2015 Holiday Gift Guide: Mission Belts

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Wearables, Features, Women, Men, Kids, Techies, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

The Mission Belt is an evolution in belt design, style, and function, and after wearing one for a number of months, I can whole-heartedly recommend it in our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide. The belt is sleek and clean, and provides a perfect fit for everyone. With no holes to stretch or wear over time, your genuine leather belt always looks great. The tip of the belt inserts into the ratchet belt buckle, where a locking mechanism holds the belt in place from the back. To remove the belt, just press the small metal lever on the bottom of the buckle, and the belt slides out of the buckle. You're no longer restricted to 1 inch size adjustments, but can get a perfect custom-fit every time. Not only will you look good, you'll feel good too, because one dollar from every Mission Belt sold goes to help hungry families worldwide become self-sufficient.

You can pick up Mission Belts now. 

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2015 Holiday Gift Guide: Throwboy Emoji Pillows

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Kids, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

Look, emoji are here to stay. Rather than fighting with the nieces and nephews about how inappropriate they are for communication, accept it and make peace with one of Throwboy’s Emoji Pillows. We feature them in our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide as well as in the background of the Gear Live videos on our YouTube channel, and they add a great light-hearted mood to any room. Also fun for pillow fights.

You can pick up Throwboy Emoji Pillow now!

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2015 Holiday Gift Guide: Exploding Kittens

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Family, Women, Men, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

Here’s an inexpensive gift you can give to just about anyone while having it be a success, which is why we are including it in our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide. Exploding Kittens describes itself as a "game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats.” It’s a family-friendly party game for 2-5 players (or you can combine it with another deck for up to 9 players - and it has a NSFW edition as well!) If you’re still unsure of how well it might go over, just know that it is the most-backed project in Kickstarter history, and only costs $20.

You can pick up Exploding Kittens now (and don't forget Exploding Kittens NSFW version if that's more your thing!)

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2015 Holiday Gift Guide: Apple TV

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Family, Men, Techies, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $500,

iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch will be big holiday gifts this year, make no mistake about it. The Apple TV is actually a fantastic complement to Apple's handhelds, worthy of being featured in our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide. Having recently been completely revamped for the release of the fourth generation model, the new Apple TV is a nice little device in its own right. At the center of it all is the App Store, which now lets you download TV-optimized apps and games, all playable using the new Siri Remote, as well as favorites like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, sports networks, and plenty of other entertainment options. The best part, though, is AirPlay. You can beam audio and video content right to the Apple TV with ease from your iOS device, or your Mac. You can also mirror the display of these devices as well, all wireless over your home network.

You can pick up the Apple TV for $149 for the 32GB model, or $199 for the 64GB version.

Honorable Mention: Amazon Fire TV

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2014 Holiday Gift Guide: Apple TV

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Family, Men, Techies, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $500,

iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch will be big holiday gifts this year, make no mistake about it. The Apple TV is actually a fantastic complement to Apple's handhelds, worthy of being featured in our 2014 Holiday Gift Guide. A nice little device in its own right, the Apple TV gives you access to Apple's iTunes Store entertainment content right on your television. In addition, you get Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, sports networks, and plenty of other entertainment options. Connect it to your iTunes Home Share, and you can use your iOS devices as remote controls for the Apple TV. The best part, though, is AirPlay. You can beam audio and video content right to the Apple TV with ease from your iOS device, or your Mac. You can also mirror the display of these devices as well, all wireless over your home network.

You can pick up the Apple TV for $99, or $94.95 on Amazon.

Honorable Mention: Roku 3 Streaming Player

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2014 Holiday Gift Guide: StoryBundle

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Women, Men, Techies, Under $25,

We covered StoryBundle back when they launched two years ago, and since then they've sold more than 500,000 books in all kinds of genres and continue to be a fantastic way to discover favorite authors you've never heard of. It's good. Good enough that we're kicking off our 2014 Holiday Gift Guide with them. If you're not familiar with StoryBundle, they offer about a bundle a week, and each bundle consists of around 9 full-length novels from all types of authors. Essentially they're like Humble Bundle for ebooks, and feature not only indie authors that are as good and deserving of your reading time as ones you find on the bookshelf, but big names too! They've featured Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher and Clive Barker, just to namedrop a few folks you may already know.

If you've got a book lover in your life, or if or someone you know is getting a Kindle, tablet or smartphone this holiday season, StoryBundle's the perfect complement to that. Just hop on over to their Gift Card page and you can send anybody a gift card for any future bundle. Instead of guessing what your giftee wants to read, the gift card lets them choose their favorite genre at any time. Best of all, the gift cards never expire. Plus, when they redeem their gift card, they can choose to give part of their purchase to a worthy charity. What's more in the holiday spirit than giving?

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2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Strawz Constructible Drinking Straw Kit

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Science, Toys, Kids, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

You know how kids love playing with straws, right? Our next 2013 Holiday Gift Guide entry encourages it. The Strawz Constructible Drinking Straw kit takes it to the next level. You'll blow the minds of your kids, as the set lets them drink from multiple glasses at the same time. They're durable too, and can be taken apart and reshaped by your junior scientists again and again.

You can pick up the Strawz Constructible Kit now from Amazon for $11.95.

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2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Snap Circuits Jr.

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Toys, Kids, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

We've found another fun, inexpensive geeky toy to feature in our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide. With Snap Circuits Jr., discovering the wonders of science and building cool electronics can be done in a snap. Winner of a Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's Products award, Snap Circuits Jr. comes with easy-to-follow directions that help you snap together a variety of intriguing experiments. Create things like a dual-speed fan, periodic doorbell, photo sensor police siren, flashing laser light, and more. Comes with over 30 easy-to-identify reusable color-coded parts and instructions. Definitely something cool to do with the little ones.

You can pick up Snap Circuits Jr. now from Amazon for $20.55, a 41% savings.

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2013 Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway: Rdio streaming music subscription

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Music, PC / Laptop, Portable Audio / Video, Women, Men, Techies, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

They say music is the universal language, and as music lovers ourselves, we think it's one of the best gifts that you can give, and we're putting it in our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide. Rather than grabbing an iTunes gift card, or worse, a random CD from the bargain bin, we recommend hitting your loves ones up with Rdio gift subscriptions. Why? It allows the user unlimited access to the entire Rdio music streaming catalog. That means on-demand access to millions of tracks from the web, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, and even your Sonos system. Rdio costs $9.99 per month for full access. We love it--check out Gear Live on Rdio!

We are giving away three 3-month subscriptions to Rdio to our readers as well! To enter, all you need to do is:

• Follow Gear Live on Twitter
• Tweet the following message: "Hey @GearLive - hook me up with that free @Rdio subscription! http://gear.lv/SEjTdi" (Click here to tweet this now!)

Good luck to all entrants, and be sure to look through the rest of our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide for more giveaways!

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2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Bracketron NanoTek Stand

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, Features, Techies, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,

Our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide needs more accessories, and we found a cool one for smartphones owners in the Bracketron NanoTek Stand. It securely grips your phone and desk without messy or sticky adhesives, and is forged out of durable, aircraft grade aluminum composite with an elegant matte finish. It'll hang onto your device in both portrait and landscape orientations, and the integrated cable management system keeps your cable handy for easy charging. They're available in both silver and black.

You can pick up the NanoTek Stand for $19.99 on Amazon.

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