All the best tech gifts from Techlicious Seattle

I was a guest at the Techlicious event with Consumer Technology Association in Seattle this month. We were shown some really awesome tech gifts, given some Aftershokz earphones and treated to an amazing lunch. As always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. I love knowing all I can about the newest technological advances. At one point I had all the new tech items. I had a Palm Pilot {with fold up keyboard, of course}, then a flip phone, and then a Blackberry, and then I was thrilled when I got a smartphone… but then somewhere along the way I just stopped buying myself all the newest tech. Maybe it was the fact that my Windows phone basically didn’t have apps and all of the newest tech items required an iPhone or Android, but instead of buying new tech items, I just wistfully checked them out in-store.

Sure, I had an old school fitbit, the smart thermostat, the security cameras, and more bluetooth speakers and headphones than a gal could ever need. But, in terms of things that required apps, I knew I couldn’t really utilize the newest tech, so it seemed silly to buy something I would need to ask my husband to turn on for me. Kinda defeats the purpose of “smart items”, right?

But, with my Windows phone dying a slow death and my laptop officially dead to the world, I am finally going to be getting that big tech upgrade I desperately need at some point in the holiday season. I cannot even tell you how excited I am to from no apps to an entire library of apps for virtually every possible need. You folks with Apple and Android have been spoiled, and I cannot wait to join you.

I’m going to create my own Jetsons home with my newfund tech abilities. We’re talking Alexa-enabled EVERYTHING, robotic whatchamacallits, and tech at every turn. I’m basically going to sit around and eat bon bons while my house takes care of itself from my phone and laptop.

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Let me tell you, it was *really* fun to dream when I attended the recent Techlicious Seattle event. Even though I don’t actually have my new camera or laptop yet, I know it’s coming, and I can already feel the excitement in the air. An event like Techlicious for someone like me who has been deprived of the newest tech is just about as exciting as it gets. I started out checking out the new Play impossible Game Ball when I first walked in the door, which would be such a hit in our house. My older kids aren’t naturally sportsy and if you give them a ball I guarantee they will make some sort of imaginative game up that has absolutely nothing to do with sports. But, they love science and technology. Give them a ball that can record how high they toss it, how fast they pass it, and any other number of factors and I can actually see them playing ball. The best part? The Gameball allows for long-lasting play by refueling in 20 seconds with the Rapid Charger for another complete hour of fun!

Next, I checked out the fitbit Ionic. As a fitbit owner for almost 7 years now, I’m clearly a big fan. But, I was envious that the newest Ionic fitbit does so much more than just track steps and sleep these days. As much as I would love to try out the Ionic, I know my husband would adore opening one this Christmas along with a cool band that would make it actually stylish instead of just practical. He’s had an older fitbit for years and is definitely due for an upgrade, especially one as cool as this. After I was done at the fitbit booth, I was glancing around the room and literally stopped in my tracks when I saw “my” computer, the HP Spectre x360. If you haven’t been following along, you probably don’t know that I’ve been saving for a computer for almost a year now. I need a high powered machine with all the photo and video editing I do, and that unfortunately means a really big price tag. Throughout the past year, I’ve hit some really annoying snags along the way while saving for my new laptop. Like the time I had almost half of my laptop savings I’d managed to squirrel away “expire” on me without notice, or the time I needed to spend big money to fix my beloved camera after it broke and had to raid my laptop savings. There have been many, many times that it feels like the universe is trying to tell me to just hold off and wait for the perfect computer.

Well, I finally feel like I’ve found what I’ve been waiting for in the newest HP computers with Intel. I was gifted a Bamboo pen for Windows Ink this fall and it would be simply perfect with the newest Envy or Spectre. So, now I wait for the perfect deal, and I hope it comes over the holiday season when I will have both birthday money and Christmas money to add to my fund. I know I need at least a 12GB, but I’ve been debating whether I needed to drop the extra money on an SSD that is so amazing with photo editing.

