Posts Tagged ‘music’
Every year on December 31, my wife greets me with a “Hap-py birthday!” — said just like Frosty the Snowman when he magically comes to life. And I am happy. I received two cool techie birthday gifts today. First, she gave me a cast-metal at‑sign (@) paperweight. It’s the ubiquitous at-sign that makes e-mail addresses and Twitter replies possible. Finished in weathered zinc, this hefty, four-inch-high at-sign is from Restoration Hardware’s cast-metal letters collection.
Next, I became the proud owner of the new, second-generation Apple TV. I connected this black box to the new 32-inch Toshiba HDTV/DVD combo in the master bedroom. In no time, my TV tapped movies, television shows, songs and photos from my iMac in the second-floor study. YouTube and Flickr came in flawlessly. I haven’t tried Netflix or video rentals yet. Overall, I love the clean simplicity of Apple TV’s on-screen menus, the gorgeous album covers that float in while my music plays, and the sleek, small design of both the box and the remote. All for an amazing price of $99.
Tags: birthday, for dad, gadgets, gift ideas, guy gifts, movies, music, photos, television shows
She prefers no raindrops on her roses; she’s allergic to whiskers on kittens. Still, I know a few of my wife’s favorite things. This Christmas, I reflected on her favorites to inspire my gift choices.
Her Favorite TV Shows:
- Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album on CD
- The Fabulous Beekman Boys: The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir
Her Favorite Singers:
Her Favorite Movies:
Her Favorite Sleepwear:
Her Favorite Jewelry:
And she clearly knows my favorite things from the great Christmas presents I received:
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth: A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race
- Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for Nintendo Wii
- Lego Batman: The Video Game for Nintendo Wii
- The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Seasons 1 and 2
- Toshiba 32CV100U 32-Inch 720p LCD/DVD Combo TV
Tags: books, chocolate+candy, christmas, clothing, dvds, for her, gadgets, games, jewelry, movies, music, television shows
Are you among the 125 million users with credit cards linked to iTunes? If yes, Apple makes last-minute gift giving easy to a fellow iTunes user. This week, I sent my friend and office mate his Christmas gift — the thriller Inception — using iTunes. Here’s how you can immediately send iTunes gifts via e-mail.
Launch iTunes, click iTunes Store and choose from 12 million songs, 55,000 television episodes, 8,500 movies and 300,000 iPhone apps. When you find the item to give, follow these steps.
Click the arrow on the right side of the Buy button.

A drop-down menu appears. Select the “Gift This” option.

iTunes takes you to a “Give a Gift” screen. To send the iTunes gift as an email, keep the delivery option set to “Send gift as email.” Enter your name and your recipient’s name. Make sure you have the correct email address then type it for “Recipient’s Email.” If you want to send to multiple giftees, separate the email addresses with commas. Type the e-mail address or addresses in again to verify. Now enter a brief personal message. Please note if you take too much time with your message, iTunes will time out your session and ask you to start over. Click the Continue button.
iTunes will prompt you to sign in with your Apple ID or AOL screen name and password to buy the gift. Enter both and click the Continue button. You’ll see a review page. Confirm your entries and, if correct, click the Buy Gift button. iTunes will display a “Thank You” screen indicating your gift has been sent. Within minutes, your gift recipient receives an email to redeem the gift on iTunes.
Tags: christmas, for her, gadgets, games, gift ideas, guy gifts, movies, music, shopping online
I don’t know what hooked my 10-year-old niece on my iPad. Was it unlocking a challenging level of Angry Birds? Or playing the hidden object game Little Things? Watching the movie version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid on a gorgeous screen? Finding goofy YouTube videos? Downloading music? Flipping through photos from a day trip? I’m not sure. But I do know she has been saving every dollar for her own iPad.
When I see her tomorrow on Thanksgiving, I have an Apple gift card for her birthday that should close the gap. And if she buys the iPad on Black Friday, chances are, she can get a once-a-year discount.
Tags: gadgets, games, gift cards, gift ideas, movies, music, photos


