Sonos – Wireless Speaker System

Sonos smart speakers connect to each other over the existing WiFi network in your home or office. WiFi has greater range and works with multiple devices (iPhones, iPads, computers, Sonos speakers). Sonos allows you to play different music to each speaker or the same music to all speakers (in sync). You control Sonos speakers with the Sonos App on your iPhone, iPad, smartphone, tablet or computer. 

Sonos offers three types of remote speakers. The Play 1 ($199) is a compact, yet powerful bookshelf speaker. The Play 3 ($299) has a deeper bass response than the Play 1 with a room filling power. The Play 5 provides the ultimate listening experience with its pure, deep and vibrant sound. In addition, The Sonos Home Theater product line includes the Playbar ($699), a compact, low-profile speaker system with nine drivers in a 3.35″ x 35.43″ x 5.51″ unit that can sit in front of your TV or mount on the wall. The Sonos Sub ($699) compliments the Playbar and delivers powerful, realistic and room shaking bass in a compact (15.3″ x 15.8″ x 6.2″) enclosure. The entire Sonos product line can be integrated into your existing home sound system and controlled easily with your iPhone or Smart Remote Controller. www.sonos.com

Altwork Station – Ergonomic Workstation 

Designed by a team of experienced technology professionals and manufactured in Sonoma County, the Altwork Station offers a new, ergonomic way for computer users to interact with their computers. 

Utilizing an integrated monitor, desk and chair, the computer screen and keyboard physically move with the angle of the body to conform to the physical limitations of the computer. It can be configured into four productivity positions; sitting, standing, collaborating or in a reclined focus position, including a zero gravity option with the monitor above with a simple push of a button. The Altwork Station is 34 inches wide, 5 feet long and weighs 210 pounds.

The Standard Altwork Station is $5900 and the Signature Altwork Station is $6900. It is available in 540 color and finish options with additional accessories that include a Side Table at $1200, Dual Monitor Mount System at $695 and an Upper Laptop Mount at $249. www.altwork.com

Koppla – 3-Port USB Charger 

If you have ever lost or broken your iPhone or iPad charger, it is an expensive piece of plastic to replace. IKEA comes to the rescue with this compact 3-port USB charger that can charge multiple devices at the same time from one outlet. This is a great stocking stuffer at $9.99. www.ikea.com

Quirky Space Bar – Monitor Stand & 6-port USB Hub 

Invented by computer lab teacher Michael Cavada, this well-designed aluminum monitor stand and USB hub raises your iMac or PC monitor (up to 30 lbs.) to a more ergonomic height and also provides a space to tuck away the keyboard, mouse and other desktop detritus. It includes 4 USB 3.0 super-speed sync ports with light charging (5V, 0.9A) and 2 USB 2.0 high-power, charge-only ports (5V, 2.1A). Outside of the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars, this is the best space bar we’ve encountered. Retail price is $69. www.quirky.com

Apple MacBook Pro –  With Glass OLED Touch Bar & Touch ID

On October 27, 2016, Apple introduced their latest MacBook Pro. It is the fastest, brightest, thinnest, lightest and most colorful Mac notebook ever produced. It features Touch Bar, Touch ID and a new Intel Iris graphics cards that are up to 130% faster, with a 67% brighter LED-backlit display. The new aluminum body is 17% thinner than Apple’s previous MacBook Pros.

Touch ID is the most important new feature on the MacBook Pro. Simply put, Touch ID is a fingerprint scanning technology that uses your biometric information (fingerprint or fingerprints) and keeps it on your device, not on some insecure, vulnerable server in the sky. A new coprocessor, called Secure Enclave, was developed by Apple to run cryptographic operations. Touch ID and Secure Enclave creates a private key that can’t be seen by an application or website which makes it impossible to hack. An additional and very important benefit of Secure Enclave is that it is in charge of your webcam and therefore prevents hackers from activating your camera without turning on the light. The bottom line? Mr. Snowden should buy this new MacBook Pro and save his Band-Aids.

The Touch Bar touchscreen replaces the function keys found on earlier laptops. Its function is specific to the application being used. For example, in Safari, the Touch Bar shows your favorite websites when you have an empty tab. In Apple Mail you can reply or reply all and the it predicts who you may want to send it to. Third-party developers like Adobe, Microsoft and Skype are going to take advantage of the Touch Bar in future upgrades to their software.

Technical specifications: It includes either 2 or 4 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports that support up to 2 displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution. The battery lasts up to 10 hours with 30 days of standby power. The 13” model weights 3.02 lbs. and the 15” model is one pound heavier at 4.02 lbs.

