If you don’t consider yourself to be tech-savvy but as you are surrounded with electronically minded folks it will be hard for you to find a good tech gift for them. According to reports 66 percent of U.S. adults are planning to purchase a tech product as a gift on this year. So let’s checkout some tech devices which are the mostly demanded in this 2k18.
Echo Show (2nd Generation)
Voice speakers, or smart speakers, have been big sellers over the past couple of holiday seasons, and Arnold’s research leads him to believe that they’ll be popular once again, “especially since Amazon released several new products a couple of weeks ago.” He anticipates that smart displays — “which is a screen with all of the smart-speaker features built into it” — are going to be especially popular, like the newest iteration of the Echo Show. With a larger screen and louder speaker than the first-generation Show, this device is better equipped to play TV shows or movies from Amazon Prime Video or Amazon Music; however, you need an Amazon Prime account in order to access most of these features.
Google Home Hub
Google is also launching a new voice-activated speaker display for the holidays, called the Home Hub. This one connects to your Google account, so it can do things like display pictures from Google Photos or play your favorite YouTube videos — along with more standard Google Assistant tasks, like reading out your daily schedule or telling you what traffic on your commute will look like through Google Maps. One advantage of the Google devices over the Amazon ones is that you don’t need to pay for any subscriptions to enjoy most of the functionality, but as far as which of these two smart displays to buy, Arnold doesn’t think one is necessarily “better” than the other. “I think of it more as what is going to complement my life the most as a consumer,” he says. “It just depends on how invested you are in either ecosystem, and that’s really the best way to go about it.”
Ring Video Doorbell 2
Also new this year is the interest in smart-home devices, like smart doorbells, which can be controlled by voice-activated devices like Echo or Google Assistant. “Connected home products aren’t super exciting to get for Christmas,” Arnold admits, “but I think that the market has gotten to a point where there’s a pretty good level of familiarity and awareness for the products.” Sure, it’s not as cuddly as a teddy bear, but Arnold says it’s a matter of reframing your thoughts on what makes a good gift: “When I think of maybe my mother or my grandmother, something like a security camera would bring them a lot of value and a lot of convenience and some peace of mind.”
The biggest thing to consider if you are going to gift a smart doorbell or security camera is which digital assistant the recipient uses. If they’re in the Amazon ecosystem and have an Amazon Prime membership and are maybe getting a couple of packages delivered each week, Ring is going to be the best bet, since it’s owned by Amazon.
Samsung Notebook 9 Pen
Similar to the HP Envy, the Samsung Notebook 9 comes equipped with a tool dubbed "The S Pen," which is a battery-free pen that allows you to still get in your good ol' pen-to-paper screen fix. With its highest power and performance to-date, the Samsung laptop will be available early 2018.
Google Clips
Forget finding your next Instagram husband...Google Clips takes pictures and videos for you by using facial recognition to learn what faces and moments are most interesting to you to record. Hold it, clip it to your jeans, or leave it literally anywhere, and suddenly you have your own personal videographer. The motion photos are private since you don't need an internet connection for it to work, and you can choose to upload them wherever/whenever.
Proof
You already know not to drink and drive, but with Proof you can actually track your blood alcohol level to see how much alcohol you're consuming when you drink. *Has flashbacks to New Year's Eve.*
The wristband sets alerts to notify you when you reach a certain BAC level, estimates the amount of time it will take for you to sober up, and sends it all to your smartphone app. If you're just like...HOW?! The
technology converts alcohol molecules into electric signals. 2018, everyone.
Flow
A concept: you, next to Leo DiCaprio, taking the next step in fighting global warming with this portable air quality tracker. Flow allows you to measure the harmful pollutants around you by creating a 360 degree air intake to discover how toxic the air you're breathing is.
Overall, it aims to work towards a healthier environment by creating awareness of your surroundings and inspiring action towards clean air policies. Flow is currently available for preorder, but likely won't ship until June 2018.
HomePod
Alexa, meet HomePod—Apple's highly-anticipated speaker with Siri capabilities. You can put HomePod anywhere in the room and it adjusts the sound for prime hearing throughout the house. (Crazy, we know.) HomePod *also* has the power to shut off your lights and control any other electronic features in your home.
