Just finished reading the December 25, 2006 issue of Forbes magazine, and found a real gem for my “gifts I’d like” column.

It’s a personal blimp.

Actually, besides just being extremely cool, it has a fantastic back-story too.  Daniel Nachbar, a former Bell Labs software engineer, returned to his true love of aviation, and came up with an incredible new design for a 205,000 cubic foot hot air ship that leverages a unique frame design and propellor placement.  The end result is a quiet ship that can seat two, travel at 12mph, and fold up like an umbrella when you are done (granted, a very large umbrella).

Check out his site for more details.  Estimated price?  $100K-$200K.

Here is the Forbes article (no pictures).  Here is a nice blog post at GadgetOff about the personal blimp, with some additional color & detail.

(P.S.  I’m just kidding about the Nintendo Wii.  I still want one.  Thanks.)