We all know him. Maybe he’s your husband, your brother, your “bro”, heck maybe he’s even your dad; the guy who has everything and is always ahead of the curve when it comes to the latest in tech. Every year you pull out your hair agonizing over what to get him and every year he gives you a polite “Wow, thanks…” as he searches through the wrapping paper for the gift receipt.
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Well this year we’ve got you covered. Surprise Mr. Cool with one of these amazing, out of the ordinary tech gifts. You’re welcome in advance.
It’s not enough to use a tablet like the Apple iPad 2 for drawing and sketching out ideas. Alpha geeks need a device that can sense 1024 different levels of pen pressure, uses both infrared and ultrasonic technologies to sense your pen movements, and something that then translates your notations in analog for reproduction in the digital realm. The Wacom Inkling is essentially an analog-to-digital converter for sketches, notes, and drawings. The device is accurate to within 2.5mm.
Announced quite some time ago but now available for purchase, the Line 6 Mobile In is an ingenious add-on for either the iPhone or the iPad. The 30-pin connector snaps into place on your Apple device, and then you can connect a guitar directly into the quarter-inch adapter. The free Line 6 POD app helps you adjust the tones used for recording. The Line 6 supports up to 24-bit/48 kHz audio.
The terms “triple capsule array” might be meaningless to most of us, but for someone who wants to record an analog sound or your own voice directly to the computer, this technical feature is a godsend. It means you can record in cardioid (a circle), omnidirectional, bi-directional (two sides) and stereo. This microphone connects using USB but also supports the standard XLR professional connection.
One of the smartest inventions of the holiday season, at least if you are a techie, the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse doesn’t require a USB adapter, which is easy to lose. Instead, the mouse connects over a Wi-Fi signal directly to your computer, bypassing a router as well. (An included HP app creates an ad hoc Wi-Fi network just for the mouse to use.) To scroll in a browser, you just slide your finger over a touch sensor.
This RC car can flip over and still keep going, thanks to wheels that work both right side up and upside-down. You control the car with a controller that casts a beam of light, which makes it easier to perform stunts and drive the car over the included ramp. There’s a speed burst mode as well. To charge the car, you connect using a small wire into a charging box that is powered by AA batteries.
One of the most brilliant robots you can buy (for the price), this dancing bot looks like a Pokémon or maybe a rubber duck. When you play music, the bot dances to the beat and you can even poke the device as well and see how it reacts. The MyKeepon bleeps and purrs sound like it has some form of sentient intelligence, even if it is really just responding to sound waves recorded with an internal mic.
Available in white or dark blue, the Dyson Hot Fan Heater streams an even flow of hot air around a room at up to 99 degrees. The entire fan swivels in a 360-degree arc, oscillating the hot air around the whole room instead of just making your feet warm. You can push the base to adjust the flow lower or higher. The air multiplier tech squeezes air through tiny holes instead of using a fan, which means the entire device is safe to touch anywhere and produces more heat than a normal hot air fan.
These powerful video binoculars use a 10x optical zoom and a variable digital zoom from 0.9x up to 20x. Yet, there’s more techie features than conventional binoculars: You can record what you see at 60 frames per second or the more theatrical-like 24 frames per second in full 1080p video resolution. For still pictures, you can capture them at an impressive 7.1 megapixels. As an added bonus, you can capture 3D photos and videos too.
Star Wars legend Ian McDiarmid gets questions about the Emperor’s sex life
This weekend, the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 20th anniversary re-release had a much stronger performance than expected with $25 million and a second-place finish behind Sinners. Revenge of the Sith was the culmination of plans by Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) that led to the fall of the Jedi and his own ascension to emperor. Because McDiarmid's Emperor died in his first appearance -- 1983's Return of the Jedi -- Revenge of the Sith was supposed to be his live-action swan song. However, Palpatine's return in Star Wars: Episode IX -- The Rise of Skywalker left McDiarmid being asked questions about his character's comeback, particularly about his sex life and how he could have a granddaughter.