Playing with the HP Spectre on display at Techlicious was by far the highlight of my week, and I wish I could have connected my Bamboo pen to play with it as well. I’m so incredibly excited for the possibilities of Windows Ink and using the stylus in Photoshop. Seriously, I swoon just thinking about the fun I’m going to have. The very best thing about the HP Spectre on display is that it has this amazing 50% charge in 30 minutes feature that would be AMAZING.

After I tore myself away from “my” computer, I spent some time with the Lily Next-Gen Pro camera drone that I’ve been following for years but had never seen in person. We’re a family of adventurers and a good follow-me drone would be so fun to have for our epic excursions. Perhaps we should just share one Lily with the whole Seattle blogging community… if there was ever a group that could handle it, it’s this amazing crew. I also learned about a new robot vacuum from Deebot. The Deebot R95 isn’t just a robotic vacuum, it’s also a robotic mop. Yes, a vacuum MOP. I spend so many hours vacuuming and mopping each week, so the fact that it does it for you? Be still, my heart. If this isn’t Jetsons level, I don’t know what is. As a photographer who insists on a “real” camera with me at all times, even though the one thing Windows phone excel at is their amazing cameras, I loved the Canon Powershot G9 Mark II camera. When my beloved camera took a tumble this summer and I was left with enormous repair bills, I now see the brilliance of a small, compact camera with an optic zoom lens for our adventures. I love the retro look of the Canon G9, and I’ve been a big fan of Canon since I got my very first digital camera ever, a Canon Powershot circa 2000. The one on display at the event looked very similar to what I loved about that old Powershot {amazing graphics, great setting options, portability}, only with all the new technology.

We also got to check out some Aftershokz Trekz Titanium earphones at the event. I don’t use in-ear earphones, so I love that Aftershokz earphones somehow lets you hear the music through your your cheek bones, which is as crazy as it sounds. Since they rest on your cheek bones, they also let you hear outside noise over your music because they leave your ear canals open so you can stay safe walking, running, and playing sports outside with earphones. Bluetooth® connectivity gives you the ability to be free of wires and make and receive calls.

Then I spied the Samsung Gear VR with controller powered by Oculus. Expanding Samsung’s virtual reality ecosystem while making it easier than ever for consumers to immerse themselves in market-leading VR experiences, the Samsung Gear VR is going to be on many holiday lists this year. With the power of Samsung’s smartphones and the quality of the Super AMOLED displays, the Samsung Gear VR with Controller gives consumers the ability to play amazing games, socialize with friends, solve mysteries in a suspense thriller, and watch the best movies in their own private cinema. Also on display at the event was a Lenovo tablet. The Lenovo Tab 4 series is a versatile introduction of the Lenovo Home Assistant Pack. The Home Assistant Pack works with Amazon Alexa and makes any tablet in the Lenovo Tab 4 series a voice-activated smart assistant with a screen. Visual information can be shared on screen to go along with responses from the smart assistant. And with the optional Kid’s Pack and Productivity Pack, the Lenovo Tab 4 now lets you do a lot more, as it transforms into a smart assistant, a 2-in-1, and a kid’s tablet.

After we had a chance to drool on all the new tech, we headed downstairs where lunch was catered by Tom Douglas’ Lola. I’m a huge Tom Douglas fan and have met him numerous times, so at this point we’re basically best buds. It was fun having lunch catered by such a good friend, and as usual Tommy did not disappoint. It would be hard to pick a favorite dish, but if I had to, I’d chose all of them. Even the all-veggies ones were so good. We will definitely be visiting one of his many restaurants this fall and winter.

I was glad to see some lovely blogging friends at the event, too. I love our Seattle bloggers and I adore how we all look out for each other and help grow our community. It really speaks volumes for what Seattle stands for when we bloggers hang out over the course of the year for friendsgivings and birthdays and just for no reason at all. And when you know that I’ve been surviving on borrowed laptops from blogging besties to get by over the past year that I’ve been without, that’s when you know what a tight group this is. Are you looking for any tech for gifts for the holidays? Are any of these items on your list?