[Mostly] Techie Gift Guide 2023

It is Black Friday 2023, we means it's time for our annual Techie Gift Guide! Welcome to the 8th annual Mostly Techie Gift Guide. Because I like gadgets, toys, and cool tech toys, I often get asked for ideas for these types of gifts by friends and colleagues, so I've created this list here on LinkedIn since 2016 (Prior Guides: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016).

Let's get straight to the list:

If you have a recent (>= iPhone 12), you need to get a magsafe battery pack.? It eliminates the need for the cable and because it’s magnetic, it can stay attached to your phone while in a pocket.? I like this one from Anker as it also doubles as a stand for those of us who travel a lot. ($50)

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And if you’re all in on Apple (iPhone, Watch, Airpods), Anker also makes this great 3-in-1 nightstand charger. ($120)

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In the past, I’ve been a big fan of the Sonos One portable Bluetooth speaker. The latest from Sonos, the Sonos Roam, is nearly as good in quality and less than half the price. ($134)

Even though I’m living in the city now, I still love my bike.? For early or late rides, these Arclight City Pedals improve your visibility greatly. ($110)

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I do not have a green thumb, but this self-watering device is a pretty cool design for people who are not home 365 days/year. ($50)

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I bought a new TV for my apartment downtown.? The Samsung The Frame TV looks like a piece of framed artwork when the TV is off.? ($1723)

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You like your music outside in the winter?? Try the Bluetooth Beanie to keep your head warm and your music or podcast going. ($17)

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I know many people take this time of year to replace a home desktop PC.? There are a million choices and many good deals.? I have listed three solid picks for three different budgets (budget <$700, mid-range <$1200, and high end <$2500).? The budget can handle any work related stuff, but will not be great at modern games.? The mid-range should handle just about anything other than high-end gaming, and high-end should run just about anything you can imagine.? The Budget Pick is the Acer Aspire TC-1760-UA92 at $500. The mid-range is the Maingear MG-1 Silver at $1149 and the high-end is the Alienware Aurora R15 at $2100

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I finally bit the bullet and tried an air fryer – in my case, the Philips 3000. ?I found it generally good and great at one important task – reheating Portillo’s French Fries.? Yum! ($80)

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I’ve mostly stopped using my Airpods – I just don’t like the feeling of any earbud in my ear.? I have been using last year’s recommendation, the Shokz OpenRun ($90), but while I love the open ear design, I was unhappy with the max volume level outside (ok for music, but not enough for podcasts).? So I bought a good, inexpensive, workout-friendly over the ear headphones to replace them, the Soundcore Q20. ($42)

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Like many, I spend a good portion of each day on video calls and have gone through a series of webcams.? My current bestie is the Panacast 20 from Jabra. ($199)

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Now, if you want to upgrade what you see can have easy visibility to Zoom, email, etc. go for some big real estate with the 49” Curved UltraGear Monitor from LG. ($799)

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And if you want work from home and want to use multiple monitors with your laptop, it’s best to have a docking station so you can use the external monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. all with only having to plug in a USB-C cable.? I have the prior version of this docking station from Plugable. ($135)

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You can’t buy the Apple Vision Pro yet (“early 2024”) but I’ll list it here as it will certainly be on next year’s list. ($3499)

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The SPLURGE gift - If you are really into racing simulators, the Prodrive Racing Simulator is hard to beat. ?($50,000)