One of the hottest gifts this year, if you have money to spend, is the iPad. For students, it is a gift that brings education to their fingertips and a prequel to “the new backpack”. Instead of 30-40 lbs and More weight to carry around all day – try the 1.5 lbs that also serves you access to the internet ( if your school has wifi like ours does ) and many other apps for “that”, ie. calculator, encyclopedia, texts, flash cards, global resources, tutorials, portfolio, simple editing for pics, research and writing paper tools, presentation tools, the list continues.
There are some great new cases that bring protection and easier typing tools.
-Check out the Etch a Sketch case ( pricey but cool and hard case for $39 from My Gear) and the case with a keyboard ( heavier but easier key touch ). I may just have to get the iPhone ones for the iPhone 3 and 4. BTW- here’s the website for a Sonders photographer who did some marketing shots of them and whose friend worked with Ohio Art to create them. Love it!

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There’s also the ipad case with a keyboard- there are several versions - most are in the $64 range – several to choose from.
I bought lots of iTune gift cards for they can be used not only for music downloads but apps for iPhone and the iPad. They do add up!
Flash drives are always practical and very handy. We save our projects on a server but using your own flashdrive allows you to bring your work wherever you go- unless you are saving to a “cloud”.Even then, it is faster to save and input as you don’t have to log in to your email account to save or retrieve the files. Plus Photoshop files are sooooo big!
Blu rays are the way to go for more quality and there are plenty of deals out there if you don’t mind shopping online and look for them. BEWARE of frauds! A website that looked very legit in design and coverage took my $ 72 of DVD birthday gift for my son and never answered months of phone calls, emails, and had a FAKE store front with a po box when we went to find them in person. Thank goodness we had a credit card that covered loss.
Shopping online has become an answer to avoiding crowds just be cautious!
Enjoy shopping and getting at least ONE new thing to make life more tech abled!!