Gadget Zone - the blog

John Stokdyk adds his personal impressions to the stream of reactions that followed last week’s launch of the Apple iPad.

Google managed to over-shadow this week’s consumer electronics show in Las Vegas with the unveiling last week of its new Nexus One smartphone, tipped as the company’s iPhone killer.

Excecutive perhipherals editor Nigel Harris casts his vote for the gadget phenomenon of 2009.

There are two trends among modern finance professionals. One is the move towards paperless working, the other is mobile working. Laptops, Wi-Fi and mobile phones have opened up new opportunities to be productive away from the office, but who says it can’t be fun too?

Every accountant needs a few home gadgets, so here are a few suggestions from the 2009 charts in the popular gadget magazines.

Top hi-fi of 2009 according to Stuff magazine was the fairly humble looking £400 Marantz M-CR502. Apparently it sounds great despite its compact looks. Personally I fancy the slightly pricier NaimUniti (just £1995), which manages to combine 2x50watt hi-fi, DAB and Internet radio and iPod dock (although the iPod cable will cost you an extra £95!).

Had to feature somewhere in the Christmas countdown. There are no new consoles or gaming devices out this year so it's all about the games themselves.

I have to confess to being fairly ignorant of gaming trends, having three very non-techy daughters. Personally I don't have the patience or interest to play games that go on forever and basically require you to do the same thing over and over again in the hope of beating your last score or unlocking some feature or other. For people like us, Nintendo have got it just right with the DS and Wii.

 Where do we start? Sadly, the USB mince pie turned out to be a hoax, but the tacky USB christmas tree didn't!

I'm looking out for the widely written-about USB hub with built-in alarm clock and electric letter opener. Sounds like the perfect high-tech gadget for the busy accountant.

For those with simpler needs, the good old USB cup warmer takes some beating.

This was on my Christmas list last year and following Santa’s failure to deliver the goods  I still haven’t got round to getting one.

 If you haven't replaced your old digital camera with a new 8 mega-pixel camera phone, and prefer to keep your gadgets separate, what should you be asking Santa for this year?

Stuff magazine voted the 8.1 MP Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 the best 'bridge' camera, mainly thanks to its impressive Leica lens, and the Canon PowerShot G10 as the best 'compact' digital camera, and you won't go far wrong with their nominations.

At the cutting edge, see if you can get your hands on a Fujifilm Finepix F200EXR,a 12-megapixel monster with its Extreme Super CCD EXR sensor.

As a child you always wanted a bike for Christmas, so why change the habit of a lifetime? These days there are all sorts of tax breaks from employees and employers when staff are encouraged to cycle to work. But on what?