Tom Hasler lists this year's top Christmas gifts from the tech scene.

With the veritable plethora of weird and wonderful technological marvels released every christmas, it can be difficult to wade through the noise to find gifts that won't find their way into the garbage by new years. Fortunately there are a few items this year that are almost garenteed to make great presents regardless of who you buy them for.

Kymera Magic Wand Remote Control
This is really cool. It’s a TV remote that is styled after the wands from Harry Potter, with users changing channels though flicks waves and other hand gestures rather than mashing buttons. While it only features 13 gestures, which on today's televisions means you you may have to occasionally break out the boring old remote, simple exercises such as switching channels and controlling volume suddenly become magical. Even when the novelty wears off for the owner, it will probably still delight guests, especially if using the device is second nature, and you nonchalantly turn on the telly with a wand.

Video games
While conventional games like Skyrim make for tempting presents, the inherently antisocial nature of these games probably makes them inappropriate for Christmas, or at least for playing on Christmas. Casual party games like Wii Sports and Guitar Hero have provided great fun for the whole family in the past; these titles may have gone a little stale however. Fortunately 2011 has provided us with some fresher party games that provide the same social appeal and accessibility as their forebearers. Dance games have made a comeback with the improvements in motion gaming and are now more fun than ever with the death of cumbersome perhipherals like dance mats. Titles like Just Dance 3 can be played on all the major consoles given the right peripherals and features a wide variety of songs that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Meanwhile, Kinect Sports: Season 2 offers a more fleshed out realisation of the Wii Sports concept, but does require ownership of the Kinect sensor for Xbox 360.

Cameras
This is simply a classic. What better way to capture the memories of Christmas day than with a good camera? Cameras make good presents particularly because there is a wide variety on offer at various price ranges. If the person you’re shopping for is passionate about photography, you may want to give this a miss however; photography nuts can be very particular about what kind of camera they will use and high quality cameras can be prohibitively expensive. If however they lack a high quality camera and you can afford a camera with the features they want, then feel free to splash out, it’s a worthwhile investment.

Media players
These are ideal for students, or anyone for that matter, who has got into the habit of consuming all their television and film through their computer. This has led to people watching these programs alone rather than together with friends as used to be the case. These media players offer a solution by downloading media from your computer and playing it into your television, allowing everyone to watch the latest instalment of everyone's favorite awful show Big Bang Theory on the couch in a social setting.

iPad
The iPad 2 seems to be this year’s Wii, only a lot less gimmicky and a lot more useful. When the iPad was first introduced, its similarity to the iPhone made it seem frivolous. Today however, the iPad has established its identity and its wide ranging functionality means it will probably have some usefulness for anyone. Kids can use it for games, parents can use it to read the weekly paper and sudoku. Students however are likely to use it for mostly the same reason they use their laptops. Not studying of course, but instead, dicking around on Facebook and Youtube.