The entry level 13” configuration (2GHz dual-core i5, 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD) starts at $1499, and the premium configurations (2.9GHz i5, 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD) starts at $1799 with the ultra model (2.9GHz quad-core i7, 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD) peaking at $3949. www.apple.com

Apple TV – Fourth Generation

The latest Apple TV features touch and voice control search to wirelessly control your selections from hundreds of TV channels. The new remote control has motion-sensing capabilities, a glass touchpad, dual microphones and a Lightning port for charging the battery which lasts 3 months on a single charge. The remote connects to Apple TV via Bluetooth 4.0 so there’s no need to point it at the box. 

The newly designed interface, dubbed tvOS, makes it easy to add channels (Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO Now, YouTube, etc.) and the Siri-enabled voice-control makes it easy to search for content across all channels. For gamers, the remote can be turned sideways to turn it into a controller for gaming applications. With its built-in accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, it acts like a Wii controller. Up to 4 players can join a game with their iPhones or iPod Touches. 

AirPlay, introduced by Apple back in 2010, is incorporated into iTunes and the Apple TV. It lets you stream from any AirPlay compatible device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac) to the Apple TV. In other words, you can wirelessly stream and mirror what is on your Mac or iOS device directly to the Apple TV and watch it on your flat screen TV. This is great for sporting events, YouTube videos and movies. Pricing starts at $149 for the 32GB model and $199 for the 64 GB model. www.apple.com

Tile – The World’s Largest Lost and Found Community

Tile offers compact and easy to use tracking devices and software that help find your misplaced, lost or stolen items. An easy to use app downloaded on your iPhone or Android phone triggers the tiny speaker to let out a loud melody that’s easy to hear within 30-50 feet. Tile offers two options. The first, called the Tile Mate ($25) is compact and attaches easily to keys, luggage, backpacks and more. The Tile Slim ($30) is the world’s thinnest Bluetooth tracker and easily sticks, slides or tucks into tight spots like wallets, purses or passports. Be aware that the battery in the Tile lasts a full year and has to be replaced through the reTile program for a fraction of the cost. www.thetileapp.com

Nest – Learning Thermostat

The Nest Learning Thermostat automatically adapts to your life, habits and seasons. It is simple to install (about 30 minutes) and it begins to learn your schedule, when you wake up, leave the house, come home, go to sleep, etc. After one week, Nest is fully programmed and takes over. It knows when you’re away through its built-in sensors and phone’s location and turns itself to Auto-Away to save energy while you’re gone. Whenever you’re gone, you can check the temperature of your home from you’re phone via the Nest app. If you need to turn on or adjust the temperature, it only takes a moment to control the Nest from anywhere in the world. I’ve been using Nest at my store for the last 3 years and have saved over 10% on my gas and electric bill.  When I’m out of town, it’s fun to remotely turn the temperature up and make the caféMac techs sweat a little. www.nest.com

Amazon Echo – Smart Speaker

The Echo is a smart speaker that began development in its Lab126 offices in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Massachusetts back in 2010. It was prominently featured in Amazon’s 2016 Super Bowl ad and has been gaining acceptance since it was first introduced in June of 2015. In essence, it is a voice-activated device that continuously listens to all speech waiting for its wake word “Alexa” to be spoken at which point it performs different functions based on the command words spoken (Alexa Internet is the Amazon owned Internet indexing company). 

The Echo check weather from AccuWeather and news from local radio stations NPR, ESPN and TuneIn. It plays music from Amazon Music and has built-in support for Pandora and Spotify streaming music services and can also play music from Apple Music and Google Play Music on a phone or tablet. You can also listen to audiobooks from Audible.com through Echo. Lastly, if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can check the status of your orders with a simple request. The Echo requires a WiFi internet connection and a power outlet. It is available in black or white for $179.99. www.amazon.com

Kido Toys – Magnatab Letters and Numbers

You may have noticed that Apple’s iPad, Microsoft’s Surface and Amazon’s Kindle are not included in this Holiday Shopping Guide. This year, you can Think Different and go low tech with simple yet engaging products from Kido Toys. Their product line is thoughtfully designed to engage and stimulate children with a rich variety of shapes, colors and sizes so the possibilities for open-ended, creative play are limitless. According to their founders, “Kids have the most fun when they are discovering new things. And when children’s play is powered by their own imaginations, they develop skills they will use for a lifetime.”

My favorite is the A to Z Upper Case Magnatab which is handed to 3+ year olds when they visit caféMac and are asked to wait while mommy is getting her iPhone screen replaced. This toy is superior to any iPad I’ve owned. Besides teaching a child how to write their first letters with helpful up, down and sideways instructions, it doesn’t run out of batteries, it’s screen doesn’t crack and it doesn’t require any software updates. www.kidotoys.com

Happy Shopping!