Ah, the holidays. My favorite time of the year for many different reasons. One of the many reasons why I love this time of year is for all the technology. Companies are releasing technology products left and right because people are buying products left and right. Whether that’s gifts for themselves or gifts for others, there’s a lot of tech products that can make for great gifts in general.
As you can see right here, we have rounded up some of our favorite tech products that would make for great gifts this holiday season. So let’s not waste any time. Let’s take a look at the very first product:
This is the RIVA Festival Speaker and it’s one of two RIVA speakers that we have for you today. This is the higher end model and it retails for about $400. I’ve been testing this speaker for the past month or two now and every single time I’ve played music on this speaker, I enjoyed and I still get that excitement from playing music via this speaker. Why you ask? It’s quite simple. It just sounds really good. The bass is so powerful that sometimes I have to worry about waking up my neighbors.
This is a 200-watts speaker that gets really loud. It’s also really heavy. There are three woofers, three tweeters, and four passive radiators that help reproduce more of the musical spectrum than any other comparable speaker in its price category.
This speaker supports Bluetooth and can work with the Google Assistant so you can use something like the Google Home or Google Home Mini to easily cast content to this speaker. It just kind of works out of the box, it’s really simple and works great.
Now if you’re looking for a cheaper speaker with some of the same connectivity features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Air Play, and DLNA, the RIVA Arena Speaker is the perfect speaker for you. It’s a $200 speaker which hits that sweet spot for the price and the sound quality ratio. It doesn’t pack quite the same punch as the bigger brother here, the Festival, but there are three unique ADX drivers and three passive radiators. It’s not as heavy on the bass but it does sound really good for the price.
RIVA even makes this $100 RIVA Arena Battery that fastens onto the bottom of this speaker so you can carry this speaker around with you, around your house without having to worry about plugging it in. It even gives you 20 hours of playtime per charge so they’ve really thought of everything here with these two speakers. You can check out these two speakers by clicking on the links.
One of my favorite all-time products in the world has got to be the Ring Video Doorbell. I have used the original Ring Doorbell for years using it to help me track the many packages that are delivered to my door on a daily basis. This is the Ring Video Doorbell 2 and it’s nearly the same price as the original doorbell so if you think about getting one of these doorbells, you might as well go for the second one. But it features some improved features over the original like 1080p video recording as opposed to 720p and it also has a refined design.
After you set it up, it will send you multiple alerts to your smartphone of choice-- whether that’s Android or iOS. And you can use the included microphones and speakers to actually talk to whomever is at your door and of course you can see them via 1080p video. What’s neat about the Ring Video Doorbell 2 is that it features a quick release rechargeable battery so you can swap out the batteries in and out. You don’t have to actually remove this thing from your wall or your door when the battery is running low. The Ring Video Doorbell 2 retails for about $200.
Let’s take a look at some possible stocking stuffers. Our friends from PowerTrend have sent us their new PowerTrend USB-C Hub adapter for the MacBook and/or MacBook Pro. This adapter is super slim and compact yet it features some very vital ports. It has an HDMI port on one side, Type-C, USB 3.1 Type-C for Pass-Through Charging and for data connections, as well as 2 USB 3.0 ports. This guy retails for $90.
Chances are either you or someone you know recently purchased a smartphone with wireless charging. Well, I have a few different solutions for you today.
First, we have the FoneSalesman QiStone+ Battery wireless charger that is portable. What is so neat about this solution is that it’s true wireless charging. It features a 4,000mAh battery so you can take this device with you on the go and charge your devices via the USB port or by the wireless charger which is built into the top. So if you have a wireless charging enabled smartphone, you can just set it on top of this charger and it will start charging. It is darn cool.
The next two solutions are from a company called Bezalel. The Bezalel Prelude Battery is going to be very similar to the FoneSalesman QiStone+ except that it features a larger 7,000mAh battery so it will be able to last you or charge more devices of yours. It also features a built-in wireless charger so you can set your phone on top of this device and your phone will start charging up.
Both the Prelude and QiStone+ retail for about $80 so it’s going to come down to whether or not you like one design over the other or if you want the extra 3,000mAh of power with the Prelude.
