Now that the gluttony of Thanksgiving is behind us and we are speeding towards Christmas, it’s time to get into the spirit of giving for the holiday season. At least, that’s what I’ll try to do.
It is so much easier (and far more fun) to indulge myself and do a little “internet window shopping” to build out a wish list of gadgets that I must have. Diving into the Newegg product catalog I scrounged up some of my favorite items that would be very welcome under my tree this year. If any of my family members are reading this, forego the restaurant gift cards and stars named after me, and get straight into this good stuff. I need these. All of these.
Laser projection Christmas lights- $59.99 – $89.99
I first saw these in action last year at a neighbor’s house and instantly knew I was doing Christmas lights all wrong. Basically this product consists of a projector that blasts brilliant lasers all over your home, without the need to string up lights around the eves.
There are two different patterns to choose from: green Christmas trees/red stars, and green/red dots. The patterns have a few modes to choose from: flashing, stationary, or motion. I personally like the idea of combining one motion light with a stationary one, which would also give me two angles of coverage to drape the house in lights. These are said to cover 2,100 ft2, so a couple should easily paint the front side of your home in glorious seasonal lasers.
The dot pattern laser has an included remote, so the color, timing, or function of the laser can be changed from the comfort of my home without going out into the brisk December night air. These can be used indoors as well, so if you’re having a Christmas party and your disco ball is broken you can turn the inside of your home into an explosion of color.
On the flip side, the outside casing is rated IP65, which means it is impervious to dust and water jets, so you can safely turn on your sprinklers whilst these are staked in the yard. The temperature resistance is a nippy -30° for both units, so unless you live in the frozen north you should be fine staking one of these in your yard.
The best part is that I won’t need to haul my hungover self up on the roof New Year’s Day to pull down all the lights, or have them end up in a tangled mess with dead bulbs to test for. Since these are a bit more useful before Christmas morning, I am lobbying for an early gift addendum to the Christmas tradition.
Beanplus coffee cold brewer- $99.99
I’m a big coffee geek, and love trying new beans and brewing methods. My morning go-to is the v60 pour over, but I often switch it up with some delicious cold brew to get things cranked up a notch. Cold brewed coffee is smoother and less acidic than hot coffee, so it is easier to tolerate for those with sensitive stomachs. Also, the coffee that comes out is a strong concentrate, so you can mix it with a little water, milk, or ice it down to take off some of the edge and still get a good kick.
The Beanplus has a super sleek design that I would be happy to have sitting on my desk or countertop while it brews. The combination of heat-resistant PYREX glass and brushed aluminum with a matte black plastic accent makes for an extremely handsome setup. The water goes up top and you can control the drip speed with a nozzle in the center of the unit. The water drops down onto the beans and slowly extracts the flavors and caffeine, while leaving the oils and acidity out from the mix. Only goodness here friends.
This has a much quicker brewing time than most cold brew methods, clocking in at just five hours (compared to the standard 12-24 hours), so while it isn’t something that you can really brew fresh to drink each morning, if you are fond of afternoon coffee breaks this will do the job, and it refrigerates well too. Beanplus has a smaller brew capacity than some cold brew methods out there, keeping your leftover coffee to a smaller amount, while the likes of Filtron cater to those cranking out a pound or so at a time.
If I’m expected to make it through the rest of this holiday season and show up to work every Monday, this had better be in my office Secret Santa haul.
Ultraloq biometric touchscreen smart lock- $319.99
This is an awesome gadget from U-tec that I am dying to get added to my home automation setup. The Ultraloq provides a keyless system for your doors, and uses biometric fingerprint scanning, your smart phone, or a touchscreen keypad to grant access.
This device is designed to be super sleek and fully functional as a security device, so it is waterproof for outside use as a front door or side gate lock, which can come in real handy if you have a job done by professionals where they need access to the yard or home during work hours. You can store up to 95 fingerprints in the memory, which is way more people than you would ever give access to for a home, but it just means you have very little limiting your use (and opens it up for business applications). Of course you can see a log of who unlocks the unit via which method and when, as well as remotely control the lock yourself if the need arises.
