T4L: 9 Tech Tips for Christmas

The holidays are about family, friends and fellowship.  But the spirit of the holidays can be spoiled quickly if we forget that technology can overshadow the reason for the season.  With the holidays fast approaching, check out these tips on the acceptable, and the utterly unacceptable, use of technology.

DO

Use 'point and shoot' or mobile phone cameras to take lots of pictures of precious moments.  After all, you wish to treasure them forever.  But do not share the images immediately.  Snap the pic then savour the moment.  Save the picture sharing for Boxing Day.

DO

Use your tablet to include others.  Consider traditional board games and other multi player games that can get everyone involved.  The goal is not bury your head in a mobile device while holiday cheer fills the room.

DO

Use your Internet enabled devices to stream music to spread holiday cheer.  Add in a Bluetooth speaker and keep the dinner party going.  Remember to stream, not steal, during the season.

DO 

Install a Bible app so your smart device can help you keep your faith.  Feel free to substitute 'Bible' for the Koran, the Book of Mormon, or which ever text is relevant to your faith.

DO

Uninstall social media apps (if only temporarily) to remove the temptation to post, share or stare a the feed.  You can always re-install and catch up later.  If you feel an urgent need to be social, socialise with family and friends in front of you at dinner.

DO

Use Skype or a similar video conference tool to share a virtual meal with family far away.  With the right set up, it can almost seem like your loved ones are all in the same room.

DO

Make a phone call to make someone feel special and loved this holiday season.

DO NOT

Send texts, broadcast messages and/or IM messages before 12 noon; especially to people you hardly know!  Give your friends, family and associates a break in the early hours to have some personal time in the morning.

DO NOT

Read texts, broadcast messages and/or IM messages while at dinner.  Just because a colleague was thoughtless enough to send the message doesn't mean that you have to read it.

RJR's Tech4Life airs on Wednesdays at 8:15 AM

Christmas Tech Shopping Tips - Entertainment

The perfect Christmas gift is something the recipient will love and treasure everyday while still being affordable for the giver.  Tech gifts are perfect for Christmas, if chosen wisely.

There are countless gift options in a wide range of categories for the novice to the savvy including:

• Entertainment
• Mobile Computing
• Gaming
• Home, Car and Personal
• Connectivity

Entertainment
Jamaicans live to entertain and be entertained.  We like movies, TV and especially music and we like it all loud enough to entertain the neighbors not just next door, but down the block as well.  Thanks to Courts and Flow, it may well be a merry Christmas.

From the affordable to the luxurious, headphones, component sets (stereo systems) and flat screen TV’s are all great gifts.

Courts offers a range of iSound headphones to suit every taste.  Trendsetters like Beats by Dre.  Another option is House of Marley headphones; they are environmentally friendly, have great sound quality and are inspired by the life and legend of Bob Marley.


Just about everyone can use a good set of headphones so that they can enjoy their music, podcasts, audio books or really just about any sound, privately.   But when being really loud is actually the preference, a component set can deliver clear sound across a room, or across a neighborhood, if desired.

Clearly, sound quality is the first and most important determining factor, but also consider enhanced features like iOS docs for seamless iPhone, iPod or iPad integration, USB playback of music on flash drives and wireless connectivity via Bluetooth or WiFi for cord free streaming to remote speakers.

A flat screen TV is a sizable gift - from 16” to 60” - but a well received one.  To compliment the wide range of component sets at Courts, the retailer also has on display a wide range of TV’s.  Samsung is the hot brand, with Sony and LG also offering excellent options.

Forego the expensive and unnecessary 3D options and look for smart TV’s with internet connectivity, popular apps pre-installed and USB playback to transform the TV into a large photo album.

For bonus points, get USB drives as stocking stuffers.  And like batteries for toys on Christmas morning, consider giving the gift of connectivity and HD cable.  After all, what is the point of having an HD TV without HD content or having a smart TV that doesn’t have internet access.  Thankfully, both issues can be solved with gift certificates from Flow.

Tech 4 Life airs every Wednesday morning at 8:15 am on RJR 94 FM.