The Best Holiday Tech Gifts
Are you still searching for that perfect holiday gift for the techie in your life?
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The Best Holiday Tech Gifts
This year has brought many awesome tech gifts, both big and small. If you’re still searching for a gift for the techie in your life, then here are some options for every budget:
Small Gifts
Let’s start off with some gifts that are pretty great for Secret Santa, stocking stuffers, or just a quick, thoughtful gift. If you’re looking for something in the $10 to $20 dollar range, I highly recommend picking up a Raspberry Pi Zero, the computer that costs you only $5. That’s right: the same Raspberry Pi I mentioned in a previous podcast now has a new revision that’s only $5. This would be really great for someone who loves neat technology, or wants to get started learning about computers.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive but extremely useful gift, I also recommend getting this flash drive. A few reasons why I like this are that it is small, really fast (USB 3.0) and you can get a ton of different sizes of them ranging from 4GB all the way up to 128GB. This makes it really flexible for any budget. It’s also great for just about anyone. After all, this USB drive is so small you can just keep it in your laptop or computer.
If you’re seeking something more unique, then I recommend checking out the Tile. This is a small device that can go in a purse, backpack, or on a keychain (anything you might lose!)I It’s a Bluetooth tracking chip that lets you find a lost item with your smartphone. It’s pretty cool, and also really fun to put on your pet (not that I would know anything about that). The Tile will set you back about $25.
If you’re looking to spend a bit more, there’s always the WeMo Switch. It’s an outlet you can control with your phone. Picture you have a coffee grinder, electric kettle, electric blanket, Christmas tree lights, or anything connected to an outlet. With the WeMo Switch, you can turn that device on and off using your phone. It’s pretty cool for outdoor lights that have to be plugged in, in a strange spot, or if you just want to turn off the lights after you’re already in bed.
Large Gifts
Let’s move up to some of the more expensive gifts out there. One of my favorites is the Nest Thermostat. This is a wireless thermostat that you can control while at home or away. It’s also pretty smart and will learn your activity level, when you’re home, as well as your heating and cooling preferences. From there, it’s smart enough to make predictions, and save you money by optimizing heating and cooling times, and it will make sure you never leave the house and accidentally leave the AC running.
It’s a really smart tool, which helps save electricity. It’s really simple to operate with a simple app—even my parents can figure out! It will set you back about $250, but if you’re a buying this for a spouse, it could save you money down the road by optimizing your energy usage.
Now if you’re just looking for something really awesome to open on Christmas morning and don’t mind breaking the piggy bank, there’s the Bebop Drone. This is a small but powerful drone that can be easily flown inside or outside with an app on your phone. Also, it has a camera that records HD video. It will set you back about $500 but will definitely win you every award in the cool category for all kids and most adults. It’s a really friendly and easy-to-use design, which is great for beginners. Before flying, though, you may want to check out a previous podcast that I’ve done about drones.
Another cool device to gift is the GoPro. If you’re not familiar with this camera, it is an amazing little device that records insanely good video. We’re talking movie theater quality! It’s even cooler because it’s waterproof and designed for adventures pretty much anywhere. There are mounts that are designed to attach it to any piece of sports equipment (helmets, handle bars, surf boards, you name it). This is great for anyone who’s always outdoors, or for someone that takes a ton of pictures and video.
Every time they get a package with Amazon’s lightning quick two-day shipping, or get hooked on a Netflix show, they’ll have you to thank.
We got one of these for my dad a year ago, and it’s been attached to his ski pole, motorcycle handle bars, boogie board, the cat, and even to an RC car. It’s great for home movies, or for jumping out of airplanes. It’s a great gift and comes in a range of models and versions from $200 to $500.
Gift a Service
Lastly, I want to mention one of my favorite gifts to give, and that is the gift of a service. Do you know someone that would like Amazon Prime? Netflix? Spotify? You can buy subscriptions to all of these services and give them as a gift. This is a pretty awesome gift that someone will always use. After all, every time they get a package with Amazon’s lightning quick two-day shipping, or get hooked on a Netflix show, they’ll have you to thank.
To go along with this I also really like the idea of buying iCloud or Google storage for friends and family members that are always running out of space on their devices. It’s a great way to reduce the pain of not having enough space to store a movie or stream of pictures. Here’s a few of the services I think would make great gifts this holiday season:
Netflix
Google Space
Now I’d love to hear from you! What was the best tech gift you every received? Was there a particularly good one that you gave? If so I’d love to hear about it.
Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at techtalker.quickanddirtytips.com. And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post them on Facebook QDTtechtalker.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
