Hot box
We thought we’d never need another TV-top helper after TiVo changed our viewing life. But then came the Slingbox, and lo, it was good. Slingbox sends your home-entertainment setup—cable, DVR, whatever you have—to any computer or cell phone, so it’s like your living room is everywhere. The days of feeling empty without your TiVo (or sweet cable package) while away from home are over. Available at slingmedia.com; starting at $129.99.

Watch out
Giving DVDs as gifts can be a tricky proposition: It can seem impersonal and kinda cheap. So don’t go the blockbuster route—instead, go with classics, complete sets or premium shows that fly under the radar. For comedy fans and the indie-inclined, you can’t beat season one of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords ($29.98)—original, hilarious and grossly underwatched. Drama and crime-show fans will kill for the first season of Dexter ($39.98), and anyone who has an HDTV will devour the documentary series Planet Earth ($79.98). And if you want fancy schmancy, the Stanley Kubrick Directors Series box set ($79.98), which includes 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut and Full Metal Jacket, can’t be beat. All available now. And come on, you know where to buy DVDs.

Hard corps
There’s a limit to the number of Ira Glass–themed gifts you can give. But that emo-ish NPR lover in your life is in luck: StoryCorps, the traveling oral history project that’s been crisscrossing the country for years, has published its first book, Listening Is an Act of Love.It’s chockablock with personal, evocative, lovely and occasionally funny tales. Available at Women and Children First, 5233 N Clark St at Farragut Ave (773-769-9299); $24.95.

Picture it
What do you get the Flickr-addicted but Photoshop-wary photog in your life? An upgrade to a premium account on Picnik.com, the easiest and best Web app for image editing and touch-ups. You’ll be on your way to banishing shitty-looking photos forever. Available at Picnik.com; $24.95.

Best. Game. Ever.
A phenomenon as popular and long-lived as The Simpsons spawns lots of video-game spin-offs, but unfortunately most of those games made you want to sterilize your thumbs after playing them. The newest Springfield adventure sports smoothly animated graphics that nail the look and feel of the show and an all-new script by the show’s writing staff. Homer and family discover they’re in a video game and now have wacky powers like Marge’s Mob Control. Bart, Lisa and crew then embark on missions that serve as gutbusting send-ups of geekdom’s most sacred cows. The level where Marge crusades against the überviolent Grand Theft Scratchy hits hilariously close to home. EA, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3; $50; available at gamestop.com.

Mass consumption
Admit it: You’ve always wanted to be Capt. Kirk. Satiate your secret desires with Mass Effect, which offers the opportunity to meddle with alien civilizations, wield futuristic military weaponry and wax philosophical about life in the cosmos. This space opera by hot development studio BioWare finds humanity’s fragile extraterrestrial alliances endangered by the apparent return of a mechanical superspecies that plans to obliterate all organic life. We’re not sure if you’ll get to sleep with the game’s blue-skinned women while thwarting the machines, but if you’re a Smurf, the odds increase. Microsoft, Xbox 360; $60; available at gamestop.com.

Can he kill Scott Stapp?
See where the centuries-old art of “Terminating with extreme prejudice” got its start. The stealth/action hybrid Assassin’s Creed sends players traipsing through one man’s genetic memories into the life of a 12th-century ancestor called Altair. Altair stalks through medieval Jerusalem, gathering info and eventually killing the men who would make the Third Crusade even bloodier. Did we mention he stalks? Creed’s amazing AI programming lets whole cities react to the way you behave in the game—if you bully your way through crowded markets, citizens will impede your escape from the scene of the assassination. Ubisoft, Xbox 360, PS3; $60; available at gamestop.com.