Most moms I know deserve a medal. But this Mother’s Day, anything totally awesome will do just fine. A homemade card. You cleaning the bathroom. A gorgeous gadget that will keep her connected with you. Here’s a veritable bouquet of the best fresh tech gifts for all kinds of moms.
START EVERY DAY WITH GORGEOUS FLOWERS
Here’s a way to let your mom wake up to fresh flowers every day of the year. The limited edition Soundfreaq Sound Rise Flower Freaq ($80) is a super modern wireless speaker, high-tech alarm clock and USB charging station bathed in a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers. Super Mom of seven — Cortney Novogratz — designed this with her business partner husband, Robert, specifically for Mother’s Day. The whole package says fun, hip, artsy and super cool. Anything that can help her manage her brood with such style, gets a huge thumbs-up from me!
FOR THE CHIEF MEMORY OFFICER MOM
Moms are often the “Chief Memory Officers” of the family. These days that means a little less scrapbooking and a little more iPhone Camera Roll organization. You can gift Mom peace of mind with this modern 1TB Vivint Space Monkey Drive ($150 for the drive plus $50 subscription). It automatically backs up photos the second she takes them on the hard drive and to the cloud. When she needs to make more space on her phone, two taps makes sure they’re safely stored, then deletes them off her phone. She can back up more than 300,000 photos and access them right from the Space Money App any time she wants to take a trip down Memory Lane.
While Space Monkey works its magic at home, the teeny-tiny 128GB Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive ($149) is small enough to slip into a purse or pocket and still hold all the photos, videos and documents near and dear to Mom’s heart. It plugs directly into an iPhone or iPad and can automatically back up an epic amount of information: 3 million documents, 50,000 photos, 18,000 videos or two years’ worth of music (played 24/7 for all 730 days). The real beauty of this device for busy moms: no more running out of space on her smartphone and missing the moment her child scores a goal. (Not that I would know about that personally or anything … cough … cough.)
Even with all these great gadgets to secure, store and save our most prized memories, there are days when we have to print out a photo right away. The new Polaroid Zip Instant Mobile Printer ($130) makes that a snap. The palm-sized printer uses Bluetoothto connect with your mobile device and prints out your favorite photos in less than a minute. It’s just like an old Polaroid, but it works with a smartphone! You don’t even have to wave the 2 x 3 print in the wind to get the picture to appear or worry about smudging it because it uses Zink zero-ink printing. There’s also peel-off backing on the prints, so you can turn them into stickers. I am in love with this gadget!
THE GADGET GRANDMAS GO GAGA OVER
Since I’m completely stuck on photos this year, let me add one more — the first Wi-Fi digital photo frame designed with complete non-techies in mind. (Hint: This is what I’m getting my own mom and mother-in-law!) With the Pigeon Frame ($119 ), you can send photos and videos straight to the digital display from an app on your smartphone. The magnetic frame displays the pictures from you, your kids or your siblings and has speakers to play video. Once it’s hooked up to Wi-Fi, you or your mom won’t have to be friends on Facebook to share photos anymore. My own daughter is very happy about that.
BLING IT ON
The Misfit Shine got a glam upgrade with the Misfit Swarovski Shine ($149, preorder). The activity tracker snaps right into the reversible crystal pendant or pairs with a bracelet. Nothing about it looks too fitness-y or techy, so it’s perfect for ladies who are not afraid of some glam. The Shine pairs with the Misfit app to log your sleep, food, weight and physical activity. Oh, and it’s solar powered, so she won’t have to worry about charging it. This is hands-down my No. 1 pick this year.
If Mom wants to track her notifications more than her fitness, Ringly ($195) is another great way to go. This statement bauble blinks and vibrates discreetly in unique ways for each different kind of notification. It looks like a stylish ring, but it’s actually a classy way for Mom to know what’s happening without staring at her phone.
HELP HER TAKE A LOAD OFF
A lot of moms tell me what they want most is a little help around the house this Mother’s Day. If you live in a major city such as San Francisco or Chicago, start-up Homejoy will help you book a certified cleaning pro in a few clicks, for as low as $25 per hour. Just tell them how many bedrooms and bathrooms, and someone can do it while you take Mom out to brunch. If Homejoy doesn’t service her city, check outAmazon Home Services. It recently teamed up with TaskRabbit and other professionals to offer everything from in-home deep cleaning to DIY furniture assembly and everything in between.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Posted in Digital Parenting, Girlfriend's Guide, Great Gadgets, TechNow
