When it comes to favorite Christmas presents and holiday gadgets, it seems Santa went digital this year. From an electronic bar-buddy that defines “lush” lingo to cameras that can store hundreds of precious memories, an array of neat gizmos proved popular during the holidays as technology becomes more user-friendly and affordable.
Junior Anthony Kuchulis said he received an Excalibur Bar Master from his girlfriend’s father for Christmas, which was by far his favorite gift. Shaped like a small flask, the digital bartender provides recipes for drinks by liquor, by occasion, by name and by food. It also defines bar slang, such as “chits,” which are tickets for buying drinks.
Prior to the break, Kuchulis had only heard of the Bar Master, which he said could be even more useful if it could hold alcohol.
“The gift-giver was extremely disappointed that it wasn’t a real flask,” he said.
The Bar Master also features a blood alcohol level calculator, which is designed for entertainment purposes only. Kuchulis said it might be difficult to keep the gadget from his roommates.
“I already have to hide my alcohol; now I have to hide this,” he said.
The Excalibur Bar Master can be purchased from http://www.thebarmaster.com for the holiday price of $24.95.
Senior Orion Trist had his heart set on a digital recorder for Christmas, which is why he was happy to receive money from his family instead of presents.
“Picking and choosing your own gifts is nice,” he said.
After getting cash from his grandmother and checking out portable recorders online, Trist said he decided on the Iriver IHP-120, a digital audio player that records up to 36 hours in real time, has 16 hours of battery life and can store more than 600 hours of digital music. Besides a backlit remote control, Trist said the best part about the player is the microphone port, which he plans to use for recording live concerts.
“It’s absolutely the best gift I got in a while,” he said. “Plus I get to share the music with friends.”
With a 20 GB hard drive, the Iriver IHP-120 can make quick USB transfers to Macs and PCs, has a built-in FM tuner and can be found at http://www.mp3mall.net for the sale price of $399.99.
Digital bartenders and recorders aside, digital cameras have also seen a recent rise in popularity as consumers opt for more file storage, less blurry pictures and no cost for film development.
Hiilawe Mitchell worked as a sales representative at Dot Dotson’s during the holiday break. Located at 1668 Willamette St., the camera store sold almost twice as many digital cameras this Christmas compared to last year, Mitchell said.
“We really couldn’t keep them on the shelves,” she said.
One of the most popular cameras sold at Dot Dotson’s this Christmas was the Canon A80, a well-made, compact digital device with 4 megapixels for less than $400, Mitchell said. Besides being a relatively inexpensive name brand, the Canon A80 is also more ideal for frequent travelers because it takes AA batteries, she said.
Although other models and brands proved popular over the holidays, Mitchell said the Canon also sold the most because it remained well-stocked. If other camera companies had been able to keep up with demand, Mitchell said, other digital models would have sold more as well.
“It’s changing the face of photography as we know it,” she said of the recent vogue in digital photography. “And prices of digital cameras are going down.”