From the remote mikes we use to supervise babies in the nursery to the gaming consoles and headphones teens expend to tune out Mom and Dad , electronics have become integral ingredients of modern family life . But , if you ’re looking for digital gear for parents and/or kids , you do n’t have to bond with the tried - and - true . Here are five originative suggestions for the electronic menage , from Mac - theme child tog to a pat camcorder that ’ll let you record every burp , soccer secret plan , and graduation ceremony .
Key:$—gifts costing between $ 0 and $ 30;$$—gifts costing between $ 31 and $ 200;$$$—gifts costing more than $ 200 .
No chores required $-$$
$ 10 to $ 200 per month;Apple information processing system
Want to make a teenager happy all year long ? An iTunes margin let you reference recipients ’ accounts monthly , so your favorite youngster can stay hip joint to all the a la mode releases without demanding their own credit rating cards — or bad , take over yours . You plainly choose a monthly dollar amount and come in the recipient role ’s Apple account ( or create a novel one ) ; Apple charges you mechanically every month until you cancel.—Frith Gowan
Up close and personal $$
$ 80;Digital Blue
Children over eight — as well as a few adult I know — will get a kick out of the QX5 Computer Microscope . or else of looking through an eyepiece , you hook up the QX5 to your Mac and then view images and control the microscope from there . With 10x , 60x , and 200x magnification , the power to create sentence - lapse movies , and canonic image - use tools , budding scientists will want to eye everything and anything — bugs , bounder hair , and mayhap those suspicious three - week - sometime leftovers in the fridge . ( macintosh substance abuser have to download separate package for the QX5 ; at the time this article hold out to insistency , that software was free , but a2.0 updatemade it $ 15 shareware.)—Frith Gowan
Just my size $
KidzMouse Keys keyboard , $ 30;Kidzmouse ; Logitech fry ’s optical computer mouse , $ 15;Logitech
Anyone who took piano lesson as a kid make out how irritate it is to dally a full - size of it keyboard with pint - size of it bridge player . Ditto with the calculator . That ’s why KidzMouse ’s Keys keyboard is so nerveless . KidzMouse has downsize the brightly colored , round keys for junior users . It has also simplify them , eliminating the function and Command keys ( to reduce keyboard size and forestall computer error ) and making sure letter and number keys wo n’t repeat when held down . To go with the KidzMouse Keys , Logitech ’s small , three - clit optical mouse comes in Tiger , Spot ( paw prints ) , Ladybug , football game , and Soccer designs.—Frith Gowan
Geek out your baby $
Newbie onesie and Geek in Training T - shirt , $ 13;ThinkGeek ; iPod My Baby onesie , $ 16;iPodMyBaby
Kids have a bun in the oven today are going to know more about technology by the clock time they ’re ten than many of us adult do now . If you want to give your best-loved baby a pass start in the technical school Earth , wrap him or her up in one of these cute onesies or T - shirts . The Newbie onesie and Geek in Training T - shirt ( sizes 6 month to 4 T ) boldly proclaim a baby ’s technological proclivities , while the iPod My Baby onesie ( sizes 6 to 18 month ) is a bit more ambiguous . sure as shooting , iPods are known for their graceful user interface . baby ? Not so much.—Frith Gowan
Check the dailies $$$
$ 899;Canon
If you ca n’t be close-fitting to the phratry and children you be intimate , you may get the next best affair : high - quality TV footage of the most - important events in their aliveness . Give parent a DV photographic camera and they ’ll have no excuse not to send you tapes or DVDs of first stride , forte - burp contest , and birthdays . TheCanon Optura 60 ( ) , our current pet , offer fantabulous color , unanimous still images , ocular image stabilisation , manual ascendence , and pliant feature such as mike and headphone jacks.—Frith Gowan
