For the space geek, samples of Space Shuttle ceramic heat shield tiles have been availavle on E-Bay. These are legal samples, left over pieces from when they cut the tiles to fit. All are pieces collected prior to the Challenger disaster.

A sample of Aerogel. This is the same material used to collect samples on the Stardust space mission. Aerogem sells pendents containing samples of this high tech "smoke" at http://www.aerogem.com/aerogel-products.html Samples can also be found on E-Bay.

Alan, Here's a link for constellation jewelry. Some are less expensive than the 'zero gravity flight' mentioned in your 2004 article. :) Anyway, for your consideration: http://www.agacorrea.com/aga/cgi-bin/aga.pl Sincerely, C

The gift for the Number One Geek on my list this year is the Spinthariscope (http://www.unitednuclear.com/spinthariscope.htm). Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a nuclear powered toy. For the younger geek (geekling?), I'll get some of the nifty phosphorescent powder (http://www.unitednuclear.com/glow.htm) and make a seriously funky nightlight. Beats the heck out of Barbie.

It's a metal detector!  It's a remote control vehicle!  This metal detector rover looks like way more fun than putting a magnet to something to learn about the magnetic properties of different materials.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/
sr=1-1/qid=1165505084/ref=sr_1_1/
601-7941373-5065725?ie=UTF8&asin=B000239E3E

Go to www.whimsypress.com and wrap your geeky gifts in "paper invaders" gift wrap. Way too cool!

How about some wireless gaming headphones?  The gift for the geek that also is a gift for the gaming geek's family. :)

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/
products/earforce/x2/producthome.asp

If I have told you n times I have told you n+1 times.... WWW.ThinkGeek.Com The best Geek Gifts on the net.

I have suggested over 500 possible gift ideas for your favorite astronomy or space enthusiast in my Gift Guide:

http://space.about.com/od/referenceresources/a/giftguide.htm

What no robots yet? You cannot truly GEEKOUT until you build a robot. Since last August my Daughter and I getting some nerdy bonding buy building all of the cool and programmable bots in the LEGO Mindstorm, http://mindstorms.lego.com/ trust me this is not just for kids. But if you truly have the need to freak your geek, then the ultimate build your own automaton would be ROBONOVA-1 from Hitec Robotics http://www.hitecrobotics.com/. Although it is on my list, I will be hoping it does not decide to take over my job or become our new robot overlords! Speaking of which you can buy your ROBOGeek in your family some light reading material "How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion" by Daniel H. Wilson and then hope you survive! Merry Christmas!

While out of the "reasonable" price range... I couldn't help but think of the thrill a flight from Zero Gravity would be. And for the sake of packaging... try the Tyvek "Dot Matrix" wallet from Dynomighty so you'll always have a reference to the first 3000 digits of pi.

Perpetual Kid has a pop-can cooling pad that plugs into your USB port for $30. They have a couple other USB gadgets that are slightly less useful- such as heated gloves! Are people working on their PCs outside??

How aboutt the video watch from Thinkgeek? Right here:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/8e18/

If you don't have a watch that plays videos. how geeky are you?

Annual issues with giving to Geeks are that they have it all and/or know it all. I'll list only three gifts, but each of them would be a big winner with your dear Geek. Each of the three is little-known and fully hackable (er, programmable :), and since I'm only listing three I'll give you a good scoop on each. Few Geeks have put flesh to these gadgets, but all Geeks would want to --> if they knew they existed!

I'll start with what I believe is the most useful of the three gifts, something so versatile that adding it could subtract other precious gadgets from your geek's life. Behold, convergence!

 ( 1 )  UTStarcom XV6700 (Verizon Wireless) or PPC6700 (Sprint), a "genius phone," $300 to $550 depending on plan, carrier, and offer
First and perhaps foremost, this "phone" has Wi-Fi. Don't pay for the expensive "data plans" they try to sell you with other "smart phones," and don't fall for the hype of: Get It Now(sm), V CAST(tm), Sprint Power Vision(sm), or Sprint TV(sm). With Wi-Fi and this phone, you won't need 'em. Other "smart" phones might be good for (their) business (not yours), but this gadget is an absolute genius. It's as good for play as for work. For an example of the difference having a Wi-Fi enabled phone can make, get your Geek this gadget and s/he can run Skype mobile or an audio chat to get not only free data, but free phone calls!

