While Thanksgiving and Christmas might be all about food and merriment, gifts play an undeniably important role during the holidays. It might be easy to pick out gifts for bookworms and fashion-lovers but what does one give a geek?
Keeping in tune with the season, IBTIMES India carried out a detailed survey and found 10 exciting gadgets, which are sure to bring tears of joy to your close geeks.
PowerUp 3.0- Smartphone controlled paper airplane
Yes, you can fly paper airplanes and control it through a Smartphone. All you need to do is attach a small module on your airplane and download an app on your Android Smartphone or iPhone and start flying. Available in $49.99 (₹3,000), the airplane can fly up to 20 meters high.
Ampy
A small box shaped charging device, which can easily be slipped into your pocket or tied on your arm or wrist. But unlike other portable chargers, Ampy doesn't need to be connected to any power socket.
The device can be worn while walking, cycling or running and the battery gets charged according to the distance you cover.
For instance, to charge your smartphone you just need to walk 10,000 steps or cycle for an hour or run 30 minutes. It also has a cross platform Smartphone to tell you the calorie you burned and the battery life gained.
SyncStop
SyncStop, which looks like an identical USB pen drive, can prevent accidental data exchange when your device is plugged into someone else's computer or a public charging station. SyncStop achieves this by blocking the data pins on any USB cable and allowing only power to flow through. This minimises chances of anyone stealing your data or installing malware on your mobile device.
The device supports any Android, iOS, BlackBerry or Windows Smartphone and is available at kickstarter.com
Doctor Who TARDIS Smart Safe
Doctor Who TARDIS Smart Safe, which looks like a prison cell, is a locker for keeping precious things and is safer than the steel 7 lever lockers. Available for $49, the device works perfectly with iPhone, iPod Touch or any Android smartphone.
You just need to download the app from the App Store or Google Play, set your secret combination, and you're ready to store your valuables in the TARDIS. To unlock, slide your smartphone into the slot on top until it activates the pressure switch inside. Then launch the app and key in your secret code. The light will blink, and the door will pop open. Enter the wrong code and access will be denied.
SmartPen LiveScribe
The Livescribe is a ballpoint pen with an embedded computer and digital audio recorder. Once paired with a smartphone, it records everything for uploading to a computer later, and synchronises those notes with any audio it has recorded. This allows users to replay portions of a recording by tapping on the notes they were taking at the time the recording was done. It is also possible to select which portion of a recording to replay by clicking on the relevant portion of a page on-screen, once it has been synced to the Livescribe Desktop software. The Livescribe is equipped with a removable ball-point ink cartridge, a microphone, a speaker, an infra-red camera and a tiny OLED display. The device is available with several online retailers around the world.
Motorola Keylink
Keylink is a small device made by Motorola that you attach to your keychain. Using the Motorola Connect app on your phone, you can connect your keys to your phone in case either tends to wander off.
If you're unable to find your phone, you can press a button on Keylink to make it ring up to 100 feet away and if you misplace your keys, you can use the Motorola Connect App to make the Keylink ring.
Compatible with both Android and iOS smartphone devices, the Keylink is available for $24.99. The Motorola KeyLink battery is said to last for a year and can later be replaced with a coin cell battery.
After purchasing the device, you just need to download the Motorola Connect app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store today to get started.
Switchpoint GT
Switchpoint GT, the CES 2015 Innovation award winner is a portable mouse that can unveil the power of touch in Android, iOS, Mac or Windows based Computers, Smartphones and Tablets. The alien looking mouse can understand your gestures including swipe or flicks through a natural finger and wrist action. The Touchpad on Top (TOT) based device features touch sensors on the top of the mouse button. The Switchpoint GT has been developed keeping in focus the touchscreen device users and can be paired up through Bluetooth 4.0 or USB connection.
LG Pocket Photo Printer PD233
LG's pocket photo is slightly larger than a smartphone but can easily be slipped into one's pocket. Weighing 212g, the PD233 is an easy to carry printer, which can be used across Android or iOS devices. Unlike traditional printers PD233 doesn't require ink cartridges or any sort of refilling, and instead uses self Zink photo paper 2.0.
LG has also developed an app for connecting the PD233. Compatible with both iOS and Android platform, the Pocket Photo app can send printing instruction direct from the smartphone. The printer can also be connected via Bluetooth and NFC connectivity.
ToneWoodAmp for Accoustic Guitars
ToneWood-Amp is an amazing product for acoustic guitars. The device can virtually allow any acoustic guitar to reproduce complex soundscapes as if it is connected to an external outboard of amplifiers and effects, without actually being connected to one.
With ToneWoodAmp, you can experiment, play and compose, creating unlimited sounds directly from the body of your acoustic guitar.
The product comes with an adhesive protective layer at the bottom, which needs to be stuck at the back of your acoustic guitar and attach the rails. You can install the the ToneWoodAmp with any flat back acoustic guitar with a bridge or sound-hole pickup. It can also be attached with nylon string guitars.
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized circuit board with the capability of fully fledged computer. Developed to promote teaching of basic computer science in schools, Raspberry Pi can be connected to a TV, after which one can enjoy multimedia contents or surf the web, play games, make robots and drones, learn computer programming and a lot more.
The Rasberry Pi is actually a mine of gadgets, which can get anyone addicted.
