Wish List 2018: WIRED's Gift Guide for the Holidays

Right now you're probably stressed

at least a little bit and that's because

it's that time again when there is a tremendous amount

of pressure on you to buy just the right thing

for a whole bunch of different friends and family members.

It's a good problem to have, but it's a stressful one.

Fortunately it's also that time when Wired puts out

its annual wishlist.

We've got all the goods on that list

and I happen to have some of them with me today here

in studio to give you gift ideas.

So if you're looking for something big or small

or luxurious or relatively inexpensive,

we've got you covered.

Let's take a look.

Let's start with the small stuff.

First, Tile.

If you know somebody who loses things a lot,

this $35 little dongle will give them

incredible peace of mind.

You can attach it to anything you lose a lot.

Basically your keys, your wallet, your dog, your mind.

Whatever and then you can track

where the object is in the app.

You could also hit the find button in the app

and this will chirp to let you know where the object is.

So this year's wishlist, we specifically mentioned Tile Pro

which is an updated version of Tile.

It has an extended range of up to 300 feet

and because it runs on a coin cell battery,

it should last for about a year.

Also in the category of small

but infinitely useful is the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch comes with one big caveat.

The person who you buy it for

has to have an iPhone.

It's also expensive.

This is the Apple Watch series four,

which starts at 399.

But what better way to worm your way

into somebody's heart than to tell them

they have an irregular heartbeat, am I right?

Now maybe you're not sure if the person you're buying for

even wants an Apple Watch and that's a valid concern.

But most people with smartphones do need headphones

at some point and our advice if you're buying

for the audiophile in your life is

to skip the AirPods and go with these instead.

These are wireless earbuds from Master & Dynamic

and they're fancy looking and fabulous sounding.

Now at $299, they are a little bit more expensive

than what you would pay for wireless earbuds from

pretty much everybody else: Apple, Sony, Jaybird,

but these look a lot better.

If you're looking for something less expensive,

but something that still fits in the stocking,

you might want to consider this.

This is a Penato Knife.

It's $12 and it comes from a factory near

Kyoto, Japan that is known for making chisels,

knives that are used in school wood shops.

Now you're not gonna do any serious carving

with this thing, but you might use it to,

I don't know, open envelopes or Amazon boxes

or a couple of cinnamon.

Just don't try take it on a plane and maybe

don't give it to someone right when things

are heating up at the dinner table on the holidays

because politics.

Maybe you're looking for something a little more creative.

My favorite creative gift on this year's wishlist

was made for Instagram except it doesn't even

share to Instagram which is great.

It's the teal Lomography Sprocket Rocket.

This is a $69 funky looking camera

that takes panoramic photos across multiple frames

of 35 millimeter film and the end result has sprocket holes.

It's pretty cool.

If you have small children and you are self-punishing enough

to want to welcome more noise into your home

then you're gonna wanna check this thing out.

This is the Blipblox.

It costs $189.

[upbeat music]

It's really fun and it's designed

for kids ages three and up, but honestly,

you're probably gonna end up playing with it

yourself after your kids go to bed.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

If you're really looking to impress someone,

I would get them this Eames Radio.

There are fewer of these 1,000 of these made

which mean that the number on the price tag

for this thing is higher than the number of units available.

I'm gonna let you do the math on that,

but this is a revived version of the 1946 tabletop radio

that Eames made and to catch up with modern times,

it now works with Bluetooth.

But maybe you're feeling over

the usual gadgetry and who can blame you?

There's a lot of junk out there.

If you wanna buy something you can actually

feel good about, well this year on Wired's wishlist,

we have more than a few eco-friendly products

so I'm going to take you through some of them now

and we're gonna start with the Rothy's.

You might know Rothy's for their flats.

This year, they started making these slip-on sneakers.

The company uses a pricier yarn that's made

from the plastic from recycled water bottles.

These are machine-washable.

They are extremely comfortable and they cost $125,

which is not cheap, but hey it's a small price to pay

for the comfort of your feet.

If the person you're buying for happens to be

a surfer, then you're gonna want to check this out.

One of the things you might know about surfers

is that they tend to care a lot about the ocean,

but a lot of the materials that go into surfing equipment

generally aren't that eco-friendly,

which is why we love the Firewire Ecoboard.

It costs $765.

The makers of this tooth and fish have taken steps

to manufacture the board in a way

that is ecologically responsible.

They're using a plant-based resin

which is better than the synthetic stuff

which is full of nasty chemicals

and the factories that the components come from

have been audited to ensure that they're not

dumping toxins into the atmosphere or the waterways.

Let's say you don't wanna buy somebody shoes

and you definitely don't know

anybody who needs the surfboard.

I bet you know somebody who's cracked their phone

and if they haven't, they're probably going to

because phones are slippery little suckers, right?

That's where the iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit comes in.

For $60, you can get somebody all the tools they need

to fix their own gadget which means

they don't have to run out and buy new stuff all the time.

They can just fix their own phone.

I mean glass not included, and you might void your warranty,

but you know what, sometimes DIY is just a better way to go.

Okay but about that stress thing I mentioned earlier,

it's a real thing so why not give somebody

the ability to just kick back, have a strong drink

and scroll mindlessly on their phone

for hours and hours without worrying that

the battery is going to die?

That's why on our wishlist this year

we have things like the $60 Nimble Charger

which charges your phone and we also have this

$60 Norlan Rauk tumbler.

I know it's $50 for a single glass.

I asked about it too,

but this is like really really nice glass.

It's like you can see the future through this thing

and finally on our wishlist we also have

this $24 bottle of Wonderment Schnapps liqueur.

Yes, we put Schnapps on our wishlist.

I think this gives me unique insight

into my editor's mind and for journalism

with a capital J, I suppose I should try it.

Honestly it smells like mouthwash.

I don't have high expectations so yeah.

Like I said, this is it.

This is the holidays.

When things stress you out,

just kick back, scroll on your phone,

have a drink and try to be merry as possible.

For more gift ideas, you can go to Wired's wishlist online.

Go to Wired.com.

I'm Lauren Goode for Wired.

Thank you for watching and happy holidays.