This isn't all about Wi-Fi. At the same time as Wi-Fi, your Geek will have EV-DO (CDMA) for mobile and Bluetooth for device and peer connectivity. At long last, your Geek will be completely (un)wired! This phone is also an MP3 player, with an incredibly bright and beautiful, large screen for watching videos. It has a camera with flash, zoom, and more. The touch screen interface is so good that this phone can read my handwriting when I use my finger alone, and I have large fingers and my writing is terrible. It has a stylus (pen) but with that great screen plus one more secret, you don't need to pull out the stylus. The secret? The industry's best QWERTY keyboard slides right out the side of this phone to enable faster or more involved text entries and longer Internet browsing sessions.

Take a deep breath, because there is more. There is "of course" also a speakerphone, a card expansion slot to hold more data, and a built-in mini USB port. If your Geek can tear him or herself away from all the fun to do some work, there is the Windows Mobile operating system running Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and useful utilities to keep this phone constantly in synch with your Geek's other machines and data.

A last note on this gift: why doesn't anybody know about these "genius phones?" They can be expensive depending on the plan you choose, but other phones can be even more expensive. The darker reason for the lack of hype goes straight back to the fact that this phone has Wi-Fi, a rarity in the USA. They call these "XV6700" and "PPC6700," they didn't bother with names like "Chocolate" or "RAZR." They have a lot less to gain by selling you these amazing devices, and so they just barely sell them at all. Don't believe the hype! I own this device, I am employed as a User Interface Developer, and I'm telling you this would make an amazing gift for your Geek.

Next, let's talk about the least expensive of the three gifts. While the previous gift is all about being mobile, this gift would be much-loved by Geeks who use desktop computers for long stretches of time --> whether by profession, choice, or both :)

 ( 2 )  FingerWorks' iGesture Pad, they built a better mouse... pad, $159 to $189
So, you noticed your Geek drooling over that futuristic user interface in Minority Report? (You know, the scene where users could grab programs or windows with their hands and effortlessly move them around, with no pointing and clicking?)

An iGesture Pad replaces that tired old computer mouse. This device is roomy, in fact it's the largest multi-touch pad you can buy, but it's still smaller than a typical mousepad so it will actually take less desk space. On an iGesture, a series of intuitive taps and movements replaces regular mouse pointing and clicking. Sometimes you use one or two fingers, sometimes your entire hand at one time. To go back on a Web page for example, your Geek would put a couple fingers down and swoosh them to the left - no more mousing up to and clicking the Back button. This is one of many small examples, but added up over hours, days, years of Geek life? Your Geek will love this work-a-day device.

There are many gestures built in, and of course, it's programmable. Here are a couple more examples: one I enjoy is to "let my fingers do the walking" up and down web pages, an effortless way to scroll compared to dragging your mouse precisely onto a scroll bar or button and then either clicking on the bar and dragging again, or clicking repeatedly on the button. Geeks spend a lot of time scrolling, and even a mouse with a scroll wheel is much harder to use than an iGesture. Yes, your Geek will also be able to virtually grab, size, drag, and zoom in and out on windows, which doesn't LOOK like but FEELS like Minority Report. The iGesture's creator, FingerWorks, is officially out of business, but fear not. You can still find them online, and I've used them for several years, through perhaps a few cups of coffee, moves in and out of offices, and so on.

Now for the third gift in this little-known triumvirate of utility, connectivity, and bliss, the really fun one!

 ( 3 )  RS Media, the latest RoboSapien robot, 350 to 450 Euros plus some creative shipping. (This isn't yet available directly in the U.S., but you can sit right there at your computer and find it just the same. Try the German version of Amazon for starters.)

The RS Media robot (short for RoboSapien Media) is a huge improvement on the already-very-cool RoboSapien V2, and RoboSapien before it. I would argue you will gain less in terms of excitement, and thus a little less in terms of education, if you build a robot starting with nuts and bolts. If your Geek is all grown up, s/he would probably more appreciate a fully hackable robot with the industry's best hardware and software already built-in (if you're paying less than say, $30,000). If your Geek is still a kid (I mean for real), then you risk boredom and frustration with the nuts-and-bolts approach. Geeks will be Geeks, but let play time be a lot of fun too, not only educational.

