Online Media Cultist

I thought I’d try something a little different this holiday season and whip up a list of ten gifts that webby people would truly enjoy. And by webby people I mean me, so have at it in the comments if you’d like to make your own recommendations!

Amazon Kindle
I’m a huge fan of the Kindle. It brings a bookstore to your fingertips, allowing you to browse and download free samples of hundreds of thousands of books. And you can subscribe to blogs and magazines, browse the web (in a clunky fashion, but still pretty cool), and add notes and bookmark all of your stuff. Most of all, it’s an extraordinary device that lets you access a galactical amount of information and entertainment. And, what’s more, the applications are endless.

Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is about way more than gaming, though you can of course certainly gorge yourself on any and all manner of gaming goodness (I’m just getting into Left 4 Dead 2 myself so that I might blast a few hundred dozen drooling flesh-eating zombie when I’m of a mood).

What’s more, the Xbox is making huge strides in becoming a central nexus of the webby home.

BlackBerry Curve
Yes, yes, I understand and am all for the glory and wonder and apps ahoy of the iPhone. But if you’re a web cultist, in my book nothing beats the BlackBerry Curve for e-mail and web browsing and texting with a fury.

Amazon Video On Demand
There’s something delightful about watching a movie on your computer or laptop screen, and I’m sure I’m not the only online media cultist who enjoys having Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince or Terminator Salvation or Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian playing on one corner of the screen while a hundred browser tabs are open in another.

A great pair of headphones
If you’re web working, you need to block out those distractions. Music is often a must, and the right headphones let you block out the screeching traffic and yelping dogs and mental sonic alien manifestations from pan dimensional climes (is that just me?).

My recommendation: the Sennheiser RS120 926 MHz Wireless RF Headphones with Charging Cradle.

Sirius XM Satellite Subscription
This’ll take care of the music and audio entertainment part.

Site Meter: premium subscription
Nothing beats Google Analytics for insane depth and detail of website and blog analytics, but nothing beats the joy of good old Site Meter for your webby stats junkies. The premium subscription allows you to track recent visitors, inbound site searches, and more to a much greater extent than the free version.

Netflix
Netflix is a great service that keeps getting better. The streaming service allows you to watch a fairly large selection (though it would be nice if it would grow over time) of movies and TV shows online and via Xbox and other devices.

Mountain Dew: And lots of it
There’s a reason why tech and web geeks love Mountain Dew: the stuff seriously kicks a huge quantity of adrenalized and over-caffeinated ass. Just the stuff to get you through a late night online gaming, blogging, or production build sesh.

Wordpress: An expert to help us figure it out
I just went through a painful site redesign. It began with a seemingly simple operation to get tagging to work again, as the feature had been broken for far too long.

Let me say this: it would not be a bad idea to start a paid service where a wordpress expert is on 24-hour call, available via IM or Skype, or something.

Okay, here’s a bonus Number 11…

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
A great edition to an all time classic game. Rock on, Rockstar Games.