Five Holiday Gift Ideas for the Tech Fan in Your Life

With the holiday season here, finding solid gifts for the technology lover in your life may actually be more difficult than you’d think. People will often get paralysis from trying to find the right gift and end up going the gift card route because there are just so many options. Macro Systems has five great gift ideas for the technology fan in your life.

Amazon Echo Spot Smart Hub
Just like the Echo and the Echo Plus, the Amazon Echo Spot Smart Hub features the useful Amazon personal assistant, Alexa. However, the difference is that the Echo Spot was built to be an alarm clock. Instead of merely being a speaker like the Echo Dot, Echo, and Echo Plus the Echo Spot has a small screen that shows the user what time it is and what the weather is like by default. It is a more compact version of the Echo Show. Some of the features the Echo Spot provides include:

• Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant
• A customizable clock 
• Amazon Prime streaming
• Video chat with other Echo Spot/Show users
• Smart speaker and microphone

The Amazon Echo Spot is available for a sensible $129.99 and can be found where major electronics are sold.

Roku Premiere
Most have probably heard of the Roku, a device that permits people to stream video to their televisions with the use of an HDMI-connected interface. The Roku Premiere has a very attractive price point ($39.99) and allows the user to stream 4K video. Other popular streaming media players such as the Amazon Fire Stick 4K and Apple TV 4K now allow for 4K streaming, but they usually come at a higher price point. The gift is perfect for the cord-cutter in your life who still wants to experience the premium content provided by today’s major media services.

iRobot Roomba 690
Like raking leaves and shoveling snow, vacuuming the floor is a repetitive, and relatively not-enjoyable way to spend time. The people at iRobot know our disdain for it and have built the Roomba line of robot vacuums to help make people’s houses cleaner. While Roomba is the most popular robot vacuum on the market, and provides several models to choose from, many people veer away from purchasing one because they are skeptical about the machine’s cleaning effectiveness. The 690 model is firmly in the center of their offerings. The company advertises its “Dirt Detect” technology that senses how dirty an area is as it goes about its regular cleaning, and focuses more time and attention on the dirtiest spots on the floor. The Roomba 690 is currently available for $374.99.

TP-Link Wi-Fi Range Extender
Wi-Fi is vital for nearly everyone these days, and sometimes it just isn’t possible to get a strong signal throughout a house. If someone is constantly complaining about their Wi-Fi issues, TP-Link has introduced a range extender that is very easy to use. The TP-Link Wi-Fi Range Extender plugs into a wall outlet and does what its name suggests, providing you more range on your router’s wireless Internet. The AC1750 model can be had for $90, with several more affordable options available.

Tile Mate
Built for the person that can’t help but misplace things, the Tile Mate is a solid solution. The Tile Mate is a small disk that fits on a keychain or any other small object. When the item is out of view, simply use the app associated with the device and it will make a ringing noise. Even cooler, if you have something with a Tile Mate attached to it, you can double-press the tile button on the device and make your phone ring, even when it’s on silent. A four-pack of Tile Mates can be purchased for as low as $70, with single Tile Mates going for $25.

The holiday season is a good time to give the people you love the most current technology. What technology items are you looking to purchase for the people on your holiday shopping list? Leave your list in the comments below.