Father’s Day is only one week away, so for any of you last minute people out there (myself included), here is a gift guide for daddy day. Because I write for a couple of tech sites, these gift ideas have a slight geeky slant to them, but that’s only because those are the Father’s Day presents that come to mind.

Free Gifts
Can’t beat the price, right? Just because you want to show your appreciation to daddy dearest doesn’t mean that you need to break the bank. In fact, you don’t even need to access the ATM or your VISA account whatsoever. This is particularly suitable for people who have parents in another part of the country or world, because the cost of shipping a physical gift can sometimes be more than the gift itself, especially if you want the present to arrive in an expedient manner. Paper might be obsolete, so why not just send ecards for free? Email it over with a message from the heart and I’m sure your dad will love it.

Gifts For Under $50
It seems like every these days is rocking an MP3 player of some kind, but it can be quite expensive to get into the market, especially if you’re looking for all the latest features and oodles of storage capacity. Thankfully, the people at Creative have just announced a very affordable entry into the portable music industry. The Creative Zen Stone is squarely targeting the same market as the clip-tastic second-generation iPod shuffle, but the Zen Stone has an MSRP that’s about half as much! Like the shuffle, the Zen Stone lacks a display, but it’s about as compact (and attractive) as it gets. Better still, it comes in all sorts of different colors.




Gifts For Poker Geeks
Admittedly, poker is one of my obsessions. I typically play a home tournament with my friends on the weekends, and while there is a tiny bit of money on the line, it’s more about bragging rights than anything else. If I want to make money playing poker, then I do that with a cash game at the casino. In between these real-life sessions, however, players can learn a lot by playing online or on the computer. There are a variety of different software programs out there that not only give you some valuable experience at a virtual poker table — playing Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud, and so on — but some even offer useful tips and insider tricks. The most entertaining are the licensed games that feature the likeness of poker celebrities like Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. From poker sets to poker tables, poker software to poker accessories, there really is no shortage of possibilities in terms of gifts for card-obsessed daddies.




Gifts for the Gaming Daddy
Video games used to be the realm of kids and teenagers, but guess what… the Space Invaders and Pac-Man generation is all grown up and many of them have families of their own. Even folks that played Atari and NES as children are now old enough to have children of their own. Just because they’re older, however, doesn’t mean that they’re ready to abandon their gaming obsession. As such, getting a video game system for dad can be a very welcome and good idea. Nostalgic players will appreciate the Wii, for example. If the father in question is more of a first-person shooter fan, however, the Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite is a fantastic option. There’s a huge library of games already available, including the now legendary Gears of War. Fragging on that plasma TV has never been more fun.




Other Great Father’s Day Gifts
Other technological-inclined presents that you might want to consider for Father’s Day include digital cameras, digital camcorders, big screen TVs (if you have the budget), DivX-capable DVD players, car audio, and old school DVDs. Some items that I can personally recommend are the following:

  • Canon PowerShot S3 IS digital camera with 6.0 megapixels and 12x optical zoom (around $300)
  • Logitech VX Revolution wireless notebook gaming mouse (about $70)
  • Digital photo frames, especially WiFi-capable ones, take picture-showing to the next generation ($100-$300)
  • V-Moda Vibe Modaphones: noise-canceling ear buds with exceptional audio quality (less than $100)