is this at a conference or for a speaker gift? - Deepak Singh

At SciFoo 2008 people were given multi-purpose solar rechargers. Most people seemed delighted. - Michael Nielsen

I expect nothing, so am rarely disappointed :) but solar rechargers is awesome - Neil Saunders

for our gene portal website biogps.gnf.org. I primarily want something on the nicer side as a "reward" for users who are the first to submit a new feature idea or a bug report. Might also get something on the cheaper side as a giveaway at a conference. (Also thinking about having a BioGPS plugin contest -- winner gets an ipod?) - Andrew Su

For the gene portal stuff, an ipod would be good. How about a GPS device (maybe just a couple since they are expensive)? Matches the name - Deepak Singh

Google tent. - Robert Scoble

I have a Rubik's cube. Pretty nice. - Paulo Nuin

This was nice, but tricky to take on the airplane: http://scienceblogs.com/clock... - Bora Zivkovic

A Molecular Devices mini-mouse! - Björn Brembs

Has anyone actually used the solar recharger? It occurs to me that as it is effectively a battery and it takes a day to recharge via solar that the only time you would use it fully was when a) it was already discharged b) you didn't have access to a powerpoint c) you could afford to wait for a day d) you wanted badly enough to make that phone call. That said. It is very cool. - Cameron Neylon

cameron: I'd like to have one that fits to airplane windows so I can use it to extend battery life of my laptop on long-haul flights... - Björn Brembs

Aluminium thermos with conference logo. Stock up on coffee in the breaks and keep yourself topped up through the talks... - Andrew Clegg

Cameron - My wife is using the recharger regularly. - Michael Nielsen

I went to my first two literary festivals this year and discovered that they give you free books. Of the six or seven I picked up at two meetings, two were ones I'd been wanting to read but had been waiting for pub date or paperback. I never got anything as useful as this at a scientific conference, which has netted an assortment of cheap plastic, pens that don't work, etc. - Maxine

Like Eva, I've always paid for USB sticks. I did once manage to beg a Nature laser pointer though, from our marketing department. It was quite useful while it lasted. Now all I need is one of those rechargers you've all been given ;-) - Maxine

I have also remembered that at the recent British Library citation in science group meeting, they provided a free bar of chocloate. - Maxine

Alright, I get the message :) Mind you given the weather here solar is hardly worth the effort... - Cameron Neylon

Was going to say the happier solar users don't seem to be in England; but thought better of it ;) - Neil Saunders

Not in Seattle either :) - Deepak Singh

Small puzzle toys are great, especially when handed out at conferences with a lot of boring talks... http://google.com/search... - Eric Jain

Thanks all for the great suggestions. (A bit worried after the first few posts. Afraid that our users would be most happy if we just gave away Google-branded stuff, but that kinda defeats the purpose.) Current leading candidate for mass give-aways is from a colleague: http://bit.ly/MEHtx. Timely reminder for when a grad student is at their computer, knee-deep in pubmed, starting to zone out, noticing dust on their monitor... - Andrew Su