Holiday Gift Giving—MIT Style

Time for the second (possibly annual) edition of ways to infuse your holiday gift-giving with MIT-ness. Items below—in a range of price points—are either created by MITers or about MIT. View last year's list as well.

Computers and Electronics

e-Readers The Amazon.com Kindle, Sony Reader, and Barnes & Noble NOOK all use electronic ink technology developed at the MIT Media Lab.

Hyperscore music composition software A program designed to teach students and adults how to compose music simply by drawing lines on the screen. It was created by MIT Media Lab spin-off Harmony Line, Inc.

LEGO Mindstorms These robotic invention kits grew out of a 20-year collaboration between the Media Lab and LEGO company. They are based on MIT's programmable brick technology, where a tiny computer is embedded inside a traditional LEGO brick. With this technology, kids (or adults) can build and program robots or other computerized contraptions via sensors and motors.

Interactive fiction Nick Montfort SM ’98, an MIT associate professor in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies and a digital media producer, creates programs (sometimes called “games”) that let users type commands to a character who interacts with a simulated world. Learn more about and download some interactive fiction.

Mobile Apps

You might have to buy a gift card and then strongly suggest your recipient try these out. Or stand over their shoulder to make sure they buy exactly what you suggest. Either way.

Satellite Augmented Reality By Adam Eisenman SM '07—for iPhone 3GS and 4

Find out which set of more than 370 satellites are visible from your current location in real time simply by pointing your iPhone camera. The app also includes a mechanical slide rule interface and provides pointing directions (azimuth and elevation angles) toward each of the satellites or any other potential geo satellite location. You can also input a virtual location and discover what the view of the sky would be there.

JumpTask By Ryan Kabir '05 and Alvin Liang '05, MNG '08—currently web-based, available for iPhone within a few weeks

Ask for small favors from nearby friends (or strangers!) without overly inconveniencing them. You can even offer a tip to show your gratitude. Pay someone $2 to put $1 in your expiring parking meter, for example. Or ask someone to verify a restaurant is open. These work best with location-specific requests.

Locale By MIT students in the 2008 EECS class Building Mobile Applications with Android

Clare Bayley '10, Carter Jernigan '08, Jasper Lin MNG '08, Christina Wright MNG '08, and additional contributor Jennifer Shu MNG '05 won grand prize in the Android Developer Challenge with this app. Use it to specify situations and conditions under which your phone's settings should change. Like to automatically revert to vibrate in a movie theatre, or to let VIP callers always ring through, or to alert you when your battery is low upon walking in your front door. You can also add third-party plug-ins for more features. Astrid, for example, will remind you to pick up milk when you drive near the grocery store (among other cool things).

Crittercism By Robert Kwok '05 and Jeeyun Kim '05—for iPhone

For the iPhone app developer, this manages support requests from within the app and offers a way to reply to users directly. Integrate it into your app in less than 5 minutes and take care of any bugs or complaints before they hit the app store as negative ratings. Go to the website to sign up for private beta testing.

Metal Detect By Adam Eisenman SM '07—for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad

Convert your device into a metal detector. Just calibrate and pass it over metallic objects and the dial moves according to the amount of metal detected. You'll hear audio feedback too. Great for checking your person before passing through airport security or finding treasure at the beach. Eisenman has created numerous apps, including trackers for public transportation in various cities. Discover more.

IdeaTable By Ryan Kabir '05—for iPad

Organize tasks and ideas as well as identify patterns and relations in your thinking through virtual cards/Post-It Notes. Write one idea per note then shuffle and sort however you like on the table.

Alumni, have you created any mobile apps? We'd love to hear about them. Post in the comments.

MIT Press Books

Alumni receive 20% off any MIT Press title. A few of the most recent publications with MIT connections are listed below. Becoming MIT: Moments of Decision Edited by David Kaiser, MIT associate professor of science, technology, and society

The evolution of MIT, from William Barton Rogers's novel laboratory-based system of instruction to today's pioneering research, as seen in a series of crucial decisions over the years.

Operations Rules: Delivering Customer Value through Flexible Operations By David Simchi-Levi, MIT professor of engineering systems and civil engineering

Simchi-Levi, considered one of the premier thought leaders in supply chain management, offers a set of rules that will help managers achieve dramatic improvements in operations performance.

Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century By (the late) William J. Mitchell, former dean of MIT's School of Architecture and Planning; Christopher E. Borroni-Bird; and Lawrence D. Burns

Explores how to leave behind unwieldy, gas-guzzling, carbon-dioxide-emitting vehicles for cars that are green, smart, connected, and fun. Mitchell, who pioneered urban designs for networked "smart" cities and helped oversee an ambitious building program that transformed MIT's physical campus, died at age 65 on June 11, 2010, after a long battle with cancer.

Looking for other books by members of the MIT community? Find a list the Atlantic website deemed part of the Tech Canon.

Arts and Crafts

Photomosaics While at MIT, Robert Silvers SM '96 invented the process of using thousands of tiny photographs to create a larger image and has since displayed his artwork worldwide. The American Spirit poster replicates a Time/Life cover of the Statue of Liberty. Books include his original artworks, a Disney collection, and portraits.

Origami T-shirts Origami master Brian Chan '02, SM '04, PhD '09 also creates 2-D art and metalwork. Buy some origami-themed T-shirts he designed. View more of his work.

Money

Of course, when all else fails or you procrastinated so long that not even the most expedited shipping will deliver the present in time, money works. Douglas Crane MBA ’98 is VP of family owned Crane & Co. cotton papers, which has continuously supplied the United States Treasury with its currency paper—and an evolving array of embedded security features—since 1879.