Ecoloblue Environmental Water Generator
We’ve honestly been wanting to feature the Ecoloblue Environmental Water Generator in the guide for as long as we’ve been doing it. What’s so special about it? The machine makes water!!! That’s right, I’m sitting here right now, drinking an ice cold glass of water that the Ecoloblue pulled right out of the air. How freakin sweet is that?!?
This machine pulls water directly from the air and then runs it through a reverse osmosis filter, several layers of carbon filters and then even runs it through a UV filter to kill off any potential bad things that might have come in through the air. We can’t speak highly enough about this machine. Depending on the model that you buy, it can make between 26 and 30 liters of water a day and it can store over three gallons at a time… at the temperature of your choosing! again, depending on which model you purchase, you either get hot or cold options (with digital temp control) or when you get the 30 S model, it can even be dispensed to you in a carbonated form… Kinda makes that soda stream you bought look like garbage, right?
This fits into so many categories for gifts. Not only is it perfect for the kitchen, and it is truly an epic gift, but this is also an essential survival tool for when society breaks down and the world ends at the end of next year. When everyone else is in water lines waiting for their daily ration because the whole public water supply is contaminated with zombie virus, you’ll be kicking back in your house, sucking water straight from the air and into your frosty glass. You don’t even have to worry about when the power grid shuts down because the Ecoloblue also has an add on solar generator that you can buy!
Get yours today at: Ecoloblue
PleoRB The Robot Dinosaur
I remember the first time I saw a Pleo, it was way back when I was writing for a magazine called Toy Shop. In the years since, the Pleo, which was cool even back then, has been revamped into one of the sweetest creatures we’ve ever seen. I don’t want to call this thing a toy, that just wouldn’t be fair. Pleo is a robotic companion. He isn’t quite the bear from AI, but he’s the closest thing that you can buy on the consumer market. I could spend pages talking about all the features on a Pleo. First, he’s a super cute dinosaur… like Land Before Time cute. Next, this isn’t just some out of the box robot. When you get him (or her) it is in infant mode. Over the course of several days it matures into a playful, puppy type dino pal. You can teach him tricks, get him to sing for you, he’s got cameras and sensors to recognize touch and shapes. As your owner, you name him and he’ll treat you like a master. if you drop him, he’ll act injured and you’ll have to nurse him back to health. There’s so much that he does, it is really the closest I’ve seen to a real pet. You even have to feed him. Also, if you are mean to him, he gets depressed, so be sure to pet him and be nice and keep him happy.
The cool thing about Pleo is that he works on several levels. He’s a great toy for the whole family. He’s also an excellent training tool for kids who won’t stop yammering about wanting a puppy. Most interestingly, he’s also a great gift for your older relatives who live alone. Because Pleo reacts to emotional touch and stimuli, he makes a great virtual companion for the elderly… also, if they forget to feed him, he won’t die in the corner and stink up the house. We can’t recommend the PleoRB enough!
Get yours today at Pleoworld
Triplogik Mile Logger
Sometimes gifts might not be sexy, but they are super practical. The Triplogik is one of those gifts. At its core, the Triplogik is a simple to use mile logging device that will make your life a lot easier, especially if you are someone who drives a lot for work. We played around with this device for over a week and we were amazed at how well it worked. Hooking it into our cars was beyond simple… like, my techno-challenged 61 year old relative had no problem with it. The hardest part is just finding the right outlet in your car… but I suppose that would have been easier if I had checked my car’s manual.
This isn’t a GPS… it is sort of a reverse GPS. It tracks everywhere that you’ve been in your car with remarkable precision. The applications for it are great. If you are someone who drives a lot for work, this thing does all that stupid math that you wind up having to track and add up at the end of the year when you do taxes. Just push a couple buttons and the software will print out an exact report of your tax deductible miles to either turn into your boss for reimbursement or for you to use directly on your taxes.
We also figured that there are a couple other purposes that make this a great gift for parents of teenagers. Make using it a condition of driving privileges and you’ll learn all kinds of things about where they went when they told you they were at the library… and all sorts of other bits of info.
The Triplogik looks like a simple device… and it is simple to use, but it really is an amazing machine. Everyone around the office agreed that this is one of the top practical gifts of the year.
Get yours today at Triplogik
Kuvings Silent Juicer
The Kuvings Silent Juicer is one of those machines that changes the way you look at things. I worked in a juice bar in high school. Like most people, the bar used centrifugal juicers. They are loud and they actually kill a lot of the nutrients in the juice before it ever hits your lips. The fast spinning action of those juicers causes oxidation which just makes juicing not worthwhile. Enter the Kuvings silent Juicer! Wow. First, this thing is super quiet. I never liked older juicers because it sounds like you are running a vacuum cleaner or lawn mower. To give you an idea of who loud the Silent Juicer is… I started juicing carrots and I picked up the phone and called a family member. I didn’t have to speak up. They could hear me fine and they could barely hear the juicer at all over the phone. Could you imagine trying to talk on f the phone while using a regular juicer? No, you can’t.
