Top Tech Gifts You Don't Know About

Ditch That Gift Card for a Top Tech Gift

Now that so many of us rely on electronics to read, watch movies and listen to music, you may be thinking that giving gift cards is the only option to help fill out your loved ones media library this holiday season. Yet the generic ease of a gift card makes for a very impersonal gift. Luckily you can achieve gift nirvana with a variety of truly useful digital products and services that are sure to please even the most difficult to buy for loved ones on your list. Here are our Top Tech Gifts of 2012.

With the increasing popularity of eReaders, it may seem that giving the gift of a great digital book requires you resort to an Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card. Not so! If there’s a specific title you’d like to share, you can gift an eBook to your favorite Kindle or NOOK user. As long as you have the recipient’s email address, neither of you need wait for the title to arrive in the mail.

For Kindle owners, find the title in the Amazon Kindle store and choose the “Give as a Gift” option on the right side of the page, under the “Buy now” button. Share the love with the NOOK users in your life by finding the title you’d like to give at www.barnesandnoble.com, scrolling to the NOOK Book option and choosing “Buy as Gift.”


Give the Apple gadget lovers on your list a better excuse for wasting so much time on their phone by gifting them a few great apps, movies, TV shows or tunes. While you may consider just picking up an iTunes gift card, take the time to find a game, video, album or tool that you think they’d enjoy for a more personal touch.

To gift an app, start at the iTunes app store and find the app that you think your loved one will enjoy. To the right of the “Buy App” button, click the smaller grey button for an additional options menu. At the top of the menu select “Gift This App.” You can send the gift via email or print a certificate to wrap or deliver by hand. A similar procedure can be followed to gift a movie, TV show, song or album.

If you know someone that has a towering stack of magazines that they love to peruse for inspiration and leisure, a gift membership to Next Issue (http://www.nextissue.com/gift/, 3 months of premium membership for $44.97, longer periods are available) will give them all-you-can-read access to over 70 digital magazines delivered to their iPad or Android 7” tablet. While titles are limited on the Android application, the iPad’s list of titles is comprehensive, including just about every magazine I’ve heard of – Vogue, Cooking Light, Cosmopolitan, Fitness, GQ, Money, and many more. Upgrade to Premium to get Entertainment Weekly, People, Time, and Sports Illustrated.

For the person who has everything - particularly if a lot of it is stored on their computer – a gift membership to a cloud-based data backup service is a truly thoughtful and likely unexpected gift. What better way to show you care than helping to protect them from the sorrow of losing precious photos, family movies and possibly years of work due to hard drive failure. Crashplan+ is a great, easy to use data backup solution for the home user. Simply pick a plan from their list of pricing options (www.crashplan.com/consumer/store.vtl, starting at $1.50/month). Complete the payment form, entering your email address so that you get the receipt and license key. Clear the auto-renew check box if you want to just purchase a one-time gift. Now all your recipient need do is download CrashPlan and navigate to Settings – Account – License to activate it with the license key you gifted them.

We totally stole the picture from Crashplan, but we recommend their service all the time, so we hope they'll forgive us.

3 Easy Ways to Save on Gift Cards

Score a Deal on Gift Cards

Gift cards are a ubiquitous staple of the holiday season. Whether you’re looking to show some appreciation to someone you don’t know very well (like your newspaper delivery person or your gardener), or have someone on your list that’s hard to buy for, a gift card can be the perfect present for giver and receiver.

However, sometimes you get a gift card that you can’t or don’t use. What can you do with it? This dilemma has led to the creation of a gift card resale market where you can snap up gift cards at a discount. Saving money while giving more value – now that’s a gift.

My favorite gift card resale sites are Cardpool and eCard Exchange. They buy gift cards from people who want to cash out a card they don’t need. Once received, they verify the authenticity and balance on the card, and then resell them at a discount. While the savings isn’t as substantial as you may find on eBay, the balance is guaranteed to be valid at the merchant (Cardpool covers up to 100 days from the date of purchase, eCardExchange covers for up to 30 days). There’s a large selection of retailers and restaurants available, including Target, Walmart, Petsmart, Outback Steakhouse and Olive Garden, just to name a few. Shipping is free, so the price you see is what you pay.

