7 AI-powered gadgets that make perfect holiday gifts
Buckle up, grandma and welcome to 2024
Are you feeling stressed yet? Completely run out of gift ideas, and wool socks just won't do it anymore? Well fear not, we've got you covered.
While 2025 is likely going to be the true year of AI hardware, plenty of companies put artificial intelligence into gadgets, tools and products in 2024.
I've pulled together a list of AI-powered gift suggestions which is designed to get you out of trouble with almost any recipient.
This ultra-slim text recorder, transcriber and translator, is a surprisingly powerful little gizmo. It comes with a neat magnetic mount for your smartphone, and uses the power of ChatGPT to process your conversations on the go.
The marketing for this little device says it's powered by OpenAI GPT-o1 & GPT-4o, which basically makes it state-of-the-art and capable of advanced reasoning.
The result is a 0.2-inch, 40-gram marvel, which features 64GB of internal memory, good enough to store up to 500 hours of recordings with 30 hours use per charge.
Transcription quality is 98%. Perfect for students and meeting mad adults.
Spare a thought for the poor GenZ in your life, caught between the joys of home cooked food and the urge to fly the coop. Now with this AI powered recipe coach they can have it both ways.
This kitchen appliance contains more than 500 guided recipes, with 16 cooking modes and an eight-inch screen.
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Users merely have to follow the simplified meal prep instructions and ensure they add ingredients when required. The integrated ChefGPT recipe generator uses AI to provide yummy recipes on demand.
These smart glasses are the ultimate in geek chic. Audio, video and Meta AI all combine together to provide a personalized on-the-go AI assistant. The integrated 12 megapixel HD camera includes a 5 mic system, and the whole package sports four hours battery life.
You'll need to pair it with your phone of course, especially if you want to make the most out of the multimodal functionality.
It's hard to identify the most important feature of this product. Is it being the hippest nerd on the strip, or the fact that you can listen to Spotify through your sunglasses?
AI-powered hand warmers, now there's a sentence you probably never thought you'd read. But here we are, with a two-pack of 6000mAh electric hand warmer units. These gizmos offer 20 hours of heat per charge, which is long enough for any excursion.
In case you're wondering, the AI is designed to make sure your hands stay at exactly the right temperature no matter what's going on in your immediate environment.
They feature an integrated AI temperature control chip which others three levels of precise heat release control. This continuously analyzes the temperature between hand and warmer, adapting it in real-time up to 130F.
These Timekettle W4 AI interpreter earbuds provide instantaneous, bi-directional translation while the conversation is underway. The product copes with 40 languages and 93 accents, so you should never be caught out with the wrong dialect in the wrong district.
The dual channel simultaneous interpretation lets both parties speak in a natural way, none of that tippy tap on the phone and showing the screen to the other party. Perfect for those romantic evenings on the Amalfi coast.
The AI even lets you segment the conversation afterwards, so you can rerun your bloopers over and over again in a masochistic orgy of self doubt.
There are some things for which AI was clearly destined to be a key player. No we're not talking about finding new antibiotics, it's obviously to integrate with a bird-watching camera and identify species on the fly (ahem).
This smart bird feeder comes with a one-year complementary AI bird recognition system, which can tag over 10,000 bird species.
Of course you'll need to reside in a place where there are more than two sparrows and a pigeon lurking around, but if so, this could be a great way to acquaint yourself with the ornithologist's universe.
This is one gift that's absolutely going to be delivered late, since the product is only shipping in Q1 of next year. However if you're looking for a present for your forgetful aunt or disorganized cousin, then this little AI powered pendant could be a perfect option.
This little doohickey listens to everything that's going on in your day-to-day interactions. Every moment recorded and structured according to the AI's instructions. It comes with 100 hours of battery life and connects with your smartphone or computer via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Nigel Powell is an author, columnist, and consultant with over 30 years of experience in the technology industry. He produced the weekly Don't Panic technology column in the Sunday Times newspaper for 16 years and is the author of the Sunday Times book of Computer Answers, published by Harper Collins. He has been a technology pundit on Sky Television's Global Village program and a regular contributor to BBC Radio Five's Men's Hour.
He has an Honours degree in law (LLB) and a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA), and his work has made him an expert in all things software, AI, security, privacy, mobile, and other tech innovations. Nigel currently lives in West London and enjoys spending time meditating and listening to music.