It’s already here!  Time to start thinking about what your favorite syndicated columnist wants this holiday season.  Peace?  Goodwill?  If you can deliver them, by all means.  My guess is that you might be a few credits shy of making that one happen.

So a quick reminder how this works.  I make a list of cool, affordable awesome. (That’s right, awesome is a noun too.)  Readers race to purchase said awesome and deliver it to me. The first reader to deliver each item earns points. (The points are new for 2009! Creative, right?)  Wait a second, have you never read this before?  If not, the idea behind “My” Techlife Gift Guide are things that I want.  Self-serving?  Yes.  So let’s begin!

I loved the book Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.  Their newest economic’s masterpiece, Super Freakonomics (yeah I said it) arrives just in time for the “big economic season.”  How fitting! I can’t wait to read it. (First delivery = 1001 points)

Call me old school, but look who’s back. Mario. Make that New Super Mario Bros. for Wii. Think back to the side scrolling days from NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Gameboy, DS….hmm I guess these guys must have Levitt’s Freakonomics. Give the masses more of what they crave, economics 101. This newest installment has our favorite plumber able to play in 4 player mode. Let’s go rescue the Princess, together! (First Delivery = 3029 points)

Our world relies heavily on power. Laptops, games, phones are power hungry. Batteries are great, but sometimes it would be nice to use the solar power staring me in the face. I want the Brunton 26 Watt Foldable Solar Array. First off, I’m not a solar expert so I need something easy.  With more than 15 reviews and 12 5 star reviews at Amazon, it seems like a great option for keeping me powered up. And hey this one benefits the buyer too, it means more Techlife can be written and delivered. No more “my power went out” excuses. (First Delivery = 8359 points)

Finally, here’s something that each reader can get me. A Pix-Star digital picture frame with FotoConnect. Why this specific model? Because if offers the chance for each frame to be able to receive new photos without a PC! With just an internet connection, it can share photos, be addressed via email, pull up photos from Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, Windows Live, Smugmug, Photobucket, Shutterfly, MobileMe, and more. It means you can update your gift to me with new photos whenever you like. How cool is that? And the kicker, no monthly fees to boot. (Each Delivery = 1304 points + bonus 293 points per photo sent)

These gifts give you a great idea of what I am looking for this holiday season. Please be generous and give your favorite writer something they can’t live without.

Wow that is an ugly title.  Let’s dissect it a little.  OLPC is the One Laptop Per Child non-profit organization that’s goal is to spread computing and learning with computers to children across the planet.  The XO Laptop is the small green and white, ruggedized computer that the OLPC uses to help fulfill this mission.

G1G1 v2 stands for Give One , Get One and v2 is version 2, since this is the second holiday season where OLPC is using their marketing muscle philanthropically inviting you to help, with a unique program.  Donate $399 via Amazon.com and an XO Laptop will be shipped to you and another XO Laptop will be shipped to a child in a country somewhere in the world.

Techlife has been using our XO Laptop for over a year now and the machine has been a big hit.  We have let various children bang on it and even loaned it out and the excitement was overwhelming.

The Techlife Gift Guide has brought you the Metrokane Corkscrew, the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard, the Tent Cot, Wired Magazine, a Skull Bowling Ball, Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, a remote controlled helicopter and the Ironman DVD.

The G1G1 program is the ultimate in tech goodness.

Goodness is in the cool laptop you will get to play with and share with a child locally.  More importantly, there are countless children who with some small aid from YOU can make a difference in the world starting today.  Economic hardship in our life is one thing, like going to Starbucks once a day or dropping the movie package from your pay-tv package.

Techlife rarely asks for anything, and now we are.  Please consider this program.  Read up on the machine and learn about it.  Then help a child.  It’s what the holidays are all about. You could always give a velociraptor in the OVPC project instead.

