When I go to buy someone a gift for the holidays, I always want to — at the very least — get them something that they can use; the Celine Dion CD just isn’t cutting it anymore. I found this Multi-Tool gadget bundle from Swiss-Tech to be a great gift solution. It has a detachable LED light (always good to have), and the tool itself is small, yet packed with utility. It’s stainless steel and pocket-friendly (no sharp edges), and has the essentials like pliers with posi-grip jaws, 4 screwdrivers, wire cutters. It is priced right where I like, at under $20, and you don’t have to worry about quality issues because Swiss-Tech has built a reputation as the ‘first in key ring products.’ Also check out their Bodygard Emergency Tool, which combines an automatic glass breaker, seat belt cutter, sonic alarm, LED light, and an emergency flasher in a pocket sized, potentially lifesaving unit.

For a relatively inexpensive iPod-related gift idea ($50), why not go with the Accurian iPod docking alarm clock? The unit uses the existing alarm clock function on your iPod, allowing you to wake not to the rooster, or to some buzzed out nightmare of a racket, but to your favorite beats. It also acts as a speaker system so you can plug and play your iPod during those waking hours. It’s design is comfortably retro, but modern enough so that you don’t feel like you woke up on the set of The Brady Bunch. And the best feature: the snooze function runs in increments of 9, that’s right, 9 minutes. Now you can be even more tardy to school/work/liquor store.

Via I:Eye

Go to Light to Unite and light a (virtual) candle. Why? Because for every candle that’s lit, Bristol Myers Squibb (the huge pharmaceutical company) will donate $1 to the AIDS crisis to show its support (World AIDS Day is December 1st, remember). They’re only donating up to $100,000, which seems like a drop in the bucket for a multi multi multi billion dollar-a-year company, but every little bit helps. More than anything, I want to flood the site with as much traffic as possible so that the hit counter sky-rockets– as a show of support for the many affected by HIV and AIDS.

From the timeless classics to wild and limited-edition pieces, sneakers are a big part of our lives. Know someone who would be wildly surprised if you just happen to buy them a pair of the latest JB Classics? Some Royal Elastic slip ons for inside shoes, or eco-friendly creations by Terra Plana? Here are our picks of sneaker gifts from the vaults of our sneaker finding obsession. You wont find any of these pieces at a Foot Locker (that’s the point)– And, as of writing this, I’m 99% sure all shoes written about and referenced here, as well as pictured above, are available for sale somewhere.

• Royal Elastics: The Zedlen Leather: Why did you wear velcro sneakers when you were a kid? Because you couldn't tie your shoes… Continue Reading

• Terra Plana: Eco Friendly Shoes: Their Worn Again recycled materials campaign is pretty great– and we actually think some of the shoe designs are fun… Continue Reading

• Cushe Shoes: Cushe is an independent British shoe brand formed by a group of people who share a real passion for footwear… Continue Reading

• JB Classics: The Hounds: The guys (and gals) at JB Classics Lab never seize to amaze me. Perforated leather, synthetic pony hair… Continue Reading

• The String Republic: The String Republic is the work of French graphic artist Stephane Bucco. He originally created this project when he… Continue Reading

• Marc Jacob Vans: Aloha Rag just received literally 15 different styles of the the limited edition Vans Marc Jacob Editions. These aren't new styles, but they've been fairly… Continue Reading

• Adidas Americana Lux: Check out the nice limited edition shoes over at Commonwealth, the Adidas ‘American Lux‘– an instant and timeless classic. Red, white… Continue Reading

• Puma True Crime Sneakers: It looks as though Puma teamed up with Activision's True Crime video game to create the Puma True Crime Sneaker… Continue Reading

• Adidas Oddity: I just added some of the funky adidas All Black's into my shoe mix over here at the headquarters. They're from the famed adidas Oddity collection, a wacky line of funky mismatched colors… Continue Reading

• Gravis Footwear: Stylish, Warm and Native American?: Gravis has always succeeded by blending board-sport function with design-conscious… Continue Reading

• Royal Elastics Grata: I've been rocking the Royal Elastic Grata's for a few weeks now, and today I'll officially give them my “fly footwear” nod of approval… Continue Reading

Think about how much paper is wasted everyday in the world– mind blowing. Xerox is doing their part to innovate the problem directly into the recycle bin. They have reportedly come up with a self-erasable paper technology that fades back to white a mere 24 hours after it emerges from the Xerox machine. The science behind the paper: ‘from developing compounds that change color when they absorb a certain wavelength of light but then will gradually disappear.’ The result: the capability to create temporary documents that are directly recyclable (without further processing and extra energy waste), leading to vastly less paper use and thus vastly less timber harvesting. The idea is still in its infant stages, but it at least gives us hope for the future, right?

