Inexpensive gift ideas for those who love high-tech gadgets

Wanting to be a good American and do my part for the national economy, I headed out to my van.

There were eight shopping days left. I had a half tank of gas, a shiny credit card and 18 festive tunes on the Christmas CD I burned on my computer.

“Chesnuts roasting…” Nat King Cole and I began crooning.

As I drove off on my mission, two questions that have perplexed men for decades crossed my own mind — What is a chestnut? And what do women want?

I had three teenage daughters, a wife, a mother and a mother-in-law to think about. Plus I have two sisters, seven sisters-in-law and 22 or so nieces.

And then there are all the guys, including my son, my dad, my father-in-law, my brothers and brothers-in-law and umpteen nephews and assorted hangers-on.

I needed to get warmed up by looking at some fun tech stuff.

“Ho. Ho. Ho,” I said into the Nextel speaker as I two-wayed my brother, Mike.

“That’s funny. I was just talking to Joe and Bob about the same thing,” Mike’s voice crackled from the speaker.

When we finished talking I had some good ideas for last-minute inexpensive gadget gifts, courtesy of three of my brothers.

Pinpoint accuracy

One of the coolest new tools on the shelves is straight out of a ’60s James Bond movie or an Austin Powers flick. I know you want one to, so hold up two fingers on each hand and say it with me: “LAA-zer.”

That’s the key component in Black and Decker’s Bulls Eye Laser Level/Stud Finder, which runs about $69.99.

It shoots a laser dot across the wall or floor that lets you mark your project accurately and helps you keep it lined up level.

It’s great for home projects, like building a deck, hanging wallpaper, putting up a shelf or almost anything else that you need to be straight and true.

Plus, there’s the brag factor of being able to pull out a high-tech tool.

“You need help with that picture? Let me get my LAA-zer level,” you can say, in your best Dr. Evil voice.

No applause, please

It happens to almost everyone: You’re heading out to your car, you’re late and you realize you can’t find your keys.

Thanks to a new product, all you have to do is clap your hands.

Strangely, it’s not called the “Key Clapper.” Instead, it’s called the “Sound Activated Key Finder with Microlite.”

If you have it attached to your keys, it will respond to a clapping sound by emitting a beeping signal. And you follow the beeping sound to your keys. A tiny attached flashlight makes it easy to find dark keyholes at night.

These little items, which run off lithium button cell batteries, go for about $15 each. (See it at http://shop.store.yahoo.com/giftique-gifts/elwinscrap.html.)

Quick thaw

Another car-related gift is something I could have used in past winters following ice storms — an Electric Windshield Scraper.

You plug the attached long cord into your lighter outlet and in two minutes, the “deluxe heating element” goes to work to help loosen the ice as you scrape. You can find this $18 item at www.150uniquegifts.com/elwinscrap.html.

Lighting the way

The first tool I’m likely to hunt for in my tool box is a screwdriver. And Craftsman has a fairly cheap one — the 3.6 volt Cordless ScrewDriver.

For $19.99, you get a screwdriver that also will double as a nut driver.

What’s cool about it is it projects a light on your project to help you see what you’re doing.

Who wouldn’t want a light on their reversible cordless screwdriver?

Oh, Christmas tree

After driving around and looking through a lot of stores, I decided to go home and talk it over with my wife before going too wild on the gifts.

I thought that she, the girls and my son could use some cool tech toys. And probably some other things too. You know, like some stuff that you wear.

“Do you have everybody’s lists?” I asked her. “I have some ideas to get us started.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry. I already bought everything,” she said, running through a lengthy report of gifts.

“No, we’re done,” she kept saying. “But you can still go out and get the tree.”

Maybe I’ll get some chestnuts, too, whatever they are.