GadgetsAndGifts4U

2006 Holiday gifts with a retro look & a Latin feel!

Haven’t you noticed lately that the fashion, electronics and toy worlds are going retro and marketing to the Hispanic market. From classic video games, to Hispanic toys. Frank Gomez from LatinInsights a New York based market research and a strategic communications firm says “Hispanics value and want to preserve their heritage. Language is the most important part of that heritage. Therefore, quality, well-built and pedagogically sound products that respect and impart culture and language will be increasingly in demand.”

Facts also prove that Hispanic’s are not only are the largest minority, the also spend $650 billion annually, and that console gaming is more popular with the Hispanic population than any other ethnic group, online gaming is one of the hottest, cross-cultural trends today, 25 percent of Hispanics are gamers.

Below are some of the hottest and unique products that crossover from Hispanics to Non-Hispanics

TOYS

HIP DOLLS: Hottiez from Chic Boutique reflects the growing cultural mix in this country. One such doll is a Hispanic character named (Tahlia). This street-wise name infuses the characters, all 5 of them, with all of the attributes of being a Hottiez: smart, fashion minded, good citizen, good student, good person.

MiJos means “my children” in Spanish is a new Hispanic-inspired toy line created by HomieShop founder and well-known Hispanic artist David Gonzalez. It’s been picked up by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target, and has grown to include four books published by Scholastic, a line of Mijos clothing at Wal-Mart and Buster Brown & Co. footwear. The MiJos are a tightly knit group of little Latino kids growing up in an American city. MiJos is targeted to the growing Hispanic population in
the U.S. and to all ethnic backgrounds. The first collection consists of six, 6-in. action figures with names as Bubba, Dre and Spooky. Price $6.99, each, www.mijos.com.

BILINGUAL EDUCATIONAL TOYS: LeapPad Sistema de Aprendizaje (LeapPad Learning System), is designed for children between 4-8 years of age and teaches them to read. They touch the page with a magic pencil to listen to letters and words, spell words and listen to them phonetically. Or they may delight in Spanish and English interactive books that include Winnie the Pooh, The Lion King, and the Disney Princesses, and See and Learn, by Richard Scarry, in Spanish. Price: $49.99
¡Party en la casa! (Fiesta in the House!), another toy in the LeapPad series, features Oscar, a singing robot who helps children welcome their new neighbors, Rosa and Ben, to their home. “Fiesta in the Town!” presents a mailman who takes the children to fun and educational locations in their city. Price: $14.99

DISNEY LITTLE PRINCESS (Playmates) – Are the first Disney Princess dolls that depict the princesses as toddlers. Beautiful 15″ large dolls with rotocast head, arms and legs. Each princess has beautiful rooted hair, painted eyes and is dressed in her signature costume. New this year to the line are Ice Skating Belle, Holiday Cinderella and Tinkerbell. Also new are the color changing dolls which come as Belle, Mulan, Jasmine, Cinderella, Pocahontas and Ariel.

LEGO CLIKITS – Girls six and up can make and re-make stylish accessories with this versatile fashion design system. From cool necklaces, hot bangle bracelets and rings (Cool Starry Jewels, $6.99, or Ultimate Jewelry Collection, $19.99) to stylish desk accessories (Designer Desk Set, $12.99, or My Special Storage Space, $34.99) and cute trinkets for stockings (Flowered Hair Bands, $3.99 or My Starry Notes, $4.99), Winner of the toy industry’s Best Activity Toy of the Year award.

SPEEDEES HUMMER H2 SPEED SITY PLAYSET (Playmates) – This black Hummer comes equipped with chrome detailed rims, front grill, overtop luggage rack and comes packed with two glow-in-the-dark Speedeez vehicles, the Hummer H2 and Chevy Avalanche. In seconds, the two-toys-in-one Hummer H2 quickly transforms from a free-rolling SUV to side by side race tracks, an airport, drag strip, launchers, ramps, bridges, and includes an off road site for 4-wheelin’ action. Price: $34.99.

NOAH’S ARK - Floats on the water. With working crane, a store room for bales of hay, cages in the hull, and sleeping room in the roof. Plenty of accessories! And 13 pairs of animals, of course! Price: $69.99, http://store.playmobilusa.com

DVD

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (Fox, Letterbox, R, Not for Children, $24) Mel Gibson’s personal port rail of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The dialogue is spoken in the ancient Aramaic language, along with Latin and Hebrew. Available in Spanish.

