Gifts For The Techie Dad

With so many cool gadgets available, there's something for every tech-savvy dad on Father's Day.

Even if your dad isn’t as big a geek as you are, he still loves gadgets. So show him how much you care by saying “hey Dad, you’re a geek too” with a technology gift any father can be proud of.

Father’s Day is coming up soon, but there is still plenty of time to find the right gift for him. With June 19^th less than two weeks away, we figured we’d help you out so you don’t end up getting a lame necktie or other tired cliché.

One of our first stops for the coolest gifts for techies is Think Geek. From toys to shirts to USB devices, they have a huge selection of gadgets and gifts. One of their newest items, the Swiss Memory USB, is sure to be a hit with many dads. The Swiss Memory USB is a real Swiss Army knife with a built-in 64MB USB 2.0 storage drive. Besides the detachable USB flash drive, the product comes with a red LED light, a knife, a ballpoint pen, scissors, a file with a flathead screwdriver tip and the usual Swiss Army knife key ring. It is also available in a travel version, without the sharp instruments that aren’t allowed on planes.

Think Geek also has a great selection of USB related devices. How about a USB microscope? A USB air purifier? Desk Fan? Credit-card sized storage drive? Aquarium? You get the point – if he has any free USB ports, you can easily fill them up.

If your pops is in to audio, have a look at some of the great gifts available at Audio Cubes. While some may be a bit on the pricey side, the Japanese-market products are sure to turn some heads. One great gift for music-loving dads is a set of wireless headphones. They’ll help him enjoy his favorite tunes while not bothering the rest of the family. Audio Cubes’ selection includes some relatively inexpensive such as the JVC HP-Victor ALW800H Wireless Headphone/Transmitter or the Pioneer SE-DIR800 Dolby Digital Surround Headphone (shown right). If bulky headphones isn’t his thing, check out their selection of high-quality earphones too.

Besides equipment, there’s another thing that music lovers want – music. If you’re unsure of what his taste of music is these days, let him chose his own. Gift-certificates may seem like the “easy way out”, but one from an online music store is a bit cooler than one from Home Depot. Napster and iTunes both offer gift certificates, and you don’t even have to be a member to purchase them. iTunes offers gift certificates in multiples of $10, up to $200 and Napster offers them by the number of downloadable tracks, or for a certain period of time. And if you don’t want to go for music, check out the great selection of audio books, playable on PDAs, iPods and other portable devices, at Audible.com. Audible offers certificates for $20, $50 or $100 worth of downloadable books and has a huge selection for dad to choose from.

If dad is a mobile professional or just, well, mobile, there are plenty of great add-ons for his laptop, PDA or wireless phone. From hands-free headsets to flash memory to GPS modules, there are great gifts for the tech-savvy dad at all price ranges. For instance, check out the list of PDA accessories and the selection of flash memory at Newegg.com.

Newegg also has a good-sized selection of digital cameras and digital camera accessories. Flash memory is always a good bet for digital imaging fans but you can now get a quality digital camera for under $150 and even $100. The $150 Fuji FinePix A210 3.2-MegaPixel camera (pictured left) is a hot seller at Newegg and a favorite for casual photographers.

If your father has a laptop but hasn’t gone wireless yet, there are some great deals on wireless routers and WiFi cards to be had. Many stores are blowing out their 802.11b gear to make room for the newer 802.11g devices. If he’s just using it for browsing the Web and e-mailing, the up to 22Mbps of 802.11b is plenty of bandwidth for him. If he already has WiFi, you might want to look into a subscription to a mobile WiFi service such as T-Mobile Hotspot. Check out jiwire.com to see if any of his favorite coffee houses or café are “hot” and sign him up for a subscription.

Services really can be a great gift for dads. But we’re not talking hair cuts and shaves; we’re talking Internet-based services. If you’ve recently made your dad a grandpa, a membership to an online photo sharing site like ofoto or Shutterfly will go a long way. With both companies’ photo sharing options and quality prints, everyone in the family can benefit from a subscription.

As you may have noticed, a great thing about Fathers’ Day shopping is that it’s fun just to look at all of the unique gadgets out there and it can all be done without stepping into a mall. You still have plenty of time to find the right gift that will make dad think of you and smile every time he uses it. And even if you still get him a tie, you can get him one that says, in binary code, "ties suck".

If you’ve found a really cool tech gift that we haven’t listed here, or you took one of our suggestions, let us know in our forums at this link.