Shoppers searching for weird, wonderful and practical gifts this Christmas should head online for great gadgets.

Web sites have more than enough gizmos for everyone and are, for the most part, easy to navigate and shop on.

The usual rule for the festive season - eat, drink and be merry -

doesn't apply to the first possible present, which is no bad thing.

Pino is one of the new breed of affordable, personal robots, which interacts with its surroundings, including drunken party-goers.

The robot, standing more than a foot tall, has a head sensor, two sound sensors, an infra-red visor and a nose-mounted light sensor.

The idea is, depending on the amount of quality and quantity of care you show him, he develops one of three personalities, shy, naughty or friendly, which in turn affects the way he responds to commands.

Interacting with Pino helps him "grow" through three ages, from displaying emotions (through his coloured visor) to walking, playing games and, finally, developing a fully-fledged personality. This is a great present for kids of all ages who have been waiting for robot prices to come down. But remember, a personal robot is for life not just for Christmas.

Owning a Micro Racer is far less onerous but just as much fun.

The manufacturers say they are the smallest radiocontrolled cars in the world, but this does not hamper performance.

The cars are zippy and extremely responsive, which makes zooming round the office and handy obstacles you can make from everyday objects a joy.

The cars are available in many different frequencies, so it is possible to buy a few and race against your mates. There's even a three-car race pack.

Christmas is a time of peace and goodwill so choosing a gun for someone might seem strange but the Zero Launcher and Zero Blaster are fantastic fun. Both can fire two to six-inch diameter non-toxic fog rings up to 14 feet.

Zero Toys, which makes them, says they are great stress-busters and, with practice, you can make even bigger and better rings.

Each toy comes with three ounces of cherry-scented Super Zero Fluid, which is enough to make more than 25,000 fog rings.

If you want music for your Christmas party but are missing loudspeakers, the Olympia Soundbug could be the present for you.

The Soundbug connects to portable CD players through the headphone sockets and sticks to any hard, glossy surface, making it into a sounding board.

The Soundbug has been designed to work best with pop music but the sound quality depends on the surface to which it is suckered. Glass creates a loud, clear sound, metal produces a sharp sound and MDF makes a warmer, bassier sound.

The size of a computer mouse, it can generate sound up to 75dBm (decibels relative to a milliwatt), which is loud enough for a small party or, after the festive season has passed, work-related activities such as laptop presentations.

Once you've purchased the robot, racing cars, blasters and sound system, you will have everything you need to make an action movie.

The only thing remaining is to buy the Pocket DV2 Camcorder which, in its basic form, retails for just under £100.

Although it can't match up to more expensive models, its 16Mb of onboard SDRAM gives you about three minutes of video, while additional CompactFlash memory cards enable much longer recording. A 64Mb memory card provides about 20 to 30 minutes of video and the camera can hold up to 512Mb.

The video can then be downloaded to PC and emailed to friends or burned on to a CD. It won't turn you into Steven Spielberg but it should while away a few hours until the New Year.

Any one of these five should make a perfect gift for someone who likes a bit of technology with their turkey and trimmings.

www.firebox.com
www.iwantoneofthose.com
www.gadgets.co.uk
www.paramountzone.com
www.pino-robot.co.uk
www.zerotoys.com
www.soundbug.biz