Always bring a list when you're buying tech for teens and ask for their help to compile it. "Kids love to tell you what they're looking for," says Cheryl Grant, Communications Specialist, Future Shop.

Grant describes teens' major interests:

• They document their lives endlessly with photos and videos from their ever present digital cameras. Then they download them to You Tube or a social networking site like Facebook.
• They're interested in everything to do with entertainment. Gaming -- particularly social gaming -- is very popular. Think about interactive, family-friendly systems like Nintendo Wii and games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
• They 'consume their entertainment as they go' so MP3 players and portable DVD players are key for music and movies.
• When they stop moving they may settle in front of a Blu-Ray home theatre system to watch a film with family or friends.

"When you're thinking of tech and teens you're thinking OK, what's new and cool and also what's mobile, "says Ted Kritsonis, Technology Editor for the Canadian teen magazine, Faze.

One of this year's newest trends is the pocket video camera, which is a few hundred dollars cheaper than a typical handy cam and allows budding movie directors shoot video, download it to a memory card and upload it to You Tube directly.

Pocket video cameras are simple to use with the same point and shoot technology as the digital cameras they resemble but with better picture resolution. They'll be popular because they're inexpensive enough to be taken to the beach, a party or to school.

But teens are fickle when it comes to technology perhaps because they know that new products are introduced every few months. Kritsonis suggests you find your teen something practical like a laptop that you're sure they'll use. If you've already bought them one you may want to focus on less expensive accessories such as laptop bags.

"Sometimes I think we still buy compartmentalized, "says Grant. "...iPods don't just end at the iPods and earphones. There are docking stations. They can have almost a mini-surround system... or a lot of them are now alarm clocks in the morning so teens can wake up to their music. So look at how technologies can connect with each other and maximize what's already been started."

This is also a good idea because teens sometimes resist the newest thing -- especially if it's not an iPod. For example, Microsoft's new MP3 Player the Zune is designed to be the iPod's direct competition, but it is not available outside Canada and the U.S. and few teens have one. "I think that kids would like it if they tried it out but is it as cool to have?" asks Kritsonis.

That's because although teens may love technology, that love has a lot to do with appearances. "It's a lot about the looks and the feel," says Kritsonis. "And very little about performance."