Posts tagged: Gadget

Best Tech Gadget Gift Guide

Yay Holidays! Need some gift inspiration for your loved ones? We got you! Check out our recommended tech gift buys for 2016.

 

*Google Home. $129.99

 

google-home

 

Google’s foray into a home assistant is budget friendly, and  super handy. Have it do the dirty googling for you, stream music, and manage your tasks and smart home features with this voice activated speaker.

 

On the other side of the home assistant scale, we also have:

 

*Amazon Echo or Amazon Echo Dot. $179.99 / $49.99

A bit more expensive, or waaaaay less expensive if you consider the Echo Dot, the Amazon Echo (Alexa) has been around for a while now, and is very well respected as a fantastic addition to people’s homes for playing music, providing information, controlling smart home features, reading the news, setting alarms, etc.

 

The Echo dot is smaller, and isn’t actually a speaker – so you’ll need to connect it to one via bluetooth or 2.5 Stereo cable. Apart from that, it’s a standalone device that still does all of the above.

 

 

*Know someone who enjoys music? I’m guessing you probably do. It might be you. These are pretty much the most highly recommended headphones. Bose QuietComfort QC35 Wireless Headphones $349 from Amazon

Noise-canceling headphones, wireless, over-ear headphones with long battery life, and a niiiice sound quality. Pricey but worth it.

bose

 

 

*MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID. From $1,799

The all-new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID is sleeker, lighter, more powerful and feature a great new keyboard,  trackpad, beautiful display and great battery life.  Available with 13-inch and 15-inch display, it features the Touch Bar, which delivers relevant shortcuts and tools for the apps that are in use.

macbook-pro

 

 

*The RC Lamborghini Veneno from Hammacher Schlemmer. $99.95
This is the RAD AF remote-controlled replica of the exclusive Lamborghini Veneno Roadster.

Whaaaaaa.T

1:12 scale model faithfully reproduces the original from its aerodynamic hood to its bucket seats and gear shift in its “cockpit” interior. The iconic Lamborghini bull adorns the hubcaps and hood, the LED head- and taillights illuminate, and the exterior is painted the same “Rosso Mars” shade as the full-size version. You know you have someone in your life who’d want this.

lamborgini-gift

 

GoPro Hero5 Black $399.99 from BestBuy, REI, B&H, other retailers.

If you’re looking to splash some cash this Christmas, and you have an ACTION JACKSON amongst your loved ones, look at the GoPro Hero5 Black. It’s pretty much the premium adventure camera, with voice control, 4K video capture and electronic image stabilization to avoid shaky footage. Plus, you can use it in up to 33 feet of water without any additional housing.

 

 

* Roku Ultra. $129 from Amazon $129.00

The Roku Ultra is prettttttuy sweet guys. It delivers 4K content with HDR support for beautiful vision, and it offers more than 3,500 channels, with a remote that has both voice search and a headphone jack for private listening.

 

 

 

* Bluetooth shoe warmers from ThermaCell

Gettin cold, huh? We all have that someone in our lives whose little toesies are always shivering, and this is the answer they will thank you for. Bluetooth Shoe warmers. Check them out.

 

 

* Trip on a spaceship with Virgin Galactic $250,000

A gift of making someone into an Astronaut? Yes pelase, on both sides of the gift giving. Very expensive, and with no set date, this one is a little out of reach for most of us, but if you’re reading this and it seems like it’s in reach for you… do it. Just do it. Give someone the gift of being an astronaut. Kind of. 

 

 

* Sony Playstation VR. Best Price we saw was $399 with free shipping from Walmart

VR might just be the way of the future, and man, it’s fun. Someone in your life WILL appreciate this. Guaranteed. This is the standalone device, but you can also get the $600 bundle from Amazon that includes the VR headset, camera and two PlayStation Move motion controllers.

 

 

*Google Cardboard $15

On the cheaper scale of Virtual Reality, someone in your life will also definitely appreciate this, because it’s amazing. A little harder to source content, but there’s great games and 360 videos out there. You just need a smartphone.

 

 

* Nintendo NES Classic Edition $60 Currently sold out at BestBuy and… well, most places. Good Luck!

 

nintendo

 

The NES Classic Edition includes 30 classic games like Super Mario Bros., Mega Man 2, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda and Pac-Man. Old-school controller is also included, as well as a newer-school HDMI cable. Weeeeee all the way back to the eighties!

 

 

 

* Spectacles by Snap

 

spectacles

 

From SnapChat, these funky glasses capture 10-second circular videos which you can then share in Snapchat. A friendly light on the glasses shows friends that you’re recording, and the Spectacles charge in the included case.

Because of marketing, these are only being sold in ‘bots’ – traveling vending machines. These are placed in a new location about every 48 hours. A countdown will generally start on the Spectacles website 24 hours before the location is unveiled and there’s no clues before then as to where it will drop.

OR visit the pop-up store in that Snap recently opened in New York City at 5 E 59th St across from the Apple store. The location is open Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on the weekends from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.

 

 

*The 8,000 Stars Home Planetarium. from Hammacher Schlemmer $129.95

plaentarium

This desktop planetarium projects an accurate view of 8,000 stars and simultaneously plays music from your smartphone. Its built-in LED illuminates the ceiling and walls of a room with an accurate view of 61 constellations as seen from the Northern Hemisphere while a built-in Bluetooth speaker connects to a paired iPhone or Android device and plays one’s preferred ambient star-gazing soundtrack. The planetarium’s whisper-quiet motor simulates the turning of the Earth by slowly moving the image and can be sped up or slowed down with five variable speeds and accurately aligns with every day of the year.

ISN’T THAT THE RADDEST THING YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE?

 

 

The Child’s 3D Printing Pen. $99.95

Have your kid create three-dimensional works of art with harmless warm thermoplastic that hardens within seconds.  The pen is powered via the included micro-USB cord and is ready to use in less than one minute. Includes eight color plastic packs (192 strands), eight stencil discs, and a project book.

 

 

*The Levitating Bluetooth Speaker. $149.95

Sure, there are a lot  of awesome sounding speakers out there. But this one floats. 

It also delivers impressively robust audio from its full-range 5-watt driver when paired with a Bluetooth- or NFC-enabled device up to 30′ away. Volume is controlled from your device and LED-lighted rings on the base and speaker add a mystical glow.

speaker

 

* Lastly, if you’re thinking of buying a loved one a new iPhone, we’d recommend the iPhone 7 Plus. And then, get them to sell their stinky old iPhone to us so it’s like a double Christmas present. Really. A new iPhone and cash. Wrap these with some friends and family love and you’ve got yourself a rockin’ Christmas!

 

 

Happy Holidays to everyone!