RS Media is the robot we've been waiting for in this price range. It can be what you want more than any other robot you can afford. It has been called "a walking, talking Linux engine" but it is also, easily connected to a Lego Mindstorm NXT brain. This means compatibility with Microsoft's new robotics SDK as well. Don't think buying a robot which is already built means there is no building to be done -- not with this bot!

Unlike any consumer robot your favorite Geek has seen, RS Media has a color LCD screen on which it can movies, or even stream live video of what its eye cameras see. It plays MP3s and accepts other data (scripts, anyone?) out of the box, via built-in USB if you prefer or it can take SD cards up to 2 gigs. Wow!

Lastly, let me stress that RS Media has more personality (also programmable, this time) and moves more gracefully than the RoboSapien V2 before it, and more than any other affordable robot. If you have or if you also purchase other RoboSapien line robots, including the Roboraptor, Robopet, or RoboSapien V2, then your Geek will be able to control those robots interactively through the RS Media. RS Media will learn names and recognize people. It will greet people on sight and with whatever personality your Geek desires. Meanwhile you can upgrade it in every technical way you desire. From this Geek, all that means three w00ts! for the RS Media.

For Moon Geeks (or Moonatics as I like to call them) I would like to offer The Best of the Moon - 2006

(at http://www.outofthecradle.net/archives/2006/12/the-best-of-the-moon-2006/)

... and of course the stacks are always open at the Lunar Library

(at http://www.outofthecradle.net/categories/lunar-library/)

to browse for older titles.  There's even a section on Fun & Games.  Geeks in Space!

Anything from Norton Sales Inc ... http://www.nortonsalesinc.com

Membership at a museum, planetarium, aquarium and the like. Great gift for kids and those who want to continue to learn. And you support education while you expand the mind.

Join the National Space Society, http://www.nss.org/, and make your voice heard. They promote the exploration of space, manned flight and more.

A simple yet elegant gift for any geek is magnets. From using magnets to construct models, to marveling at how a magnet can levitate in the air, magnets can be educational and fun for any geek

Take your favorite geek to the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Cannot make the trip, then give them a subscription to Air and Space Magazine. Available from the Smithsonian Institute.

I plan on giving the moon this Christmas. The 'Light-Up Moon in My Room' is "a lunar model that moonlights as a night light. An authentically detailed moon with craters and dark and light patches automatically begins to glow when the sun sets." Go to http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/  and search for 'light-up moon'.

Here's some neat items from a list I made last year, with a bias towards gifts for kids (or kids at heart):

Discovery DNA Explorer Kit. This is crazy -- it appears to be an electrophoresis kit for kids. It comes complete with a centrifuge, magnetic mixer, and an electrophoresis chamber. The only thing which doesn't come in the box is lambda DNA, which you have to fill out a card for to get it shipped to you fresh.

http://shopping.discovery.com/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?
catalogId=10000&storeId=10000&langId=-
1&productId=53965&partnumber=698795

Estes Hydrogen Fuel Rocket. Learn about alternative energy and rocketry at the same time! This rocket uses its batteries to generate hydrogen fuel from tap water, allowing for an unlimited number of rocket launches. The info page says it can launch up to 200 feet up.

http://www.kbtoys.com/genProduct.html?
PID=2336159&ctid=17&ls=toys&_e=457f6&_
v=457F619BnKoHa859E625F377

Plush GIANTmicrobes. These little guys are terrifyingly cute. The company sells everything from rhinovirus to saccharomyces cerevisiae to ebola to the "bookworm".

http://giantmicrobes.com/

AntWorks - Space Age Ant Habitat. An ant farm using a NASA-developed gel for an experiment which flew on the final Columbia mission. The ants dig through the gel, and there's an optional light which makes the entire habitat glow.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/6fd6/

Finally, this page has great instructions for constructing your own science toys at home:

http://www.scitoys.com/

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