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Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Commercial, Holiday Gift Guide

5 Fun, casual Steam games you can give for under $20


If you're a gamer, chances are good you've bought something from Steam - Valve's "Nexus of PC Gaming." If not, it's a great place to purchase some inexpensive and extremely fun games. Steam, of course, offers a gift purchase option, making it an ideal spot to find a nice, cheap gift for that special someone on your list.

Steam has tons of casual, fun games in its library - here's my list of five titles under $20 that are sure to provide some maddeningly addictive fun. Hardware requirements for these are fairly light, so they should run on just about anyone's desktop or laptop (provided they're running Windows).

World of Goo ($19.99). Sure, its cartoonish 2d graphics are cute, but this is one seriously smart physics puzzle game. Stack the little goo balls to build structures and reach the goal - it sounds easy, but World of Goo is as challenging as it is whimsical. Finessing your structures into doing what you want takes patience and requires some serious thinking at times. This one's a great choice for anyone who enjoys a good challenge.

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Filed under: Productivity, Web services, iPhone

iPhone App Review: Send gifts on the go with Gifter

We love to see iPhone apps that are designed with phone users in mind. Ports of desktop apps -- chat clients, games, etc. -- are all well and good, but the mobile-specific stuff really shines. Take Gifter, for example. It's an app that lets you buy and send gifts from your iPhone.

Can someone please write Gifter into a romantic comedy? We could totally see Tom Hanks frantically ordering flowers from his iPhone on the train. You can send more than flowers, though: Gifter is hooked up with vendors for books, movies, jewelry and even teddy bears. Now when you see those birthdays in your iPhone's address book, you can do something about them. It might not be the app with the most geek cred -- hey, they didn't drop any vowels from the name! -- but it works.

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Features

Valentine's Day gifts for the sex nerd(s) in your life

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and regardless of your relationship status, we think you should treat someone to some well-deserved fun. Whether the lucky recipient of your generosity is a long-term partner, a friend, or yourself, these gifts will appeal to the most discerning sex nerd in your life.

It should go without saying, but most of the following links are deliciously not safe for work.

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Filed under: Business, Office, Google, Microsoft, Holiday Gift Guide

Tis the Season for Small Business Gifts

Every year, small businesses struggle with the customer appreciation gift. Should we give one to every client? Only to new clients? What about long-term clients? Should we order pre-printed (and clever) cards? And the big question: how much is this going to cost?

Don't use sticky note reminders! Get an app to help!Saying thanks to our clients in a better fashion is something we set out to do last winter during the re-creation of our branding model. We rebuilt our logo, changed colors, formalized templates, printed letterhead, stickers and designed mail-ready new-client packets and generally upgraded our schwag. It was time for us to have something to hand out besides business cards.

That's why we don't send out holiday gifts anymore; heck, we don't send out "winter holiday" cards anymore. Instead, we thank our clients all year long. With a simple Access database, we keep track of each client who's referred business to us and we send a handwritten note (on those new branded and printed cards we designed) and a small gift card to an omnipresent store. First referral? A five-dollar Starbucks card. Second referral? A somewhere-else gift card. If a referral turns into business? A larger Target or Paneras card is coming your way inside a handwritten custom-branded notecard. If you're local, it might be a lunch gift certificate at a restaurant (also a client).

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Filed under: Fun, Internet, Web services, Social Software

Gifttagging - tag things you want, and hope someone gets them for you

tag things you want with gifftaggingHow do we look at this site. As a way to greedily store information on things you want, or a way for friends and family to check in and see what items you might find useful when special occasions roll around?

Gifttagging is a way that users can tag items they want to have, hoping that friends and family can find some great gift ideas. It's also a way to meet and interact with people that have the same tastes. Part social network, part shopcasting. The front page of the site shows off the most popular tags people have used, with recent gifts that people posted. Getting setup is as easy as entering your name, email, and user name. When adding new items to your profile choose a name, price, drop in a URL where the product can be found, tag it, and choose 'scan image' to see if the system can find a picture for you. Gifttagging also offers a browser add on to make it easier to bookmark your wants.

There, now you're done and ready to send your shopping profile link to family and friends!

This service is similar to Mypicklist or ThisNext.

Gallery: Gifttagging

  • Making a wish list
  • Taking a look at the 'book' tag
  • My wish list
  • Popular tagged items
  • account sign up details

Filed under: Fun, Google, Social Software

Drop Spots - More Google Maps fun

drop spotsA little bored today perhaps? Got the Monday blues? Check out Drop Spots. This cool social game is based around hiding gifts in places located in the real world, then mapping them on Google Maps for someone to find. Finders of the real world gifts are also encouraged to hide their own gifts somewhere on the map. Drop Spots is extremely simple to use and a ton of fun. This was a great way to integrate the Google Maps API, with a little social interaction.

Filed under: Fun, Photo, News, Yahoo!

Give Your Favorite Yahoo! News Photos as Gifts

I have started noticing how some photos on Yahoo! News now appear with a new option New - Purchase Photo. So far it appears that these are limited to AFP distributed photos, but not all AFP photos have this new option.

Mug shotThere is one photo of a magazine cover which I first saw this with. I called my wife over and we debated over whether it would make a better gift as a t-shirt, mouse pad, tile, or on a coffee cup. As you can see, it works great on a coffee cup.

Won't those on my Christmas list be surprised this year.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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