Gifts From the Matrix

AS children, many of us embraced the comforting fiction (do not read too closely, Virginia) that as the holiday season approached, elves in their Arctic workshops were hammering out everything from baby dolls to toy airplanes. As adults, we know that the truth is much less enchanted.

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Carl Wiens
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Gifts That Border on the Magical
Yet this fall, as store windows, catalogs and Web sites unveil their hottest holiday products — especially shiny, digital playthings as well as tools like computers and cellphones — a bit of the magic is back.

A wave of innovation and the refinement of several major electronic technologies have given rise to vastly improved versions of familiar products like stereo headphones and video-game consoles. And working within the matrix of these advances, designers and engineers have come up with new classifications of enticing devices, scores of which will reach store shelves in time for the holidays.

Gifts From the Matrix - New York Times