I have real trouble buying Valentine’s Day presents for my husband. Either the things I want to buy are a tad too expensive, or we end up lapsing into buying the things we both love, which include graphic novels, game related paraphernalia or tattoos.
No ad to show here.
I have however done a bit of research this year and managed to track down some awesome geeky bits and pieces that I think would appropriate for the technophile in your life. All of these range in price, so it always of course depends on how much you want to spend, but let’s pretend for a moment that money is no object for most of us.
Although I personally don’t have one, I have been sorely tempted in recent months to buy a Kindle e-reader, and if you’re looking at a slightly more expensive gift for your bibliophile Valentine, then this is a good choice.
The Kindle comes in a variety of models, which range in price from the entry-level basic at US$69 all the way up to the Kindle Fire HD at US$499.
Whilst the US$69 e-reader is really only designed to read books digitally, and doesn’t offer many more features, the Fire HD has a front facing camera, web browsing, apps and games and appears to be designed as a cheaper alternative to the iPad.
This next gift is something that definitely appeals to my geeky nature, especially since I like things that are somewhat obscure. The TeknoCharm bracelet is a piece of interactive jewellery designed to work specifically with your smartphone. It’s a solid silver QR code and you can encode your own personalized message and picture. When scanned, your Valentine will see a special message just for them.
It doesn’t come without a cost however, it will set you back US$99 for the novelty of a smartphone message, but would make an awesome proposal idea for the smartphone geek looking for something different.
iPod Nano
It might not be the most original tech gift in the world (actually it’s probably the most boring on this list), but I felt compelled to include it for some reason. Perhaps your boy/girlfriend isn’t into the super nerdy stuff like rest of us, but they still want you to buy them something other than a lame card (this is not saying all cards are lame, it’s an attack against LAME cards).
Anyway, the new iPod Nano redesign is rather pretty, and if your Valentine has been looking for an MP3 player, this is a good choice that comes in a variety of colours.
And it’s the same size as a credit card. Apparently. I haven’t measured this to see if it’s true. But it looks pretty darn awesome. Starts at R1 799 for the 16GB model.
Your girlfriend loves flowers. But sadly they always die within a couple of days leaving nothing behind but a dried, forgotten, fallen petal and a slightly off smell from when they started to wilt.
Not this bouquet. These pixellated flowers never need watering, and this bouquet is guaranteed never to wilt. If you’re lucky enough to have an old-school gamer girlfriend, I can guarantee that she will love having this on her desk till the end of time. Yes, that long. If not, well you can give them to me. I won’t tell. US$9.99 from Think Geek.
Lastly, if you still keep an actual physical diary, or are a creative type like myself and like to keep a sketchbook handy, then this is something that goes down well every time – either as a gift for that special someone, or as a little gift for yourself.
Many people are familiar with the plain black Moleskine journals, as used by the likes of Van Gogh, Picasso and Hemingway, but now you can find them in a whole, custom collection, including Star Wars, The Hobbit and Lego.
Obviously pricing varies depending on size and format (diary, ruled, plain etc) but one of these will set you back in the region of R150-R250.
What will you be buying your techie Valentine this year? One of these awesome gifts I hope!
Image: Techno Charm via Youbestengagement.com
Image: 8-bit flowers via cdnl.complex
Image: Limited Moleskines via gadgetsin
Lead image: Pixel hearts via Deviantart
