1. Introduction

It's that time of year again - when the heat gets turned up in the northern hemisphere, and we exchange our warm clothing for cooler, breezier alternatives. Of course, at the same time, Father's Day looms on the horizon; and countless young (and not so young) men and women don their gowns to "walk the walk" for matriculation. In celebration of this wonderful time, we've put together a smashing, three-part buyer's guide of gifts for Dads and grads alike.

In our first part, we include lots of different and interesting items for your perusal and consideration. We begin with a snazzy little handheld device called the SmartShopper Grocery List Organizer, which not only manages shopping lists, but lets you build and manage them using voice recognition and text storage. Then comes Adobe's Photoshop Elements 5.0 plus Premiere Elements 3.0 combo bargain package. Next you'll find a couple of very nice PCs, including the snazzy Acer Ferrari 1000 notebook; and the even more chic HP TouchSmart PC, which uses mobile components in a stationary package.

You'll also find some compact earbud Rivet headphones ready to go wherever you need them and to provide good sound along the way. If you're plugging them into an iPod, you might also find the Belkin TuneTalk of interest, as it provides a dock for recording voice input through built-in stereo microphones and line-in audio on a video iPod or iPod nano. Those seeking gifts for notebook users are likely to find the Matrox DualHead2Go a compelling package: this compact box lets a notebook drive one or two external monitors, with or without the built-in LCD. And finally, those dads or grads who must crank through the PowerPoints to give presentations are also likely to be enthralled by the Kensington Wireless Presenter with Laser Pointer, which is a simple, stylish, remote control for their slide decks.

Whatever your grads might covet, or your dads might fancy, you're likely to find something appealing in at least one of the three installments of our Buyer's Guide. We've scoured the gadget bins and left no stone unturned in bringing you the word on interesting gizmos, usable technology, and cool little gadgets that are sure to win some accolades from their lucky recipients. Read on for a quick look at our first group of items!