¡¡¡¡(1) iPod The most unpopular gift my wife ever received came from me on Christmas Eve of 2001. She unwrapped the package, cracked open the stylish clamshell box and frowned at the debut1 model of the iPod, Apple¡¯s magnificent music player. It was the size of a pack of cigarettes, gleaming in white and polished stainless steel and ready to swallow hundreds of songs.

¡¡¡¡¡°This isn¡¯t for me,¡± she said, sliding the whole mess over to my end of the coffee table. ¡°This is for you.¡± She was right. So after a few tepid protestations I took custody of the unloved player and turned it into a highª²tech talisman2 of my inner life. The iPod renewed my love of music and answered a primal need: It made me feel cool.

¡¡¡¡Today¡¯s handheld cameras, phones, music players and organizers3 pack power into tiny, cheap space and offer features so similar it can be hard to distinguish a Neo from a Treo. So the deciding factor comes down to something more intangible¡ªit¡¯s a matter of how the gadget makes us feel about ourselves.

¡¡¡¡Apple gets this more than any other manufacturer of computer ware, and its designers, with their requisite piercings4, tattoos and allª²blackª²allª²theª²time wardrobe, go to extraordinary lengths to make the iPod something special. Even the power supply¡ªreduced elsewhere to a generic afterthought of black plastic¡ªis a thing of beauty, its white, smoothª²sculpted edges concealing hidden notches that pop open to reveal functional parts.

¡¡¡¡The iPod¡¯s fanciest feature: a navigational spinning wheel that no longer spins. Just 2.4 inches across, it lets you scroll up and down a list of songs or turn the volume louder or softer. The first model used a spinning dial that clicked as it revolved. Later models went virtual, letting you navigate simply by skating a forefinger over a stationary wheel.

¡¡¡¡The iPod is a handy little thing, letting you travel with a prodigious5 collection of music without having to endure the disarray of a stack of CDs. But utility isn¡¯t the point; the real point is to ascend into Apple¡¯s elegant world. iPod users on the New York subway eye one another approvingly, spotting the distinctive white and tangleª²prone earphones that mark another member of the club. Our faces share the same beatific look, as we get lost in sound, gleefully embracing technology that actually delivers.

¡¡¡¡(2) PowerShot S400 There are lighter, more functionª²rich and betterª²reviewed ultracompact digital cameras than the Canon PowerShot S400, but something about this one gets everything just right. With 7.8 ounces of heft6 to it, the S400 is easy to hold and reassuring in the hand. Canon clad it in this sexy new material called Cerabrite, halfª²ceramic and halfª²metal, that stays cool, doesn¡¯t scratch and doesn¡¯t show fingerprints. You can shoot a movie up to three minutes long with audio and play it back right away, and the LCD7 is so crisp and bright that you can gather a couple of people to watch and nobody will complain that they¡¯re watching a 1.5ª²inch screen.

¡¡¡¡But the whole point is taking pictures. If you want to become a better photographer, the only way is through repetition. Switching to digital clears the way. With a goodª²size memory card inside (I advise at least 256 megabytes), you can snap, snap, snap and never worry about cost of printing until you¡¯ve got one worth keeping. If you¡¯re a mediocre8 shooter, like me, that¡¯s less often than you¡¯d like. The S400 is so small, a business card across and two fingers high, I don¡¯t think twice about grabbing it before leaving home.

¡¡¡¡But the 4 million pixels9 the S400 swallows up are astounding for a camera this cute. I walked around the Lincoln Memorial last week thinking, ¡°Yup, mine is smaller than that guy¡¯s. His, too. And hers.¡± Now there¡¯s something to brag about.

¡¡¡¡(3) Xbox Not all hardª²core video gamers are kids. The people behind Microsoft¡¯s Xbox figured that one out. Start with its controller. My original Xbox controller was huge by videogame standards (Microsoft has since replaced it with a slightly smaller one). That might have frustrated a boy, but a 6ª²footer will find it a natural fit. The 9ª²footª²long cord from the controller to the machine itself also means the adult player doesn¡¯t have to sit directly in front of the television like a kid.

¡¡¡¡In the end it¡¯s all about the games, and that¡¯s where the Xbox shines. Games load faster than they do on the Sony PlayStation2. While Sony has Microsoft beat in the sheer number of available games, many of the original Xbox titles are already classics. Staying up until 1 a.m. and playing together to accomplish a goal, no matter how mindless or destructive, is pretty revolutionary for guys raised on Pacª²Man.

¡¡¡¡(To be continued) -