Now, let’s talk about how it actually worked. Instead of the fast spinning action that kills the nutrients and makes a juice that separates in a matter of minutes, the Kuvings Silent Juicer has a slowly turning auger that crushes and chews up your fruits and veggies. This doesn’t create heat and it prevents oxidation of the nutrients. I’ve found that it gives me more juice per veggie and that pulp that comes out is almost totally dry. My first test actually led to a whole other discovery. I ended up with so much juice that some of it went to the fridge instead of my belly. I didn’t go back to drink the rest for 18 hours and it HAD NOT separated. I’ve never seen fresh juice last that long without separating.
In preparing to review this juicer, I check ed out some popular documentaries on the topic, ‘Fat, sick and nearly dead’ and .Forks Over Knives’. As a society, we don’t get nearly enough natural nutrients. Instead, we eat like garbage and try to make up for it with vitamin pills. There’s just no replacing the natural goodness that you get from fruits and veggies. I know that after a good veggie juice, I am just as pepped up as i am after a redbull, but I don’t have that awful aftertaste in my mouth.
This is definitely not the least expensive item in the guide, but it is worth it. If you spend money on veggies for juicing, you’ll probably make up the difference over time just on the increased juice yield. We are also including this juicer in the survival section of the guide. With all the germs and viruses out there, you need as much nutrients as possible. Drinking freshly made juices will help bolster your immune system and help your body to heal itself. This is definitely a gift that we recommend.
Get yours today at Kuvings
Wacom Inkling
Inkling is Wacom’s new digital sketch pen darling compatible for both the Mac and the PC. It works via pressure-sensing technology and can digitally capture your pen strokes and masterpieces on the fly. The captured data can be saved as JPG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, SVG or PDF or imported to your favorite software for further modification (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or Autodesk Sketchbook Pro). The main selling point to the Inkling is not only its ability to produce layers but also its ability to convert your pen strokes into vector graphics. While this can be done the old fashion way — sketch, ink, scan, create outline in Illustrator — the Inkling does it all on the fly as you sketch, saving you a tremendous amount of “post production” time!
To use the Inkling, you have to clip the receiver to the piece of paper that you’ll be sketching on. Then as you draw, you have to make sure your pen is lined up with the sight of the receiver. In some ways, this forces you to draw in a very linear way and it may take a little time getting use to, but once you’re comfortable with it, it’ll feel like second nature. In my experience, even though I like to tilt and rotate my paper, it was still able to accurately capture my strokes. To me that’s a win.
No real surprise here, but the Inkling does require batteries. According to Wacom, you can get up to 15 hours of work from the pen and 8 hours from the receiver. But don’t worry, both the receiver and pen can be charged via the carrying case through a USB. The pen also requires ink cartridges, which are sold separately. However, you do get four free you purchase a new Inkling. From the looks of it, each cartridge should last about as long as a normal pen. The software that comes with the Inkling is straightforward. After a little installation time, calibrating and syncing you’ll be good to go.
Wacom’s Inkling is the first of its kind, an instrument that blends both analog and digital giving you some Frankenstein hybrid thing of inky vector beauty. From what I heard, it’s either out now or it’s been delayed until January 2012. Whatever the case, if you don’t get an Inkling for Christmas this year, be sure to get one for yourself with your gift card next year.
Get yours today at: Wacom
Phosphor Appear Men’s and Women’s Fashion Watches
Every year we try to find some really cool and different piece of jewelery. Last year it was a ring that had moving gears, this year it is one of the most unique watches that we’ve seen in a long time. the company is Phosphor and the watches are called “Appear” and they are available in both men’s and women’s styles. So what’s so special/cool about these watches? Well, if you like sparkly things, then you are going to love these. Instead of the standard digital display, the watch face is covered with Swarovski crystals. The actual crystals turn around and disappear to reveal the time. You can have the time showing or just have the shiny surface and use that to blind people passing by and annoying drivers in traffic. Either way, this is a watch that you are going to get stopped and asked about. One thing you might not be able to tell from the picture is that this is a bigger watch. If you like the dainty little time pieces than this is not for you. However, if you like a nice big watch, you are going to love this.
Get yours today at: Phosphor
Crosely Portable USB Turntable
Every gift guide that you read this year will have some sort of media player on it. We have one too, but ours is a little more retro than whatever Apple is pimping this season. Sure, a turn table doesn’t play Angry Birds, but there is nothing like the sound of vinyl. A few years ago we featured a turntable that had a CD burner in it. In the end, it was cool, but clunky. This turntable from Crosely is light, portable and easy to use. It also hooks right up to your computer through a USB port so you can back up all your vinyl to mp3 format. It also does something that a lot of turntables don’t do nowadays, it plays 33 1/3, 45,and 78 RPM records. I love this feature because I inherited all of my grandfather’s old 78’s and most players don’t accommodate them anymore. It really has everything that you want. Decent stereo speakers, all the software you need for backing up the music, it even plays your MP3 player for you through the turn table speakers. This is a great gift for the music lover in your life.
Get yours today at: Crosley Radio
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