mobile phones
I'm a notoriously clumsy gift-giver. Lisa, who married me anyway, even had me return her engagement ring.
The rock, according to the mineralogist who sold it to me, was a rare cut with "a unique champagne color."
Translation: The diamond, unmarketable until I came along, was dingy and coffin-shaped, with the power to suck the romance straight out of the room.
My recommendation to lovers is to play it safe. Phones are practical, and AT&T is making them pretty this year for Valentine's Day.
AT&T is adding warm colors to the LG Shine, Blackberry Curve, and other phones, for example, and offering steep discounts through Feb. 14.
The Curve, red or otherwise, is the lightest Blackberry, and it comes with a 2.0 megapixel camera (just so-so by today's standards) and TeleNav GPS Navigator capability.
And the red Shine is a great-looking slider (gotta love those LG designs) with a 2-inch mirror LCD. It has AT&T Mobile Music preloaded. It also has a 2.0 megapixel camera.
My favorite of the Valentine's Day patch is the pink Sony Ericsson Walkman 580i, a very slender music phone with stereo Bluetooth capability.
The Walkman, a slider phone, does not look much like Sony's original cassette player from decades ago. It has click-wheel controls and some handy control buttons on its cover. The 580i's cover also has lights that flash in different patterns to signal who is calling.
The Walkman doubles as an FM radio; you can preset your favorite stations. It comes loaded with PacMan and Ms. Pacman (my personal favorites), a pedometer, and fitness applications.
Digital Cameras
Camera snaps the pic between blinks
It seems that most new digital cameras can automatically focus on faces - presuming that's what you're looking for in your pictures.
But some cameras can catch a smile, too.
GE's (ge.com/digitalcameras) E1050 (about $250) camera catches both smiles and eyeballs - it takes pictures between your subjects' blinks.
The features are separate and can be turned off if they get in the way of what you're trying to accomplish.
The E1050 again shows GE's knack for turning out cheap but solid cameras with monster features.
The 10 megapixel (that's right, 10) E1050 can also send images and video to an HDTV screen, without needing a cradle for the camera. The camera can also record video in high definition.
The E1050 has touchscreen controls and a GPS receiver - very cool if you are into tying your shots to specific locations. (A handful of photo-sharing sites let you do this.)
Actually, the E1050's face-and-smile detection features do not grab me. I always saw blinks and smiles, or the lack thereof, as useful information (who is bored, who is bombed) when looking at party pictures.
If only GE could offer photographers a feature like tongue detection.
Why do those things always seem to pop out for the camera after a few drinks?
Video games
More passive bilge for 'active' gamers
Remember when the promoters of the Internet and video games argued that new media were superior to television, because they were interactive? Now, many developers seem hell-bent on turning the Web and game consoles into passive viewing portals for a zombie-fied public.
Indeed, some of the fastest-growing Web and gaming pastimes include good old-fashioned TV watching. The developers are recreating the "cool fire," only with smaller, crappier pictures.
Sony PlayStation Portable (www.us.playstation.com) players who can't bear to be away from their MTV shows can now watch them at any time.
Sony last week unveiled Beavis & Butt-head, Jackass, Aeon Flux, and other titles on Universal Media Disk. More titles are in the pipeline. The videos are available for about $15 each.
Innovative last week
No rabbit ears needed for this game
Picture a younger you (sporting a Flock of Seagulls haircut, or wearing shoulder pads, no doubt), yanking your joystick in Pole Position II, the classic and addictive car-racing game from the 1980s.
You once played Pole Position in front of a TV, probably one with rabbit ears and tinfoil. Now you can download the game from the iTunes store, and play it on your iPod.
Namco (namcogames.com) last week released Pole Position: Remix, a 25th anniversary edition, punched up with new graphics and voiceovers. (Namco has also created a version of Ms. Pacman for the iPod.)
You can even play your own music while you play Pole Position, and display each tune's cover art on the billboards along the side of the track.
