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>> Holiday--whether it's Mother's Day or birthday or some unspecified winter gift-giving holiday, it's fun to give and get gifts but nothing turns a smile into a frown faster than someone not being able to play with that new tech toy you just gave them. I'm Tom Merritt, Editor from cnet.com. On this edition of Insider Secrets, I'll show you how to be properly prepared to give tech gifts.
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>> Okay. I've got here before me a virtual, well it's not virtual it's real, buffet of things that will help you make sure people enjoy those new tech gifts you give them right away. Your first priority--power. First get batteries; whatever size you need and plenty of them. Next, the wired power. It's good to have an extension cord free even if just for temporary use; you don't want to have to move a bunch of furniture so consider plugging these things in before the guests arrive. Also you want to protect those new gadgets so don't forget surge-protecting power strips; regular flat ones are fine especially if they have special transformer-sized plugs for the big plug-ins. The Squid is the best. It even makes a great gift; it has a separate cord for each gadget so you don't have any crowding, and even all of us have done it, don't squeeze plugs in on the strip. It's a fire hazard. Now that we've got your gadgets juice, let's get them connected. It's no fun to give an Internet-cable device and not have any Internet. Get plenty of long Ethernet cable on hand and plug it into your router; you can even run it under rugs or behind furniture to make it unobtrusive. And if you have Wi-Fi make sure it's configured so guests can use it. If you have a password be careful; either memorize it or write it down on one piece of paper and keep track of that piece of paper. You don't want it falling into Uncle Ernie the hacker's hands do you? And actually you might want to consider changing the password after your guests leave. Well that's it for the gift-giving tips. If you've got some of your own, pitch on in. Go to blog.cnettv.com and look for the Insider Secrets section. Let us know your own tips. That's it for this edition of Insider Secrets; I'm Tom Merritt for cnet.com. Happy gift-giving.
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