Tech gadgets that make great stocking stuffers

These tech gadgets won’t go unnoticed and they’ll be used all year long.

Christmas stockings may be a holiday tradition but they don’t often get filled with anything that’s all that exciting. I grew up with stockings filled with oranges, apples and maybe a book of Lifesavers. These days I like slipping some important and useful gifts in my kids’ Christmas stockings, just to make sure they pay attention.

These tech gadgets are small enough to fit into a stocking but may prove to be the most useful gift they’ll receive this year.

 It isn’t impossible to stuff thousands of movies in their Christmas stockings. An Amazon Fire Stick not only streams Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other streaming services, but it has free movies and TV shows from Pluto and IMDB and YouTube. Even if they haven’t ‘cut the cord’, they’ll find free things to watch. 

Smartphone shutterbugs will love the Kingston Bolt. It is a flash drive that connects to an iPhone’s lightning port, so you can download all of your photos and videos easily and transfer them to a computer. If your phone is running out of space, you can now safely delete all of your photos without losing them forever. The Bolt comes with a keychain fob so it’s always handy.

A portable hard drive that fits on a keychain might come in handy over and over again. These are inexpensive and durable. A sturdy 64gb flash drive is less than $14.

The gift of an additional level of security is invaluable. A Yubikey uses a person’s fingerprint to unlock their Google account using 2-factor authentication. Google makes them too under the brand name Titan. When you’re setting up 2-factor authentication on your Google, Dropbox or other accounts, you add your personalized Yubikey. When you log onto a computer that you haven’t used before, such as at a friend’s house, library, etc, rather than going through the steps of having a secret code sent to your email address, you simply insert the Yubikey into the computer’s USB drive and tap it with your finger.  

Yubikey also recently updated the software so it can be used to log into accounts using 2-factor authentication on iOS devices. 

A smartphone case makes a nice stocking stuffer, but if they’ve already got their favorite, maybe they’d prefer a phone grip. The Love Handle attaches to any case, it’s a loop that makes it much easier to hold on to the phone. I like it because it’s low-profile and will still slip into your pocket.

Charging a phone in the car requires an adapter and if they’re an Amazon Prime member, the Roav Viva car charger puts Alexa in the vehicle. She’ll answer questions, play music from Amazon Prime and read audiobooks. by the way, as I write this Amazon is selling the Viva for 47% off its regular price of $35.99.

Everyone needs charging cables but which one? The Anker Powerline cable has Micro USB, USB C, and a lightning jack. Just change them out with the attached connectors. It’s on sale right now at Amazon for $15

And if they spend a lot of time in front of a computer, and who doesn’t? A pair of computer glasses will be used over and over again. These from Gunnar optics blocks harmful computer blue light which can make our eyes tired and can keep us awake at night. Gunnar has many different styles for gamers as well as for people who want to look professional in the workplace. They also make them as readers. Definitely worth checking out.

None of these gadgets require batteries, but speaking of that…batteries are always good stocking stuffers too. 

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