The Big Money's history of gift cards is a fascinating timeline of how they spread like a virus, infecting every gift-giving tradition we hold dear: Neiman Marcus actually was the first to sell gift cards, in 1994, but because the retailer didn't quite understand their potential, the cards were kept out of sight and sold only as a novelty item. Blockbuster was the first to display them, starting in 1995, which was the true beginning of the gift card revolution.

Starbucks was the next major innovator, in 2001, with gift cards that worked more than once, so you'd have to keep going back. (Today, one out of seven purchases is made with a gift card at Starbucks in the US.) Which brings us to the present, with gimmick cards like Best Buy's tiny speaker or Target's little camera, or purely electronic ones, like for Steam and Amazon.

Did your Christmas feel more empty and hollow this year? Did you give or receive a gift card? Bingo. Gift cards are the most cynical of all presents, lower than cash. They lock the receiver into a particular store or service, while relieving the giver of any responsibility, thought or feeling. If someone gives you a gift card, they don't care about you. In fact, they're trying to trick you, and make you think that they do, because they took the time to select a store to purchase your piece of plastic from. That is a lie—the effort went into the ruse, not your gift.

Of course, stores love gift cards, a pure token that holds no value after it's purchased, except that which the merchant dictates. Odds are, when somebody comes in to spend a gift card, they'll use to buy something more expensive. Even if the gift card is never used, the store still keeps the money—and most unused gift cards lose value over time, withering with the seasons. It's an $87 billion con by the retail industry, and Americans, obsessed with convenience, have eaten it up.

If you're thinking about buying somebody a gift card because you can't be bothered to pick out a real present, don't. Give them cash. Sure, you might feel like an asshole—well, you kind of are—but I promise you, the person receiving the wad will like it a whole lot more than any gift card. Cash can be spent, anytime, anywhere, and it won't expire in a year (unless the economy completely collapses, then we've got bigger problems than declining gift standards).

Update: I forgot to make the important exception for independent and local specialty stores, like record shops. Gift cards are okay in that case (small businesses need money, speciality stores require some consideration).

Here's a question that's quickly becoming a dilemma, though. What's a better (worse?) gift, cash or digital media? [The Big Money]

There are several apps on the iPhone designed to accept credit card payments but, as far as I can tell, SquareUp has the best set of features. It doesn't require any contracts or monthly fees, and card payments can be accepted through a small device that plugs into the audio jack. Receipts can be sent via email or viewed online and text messages can be used to verify payments in real time.

There are even benefits to using the service for cardholders, much like the points you might accrue for making purchases. SquareUp lets business owners know that you are a repeat customer that may be entitled to a freebie—kind of like punch cards do now. They also donate one cent of each transaction to the charity of your choice.

SquareUP claims the service will roll out to everyone in 2010, which is good news for small businesses. No word yet on how much the swiping plug-in will cost, but you can bet that it will be a hell of a lot cheaper than the machines you currently have to contend with. [SquareUp via VentureBeat]

You can get a day pass of 75MB for $15, a week pass of 250MB for $30, and a month pass of 500MB for $50. The prices aren't absurd if you only use the thing occasionally, but those data caps are something awful. For example, just loading a website will get you to burn a couple megabytes, and a heavy email session with attachments will kill half the day's quota. Better to save this for emergencies at the rates AT&T is offering. [AT&T

Berg is the world-record holder of pretty much every house-of-cards award there is, and this hotel suite is his only full-size (meaning scaled to people size) project to date. It's not a functioning hotel room—we're pretty sure that toilet could actually handle the duties of a real toilet—but it'll stay constructed until the end of the weekend as a gallery or large-scale art piece. [Daily Mail, thanks Billy!]

It's notable that there are "over 130 million e-money cards issued," which amounts to "more than enough for Japan's estimated population of 127 million citizens." I wonder why only about half appear to prefer using the prepaid e-money cards when there are enough for everyone out there. 'Fess up. Who's hogging the cards?

