PDAs, smart phones and ultra-portable PCs top the lists of many professionals this year.
But which hot, new gadget can you not live without these days?

Let's check in with a few trendsetting members of the profession...

CPA HOLIDAY WISH LIST
(Santa wants to know.)
Susan Bradley, Tamiyasu, Smith, Horn and Braun CPAs: "My Acer Tablet PC... I love it. Lightweight and portable and just the right size for what I need."

Michael W. Harnish, Plante Moran: "Absolutely my Apple Airport Express (works with Windows and Mac). Creates a 10 user wireless network (B and G bands) from a single Ethernet connection as well as allows wireless sharing of a USB printer. Also allows wireless streaming of music to powered speakers. A must for users on the go or small workgroups. Can be secured."

Michelle Class, Barnes, Dennig & Co. CPAs: "I have two, one a professional item and the other personal. (1) My wireless network at home. Since my husband and I both work from home a few days per week, it's wonderful that he can take his laptop and work from the dining room, while I have the desktop computer in the office. And (2) My X-BOX! Yes, it's not only for children. I'm 33 years old and enjoy playing the games in my spare time, especially HALO-2."

Greg Lockhart, Lockhart Industries: "When I travel, I love the new (coat-pocket-sized) GPS systems that can give turn-by-turn driving instructions (as well as where the nearest hotels and restaurants are)."

Paul Dunn, ReNew Group: "Skype, the best thing that ever happened to calling. It's a VoiP [voice-over-Internet-phone service] app. There are now something like 23 million people using it. We use it all the time for three-way conference calls (amazing quality) between the U.S., Australia and France. Music is such a part of my life that I have two iPods; my laptop and Wireless connectivity are a lifeline and anything that lets me use the power of the Web is top on my list."

Randy Johnston, K2 Enterprises: "Treo 600 and the portable Apple Airport. I can't imagine being a mobile worker in technology and not owning these tools."

Anne Stanton, accounting technology consultant: "I recently invested in the Corex Cardscan v700 and I use it all the time. Now I can electronically save the image of any business card and easily transfer data into my contact database and Outlook. Additionally, it fits in the palm of my hand and easily into my briefcase so it goes with me to events."

Allan Boress, marketing consultant and author of Mastering the Art of Marketing Professional Services: A Step-by-Step Best Practices Guide. "I would stop anyone who dared touch my new HP IPAQ 6145, which combines a PC and the accompanying Microsoft programs with wireless e-mail and Web site access - all attached to my belt! I was able to watch the whole election unfold by staying online with the Drudge Report. It is also a mobile phone!"

Chaim Yudkowsky, chief financial officer and business consultant: "My Dell Axim and Blackberry phone. I still like Pocket PC for many things!"

Eva Rosenberg, author of the upcoming "Small Business Taxes Made Easy:" "What do I want? A mallet. I would like to use it to smash my computers! OK, what can't I live without? My all-in-one printer - an HP 9100 color copier, printer, scanner, fax. While I haven't used the fax feature yet, the color printer, copier and scanner have helped me replace pre-printed stationery completely. I can quickly create colorful reports and print out short e-books that look sharp. Also, my Sony Read/Write CD/DVD drive. Wow. I can create CDs of my books, audio workshops and materials for my clients, regardless of file size. And of course I love the feature in most tax programs these days allowing us to create PDF files of the tax returns. We can send those off to the clients for review...or even as the final product. This has saved me about 25 percent of my paper and printing costs. (E-file has saved me about 50% on my paper and printing costs.)"

Ron Seigneur, Seigneur Gustafson Knight CPAs: "I just moved to a Treo 600 to replace my old cell phone and my Palm Pilot. Not quite a "Crackberry," but I just cannot stand those who have to check e-mail every five minutes.

Sandi Smith, CPA web advisor: "I love my new version of Camtasia Studio (by TechSmith). This software package allows me to produce customized multimedia video on the fly. I use it for training mostly, but later plan to use it for presentations and Web video. It takes five minutes to learn. It captures screen contents, my keystrokes, and my voice so I can produce a quickie training video. I can go into an accounting package, demonstrate what I want to teach, post the file to my Web site, and send an e-mail with the link to my client. Voila, instant customized training movies! Very cool!"

Geni Whitehouse, Best Software: "I have two gadgets that I am using almost daily - one is a USB hard drive pen (I have been using these as giveaways at trade shows). And the other is my digital camera - especially due to my move from Atlanta to Southern California, and selling furniture, etc. Craigslist.com has been a great tool as well."
Of course, technology isn't everything. As marketing guru Bruce Marcus reminded me, "The hottest gadget I couldn't live without is my brain, which sometimes works."