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Finding Affordable Gadget Gifts May Be Easier Than You Think
Aired November 29, 2002 - 14:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Many shoppers tell us they will spend less than years, so with that in mind, for all of the tight wads like me, you can look at some affordable gadgets with our CNN technology correspondent...
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: And me, OK.
PHILLIPS: ... Daniel Sieberg. My other buddy that's a tight wad.
SIEBERG: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tight wad.
PHILLIPS: Yes, there we go. I know. It's TNT (ph).
SIEBERG: Yes, yes.
PHILLIPS: But we just don't explode. OK, So, first of all, the DVD?
SIEBERG: Sure, yes.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: You know, everybody has got -- just about everybody has got a techy on their wish list, you know, people looking to buy them gadgets.
PHILLIPS: Right.
SIEBERG: And what we've got here are some affordable gadgets. We're going to start with the DVD player. You know, even today, portable DVD players go for several hundred dollars, and years ago, you couldn't get one for less than several hundred dollars. Now, people are going to be really surprised what this one goes for. It is made by a company called Shinsonic under the brand name of Initial, and it goes for $200.
PHILLIPS: That's not bad.
SIEBERG: Now, what you see here is what you're sacrificing is the screen size, because you can see here, the screen size is actually fairly small. You know, a lot of laptops and notebooks people have these days actually have the ability to play DVDs, and the screen size is much bigger.
But -- and the other thing we should point out is the rechargeable battery... PHILLIPS: How does it last?
SIEBERG: Yes, the battery is the key thing here. A lot of them have a short-term battery life, and in this case, it lasts for about two hours when you're playing a movie, about four hours on standby time. So, if you've got a long movie or you've got a long flight, you want to take it with you. You're going to be out of luck.
PHILLIPS: That's it.
SIEBERG: It's just not going to last that long.
PHILLIPS: Oh, OK.
SIEBERG: But you can plug it in, and again, it is obviously very portable. It comes with this little remote control you can see down in front here, which is also very portable and very tiny. And it has all of the normal features you would think of with a DVD player, and a lot of inputs and outputs, by the way.
PHILLIPS: That would keep the kids busy for a while.
SIEBERG: Yes, you know, in the back seat, exactly.
PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. The Palm Pilot, now this is my Palm right here, if I want to try and learn how to...
SIEBERG: Or some paper.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. Writing on my arm.
SIEBERG: Right, Palm is a company many people are familiar with when it comes to personal digital systems or PDAs. But they've come out with one that's very low-end, and it's basic. You're sort of getting what you pay for, but it is $100. It's called the Palm Desire. It has got all of the basic organizer functions you would think of with a PDA, but it doesn't have any Internet capabilities. So, you wouldn't be able to the surfing, you know, of the Web, and send e-mail and that sort of thing. But for $100, you get all of the basic functions with...
PHILLIPS: Not a bad deal.
SIEBERG: Yes, you know, the typical organizer stuff, and so that's something you might want to look out for.
PHILLIPS: And this cool little keyboard?
SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Wow!
SIEBERG: You see, you unfold that, about the size of a PDA.
PHILLIPS: It's got the infrared.
SIEBERG: If typing with this stylist is just too small on your PDA, this is what these keyboards are for. It's made by Pocket Top.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: And goes for about $100. It folds open to reveal this keyboard. It uses an infrared feature.
PHILLIPS: Do the Vanna White thing here.
SIEBERG: Yes, right.
PHILLIPS: There we go.
SIEBERG: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and this uses an infrared port to connect to your PDA. You have you to download some software to your PDA if you want to use it, but once you do, you can just set it up right next to your PDA and type on it. It has a lot of shortcut features on it as well, and it goes for $100, and portable as well.
PHILLIPS: Wow, that's pretty cool.
SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: You can see how old my hands look. OK, let's move on the next...
SIEBERG: I wasn't going to put my hands on there, OK?
PHILLIPS: What's the last one?
SIEBERG: And now finally, we've got -- you know, a lot of people are looking for a way to talk on their cell phone that's hands-free. And we've seen some of the ones where you've got a wire hanging down.