STAR WARS TRIOGY (Fox Home Entertainment, Widescreen, $69.98) – The four-disc DVD set from Lucasfilm Ltd. includes more than 10 hours of entertainment from the original Star Wars films with a new trailer of Star Wars Episode III: Return of Darth Vader, extraordinary picture and sound quality, and tons of never-before-seen video.

SHREK: THE STORY SO FAR 4-DISC DVD GIFT SET (Dreamworks, $54.99) This four disc collection featuring all the uproarious Shrek adventures in one great boxed gift set.

ALADDIN SPECIAL EDITION (Buena Vista, two discs, widescreen, $29.99). This classic animated fare includes all-new music videos: A Whole New World, performed by Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson and Proud of Your Boy, performed by Clay Aiken Disney’s virtual DVD ride: Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride Inside the genie’s lamp, The Genie World Tour 3 Wishes game. A Diamond in the Rough: The Making of Aladdin and much, much more.

GADGETS

HOT LAPTOPS: Dell’s new Inspiron 9200 notebook combines a large screen with 128MB graphics and Pentium M processors for a performance entertainment experience at home or on the road. “The 17″ WXGA+ screen has 26% more viewing area than Dell’s 15″ WXGA screen, making it easy to read dual windows with great resolution for simultaneous web research and document authoring. Front-and-Center multimedia keys put control of DVDs and CDs at your fingertips. Integrated S-Video out makes it a snap to share photos and movies with your friends and family by connecting directly to your television set. It really rocks and is great for your entire home movie editing onto DVD. Price: $2100, www.dell.com Also making the list is HP’s Pavilion zv5001XX, wich is a full multimedia laptop that takes all kind of media and is perfect as a desktop replacement. www.hp.com

HDTV ON THE CHEAP: DISH Network has a complete HD System for $799. The system includes: Choice of a 40-inch CRT rear projection or a 34-inch direct view CRT HD monitor, DISH 811 HD receiver and satellite antenna, Free standard professional installation. Plus six months free of our HD Pak programming that includes five HD channels! This system is available through local DISH Network retailers. To find a retailer, visit www.dishnetwork.com.

PALM PILOT: Two easy to use handhelds from palmOne, Inc. make great stocking stuffers. The Zire 31 handheld is designed for students, parents and seniors. Price: $149. The Blue Zire 72 handheld, an affordable multimedia-capable handheld with a built-in digital camera and audio/video playback ability. My favorite and the best for all ages. Price: $299. http://www.palmOne.com.

STAR GAZING: This easy to use ETX-90AT Telescope comes with a tripod and the Autostar Computer Controller. Price: $595.

VIDEO EMAIL: Logitech’s a new web cam, QuickCam Orbit ($129.95) follows your every move. Its mechanical pan-and-tilt feature and big black eye allow it to physically turn 128 degrees side to side (for an almost 180-degree horizontal view) and 54 degrees up and down (for an almost 90-degree vertical view), freeing you from moving it from direction to direction. Also check out the Logitech website for other web cam and desktop products that are a set above the rest. www.logitech.com/index.cfm/US/EN

CAR RADIO GETS HIP: The StreetGlow Radio Bar can be used to illuminate center consoles, instrument panels and more! The Radio Bar operates in two modes – constant glow or sound activated (the neon will pulse when the bass drops). This accessory is available in 7 colors -purple, blue, red, green, white, yellow and orange – and is available for only $27.99.

STORAGE WITH PAZZAZ: Iomega’s Micro Mini USB drive with up to 128 MB of storage, is the smallest USB drive in the market, and it’s bold new look makes a fashion statement. The design includes snap-on caps in three different colors, an illuminating USB cable, and a keychain ring and dog tag lanyard that give users the choice of carrying a Micro Mini drive or wearing one. The 64 MB ($49.95) and 128 MB ($69.95) models of the Iomega Micro Mini USB 2.0 drive will be available online and at selected retailers in mid-January. http://www.iomega.com.

