State of the Art: 12 Gifts That Go Beyond the Predictable

That’s partly because you’re young, of course. But it’s also because you’re responsible only for opening the presents, not shopping for them.

This year, there will be a lot of the usual under the tree: iPod Touches, iPads, phones. Kindles and Nooks. Cameras.

But if you look hard enough, you can find less predictable tech gifts — things they certainly don’t own already. Here are some high-tech suggestions. Call it the 12 Gifts of Christmas.

AUDIOBULBS ($300 a pair). A home sound system can be a deeply satisfying luxury (some might say necessity). Installing it, though, is rarely as fulfilling.

These speakers, however, are as easy to install as screwing in a light bulb — because they are light bulbs. They’re compact fluorescents with built-in speakers. They turn any lamp or recessed lighting fixture into a speaker, without any new wires trailing across the floor. The power isn’t exactly, you know, Megadeth, but it’s distortion-free and clear.

You plug your sound source (CD player or TV, for example) into the wireless base; it even has an iPhone/iPod charging jack. All you need is a new set of jokes along the lines of, “How many politicians does it take to screw in a speaker?”

BEDOL WATER CLOCK ($19). These bedside alarm clocks (various colors and styles) are cheap, insubstantial, mass-produced and basic. They’re impressive, though, because of their power source: water.

No battery, no power cord. Each is a plastic reservoir with a big, clear LCD display on the front. Every few weeks, you pour in ordinary water. A tiny submerged panel creates a galvanic-battery effect, producing just enough electricity to power the clock.

Don’t count on seeing water-powered laptops, refrigerators and cars any time soon. But on its own small scale, the water clock is a marvel.

POWERTRIP ($109). At its core, the PowerTrip is just a rechargeable battery — an emergency power source for your other electronics. It holds enough power to charge an iPad once or a phone four times.

But there’s more to it than that. On one side is a standard plug to a wall power outlet for charging. On another side is a solar panel, so you can recharge it on a windowsill.

On the far end, a USB jack, just like the one on a computer. Any gadget that can charge from a computer can therefore charge from the PowerTrip. (It also comes with standard Apple, Mini USB and Micro USB jacks.)

It also doubles (or would that be triples?) as a flash drive with four gigabytes of storage (or eight, for $119), for your backing-up convenience.

CANON X MARK I MOUSE SLIM ($28). A comfortable, solid, wireless two-button mouse with a numeric keypad and calculator built-in. Sounds silly, maybe, but it’s actually rather great, especially if you crunch numbers for a living.

TRUCONNECT MI-FI ($90). The Mi-Fi looks like a fat metal credit card — but it’s a portable, personal, pocketable Wi-Fi hot spot. Up to five laptops or iPod Touches can get online anywhere you go. The trouble with the Mi-Fi has always been the fees — usually $60 a month. That’s fine if you’re some executive on an expense account, but steep if you only sometimes travel.

The TruConnect model is exactly the same as the Mi-Fi models sold through Sprint, Verizon, Virgin and others, but with pricing that’s far better suited to the occasional road warrior: $5 a month, plus 3.9 cents a megabyte.

That’s a hard-to-gauge statistic, of course — how many megabytes does it cost to check your e-mail or call up a Web site? But the per-megabyte price is roughly what you’d pay for “tethering” on a cellphone (where your cellphone acts as the hot spot) — and with the TruConnect, you pay only for what you actually use.

LOOXCIE 2 ($150). Goofy name, cool idea: a wearable Bluetooth camcorder (it goes over your ear) that’s always rolling. If something worthwhile happens, you tap a button to retain the last 30 seconds, and even post it online.

You can also start and stop manually, as with a camcorder. The clever part is that you review the footage on your phone. Why pay for a screen and storage on the Looxcie itself, when you have one already in your pocket?

GRIFFIN CINEMASEAT 2 ( $11.50). You sling this leatherette iPod frame over the front headrest of your car, for the entertainment pleasure of those in the back seats. That’s it. Great idea, nicely executed — there’s even a mesh pocket for earbuds — and it’s about $1,000 less expensive than a DVD screen installed by the factory.

PRANKPACK ($20 for three). Your lucky recipient tears off the wrapping paper to reveal — the Bathe Brew (“Shower Coffee Maker + Soap Dispenser”) or the iDrive (steering-wheel mount for your iPad).

E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com

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