PHILLIPS: Right.
SIEBERG: This one is meant to eliminate that. It's made by RadioShack. It goes for about $90, and...
PHILLIPS: I'm going to put it on your ear.
SIEBERG: Oh, OK.
PHILLIPS: I look dike a dork. I want to see you. You make it look a lot more cool.
SIEBERG: All right, it's a little bit Star Trekie, and the idea behind it is it slips over your ear like this.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: And there's an actual earpiece here, if you can see that. It goes right into your ear, and it's meant to just slide over your ear and sit in like that. And I've got my glasses on, so it's a bit hard to get it on, but...
PHILLIPS: High-tech Lily Tomlin. SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Operator?
SIEBERG: The idea is that it's working with a 900 megahertz connection, and what that means is it's like your cordless phone. And the unit that we can see here, this is actually connected to my old cell phone.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I know. We were talking about how CNN needs to update Daniel's cell phone.
SIEBERG: Yes, help, help -- bad news for the tech guy. But this is the receiver that you actually plug into your cell phone. This is what goes in your ear, so you can see there are no wires obviously between the receiver...
PHILLIPS: How much is this?
SIEBERG: This goes for about $100.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: It's just come out, and made by RadioShack. And the only thing we noticed about it is you need to recharge it with your cigarette lighter in your car, so a little unconventional that way. But you know, if you're looking for something hands-free, this one would be the way to go.
PHILLIPS: And that's a good deal.
SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right, and also, we've been talking about these gadgets, but before we go, that Web site again about finding a gift.
SIEBERG: Oh, yes, cnn.com/holiday shopping.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: And I don't think you'll find any of these ones there, but we do mention them on the site, I have something on the site you can go to and find out more about these gadgets.
PHILLIPS: It gives you a bunch of great ideas also.
SIEBERG: Yes, and some great ways to go about making all of your preferences, we can see there, and deciding on who you want to buy for.
PHILLIPS: Daniel Sieberg, thank you so much. Great ideas.
SIEBERG: All right, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Think>
Aired November 29, 2002 - 14:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Many shoppers tell us they will spend less than years, so with that in mind, for all of the tight wads like me, you can look at some affordable gadgets with our CNN technology correspondent...
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: And me, OK.
PHILLIPS: ... Daniel Sieberg. My other buddy that's a tight wad.
SIEBERG: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tight wad.
PHILLIPS: Yes, there we go. I know. It's TNT (ph).
SIEBERG: Yes, yes.
PHILLIPS: But we just don't explode. OK, So, first of all, the DVD?
SIEBERG: Sure, yes.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: You know, everybody has got -- just about everybody has got a techy on their wish list, you know, people looking to buy them gadgets.
PHILLIPS: Right.
SIEBERG: And what we've got here are some affordable gadgets. We're going to start with the DVD player. You know, even today, portable DVD players go for several hundred dollars, and years ago, you couldn't get one for less than several hundred dollars. Now, people are going to be really surprised what this one goes for. It is made by a company called Shinsonic under the brand name of Initial, and it goes for $200.
PHILLIPS: That's not bad.
SIEBERG: Now, what you see here is what you're sacrificing is the screen size, because you can see here, the screen size is actually fairly small. You know, a lot of laptops and notebooks people have these days actually have the ability to play DVDs, and the screen size is much bigger.
But -- and the other thing we should point out is the rechargeable battery... PHILLIPS: How does it last?
SIEBERG: Yes, the battery is the key thing here. A lot of them have a short-term battery life, and in this case, it lasts for about two hours when you're playing a movie, about four hours on standby time. So, if you've got a long movie or you've got a long flight, you want to take it with you. You're going to be out of luck.
PHILLIPS: That's it.
SIEBERG: It's just not going to last that long.
PHILLIPS: Oh, OK.
SIEBERG: But you can plug it in, and again, it is obviously very portable. It comes with this little remote control you can see down in front here, which is also very portable and very tiny. And it has all of the normal features you would think of with a DVD player, and a lot of inputs and outputs, by the way.
