Top Gifts for the Holiday Season for the Technology Lovers

For those of us who have friends with love for machines that surpasses ours, getting a gift that they won't exchange for the faster and smaller can be a challenge. Thankfully, there's some really cool stuff out there that you can easily trust to be appreciated by your tech-loving friends and relatives. So, introducing the three best gifts for your technology loving friends - The samsung Digimax i5, Microsoft's Zune, and the Black and Decker auto leveling laser.

3. The Samsung DigiMAX i5 (or known as The Samsung #1 in many Asian nations) - The i5 dimensions are 89.6 mm(L) x 59.8 mm(H) x 17.3 mm(W) and it only weighs 130.0 g. Colors Available : silver, black, red and grey. This is the first Samsung camera to use the internal zoom technology, allowing it to use 3x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom. The final price of the camera has not yet been decided, but being the smallest and the thinnest camera in the world, the best estimates are $299-$350 as of now. Beating the Nikon by a very small margin, Samsung hopes to penetrate the sleek digital camera market with the Digimax i5. It's perfect for the techy, more so if they are into photography.

The DigiMAX i5 also features SHD lens technology, a 5 mega-pixel CCD that utilizes primary colour filtering technology, and can be used for great pictures as well as for shooting text for printing. The Digimax i5 has a 2.5" 230k-pixel high resolution LCD for improved contrast and colour reproduction as well that makes for a higher quality and wider image for you to enjoy too!

2. Microsoft Zune - zune is the new device on the block that is capable of handling just about all the media for you - movies/music, it has it's own media as well, just like Apple, and also features Wifi, Bluetooth, and some other rather nifty features as well. Capable of sharing files with people all over the world, and backed by the gigantic Microsoft corp, it looks like Zune is here to stay. Zune refers to the device's name, the software that will used to run it, the brand name and the new media format that Microsoft will be introducing.

This is the latest we know of Zune (according to engadget.com):

· Zune is the name of the project, the brand, and the device.

· The first Zune device will be launched this year, with more devices to come in 2007.

· The Zune brand encompasses not only the device, but the software that will drive it, as well as a music, movie, and media service the Zune device family will use for acquiring, sharing, and discovery of said media. Music will be the first angle of service that is launched, "connected entertainment" being the ultimate goal.

· The Zune media service will heavily leverage community aspects and recommendation; emphasis is being placed on using Zune to discover new artists, media, etc.

· The Zune media device will be drive-based, and have WiFi.

· The Zune brand is intended to be an entirely vertically integrated end-to-end solution, not unlike the iPod / iTunes / iTunes Music Store triumvirate.

· The service and device will not be PlaysForSure compliant, meaning you will not be able to use your Zune player with Napster or Vongo, for example. This will be an entirely new system. Microsoft will continue to support and develop for their PlaysForSure initiative, but all things PlaysForSure are handled by two entirely separate division that will not have any crossover.

Zune might just be the one to takeover the market from the Apple iPod.

Price estimations are from $299-$399.

1. Black and Decker auto leveling laser - Okay, this might seem like the least techy of them all, but is easily the most useful, moving from the entertainment industry to something that is more pragmatic and affordable. Currently priced at around $80, the laser can sense studs in the wall, and is highly beneficial for leveling different pictures, stands and anything else that might need to be hanged on the wall or nailed to it. It's simple, it's cheap, and it's something that just about no one will exchange for something else.

So there you have it - the top gifts for the holiday season for the technology lovers.