Original Unboxing of the OLPC XO Laptop from the G1G1 Program

The Metrokane.  Techlife may only spring for the cheap stuff but it still comes with a cork, or whatever that new age cork material is these days.  Screw tops are so European.  When we saw the Metrokane Houdini in Blue it was clearly a gadget must-have.  So which reader will do us the pleasure of sending this gift our way?  Don’t be shy, we’ll even share a bottle of wine with you.

At the Techlife offices we crave unique and ingenious the Kamp Rite Tent Cot is part Tent, part Cot, and all good.  It combines a tent and cot to keep you sleeping off the ground. Easy to setup and take down this something we are drooling over.  Be sure to check out the Double Cot model too.

Dead trees? Check. No beeps? Check. Analog page technology? Check.

We still enjoy reading, on dare we say it, on paper. There we said it. I mean sure our syndicated column, Techlife is printed so maybe that’s our love for going old school with Wired Magazine. Wired’s writers are some of the best in the business and technology world. Sure you can read them online, but live the oxymoron with us. Get us a subscription.

Strike fear into the heart of your opponent as you mess with their heads.  When you pull out this skull bowling ball, you tell all comers no one is spared with your take no prisoners bowling style.  Oh yes, tonight my friends, heads will roll!

As seen in Mystery Men and most certainly not seen in Kingpin or The Big Lebowski.  We thank you in advance for this gift.

Dear Techlife,

As a long time reader, I noticed all of a sudden a big change.  You have all these Amazon links.  I like Amazon as much as the next person but do you really think we need to have you throw it in our face like that?

Annoyed

Dear Annoyed…

Our print editor for the syndicated column asked us to write a Gift Guide for the upcoming column, so we started with the easiest solution that everyone seems to trust.  Amazon.com has been around for a while and provides a great shopping experience with reviews and photos and videos.  We wrote about them back in 2005 for “Shopping 101” and rarely do we highlight them.

The gift guide series will be over soon.  “Should we not expect a present from you this year?”  We love all the feedback from our readers.  Keep it coming.

Techlife

The Nintendo Wii is a big hit in our offices.  It works for the video game fan and the casual fan to sit down together and enjoy playing.  The most popular game in our office is the Lego Star Wars series.  Which means the Lego Batman series would certainly go over well.  Another option is always the man in the Fedora with Lego Indiana Jones.  If the person you are buying for has a Playstation or Xbox these great games are available for all systems.  BAM! POW! KER-SPLAT!

Look out Airwolf and Howlin’ Mad Murdoch its time to ditch the simulator. These remote control micro helicopter’s were our fun gift in 2008 to everyone. Of course we picked up one for Techlife but a few more wouldn’t hurt to have around for friends and clients.  Simple to understand but challenging to fly, RC Helicopters are certainly fun toys.

We’ll start off with a nice budget buy of $15.  One of the best movies of the summer was released on DVD and owning this movie to watch Robert Downey Jr, deliver his Stark-isms again and again is certainly something to cherish.  Iron Man and Stark’s performance are clearly something that we can watch until the sequel.

As you read this your holiday shopping list just increased by 1, me!  This holiday season don’t forget your favorite Techlife author who is always appreciative of a trinket or toy.  But just in case you are not sure what tickles the fancy, we have a few suggestions.

Because we love our readers we want to make your shopping as easy as possible, aren’t we thoughtful. (It’s the thought that counts right?)  We are going to sprinkle our wishlist with things that others might want too.  After all in the spirit of giving, this makes giving with others easier.

So fire up your browser and look for our gift guide articles.

New Release.  New Version.  Sequel.  The second time around audiences know what to expect and the build up is extremely exciting.  This is why we tell clients to re-invent themselves.  It is exciting for the client, their employees and their customers.  Everyone likes the makeover.

We had three exciting stories recently in Techlife that all are forms of version 2.0.  All of them are exciting and unique.

First we have a follow-up to the Techlife Gift Guide with version 2.0 of the Give 1 Get 1 program from the folks at OLPC that we wrote about last year.  You can get involved and make the donation of a lifetime, by giving the metaphorical fishing pole..

