espresso Economics ...
If all espresso drinkers brewed their own coffee and invested the money they would save by doing so, we could eliminate the credit crisis without a bailout.
You think I'm joking?
A single shot of espresso at home using a capsule-based machine costs about 50 cents per cup versus $1.90 at Starbucks and other cafes. That's a $1.40 difference for the most basic espresso drink. Get fancier and the gap widens.
So why don't people make their own espresso?
Some people don't think they can make as good a cup at home when in fact the opposite is true. While a professional barista can certainly best a home machine, how many of these people do you think work at Starbucks? Yet Starbucks still uses machines that require skill. By contrast, capsule-based home machines eliminate all the guesswork.
Others balk at the up front price of buying a machine. Clearly, they have never crunched the numbers. Assuming two espressos per day, even a $1,000 machine would pay for itself in about one year (357 days to be exact).
By purchasing a machine for your favorite espresso lover, you could make these savings immediate. And you need not spend $1,000.
The Nespresso Essenza C100 and D100, which sell for $250, make the exact same cup of espresso as much more expensive Nespresso models, but lack the ability to make milk-based espresso drinks. If the person you have in mind likes cappuccinos or lattes, Nespresso will sell you a milk frother for $50 if you order it with a C100 (the frother sells for $100 if purchased separately).
How good is a Nespresso espresso? Very good. Here in Manhattan we have the only Nespresso cafe in the country. Despite charging $3.50 for a shot of espresso, the place is always packed. And the baristas use the C100.
Encourage Someone to Not Run With the Pack ...
Convergence is good when it solves a problem. Otherwise, not so much.
You may have heard about Nike+iPod, which enables you to capture the distance, pace, calories, and time of your runs and walks. You place a sensor in your Nike+ sneakers (or fasten it to your non-Nike sneakers), and use your iPod nano or iPod touch (2008 model only) to view your progress, pause your workout, etc. You then upload each workout to your Nike+ Web account so that you can view your statistics by day, week, month, etc.
It's all very cool and makes workouts addictive or at least more fun.
However, even if you use one of those armbands to hold your iPod, fiddling with it during your workout will slow you down. Plus, not everyone has an iPod. Some have iPhones and others have iPod alternatives or simply don't play music.
Realizing that Nike+iPod doesn't suit everyone, Nike recently released Nike+SportBand, which offers the same functionality in a wristwatch with just two buttons. Press the large button to check your distance, pace, calories, and elapsed time, and the small button to pause. It sells for $59.
A Good Time to Give Someone a Plasma TV ...
Timing is everything, especially when buying technology. Take TVs for example. Every January at the Consumer Electronics Show, companies unveil their new models for the year. As a result, you'll find discounts galore on this year's models right about now.
No doubt you've heard about the debate between LCD TVs and plasma TVs. Even though LCD TVs outsell plasma TVs, the latter offer a better picture. While I wouldn't place a plasma TV in a kitchen or an office, I prefer them for a typical den or living room except perhaps if the room has skylights.
Those in the know will tell you that Pioneer makes the best plasma TVs — with prices to match.
Panasonic offers a good alternative at recession-friendly prices. For a house, I like the 46 inch TH-46PZ80U, which originally sold for $1,700, but now sells for as little as $1,200. For an apartment, the smaller 42 inch TH-42PZ80U might make more sense. It now sells for about $900, reduced from its original $1,300 price.
Give an Apple to the Apple of Your Eye ...
In the introduction, I mentioned Century 21, an outlet store that sells irregular and overstocked designer clothes.
Outlet stores also exist in the technology world, including one operated by Apple, a company not known for discounting.
Apple offers both clearance items and refurbished products. Many good deals exist, but beware — Apple lists the original price of the product. In some cases, the newer version of a product sells for less than the old version did.
Of the iPod deals, I like two in particular — the 2007 8 GB nano, which sells for $99 and the 2007 160 GB iPod Classic, which sells for $249. The so-called "fat nano" sports the same screen as the new 8 GB 2008 model ($149), but in an orientation that seems more logical to me. Meanwhile, the old iPod Classic provides 33% more storage space than the current iPod Classic for the same price.
I also like two Mac deals — the previous generation 15 inch MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz laptop, which sells for $1,600 (new) or $1,349 (refurbished), and the 1 TB Time Capsule, which sells for $419 (refurbished). If you know someone like me who does not like glossy screens, the previous generation MacBook Pro is the last one with a matte screen.
On Second Thought ...
You know, maybe instead of exchanging gifts this year we should save our money and just enjoy each other's company.... Wait a second. For a moment there, I forgot that we Americans never save money. We would just end up spending more on ourselves. Never mind. Happy shopping!
Photo of Nike+ Sportband by Richard Roberson. All rights reserved.
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