Most merchants will allow you to use one gift card to purchase others. For example, you could buy one $90 TJ Maxx card for $80 and trade it in at the store for three $30 cards which you can give as gifts. Or use the card to pay for the gifts you’re buying and score yourself an instant discount on your purchases.

Discounts are proportional to the popularity of the retailer. As such, Target cards carry an average 3% discount while you can score 30% off PacSun gift cards.

Gift Card Granny is a gift card resale consolidation site. They collect lists of gift cards available across a multitude of other sites, including eBay, Coupon Trade, Cardpool, eCardExchange, ABC Gift Cards and more. Since each site’s stock is limited by what they’ve acquired from individual sellers or partner retailers, this site is a great way to find and compare available deals all with one search. It has, by far, the largest selection of gift cards available across the net. You aren’t buying direct from Gift Card Granny, however, so pay close attention to the terms and conditions of the site you’re re-directed to in order to ensure the site guarantees the balance on the card before you buy.

Speaking of guaranteed balances, many people choose to sell their unused gift cards through eBay in order to obtain the most money on the sale. Resale sites purchase cards at a greater discount than they sell them for. This means that the person who sold the $90 TJ Maxx gift card in the example above probably netted about $65 dollars for it. Those looking to try their luck at getting more for their card often turn to auction or direct to buyer sites. While cutting out the “middle man” consolidation site can score you a better deal, you lose the guarantee that the card you buy will have the promised value on it when you show up at the store.

Finally, if you maintain a membership at Costco or Sams Club, check out their gift card offerings. Unlike grocery stores that sell a variety of retailer cards at face value, wholesale outlets typically offer cards at a discount. Purchase $100 worth of gift cards for $80 and you’ve scored an instant 20% discount whether you use the cards yourself in lieu of cash of give them as gifts.

Photo used by permission y2bk

Move over Black Friday, Cyber Monday Tops Charts

Cyber Monday: Better than Black Friday

Many have heard the term “Cyber Monday” floating around. But what exactly is it? Is it just a marketing term designed to sell more products or it is actually an event worth taking note of? It’s mostly both – and definitely worth paying attention to if you’re looking to buy lots of gifts this Christmas season.

The National Retail Federation is an international group of retail companies, the largest in the world. One of their major divisions, and one that is growing quickly, is shop.org, a consortium of online retailers. In 2005, shop.org coined the term “Cyber Monday,” claiming that “77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year.”

How this pseudo-holiday started was when online retailers wanted to take advantage of the holiday craze for gifts, but could not compete with brick-and-mortar stores for once. Too many people were spending all Friday in line at physical stores and not online with their computers. So to capitalize on the trend, many online retailers started offering significant discounts on the Monday following Thanksgiving. Contrary to popular belief, Cyber Monday doesn’t just apply to cyber gifts like computers, tablets or smartphones, but simply to those goods offered solely online.

Cyber Monday Factoid

Because of its timing on the first workday after the holiday, many people started doing their Christmas shopping while on their work computers. In 2005, 37% of those surveyed said that they would secretly shop online while at work. In 2010, that number nearly doubled!


Despite some employers’ lost productivity from employees shopping online, many online retailers are making lots of money. In 2010, Cyber Monday shopping exceeded the $1 billion mark for the first time at an increase of 16% over the previous year. 88% of online merchants now offer Cyber Monday discounts.

The most common markets for Cyber Monday purchases range from the expected to the surprising. Jewelry and luxury retailers actually see the biggest benefit from the event, while the predictable consumer electronics market experiences the second biggest bump. The demographics of people taking advantage of the sale range wildly too. 70 percent of 18-34 year-olds shop online, but 30 percent of 65+ year-olds do as well. From young to old, more and more people are transitioning into online retail. In 2010, online sales totaled more than 165 billion dollars, meaning that almost a half billion dollars are spent each day on products online.

Sadly for some, all this online activity is taking its toll on previously-established major corporations used to working with a physical business model. Many companies like Best Buy are adapting price-matching strategies to keep up with online sales. However, these guarantees apply only to a limited number of items, and specifically in Best Buy’s case, are suspending that offer during the major shopping week that contains Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Trendy Tech Gifts for 2012

Black Friday Goto Guide

In the sea of tech toys and gadgets that hit the shelves every holiday season, a few stand out as the year’s sure-to-sell-out favorites. With the first new console gaming system in six years and a mini-tablet war, this year is no exception. Here are the hottest trending tech goodies of the 2012 holiday season.

