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Geeky Christmas trees (photos)

CNET readers and contributors show how geekiness infiltrates the holidays with a gallery of nerdy Christmas trees.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
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1 of 6 Amanda Kooser/CNET

Geek tree: Fiber optics

Crave blogger Amanda Kooser topped her silver fiber-optic tree with a mini-Cthulhu plush and decorated it with obsolete USB thumbdrives, "Battlestar Galactica" dog tags, and Resident Evil 4 for the Wii. Nothing says "Christmas" quite like survival horror.
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2 of 6 Vanessa Bedard

Geek tree: Social media theme

CNET reader and social-media consultant Vanessa Bedard tweeted her Foursquare Christmas tree. It's loaded with popular Foursquare icons such as the jet plane and the cupcake, all crafted from foam. The crown, of course, goes on top.
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3 of 6 Ty Pendlebury

Geek tree: Traffic cone with E.T. topper

CNET Senior Associate Editor Ty Pendlebury went for a bright, yet minimalist, theme with this pink-painted traffic cone topped with an ET figure.

He explains: "When we lived in Australia we had street artist neighbor who used to paint objects--usually toys--pink and leave them in the street. One day we found a huge pink traffic cone dumped in the alley and we decided to use it as a Christmas tree. We painted it gold, put an ET "angel" on top (that I had been saving in its original box!), and decorated it with baubles. To complete the 'circle of life' we gave the artist the ET doll when we moved to the U.S. and she was thrilled!"

E.T. appears courtesy of the year 1982, back when aliens were nice.
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4 of 6 Rafe Needleman

Geek tree: 'Star Trek'

CNET editor at large Rafe Needleman is taking his tree where no tree has gone before. He has been collecting Hallmark's "Star Trek" ornaments for years now. These are a few of his prized possessions gracing his tree. Not shown is the Yoda ornament his son made him buy. "Because you just don't mix the universes," Needleman says.
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5 of 6 liquidnight

Geek tree: Cthulhu and tentacles

Flickr user liquidnight out-geeks just about everybody with this Cthulhu tree. The grandaddy of Great Old Ones graces the treetop. The tentacles are culled from the Archie McPhee toys and novelties catalog. Watch your fingers when you go to pick up the presents.
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6 of 6 Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

Geek tree: Nerd-fest

The Nerd Christmas Tree 2011 from YouTube user mgwilson3 is powered by a 500W power supply and has a working DVD burner. It is decorated with a fiber optic cable garland, a soldering iron, CDs, and plenty of spare computer components. You might want to wait until after Christmas to do your soldering, though.

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