Happy Holidays! I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 26th, is Cyber Monday. If you’re in the market for electronics, Cyber Monday may offer the lowest prices of the year on select items.
We’re covering two items in this post: Holiday Gift Ideas, and How to use your iPhone as a secure Wi-Fi hotspot.
Holiday Gift Ideas
Gifts for Learning
3D printer. A great gift for a technically-minded person, 3D printers can print some amazing items: Tools, Toys, even a full-sized Home. I expect them to become much more popular over time. Prices start at around $150.00.
Drone. Drones are popular for taking aerial video, including a “follow me” video feature available on some models. Prices start at around $50.00
Electronics Learning Kit. There are lots of kits on the market to teach everything from computer programming to physics, to building a robot. Prices start at around $15.00.
Audiobooks from Audible. For anyone who spends time driving or flying, audiobooks are a great way to listen to your favorite books. Audible subscriptions start at around $15.00 per month.
Hi Tech Wallet. A bulky wallet can be a thing of the past with the new slim designs. Some wallets feature RFID blocking. Prices start at around $8.00.
OLED TV. OLED TVs have the best picture currently available. 4K TV and movies look incredible on OLED TVs. Pricing has dropped dramatically. Costco is selling 55″ models for around $1,700. 65″ models are around $2,500.
Smart Home
I’ve become a huge fan of smart home devices like Amazon’s Echo, Nest Thermostats, Ring Video Doorbells and Security Cameras. With theses systems, you can control lighting and appliances, listen to music and audiobooks, stay informed about news and weather, and so much more. Ring is now offering a home security system. Installing the Ring Security System is pretty easy, as the sensors just stick to your doors, walls and windows. The equipment is inexpensive, and monitoring is only $10.00 per month.
New Cell Phone, Computer, Laptop or Tablet. Prices for these items keep dropping (except iPhones), and features keep improving. They make great gifts.
Chromebook computer. Chromebooks are very reasonably priced computers. They use the Google Chrome operating system, and store most everything in the cloud. They do not run Windows or Mac software however, and our experience suggests that having a newer-model Wi-Fi printer is a must. Pricing starts at around $150.00.
Document Scanner. Scanners are great for those who want to go paperless. I’ve found going paperless to be life-changing. We freed up so much paper storage space, and best of all, I can now find any document I need quickly. We are using the Fujitsu Scan Snap IX 500. Around $419.00.
Online backup. We always recommend an online backup service in addition to local backup on a thumbdrive or USB hard drive. For the past several years, our favorite backup service has been Carbonite. Pricing starts at $71.99 per year.
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How to use your iPhone as a secure Wi-Fi hotspot
Using public Wi-Fi is very risky and not recommended, because criminals can easily capture your usernames and passwords, along with any information you send via email, etc.
One way to avoid using public Wi-Fi, and still use your computer or tablet in public places, is to turn on the mobile hotspot feature on your iPhone. A mobile hotspot means you’re using your phone’s cellular connection to connect to email, the Internet, etc. (notes: 1. Android phones can also become a mobile hotspot. 2. You may have to contact your cellular provider to enable the mobile hotspot feature).
To turn on your iPhone’s mobile hotspot, go to Settings | Personal Hotspot and touch the button. It will slide to the left and show a green background, indicating that the hotspot is on. Just a bit further down the screen, you will see a notice saying your phone is Now discoverable and the name of the Wi-Fi network. Keep reading, and you will see the Wi-Fi password, which can be changed if you’d like.
Next, go to your computer or tablet, and connect to the cell phones’ Wi-Fi network using the password from the phone. That’s all there is to it. You can now connect to the Internet on your own private Wi-Fi network.
You can also share your private Wi-Fi network with one or a few friends by giving them the Wi-Fi network name and password.
All the best,
Edward