Video Game Consoles

Nintendo’s Wii U (http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu, $299.99 for an 8GB “basic”, $349.99 for a 32GB “deluxe”) is the first new console gaming system released since the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 first debuted in 2006. In addition to the standard game controls, the GamePad incorporates a 6.2-inch LCD touch screen (which they’ve dubbed a “Personal Second Screen”) with motion control. Additional game content is beamed to the controller screen so you can see maps, complete challenges with the stylus or your finger, or use it to move your character or vehicle on the big screen. It can be used for handheld gaming, even when the TV is unavailable.

It’s the must have item this season, and it’s sure to sell out fast. If you want one, don’t wait for a sale. The best you can hope for is a bundle deal where retailers may package in an extra game, but you’ll risk losing out to resellers that snatch them up in bulk to mark up $100 or more and sell to the desperate on EBay.

Tablet

Despite the much heralded release of Apple’s new iPad mini, my pick for the best 7” mini tablet is Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GGCAVM/ref=kindle_dp_comp), starting at $199. An entry-level iPad mini will set you back $329, making the Fire’s price a big draw. Unless you are already married to Apple’s iTunes store, rest assured that the Kindle gives you access to just about all of the most popular apps, as well as the huge library of books, videos, TV shows and music housed in Amazon’s massive library. With an HD display, dual antenna for stronger WiFi reception and both a USB and Micro-HDMI port (for connecting it to your home theater), anyone on your list looking for an ultra-portable mini-tablet is sure to be pleased with the Kindle Fire HD.


If 7” seems just too small to accommodate your handheld web surfing, video watching and game playing needs, Amazon is releasing an 8.9” version of the Kindle Fire HD in time for the holidays starting at $299.99 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008GFRE5A). Pre-order now – they expect to sell out.

Video Games

Call of Duty (http://www.callofduty.com/blackops2, $60 for XBox 360, Playstation 3, Nintento Wii U and PC) is going to be the hottest video game of the season. This first-person shooter game has developed a huge fan base since the series first launched in 2003, making it the biggest-selling title on Microsoft’s Xbox gaming system. Holiday sales of their annual game releases have outpaced all other games for the last four years and this season will be no exception.

Players battle it out online over a variety of “maps” and game styles. New “map packs” are released regularly to keep game play fresh. Just keep in mind that content is mature so it’s best saved for the older gamers on your holiday shopping list.

Trendy music lovers are clamoring for the pricey but oh-so-fashionable Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. The colorful can-style headphones are about style even more than sound, though many swear by the quality and durability. With many versions available, the entry level Beats Solo HD (www.beatsbydre.com/headphones/beats-solohd-black/900-00011-01,default,pd.html) will set you back about $200, though many retailers are offering them on sale for the holiday shopping season.

With eight colors to choose from, they sport an in-line control and microphone to easily switch from your tunes to an incoming call. Reviews are mixed with users seeming to love or hate them, but they’re unquestionably popular.

Use Pinterest to UP Your Holiday Game

Unleash your inner Martha Stewart with Pinterest

The holidays are my favorite time of year – gathering with friends and family over special meals, showing you care with gifts, watching the kids explode with excitement over pumpkins, decorated houses, lit Christmas trees… you get the idea. If you’ve yet to explore the wealth of inspiration that is Pinterest, this season is the perfect time to take a tour. Whether you’re a holiday lover like me, looking to build some memorable traditions without going overboard, or a budding Martha Stewart ready to make over your home in festive extravaganza, Pinterest has something for everyone.

Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/) is a social, image-sharing website that functions like a shareable scrapbook. Users “pin” images to a virtual board from the Internet, other user's boards or their own computer, resulting in a collection of images that you can visually scroll through until something catches your interest. Boards are all public, so once you’re a member you can see anything that anyone posts.

The biggest challenge for those new to Pinterest is the overwhelming abundance of material and a relatively weak search function. Search is limited to a single text box where you enter keywords and choose to search Pins, Boards or Pinners. Searching for Pins results in specific images where the “pinner” has listed your keyword in their description of the image or link. Search by Boards for collections of images that pinners have categorized under your keyword. Search by Pinner if there’s someone on Pinterest that you’d like to follow.

