It’s holiday time and Best Magazine Senior Editor, David Gregg has got some gift ideas and tips for the season.

Mini Cartoon cartridges for GameBoy Owners
For the over 24-million Nintendo GameBoy Advance owners, a company called Majesco just introduced a product that converts the GameBoy Advance into a personal Video player. Its new Game Boy Advance Video mini cartridges make great stocking stuffer. Each cartridge holds 45-minutes of cartoons complete with on screen controls (FF, Rewind < etc) with a library of content from the likes of Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and more. With big-name titles like Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer Yu Gi Oh! And more the Mini Cartridges are sure to keep the kids entertained on the long trip back from Grandmas. Best of al they sell for only ($20: www.majesco.com)

Spidey II and X-men fast action video games for teens
For teens and young adults one of Activisons Spider man II and X-Men Legends are two of the most anticipated movie -related action games to hit the market. Spidey II has a brand new exclusive mission in realistic New York back drop with an awesome sound track while X-men (narrated by Patrick Stewart) is action action action all the way. Both are available on every game format ($50; www.activision.com)

Satellite radio for the sports fan
For the serious sports fan in the family Sirius satellite radio has a cool product called the Sportster. The Sportster was designed to enhance Sirius’ broadcast of NFL games, and features a Game Alert Prompt that lets you know when your favorite team is playing, and a Game Zone that lists every sport program on the air. The Sportster head unit allows you to connect with optional docking stations ($50) for the car, home, boat or a boom box, making it the most portable of Sirius devices. Sirius Satellite Radio features 65-commercial free music channels and 50 news, sports, talk. (MSRP-$100 Service $12/mo; www.sirius.com)

Software that simplifies digital photography and making home movies
For the third year running Digital Cameras are expected to be the hottest selling Consumer electronic product of the season. However, many folks are still in a quandary when it comes to «fixing» and sharing their pictures and piecing together their videos into a final product. Adobe has two new products that make it easier than ever shoot store, edit and share your family memories for generations to come.

Adobe’s new Premiere Elements turns your computer into an all-in-one home video studio. It automates most of the challenges associated with video editing like capturing video from your DV camera. By just pointing and clicking your mouse, you’ll be able to edit your footage, add music, splice in still images and even cut in bits of old movie footage. You can even create custom DVDs, complete with menus and scene indexes to share with your friends and family. The «Academy» may have to create a new Oscar category for best home movies once this new software catches on! (MSRP: $99.99 www.adobe.com)

Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 allows amateur digital photographers to do what they were meant to do…take pictures and print them like a professional. This new version of the already well known photo editing and organizing software picks up with incredible enhancements where the last version left off. Features like one click fixes and advanced photo editing features puts you in total control of the print making and organizing of your entire virtual photo album. Share your pictures easily and creatively, via slide shows, web galleries and Adobe Photoshop Services, which gives you the option of ordering high-quality prints and customizable photo books, in collaboration with Ofoto. You can even use Elements to easily scan and digitize your old school snapshots that you have stored in shoeboxes! (MSRP: $99.99 www.adobe.com)

Money Saving Phone
Stay in touch and save money too long after the holiday get together with the gift of an internet telephone. Any long distance family or be it college kids or bicoastal broods can benefit from this new low cost technology. ATT is one of the first major carriers to embrace broadband phone service. All you need is a high speed modem and you can keep your own phone number and literally cut your long distance phone bills in half with unlimited nationwide and Canada calling for under $30/month . ATT just announced retail partnerships with almost every major electronics retailer --. Installation is simple, just plug phone into your cable modem or DSL and its ready to work.

Jura-Capresso IMPRESSA S9
Best in its class — bronze luxury edition of the Jura-Capresso line of super automatic coffee and espresso centers. With the push of a button it grinds, tamps, brews and self-cleans in less than a minute. Automatically produces perfect espressos, cappuccinos, lattes and full size cups of pressure-brewed coffee cup-by-cup. The first to offer two advanced frothing options — traditional barista wand and the frothXpress PLUS system. Suggested retail price $2,200. Jura-Capresso offers a fully automatic coffee and espresso centers ranging from $999 to $3,999.

For more information on these Holiday Ideas, please go to www.beststuff.com.

10 things any college student would love to see under the tree this year
By Laura Gleason

Santa’s checking his lists -- twice even -- and whether you’ve been naughty or nice, you’ll probably clean up pretty well come Dec.25. When you think about it, your parents probably don’t know what you’ve been up to so that should bode well for your pile under the tree. But if your parents are anything like mine, they’ve already laid the «you’re so hard to shop for now that you’re in college» line on you and you can look forward to opening all the clothes, CDs, DVDs and useless junk you could ask for. So why not help your parents out and give them a few ideas about what to get you this year-maybe something a little cooler than white cotton socks and underwear. Here’s The Greyhound’s list of 10 Cool Christmas Gifts for College Students.