Via Gizmodo

T-Shirts, an item of clothing generally reserved for the warm spring time– but really is a year round necessity. Don’t get caught wearing mainstream nonsense this year– buy independent. We believe t-shirts are wearable art, and here are 11 of our favorite shirts ‘from the vaults’ for holiday time gift-age.

• Beautiful Decay Holiday Line: As we promised back in August, the nice people at Beautiful Decay have come out with quite an impressive fall/holiday line of t-shirts… Continue Reading

• Momimomi: I'm absolutely loving the new t-shirts I just received from momimomi. Very rarely does a t-shirt line get both factors of the ultimate t-shirt… Continue Reading

• I-Manifest: This shirt is solid holiday-time update from the guys at I-Manifest. They call the design ‘Cupid‘, and it's the first of hopefully many collaboration t-shirts… Continue Reading

• Nossa: Che Poppa: I'd seen this shirt around before on a couple of hipsters but never knew where they got it. The Che Poppa shirt is by a design group called Nossa… Continue Reading

• Artefacture: I Will Pay for Good Design: I recently had a conversation with a friend who said ‘it's so hard to find great designers these days', and I totally agree… Continue Reading

• Squidfire Designs: Focused on quality, comfort, and individuality; SquidFire's t-shirts are all hand designed, hand printed, and each piece is given individual attention… Continue Reading

• Softservice: softservice's line of t-shirts responds to the “homogeneity and ubiquity” of commercial “superstore” clothing. All of the shirts are individually hand-painted and embroidered, giving them each a unique appearance… Continue Reading

• Rxmance Clothing: Chris Dennler and Nick Motte started rxmance as a small independent clothing company. Right now they make t-shirts and tops… Continue Reading

• Invicid:Hot designers Invicid are back! They just released their latest collection– the series is called “Clouded By Fiction”, featuring 9 new styles for… Continue Reading

• Monsieur T: Here's another hot tip on T's.. Are you aching for some truly unique designs? Monsieur T. offers you just that. Limited edition… Continue Reading

• Materialust: It takes a lot for a t-shirt line to really impress me, but when I came across LA based Materialust, my hand immediately reached for my wallet. Materialust is really a globe trotting brand… Continue Reading

Our mates ‘down under,’ People Like Us Collective, just released 11 new designs across two ranges of t-shirts. The beauty of the new shirts lie in the printing process– a super clean digital method that makes the colors way more vibrant and less prone to fading (because they’re actually embedded in the fibers of the shirt). As with the Beck + Mimoco giveaway we announced yesterday, we will be awarding shirts to ‘the chosen few,’ picked from the pool of those who sign up for our mailing list by Friday, December 1st at 5 P.M. E.S.T. The designs I’ve shown you above are from the new white range, and according to People Like Us ambassador and designer Jeremy Somers, they really are something special (limited to 100, hand numbered, printed to order with their ’super technology,’ and sure to sell out very quickly). Who wants in?

We covered 1201am around this time last year– a beautiful collection of solid handmade paper goods by graphic designer Laurie Forehand. If you too are on the eternal search for the greatest post and gift cards this holiday season, add her new goodies shown above to your list. These are cards nice enough to give as just as a gift itself!

It’s no mystery we’re fond of Crispin Porter, but we’re not (like many people we know) fawning to work for, with, on, in, or around them. We’ve gotten to know a few folks over there, they seem like good-enough guys, produce some top-quality work and we welcome them to the neighborhood. It’s also no mystery that the general advertising public think all that success as of late might have made them a little full of themselves– one agency, Dont Sleep, went as far as launching a parody agency site called ‘Like Crispin Porter‘. All bashing aside, the site is pretty funny– our favorite part is the Like Bios, Like Chuck Porter’s bio is priceless– and the picture looks to be more like Chuck D, from Public Enemy than Chuck Porter– although they’re both industry shakers in their own right. This spoof is up their with Think Tank 3’s recent Adsense campaign: Crispin Porter Is Busy.