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The holidays are upon us, and whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or abstain (how would that even be possible in America these days?), it is hard to deny the fact that around this time of year people just seem nicer.  Of course, that’s assuming you aren’t on the fatal end of a Black Friday shopping stampede…  Which I suppose brings me to my point:  My top 5 gadgets that I can live without, but wouldn’t want to (unless, you know, I really had to… I mean, let’s be realistic here, these are just things).

#5:  A Digital Video Recorder

If you watch a lot of TV, used to be that you would own a VCR.  Nowadays, if you don’t just watch all your television online or via your cable or satellite’s on-demand services, you might consider getting a DVR.  A Digital Video Recorder (DVR) records video (duh) to a hard-drive for playback at a later time.  They combine the convenience of a VCR with the speed of a DVD-player — flicker-free pause, fast-forwarding and rewinding.  Some models even allow you to edit out or skip commercials.  Although they aren’t as popular here in the US as they are in Europe, DVRs are still quite neat — a lot of cable and satellite companies offer DVRs with their top-end product offerings, but my personal preference is for a stand-alone box that not only allows you to pause and rewind “live” TV, but also lets you edit and burn your recordings to DVD.  A lot of models also allow you to record one channel while watching another.  There are a lot of options available, from renting a set-top box from the cable/satellite company, to buying a standalone DVR, to building a “media PC”, to hacking an old X-Box.  Until the internet delivers the final deathblow to broadcast television, DVRs are a nice gadget to add to your home entertainment system.

#4: A Bread Machine

There is literally nothing on earth like the smell of fresh bread.  Scientists have proven that certain smells, such as that of baking bread, trigger a hunger impulse in humans (which is why almost all supermarkets put the bread aisle and bakery near their entrances), and bread in one form or another has been a staple foodstuff of humans since the dawn of history.  There are 5,000-year-old loaves of bread on display in the Egyptian galleries at the British Museum, and archaeologists have found wheat in the remains of human settlements over 8,000 years old.  The discovery of bread may actually have been one of the triggers that allowed civilization as we know to come into being.  Bread mentioned several times in the Bible, and is rightfully known as “the staff of life” — but it is amazing to me that nowadays making bread at home is a considered by many to be a novelty.

Making fresh bread at home by hand is ridiculously simple, but with a bread machine it becomes as easy as using a coffeemaker.  In fact, a lot of bread machines have timers on them so you can mix add ingredients the night before and they will start working automatically in the morning to provide you with fresh-baked bread as soon as you wake up!  The thing that surprised me the most when I got a bread machine is that it is actually cheaper to make your own bread than to buy a pre-sliced loaf, and not only that, but the bread simply tastes better (just as a loaf of unsliced bread from the bakery tastes better than a pre-sliced loaf from the bread aisle).

You can buy a decent bread machine from almost any store that sells kitchen appliances like blenders or food processors, and a good model will set you back about the same amount of money as the aforementioned coffeemaker.  Of course, you can go nuts and buy all sorts of expensive high-end gear, too.  For a good overview of what to look for in a bread machine, check out Choosing a Bread Machine.

Once you have your machine, what do you do with it? Make bread, of course!  Most bread machines come with a couple of simple recipes to get you started, but a quick search on google will net you more recipes than you can shake a (bread)stick at.  Some of my favorites:  Sweet Dinner Rolls, Rosemary Onion Focaccia, and of course, basic White Bread.

Once you start making your own bread, the only time you’ll by pre-sliced loaves from the store is to remind yourself of why your bread machine is so awesome.

#3: A Digital Probe Thermometer

Consisting of a metal probe connected to a long wire connected to a digital timer, a digital probe thermometer is one of the most handy kitchen gadgets you will ever own.  Although, like anything, you can blow a lot of cash on a fancy model, a decent thermometer will set you back roughly $15-20.  Look for one that has settings for all common meats and doneness levels, as well as a manual setting.

Basically, you stab the probe into whatever meat you are going to cook, set the temperature alarm, and wait for the beeper to go off.  Roasts, burgers, ribs, steaks, whatever — if you can cook it in the oven, you will want one of these things.  Once you’ve used a thermometer like this, you will never want to just “guess-timate” again.

And you can use it for more than just meat — most probes are good for any temperatures up to 400-500 f, so you could easily use it to let you know when a pot of water for pasta has boiled, for example.  Basically, any cooking you do where the internal temperature is an important factor in whether or not the people eating it will be making a run for the toilet later, you will want a digital probe thermometer.

#2: A high-capacity MP3 Player

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a love/hate relationship with my iPod.  But the one thing that I absolutely do love about it is the massive amount of storage space it has.  My iPod has a whopping 32 Gigabytes of storage space, and it’s not even the most capacious “personal media player” out there.  But if you want to talk about a gadget that I use a lot, every day, this is it.  Having (nearly) my entire music collection literally in my pocket is a really nice luxury.  Although iPods are the standard by which all other mp3 players are judged, there are a lot of other contenders, fitting any budget.

The main thing to watch out for whenever you’re looking for a personal media player (whether it’s for video or music, or games, or whatever) is compatibility and durability.  The one is important because you want to be able to actually use the thing no matter what computer you’re in front of (and you will need a computer!) and the other is important because you don’t want to have to buy another one in six months because the one you’ve just bought has croaked out on you.

#1: A Portable GPS Device

I use a Tomtom ONE.  It has become absolutely indispensable.  I don’t even write down directions anymore.  I used to go to Google Maps or (back in the day, MapQuest) and print out directions, but nowadays I just plug an address into the ol’ TomTom and within seconds I have an exact route.  And if I want to stop off somewhere along the way, to eat for example, a couple of clicks and I’ve got directions to a place on the route I’m already travelling!

Like the Internet, the vast network of global positioning satellites orbiting our planet is an offshoot of the American military’s wonderful love for really fancy technology.  The benefit to you, the average person who possibly couldn’t care less about how the GPS satellites make extensive use of the Theory of Relativity is that for less than $200 at any Wal-Mart in the nation, you can get a nifty little gadget that will prevent you from becoming seriously lost in a car ever again.  Unless, of course, you become too dependent on it, like this guy: Sat-nav driver’s 1,600 mile error.  Some gadgets are just too useful…