10. Stocking Stuffers

Earplugs, pre-paid phone cards, gas coupons, Student Advantage membership: all necessities at college. Get these and some others and have a pretty useful gift. Another great stocking stuffer: gift certificates to different Baltimore restaurants. Most restaurants let you order the certificate over the phone and will mail it to you. Give your parents a list of your favorites and let Mom and Dad foot the bill when you go out to dinner with friends --they never have to know you used it all on Happy Hour.

9. Gift Cards

If you’re like me, you don’t exactly trust your parents’ taste in clothes, books, movies, etc. You won’t have to wait in the long lines after Christmas to return your stuff if you follow one simple rule: gift cards. Gift cards are a fabulous invention that allows your parents to give you money to spend at a store you like, but you can pick out the cool jeans instead of the fringed pink polyester sweater.

Some other great places to use gift cards and gift certificates: bookstores, restaurants or treat yourself to a massage following a long and stressful semester at Loyola.

Plus, you can use the gift cards whenever you want. Have enough clothes right now? Save the card for the spring when you need to replenish the wardrobe. Cost is at the discretion of the giver.

8. Various Media

Okay, so I complained about the CDs and DVDs but everything’s good in moderation. With file sharing and music downloading are all but obliterated, many of us have been forced to venture out and buy our first real CDs in several years. I almost forgot how expensive those things were.

It’s much better for Mom and Dad to dole out the tunes -- try the new Counting Crows great hits album. And college students can never have enough movies; snag the new releases or revert to the classics to add to your DVD collection. Video games more your style? Check out the latest games for X-Box, PlayStation 2, GameCube and more. $15-$30 at electronic, record and bookstores.

7.Magazine/Newspaper Subscriptions

Want to find out how your high school sports team is doing, who’s running for town office or other things happening at home while you’re away at school? Ask your parents for a subscription to your local newspaper and read about all the latest happenings.

Or, subscribe to all the magazines you end up buying in line at the checkout stand anyway. Have People, USWeekly, Sports Illustrated and more delivered every week. Bonus feature: plenty of stuff for your MS box, and who doesn’t love getting mail? Prices vary depending on the publication. Visit amazon.com for subscription information.

6. The George Foreman Grill

Most of you probably have these by now, but for those who don’t (and for the freshmen who are already thinking about the «palatial dorms» that await them next year), go out and get a George Foreman Grill.

You plug it in and in five minutes you’re making chicken breasts, burgers, grilled vegetables and the best grilled cheeses you can get outside of a diner. For those nights when you just cannot eat one more thing from Primo’s, George saves the day, and pretty affordably too. $30 at grocery stores, pharmacies.

5. Portable Foosball Table

Challenge your roommates to a rollicking game of foosball on a portable foosball table from Restoration Hardware stores (www.restorationhardware.com). Foosball packs all the competitiveness of soccer into an arena-sized game. This one’s pretty classy, so shop around and you might be able to find it cheaper. Not a foosball junkie? Try some other games to liven up your dorm room: electronic dartboards, mini basketball hoops or the standard board games: try the new Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture edition.

4. Tickets

Concerts and sporting events: a college students’ dream. Have the parents score you a couple of seats the next time your favorite band or team comes to town. Check out the upcoming acts at the Recher Theatre in Towson or the First Mariner Arena downtown. Reserve a couple of seats at Camden Yards in the spring. Or search a venue closer to home and bring a high school friend with you. For a great time during a great season, venture into Manhattan to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden or the New York City Ballet perform The Nutcracker Suite. Ticket prices will vary.

3. Digital Camera

Welcome to the 21st century boys and girls and the age of digital. Cameras are a wonderful way to capture your memories (especially of college life) but photo developing can be pretty expensive, especially when half your roll turns out to be the inside of your purse or extremely cropped close-ups.

With digital cameras, you can take as many pictures as you can fit on your memory card, delete the bad ones, send the okay ones to the computer printer and the great ones off to be developed. You can e-mail, alter and share-to-web with the click of a mouse.

Best of all, it makes it 100 times easier to share your pictures with your friends and family. Send friends from high school pictures of your wild and crazy nights at Loyola and send the tamer ones to grandparents, aunts and uncles just so they know you’re not surviving on Raman and coffee. Publish them on a website and give everyone access.

Keep the old camera around, but invest in a good digital one and move into the future. Prices vary depending on model and make. Found in most electronic stores.

2. Portable DVD Player

Perfect for those long train and car rides home from Baltimore and back. Yes, most laptops have DVD players in them these days, but those things are heavy and why lug them around just to watch a movie. They’re small, compact, light and perfect for watching in bed when you’re roommates are hogging the TV. Plus, you can plug earphones into them so you don’t bother anyone else.

Many of the models also double as CD players, so you only need to bring one piece of electronic equipment with you on your travels.

Prices vary, depending on how high tech you want to get, but Mom and Dad should be prepared to drop at least a couple hundred dollars. Look for them at most electronic stores and some warehouse clubs.

1. Picking up the tab for Spring Break.

I don’t know about you, but whipping out the checkbook or the credit card for the travel agent would be that much sweeter if it were Mom or Dad’s. While you’re at it, maybe you can get them to upgrade to a nicer hotel (not that $19.95 a night is anything to be ashamed of). Warning: your parents should think you’ve been pretty near angelic this year to ask for this one.

