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High Tech Stocking Stuffers | Into Tomorrow

On this week's "Product Spotlight", we round out our list of high-tech stocking stuffers with a few off the wall but fun and useful products that might be worth checking out for those on your holiday shopping list.

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Mobile-Tech Key Cable
Mobile-Tech Key Cable

Few things are feared more than being somewhere with a dead phone. And how many times have you been out with that dead phone and someone has a charging cable, but it’s for a different phone? Wouldn’t life be easier if you could just keep a charging cable with you all the time? We’ve talked about a few small charging cables that you can keep on your key chain over the years. Lately, we’ve been using the Mobile-Tech Key Cable from Swiss Tech. This handy device will allow you to always have a charging cable with you – attached to your key chain. This one serves a dual purpose, as it has a small LED flashlight built-in. On one side of the device you’ve got your standard USB connector. On the other side, you can get either a micro USB or a lightning connector. Plug it into a USB port, and charge away. The Mobile-Tech Key Cable is available in red or black and runs about 25 bucks for the Micro USB and 35 for the lightning connector.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Sol-Mate Animal Chaser

Another product that many people may find useful, especially if you get a lot of stray animals in your yard, is the Sol-Mate Solar Animal Chaser from P3 International. The Sol-Mate is a wireless, solar powered device that’s meant to keep stray dogs, cats and other wildlife away from your yard. Mounted to a wall or fence, this device is powered by the sun. They say its battery will store enough power to run for seven days, so even if you get several overcast days, it should work.

Once the infrared motion detector picks up motion, the animal chaser emits high-pitch ultrasound frequencies that are inaudible to humans, but very irritating to dogs and cats. The strobe lights also work to chase animals away. The Sol-Mate sells for about 30 dollars and is a decent, humane way to keep unwanted animals away.

6_jetjatLastly this week, we’ve got a product that kids of all ages can have fun with. Drones are soaring in popularity, pun intended. But it’s not just the big drones. We’ve been checking out the Mota JetJat Nano. This tiny drone is less than a square inch in size. It takes some getting used to when you first start, especially if you’ve never flown a drone before. But once you get the hang of it, you can actually get this thing to do tricks, life flips. And I imagine you could have a lot of fun taunting your pets. Hey, this thing might be as good as the Sol-Mate for chasing animals away. And it might be more fun! The drone charges via a USB cable and when it’s not in use, you can store it right on the remote. The Mota JetJat Nano sells for about $40, making it a nice entry-level mini-drone.

Written by Chris Graveline

Chris has covered consumer technology for over 20 years. He is the host of This Week in Tech History as well as a regular co-host on "Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline" and our Technical Director.

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