November 9, 2006 7:06 AM PST

'Tis the season to Crave: Will Greenwald's picks

by Will Greenwald

NOTE: From now through December, every few days a different Crave expert will be posting his or her top 10 gadget picks for the holidays. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas! Here's our second installment.

Will Greenwald works at CNET's Manhattan office, covering cameras, camcorders, and video games. If he's not writing at his desk or shooting in a park, he'll probably be scoping comics and toys at Forbidden Planet or getting some hardcore gaming done in his apartment.

1. Nintendo Wii. What else can be said? Nintendo's new system is going to be one of the hottest items this season. Even if it didn't have the crazy Wiimote control, I'd still be tempted to get it just so I could play games like Gunstar Heroes and Legend of Zelda like I used to.

2. Sling Media Slingbox Pro. I love TV, but I can't watch it everywhere I go. This handy little gizmo plugs into my home theater setup and streams the feed over the Internet, so I can watch my favorite shows from any Internet-connected device. The SlingPlayer software can even control my DVR, so I can watch shows I've recorded. My favorite aspect, though, is the SlingPlayer Mobile software. It's a smart-phone program that lets me watch my Slingbox on my...

3. Motorola Q. As a gadgethead, I realize that no one device can really do everything. The Motorola Q certainly tries its best, though! It's a phone, it's an MP3 player, it's a Web browser, it's a Blackberry replacement, and it's even a Slingbox viewer with SlingPlayer Mobile. It's not perfect, and it has some bugs, but I can still do darn near anything with it.

4. Nintendo DS Lite (Onyx Black). I already have a white DS Lite, but black is so much prettier. Besides, it's great to have a spare. With games like Final Fantasy 3 coming out, and the potential for DS-Wii communication, I'd love to have this black beauty onhand.

5. Pioneer PDP-5070HD. Huge high-def plasma screen. What, do I need more of a reason than that?

6. Panasonic DMR-EH75V. This does-it-all deck has a DVD recorder, an 80GB DVR, and even a VHS cassette deck. Tape, burn, play, watch, burn, watch, play, tape, burn, repeat.

7. Logitech Harmony 890. It's expensive, but this single remote can tie a home theater together in a way that few things can. It handles both IR and RF transmissions, features a color display, and even comes with a handy charging dock so it's slightly harder to lose it!

8. Razer Tarantula. Good keyboards are hard to find, and this is one of the best. Backlit and customizeable keys, built-in memory, and a sturdy build make this keyboard appealing for a hard-gaming, hard-typing guy like me.

9. Lenovo ThinkPad X60s. It isn't great for gaming, but that just means I can actually get work done on this tiny notebook. It's one of the first ultraportables with the Intel Core Duo too, which gives it just that extra kick I need for programs such as Photoshop and Premiere.

10. Denon AVR-4306. A $2,000 A/V receiver might seem insane, but that's what wish lists are for. I know it's overkill for my apartment, but it's just so feature-packed and high-tech I don't really care.

PREVIOUS CRAVE HOLIDAY LISTS: Caroline McCarthy