With summer warmth still lingering in the air (at least in the afternoons here in the Northeastern US), it's hard to turn your mind to Christmas, but in reality it's only two months away. Yikes! I'm not a terrible procrastinator, but every year, I somehow convince myself that Christmas is far off, and end up spending the last two weeks before the holiday in a manic shopping frenzy. This year will be different. I will start early, and I will find the perfect gift for everyone!
Since I adore everything pink (electronics in particular) and I know a lot of you do too, I thought I'd share some of my perfect pink discoveries (ordered from least to most expensive) with you.
Tea rose colored and nostalgia-inducing, the Princess Phone by Crosley is small, classy and indisputably feminine. Originally introduced in 1959, it has been updated with modern technology (push buttons, flash/redial and volume control) but has thankfully kept its looks. It's corded, which is a good thing - recent research suggests that cordless home phones expose you to dangerous levels (100 times more than cell phones) of electromagnetic radiation.
Sony's bubble gum colored portable DVD player DVP-FX820/P is great for watching movies on the go. While not the most imaginatively named, is does have a lot of terrific features such as an incredibly clear, crisp 8" HD swivel screen with 800x480 resolution, an external (but fits like an internal) battery which lasts up to 6 hours (tip: turning the LCD brightness level down extends the battery life), two headphone jacks, remote control and a car adapter.
The totally adorable metallic champagne pink Nikon CoolpixS60 is a digital camera which is not only a joy to look at, it's loaded with great features: 10 megapixels (meaning flawless, sharp prints up to 16x20), a 3.5" touch panel which lets you focus on a specific subject just by touching it on the screen, face-recognition, which finds the face(s) in a picture even in low light or when they're moving around, 3 different anti-blur modes, automatic red eye removal, 17 different modes including the more unusual "food", "party" and "museum" settings, and it weighs only 5.1 oz.
The iPod touch is a marvelous sleek "toy" with some terrific features: a phenomenal music player, video playback, a Safari Web browser, photo viewer, an e-mail reader and lots of other components such as weather, calendar, maps, and stocks. How about taking that toy one step further and adding some gold to it? That's precisely what Continental Mobiles, an online British luxury shop, has done. They offer the iPod touch (as well as several other iPod models) encased in 18k rose gold, adding even more sophistication to an already uber-posh gadget.
With the look of a designer handbag, Ego laptops are without a doubt the most stylish and chic notebooks I have ever seen. Made by Ego Lifestyle in the Netherlands, these gorgeous computers come in a variety of designs (check out the pale pink Destiny or the cerise Flamingo), but if you don't see anything you like, they can customize them for you. Ego's laptops are currently available in the US from Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC and Avant Gallery in Miami Beach, and in the UK at Selfridges and Harrods in London and at Gassan Diamonds at Heathrow Airport.
I hope I have given you a bit of inspiration for finding the perfect gifts for your family and friends. Remember, it's never too early to start shopping for the holidays!
Cattie writes about pink laptops and the pink gadgets that go along with them.