Next we have two companies who have released new versions of very popular free flash games.  XGen Studios released the new Stick Arena Ballistick and The Casual Collective released a new site with a whole bunch of upgrades and new games. We pit them head to head. (Hint we are all winners.)

Finally, we were emailed from a reader the viral video that was part of a presidential campaign starring “you” the voter.  It was a unique bit of marketing with certain Web 2.0 twist.  And while the election is over this bit of marketing is something we are sure to see more of as time goes on.

Do you have re-make, re-do, re-invention or re-ally good idea?  Share it with us.

In a jungle of endless “please hold for the next available customer service rep”, confusing phone menu trees, and brief, poorly written email exchanges acting as guides along the journey we recently burst into a pool of cool calming customer first waters. “Enough with the metaphors Techlife, I come for the meat and potatoes of these columns. ” Hey that’s a meta- nevermind. People, the energy behind change, have begun to make small shifts in their behavior at work. Each small shift is a positive push toward improving the customer experience.

A little over three years ago Techlife’s 1,000 Loyal Customers seeded the idea of thinking about the loyal customer, instead of always seeking the new customer. We followed it up with How To Provide Amazing Support detailing  not just the “how” but also a bit of the “why.” After sending these ideas into the jungle, a funny thing happened. People remarked, “Hey, that’s not a new idea.” Of course they were right, old ideas are often good places to look for ways to deliver new experiences. Here are personal stories of how companies are providing unique experiences on old ideas.

New faster Internet for FREE – yes please

Good ideas tend to stick around and good customer experience is seeing a resurgence. Comcast, yes that Comcast, the one people loathe and complain and fill internet forums with horror stories contacted me, an existing customer. They offered me free of charge a new higher speed modem with a built in router. The new modem would allow me to access their faster internet speeds and not cost anything additional. I accepted. The package would arrive in 6-8 weeks. It arrived in two weeks. Surprise again! Then the hook up was painless and easy, surprise number three.

Vrooom! Try our best toys

A local RC car store with an indoor track trains employees to make the customer happy with a simple program. They empower the teenage staff to let customers of all ages try expensive remote control cars, even though most parents just purchase $25 cars. The goal is clearly to remove any barriers and excite customers while bucking the “you break it, you buy it” philosophy. It was a lot of fun for kids and adults. Customers love the store and want to return. Best of all the store spends next to nothing on store decor and puts all their efforts into customer service.

It’s been 4 years – We still love you

Restaurant.com this week sent me an email apologizing that a local certificate I purchased in 2009 was no longer valid because the local restaurant stopped participating in their program. The funny thing is, I thought I lost the certificate and forgot I had used Restaurant.com to purchase it, plus they already had my money. They owed me nothing.  But by contacting me more than 4 years later with nothing more than, “You should choose another gift certificate ours never expire” I went back to their site, saw all the advancements they have made including a cool smart phone app that ditches the need for printed paper.

Each of these examples has the “don’t be a dumb consumer, there’s something else at work” side. But we are smart consumers who know that if Comcast gives me a new modem, I will stick with them and maybe even upgrade to a faster speed. If an adult or child plays with an expensive RC car it might turn into a birthday wish list, which results in an $85 remote control car purchase. If Restaurant.com is eager to bring back a long time customer they use honesty while also getting to show off all the new features and maybe generate more purchases.

These three examples are great, but in the past six months I have heard of many more. Readers have shared airline successes, mobile carrier wins, toy stores making kids happy, doctors who go the extra mile, and even janitors who help well outside of their realm.  What are some of the best examples you have seen and experienced?

 

Good Karma

We all have had the experience (I hope), you do something nice for someone and you feel good inside.  Good Karma.  That is what makes this article special, it’s full of good karma.  I have two software toys that I want to give you as gifts, and here’s some even better karma, they are free.  With names like Electric Sheep and Stellarium TechLife readers are in for a treat.  

More after the jump…

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