When it comes to using Pinterest for holiday inspiration, I recommend that you start with a relatively generic keyword search by either Pins or Boards. For example, search Boards for “Thanksgiving” and you’ll get hundreds of images: crafts to keep the kids busy; beautiful ideas to decorate your home with pre-made printables, nature or artistically presented edible arrangements; and food upon glorious food. My favorites are the ideas to help me connect with the spirit of the holidays with creative family activities, charitable acts or homemade crafts and gifts.
When you find an image that links to something that you like, click through to view the other pins on the same board and then the other images that the pinner has collected on different boards. In many cases, once you find someone with similar taste, style or interests, you’ll end up discovering a wealth of great ideas that they’ve already done to footwork to collect. I’ve also discovered that perusing the boards of others who have repinned something I find appealing often leads me to like-minded individuals and the ideas they’ve found to be appealing.

Once you find inspiration, “repin” the links onto your own boards so that you can have them at hand when you’re ready to get in the holiday spirit. I’ve collected numerous ideas that I can come back to when I want to take some time to do a craft with the kids or make a special themed treat for family or friends. There are many, many things I will surely never get around to, but even if it gives me two or three memorable things to try, it’s a win.

In the same way that leafing through a fitness magazine can motivate you to go for a walk or choose a healthier snack, it’s not the specific project so much as the overall feeling that you can create something cool or beautiful. It gives those of us with little time and creativity the opportunity to find achievable projects while offering those with more crafty skills tools, tips and tricks to take their creations to the next level.

While I’ve grown to love Pinterest, it truly is an Alice In Wonderland-style “rabbit hole.” You start off looking for homemade gifts you can create for the neighbors and before you know it you’ve ventured into DIY garden gnomes or motivational quotes. Time on Pinterest is like dog-years – an hour morphs into five more often than I care to divulge.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to attempt to make marshmallows into snowmen.

Top 5 Ways to Save on Your Holiday Shopping

Use Technology to Save on Holiday Shopping

November seems to sneak up on me every year. I’m minding my own business, working out costume details and sugar coating trick-or-treaters when, BAM! Out of the blue it’s time to get cracking on holiday shopping. To help myself get in the game and to help you save some money, here are my top five ways you can use your tech savvy to save money on your holiday shopping.

1. Check out the resale market:

I know, you’re thinking, “wrapping up used gifts?” but a lot of things available though sites like Craigslist and Ebay, or even at your local gently-used second hand store, haven’t actually been used. We’ve all received a present that we thought for sure would come in handy but instead just gathered dust. That posh purse may be perfect for your sister-in-law and is significantly less expensive than buying it in the store. If you have any youngsters on your list I can assure you that they aren’t going to care that the shiny new tricycle took a few spins in someone else’s yard before it showed up under their tree.

2. Use discount gift cards:

Just as there’s a resale market for items that people didn’t end up needing, there’s a resale market for unused gift cards. Check out eCard Exchange (www.ecardexchange.com) or Cardpool (http://www.cardpool.com ) for an extensive selection of discount gift cards that you can use to get instant savings on your holiday shopping. Benefit from those looking to cash-out a gift card they don’t need with savings averaging 10%. Unlike buying on eBay where you have to take a leap of faith that the balance on the card will be valid when you receive it, these sites act as a middle man. They purchase the card from the seller and then guarantee the value to you, the buyer. There’s even free shipping. While you can certainly re-gift the gift card itself, I like to buy discount gift cards for the places I know I’m going to shop for presents, earning myself an instant discount that I can then combine with sales and coupons.

3. Become a coupon printer:

Before you head out the door to cruise the mall, check out the in-store coupons available online through RetailMeNot (www.retailmenot.com/printable) and Coupon Cabin (www.couponcabin.com/printable-coupons/?tn=printable-coupons). You can earn yourself a quick $10 or percent off your purchases with just a couple of clicks and an available printer. If you’re buying online, be sure to check the coupon codes section for instant savings on your order.

