Some people start each morning off with coffee in hand, perusing tech blogs while instant messaging online buddies and listening to digital music through wireless Bluetooth headphones. On the other end of the spectrum of tech-savvy, you have those like my mother, who are horrified by the idea of having to operate the DVD player or, say, use "the e-mail." Because our tech-fearing family and friends do live in our digital world, we've handpicked a list of unintimidating starter gadgets that aren't likely to be thrown against a wall out of frustration. Behold, our technophobe gift list:

Cute and non-challenging camera:
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T2
This good-looking touchscreen camera comes in five funky colors and it's a breeze to use, with a pop-up help bubble for every menu item. The 8.1-megapixel snapshooter also comes with 4GB of onboard memory, so you won't need to buy memory cards.

Inexpensive and uncomplicated photo prints:
Epson PictureMate Dash
Simple to set up, Epson's $99 PictureMate Dash features a big 3.6-inch LCD for photo editing and delivers high quality 4-by-6 photos at a quick clip and a low cost per photo.

A no-nonsense cell phone:
Samsung Jitterbug
The mobile phone doesn't get any easier than a keypad with huge numbers and three buttons: Power, Yes, and No. Plus, prepaid calling plans mean no-fuss billing and there's one-touch operator service, which provides instant help with even the simplest functions.

Dead-simple digital music player:
Creative ZEN Stone
Perfect for joggers, this inexpensive music maven doesn't have a display and it's short on features, but it does store 1GB of tunes and isn't likely to confound. Loading the player in Windows Media Player is a snap.

An effortless way to get video in your hand:
Apple iPod classic
There's a reason iPods outsell all other personal media players: the brilliant interface requires very little brainpower to operate and your beloved newbie will never need to crack open the manual. Consider the sharp screen and oodles of storage added bonuses.

Simple, but solid PC speakers:
JBL Spyro
These artfully-designed 2.1-channel PC speakers require very little set-up and have almost no extra features, but offer great audio performance for the low ($130) price.

Find more great gift ideas in our Holiday Gift Guide