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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