The stereotypes are true: Nobody ever asks dad what he wants for Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong! I live a fortunate life. My kids and partner are delightful, I do interesting work surrounded by amazing people, my gaming PC would make teenage Brad drool, and I even find time to hang out with friends and family a few times a month. Is it busy? Yes. Would I trade it for something else? Never. Every Christmas, I get thoughtful, unforgettable gifts from My Amazing People — things I never would have discovered myself. But it is simply a fact that nobody — not my mom, not my kids, not my partner, no one — has asked what I might want for a gift in at least a decade. That’s not a complaint whatsoever. It’s simply a factual statement. So this year, I decided to write my own Christmas list. Feel free to take inspiration from it for the nerd, gamer, and millennial dads in your own life. Or just hit those links if, like me, you get to buy your own toys. They’re (almost) all still available in time for Christmas if you order soon! SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless gaming headset My current set of cans is a disaster. The Razer Kraken Pros served me well during thousands of gaming sessions and esports romps, but now their ear padding is clinging on for dear life thanks to a judicial application of duct tape (it fixes everything). I haven’t replaced them yet because, you know, rent and food and kids’ sports ain’t cheap, especially when you’re a single dad. But I’ve been eyeing a replacement headset for when my tax returns or an extra paycheck rolls around, and I know my next set: SteelSeries’ Arctis Nova Pro Wireless gaming headset. These came out in 2022, but they nevertheless check every box I seek. Sterling audio and mic quality are table stakes of course, but as a geek, I’m drawn to the deep software personalizations available. More importantly, this S-tier headset connects not only to PCs, but also all major gaming consoles, with crucial dual wireless functionality that lets you swap between sources with the press of a button. Putting a game down in my office and picking it up in my living room will be a breeze. But the real draw is Active Noise Cancellation. Sometimes I just need some quiet, man — and the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless delivers. Interestingly, a feature we listed as a negative in our review (“Active Noise Cancellation won’t block out all external sound”) is actually a positive for me. I want to hear if my daughter starts yelling or a pipe bursts. See it on amazon The Düngeonmeister Cookbook Jef Aldrich/Jon Taylor In THIS household we stan Dungeons & Dragons. But my daughter is in high school and won’t be part of THIS household much longer. So, I want to level up her life skills while she’s still in tutorial mode. Enter The Düngeonmeister Cookbook, a tome so delightful my colleague Gabriela Vatu highlighted it in her own geeky gifts roundup as well. Want to try your own bardic tavern food? This comes with 75 recipes — delightful dishes like Dwarven Battle Pasta, Adamantine Bars, and Dragon on a Stick Easy-Eat Meat Skewers — and since they dovetail with our D20-rolling interests, I’m sure my kid would love rolling up her sleeves and making meals with me. Personal time with the kid and delicious eats? How can you go wrong? Amazon says this will show up by Christmas if you order with rush shipping today. But if you miss the deadline, there’s also a Kindle version available to download. See it on Amazon Luca Designs Men’s Commander Jacket I’m obsessed with Mass Effect. (Let’s forget Andromeda exists.) How obsessed? I burned through not one, not two, but four original Xbox 360s plagued by Red Rings of Death and disc read errors so I could keep hold of the console’s awkward side-slice hard drive and finish my original Shepard’s trilogy. I sobbed so hard during the run at the end of ME3 that it made my then-wife start crying in sympathy. So yeahhhhhh… I’d kill for this leather N7-themed jacket from Luca Design. Good god, I’d be raring to endorse my favorite store on the Citadel in this beaut. It ain’t cheap at $350, but damn. Speaking of my favorite store on the Citadel, Luca Design’s own website is full of amazing recreations and inspirations from pop culture. Just look at this amazing Samurai jacket recreation from Cyberpunk 2077. I’m drooling. There’s something for every gaming, anime, and comic geek there, man or woman! None of these will arrive before Christmas, including the N7 jacket on Amazon alas… but if you gave me a card saying this would land at my doorstep in a few weeks, I’d downright swoon. See it on amazon Nextmug self-heating coffee mug I start my days getting up before dawn to drag my kid to school, then return home to take a walk, shower, and start my workday — a workday that starts at full speed since PCWorld is a multinational team that operates across the globe. My coffee often goes cold, is what I’m saying. But it wouldn’t with a Nextmug. This ingenious device keeps your coffee at warm (130 degrees Fahrenheit), hot (140) or piping (150) for up to two hours away from its dock, or indefinitely when you’ve plopped it the charging pad, no apps or extra software required. That’s it. And that’s