Santa's Nano Helpers
Nano iPods are just the beginning. This holiday season, gifts are growing smaller and smaller. A spokesperson for Hershey's (which just shrank its popular kisses into thumbtack-size candy-coated "Kissables") explains the trend brilliantly: There's the "portability" factor. And the "cute" factor. So have a merry little Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. And we do mean little!
From the goats who live at 20-acre Westfield Farm in Massachusetts, owners Bob and Debby Stetson have crafted 1-ounce mini-rounds of award-winning Bluebonnet Goat Cheese ($5 for a package of three, chevre.com ). The Roquefort rind is intensely blue-green; the cheese is mild and creamy and offers the full dimensions of a wheel of ripened cheese. "Bigger blue logs are a lot more cost effective," says Bob Stetson. "But these are cute." - Caroline Hsu
TRAVEL TINY
With airlines cracking down on big carry-ons (and slapping luggage surcharges on passengers who pack heavy), your favorite traveler will be grateful for the gift of an undersize gizmo.
Taking a page from the popular PDA, the PicoPad ($4, picopad.com ) is a credit-card-size writing pad--complete with a stylus-type pen--that slips into a wallet or purse. It comes with 15 sticky-notes. The pen is a little tricky to write with, but it's handy in a pinch.
The Violight Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer ($30, violight.com ) uses a seven-minute burst of ultraviolet light to zap harmful, microscopic bugs that linger in your toothbrush. Dentists and hospitals use the same kind of technology.
If downloading an audio book into your iPod seems too much hassle, try this self-playing tome. Just plug the earphones in the Playaway ($35 to $45, playawaydigital.com ) and press play. It's pricier than print, and titles are limited to hits like The Da Vinci Code. The battery lasts plenty long (essential for a 16-hour book). The headphones aren't the most comfy, so if you become a serious Playawayer, you might invest in your own. Also David Sedaris's Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim sounded as if the author had cotton in his mouth.
Said to be the world's smallest digital camera (eat your heart out, James Bond), the Casio EX-S500 ($350, casio.com ) is only slightly larger than a credit card but doesn't sacrifice photo quality. It snaps 5-megapixel photos--detailed enough that you could blow them up into a poster--plus up to an hour of video. Anti-shake technology works great as long as you're in the bright outdoors. The front is almost all lens, which makes shooting a tad tricky. Slide your finger over any part of the lens, and whoops, there goes the photo. But for portability, this camera clicks.
Water bounces off it. Wind barely cuts through. Yet the Brooks L.S.D. Jacket ($85, brookssports.com ) breathes, so you won't feel as if you're in a sauna. Best of all for runners on the run, the silky "Lightweight Shelter Device" folds to the size of a cellphone, weighing in at a Nicole Richie-like 3.1 ounces. - Christopher Elliott
ROOM TO GROOM
Small, portable grooming aids can keep you beautiful wherever you're headed.
The Perricone Promise starter bag ($130, nvperriconemd.com ) is a doctor's case filled with six containers of youthening potions. The company claims quarter-ounce vials of vitamin C and Alpha Lipoic Acid Eye Area Therapy will banish puffy dark circles and fine lines. Try as a teaser, or use it as a travel set and recycle the doctor's bag as a new purse.
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