Supply chain disruptions can make purchasing equipment difficult, but the most thoughtful gifts are never tangible.
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My favorite holiday tech gift does not require batteries or software updates. It is not even a small tool, even though it is made with technology.
Can you guess what this is?
A few years ago, my wife tried to make digital illustrations with her iPad and digital stylus. Using the drawing app Procreate, she loaded a photo of our beloved Corgi Max as a retrospective reference, and then retouched the image with a polka-dot bow tie and a cartoon-like long tongue. I like it very much, so I chose a background color that complements our home and uploaded the illustration to the app Keepsake, which is a printing service that assembles your image in a beautiful frame, and then It is delivered to your door.
A huge, framed portrait of Max is now the centerpiece of our living room, dazzling with its two-dimensional brilliance. It makes me smile, and it is always a topic when we have guests. The other technological gifts I have received over the years, such as video games and smart speakers, can only bring short-term happiness.
This type of gift-giving event—technology-related gifts that do not involve hardware or indiscreet Best Buy gift cards—may be particularly popular this year. This is because we live in an era of scarcity caused by the pandemic. Global chip shortages and supply chain disruptions have made it difficult to purchase traditional gifts. (Anyone who tried to buy a game console last year understands this pain.)
Therefore, here is a list of technology gift ideas that we can give without actually buying technology, from gifts you can create to experiences that you will never forget.
Last week, I told a friend that I prepared a special gift for her: I will solve her iPhone problem.
She once complained to me that she had used the iPhone SE for 5 years. The device can no longer take pictures or install software updates because almost all of the device's data storage has been used up.
So, before she went to the Thanksgiving holiday, I met her at lunch and guided her through the process of backing up photos to an external drive before erasing all the images from the device. Then I plugged her phone into the computer and backed up all her data before installing the new operating system.
She is very happy to solve this problem before traveling. She can now take a lot of photos during the holidays. In addition, a new Apple software update provides a tool to add a digital vaccine card to the iPhone’s wallet app, which reduces the pressure on holiday travel during the pandemic.
For those who are tech-savvy, this can serve as a template. Listen to the complaints of your loved ones about their technology and provide gifts to solve the problem. If the Wi-Fi connection is slow, see if you can diagnose the problem to improve the speed. If it is a short-lived mobile phone battery, please consider taking them to a repair shop to replace the battery at a small fee.
In some ways, this is better than providing brand new gadgets, because it saves them from the hassle of learning how to use new technologies.
In addition to the digital illustration example of my dog, there are many other ways we can use technology to create for friends and family.
First of all, I really like photo albums that can be easily created using web tools. A few years ago, a secret Santa gift from a colleague was a calendar she made using the Google Photos service. She created it by extracting photos from my dog's Instagram account and editing them into a calendar—each month there is a different picture of Max posing next to the main dish cooked by my wife and me. I am very happy.
Generally speaking, photo printing services provide a good way to turn digital photos into physical souvenirs in the form of old-fashioned, large prints, and even cups and Christmas decorations. (Wirecutter is our sister publication to review products, tested two dozen photo printing services and highlighted its favorites.)
Before the pandemic disrupted our lives, my wife bought a digital SLR camera, which is a digital camera used by professionals to learn more about digital photography. Then the blockade happened, the vacation became a lodging, and the camera was finally put in a drawer.
The holiday gift plan I prepared for my wife was to take a two-hour digital photography class in a photo studio in San Francisco, allowing students to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge while teaching the basics of photography. (I hope she has not read this column.)
What do your friends and family want to learn? We offer many options for potential gift courses, as the pandemic has prompted many teachers to provide virtual teaching online, including cooking classes and exercise programs. The gift of knowledge goes a long way, and it is sometimes given back, for example when the recipient of an online cooking course uses the newly discovered knowledge to make dinner for you.
The pandemic may expose us to more screen time than we thought, so a great gift this year may also be anything that diverts our attention from technology.
This could be renting a cabin, show tickets, winter excursions, and picnics in areas without cell phone service—anything that can give us a respite from the inevitable return to the screen.