4. Compare, compare, compare:

The Shopping Assistant browser extension (http://taoassistant.com/, available for Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Safari) gives you a toolbar that automatically shows similar products to what you’re shopping for at other online retailers, such as Walmart, Newegg and slickdeals. If you prefer to peruse the shelves in person, make that Smartphone data plan earn some money back for you with ShopSavvy 5 (http://shopsavvy.mobi/, for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone). Once installed on your Smartphone, simply use your phone’s camera to take a picture of the barcode of the item you’re considering. The app will instantly report back prices of that item online and at other local retailers, allowing you to request a price match or drive next door to get the best deal.

5. Make your credit card work for you:

Many credit card companies have discovered that the key to keeping customers is to help them save money on purchases they are already making. Most deals and special coupons can only be activated by logging into your account and navigating through the associated deals section. For example, Bank of America cards now offer “cash back deals” that give you cash back on purchases made at certain retailers, restaurants and more. The catch is that you have to activate the offer in advance of making your purchase to get the reward. Citibank now offers Citi Price Rewind which it calls “buy now, save later.” Register your covered purchases and Citibank will track prices at online retailers for 30 days. If the price drops by at least $25, you get the price difference back – up to $250 per item.

Photo used by permission: stevendepolo

The ZeroAccess Rootkit Trojan

ZeroAccess Rootkit: Doomsday and Armageddon all-in-one?

The ZeroAccess Rootkit Trojan is the latest rootkit virus to gain widespread infiltration into a huge number of computers. While traditional viruses attempt to infect and destroy as many computers in their path before they're stopped by anti-virus software, rootkits aim to keep your system working but under the control of an outside party. They typically give a remote user administrative power, allowing them to manipulate files and maintain control of your system.

Once your system is controlled by the administrator of the rootkit, he can cause it to execute actions. Your system becomes a “botnet,” or “zombie” computer, assisting the culprits to perform fraudulent acts, downloading additional malware and opening software back doors for hackers to enter. Since rootkits execute at the same privilege level as anti-malware software, they’re harder to remove – your computer can’t decide which program should have greater authority to shut down the other.

According to James Wyke, Senior Threat Researcher for SophosLabs, The ZeroAccess Rootkit Trojan and its nine known variants has been installed over 9 million times. Its resultant “botnet” is comprised of approximately 1 million zombie machines, generating huge profits for their masters. In his Technical Paper, “The Zero Access Botnet – Mining and Fraud for Massive Financial Gain,” Mr. Wyke calls ZeroAccess “one of the biggest threats on the Internet.”
There are two primary ways this virus is distributed. The first is through something called a Blackhole exploit kit. Through a compromised website or a spammed email, the victim is directed to the hacker's landing page. Ad servers are prime targets for this type of corruption because their high traffic leads to widespread infection. The bad web page contains a JavaScript that scans your computer for vulnerabilities. If they're found, the virus silently downloads into the background workings of the computer and begins to take over.

The second method of distribution is through social engineering. The victim is convinced to run an executable file because they're attempting to obtain a piece of illicit software, bypass copyright protections, etc. For example, one lure the ZeroAccess creators have used in the past is an illegal copy of a popular game called Skyrim. The user attempts to download it, is prompted to open a Zip file, and the virus is installed, essentially with the user's permission.

Initially, victims notice that computer processing slows to a crawl. Internet searches are re-directed to unrelated sites and pop-ups appear much more frequently during web browsing. Advanced forms of the virus have even been linked to information mining and financial fraud, with hackers gaining access to your personal information and performing identity theft.

According to SophosLab’s research, hackers will pay up to $500 for every 1000 infected U.S. systems that a rootkit administrator can prove they’ve added to their botnet.

Defend yourself before you're infected. Make sure all your browsers, plug-ins and operating systems are updated with the latest version of software. Out-of-date Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, in addition to Adobe Flash, Acrobat and Java are prime targets of Blackhole exploit kits. Don't give in to the temptation of downloading illegal software through sharing and torrent sites. Keep your anti-malware software current and run it often. Regular backups of your data and applications will allow you to more easily perform a re-format/re-install of your operating system if you become infected and are unable to remove the virus through conventional methods.

If you suspect you may be infected, contact a computer repair professional as quickly as possible. Not only does this virus open doors for other malware to enter your system un-detected, but removal is extremely difficult. It is known to leave behind portions of itself and continue to haunt your computer if not removed properly.

Photo used by permission: Brett Jordan