I don't know about you, but I'm still Christmas shopping. In fact, most years I'm still doing it at 8:55 pm on Xmas Eve. (But somehow my wife has yet to divorce me over it, which is one of the enduring mysteries of my life.)
This year I've vowed to get my shopping done before the 24th by doing some of it online. Here are some of my favorite places for finding geeky gear.
Hankering for a USB key that doubles as a skull ring? How about a robot toilet paper dispenser? Head on over to Gizmine, which is like a Tokyo curio shop that lives inside in your browser.
The site is run by the folks who operate Dynamism.com -- one of the best ways to legally get gear that's usually available only in Japan or Korea. Dynamism translates the manuals into English and provides stateside support. Gizmine is their outlet for the less techie/more goofy stuff.
GeekStuff4U is a cross between Gizmine and Dynamism, though it offers more in the way of cameras, audio-visual gear, and Apple accessories. It's where you can find things like a 4GB USB storage drive called "the kissing octopus" (though it looks more like a mutant pig to me). But don't expect the octo-pig to arrive before Christmas -- it takes 5 to 10 business days to ship.
iStorez.com gathers up a bunch of last-minute shopping deals from luxury stores like Nordstrom and Saks to online merchants like TigerDirect and eToys. iStorez CEO Anand Jagannathan notes that online stores like Overstock and eCost are still aggressively pushing discounts and that about a third of all e-merchants offer gift cards -- an easy way to avoid paying exorbitant shipping costs or having stuff show up late (see Divorce, above).
DANGER: Shameless Plug Ahead
Finally, if you're looking for a great stocking stuffer for your spouse, daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, girlfriend, great aunt, or that person in accounting who keeps asking where the "any" key is, allow me to recommend a great book:
How to Be a Geek Goddess, written by the Goddess-like Christina Tynan-Wood (who, yes, happens to be my lovely wife). It's a guide for tech written mostly for women, who apparently take an entirely view of the stuff. (Who knew?) Look for an interview with the Goddess coming to this space soon.
Got more shopping ideas? Post them below or email me: dan (at) dantynan (dot) com.
When not frantically trying to stuff stockings, Dan Tynan stuffs his blogs, Culture Crash and Tynan on Tech.