Last but not least is the Bezalel Futura X Wireless Charger. This is not a portable wireless charger, it needs to be plugged into the wall but it’s ultra thin. Look at how thin this thing is. It’s also super stylish. There’s a nice metal rear exterior shell here so it’s a great accessory to have on your nightstand or your desk. It’s called a Futura X because its design is just so futuristic. It only costs $50 and it works with all Qi-enabled charging devices.
So if you did pick up a brand new iPhone X or maybe an iPhone 8 Plus, you should make sure to pick up a case for it. So WaterField Designs has a really nice leather case called the WaterField Ranger iPhone X Case. It’s designed to keep the iPhone X close at hand and easily accessible. And it uses magnets to ultimately keep the iPhone X from slipping out of the case. You can hook it into a belt, pants, or a strap of some sort. The fancy iPhone X deserves a fancy case so you should get something like the Ranger. It costs about $89 but it’s made of genuine leather.
Here we have the Chipolo CARD. The company, Chipolo, has made a little bit of a name for themselves by crafting Bluetooth trackers. This is a Bluetooth tracker that sits in your wallet and it’s apparently the thinnest wallet finder on the market. It’s water-resistant and has a one year warranty, which is pretty unheard of really.
After you get it set up, all you have to do is pop this into your wallet and if your wallet is ever lost, you can see where it was last seen and you can even ring this little card to locate it if it’s nearby, within Bluetooth range. So one of these guys is $35 but you can save more if you buy more of them.
The Roku Streaming Stick+ has been my go-to media player ever since September. So this little device here plugs into the back of your TV so you never have to see it in your living room. It brings up a familiar Roku operating system which works with all of the mainstream services like Netflix, Amazon Instant, YouTube, Google Play Movies, and so on. What’s neat about this streaming stick is that this little thing right here supports 4K and HDR TVs. This little stick can support 4K HDR. I think that’s pretty incredible.
For $70 give or take, this is so worth it.
How about some wireless earphones? We have two solutions for you today. First, we have the Jaybird RUN Wireless Headphones. These things just sit right in your ears with the cushion ear tips or ear fins. There are no wires at all. They offer four hours of music playback per charge. There’s also an 8-hour charging case included here and it has fast charging as well so you can charge these things up in like 5 minutes and get an hour of playtime, which is pretty cool. So basically, you never have to worry about these things getting out of juice. They are comfortable, sweat-proof, water-resistant, and they even allow you to make calls. If you’re in the market for true wireless earbuds, you should look into the $180 RUN earbuds from Jaybird.
So we have another set of wireless earbuds for you today. These are super unique and they are great if you are an athlete. These are called the Trekz Air from a company called AfterShockz and they play music via bone conduction technology. They deliver music through your cheekbones so you can still hear the environment around you. What’s neat is that they fit over and around your ears so they are super secure. It’s great if you’re a runner, for example. You can run with these things, they will not fall out. They work over Bluetooth and have a water-resistant rating as well.
Another cool thing is that there are dual-noise cancelling microphones for making calls and an equalizer to adjust the sound to your liking. You can increase the bass for example. There’s also a two year warranty. So these might be the best headphones for athletes period. They cost only $150.
Okay, last but not least, we have the holy grail of headphones. These are for the loved ones that you just cherish and who love audio probably more than they love you. These are the Greene Street collection MH40 headphones from a company called Master & Dynamic. They feature black metal and cameo leather that, in my opinion, looks fantastic.
Now, they aren’t wireless but M&D does offer wireless headphones if that is what you are looking for. You can find the wireless options here: Master & Dynamic MW50 Wireless Headphones.
These were made for audio enthusiasts who loves a rich, warm sound and who’s not afraid of using an audio cable in 2017. As someone who owns a pair of the MW60 wireless on your headphones from Master & Dynamic and now the MH40s, I find myself never disappointed when listening to music via these cans. They can be a little bit pricey at around $400 but they can be absolutely worth it.
With that last one, those are some tech products we highly recommend as gifts for the holidays. There are so many tech products that we could not include in this video so please feel free to recommend some in the comments below.