PHILLIPS: That would keep the kids busy for a while.
SIEBERG: Yes, you know, in the back seat, exactly.
PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. The Palm Pilot, now this is my Palm right here, if I want to try and learn how to...
SIEBERG: Or some paper.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. Writing on my arm.
SIEBERG: Right, Palm is a company many people are familiar with when it comes to personal digital systems or PDAs. But they've come out with one that's very low-end, and it's basic. You're sort of getting what you pay for, but it is $100. It's called the Palm Desire. It has got all of the basic organizer functions you would think of with a PDA, but it doesn't have any Internet capabilities. So, you wouldn't be able to the surfing, you know, of the Web, and send e-mail and that sort of thing. But for $100, you get all of the basic functions with...
PHILLIPS: Not a bad deal.
SIEBERG: Yes, you know, the typical organizer stuff, and so that's something you might want to look out for.
PHILLIPS: And this cool little keyboard?
SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Wow!
SIEBERG: You see, you unfold that, about the size of a PDA.
PHILLIPS: It's got the infrared.
SIEBERG: If typing with this stylist is just too small on your PDA, this is what these keyboards are for. It's made by Pocket Top.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: And goes for about $100. It folds open to reveal this keyboard. It uses an infrared feature.
PHILLIPS: Do the Vanna White thing here.
SIEBERG: Yes, right.
PHILLIPS: There we go.
SIEBERG: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and this uses an infrared port to connect to your PDA. You have you to download some software to your PDA if you want to use it, but once you do, you can just set it up right next to your PDA and type on it. It has a lot of shortcut features on it as well, and it goes for $100, and portable as well.
PHILLIPS: Wow, that's pretty cool.
SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: You can see how old my hands look. OK, let's move on the next...
SIEBERG: I wasn't going to put my hands on there, OK?
PHILLIPS: What's the last one?
SIEBERG: And now finally, we've got -- you know, a lot of people are looking for a way to talk on their cell phone that's hands-free. And we've seen some of the ones where you've got a wire hanging down.
PHILLIPS: Right.
SIEBERG: This one is meant to eliminate that. It's made by RadioShack. It goes for about $90, and...
PHILLIPS: I'm going to put it on your ear.
SIEBERG: Oh, OK.
PHILLIPS: I look dike a dork. I want to see you. You make it look a lot more cool.
SIEBERG: All right, it's a little bit Star Trekie, and the idea behind it is it slips over your ear like this.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: And there's an actual earpiece here, if you can see that. It goes right into your ear, and it's meant to just slide over your ear and sit in like that. And I've got my glasses on, so it's a bit hard to get it on, but...
PHILLIPS: High-tech Lily Tomlin. SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Operator?
SIEBERG: The idea is that it's working with a 900 megahertz connection, and what that means is it's like your cordless phone. And the unit that we can see here, this is actually connected to my old cell phone.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I know. We were talking about how CNN needs to update Daniel's cell phone.
SIEBERG: Yes, help, help -- bad news for the tech guy. But this is the receiver that you actually plug into your cell phone. This is what goes in your ear, so you can see there are no wires obviously between the receiver...
PHILLIPS: How much is this?
SIEBERG: This goes for about $100.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: It's just come out, and made by RadioShack. And the only thing we noticed about it is you need to recharge it with your cigarette lighter in your car, so a little unconventional that way. But you know, if you're looking for something hands-free, this one would be the way to go.
PHILLIPS: And that's a good deal.
SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right, and also, we've been talking about these gadgets, but before we go, that Web site again about finding a gift.
SIEBERG: Oh, yes, cnn.com/holiday shopping.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SIEBERG: And I don't think you'll find any of these ones there, but we do mention them on the site, I have something on the site you can go to and find out more about these gadgets.
PHILLIPS: It gives you a bunch of great ideas also.
SIEBERG: Yes, and some great ways to go about making all of your preferences, we can see there, and deciding on who you want to buy for.
PHILLIPS: Daniel Sieberg, thank you so much. Great ideas.
SIEBERG: All right, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Think>
