Instead of my typical holiday guide, this year I present a selection of items that I would love to receive for Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

#08 Sennheiser HD 25 Dynamic Compact Professional Monitoring Headphone

I spend a lot of time wearing headphones, with all this podcasting work I am doing lately, so having a nice set of headphones would certainly be an improvement. Not only must headphones sounds good, they have to be comfortable, too, and Sennheiser tends to make headphones which are both.

#7 Moleskine Large Ruled Notebook

There are certain gifts that will make people happy regardless. For my wife, it is coffee, chocolate and books. For myself, coffee, wine and a nice Moleskine Journal like this. I always carry a book around with me wherever I go and the Moleskine books hold up better than anything else I have owned. They keep their covers, they have that nice elastic band to hold them shut and the paper quality is top-notch. Get one for yourself…and pick one up for me! (SMILE)

#6 Aliph Jawbone Noise Shield Bluetooth Headset- Black

If any of you have talked on the phone with me, you know my current Bluetooth headset tends to pick up everything in the room. Enter The Jawbone, with its high-end noise cancellation features. You can see a great demo on their web site.

Items #01-05

#05 Victorinox 10-Inch Chef’s Knife
#04 TomTom GO 720 Navigation System
#03 Nikon D40X, 10 MP SLR Digital Camera
#02 iPod Touch
# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Instead of my typical holiday guide, this year I present a selection of items that I would love to receive for Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

#7 Moleskine Large Ruled Notebook

There are certain gifts that will make people happy regardless. For my wife, it is coffee, chocolate and books. For myself, coffee, wine and a nice Moleskine Journal like this. I always carry a book around with me wherever I go and the Moleskine books hold up better than anything else I have owned. They keep their covers, they have that nice elastic band to hold them shut and the paper quality is top-notch. Get one for yourself…and pick one up for me! (SMILE)

#6 Aliph Jawbone Noise Shield Bluetooth Headset- Black

If any of you have talked on the phone with me, you know my current Bluetooth headset tends to pick up everything in the room. Enter The Jawbone, with its high-end noise cancellation features. You can see a great demo on their web site.

Items #01-05

#05 Victorinox 10-Inch Chef’s Knife
#04 TomTom GO 720 Navigation System
#03 Nikon D40X, 10 MP SLR Digital Camera
#02 iPod Touch
# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Are you or do you know a WGA member who is on strike?

Do you/they want to learn about podcasting, producing and distributing their own work on the Internet. Comment on this post or send email to cip@welchwrite.com to help me put together a free session for WGA members.

I am looking to gather up a group of interested folks for a free presentation on the Why, What and How of Podcasting.

Instead of my typical holiday guide, this year I present a selection of items that I would love to receive for Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

#6 Aliph Jawbone Noise Shield Bluetooth Headset- Black

If any of you have talked on the phone with me, you know my current Bluetooth headset tends to pick up everything in the room. Enter The Jawbone, with its high-end noise cancellation features. You can see a great demo on their web site.

Items #01-05

#05 Victorinox 10-Inch Chef’s Knife
#04 TomTom GO 720 Navigation System
#03 Nikon D40X, 10 MP SLR Digital Camera
#02 iPod Touch
# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Instead of my typical holiday guide, this year I present a selection of items that I would love to receive for Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

#05 Victorinox 10-Inch Chef’s Knife

I love to cook and I would really like some nice knives to speed my way through onions, potatoes and other raw ingredients. Most knives cost an arm and a leg, but recently Cooks Illustrated Magazine and America’s Test Kitchen television show and book rated this knife as one of its top recommendations. Cool! Good AND cheap. Who can complain with that? Heck, for that price I would buy 2 or 3.

See also:
Victorinox Stainless-Steel 8-inch Chef’s Knife

#04 TomTom GO 720 Navigation System

I have a pretty good sense of direction, but I also like to know where I am going and how long it is going to take to get there. I have been drooling over these high-end navigation systems for a while. Good to see some of them are starting to come down in price.

#03 Nikon D40X, 10 MP SLR Digital Camera

Heck, I’d settled for nearly any SLR-based digital camera at this point, but this one caught my eye in some ads in Sunday’s paper. Time to step up in my photo quality, I think.

