Tech Gift Guide

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… that time when we put together our 2017 tech gift guide! We’ve put together a list of our most beloved—or most coveted—technology products for this year at every price point. We won’t be posting recommendations for gifts that costs thousands of dollars (who does that?) or for charging cords or battery backups, because yawn. Our guide is 100% wheat, 0% chaff.

SSD Hard Drive

This is going to sound like the most boring gift ever, but bear with us. SSD (aka Solid State Drives) are truly life-changing. If you switch to one, you will literally feel like you’ve got a brand new computer. When using Adobe applications, they open up in 3 seconds instead of 45 seconds. Documents save in an instant. And the fear of a hard drive failure can be pushed away, since SSDs are much more reliable than a traditional spinning hard drive. To pick the SSD that’s right for your gift recipient’s hard drive, the best option is to go to crucial.com on their computer and use their tool to pick the correct one. Switching hard drives is not a small undertaking, but see above—you will literally feel like you have a new computer.

Buy an SSD at Crucial

 

Ring Doorbell

We bought one of these this year and appreciate it much more than we expected. We already had security cameras set up, so you might think the Ring is redundant, but its app is so much better than the app for our security cameras. It takes fisheye videos of movement near your doorbell, of course, but unlike our security cameras, it is not triggered by trees waving in the wind or a wasp flying by. We especially love the neighborhood video feature that allows people to share videos locally to highlight threatening, illegal, or otherwise weird behavior. And while it does use a rechargeable battery that takes a long time to charge (overnight), we’ve haven’t had to recharge it yet, and it’s almost two months since it was first installed. The price is a little lower than usual right now at about $179.

Buy Ring Doorbell

 

Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen

We’re on our fifth or sixth year of using the Livescribe, and we still love it. At about $150, it’s worth every penny. When you take notes with the Livescribe pen, it records everything you write and hear. It comes with a notebook printed with tiny microdots that act as a “GPS system” for your notes. To replay a meeting or lecture, simply tap anywhere on your notebook. Most importantly, Livescribe allows you to save your notes and audio recordings to your computer, and the pen itself can hold over 200 hours of audio recordings.

Buy Livescribe

 

Hobbico Flitt Flying Pocket Selfie Camera Drone

We don’t have this one (yet), but this drone is just under $100 and reportedly does a good job of hovering in place and is easy to control with your smart phone. We love the fact that it folds up into a little rectangular box shape, so it’s actually practical to pop into a bag and travel with it.

Buy the Hobbico drone

 

LuMee Phone Case

For teens or other image-conscious gift recipients, consider that this is the phone case Kardashians (ugh) use to achieve their perfectly lit selfies. It runs about $50 and promises a “soft and beautiful light for every occasion.” This version is constructed for easy removal of the phone and it does provide drop protection, which may be helpful for people without a fully developed prefrontal cortex (i.e., anyone under 25).

Buy the LuMee case

 

Roku Streaming Stick with Voice Remote

If your intended recipient is one of the few people without a Roku, Fire, Apple TV, or smart TV, this is your chance to be a hero. This Roku has built-in WiFi and a voice-activated remote to control the power and volume and to search across top channels by actor and show. And it’s only $39.99 right now.

Buy Roku Streaming Stick

 

Amazon Echo Dot

Yeah, the Echo is everywhere, but the Dot is only $29.99 right now, compared to the Echo’s current reduced $79.99 pricetag. And it has all of the Echo’s functionality, save the Echo’s superior speakers. You don’t really get how great the Echo/Dot are till you try them out in your own home. We use ours to turn a roomful of lights on and off, to listen to the latest Reply All/This American Life/Invisibilia podcasts, to set timers, to add items to our to-do list, to add items to our shopping list… and we’re barely scratching the surface of what it can do. You can even control Christmas lights with it! If you have Dots throughout your house, you can use them as an intercom. Read our blog post comparing the Echo and Dot.

Buy Amazon Echo Dot

 

Amazon STEM Club Toy Subscription

Some things haven’t changed; kids still love getting mail addressed to them. Amazon’s subscription service costs $20 per month and sends kids science, technology, engineering, and/or math toys to your door every month. Or you can do it for just one or a couple months and cancel afterwards. Choose from three age groups: 3 to 4, 5 to 7, or 8 to 13.

Buy STEM Club Toy Subscription

 

InstaMorph

Just heat water to 140⁰C, pour in some InstaMorph beads, and you’ll have a blob of plastic that can be molded by hand into any shape you want. It’s reusable, strong, and non-toxic. Use it to make props, masks, custom cases, stands, figurines, whatever you want! A 6-ounce package is only $9.99, but larger packages can be had to allow for even more fun. (Sugru is another similar substance to check out, but we’re not as keen on it.)

Buy InstaMorph

 

Popsocket

At only around $8, Popsocket is a great stocking stuffer and comes in a bunch of colors. It collapses so it barely makes your phone any thicker. Not only is it an impromptu phone stand, it also allows your hand to relax while securely holding your phone.

Buy Popsocket