holiday gift ideas

If you're a social media geek like me, you'll understand why I cracked a smile the second I saw the #WhatIWishIGot / #WhatIGot wrapping paper . The outside represents "hope" (or greed, depending on the recipient) in which you can imagine…

Everyone knows by this point that the LeapFrog LeapPad has become the must-have tech gift for the holidays this year. We love it so much that we included it as one of our 10 hottest holiday tech gifts in 2011. It's a great toy--but the t…

I remember discovering those little packs of disposable chemical hand warmer packets on a ski slope years ago and thinking aweeeeesome. I also remember wondering just what that stuff was, and what it was doing to the planet. Leave it to …

Starting tomorrow, December 11, Target is trying to make it pretty hard for you to buy your gaming and tech gifts anywhere else. So we went through the press release and the circular pretty thoroughly and while some of the "low prices," …

It's here, it's here! Our spectacular, technofabulous 2011 Tech Holiday Gift Guide ! For our second year, we've scoured the web for the best tech gifts ever -- almost 100 this year -- at every price point for everyone on your list. [Don'…

Q: My kids ages 8, 9, and 10 are getting iPods from their grandmom for Christmas. Can you recommend an alarm clock/charging dock that's good for their age and not too expensive? -reader by Twitter What a generous grandma! Your kids will …

For those of you with computer geeks, programmers, or binary groupies on your holiday list (What? There have to be a few out there.) have we got the calendar for you. This Hexadecimal 2012 calendar was designed using HEX decimals from th…

Ask my son to write up his Christmas list, and he'll hand you the LEGO catalog with about a hundred things circled. While I love watching him sit and build everything from the Space Shuttle to a mulitcolored house for all his LEGO mini f…

Holy Cabbage Patch 1983 redux, parents! When we named the Leapfrog LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet to our 10 hot holiday gifts of 2011 list , we knew it would be hot, but we had no idea how many parents would be emailing us in a panic, …

OnStar and I are getting married. Our courtship was brief--a weekend trial period--but know I know he's the one for me. If you're not familiar, OnStar is a mobile concierge connected to your rear view mirror that serves as your copilot w…

When I tried on the brand new Sol Republic Headphones at a holiday press preview recently, it was love at first listen. If you like the Beats by Dr. Dre style of headphone but could live without the headphones-or-car-payment price tag, y…

Just in case you didn't get your shopping done on Black Friday or you were waiting for bigger, better deals, Cyber Monday is upon us, which means lots of discounts on all sorts of techy goodness. Hooray for more shopping! Before you get …

Before Black Friday hits, I'm already busy tackling my holiday shopping. It's no surprise that tech is at the top of a lot of my family's lists. In other words, it's even more essential that I'm getting the best deal possible when I hit …

The Black Friday deals, promotion, and general insanity continue! This time, from a favorite on every mom's list, the Old Navy/Gap/Banana Republic/Athleta/Piperlime behemoth, thanks to a new integrated social media promotion called Shop …

The holiday list-making has hit full-force in this house. Yesterday my nine year-old handed me a list not only for the upcoming holidays but a second prioritized list for her birthday. My 7 year-old, who I insanely showed the copy button…

Every time I see the ad with the crazy Target lady in the red jumpsuit, I marvel at her energy (yes, I know she's not real) and realize that I would never have the energy after a tryptophan-induced haze to go shopping at the crack of daw…

Last week, we were so thrilled to team up with the editors of CNET to host a pre-holiday meetup at the CNET Gotham Pop-Up Store. We let some top bloggers and members of the media in on a sneak preview of ten of our favorite holiday tech …

I happen to know a few people--not naming any names here--who could easily play Xbox 360 well into the wee hours of the night. For them, I found this super cool controller that would make an amazing holiday gift. With apologies to their …

I am a proud new owner of an iPhone 4S . And yet, contrary to what you might think about someone who runs a tech review blog, I am not generally one of those crazy early adopters who need to run out and buy the very first generation ever…

I'm a little obsessed with the Instagram app , which means I have lots of cool photos and not much to do with them. At least until I discovered this new gift from Keepsy, that will be making many of my family members very happy this holi…

Here's the next fun installment as part of our Best Buy Wish List video series featuring our co-founder Kristen. This time she's getting a few last minute shopping tips from a friendly Blue Shirt who's got the inside scoop on things like…

Best Buy Wish List is a sponsored series in which we feature the things we're coveting at Best Buy--and then give away gift cards so you can buy them yourself. Whee! Of course one of the big holiday gifts these days is a smart phone, esp…

Best Buy Wish List is a sponsored series in which we feature the things we're coveting at Best Buy--and then give away gift cards so you can buy them yourself. Whee! If you're like us, then you've got a tablet or e-readers high on your h…

We're having such a great time working with Best Buy here on Cool Mom Tech over the last week. (You have been entering our gift card giveaways , right?) In fact, a few days ago, our co-founder Kristen headed out to her local Best Buy to …