This month we are going to look at some holiday goodies for the big kids in
the house- mom and dad.
I don¹t know about you, but I¹m not satisfied with sending store bought
Holiday cards to my friends - so I like to make originals. There are a
couple of products on the market that will help you along.
Z-International, from Kansas City, is marketing a variety of special
holiday papers that you can use in your laser writer or Inkjet printer. You
can purchase cards, labels, and stationary with very nice holiday scenes
on them. My emphasis here is being able to send personalized cards to
your friends. The cards are blank allowing you use a fancy font and print
your greetings on the front and inside of the card. Simply send it through
your laser or inkjet printer and you have a great personalized card. The
cards are scored, so all you do is fold them, pop them in the supplied
envelope, and mail them out. They come in boxes of 25 (cards and
envelopes) and retail around $10. Check out your local computer store,
OfficeMax, or other location that would carry computer supplies. My
personal favorite is item #17362.
Speaking of making things, T-Maker Company has a couple of creative
products for you. One is called Holiday Seasons, a software collection
of over 200 color images covering all the holidays: Christmas, Halloween,
Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, New Year¹s and more. Again, you can use these
images to make your own personalized Christmas cards. Editions for both
Mac and Windows. These are high resolution images so they print nicely.
Cost is about $25.
If you really get into producing your own holiday cards (or a school
newsletter), combine the images above with T-Maker¹s Creative Fuel, a
collection of images, fonts, design tips, and more. You get over 3000
images in color and black and white, more than 200 fonts (Truetype
scalable), and a nice software browser to look at them all. Comes on a
CDROM for both Mac or Windows. Cost is around $50.
Is Mom or Dad young enough to enjoy pop culture, or like the newest,
coolest music, or just want to learn about some cool Web sites? Well, a
subscription to Blender might be in order. Blender is a CDROM pop
culture electronic magazine with hours of entertainment per issue. Each
issue contains music reviews, game reviews, software you can download,
interviews, Web site reviews, and more. You can learn how to access the
White House online, listen to Barry White, or the newest bands. Blender
is quarterly and costs about $50 a year (or $20 each at the store). You can
find Blender in upscale book stores or magazine places, or contact them
directly at 1 800 825 0061.
On a more serious note, you will be surprised how many Americans do not
have a will, or living trust, an important document that can save your
family much grief when you go to that computer center in the sky. Nolo
Press, a pioneer publisher in law related products has a great product
called Living Trust Maker and it will protect your family¹s estate,
provide the best property management for the kids, and save thousands of
legal fees, all by using your Mac or PC. With this program you can created
a revocable living trust for a single person or couple, children¹ subtrusts
for property left to the kids, and custodianship for property left to the
kids. Also the manual gives you a great explanation and introduction to
living trusts. They have a WillMaker program as well. Part of the reason
people do not have a Will or Trust is the pain and expense of hiring a
lawyer to do it. Here you can do it yourself, learn something in the
process, and have peace of mind. Both PC and Mac versions available,
WillMaker also runs on DOS. Nolo can be reach at 510 549 4660 or on
America Online, or Eworld (keyword: Nolo). Trust costs about $56,
WillMaker about $50.
How can we talk about Christmas gifts and not mention games? Dad no
doubt enjoyed the Star Wars trilogy in the movies. LucasArts has a great
CDROM based shoot-them-up called Dark Forces. Your mission is to join
the Rebel Alliance, infiltrate the Empire, and shoot the bad guys to pieces.
Great animation, special effects, first person ground combat where you
fight up to 20 different types of enemies. Will keep dad busy for hours.
Both Mac and Windows available for about $50.
So there you have it. Have a happy holiday and may the force be with you.
Don Rittner is publisher of the MESH- Inside Cyberspace, a bunch of books,
and hosts Internet FM, a weekly radio show about the Internet on WRPI,
91.5 in Troy, NY.