High-tech gift ideas for Mother's Day 2008

Flowers, chocolates, a greeting card? Sure... but tech-minded kids may want something a little more with the '00s to give to mom this year. Here are some hot ideas for computer savvy sons and daughters to consider as gifts for Mother's Day. (Reminder: It's May 11th!)

Kodak ESP3 All-in-One Printer

What does mom do with all the pictures you send her? She prints them out on a lousy old inkjet and waits for them to shrivel up and fade. Get her a real printer that can make her kids and grandkids look good: Kodak's ESP3 uses far less ink than other printers and those cartridges are cheap (at $10, for B&W, or $15, for color). Better still: It includes a blemish reduction mode to automatically smooth out wrinkles and other imperfections as it prints, no graphical tinkering required.

If mom's got a green thumb, you can't go wrong with these cool gadgets, which I reviewed a few month's back. Thirsty Lights sit in mom's potted plants and flash when the greens need water. These things have the bonus feature of being completely non-technologically-threatening, so if mom can open up the package, she should be fine with them even if she's a total Luddite. We swear by them now at Null HQ.

Digital Keychain

These pocket-sized digital frames used to be bulky, ugly, and have virtually invisible screens. New models are better, and they're dirt cheap. Digital Foci's Pocket Album has a 1.5-inch screen, nine hours of battery life, and holds over 70 pictures. Oh, and it looks pretty good, too, even when it's off! 

HALO Ultraviolet Vacuum

Not for every mom (lots of mothers don't appreciate gifts that imply they're slobs, after all), but if she's the kind that's always wrestling with her old vacuum and complaining about the filthy house, the HALO is a cool way to indulge both your neatnik side and your techie side at once. It's not just a light and a powerful vacuum, it also features a strong ultraviolet light underneath that kills any viruses and germs the light happens to hit. Even flea eggs get killed by the thing.

A Book of Mom's Own
If you're willing to put a little work into, a printed photo album is a very thoughtful and personal gift that any mother will break into tears over. Lulu lets you upload photos and create photo books (in hardcover or paperback) with a minimum of fuss. The real effort is in wittling down your gargantuan photo collection into something more manageable. Hardcover books run a mere $26 for the first 20 pages.

iWaveCube Tiny Microwave

It's the world's smallest microwave oven, about one cubic foot in size. Perfect for the spare room or mom's office if she's a microwave popcorn junkie or is always looking for a quick reheat on her coffee or tea.