Now that I have recovered from the big turkey dinner, I am down to the big job of finding the right gift for each person on my list. Instead of battling the throngs of holiday shoppers, I spent Friday going through the sales fliers and researching what electronics are new, exciting and in demand this year and trying to match them with the right recipient.
I have been spent a good part of the weekend on the web going down one electronic rabbit hole after another. My thoughts on electronics gift giving have changed a little since I started. My philosophy on wish lists is they make gift giving easy for the giver but boring for the receiver once they get over the novelty of getting what they wanted. Save the wrapping paper because no one is going to be surprised. Gift cards are always popular but they pretty much say I care as much for you as I do the mailman.
All that being said, people want stuff. My parents had a rule of thumb. Aside from the obligatory, socks and underwear, we usually got two things from our list and then random stuff that we needed but didn’t know it at the time. To tell you the truth, I can’t remember many of the gifts I got except for the two McDonald’s gift certificates in our stockings each year and was able to get whatever I wanted with them.
With all that in mind and realizing that things have changed a bit since the days of 25 cent hamburgers, I came up with the ideas below. These are just ideas, TeledataSelect is not compensated for anything on the list below.
We are big proponents of backing up your computers and devices. People have so much of their lives stored digitally these days. Protecting it is easy but it’s also easy to put off until it’s too late. A great gift idea is to get a cloud back up for your family’s computers and devices. This link is a review of the top services.
On that same topic, for the active iPhone user, this little gadget will get around Apple’s space limitations to let you take more pictures, load more music and use more apps. Not to mention, easily create backups of your phone.
Another useful gadget to have nearby is an external battery charger to keep all of your devices working even if you forget to charge them up. I keep one in my car and a couple in my backpack. They are cheap and have become almost a commodity item. Stick to the power packs that provide at least 10,000ma. That size can recharge most tablets once and phones at least 3 times on a single charge.
Is anyone in your household complaining about WiFi deadspots around your home? New WiFi Mesh technology allows you provide full WiFi coverage as far as they can go from the base. Expect to pay $300 to $400 for a good system. Linksys’ Velop and Netgear’s Orbi are getting good reviews.
For the drivers in your family, dashboard video cameras are very popular. 
Their big benefit is in the case of an accident, there is irrefutable evidence as to what actually happened. Otherwise, Safely at your destination, you can rewatch your trip and upload any crazy stuff to YouTube. This link will take you to reviews of the top Dashcams available.
Relatively new on the tech front are Bluetooth powered tracking tiles. They can be inserted into wallets, hooked onto key chains and attached to luggage tags. If you lose track of anything you attached them to, a phone app will show you where it is via a Bluetooth signal it transmits to any device that is running the app. The technology is relatively new and relies on widespread consumer usage to find anything outside of your current Bluetooth zone. Here is a link to a review of the Bluetooth trackers that are out there at this writing.
For the griller in the family, I can personally vouch for the Classic Thermapen from www.Thermoworks.com. It is arguably the best, fastest and most accurate meat thermometer on the market.
I know this seems like a pretty random list of presents that admittedly, I wouldn’t mind getting or giving. My overall goal for holiday giving is to spend my hard earned money on quality gifts that won’t end up re-gifted or in the back of the closet by January. I hope this helped in at least giving you some ideas.
Teledata Select offers a whole range of services that will help you meet your business goals. Starting with a complimentary review of your current telecommunication bills to identify errors and find opportunities for savings, better service and more functionality. We also offer project management for new service implementation and infrastructure installs, including fiber and low voltage cabling. Call us at 404-257-1502 to discuss your current Telecom Service Solution and what you would like to get out of it. Or send us a note via This Link to start a no obligation discussion of your specific business technology needs.
Don Miller is a PMP certified Project Manager located in Greenville, SC. He has come to Teledata Select via Seattle, New York and Washington DC. His experience running small to multi-million dollar projects in the Banking, Software, Telecommunications and Insurance Industries across the US has given him a wide range of business experience.
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