all I want. Is it worth $95 to keep your coffee warm all day long? As a dad whose schedule is packed until about 10pm tonight: Absolutely. See it on amazon An Apple gift card for Apple TV Apple Hi, I’m Brad, and I’m addicted to F1 racing. Fortunately for my family, the season wrapped up just before the holidays (get it, Lando!), but I’m facing a pickle in 2026: F1 used to be on normal television via ESPN, but in 2026, all F1 races are migrating to Apple TV for the next five years. Ugh. It’s not that much of a change, but I already pay for YouTube TV, Netflix, and a couple other streaming services. I’m not thrilled about the idea of paying for another service, but I won’t abandon the sport. Better yet, Apple TV’s version will include the deep, nerdy features previously only found in an F1 TV subscription, including auxiliary feeds showing cockpit views and radio transmissions for every team. It wasn’t worth subscribing to F1 TV when I already had ESPN, but now that it’s on Apple TV? I’m quivering at the idea of watching full races from the perspective of my favorite drivers. So someone gifting me an Apple TV subscription would be warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated, especially since I could spend weeknights catching up on dad-friendly shows like Severance and Ted Lasso. You can’t gift individual Apple TV subscriptions, but a $100 Apple gift card would cover the cost of the service for the year. Just sayin’! See it on Amazon TheraGun Relief body massager Because I still work out and take walks, but I’m getting older and everything hurts. The TheraGun Relief is one of TheraBody’s entry-level massagers, but I’m not willing to drop $250 or more on a more potent TheraGun until I’ve tried this and verify it’s worth the investment. I’m a geeky dad. I min-max buying decisions, what can I say? See it on amazon Alienware AW2725D OLED gaming monitor Matthew Smith / Foundry Okay, back to the expensive stuff. (Maybe this is why nobody ever asks what I want?) I’m a PC and gaming geek, but I’m especially a monitor nerd. I used to have monitors of all shapes and sizes before a devastating house fire in 2023 wiped ‘em out, and it’s time to finally get a decent replacement for all-around gaming. In 2025, that means OLED. Ideally, I’d snag the sublime MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED ultrawide, which just earned PC accessory of the year in our 2025 Full Nerd Awards. But here in the real world, bills are due and I can’t drop a grand on a display even if it’s worth the cash. Enter the Alienware AW2725D, a “budget” gaming OLED that hangs with monitors costing hundreds more. Currently on sale and arriving before Christmas, the AW2725D is a 27-inch OLED gaming monitor with a 1440p resolution and a blistering-fast 280Hz refresh rate — the current PC gaming “sweet spot,” especially if you have an Nvidia RTX 50-series graphics card that can use DLSS 4 multi-frame generation to keep this beast fed with frames. You can read our comprehensive review for more details, but here’s the upshot: This monitor will melt your eyeballs for a whole lot less than comparable panels. I want one monitor to rule them all until I can rebuild my collection and this one delivers bang-for-buck like no other. See it on Dell Cards Against Humanity Nerd Bundle Nothing’s better than cracking open some cold ones and playing Cards Against Humanity with my homies after a long week. The Nerd Bundle adds geeky flair to your combos, adding an optional Fantasy Pack, Geek Pack, Sci-Fi Pack, World Wide Web Pack, A.I. Pack, and Human Pack. Sounds like it should pair well with “being a motherf***ing sorcerer,” one of my favorite cards in the base game. Er, one of my favorite cards that I won’t be fired for mentioning on this website, at least. See it on amazon An RGB mousepad Some people hate RGB in their gaming rigs and only want a neat, clean, svelte setup. Not me. I don’t want full-on rainbow puke, but I love customizing my desk with tasteful lighting accents. Enter Corsair’s MM700 RGB extended cloth gaming pad. Not only does it include subtle, customizable RGB LEDs around the outer edge, but it’s also a big-ass cloth gaming pad designed to house both your keyboard and mouse, with ample room to mouse around. Competitive gamers need room to mouse around when they’re sniping and wall-dashing… and with the MM700 you’ll look good doing it. Imagine gaming on this while you’re wearing that sweet N7 leather jacket ?? See it on amazon Some sweet-ass Full Nerd merch Once again, my kid has to eat, so let’s end this with blatant shilling, even though I own most of this stuff already. I’m genuinely a huge fan of the shirts, hoodies, and other merch that Adam helped create for our Full Nerd podcast. My favorite’s the Outrage Pony, but from Build It Yourself to the Smooooooth 30 tee poking fun at console gaming, I love letting my PC geek flag fly while I’m cruising around town in these bad boys. If you want to be part of the Cool Kids Club, head over to our Crowdmade store, and be sure to follow our Full Nerd podcast on YouTube while you’re at it. We stream multiple times per week, digging deep into the hottest, geekiest PC topics of the day — because once you go Full Nerd, you never go back. go full nerd Read...

