Choosing Christmas Gifts for Gadget Lovers

I'm going to let you into the secret as to why men become gadget lovers. It isn't that they haven't fully escaped their childhood. Nor is it that, magpie-like, they are drawn to everything shiny or sparkling. No, gadget loving is all tied into the alpha-male, leader of the pack mentality which means that the male with the most peacockish display receives all the attention.

Watch a group of men arriving at a pub and you'll understand. Each man, as he sits down, will place his mobile phone squarely in front of him on the table. The scene resembles a poker table, which is exactly what it is. An opening gambit, designed to undermine an opponent, might be 'Isn't that the Motorola old hat that came out a couple of months ago. I hear there have been terrible problems with signal strength'. The game progresses with the elimination of players whose mobile phones are not up to snuff until one player remains, the alpha gadget male of the group. In a recent game I observed, the unassailable opening took the form 'Have you seen my new mobile. It arrived direct from Nokia in Finland this morning. It's not being launched in the UK for 10 days and they've let me have it in a colour which is reserved for the Japanese market.' The gadget lover's equivalent of a royal flush!

So how do you approach buying a Christmas gift for a gadget loving male, if you don't share his in-depth knowledge of the world of gadgetry? Assuming that you don't have an unlimited budget to play with, the thing to search out is a gadget that is new, fun and which, if it doesn't hit the mark, you can laugh off as being something of a joke.

The hottest property this Christmas looks like its going be the Kymera Magic Wand, which is a universal remote control built to look like a magician's wand, or perhaps a conductor's baton. The marketing material is very much aimed at the Hogwarts generation, with the user guide in the form of a sorcerer's manual. The company has perhaps missed a trick since the wand is ingenious, fun and above all a practical replacement for the universal remote control which will appeal across the generations. The wand can be taught to control any remote controlled device such as TV, HiFi or lighting using a range of wand movement which include taps, swishes and flicks. With thirteen defined wand gestures, you can replicate all the functionality of a conventional remote control while pretending to place a spell on the next door neighbour's cat or conduct the opening of Beethoven's Fifth. Fun, functionality and frivolity all rolled into one great Christmas gift for a gadget lover.

Phil Ward works for Gizoo, a leading online retailer of gifts and gadgets. If you're stuck for Christmas gift ideas, Gizoo has a wide choice of hi-tech presents which would be perfect stocking fillers, secret santa gifts or Christmas gifts for him.