2012 Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway: Rdio steaming music subscription

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Music, PC / Laptop, Portable Audio / Video, Women, Men, Techies, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

They say music is the universal language, and as music lovers ourselves, we think it's one of the best gifts that you can give, and we're putting it in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide. Rather than grabbing an iTunes gift card, or worse, a random CD from the bargain bin, we recommend hitting your loves ones up with Rdio gift subscriptions. Why? It allows the user unlimited access to the entire Rdio music streaming catalog. That means on-demand access to millions of tracks from the web, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, and even your Sonos system. Rdio costs $9.99 per month for full access. We love it--check out Gear Live on Rdio!

We are giving away three 3-month subscriptions to Rdio to our readers as well! To enter, all you need to do is:

• Follow Gear Live on Twitter
• Tweet the following message: "Hey @GearLive - hook me up with that free @Rdio subscription! http://gear.lv/SEjTdi" (Click here to tweet this now!)

Good luck to all entrants, and be sure to look through the rest of our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide for more giveaways!

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Apple TV

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Family, Men, Techies, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $500,

iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch will be big holiday gifts this year, make no mistake about it. The Apple TV is actually a fantastic complement to Apple's handhelds, worthy of being featured in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide. A nice little device in its own right, the Apple TV gives you access to Apple's iTunes Store entertainment content right on your television. In addition, you get Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, sports networks, and plenty of other entertainment options. Connect it to your iTunes Home Share, and you can use your iOS devices as remote controls for the Apple TV. The best part, though, is AirPlay. You can beam audio and video content right to the Apple TV with ease from your iOS device, or your Mac. You can also mirror the display of these devices as well, all wireless over your home network.

You can pick up the Apple TV for $99, or $94.95 on Amazon.

Honorable Mention: Roku 2 XS Streaming Player

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Furby

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Toys, Kids, Techies, Under $100, Under $250, Under $500,

Fourteen years ago, Furby was the hot holiday sensation, and now in 2012, Hasbro has brought it back with a modern update that's good enough to be featured in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide. Changes include LED eyes, capacitive touch sensors, and an app that lets you control it remotely. Kids will love them, but so will tinkerers--the original Furby was super-hackable, which hobbyists love. You can pick up the new Furby for $60.

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Monopoly zAPPed

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Toys, Family, Techies, Under $100, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

Next up in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide is Monopoly zAPPed, a full-fledged verion of Monopoly that can also be considered an iPad accessory. There are gonna be a lot of iPads and iPad minis under the tree this year, and if you already know someone who owns one (or who will own one this holiday season,) consider this game as a fun gift for them. The game is played with an iPhone or iPad with two to four players, and is different from tradtional Monopoly in that the device (iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone) is the bank and there are on-screen mini games. Also, there is no money, as you just swipe your credit card on the display for transactions. Included in the box are the game board with rubber pads, 6 tokens, 28 Property cards, 32 green houses, 12 red hotels, 2 dice, 4 Monopoly Touch-banking cards and instructions. You can pick up Monopoly zAPPed for $29.99, or $26.24 on Amazon (a 14% savings!)

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Star Wars Death Star tea infuser

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Smart Home, Movies, Techies, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

Techies seem to love tea, and this Death Star tea infuser bring both of those worlds together in a delicious way, so we're featuring it in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide. Made of stainless steel, this tea infuser is molded to resemble Darth Vader's Death Star. Just put some loose leaf tea in there and steep it in your favorite mug. It's dishwasher-safe and available from ThinkGeek for $19.99.

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Apple iPad mini

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Handhelds, Women, Men, Techies, Teens, Under $500,

Next up in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide is the Apple iPad mini. We're sure many of you expected to see this one here, but we weren't so sure until we got our hands on one, and realized after a couple of weeks that our full-sized iPad with Retina display was collecting dust. The iPad mini lives up the the hype that it has generated for years, and it is beautifully designed, what with its anogized aluminum shell. Battery life seem to be better than any iPad before it, and the display, while not Retina quality, is not that bad at all. You get the 7.9-inch 1024 x 768 display powered by a dual-core A5 processor and 512MB RAM in a package that weighs just 0.68 pounds. Prices start at $329, and you can get one now from Apple.

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Knomo Saxby Business Tote

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Wearables, Features, Men, Techies, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

We've given a bunch of gadget recommendations in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide, and now it's time we mention a fantastic bag to carry them all. This year we recommend the Knomo Saxby Business Tote. We've been using it over the past few months, and it's fantastic. The Saxby has a bunch of pockets, allowing you to appropriately separate things like your iPad from your notebook, and having neither of them come in contact with your keys or pens, thanks to its 4 exterior pockets, 2 interior pouch pockets, 1 interior zip pocket, and 1 interior padded laptop pocket. The size is great, and the look is really classy too (we went with the shiny navy, but you can also get it in matte black, gray, and slate.) Knomo makes high-quality, well-made bags, and this is as fine a laptop bag as you'll find. You can pick up the Knomo Saxby on Amazon starting at $119.99.

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: LEGO City Mining Truck

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Toys, Kids, Under $100, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

We think that LEGO sets are a super-fun holiday gift for kids that also gets the creative juices flowing, and the LEGO City Mining Truck is our pick for our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide. It's got a few cool, custom features like large all-terrain wheels, dumping function, dynamite with timer and big rock containing 2 gold crystals and 3 gold nuggets. The Mining Truck measures over 4-inches high, 7-inches wide, and 5-inches long. The set includes miner minifigure. You can pick up the LEGO City Mining Truck for $32.06 on Amazon.

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: DarbeeVision Darbee Darblet

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Techies, Under $500,

If you've got a home theater nut in your life and you wanna get them a gift that they'll use on an almost daily basis with joy, you'll wanna check out the Darbee Darblet, our next recommendation in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide. So, what's so special about the oddly-named Darblet? Well, it just makes your high-definition content look amazing. No, really, this is like nothing you've ever seen before. It adds a level of depth and clarity that is unmatched, all with a simple set-it-and-forget it interface. You can pick up the Darbee Darblet on Amazon.

Still not convinced? Check out our Darbee Darblet review, and Darblet unboxing gallery.

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2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Sony SDHC flash memory cards

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Hot Deals, Women, Men, Techies, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

We try and feature some lust-worthy gadgets in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide, but we also like to call out great deals on things that you need for those gadgets as well, and that's why we are recommending the 32GB and 16GB Sony SDHC class 10 flash memory cards. Amazon currently has an amazing deal on these cards, sellign each at a substantial discount. The 32GB cards are 67% off, while the 16GB variety are 65% off. Of course, you can use these in anything from a digital camera, to the new Wii U, to simple file storage for your computer. Check them out on Amazon now!

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