Family photos and music with the XBOX 360.

Xbox360Father's Day is, as I'm sure you know, right around the corner. And if you've been trying to convince your family that an XBOX 360 would make the perfect father's day gift, I might have some more ammunition for you.

One of the features of the 360 is that it can act as a conduit for other computers in your house, streaming music, photos and, if you have a Windows Media Center PC, movies. As a Mac user I figured this wasn't available to me, until I discovered Connect360. This little genius piece of software lets your 360 recognize your Mac, and stream everything you have in iTunes and iPhoto to your 360. My daughter loves looking at pictures, so now in the late afternoon instead of watching the 3,000th episode of Jack's Big Music Show off of Tivo, I'll start a play-list off of iTunes and a slide show of family photos. And the music player even has a visualizer that might calm down your screaming infant.

You see moms? That new 360 isn't just a time-suck for the dad in your life. It's really a gift for the whole family.

Get the father of your children an XBOX 360 for $350 at Amazon.com.
And if you've got a 360 and a Mac, you absolutely need Connect360 from Nullriver Software.

Also on MDD: Nintendo's Wii - probably the best video game system for families.