A few days ago, I posted the first part of a two-part guide on gift ideas for Mother’s Day. I know that you’re probably up to your eyebrows in suggestions, but the ones listed below are sure to give you pause at how silly your current gift choices may be. It’s not too late to go out and grab something from this list (or the last one). You can thank me later, when your mother tells you that you are the best thing that she ever gave to the world.
Airwave
In my previous Mother’s Day gift-buying post, I mentioned Sonos as a solution for listening to audio in the house. But what if you don’t have that kind of coin? Or what if you want to take your tunes out of the house? Creative’s Airwave is a great solution that answers both of those questions.
The Toblerone-shaped speaker can be easily paired with most Bluetooth-enabled hand-held devices – or for those with NFC-enabled devices, you can just tap your hand-held to the speaker and let near-field communications do the rest! Signal strength is pretty reliable, with very few interruptions if you’re within a reasonable distance (without walls in between).
Durable and surprisingly full-sounding.
It’s also relatively light, making it easy to carry around in a backpack; but it also heavy enough to carry some “oomph” in regards to bass. The unit’s construction is solid, making it a worthy candidate to place outside. Sure, it’s no replacement for a full sound system, but it definitely is great value for your money and can stand up to a bit of punishment.
I used mine last halloween as an outdoor speaker (I made sure it didn’t get wet) to play spooky sound effects on. It was loud enough to compensate for the noise of any rainfall and definitely projected well enough to garner the attention of anyone passing by. When Smallest Thumbs’ dance instructor’s boom-box went on the fritz, I gave her the Airwave and she has been getting a lot of use out of it, citing both its sound quality and its portability.
Paick Power Bank
Mobile devices, regardless of their battery life, eventually run out of power at the most inopportune times. This can be a serious inconvenience at best – at worst, a safety hazard. Being able to communicate with people is especially important in dire situations when one is in a remote area. Having a portable power bank can be quite a handy thing, especially in these sorts of situations. Of course, you don’t want to be lugging around a giant battery.
Nice charging bank that can be tucked away.
The Paick Noble Power Bank is far from cumbersome. While not tiny, it is small enough to conveniently stow in a pocket or a purse, and is very light – thanks to the lithium-polymer interior. The Noble Power Bank also has two different USB plugs which are hidden within the unit itself – each with a different charge rating (1.0A vs 2.1A), giving you the ability to charge devices faster if you need to (or charge two devices at the same time).
You can use the Paick to charge an iPhone or an Android phone more than once – but you won’t be able to charge your iPad all the way if you are starting from a huge power deficit. That being said, I found that the Noble Power Bank did a better job than the USB Drive/Power Banks that I possess, and it also holds a charge for longer.
The Noble Power Bank’s door, which hides the USB charging ports, is also touch-activated and reveals the remaining charge using 4 blue LED lights.
Muse
In the majority of families that I know, both parents hold full-time jobs. Having to work all day and come home and cook can be somewhat stressful for whoever is on KP duty that night. It’s not that doing household chores is a bad thing – it’s more about the fact that there is very little decompression time, especially if children are in the picture. Most of the time, people don’t really get to relax until much later in the evening, when it’s possibly time to be going to bed – and going to bed while frazzled doesn’t usually contribute to a restful slumber.
This dude is working on relaxing his mind.
InteraXon’s Muse brain-sensing headband and Calm app are a great solution for this problem. Last week I had the opportunity to hang out with the folks at InteraXon and try out this dynamic duo for myself, and I was pretty impressed. In fact, I think that it would be a welcome gift for anyone that wants to get back in touch with their center. This might sound granola, but I believe that folks in general could do with a lesson in how to chill, and this technology is the ticket.
I won’t get too much into it, as my impressions were recently posted here; suffice to say that I believe that this sort of technology is not just useful right now, but paves the way to a future where we are far more in tune with ourselves. This, in turn, will make for a more peaceful state of mind, which will contribute in a positive way to our own well-being (mental and physical).
InteraXon adds a bit of a gaming element to the brain-training exercises that they have in their Calm app. It is far from boring. Check out the Muse here.
Disney Infinity
Whether you’re a videogame junkie, or you’re just getting started, Avalanche Software’s Disney Infinity is definitely one of the coolest games out there. When Infinity first came out, folks were making fun of it, calling it a Skylanders rip-off. I can’t profess to understand the rationale behind its creation – but it is pretty amazing in its own right and offers very meaningful play presented with the comfort of the familiar.
Disney Infinity involves placing figurines onto a special base (that is connected to your console). Once the figures are seated, they appear in the screen in a fixed Play Set (essentially structured adventures for a specific set of figures) or a Toy Box world (which is something of a sandbox in which you can create your own adventures or download those of others). New figures and adventures can be purchased, along with special boosters that add more functionality to your characters and worlds.
This game is all kinds of incredible.
So why would I suggest this? Well, because it’s totally fun. The learning curve is gentle, making this an easy title to pick up and play. Also, there is a very good chance that the cross section of various Disney and Pixar characters contains someone that you will like, making for an even more immersive and personal game-play session. Smallest Thumbs and I play this a lot, and we enjoy the hell out of it. It’s not difficult to see that this could be the case for practically any parent/child team. Even people that don’t particularly care for videogames find this an intriguing prospect.
While it looks like a cash grab, it’s not (just like everything else). If you set reasonable limits, or have a good group of friends with which you can trade booster packs, you don’t have to spend a ton of money (unless, of course, you have the collector mentality – in which case, I cannot help you). Really, to enjoy yourself, all you need to buy is the starter kit. Oh, and probably the princesses from Frozen – because they are cool. And let’s not forget, there is a bit of an upgrade coming later this year.