How to Spend Your Christmas Cash 2010

How to Spend Your Xmas Cash 2010 - More Stuff

Some gadgets, gizmos and random bits-and-bobs that are sent into the office defy easy classification, so we've cobbled together the best of the rest here.

bit-tech T-shirts

UK Price (as reviewed): 1 for £14, 2 for £22, 3 for £30 (inc VAT)

Brought to you by the makers of bit-tech and Custom PC magazine, these fine t-shirts come in a range of colours and motifs that will make your friends envy your superb taste in fashion, as well as your excellent sense of humour.

Made from 100 per cent cotton, and featuring a deluxe ring-spun construction for maximum softness and comfort, these t-shirts are guaranteed to impress when you’re out on the street or hitting the bars.*

Our shameless self promotion aside, the site that provides our gorgeous garments, shotdeadinthehead.com, has easy-to-follow guidelines regarding size and fit, and has sizes ranging from Small to XX-Large for men and from Small to X-Large for ladies. You can even see how the t-shirt colour and motif look together with the handy colour selector. Wear your geek lifestyle with pride!

Alien Anthology Blu-ray

UK Price (as reviewed): £37.49 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $69.99 (inc Tax)

Few film franchises resonate as strongly as that of the iconic Alien series, available for the first time in high-definition in this box set. While the quality of the four films is infamously variable, with Alien and Aliens both superb and the following Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection a bit rubbish, the quality of the high definition transfers are all excellent.

Aliens in particular, filmed on extra-grainy film stock, has been lovingly restored and looks stunning in 1080p; you’ll definitely spot lots of extra details. Each film is also presented in either its original theatre cut, or in a special edition/director's cut, and there are two whole Blu-ray discs full of bonus material, deleted scenes and documentaries. If, like us, these films count among your all-time favourites, this Blu-ray edition of the quadrilogy is essential. All we need now is to convince Ridley Scott not to make any of the planned, and inevitably rubbish, prequels.

Brasso Gadgetcare

UK Price (as reviewed): £5.99 (inc VAT)

Brasso's first new product in 110 years is this anti-static cleaning goo with silicone, which is supplied in a 50ml bottle with a microfibre cloth. It's pitched as a wonder polish that lifts the muck off mobiles, gadgets and even screens. What's more, it really works. You'd expect any decent polish to get the grunge off high-gloss plastics, but Gadgetcare seems to buff them up too. It not only cleaned screens without leaving a residue, but also lifted the grease from textured, matte and soft-touch finishes.

After Gadgetcare removed the crud off an ancient keyboard we began to fear that it was unstoppable, but it managed not to eat its way through the gadgets themselves. This is an excellent all-round cleaner, as adept at de-gunking smart phones as it is at cleaning monitors. If you use your PC as much as we do, then do your personal hygiene a favour and give it a whirl.


*Not actual guarantee; bit-tech accepts no responsibility if your friends don’t have as good a sense of style or humour as you; your experiences may vary from ours. However, the only way to find out is to buy a t-shirt.