For the holidays, animated T-shirts make geek gifts

The holidays are almost upon us and once again I go into my gift buying mode to help you find that perfect holiday gift for the techno-person in your life. A great place to start discovering some of the coolest technology gifts is from the folks at ThinkGeek. You wouldn’t think that clothing would fall under the heading of technology but this year, ThinkGeek offers a line of T-shirts that truly cross the line.

Let’s begin with Wi-Fi, the wireless technology that lets you connect your computer to the Internet or a local area network for access to data and any connected peripherals such as printers and scanners. To find out if there’s a Wi-Fi signal where you’re standing at the moment, you either have to switch on your computer to see if a connection is possible or use some kind of Wi-Fi detector. Constantly having to unpack your notebook computer, switch it on and booting it up just to see if any Wi-Fi is available can be a pain. So most carry along one of those little Wi-Fi detectors. These type of devices are typically small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Depending on how sophisticated a model you have, these little Wi-Fi detectors will minimally display whether a signal is present and usually offer an indication of its strength. More expensive versions can tell you the wireless network’s name, channel and even if it’s unlocked or secure.

But why carry around a Wi-Fi detector when you can wear one? Yes, I said wear one. ThinkGeek has introduced their Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt ($29.99) and although the signal itself may be invisible, you certainly won’t be when you’re seen wearing one of these. The T-shirt itself is black and emblazoned on the front is a graphic of a small, white triangular radio tower that looks like the one that appeared at the beginning of one of those old RKO movies. When you walk into anyplace with a Wi-Fi signal, the little radio tower illuminates. As the Wi-Fi signal increases in strength, parenthesis to the left and right of the tower that graphically depict a radio signal begin to illuminate in a soft blue color. The stronger the signal, the more of those little blue parenthesis light up in an outward direction.

So now all you have to do when wearing your Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt is to just look at your chest. When you see a strong signal, then it’s time to break out your portable PC and make the connection.

ThinkGeek offers other animated, illuminated T-shirts that detect different things. For example, their T-Qualizer Shirt ($39.99) is also black and sports one of those graphic equalizer displays you see on nicer stereo systems. Perfect for when you walk into a room that’s playing loud music or if you just want to make a sound statement about yourself, then this is just the thing. The bars animate up and down in shades of green, yellow and red depicting just how loud or quiet it is at any given moment. Trust me that it won’t be quiet for long if you’re wearing one of these.

One other T-shirt of interest is their 8-Bit Dynamic Life Shirt ($24.99). Available in styles for both men and woman, the shirts depict six hearts, horizontally next to each other. The idea is to buy one of these glowing shirts for yourself, and gift one to your significant other. Initially only 21‚Ñ2 of the hearts are illuminated. But as you begin to approach the other person wearing the shirt, more of the hearts begin to glow red until all light up when you’re within hugging distance of each other. It’s a cute and really different way to express your mutual affections.

So there you have it. ThinkGeek’s line of Illuminated, animated T-shirts are all machine washable. Just be sure to remove the animated decals and batteries that slip into a small pocket sewn inside the shirts before washing. You can check all of their animated T-shirts at the ThinkGeek Web site. Stay tuned for more technology gift ideas in the next several weeks.

For more information, visit www.thinkgeek.com.

XCraig Crossman is a national newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. For more information, visit his Web site at www.computeramerica.com.

2008 McClatchy Tribune