5 Tech Things I Want for Christmas

Christmas 2009 is officially two weeks away. (That reminds me… I should go shopping…)

Given the state of the economy this year (and my own personal financial mess) I have not been able to buy many of the tech toys on my wish list. As I’ve been a good developer this year, I’m hoping that Santa is reading this and will deliver one/all of the following items on Christmas day:

1. A new external hard drive
   In particular, I like the ioSafe Solo 500GB external hard drive. It’s both fire and water proof, and has more storage space than I’ll probably ever need. It works over USB!
2. A digital SLR camera
   I have a plain Canon digital camera which is a few years old. It’s decent, except for the fact that it eats through AA batteries faster than I eat Skittles. Also, a new camera would probably inspire me to take more pictures — something I’d like to do as my wife and I are expecting a baby in the coming months.
3. A new MP3 player
   I currently have an iPod Shuffle. I can’t really complain about it – it’s reliable, the battery life is pretty good, and it holds plenty of songs to last throughout my workout. The downside: it’s tiny, doesn’t hold more than like 150 songs, and I can’t arrange my music into playlists. There’s no UI. I’d take a Zune or a cooler iPod… whatever Santa thinks is best.
4. An All-in-One printer
   As I’m starting to do more and more freelance work these days, I have a greater need to fax/scan/copy paper. My life would just be easier if I had one… again, I don’t really have a preference as to a make or model. Recommendations are welcome.
5. A new widescreen monitor
   The last time I bought a monitor was back in 2002 (back when flat-screens were relatively new!). I’m noticing that it’s starting to display colors crappily… which I imagine is not a good sign. A new widescreen would also make my life as a freelance software developer easier… Visual Studio just isn’t feasible on a square screen.

Of course, if Santa wants to simply give me money or pay the balance of my student loans… that would be great too.