The state of the art in DCC sound decoders is Soundtraxx's Tsunami decoder; 16-bit sound, huge memory, full back-emf motor control which is linked to sound to adjust effects and volumes as to how hard the loco is working, and lots more. Such animals are in the Moderate class of gadget prices, but of course just one is not nearly enough. By the way, for any other modellers among you -- even though I'm British, I model US Colorado narrow gauge in HOn3.

Figure T shows a Tsunami with a quarter-dollar to give some scale. Each controller is about $120.

FIGURE T


The Tsunamis are tiny, but make a big noise. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Senior technical editor Jason Perlow has a more fashionable suggestion:

A custom tailored Cuban Guayabera shirt from the legendary Ramon Puig in Miami, made of hotel quality linen. This is the Guayabera of U.S. presidents and movie stars. The original "cool" tropical shirt. I walked into this place yesterday and Rachel dragged me out, kicking and screaming.

I'm about three hours from Miami. I may just have to head down to Ramon Puig and get me one of these shirts, shown in Figure U!

FIGURE U


This is some guy, in a shirt. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Benjamin Meyer helps us flash back to a simpler time, when Optimus Prime was dedicated to protecting all life. He tells us that Hasbro recently made a updated version of the 1980s Optimus Prime toy, calling it the Masterpiece Optimus Prime. The new toy was a big hit for those who collected Transformers and those who simply remember the toys and had to pick it up. The U.S. version, shown in Figure V, retails for about $90 the one in Japan, which came with long smoke stacks, is about $120 imported.

FIGURE V


Optimus Prime is the Big Kahuna of Transformers. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Benjamin, apparently, is a very serious Tranformers fan. He told us about a golden Optimus Prime he'd managed to track down:

Now in Japan there was a contest where they gave away 10 of these toys plated in gold. I recently was able to track down a winner and, after negotiation, was able to buy it from him. The gold version of this toy sells between $3,000 and $6,000. So to sum up, the new Optimus Prime toy kicks ass and would make a great gift by itself, but way more cooler is the Gold version.

Benjamin also sent us a pile of useful links, including one to a review of the toy and a link to a Web site about his golden Optimus.

Denise waxes poetic about gift certificates
Finally, we continue Denise' theme about gift certificates:

Once again, I recommend the Amazon Gift Certificate. Any person who knows how to pop open a browser window, type in a URL, and do a simple search can choose from all kinds of stuff. The sky's the limit. New pots and pans. A coat. CDs, DVDs, books. Wouldn't you rather they have something they really want, anyway?

Noticing a trend here? Back when I was a kid and I didn't know what to buy someone, my mom would suggest I get something that I would enjoy or something that they probably wouldn't buy for themselves. Really, my mom's approach to gift giving probably provides a deep insight into why I ended up with so many polyresin knick-knacks -- Teddy bears, unicorns, smiling bunnies holding candy canes -- and so many nightgowns, and ugly pocketbooks.

A person could spend years in therapy working through his or her resentment around why Mother was buying gifts for the child she wished she had, instead of the one she actually had. But we love our moms, and for some reason I still feel compelled to follow (and even pass along) the bad advice my mom gave me on choosing gifts. See, I enjoy getting Amazon Gift Certificates. And that's why I recommend giving them!

I so understand. My mom used to tell me she was cold, so I had to bundle up.

Moms... They're full of love and we do love them so.

And, on that homage to family values, it's time to wrap up this amazingly long article. Frankly, we probably have another fifty suggestions, but we're just about out of figure letters. Stay tuned in January for more interesting ideas for gifts, gadgets, and fun. And -- of course -- next week, we've got some incredibly cheap and even some incredibly tacky gifts for you to give.

David Gewirtz is the author of How To Save Jobs and Where Have All The Emails Gone? For more than 20 years, he has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com and you can follow him at http://www.twitter.com/DavidGewirtz.