November 13, 2015
The holiday gift buying season is just around the corner and the buzz already has started around what technology will be featured to get people in the doors. Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is projecting the 2015 holiday season to set a new record on consumer electronics spending of more than $34 billion.
One-third of the people surveyed by the association recently shared their plans to buy what they call “emerging” technology." The cited smart home devices, wearable technology, smart watches and drones (as we shared in a recent blog).
So, what’s really emerging? Here are four cool, cutting edge tech toys that have caught my attention:
- Function Filled SmartPhone Case
We think of a smartphone case for aesthetics or protection against the elements. But a new tech company called Nexpaq is changing that with its release of a new modular case that allows you to add new functions to your phone. You get one case and then can customize it with a variety of modules that slip into the case to allow you to gain a SD or a USB card reader, more battery power, expanded memory or new sensing capabilities. This goes beyond the basics to allow users to read the temperature or humidity, measure pollution or get a blood glucose reading. The case costs $65 and each module typically costs between $15 and $29. - Laptop Screen Add-Ons
Gaining extra screens for your laptop just became mobile with the release of the Sliden’Joy. This European company developed sleek portable screens that can be added to your laptop to give you more screen real estate while working from anywhere and/or the ability to share a screen with the person sitting across from you or around a conference table with its 180-degree rotation capability. Check out the video on how it works. The screens comes in 13, 15 and 17 inches and your choice of adding one or two more screens. The Sliden’Joy costs about $215 for a single add-on monitor and $320 for twins, which gives you a total of three screens that can fold into one.
- Scanning Mouse
With Zcan, you can scan over any document or photo and instantly see it on your screen. It is the first wireless scanning mouse, available for a Mac or Windows. That means it works with your iPad, tablet or laptop. You scan and save receipts, documents and photos from anywhere and even edit them in Word, Excel or Evernote. The image quality is high at 400 dpi. It also goes beyond traditional scanning to aid in language translation. Available on Amazon and the company’s website this holiday season, this device costs about $160. - Touchscreen Mouse
I’ve long shared the challenges of the desire for a mouse in a touchscreen world. One company is providing an answer with the new Swiftpoint GT. Also available on Amazon, this is the first touchscreen mouse. The dual purpose device gives you the power of a mouse and with the tilt of the wrist, acts as a finger and unleashes gesture technology for touchscreens. This allows you to pan and flip left and right - and more easily than with your finger. The Swiftpoint GT mouse costs about $149.
With Zcan, you can scan over any document or photo and instantly see it on your screen. It is the first wireless scanning mouse, available for a Mac or Windows. That means it works with your iPad, tablet or laptop. You scan and save receipts, documents and photos from anywhere and even edit them in Word, Excel or Evernote. The image quality is high at 400 dpi. It also goes beyond traditional scanning to aid in language translation. Available on Amazon and the company’s website this holiday season, this device costs about $160.
Technology development is not slowing down. There are companies, both large and small, discussing how they can develop new tools and devices to match our tech-minded lifestyles. These gadgets just break the surface. Before you break the bank on gadgets for others – and yourself – I hope you’ll also take a moment to drop money in the red kettle, a gadget in the Toys for Tots box or give to another charity of your choice.