#02 iPod Touch

If can’t get an iPhone I would gladly “fallback” to an iPod Touch. It has many of the great iPhone features,, but without the relatively expensive cell phone contract. It also has more storage than the current iPhone for podcasts and video.

# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Always-on web connectivity, cell phone, music/video player and PDA in one. Who could ask for anything more? Especially since the big price cut a few months ago.

Instead of my typical holiday guide, this year I present a selection of items that I would love to receive for Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

#04 TomTom GO 720 Navigation System

I have a pretty good sense of direction, but I also like to know where I am going and how long it is going to take to get there. I have been drooling over these high-end navigation systems for a while. Good to see some of them are starting to come down in price.

#03 Nikon D40X, 10 MP SLR Digital Camera

Heck, I’d settled for nearly any SLR-based digital camera at this point, but this one caught my eye in some ads in Sunday’s paper. Time to step up in my photo quality, I think.

#02 iPod Touch

If can’t get an iPhone I would gladly “fallback” to an iPod Touch. It has many of the great iPhone features,, but without the relatively expensive cell phone contract. It also has more storage than the current iPhone for podcasts and video.

# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Always-on web connectivity, cell phone, music/video player and PDA in one. Who could ask for anything more? Especially since the big price cut a few months ago.

Instead of my typical holiday guide, this year I present a selection of items that I would love to receive for Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

#03 Nikon D40X, 10 MP SLR Digital Camera

Heck, I’d settled for nearly any SLR-based digital camera at this point, but this one caught my eye in some ads in Sunday’s paper. Time to step up in my photo quality, I think.

#02 iPod Touch

If can’t get an iPhone I would gladly “fallback” to an iPod Touch. It has many of the great iPhone features,, but without the relatively expensive cell phone contract. It also has more storage than the current iPhone for podcasts and video.

# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Always-on web connectivity, cell phone, music/video player and PDA in one. Who could ask for anything more? Especially since the big price cut a few months ago.

Instead of my typical holiday guide, I present a selection of items that I would love to receive this Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Always-on web connectivity, cell phone, music/video player and PDA in one. Who could ask for anything more? Especially since the big price cut a few months ago.

Instead of my typical holiday guide, I present a selection of items that I would love to receive this Christmas. Although I am a big technology hound, I don’t often buy it for myself, so many of these items are sure to remain “wishes” for another year. — Douglas

That doesn’t mean the you might not find these items a great gift for yourself or someone you love.

# 01 Apple iPhone and iPhone Accesories

Always-on web connectivity, cell phone, music/video player and PDA in one. Who could ask for anything more? Especially since the big price cut a few months ago.

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Remember the Christmas catalogs of the past. They were often called Wish Books and I and my sisters would spend hours pouring over them “wishing” for almost everything. Friends in Tech has collected a series of stories and memories about the Wish Book and is presenting them throughout the month of December.

Hear the stories on Friends in Tech.com, subscribe to the Friends in Tech RSS feed using your favorite RSS reader or subscribe in iTunes to get every episode automatically.

If you hurry, you can even share your own Wish Book memories.

It seems so simple, but people can often ignore the best examples when designing their own software applications. Witness the difference between finding a podcast link in the iTunes music store and Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace:

iTunes

1. Right click on podcast artwork
2. Select Copy iTunes Store URL
3. Paste link into any other application

Zune

1. Go to the Podcast page in Zune Marketplace you want to make a link.
2. Click on “Tell a Friend” and send it to yourself via email.
3. In the e-mail message, right-click on the album name and copy hyperlink.
– Link Code: http://social.zune.net/external/LaunchClient.aspx?mtype=Podcast&mid=
4. Paste the hyperlink somewhere as this is the complete link you will need (i.e., Outlook, Word). If you paste it and just the album name is pasted, right click on the album name again and select Edit Hyperlink to find the URL.

Why should you have to email yourself a link when it could easily be provided within the interface itself. Is this a case of “not invented here” syndrome? It is a small thing, but experiences such as this color user’s opinions of software and ease of operation.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the US, so from all of us to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are! We are thankful for much and many. May your day be filled with food, fun and family!

Get your holiday shopping started with these special After-Thanksgiving Day deals from Amazon.com.