The 8 gifts I'd give to my cool techie friends this holiday season

Sometimes the coolest thing you can do is stop scrolling on your phone. Using the Brick made that actually possible for me. The tech behind the Brick is simple and rudimentary: behind the gray cube lies an NFC chip that you tap your phone to, and it blocks you from accessing your list of restricted apps. 

You can set schedules to restrict certain apps, say, during the workday or late at night. I prefer voluntarily tapping my phone to the Brick when I am ready to block out distractions. This allows me to be intentional with my phone usage and gain some of the control I’ve lost to my screens back. Bricking my phone before bed to cut out distractions like Messages, Instagram, and TikTok is proving to be most useful, since my Brick is in the kitchen, a fair walk away from my bedroom. It also helps me start my day off scroll-free, until I’ve decided to Unbrick my phone and catch up on missed messages and news. 

Also: I bricked my phone to prevent doomscrolling – and accidentally fixed my life

Not only is this a great gift for young adults, but I know a fair share of older parents who could use this as well. It’s a useful gift for anybody looking to decrease their screentime this year and next. 

We can guarantee that you haven’t seen a headphone like this before, and that’s the magic of Nothing. Nothing’s Headphone 1 has a head-turning design, reliable noise-canceling and transparency modes, great sound, and a distinguished sound. 

“The design will undoubtedly turn heads and start conversations, but it’s the audio performance that will make everyone stop and listen,” ZDNET’s Kerry Wan writes in his review. 

Also: I put my AirPods away within hours of testing these headphones

Whether you’ve left the Christmas tree lights running a few hours too long or fell asleep with your bedside lamp on because you were too tired to turn it off, I have a sneaky and cheap solution to gift or give. 

Also: Why this smart plug beats every other one I’ve tested

These smart plugs automate the home routines you’ve grown accustomed to doing yourself by turning every appliance into a smart one. They’re especially helpful for turning on and off lights, whether that’s a Christmas tree or kitchen display, but they can also kickstart tasks like making a morning pot of coffee or charging a rechargeable tooth brush every two weeks when the battery dies. 

I’m always looking for ways to declutter my small desk and make it as useful as possible. Additionally, I’m constantly managing a barrage of chargers, laptop ports, and more. I’ve got my eyes on this cord organizer, and would love to receive and gift this as a stocking stuffer this Christmas. 

One Amazon customer wrote in their review that this cord organizer was a godsend for neat freaks looking to keep their desk tidy. “The convenience of being able to run cables up the back of a desk and be out of the way until you need them (I use them a lot with charging cables for example) is extraordinary. THESE cable clips, though, are the ones to buy. There are a good amount of them on Amazon, but these are the perfect size for ordinary cables,” the Amazon reviewer writes. 

The Remarkable Paper Pro Move feels exactly like the type of product you’d probably never buy for yourself but would be happy to receive as a gift. It’s a digital notebook that is slim and thin enough to bring anywhere. It’s got thoughtful software integrations and an enjoyable design that wowed ZDNET product reviewers. It’s an absolute pleasure to write on, thanks to the textured glass surface that turns the digital writing process into something surprising and satisfying. 

Also: My favorite e-ink tablet has a worthy successor with upgrades in creative ways

“The smaller form factor is especially practical for jotting down notes, numbers, or quick sketches, simulating a handheld notepad instead of a full-size sheet of paper,” ZDNET’s Kyle Kucharski writes. We loved the Paper Pro Move so much, we gave it a ZDNET Editor’s Choice award. 

I’ve had this speaker for a few months now, but I still love looking at it because of its eye-catching appearance. At $50, the Ikea Nattbad speaker isn’t the best speaker for audio delivery. It won’t deliver the full range of sound that a Sony or Bose speaker can. But it’s got a unique design with poppy colors, as well as software integrations that have quickly made it my go-to bedroom speaker. Connecting to the wired speaker in settings instantly initiates opening Spotify, a small but effective software decision that simply makes sense. It’s an affordable but cool gift that would jazz up anyone’s living room or bedroom. 

Give these sleep earplugs to your friend living in that noisy apartment or sleeping next to a snoring partner — and thank me later. When I was living in a cacophonous bedroom that overlooked a busy Brooklyn road, I’d put these in almost every night and they did the trick. 

Also: I compared these $50 sleep ear plugs to my $300 sleep earbuds

You could also give them sleep earbuds, a far more expensive choice they may or may not be fully sold on. 

Think of the ScanWatch 2 as a smartwatch that doesn’t want to seem like a smartwatch. It tracks 40 exercises without initiation and has one of the longest battery lives on a smartwatch we’ve seen. It looks like an analog watch but has all the features you’d want on an Apple Watch or Google Pixel Watch.

Also: My favorite hybrid smartwatch has a 30-day battery life

The ScanWatch 2 surreptitiously tracks your health with a form factor that doesn’t demand attention — it simply blends into its stylish surroundings.