Season’s greetings! As always, your friends at Sentinel would like to wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, filled with all sorts of fun and delights. Some of that may include gift giving or a gift exchange, which is also historically one of the more challenging things to figure out during this time of year. There are so many gift options out there, and so many people to buy for, each with their own individual preferences. Given that Sentinel specializes in IT solutions and services for all types of organizations, we’d like to take a moment to kick up our feet and share some interesting and worthwhile items for the technology lover in your life. The five items included as part of this year’s Holiday Gift Guide are not sold by Sentinel, nor have we been paid to promote them. They are simply a few tech-related products we believe that you or someone you know might enjoy.

Worky Home Office [$150]

Still working from home, but miss your office accessories? The folks at Worky have created a portable solution that allows you to have some of the comforts of the office no matter where you’re working from. Their portable workspace comes in a suitcase-like box that opens to reveal a whiteboard, LED light for video conferencing, stationary supply organizer, file and accessory organizer, a 4-port power strip, and a spot to place/store your laptop. It’s perfect for those who don’t have a proper desk at home, or need to get some work done on the road.

Lockly Vision Doorbell Camera Smart Lock [$400]

Doorbell cameras have become quite popular over the last few years, as they enable you to see who’s at your front door without ever having to actually open it. Smart locks have also gained some major attention for their ability to unlock doors using your smartphone or voice assistant. Naturally then, Lockly decided to combine these advanced tools into a single device. You can install their Vision Doorbell Camera Smart Lock onto the front door of your home or office, and take advantage of all the features it provides. When someone rings your doorbell, an alert is sent to your smartphone that enables you to activate the camera and see who is outside. You can have a conversation with the person at your door through the device as well. As for the smart lock capabilities, it has a fingerprint scanner and hack-proof keypad, both of which can be used to unlock your door or grant someone limited or one-time access. You can also lock or unlock the door yourself using a smartphone app or voice command to another smart device.

SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe [$40-75]

Getting files and media back and forth from your smartphone to a laptop or tablet can be challenging, especially if the devices aren’t compatible with one another. It’s not always a simple as using AirDrop or Bluetooth to connect and transfer things wirelessly. That’s why SanDisk created the iXpand Flash Drive. It’s a storage drive that comes in multiple capacities, and includes both a USB-C and lightning port so you can plug it into whatever devices you’re using at the moment. Say you have a PDF file stored on your work laptop. You can load it onto this iXpand flash drive via USB, then access and open the file later at home on your iPhone via the lightning port. This isn’t revolutionary technology, just an advancement that improves accessibility and portability between different types of devices.

LG PuriCare Mini Portable Air Purifier [$199]

Whether you’re trying to avoid COVID-19 or just general allergies, breathing in clean air can help keep you healthy. There are plenty of air purifiers available on the market today; unfortunately most tend to be large and quite expensive. LG’s PuriCare Mini Portable Air Purifier may not be the cheapest air purifier you can find, but it won’t break the bank and has the added benefit of being lightweight and very portable. Weighing only 1.2 pounds, it is certified to remove 99% of 0.3-micron ultra-fine dust particles from the air, which can contain viruses, disease, and harmful substances such as heavy metals. The device also connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth, enabling users to control air flow, obtain filter information, check real-time air conditions, and monitor battery life.

Hamilton Beach Smart Coffee Maker [$100]

Many of us can’t get through the morning without a hot cup of coffee (or three), though how you get that shot of caffeine can vary depending on your personal preferences. For those with more “traditional” sensibilities, there’s nothing quite like a standard coffee maker set to brew a full pot at the start of your day. While the results are always the same (and largely dependent on the type/strength of coffee you brew), the path to that first cup has finally started to change with the times. Hamilton Beach now offers a “smart” coffee maker, capable of adding remote operations and schedule functions to your brewing process so it’s easier and more convenient to make. It connects via smartphone app or Amazon Echo device, so you can ask your smart speaker to start brewing, change the brew strength, or turn off the coffee maker. You can even program routines to schedule a brew at a specific time each day, and come up with unique command phrases to launch specific operations in an even simpler fashion. This is an ideal gift for someone who likes waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee, or would prefer to start the brewing process with a simple command without ever having to get out of bed.