The Day of Dad is nearly upon us -- or, at least, it's close enough to start thinking about shopping for the old man. I've been on the hunt for ideas for the best gifts for dad this father's day in the world of high-tech, with an eye toward not breaking the bank while still giving dad something he might actually use.

Without further ado, my high-tech gift ideas for 2009...

Black and Decker Electromate 400 - What does it not do? This battery-in-a-box jump-starts cars, inflates tires or pool toys, and offers 400 watts of power via two standard 120 volt outlets. It even has a built-in light for working in the dark and can be recharged via household power or a cigarette-lighter connection. $120

Name Your Tune Audio CD - For new dads only: The musicians at Name Your Tune record the big children's songs ("Old MacDonald," "If You're Happy And You Know It") to CD, subbing in the name of your choice right into the music. So it becomes "Little David had a farm..." My son absolutely loves it. (Yes, get the CD with your kid's name on it, not your own, genius.) $20

NeatDesk - A scanner on steroids, the NeatDesk features slots for business cards, receipts, or full-page paperwork, and lets you scan and archive them all at once. OCR technology stores everything for you in a digital filing cabinet. $370

Bluelounge Sanctuary - For the neat freak dad (even neater than the NeatDesk neat freak), the Sanctuary includes charging adapters for all of dad's gadgets, then hides all the electronics away inside the guts of a classily-designed case. $130

Dremel Multi-Max - It's a new tool from Dremel! This one oscillates instead of rotating, making it perfect for sanding, scraping, and cutting things flush against another surface. A must-have for do-it-yourselfers. $100 with accessories

Relaxation Designs Coffee Table Ottoman - What dad doesn't put his feet on the coffee table? The Coffee Table Ottoman is a pillow that goes between ankles and wood, protecting the surface of the table from dad's hooves and preventing sore heels when it's time to get off the couch. $30; four colors available

EasyBloom Plant Sensor - For the dad with a green thumb. Just pop EasyBloom into the soil for 24 hours, then plug it into your PC: EasyBloom analyzes soil and light conditions to determine which over 5,000 varieties of plant are best suited for that specific area. Boom, no more dead greenery because there wasn't enough light! $60

Autoloader Screwdriver - Like magic, this screwdriver lets you change bits in seconds without manually swapping them in and out: Just pull back your handle, twist to find the right bit, and it loads up automatically. The most common hex bits are standard; a kit of 31 more that you can sub in for ones you don't need is available as an option. $45 with extra bits

Kodak EasyShare Z980 - Upgrade from that lame pocket camera to something with massive zoom. Kodak's Z980 offers a 24x, monster zoom lens, 12 megapixels of resolution, and is amazingly lightweight -- and affordable for this class of camera. $369

Callaway uPro GPS - The Cadillac of golf/GPS devices, featuring loadable maps for 12,000 courses (maps cost up to $10, many are free). The device, with a 2.2-inch screen is big enough to read from the tee box but small enough to fit in a pocket and not interfere with your swing. (Not that we're going to stop you from blaming your slice on it!) $400

World Golf Tour Virtual Clubs - Since the hundreds of bucks to play Pebble are likely out of the question this year, send dad here instead to play online. You can hack away at WGT Online for free, but better clubs cost money. Credits cost $1 for 100 points, and pricing varies for upgrades, but a full set of upgraded clubs can be had for under 8 bucks.