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Toys you need

On a recent trip to the city, I noticed that many of the department stores and hotels already had their Christmas decorations up and blinking, reminding us that there are only about 45 shopping days left.

On a recent trip to the city, I noticed that many of the department stores and hotels already had their Christmas decorations up and blinking, reminding us that there are only about 45 shopping days left.

Carnivores are probably still digesting their Thanksgiving turkeys, pumpkins are still rotting on window sills, and the stores are already selling Christmas? Not to be a humbug or anything, but why do the decorations seem to come out a little bit earlier every year? Do they just assume that the mere sight of coloured lights and tinsel will be enough to send me into a Pavlovian spending frenzy? Please…

It does get you thinking, however. While it’s too early for lights, it’s never too early to put together a Christmas list, especially since the toys you’re going to want this year are probably a little on the expensive side.

From portable music players that hold five gigs of information to Robot Insects that interact with one another, this Christmas is going to be ridiculously high-tech. Even the new Elmo will blow you away.

www.apple.com

Say hello to iPod. It won’t say hello back, but it does hold five gigabytes of music and fits neatly into your athletic shorts.

Apple seems to be hit and miss with its products – Cube anyone? – but this little device has the potential to be the biggest thing in personal audio since the Walkman.

It has a hard drive, so you can store all kinds of files on it, audio or otherwise. It has a FireWire connector, so you can download about 1,000 MP3s, or 80 CDs worth of music, in about 10 minutes.

It comes with an ingenious spinning dial system that makes it easy to find songs, high quality ear bud headphones, connectors, and a rechargeable lithium battery that is good for about 10 hours – and which you can recharge simply by hooking it up to your computer via the FireWire.

The iPod works with the new iTunes, which is a bit of a bonus in itself. The updated version of this software enables you to create playlists, burn CDs, and update your iPod automatically.

The price tag is steep at $399, but for a music lover who wants to travel/exercise light and could really use five gigs, it’s quickly going to become a necessity. It weighs less than 200 grams, and is 2.43 inches wide, 4 inches long, and 0.7 inches deep.

Trust me, you want it.

www.fisher-price.com

Even if you’re still limping after the last Tickle-Me-Elmo craze, you won’t want to pass up the next.

Like the first tickling edition, Elmo giggles maniacally when you prod him around the mid section, arms, legs, nose and feet. Different tickles produce different giggles, but they’re all high-pitched and basically non-stop.

So why do you want Elmo for Christmas?

Because 15 days after Christmas, January ninth, Elmo might stop laughing long enough to tell you that you’ve won $200,000 towards the purchase of a new house, $60,000 in savings bonds for a child’s education, a Volkswagen Beetle, a new PC and a ride-on battery-operated Beetle for said child. All prizes are decorated in an Elmo theme, including the Beetle, but it’s still a good deal!

The four runners-up will receive the Beetle, $40,000 in education bonds, a PC and the ride-on toy for their headaches.

www.wowwee.com/biobugs/biointerface.html

A robot dog that barks, sits and stays could set you back more than a thousand dollars, but you don’t have to spend nearly that much money these days for a mechanical pet – provided you approve of the concept of insects as pets.

B.I.O. Bugs were designed by the same genius who gave us Aibo, the mechanical mutt. They’re also smart. If you put them in a box, they will try everything until they can climb out, then will remember how they did it.

If you get more than one bug, and it’s possible because they sell for about $40 apiece, they can battle each other and move together as a herd.

Don’t let the price fool you, however, B.I.O. Bugs are extremely sophisticated. It doesn’t rely on a central brain to control movements and memory, but a series of electronic circuits around the bug that work together. Infrared sensor eyes allow them to move around objects and recognize one another.

"Ninety-nine per cent of creatures on this planet do very well without a brain at all," says designer Mark Tilden. "I’ve tapped in to how they do that."

There are different kinds of bugs with variable strengths and weaknesses – tougher bugs, faster bugs, smarter bugs.

Although they’ve been in the stores for a month now, they’re already impossible to find.

www.xbox.com

Microsoft’s offering to the home video gaming market is already making waves, with may stores already pre-sold out of the consoles that were to appear in stores on Nov. 15.

Blame it on marketing, and about a jillion dollars worth of Xbox ads that have plugged up commercial airtime for the past few weeks.

The system looks good so far and the reviews have been excellent, but one of the main reasons you want this toy is because nobody else is going to have one. Imagine the thrill of lining up at your favourite electronics store, then charging down the aisle as the security gates come up, throwing off tacklers and shedding the blocks of store staff on your way to the game area.

You can bribe a store clerks to set a console aside, or spread false rumours on the Internt of a big Xbox stash at an electronics store at the other side of town to improve your chances of getting hold of one of a few available systems.

B.C. Internet usage highest in Canada

According to the latest statistics, B.C. boasts the highest percentage of Internet users in Canada. Approximately 50 per cent of B.C. homes are connected to the Internet, which is about 10 per cent more than the national average. Some 61 per cent of B.C. residents are also regular users.

Music, shopping and games are the most popular uses of the Web.