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Comcast and Spectrum are trying new tactics to win back cord-cutters and keep their existing TV customers from jumping ship. Last week, Comcast retooled its TV plans and made them easier to understand. Instead of needing to provide a service address and scrutinize the fine print for hidden fees, you can now just go to an Xfinity web page to compare the actual prices up front. Spectrum, meanwhile, has focused on bundling streaming services with its main cable TV packages. (It also stopped doing sneaky fees last year.) The upshot is that it’s now a lot easier to decide whether cable TV is still worth it, or to determine whether your current cable TV plan is overpriced. Let’s walk through Comcast’s and Spectrum’s offerings to help you figure it out. Spectrum’s $100 cable TV deal vs. streaming Spectrum is currently offering a promo for its “TV Select Signature” plan, bringing the price to $100 per month for 12 months instead of the usual $120 per month. Spectrum’s “TV Select Plus” plan, which includes regional sports, costs an additional $10 per month. Both plans include cloud DVR for up to 50 shows, and you can use Spectrum’s streaming TV apps instead of a cable box. Jared Newman / Foundry On the surface, neither plan compares favorably to the likes of YouTube TV ($83 per month) or Hulu + Live TV ($90 per month). Spectrum’s big pitch, though, is that you get a bunch of streaming services at no extra cost, including Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, ESPN Unlimited, Paramount+, Peacock, AMC+, and Vix. (Tennis Channel is also included in Spectrum’s TV Select Plus and TV Platinum plans.) Spectrum says these the value of these services equals more than $100 per month, but that claim relies on some double-dipping. ESPN Unlimited and Fox One consist mainly of the same content that’s already on their respective cable channels, and Spectrum’s adding up the individual costs of Disney+ and Hulu instead of their bundled price with ESPN. When we look at the real value of these streaming freebies, it adds up to $63 or $73 per month: Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select (all with ads): a $20-per-month value HBO Max (with ads): an $11-per-month value Paramount+ (with ads): an $8-per-month value Peacock (with ads): an $11-per-month value AMC+ (with ads): a $7-per-month value Vix (with ads): a $6-per-month value Tennis Channel (TV Select Plus and TV Platinum only): a $10-per-month value So, is Spectrum’s TV plan a good deal? It depends on which services and channels you’d normally pay for year round. YouTube TV combined with just the first four streaming services listed above, for instance, would cost you a total $133 per month, versus $120 per month with Spectrum ($100 per month in year one). Hulu with Live TV combined with Peacock, Paramount+, and AMC+ would cost you $120 per month, same as Spectrum’s non-promotional rate. (Hulu’s service includes Disney+, Hulu on demand, and ESPN Select at no extra charge.) In those scenarios, Spectrum comes out ahead. But if you don’t need a full-sized pay TV package, or your streaming needs are more narrow, Spectrum’s TV plans could be a waste of money. As I’ve previously documented, cheaper bundles with fewer channels are starting to become available, some of which include free streaming services themselves. I encourage you to look at all those options before committing to a TV bill of $100 per month or more, because even when you factor in Spectrum’s freebies, the cost might not be worth it. (While Spectrum also offers a $40-per-month option called TV Stream, with dozens of entertainment channels along with CNN and Fox News, you won’t get local channels, live sports, or any streaming freebies.) Comcast’s updated packages vs. streaming Unlike Spectrum, Comcast isn’t bundling any free streaming services with its standard cable TV packages. That makes the comparison a lot simpler. Comcast’s main TV package is now called “Xfinity TV Plus,” and it costs $95 per month if you also have Xfinity home internet service. “Xfinity TV Premium” costs $125 per month for internet customers, and it includes regional sports networks and sports league channels. (Each is $10-per-month pricier without an Xfinity home internet service.) Comcast includes an X1 cable box and 300 hours of DVR with all plans, and you can use the Xfinity Stream app on connected smart TVs, PCs, and mobile devices as well. Jared Newman / Foundry Compared to YouTube TV at $83 per month or Hulu + Live TV at $90 per month, Comcast’s full-sized TV packages are still more expensive, though not by lot. You’d be paying a premium for the creature comforts of a cable box (and tying yourself to Comcast’s internet service if you want the $10-per-month discount). But Comcast is also wading into the skinny bundle business. Its Sports & News TV package includes local channels, major national sports networks, cable news channels, and Peacock for $80 per month. An $85-per-month World Soccer Ticket plan adds Spanish-language channels such as TUDN, Fox Deportes, and ESPN Deportes. (While these plans include Peacock, Comcast’s larger packages strangely do not.) Other sports bundles are still cheaper, including DirecTV MySports ($70 per month) and Fubo Sports ($56 per month), but as with Comcast’s full-sized packages, DirecTV’s sports offerings might be worthwhile if you want the cable-box experience. More to come Last week, YouTube announced that it will launch more than 10 of its own genre-specific packages early next year. It hasn’t revealed pricing or many details, except that one of the packages will focus on sports. All of which means that the cable companies will soon need to adapt once more. It’s great that they’ve finally embraced price transparency and are finding ways to deliver value, but without more flexible options for cord cutters, they’ll again find themselves behind the times. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...