Ahhh – Christmas is here. Mulled wine, mince pies, office Christmas parties, apologising for your behaviour at office Christmas parties, carols and oh…we totally forgot to buy any presents.
Don’t get stuck at the last minute with a tub of smarties and some naff pyjamas you picked up at the local petrol station (just us? Ok then). Get a gift that any Geek will love – trust us, we know what we’re talking about, we make event apps and RFID badges for a living (and we love it). Celebrate the end of 2016 with our list of great gifts for tech lovers and self-confessed nerd-brains.
The Best Stocking Filler: The Fondoodler
Cheese you can draw with! Possibly our favourite gift for 2016, this is basically a glue gun that melts cheese instead of glue. You can now create amazing cheesy patterns and artwork on any meal of your choice. Plus – it’s a cheese related gift. Is there any better type of gift than a cheese related gift?
$25
The Best Secret Santa: Magnetic Putty
Not only does this putty act like silly putty, but it’s also magnetic too. Mould it, shape it, bounce it and use it as a stress relief ball, and then use it as fridge Blu Tack when you’re done.
$9.99
The Best for Mini Geeks: Electro Dough
Designed for ages 4+ this awesome dough is designed to help inspire young inventors and creators. Create scenes and stories using the dough and then bring them to life using light and sounds.
£20 for a starter kit
The Best for Space Geeks: Project Blue
Know someone who loves sci-fi? Project Blue is currently raising funds to begin a mission to find another Earth. They hope to launch a telescope that is capable of observing and photographing Earth-like plants throughout the Alpha Centauri star system. You can become a backer for as little as $10 or you can buy a full size colour mission poster and mission patch for a donation of $185.
$10-$25,000
The Best for Maths Geeks: Scythe Board Game
We can’t exactly say that we grasp the full concept of this board game – something to do with an alternate history of the 1920s and attempting to survive through famine and war. What we do know is that it takes a real geek to figure out the rules and that once you do, it’s seriously addictive. Great for anyone who already loves Catan.
$63.99
The Best for Outdoors Geeks: Jacket That Heats Up and Charges Your Phone
Finally, a jacket that looks great and has added features that are really useful. If you’re heading off on an outdoors mission, this cool jacket from ORORO uses Carbon Fiber Heating Technology to warm up along the chest and midback areas to fend off the cold. It’s also fitted with a battery and charger cable that fit most USB compatible devices, just incase you run out of battery whilst in a remote location.
$129-159
The Best for Early Adopters: Vue Everyday Smart Glasses
Forget Google Glass. Who wants to look like a cyborg? Vue have created some really useful ‘smart glasses’ that also look good too. They contain ‘bone conducting’ speaker technology that sends messages directly into your ears, that only you can hear. You can also listen to music, get instant notifications and take calls. You will look like you’re talking to yourself. But that’s the price you’ll have to pay for being pretty much super human. At the moment Vue glasses are crowdfunding on Kickstarter. A pledge of $159 will ensure that you’ll receive a pair as soon as they hit the market.
$159
The Best for Serious TechHeads: formlabs 3-D Printer
This is a pretty serious investment. 3D printers are predicted to play a huge part in disrupting the industrial world as we know it, so the chance to become an early adopter is pretty exciting. It may seem expensive, but this formlabs printer comes with everything you need to get up and running and is a huge step forward in terms of accessibility.
$3,958
The Best Splurge: Nike Hyperadapt
Finally, the self-lacing shoe is here. It took a bit longer than Marty McFly predicted, but Nike have sunk a huge investment into this project to meet public demand. Nike’s self-lacing Hyperadapt shoes are now available – sort of. You need to be willing to spend a small fortune to get hold of a pair as Nike aren’t releasing any more at the moment and eBay hawks have stolen the market. This new tech might seem whimsical, but it’s great for people with poor mobility.
Around $5,500
Enough inspiration? If you see any more fun and unusual presents for geeks let us know. We’ll take a break from building our apps for events and take a look. Interested in learning more about Noodle and what we’re up to? Visit our website to find out more about our RFID and NFC packages for events.