A cool little feature is the ability to set up automatic locking, so you can just leave the house in the morning without worrying about locking up. Also, it eliminates the need for me to take my keys with me when I go for a run or walk the dogs. If you do have your phone in your pocket you can just knock on it to open the door when you are nearby, even on the inside.
Garageio smart garage door opener- $199
This is one of those cool little gadgets that makes itself useful just when you need it most. I honestly don’t know how many times I have driven away from the house and not 10 minutes later forgotten whether or not I had closed the door. Most of the time it wasn’t an issue, however a few times I left it open accidentally. Luckily I wasn’t going too far for long.
The system consists of a set of sensors that hook up to your current garage door operation and allow you to control it remotely from your mobile device. This doesn’t just include keeping the access to yourself, you can add on however many users you want without needing to leave a house key or pass out remotes. With all the access permissions handed out, you can get real-time alerts about who is opening your garage, when, and what the status of it is.
One of the cool perks of this device is if you have the door open for more than about 15 minutes it will sound a beeping alert and a push notification that the door is still open. This would also be super useful when working around the house, since often times I go in the garage to grab a tool for the backyard and forget to close up. Garageio works with most garage door openers, and also integrates with Amazon Echo, Stringify, IFTTT, Amazon Fire TV, and myknock, so you can set up your connected home with added control.
I am a big fan of making things easier, and this is a cool way to have access to the door from anywhere at any time.
Grillbot grill cleaning robot- $129.95
This is not something that I want; it is something that I need. I have a robot to clean my floors, why not a robot to clean my grill? The simplicity of the operation is so beautiful. It just scrubs all the burnt remnants from meals past and leaves you with a shiny new surface to cook on, without any harsh chemicals or destroying your sink trying to soak filthy grates.
The powerful little Grillbot uses three rotating wire bristle brushes to scrub three directions at once, and it just hums along inside your grill until the job is done. There aren’t any high-tech proximity sensors like on robot vacs, which would be completely unnecessary and add to the cost. It just bumps around the grill and changes direction when it gets stuck, ever the motivated worker.
The timer can be set for 10, 20, or 30 minutes depending on the degree of neglect that your poor grill has been subjected to. In my case, it would be a 30 minute session hands down. If my fiancé wants to keep getting food cooked without the kitchen disaster that follows, I should have my own little mechanical grill-derella cleaning up my messes.
Novi 4-in-1 home security kit- $299
We have played around with a few different kinds of home security gadgets, but this one looks like the most inconspicuous of the bunch. Not only does it hide itself in plain view on the ceiling, it functions as a smoke detector, HD camera, motion sensor, and 90dB siren all in one.
The unit sends push notifications when there is smoke or motion detected, along with 3 photos of what caused the alert so you can receive the information immediately wherever you are. The 170° camera captures any activity within range, while the push notification gives you options for dealing with the alert. You can set the app to notify a family member or friend if you don’t respond, call for help yourself, or automatically set off an alarm. I really like the idea of this because the use is strictly tailored for inside the home, which is often overlooked by other home security products out there.
Make my holiday happy and buy me all this stuff
It isn’t a big list, or by any means all-encompassing but these are definitely some of my top “must-haves” for this holiday season. I know there are a ton of awesome new gadgets out there that are either making life easier or just super cool, and I am looking to track them all down and get my hands on as many as possible.
With CES just around the corner I know we will be hearing about some incredible new uses for smart home technology, and I can’t wait to root out the greatest of it to share (and add to my wishlist for next December).
Featured in this article
Laser projection Christmas lights: green Christmas trees/red stars- $59.99
Laser projection Christmas lights: red/green dots- $89.99
Beanplus coffee cold brewer: $99.99
Ultraloq biometric touchscreen smart lock: $319.99
Garageio smart garage door opener: $199
Grillbot grill cleaning robot: $129.95
Novi 4-in-1 home security kit: $299
