In this issue we share gift suggestions from TidBITS readers far and wide and add a few of our own. Suggestions range from the mundane (such as a good spelling checker) to the unexpected (imagine using a Mac as the base of a floral arrangement!). We also point you to a few resources for matching up your old computer equipment with people who can use it.
Greetings, and welcome to TidBITS's 1997 gift issue. Following last year's example, this issue falls outside our regular publication schedule as a special issue
Riven -- I expected Riven, the Sequel to Myst, to receive several suggestions. What surprised me, though, was that several readers noted the game is fun to play in tandem with another person
Eudora -- Most TidBITS staff members use Eudora (we particularly love its features for filtering, redirecting, and personalities), and we last covered Eudora in TidBITS-405
Kensington -- Several readers suggested trackballs and multi-button mice as holiday gifts, and Kensington's input devices were particularly noted. Bob Beamesderfer's observations were representative: "A great gift, especially for Mac OS 8 users, is Kensington's Thinking Mouse, which has four buttons
A Zippier PowerBook -- VST Technologies recently shipped a much-anticipated expansion bay Zip drive for PowerBooks. Adam White Scoville noted, "PowerBook users who, like me put their machines through quite a pounding, but are never as conscientious as they would like to be about backing up their embattled hard disks would love to see an expansion bay Zip drive from VST Technologies in their stockings
Gargoyles -- Mason Loring Bliss suggested, "Monitor gargoyles seem to be quite fashionable lately. They're neat, and they're typically not made out of plastic, which is a good thing
We'd like to thank our sponsors for their support, without which it would be impossible for us to publish TidBITS for free. And of course, we want to thank you, our readers, for doing business with our sponsors when appropriate
As much as the holidays in the U.S. have become a consumer feeding frenzy, we prefer to think of them as a time for sharing. If you have hardware or software that you no longer use, consider donating it to a worthy cause
In closing, I'd like to share the sentiment passed on by several readers that this holiday season is a great time to register shareware (and a registered copy of one of the many excellent shareware games from Ambrosia, Stairways, and others could prove an excellent and inexpensive present that can be enjoyed during time off)