Cool Tech Gifts for Christmas

Circuit Board

With Thanksgiving behind us, it’s time to start looking for gifts for the important people in our lives. If one of those people happens to be a techie, what can you get them? Particularly if they’re a teen? Here are some ideas of cool tech toys for the people on your list.

Electronics

There are some really great products out there for learning more about electronics. One of my favorites is littleBits. Each piece contains a separate electronic component – such as a speaker, button, or power cell – than can be connected magnetically to create circuits. With a variety of sets available, you can create all kinds of projects.

Another cool electronic toy is Snap Circuits. Snap Circuits are more like a traditional electronics learning set, but instead of using wires connected to metal springs, the pieces are snapped on a board with metal buttons. These buttons connect pieces together to create the electrical circuitry.

Both of these sets are appropriate for children as young as elementary school and are great for learning the basics of electrical engineering with countless online and print books available for project ideas.

Microcontrollers

For the techie with a bit more experience in electronics, a microcontroller may be the perfect gift. Today, there are countless microcontrollers available. However my two favorites are the Arduino and the micro:bit.

The micro:bit was developed by the BBC to teach children more about electronics and programming. It’s a small device, but it packs a lot of cool features including a grid of LEDs, an accelerometer, buttons, and built-in bluetooth support. They’re very easy to program and fairly inexpensive. NOTE: buy two, you’ll need them to play with the bluetooth functionality!

For more mature electronics enthusiasts, the Arduino is amazing. In fact, it is well beyond a toy for learning and has transcended into the hands of professionals creating prototypes and products. Countless kits exist on sites such as Amazon that include wires, motors, LEDs, buttons, resistors, and countless other components to build just about anything. In addition, since Arduino is truly the industry leader, it’s easy to find books and online resources for help as well as inspiration.

Microcomputers

With more power than microcontrollers and more versatility as well, microcomputers offer unlimited opportunities to create and explore. The industry leader in this real has long been the Raspberry Pi. About the size of a credit card and costing substantially less than a typical computer, the Raspberry Pi is an excellent platform for learning and exploration. You can interface the Pi with custom hardware, learn to program with Scratch, create a custom video game console, or explore countless other options. And, much like the Arduino, online retailers have numerous kits with all kinds of parts to aid in learning and fun.

A newcomer to the microcomputer realm, the NVIDIA Jetson Nano offers programmers and techies a new real to explore – artificial intelligence! This small box (about the size of a Raspberry Pi) features an NVIDIA graphics processor specifically configured to perform the intense number crunching associated with AI processing. This is an excellent gift idea for those who already have some background in programming and electronics and want to take their ideas to the next level!

Conclusion

This is a great time to be a techie. With countless low-cost gadgets available to encourage exploration and experimentation, the barrier to learning technology has never been lower! Take time to explore the products out there and buy something that may encourage someone in your life to join the tech revolution!

Simple Tips to Avoid Scammers

Gangster

It seems that every day criminals find new ways to separate victims from their money. However, most of these tricks can be avoid with three simple rules.

Assume all email is junk mail until proven otherwise

Email is the easiest way to scam people. It takes little effort to send out thousands of messages, and scammers win if even a small percentage of people act on their messages.

Don’t click on links. If you believe the email to be from a reputable source, go directly to their website instead of using the email link

Don’t open attachments. This is particularly true for unsolicited Microsoft Office documents such as Word and Excel, but equally important for any other attachment. If you believe the attachment to be valid, contact the sender by phone and confirm they sent it.

Contact the sender directly. If you get a message claiming to be from someone important in your organization and asking you to do something that seems odd, contact the person and verify authenticity.

Assume all phone calls are spam

Suspect local numbers. If a caller claims to be from your credit card company or the IRS, but their phone number is from your area, it’s a scam.

Ignore callers from India. Does the speaker have an Indian accent? It’s a scam. The overwhelming majority of spam calls originate from call centers in India.

Caller can’t provide you with information. Does the caller know your name, address, account number, or other information? If not, are they really your bank? I doubt it.

Avoid entering data in unencrypted sites

Check for the secure icon in your browser. If the web site you’re visiting isn’t encrypted, be skeptical. Particularly if they’re asking you to enter personal information. Never, under any circumstances, enter your credit card information in a non-secure site.

Conclusion

The simple answer for security in the modern age can be summed up “trust no one”. Assume everyone is out to scam you, and you’re probably not far from the truth. If you want to conduct business with an entity, go to their web page directly or contact them on the phone. Always assume the incoming solicitations you receive are from people trying to cheat you and you will likely avoid most scammers.