Other Tech

Jarring juxtapositions of technology and design might work for the sets in a Tim Burton movie, but they usually don't for someone's home. Many custom installers find that adding high-tech gear to an older house with a well-defined architectural style can be daunting because the technology can clash with or overpower the traditional design.

After spending some time with Hitachi 's DZ-MV550A, I've seen the future of camcorders. Unlike its competitors, Hitachi isn't known for professional video equipment or photography. But it is known for disk drives, so it carved out an innovative and forward-looking niche for itself by pioneering camcorders that record directly to DVDs.

What kind of a tech nerd are you buying for? Someone who likes his audio haute? The lady with multi-pockets for multimedia devices? The dude who likes his dinosaurs remote-controlled? We combed the far reaches of circuit board-dom to find 100 presents for all types. Click on the type of gift-givee below.

Switching component video sources is a double-edged sword. For a number of reasons, there's plenty of need for it; however, until recently, it was fairly expensive to do it well (read: without adversely affecting the video signal). Still, there are a number of scenarios in which video switching, transcoding, or distributing high-resolution video (particularly HDTV signals) is important.