Okay so it's the 23rd and I know for a fact I'm not the only one who still has people on their list. If you're reading this at 11pm with a half-empty eggnog mug wondering what to grab tomorrow, here's what I'd actually buy.
If they've got an iPhone already
Skip trying to buy them a new phone (the 4S lines have finally died down a bit but it's still a gamble two days out). Instead just get an iTunes gift card, $25 or $50, from basically any drugstore or grocery store checkout rack. I used to think gift cards were a cop-out present but honestly with the App Store the way it is now, everybody's got some game or app they've been eyeing. My brother-in-law spent his entire Thanksgiving iTunes card on fart-sound apps for his kids and I choose to believe that was money well spent.
The Kindle Fire situation
If you can actually find one. Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire has been selling like crazy since it came out in November and a lot of Best Buys and Targets near me were already sold out by last weekend. Worth a phone call before you drive anywhere. If you strike out, the plain old Kindle (the little $79 one, not the Fire) is still sitting on shelves everywhere and honestly for a lot of people, especially parents and grandparents, it's actually the better gift. Less to figure out, no app store rabbit hole, just books.
For the Android person in your life
Anybody who's into phones has probably heard about the Galaxy Nexus, which is the first phone running Ice Cream Sandwich, and it's a genuinely nice piece of hardware. But it's a carrier-specific, contract-signing kind of purchase, not really a stocking-stuffer situation. What you CAN do last minute is grab them a decent case or a car mount, that kind of thing. Amazon Basics chargers are like six bucks and everybody secretly needs a spare.
Quick aside because I can't not mention it: if you're buying anybody a phone this week, maybe read up on the whole Carrier IQ thing first. It's been all over the tech blogs the last few weeks, this software that ships on a ton of phones and logs way more than it should. Doesn't mean don't buy a phone, just, know what you're handing someone.
Cheap and easy stuff that doesn't require a store
- A decent pair of headphones. Not the earbuds that come in the box, actual over-ear ones. You can get something reasonable for under $30 that'll make a bigger difference to someone's daily life than half the gadgets on this list.
- A USB flash drive loaded up with old family photos, scanned in. Costs you an hour and like eight bucks for the drive itself, and grandparents lose their minds over this every single time.
- Streaming gift codes, Netflix or Hulu Plus, if you know they've already got the hardware for it.
The thing nobody wants to hear
If you truly have nothing and it's already the 23rd, an Amazon gift card is not a lazy gift, it's a smart one, and anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't tried buying a graphics card for someone whose PC specs you don't actually know. I did that once for my cousin two years back, bought him a video card that didn't even fit his case, and he was too polite to tell me for like three weeks. Never again.
Also, just as a general public service announcement going into the new year: if the person you're shopping for cares even a little about internet policy, SOPA hearings happened this week in the House Judiciary Committee and it's worth them knowing about it, gift or no gift. Not exactly wrapping paper material but it's going to matter more in a few weeks than whatever's under the tree.
Anyway. Stores close early tomorrow in most places, so don't wait until after lunch.