While speaking with Variety, McDiarmid noted that fans have asked him "slightly embarrassing questions" about Palpatine including "'Does this evil monster ever have sex?'"
Waymo and Toyota explore personally owned self-driving cars
Waymo and Toyota have announced they’re exploring a strategic collaboration—and one of the most exciting possibilities on the table is bringing fully-automated driving technology to personally owned vehicles.
Alphabet-owned Waymo has made its name with its robotaxi service, the only one currently operating in the U.S. Its vehicles, including Jaguars and Hyundai Ioniq 5s, have logged tens of millions of autonomous miles on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.
But shifting to personally owned self-driving cars is a much more complex challenge.
While safety regulations are expected to loosen under the Trump administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has so far taken a cautious approach to the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles. General Motors-backed Cruise robotaxi was forced to suspend operations in 2023 following a fatal collision.
While the partnership with Toyota is still in the early stages, Waymo says it will initially study how to merge its autonomous systems with the Japanese automaker’s consumer vehicle platforms.
In a recent call with analysts, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai signaled that Waymo is seriously considering expanding beyond ride-hailing fleets and into personal ownership. While nothing is confirmed, the partnership with Toyota adds credibility—and manufacturing muscle—to that vision.
Toyota brings decades of safety innovation to the table, including its widely adopted Toyota Safety Sense technology. Through its software division, Woven by Toyota, the company is also pushing into next-generation vehicle platforms. With Waymo, Toyota is now also looking at how automation can evolve beyond assisted driving and into full autonomy for individual drivers.
This move also turns up the heat on Tesla, which has long promised fully self-driving vehicles for consumers. While Tesla continues to refine its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, it remains supervised and hasn’t yet delivered on full autonomy. CEO Elon Musk is promising to launch some of its first robotaxis in Austin in June.
When it comes to self-driving cars, Waymo and Tesla are taking very different roads. Tesla aims to deliver affordability and scale with its camera, AI-based software. Waymo, by contrast, uses a more expensive technology relying on pre-mapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar and lidar (a laser-light radar), that regulators have been quicker to trust.
Uber partners with May Mobility to bring thousands of autonomous vehicles to U.S. streets
The self-driving race is shifting into high gear, and Uber just added more horsepower. In a new multi-year partnership, Uber and autonomous vehicle (AV) company May Mobility will begin rolling out driverless rides in Arlington, Texas by the end of 2025—with thousands more vehicles planned across the U.S. in the coming years.
Uber has already taken serious steps towards making autonomous ride-hailing a mainstream option. The company already works with Waymo, whose robotaxis are live in multiple cities, and now it’s welcoming May Mobility’s hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna vans to its platform. The vehicles will launch with safety drivers at first but are expected to go fully autonomous as deployments mature.
May Mobility isn’t new to this game. Backed by Toyota, BMW, and other major players, it’s been running AV services in geofenced areas since 2021. Its AI-powered Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) tech allows it to react quickly and safely to unpredictable real-world conditions—something that’s helped it earn trust in city partnerships across the U.S. and Japan.
This expansion into ride-hailing is part of a broader industry trend. Waymo, widely seen as the current AV frontrunner, continues scaling its service in cities like Phoenix and Austin. Tesla, meanwhile, is preparing to launch its first robotaxis in Austin this June, with a small fleet of Model Ys powered by its camera-based Full Self-Driving (FSD) system. While Tesla aims for affordability and scale, Waymo and May are focused on safety-first deployments using sensor-rich systems, including lidar—a tech stack regulators have so far favored.
Beyond ride-hailing, the idea of personally owned self-driving cars is also gaining traction. Waymo and Toyota recently announced they’re exploring how to bring full autonomy to private vehicles, a move that could eventually bring robotaxi tech right into your garage.
With big names like Uber, Tesla, Waymo, and now May Mobility in the mix, the ride-hailing industry is evolving fast—and the road ahead looks increasingly driver-optional.
