AJ’s Tech Gift Guide

2017 Holiday Tech Gift Ideas from Soho’s CEO – AJ Jolivette

The Usual Suspects:

Of course, there are always the usual suspects for gifts, that I always mention.

• Bluetooth speakers
• High-End Headphones
• 8K Televisions now
• Digital Cameras
• Tablet computers
• Drones of all sorts
• 3D Printers
• Media devices, like the Apple TV, Roku and Fire Stick
• DNA home testing systems
• AI Systems
• Actual Robot Assistants and Cooks
• Biohacking and Neuro Hacking products

For the General Population:

Life Straw

LifeStraw is ideal for hiking, backpacking, camping, travel, and emergency preparedness. The straw-style filter design lets you turn up to 1,000 liters of contaminated water into safe drinking water. Everyone needs to spend more time outside, in my opinion, but being prepared for emergencies is also important.  At only $19.95 this is a bargain purchase of a great gift for anyone.

Raden A22 Carry

https://www.raden.com/products/a22-carry?product_1_color_name=black&product_1_finish_name=gloss

Well, many people travel for the holidays, so making it easier to travel, I think is a good plan. This luggage is designed with the new world in mind. The handle has a built-in scale, so you will know ahead of time how much your stuff weighs.  It is designed to fit on any plane, and has an app companion that lets you know when you’re close to it via Bluetooth. It has a 7,800mAh battery with a 2.1amp output to charge your phone up-to 4 times, and the battery is removable.  Coming in at $295 retail, there are lots of coupons available getting you up to 20% off right now.

TrackR GPS locator

https://secure.thetrackr.com/

I’m a pretty big fan of the GPS tracking devices to keep track of your stuff, no matter where you might leave them, and this new super small GPS tracker unit by TrackR is great for that. I like it best, because you can just change the battery easily instead of replacing the entire unit like some of its competitor devices. The unit is about the size of a quarter, and you can use it to not only find your things, such as keys, bags and other items, but you can use it to find your phone as well.  You can pick up a pack of 8 of these for only $69 on Amazon right now.  Get yours, I got mine. Merry Christmas to me.

Apple Watch version 3

https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-series-3/

The Apple Watch version 3 is honestly one of the most amazing upgrades Apple has every put out for one of its products.  The new 3^rd Gen watch is amazing. It comes with the option of to a full cellular phone inside the watch. And on top of that, it simply uses the exact same number of your existing iPhone*. It’s faster, waterproof, and has some exiting new band options.  The Apple Watch starts at $329 and goes up with functionality. Other fitness watches are also great, and you can find Fitbit and the Lintelek, start as low as $40, and offer great fitness tracking as well.

The DJI Mavic Pro

https://www.dji.com/mavic

Making the list, literally 2 years in a row, is the DJI Mavic Pro.  This Drone continues to dominate the field, with it’s amazing flight time, ease of use, insanely long range, and huge support base, it’s still the best drone to buy right now in my opinion.

Flight time on this one is about 25 minutes, which is pretty standard these days, however it is foldable and portable, and comes with a ton of new sensors.  It can avoid obstacles and fly over 40MPH. You can get these now from pretty much anywhere, even Costco, at very good prices. Usually a little bit below $900.

VIOME – Gut intelligence  

https://www.viome.com/services/

NOTE: Taken from their website: I was quite surprised to learn that over 80% of the DNA in our body doesn’t belong to us. New knowledge about DNA, the human Genome for gene therapy and guy intelligence, is going to change the face of medicine in my opinion. Learning more about yourself and what makes up who you are, can only benefit you in the long run. This is of course, my personal opinion, but I stand by it 100%. This kit is $50 off on the Viome website right now, at $349.

Muse Brain Sensing Headband

http://www.choosemuse.com/

Last, but not least, my actual personal favorite, is the Muse Brain Sensing Headband. Meditation is considered one of those “mystic practices” mostly used by monks and hippies. (no offense intended to either of those groups). However, the military, sports and corporate worlds are taking brain training VERY seriously. Almost every top athletic field you love, now incorporates some form of brain training, trying to find what they call “flow”, or the “switch”. It makes no sense for the rest of the world to be left behind, when access to this type of advanced training and technology is readily available to anyone.  The Muse headband’s ability to provide active real-time feedback to the state of your brain is only the tip of the iceberg. Since, just like the Apple iPhone, the Muse system allows other developers to freely utilize their technology to find bigger more world industry disruptive uses for the system. Thus, beyond the fact that brain training or neural hacking is already mainstream, and if you’re not involved already, you’re behind, but if you want to improve your mind and body, this is an amazing place to start, and an important step towards that goal.  Prices now is about $200 with online coupons, Retail: $249