Willamette Week | Gift Guide 3

tech
BY ZACH DUNDAS

Boredom...Enhanced!
A photo album has many uses: rescuing moribund kitchen-table convo, providing conveniently reassuring talk fodder, enticing the object of your desire to hang out on the couch just a little longer (see also: yearbooks). But telling those same family anecdotes over and over again can be a giant drag. That's why you need the Talking Photo Album ($14.99, Radio Shack, 919 SW Fifth Ave., 224-1716, various locations). Voice-sampling microchips record the wild tales behind snaps from your third birthday party, family trip to the California wine country and zany sorority theme parties. Designed to preserve this precious oral history for the long haul, the TPA may prove a boon to future historians. Or maybe not.

Total Immersion
You're the modern type. Not for you, such archaic amusements as reading and "checking out the scenery." Lame. Fortunately, Sony rescues you from such old-fashioned drudgery with the PLM-A35 Glasstron ($499, Northwest Sony Only, 1610 NW Glisan St., 224-9400), a pair of goggles--containing a small LCD video screen--you plug into a PC, lap-top, DVD player or other electronic glee provider. And once you slip these babies on,...goodbye, cruel world! Perfect for the dentist's office.

Cool For Yule
The outdoors suck. You've got global warming, scary-high levels of radiation and ambient toxicity. Fortunately, the clever folks at Sharper Image have worked hard to make the world a more pleasant place when you absolutely must set foot outside. The Personal Cooling System ($49.95, Sharper Image, Pioneer Place, 700 SW 5th Ave., 228-4110), a Star Trek-esque collar that fits discreetly around your neck, contains a mini air conditioner. Keep the disturbingly high temperatures of the modern world at bay! If you live in climes that remain coolish despite humanity's best efforts, the higher-end Personal Warming and Cooling System ($69.95) adds heat to the mix.

Calling MacGyver
Long after the so-called Silicon Forest has become another post-industrial clear cut, out-of-work mouse jockeys can delight in Oregon's original contribution to the techie revolution. The Leatherman Pulse ($72, George & Son Cutlery, 424 SW Washington St., 227-2087) is a timely update on Tim Leatherman's (you thought it might be named after something else, didn't you?) ingenious contribution to shade-tree mechanics and improvisational craftsmanship. Locking blades and ergonomically rounded corners make this version of the classic multi-tool easy--and fun!!!--to use.