Cool and Quirky Tech Accessories
Sometimes you need to think outside the box when searching for the perfect gift… and way outside of any boxes with smartphones in them. Tech accessories are a great gift option because they’re often not utterly essential, so people feel indulged and loved receiving them.
We’ve rounded up some of the silliest, quirkiest tech accessories on the market. They’re sure to create smiles and warm memories, even if they’re not necessarily practical.
For the Nostalgic Gamer
For people who love gaming but have a tender spot in their heart for obsolete consoles and outdated graphics, lots of cute gift options are available to snag their attention. If you want to get a gamer something a little quirky they’ll still use, go for the GameKlip.
The GameKlip lets you attach a game controller meant for the PlayStation console on your mobile phone, which is great if you prefer using the older physical controller rather than a touch screen.
If you have a friend who likes old games but prefers to enjoy them using new technology, you can also download Atari’s Greatest Hits. It’s an app for Apple and Android that gives you a smartphone version of beloved classics like “Pong.”
For the Music Lover
Listening to music on an iPod or your smartphone is great, but sometimes you want to share the listening experience. If you’re at home, there’s no problem, but people just don’t sling boomboxes over their shoulders like they used to. If you want a portable player and you want to look cool carting it around, go for the Bag of Riddim Portable Audio System.
It’s a hip, eco-friendly system that doubles as a messenger bag, infused with Bob Marley-cool. It works with iPods and iPhones and produces amazing sound quality– people will wonder where the big speakers are, and they will be amazed to realize the full-bodied jams are emerging from the inconspicuous bag.
For the Sports Fan
When you work out, you sweat. And that sweat can wreak havoc on your earphones. To give someone the gift of never having to worry about frying their earbuds with their own bodily fluids, pick up a pair of Jaybird Freedom headphones. They come with a lifetime warranty against sweat-related damage.
Aside from guaranteeing they will not get fall apart due to sweat, the headphones are also specifically designed to stay secure on your head while you work out, even for the most vigorous forms of exercise.
For the D-I-Y Guru
If you have a tech-tinkerer in your life, give them some holiday joy with the Makey Makey, an invention kit with a circuit board designed to give people a chance to turn everyday objects into customized gadgets.
The gift looks bare bones, containing just the circuit board and a few accessories, but the opportunities it presents are limitless: you can turn pretty much anything in the world into a computer key using the simple circuitry at hand. For instance, the demo video shows how to transform a banana into a space bar. And it’s simple enough for children, so it’s an entertaining and educational gift for the teen genius in your life.
For the Diva
If you’re shopping for someone who likes a lot of sparkle, there is a number of gaudy tech accessories right up their alley. If you don’t want to get your girly-girl loved one an iPhone case covered in Swarovski crystals, we have some more creative options:
For the fashion lover, pick up a pair of Kate Spade Touch Tech Bow Gloves. They’re designed to let you use touch screens without removing gloves in cold weather, and they’re beautiful merino wool in bright colors.
If your girl loves music, check out Modcloth’s Sweet Sounds Earbuds. They’re compatible with most smartphones and mp3 players, and they have an adorable pink strawberry design. They’re not as high-tech as the Jaybird earphones, but if you want fashion more than pure function, these are the way to go.
For the Instagram Devotee
People go berserk over Instagram’s filtered images. If your loved one loves Instagram, get them a gift that lets them show off their prettiest tinted pictures.
You can get them Coastermatic coasters, printed with Instagram images, so they can keep cute photographic keepsakes around the house and keep water marks off their coffee tables.
If you like the idea of turning Instagram images into a gift but your loved one isn’t the coaster type, you can make them a custom smartphone case with Castegram instead — and the company accepts photos from Facebook, so if you find a perfect shot but it hasn’t been turned into an Instagram masterpiece yet, there’s no reason to fear.
And Instacanv.as offers a number of Instagram-related gift ideas, including phone cases but also holiday cards, prints, canvasses. Plus, if you can’t find anything particularly breathtaking in your photo feed, you can select photos taken by users around the world.
For the Traveler
You don’t want to get a constant traveler something heavy or cumbersome, so stick to lighter gifts designed for taking on the move. If your loved one is constantly bopping around, consider the USB stick leather bracelet. It’s well-made, fashionable, unisex, and it ensures your USB stick won’t fall out of a backpack or get left in a computer.
If your loved one flies a lot, Micro Luggage is a great gift idea. It combines a suitcase and a scooter, so you can zip around airport terminals quickly and won’t have to deal with the burden of dragging a normal suitcase around. Once you get to a city, you can take off the suitcase and you’ll just have a plain old scooter. It’s silly, but we imagine it could come in handy in a pinch.
For the Writer
If you’re sick of giving your writerly loved one notebook after notebook, spend a little extra dough and give them something they will surely cherish, especially if they like to take notes or conduct interviews. We’re talking about the Livescribe Smartpen.
It’s an amazing tool because it can both capture sound, so you can record conversations or business meetings, and it also automatically digitizes everything you write. Using Wi-Fi and working with Evernote, it collects both spoken and written information, so your loved one won’t lose any precious data.