GAMING PC: Alienware’s line of gaming PC from an Hispanic owned company in Miami, make the only systems that take full advantage of the today’s cutting edge game programming from EA, LucasArts, Microsoft and others. These PC’s are so powerful that your on screen graphics will look so real that you will swear its film footage, not a game. I highly recommend the Aera-51 Conspiracy Blue PC and the Aurora models which can be customized for the hardcore gamer. Prices start from $1,559.00, www.alienware.com

DIGITAL VIDEO REMOTE: If you have a digital video recorder, this is the remote for you. Even when you have both a satellite and a DVR like TiVo or Dish PVR, the Harmony H688 has conveniently placed controls for all necessary commands. The easy set up is accomplished by way of your PC or Mac and an Internet database that resides on the Harmony Web site. One remote controls all of your consumer electronic products. It is guaranteed to work with any existing equipment you have now and whatever you purchase in the future. Connects to your PC 0r Mac via USB. Price: 249.95.

VIDEOGAMES

HALO 2 WITH XBOX LIVE: (Microsoft, 159.97, rated M ) The epic battle comes to Earth. In Halo 2, genetically enhanced super soldier Master Chief is humankind’s final protector against the relentless alien Covenant. Take command and take your gameplay to the next level. The sequel includes many of the features players have been begging for, including all-new graphics, new environments and locations, new weapons, vehicles and full support for Xbox Live multiplayer action. Xbox Live lets you play people from Miami, New York, Oslo, Tokyo, Berlin . . . anywhere people are playing Xbox games. Xbox Live also offers access to celebrity gamers like Hispanic actors Freddie Price Jr. and Wilmer Valderrama (That 70s Show). And with Hallo 2 – the most anticipated Live-enabled game yet, who knows who you will play or team up with. Halo 2 alone is $49.99, Halo 2: Limited Edition is $54.99, Xbox Live 12 Month Starter Kit w/Crimson Skies is $69.99, www.xbox.com

STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT (LucasArts, PlayStation 2 online, Xbox Live and PC online, $49.99 ) is an action/shooter game that gives fans and gamers the opportunity to re-live and participate in all of the classic Star Wars battles from Episodes I-VI like never before. Players can select one of a number of different soldier types, jump into any vehicle, man any turret on the battlefront and conquer the galaxy planet-by-planet online with their friends or offline in a variety of single player modes. This game shows again why LucasArts brings real movie magic to video and computer games. Next up is Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords! and Star Wars Republic Commando in Feb 2005 which will give Hal 2 a run for its money. www.lucasarts.com

NINTENDO GOES RETRO: Take a step back in time to the 1980’s and play eight Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)games for the Game Boy Advance and new Classic NES Limited Edition GBA SP. Remember the blocky bleeps and bloops to sweet side-scrollers like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, The Legend of Zelda, Excitebike, Ice Climber: Like, Xevious, Bomberman for $19.99 each. The new Game Boy Advance SP has everything as a regular one, but its casing looks just like the NES for $99.99.

ATARI FLASHBACK: Come on, I bet you had an Atari 2600 or 7800 video game system back in 80s when videogames were just making a dent in home entertainment. Sleek design and streamlined controllers of the 7800, makes this a perfect gift for fans, casual gamers and parents who want to sit with their families and enjoy the games they loved as kids. You get 15 Classic 2600 Games – Adventure Air-Sea Battle, Battlezone, Breakout, Canyon Bomber, Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Haunted House, Millipede, Saboteur, Sky Diver, Solaris, Sprintmaster, Warlords, and Yars’ Revenge. 5 Advanced 7800 Games – Asteroids, Centipede, Desert Falcon, Charley Chuck’s Food Fight, and Planet Smashers. Plus never before released Saboteur. Price: 49.99, www.atari.com

NINTENDO’S NEW HANDHELD: Imagine using the touch screen of Nintendo DS to call a audible at the line of scrimmage during Madden 2005 when your wireless opponent threatens a blitz. This new innovation, offers never before features like dual screens, new control using both touch and voice, and new connections with two kinds of wireless game play. It’s a newfound canvas on which developers can express their creativity. Games like Mario Kart, Metroid Prime Hunters, WarioWare, Inc., DS, Animal Crossing, Yoshi’s Touch & Go, new Super Mario Bros., GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, Need for Speed Underground from EA will go for as low as $29.99 Nintendo DS is also compatibile with more than 550 Game Boy SP games. Price: $149.99, www.nintendo.com

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