How do you know that the holidays are coming soon? Is it the decorations going up in the shopping malls? Or the Christmas-themed music worming its way into your regular lineup on the radio?
No, it has to be the moment everyone's favourite (or most loathed) media baroness proclaims to her devout followers what products they should be buying for their friends, loved ones and themselves this year.
And it looks like she's given the green light, a very needed boost, to Microsoft's new tablet, the Microsoft Surface RT.
In the upcoming holiday issue of O, out Nov. 6, Oprah Winfrey lists 48 of her 'Favourite Things,' in an annual and highly anticipated feature.
While this is not exactly the kind of review you often see for a tech product, chances are, Oprah's winning words about the new device — especially when heard on the day when Apple's latest tablet offering, the iPad Mini, is released — can sell at least a few housewives on the tablet-laptop hybrid. And as TechCrunch jokes, this probably factors into the $1.5 billion U.S. that Microsoft is reportedly spending on marketing for Windows 8.
The Microsoft Surface shares a spot on the list next to some of Oprah's other top techy toy picks of the season, including the Bose VideoWave II television for $5,000 U.S. and a Dyson pedestal fan that Oprah first "fell in love with" while interviewing the Kardashians.
Oprah has selected hot tech items for past 'Favourite Things' lists, too: the two final Favourite Things segments on her television show in 2010 included an iPad (with Scrabble app) and a Nikon D3100 digital camera.
So if an Oprah fan in your life normally ignores the latest gadgets but is suddenly asking for a Microsoft Surface RT this Christmas, at least now you'll know why.
