My Favorite Tech Gadgets
Categories: End Users Information Uncategorized
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday have past, let’s face it, many of us have yet to complete start our Holiday shopping. During last month’s Cooperative Conversation (a monthly webinar we put on for Extension personnel covering a wide variety of technological topics) I mentioned a variety of tech tools that would make nice gifts. I’d like to highlight a couple of my favorites, in case ideas are still needed!
How many times have you been on a trip and desperately needed to charge your phone but couldn’t get to an outlet? A great solution for these situations is to purchase a power bank. There are a variety of these currently on the market. I purchased one for around $12 at Best Buy last spring. It’s lightweight, charges one device and portable. BUT there is another great option on the market that makes my little $12 power bank seem like a rip off. KMASHI has a power bank on Amazon which runs about $14. It can charge two devices at the same time and can possibly charge up to three devices before running out of power. (The PNY device resembles the single charger compared to the KMASHI)
If you are looking to spend a little more money on someone, another favorite device of mine is the BOSE Bluetooth Speaker. This little $179 speaker produces amazing sound, is fully portable and pairs with any Bluetooth device. To put it in perspective, we took the speaker into a lecture hall on campus to test the level of sound it produces. Placing it at the front of the room and standing in the back, we could clearly hear and understand what was being played on the speaker. At home, I love to grab it and move from room to room playing music and podcasts from my phone. It’s battery lasts for hours and if it starts running low, I can just set it on the charging dock or plug it in and continue to use it. It is hands down one of my favorite tech gadgets and a pretty decent price for a BOSE device.
Finally, know someone who has an iPhone 7? As most of us have heard by now, Apple did away with the auxiliary plug to use regular headphones. With this change, the ability to charge and listen to music simultaneously ended. Fortunately, Belkin put out a $40 device that remedies that problem for those of us who like to be able to charge and listen to music.
I hope these help give you some ideas as Christmas gets closer and my fellow procrastinators realize the shopping still has to get done! I hope everyone has a very Happy Holidays!
~Cynthia Hobbs