Shopping for someone special this holiday season, but don’t have a lot of cash to blow on the latest and greatest gadgets? No worries. You can buy plenty of tech gifts for $100 or less — from streaming boxes to smart home assistants — which will make your loved ones smile.
If you’ve got a TV addict on your shopping list, you can either get them the help they so need, or feed their destructive habit of binging shows by getting them either the $99 Roku Ultra, on sale for $89, or the $69 Amazon Fire TV, on sale for $54. Both devices can stream 4K, HDR content — which is great if you’ve got a compatible TV. They both also feature voice recognition technology, so you don’t have to navigate multiple menus to access your favorite content.
Amazon’s Fire TV also lets you stream HDR, 4K content, but doesn’t offer apps like YouTube or Google Movies and TV.
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The Roku Ultra costs more than the Fire TV, but its biggest benefit is that it carries more channels than its competitors. What’s more, Roku (ROKU) doesn’t compete with Amazon or Google for content, so it won’t get involved in the kind of back and forth childishness that saw Google pull YouTube from Amazon devices and Amazon pull Google devices from its store.
Fitbit (FIT) is synonymous with fitness trackers. So if someone you love is looking for a device to help them get into shape, the Fitbit Alta is a great choice. Normally available for $129, the Alta is on sale for $99 through Dec. 20. The company is also selling its Fitbit Flex 2 for $59.
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Both gadgets will track your activity ranging from your sleeping habits to the number of steps you’ve taken and how many calories you’ve burned. The main difference between the two is that the Alta has a small display that provides you with smartphone notifications and your activity levels. The Flex 2 has four LEDs to alert you to notifications.
Just do me one favor: Only buy one of these for someone who has asked for a fitness tracker. Giving someone an unsolicited tracker is the equivalent of telling them they’re out of shape and calling it a gift. Don’t be that person.
Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Home and Amazon’s (AMZN) Echo are sure to be huge hits this holiday season, so chances are you’ll end up buying one for someone in your life. The Home is perfect for the person who’s willingly allowed themselves to be subsumed by Google’s ecosystem, while the Echo is great for anyone who has an unnatural compulsion to shop while their hands are otherwise occupied.
The Home usually goes for $129, but Google is offering it for $79 through Dec. 31. The Echo 2nd-generation, meanwhile, normally costs $99, but is also on sale for $79. So, if you want to add a voice to your friend’s home besides the one they say tells them to steal things, the Home or Echo are great options.
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Want to give someone the gift of virtual reality? Then I hope you really love that person, because you’re going to need some deep pockets to drop them into a virtual world this holiday season. Unless, that is, they’ve got an Android phone compatible with Google’s Daydream software. That’s because Daydream, Google’s VR platform, can run on your Android smartphone without the need for a PC or game console via the company’s $99 Daydream View headset.
Samsung’s Gear VR offers similar functionality and works with Facebook’s Oculus software, but costs $129. Plus, you can only use the Gear VR with Samsung smartphones. The Daydream View works with phones ranging from the Pixel 2 and Galaxy S8 to the LG V30 and Asus ZenFone AR.
Portable speakers are a great way to add ambience to a party or just fill the silence during lulls in conversations. So if you want to save your loved one from the occasional episode of minor social awkwardness, but don’t want to break the bank, the JBL Flip 4 is a heck of an option.
Bluetooth compatible, waterproof and packing 12 hours of battery life, the Flip 4 will only set you back $79, rather than the normal sale price of $99.
If you can find the SNES Classic, then you’d better buy it.
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I’m not going to lie to you — this one might be a bit hard to get. But if you can find the right store or happen to be on the right website at the right time, you could score one of Nintendo’s (NTDOY) SNES Classic systems. Fuel your favorite person’s nostalgia addiction with games like “Super Mario World,” “Donkey Kong Country,” “Star Fox,” “Earthbound” and “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.”
For $79, the SNES Classic is a heck of a deal, but Nintendo’s limited supplies have made it difficult to find. So if you can get one, grab it right away. Besides, who am I to say anything if you happen to knock down an old woman as you dive head first for the last console? No one. That’s who.
It might sound strange, but someone you’re shopping for this year might like to read in their spare time. I know, it’s a crazy world. If that’s the case, your best bet for them might be Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite e-reader. On sale for $99, the Kindle Paperwhite usually costs $119 and features a built-in backlight so your friend can read even in the dark. If $99 is too rich for your blood, you can grab the regular Kindle, which is available for $59.
source : https://finance.yahoo.com/news