Actually, I can kinda understand why someone is snatching these cards up: they make you feel like a magician! While they work like prepaid debit cards, e-money cards (Suica, Edy Cards, and similar) are contactless smart cards which just need to be waved at a kiosk, vending machine, or terminal. This is similar to RFID tech found in some credit cards in the States, but way more commonly accepted overseas. I can't wait until e-money cards are commonly issued here so that I can feel like Cinderella's fairy godmother every time I shop for gifts. [NIKKEI]

Photo by VS Medios

[Etsy]

Computer scientists at UC San Diego along with Microsoft Research have developed this USB device they dub the Somniloquy, which appropriately enough means "talking in one's sleep." The dongle lets you keep your computer in sleep mode, which saves a ton of energy, while remaining seemingly active on the network. So your computer will be in sleep mode, but you'll still be able to download files or receive IM or VoIP messages, and if an action that requires your computer's full attention does occur, Somniloquy will gently rouse it from its slumber.

The device is actually a very low-power computer, complete with OS and flash memory, and essentially takes over as the computer's presence on the network while the actual computer is asleep. It consumes somewhere between 11 and 24 times less power than a full computer, which makes for some impressive energy savings. The creators are hoping the tech will be incorporated into future network cards so computers have this functionality out of the box. You know what? We're hoping that, too. [PhysOrg via Engadget]

You've got three ways to use E. The neatest right now is with a connector dongle. You hold it up to another connector, say at a tradeshow or a meeting, and you instantly exchange information. The downside is the person you're exchanging info needs to have one of these E dongles. The dongles sync and charge via USB and have 72 hours of battery life.

But, if you've got an iPhone, you can use the iPhone app and "flick" your business card over to the other person. Or if one of you doesn't have an iPhone, there's always just visiting the E website and punching in a unique code to swap info there.

We can imagine this will save on loads and loads of paper for business cards and writing down people's social networking info, which we're extremely excited about. You can go and sign up for a the trial today. [MyNameIsE]

Within, we see our favorite husky-voiced, perhaps opium-addicted voice actress fly through the Web OS's sweet Cards multitasking system, as well as the consolidated approach to contact storage with IM accounts, emails, social networking accounts and phone numbers all in one place. Also on view is the notification input at the bottom, which borrows nicely from Android's top tray. It's nothing we haven't really seen before, but the emphasis on third-party apps (which may or may not be mockups) is nice.

So in the end, everyone goes to see the Watchmen and then has brunch together. The unemployed get job opportunities. Everyone's happy. Then the Pre-wielding matriarch of this group can kick back and listen to Careless Hearts, have another vicodin, and survey the world she hath made. I can dig this! Release date please? [Palm]

The "All-In-One Card Stamp" is, sadly, just a concept by Ji Lee. But hopefully there's a good Samaritan out there who's willing to poach this design for the good of humanity, preferably incorporating a forlorn Maxine into the design. [Please Enjoy via The Daily What]

If you happen to be John Mahoney, people will think you're some old guy that appeared on Frasier. If you're Adam Frucci, your dance moves will immediately stand out. And if you're me, well, people will occasionally blame you for a certain CES prank that Techmeme is convinced I wrote. So I ask again, do you want to be Googled? [Ji Lee via Geek Sugar]

Since the hardware is capable of all of these things, it means that they can all be enabled by a software/firmware/driver update. Whether or not that happens is entirely up to Apple. While you can argue that Hybrid SLI—using both GPUs at once—has a limited, balls-to-the-wall utility, being able to switch between the integrated 9400M and discrete 9600M GT on the fly without logging out would obviously be enormously easier than the current setup, and allow for some more creative automatic energy preferences—discrete when plugged in, integrated on battery. Hell, you can do it in Windows on some machines.

But since it's Apple it's also entirely possible we'll never see any of this to come to pass—GPU-accelerated video decoding has totally been possible with the 8600M GT in the previous-gen MacBook Pros, and well, you know where that stands. [Apple & Nvidia Coverage@Giz]

1982 "Yoda Vanity Plate Edition"

1982 "Frisky Ewok Edition"

1995 "Fruitcake/Coal Edition"

Hit the link for more LucasFilm cards. [/film via neatorama]