Spring Break not in the cards this year? Have Mom and Dad cough up the dough for next semester’s books. Save some of your hard earned money by having Mom and Dad pay for some of the college essentials.

If you don’t get exactly what you want on Christmas, don’t worry, that’s why they invented gift receipts. Sure the lines will be long, but eventually you’ll end up with something great with just a little effort. Getting great gifts isn’t everything, enjoy the season and have fun shopping.

Gail Ellen Daly — Chronicle Staff Writer

STORRS — Christmas is a time of giving and, once again, the University of Connecticut’s transportation services department expects to «stuff the bus» with toys for children.

In addition, however, the department is assembling items for care packages for troops overseas.

«It won’t be hard to find the right bus at the designated locations,» said Janet Freniere, manager of UConn’s transportation services. «It’s the one that’s decorated.»

Freniere said this is the second year her department is collecting toys for the «We Are The Children» charity, in cooperation with radio station WTIC.

The organization delivers unwrapped, new toys to abused, abandoned and underprivileged children.

However, this holiday season, in addition to the new toy collection for children, the university is taking part in «Operation Elf,» a special effort by the Connecticut National Guard and Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office to support U.S. troops.

According to the National Guard, there are 1,100 Connecticut active-duty troops deployed around the world, with 635 in Iraq and Afghanistan and 465 throughout the northeast on security detail.

Many of the families left behind are struggling to make ends meet, according to the Guard.

Operation Elf is seeking items for the troops that include playing cards, UNO cards, local newspapers and magazines, paperback books, letters on audio tape, movies or TV shows on DVD, lip balm, puzzle books (crossword puzzles, jumble, etc.), pre-paid calling cards, travel size deodorant, disposable cameras and other toiletries.

For the troops’ families, suggested items include new unwrapped toys for all age groups, grocery gift cards, pre-paid phone cards, fuel oil donations, Christmas trees, and snow removal services.

Financial contributions will also be accepted.

Those wishing to send their donated item to a specific place your donated items to a specific place can label them accordingly. Anything that is not a toy will go to the troops.

The toy and Operation Elf collections begin Wed., Dec. 10.

The bus will be parked at the UConn Co-op Dec. 10, 11, 12 and 17 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

It will be at the Health Services area Dec. 15 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the north garage bus stop Dec. 16 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The bus will set up at the Depot Campus near the old mail services building Dec. 18 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Although students, staff and faculty donate the bulk of the items collected, Freniere said donations will be accepted from anyone.

«Last year we collected 600 toys,» Freniere said, «and this year we expect to stuff the bus.»

More than 130 feet of paper bear the messages and names of well wishers sending thoughts of love, thanks and prayers to troops in Iraq.

Two greeting cards each 8 feet tall and 8 feet wide, along with a banner holding messages, say, «God bless you,» Come back safe," even, «Happy holidays.» The cards have been signed by residents young and old across the Texoma region after making appearances at Midway Mall and Krogers in Denison.

«I am so surprised,» Lisa Brown said between passing out markers. «These soldiers need to know we love them.»

A card was paid for by the Sherman Veterans of Foreign Wars Post and the Ladies Auxiliary. The card and banner, along with a second card, funded by Denison merchants, are now making their way to Fort Hood, in care of a National Guard escort. From the Texas base, they will be sent to Iraq and transported to different bases around the war-torn country.

Brown said the original intention was to send a single Hallmark card. But, after talking to friends, the idea for the oversized cards from the community was born and just took off.

There is hardly any white space left on the cards, which bear the names and messages of nearly 1,000 people.

One resident wrote, «Words can’t express the bravery you show for our country.» Another said, «Thanks for fighting for us.»

The front of the cards contains a drawing of the United States filled with the American flag. Sitting next to the flag is a large reindeer with a Santa Claus cap on his head and decorations hanging off his feet.

Brown said the blank space on the two cards, as well as the area with the decoration, were filled within only two days. It was then the idea for an added banner was created. Using butcher paper, residents signed their names with wishes of love and concern.

She said although she doesn’t have anyone over seas, she was excited to see so many people offering their thoughts.

«I almost cried several times,» Brown said. «These guys believe in what they are doing and they need our support.»

When asked if the overwhelming response surprised her given recent negative opinions of the war, she said, «Yes, some. People don’t always understand if they (the soldiers) are over there, they need all the care we can give them.»

Brown added that there were some that refused to sign the card and banner. To them she says, «That is your opinion and you are entitled to it.»

For the smaller well wishers, Brown said sponsors picked the children up and held them as they signed the cards. The goal, she said, was to let everyone have a chance.

«I just want to thank the communities of Sherman and Denison … and everyone that helped in this,» Brown said. «I am so thankful for everyone who wrote their thoughts.»

In addition to signing the cards, Brown has been taking donation for Operation Link, a group that supplies phone cards to troops overseas so they can call family and friends. Donations for the cards can continue to be made at the Sherman VFW.