The CommerceLab Gift Guide 2013
by The CommerceLab — Dec 17 '13
There is no better gift than a good gadget. Better still when the latest consumer technology transcends novelty by bringing ground-breaking research to life. We’re talking about game-changers, plain and simple. Those are the devices we dream about. And those are the products that populate this list—the 10 best pieces of tech released in 2013, and, not coincidentally, the 10 things we want for Christmas this year.
Neptune Pine Smartwatch
Neptune Pine Smartwatch
This watch was one of the first Canadian tech projects to go up on Kickstarter—where it quickly reached 500 per cent of its fundraising target. It was developed by Simon Tian, a 19-year-old entrepreneur from Montreal who decided the market was ripe for a smartwatch that doesn’t just do a couple of things (this is no fitness tracker) but is fully functional as a wireless device—it’s like a smartphone for your wrist, one that’s 3G capable, and works with a wide variety of apps and programs.
Neptune Pine Smartwatch
Leap Motion Controller
Leap Motion Controller
Ever wanted to control your computer with gestures? That’s the idea behind Leap motion controller, which plugs in via USB and lets users play games, music and do other things just by moving their hands. Right now it only works with certain apps (140 of them, to be precise), but it’s a great example of where this technology is heading in the future—and something we really want to play with now.
Leap Motion Controller
Nest Protect
Nest Protect
Two years ago, a few guys from Apple defected to start their own shop—making thermostats. The resulting gadget completely changed the game not just by integrating an app, but by learning your patterns in real time, adjusting the temperature in your home to correspond to your life. This year, the Nest team introduced Protect, a device that takes the same user experience and lends it to smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
Nest Protect
GLIF smartphone tripod
GLIF smartphone tripod
This is one of the only products on the list without a screen or an app built-in. The GLIF is one of the best phone stands we’ve seen, a simple piece of plastic that radically changes how you interact with your smartphone when it’s sitting on a table—propped up, it’s finger swiping made easy. Oh, and the GLIF is also a tripod mount, which is great for taking videos or time-lapse pictures.
GLIF smartphone tripod
Fitbit Force
Fitbit Force
Fitness trackers were huge in 2013, and the Fitbit Force is the best of the bunch. The concept is a godsend to anyone who spends an inordinate amount of time sitting down: a wristband that helps you develop and achieve fitness goals by tracking your every movement and motivating you with your statistics in real-time.
Fitbit Force
Jawbone Up
Jawbone Up
Like the Fitbit Force, the Jawbone UP is a piece of wearable technology that tracks your movements and your state of general health. But unlike straight-up fitness-focused wristband, the UP is a holistic lifestyle band that tracks absolutely everything about you: your movements, your sleep patterns, your eating schedule, your moods. And it connects to a smartphone app that feeds you updates and helps give you more control of your life.
Jawbone Up
Revolv home automation system
Revolv home automation system
We’re big proponents of the Internet of Things, but we’re also wary of having to control every part of a connected house through its own separate app. That’s why we like Revolv, which fully automates your house—doors, lights, thermostat, music—with a single, incredibly user-friendly app.
Revolv home automation system
Xbox One
Xbox One
Every year around this time there’s a new video game system on the market, but the Xbox One genuinely takes the industry to the next level. The graphics are amazing, for one. But it’s also hyper-interactive. It’s not just motion sensors, which are almost old hat by now. There are audio sensors, too—swear while you’re playing a basketball game and you’ll be called for a technical foul. It’s a bit creepy. It’s also a mind-blowing experience.
Xbox One
Anki Drive
Anki Drive
This claims to be the first physical video game, which makes for a fully immersive digital experience. It starts simply enough: like those old-school racing games you used to get at Christmas, it’s just a couple of cars going around a track. But they’re controlled by an app on your smartphone or tablet. And the cars themselves learn—they know how much they’ve won and lost, how fast you like to drive, how you take corners—so they can play against you all on their own.
Anki Drive
FiftyThree Pencil
FiftyThree Pencil
This is more about old-school, physical interactivity than digital—and that’s exactly why we like it. Pencil is a new stylus from FiftyThree, the company behind the popular Paper tablet app. The technology is meant to make stylus use as simple and intuitive as possible. The result is something that feels natural, kind of like using a pencil. You can do all the usual stylus tricks, but you can also erase things by flipping it over and blend colours with your fingers. It’s just a great example of good design.
FiftyThree Pencil
