Dolls and puzzles are still popular items, but Santa, it would appear, has high-tech elves on the payroll.
It isn't just the fact that Consumer Electronics Association of Arlington, Va., expects electronic items to make up a quarter of all gifts purchased this year. That adds up to more than $20 billion in sales, according to the association.
Drop by your local toy emporium, such as Toys R Us at Westlake Shopping Center in Peoria, and notice how much space is taken up by video games, DVDs and other electronic items.
Apple Inc.'s iPhone has shaken up the "smart phone" business and set other manufacturers scrambling to add features and make it easier to get e-mail, surf the Web and enjoy music and movies on a cell phone.
Verizon released a bevy of new phones for the season - from the Wireless Juke, which can store up to 500 songs, to the Voyager, with built-in stereo speakers to go along with its TV screen.
Verizon also just released the BlackBerry Peart smart phone, the first Blackberry that includes a camera, said spokeswoman Carolyn Schamberger from Verizon's Chicago office.
AT&T offers a BlackBerry of its own for the holiday season called the Curve. This model has a built-in Global Positioning System for the most venturesome of travelers. The model can make or receive phone calls in more than 190 countries, according to AT&T.
GPS units are among the hottest items that consumers are looking for this season, said Tim Born, manager of Westlake Shopping Center's Circuit City store. "They've come down a lot in price. Models that used to sell for $300 are now half that price," he said.
That was one of the items on John Amdall's wish list. The director of research and technology for Caterpillar Inc., Amdall recently purchased a Garmin GPS system. "I also went for a serious upgrade in vacuum systems for my woodshop," he said.
But GPS systems aren't the only electronic favorites this year. TV lovers never had it better. As the early-2009 deadline for the end of analog television programming gets closer, digital sets continue to flourish.
WMBD-TV promotion director David Tomlianovich figures it might be time to purchase a high-definition TV set.
Over at Modern TV, 325 E. Lake St., service technician Dave Smith would like to have a few more of the TV sets that have a cable card. "People aren't aware of these models, but you don't need a cable box with them. You can record in HD without a box," he said.
Smith added that the cable-card models are becoming increasingly scarce. "I've heard they're working on some new card models with two-way communication. You'd be able to push a button and order films on demand," said Smith.
Satellite and cable TV operators offer digital video recorders, but for those willing to spend a bit extra, TiVo has now added Internet goodies, such as the ability to rent or buy videos directly from Amazon.com's Unbox download service or access to the Rhapsody music subscription service.
Just in time for the holidays, TiVo recently dropped its monthly service charge from $16.95 to $12.95 per month.
Confused about high-definition DVDs? The battle between the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats hasn't yet yielded a clear winner, so this holiday season you'll still see "Spider-Man 3" only in Blu-ray or "The Bourne Ultimatum" in HD DVD. If you don't want to end up with a useless piece of equipment but still want a taste of the crisp, clear pictures of HD, perhaps game consoles can be your answer. PlayStation3 has a built-in Blu-ray drive and is one of the most affordable Blu-ray players on the market, while an HD DVD player can be added onto the Xbox 360.
One of the big items Santa will be bringing this Christmas is the digital photo frame, a little unit that allows you to enjoy your favorite music while you're looking at your favorite photographs. Phillips has a model that also incorporates a clock radio into the package. Circuit City's Born said the digital frames were among the Peoria store's most popular items in its big day-after-Thanksgiving sale.
If you like listening to music on your old stereo system, you can take note of what excites Brian Ford of Prairie Technology Alliance in Pekin: a Wireless-G Music Bridge.
This device lets you bring the digital music streaming through your computer to your stereo - without running any cables through the house. "You don't need to listen to music through little computer speakers," said Ford.
Speaking of music, that's what interests Marc Burnett, the marketing director of the Peoria Civic Center. As a result, he's looking at picking up an eight-track digital recorder this year. "Recording software has come down in price dramatically," he said.
But not all the holiday shoppers looking for electronic items are at the mall. Some visit Retro-Tech Electronics, 401 NE Rock Island Ave., a second-hand store adjacent to the electronics recycling center.
"Many of the electronics that we sell have a great deal of life in them and it generally makes little sense to buy new when people's tastes are fickle," said executive director Michael Hodge.
"We as a society should be more happy with what we already have versus being convinced that we need to 'stay current.' For example, I use a laptop that's seven years old," he said.
While Retro-Tech lacks a big advertising budget, Hodge said shoppers could be assured of finding some real bargains at his shop.
Source: http://www.pjstar.com/stories/112507/BUS_BF0V8MOD.004.php
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