💌 Issue 32: ‘Tis the Season for Gadgets, Scams, and Sanity Checks
What to buy, what to skip, and how to protect your peace (and your wallet) this holiday season. Plus, is Jenn's Techish roadshow coming to your city soon??? 🎄🎤✈️
Happy Friday from the Jolly Holiday Tech Headquarters, where it’s pure chaos, but in the best way.
Imagine me buried in cardboard and bubble wrap, surrounded by enough gadgets to power a small nation. There are drones in the dining room, headphones in the fruit bowl, and a tower of unopened boxes teetering like it’s auditioning for Jenga: Tech Edition. Somewhere in here are the very best picks for everyone on your holiday list. And, quite possibly, Juni, my dog.
In today’s newsletter:
🎙️ Techishly Jenn: Episode #2 — Have you watched or listened yet?
🎁 Holiday Gift Guides Have Officially Begun! 🛍️ Early Standouts
✈️ Taking This Show on the Road
💸 How to Shop Smart (and Not Get Scammed)
⌚ Read Scott’s review — The Smartwatch That Finally Lets My Kids Explore
💬 What We’re Learning (and Building) Together
🎙️ Techishly Jenn: Episode #2 — Can an EV Power Your Whole House?
We’re back with our second podcast episode — and this one’s already sparking major debate. (OMG, me and the puns. Can’t stop, won’t stop.)
We tested what happens when your car becomes your backup generator.
Listen or watch here → EP. 2: Can an EV Power Your Whole House?
Quick question: Do you like the video version or audio-only better? Drop a comment or send us a note — it helps us shape how we share future episodes.
🎁 Holiday Gift Guides Have Officially Begun!
Here’s the good news: after weeks — okay, fine, an entire year — of testing, we’ve found the standouts. The gadgets, gifts, and gloriously weird inventions that make real life just a little bit better. No filler, no fake deals, no affiliate fluff. Just the good stuff.
Consider this the first — but nowhere near our last — round-up of the season.
👉 Read the first of our full holiday gift guides here.
🛍️ Early Standouts
Here are a few of the first wave of gifts worth unboxing early — the gadgets that actually impressed me (and survived our chaotic testing).
🐦 Bird Buddy Smart Feeder – $219 starting Nov 11 (46% OFF the normal retail price of $399)
Uses AI to ID visiting birds and sends crisp photos straight to your phone. Families, grandparents, and nature nerds love it. Tech that reconnects you to the real world.
💡 Nanoleaf 6-in-1 Red Light Therapy Wand – $99.99
The light-panel people went full beauty tech. Red light, warmth, and vibration for that post-facial glow — without the spa bill. (Back in stock soon.)
🥤 LitFlask Smart Bottle – $99
Tracks hydration, charges your phone, pulses to your playlist. Half hydration coach, half disco ball in a bottle.
🚗 CarMD Connect – $99
Plugs into your car’s hidden port and translates the “uh-oh” light into English: what’s wrong, how bad, and what it should cost. It’ll even ping you when your teen or parents make it home safely.
🚽 Tushy Warm-Water Spa Bidet – $149
Yes, a smart toilet add-on. Connects to your sink for warm water and a self-cleaning nozzle. It’s the weirdest gift that always turns into everyone’s favorite. Once you go warm-water… you know the rest.
🎯 Board (Tabletop Console) – $499
A 24-inch touchscreen built into a wood-framed table where video games meet board games. It pulls people off their phones and back around the same table.
🐹 ZhuZhu Pets (2025 Reboot) – from $13
The hamster heroes of 2009 are back with new tunnels, cars, and a Ferris wheel. Proof that batteries still beat algorithms.
🏀 huupe Arcade – $599 (on sale)
The first smart basketball arcade that tracks every make and miss, folds up neatly, and streams Netflix on the backboard. Slam-dunk holiday fun.
👓 Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition – $1,407.99
AI-powered laptop that learns you — not the other way around. Elegant, intuitive, and actually feels personal.
🔮 Imagix AI Crystal Ball – $199
A holographic fairy or dragon that listens, chats, and helps kids build confidence. Storytime meets science fiction.
💻 HP OmniBook 5 (Snapdragon X Elite) – $679.99
An AI-ready laptop that doesn’t act like one. Whisper-quiet, shockingly fast, and up to 26 hours of battery life. Thin, light, and under $700 — serious performance without the drama.
🖨️ HP Smart Tank 7602 – around $469 (we expect a holiday deal … tbd)
For anyone still printing things (hi, parents, students, midnight project warriors). Two years of ink, self-healing Wi-Fi, and one-tap phone printing. A printer that’s finally as smart as it claims.
Again … those are just a few early picks. From pocket-sized hand warmers to the laptop that can outlast your flight delay, we’re just getting started.
What do you want to know more about? What questions do you have? I’m here, answering your questions — so use me! (That doesn’t sound right…)
✈️ Taking This Show on the Road
We’re about to hit the road — suitcases packed with gadgets, cables, and my best funny elf-outfit. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be showing off the best holiday tech, sharing some behind-the-scenes chaos, and talking about our bigger mission here at Techish and Techishly Jenn:
…to tell the stories behind the screens — the people, the power, and the messiness in between. It’s curious, useful, and more than a little bit human. Think part news-you-can-use, part consumer survival guide, part tech therapy session.
Here’s where you can catch me next:
📍 Next Week: November 11: Seattle – KING-TV
📍 Nov 25 – 29: Los Angeles
📍 Nov 30 – Dec 3: San Francisco
📍 Dec 4 – 7: Chicago
📍 Dec 8 – 12: New York City
📍 Dec 12 – 15: Washington DC
📍 Dec 15 – Jan 3: Home for the Holidays (finally, family!!!)
📍 Jan 3 – 10: Las Vegas for CES 2026
📍 Jan 10 – 12: Back to New York for the Today Show
If you’re in one of those cities — or just want to peek behind the scenes — keep an eye on my socials and the Techish newsletter. We’ll share travel clips, quick reviews, and maybe even have time for a meet-up or two IRL!
💸 How to Shop Smart (and Not Get Scammed)
Of all the questionable choices we’ll make this holiday season — overspending, overcommitting, overeating — getting scammed shouldn’t be one of them.
Sadly, it most likely will be.
Americans lost more than $12.5 billion to online fraud last year, and Thanksgiving weekend is now the peak for scam attempts.
Here’s how to shop smarter, save money, and keep your sanity:
1️⃣ Automate your after-buy phase.
New tools like Refundly scan your receipts, track returns across multiple stores, and alert you when a refund posts — perfect if you order three sizes of everything or juggle family gifting chaos. Just use a dedicated shopping email, not your main inbox, when connecting apps.
2️⃣ Watch prices after you buy.
Extensions like Capital One Shopping (which absorbed Paribus) or Earny can flag — and sometimes claim — retroactive price drops. It’s the easiest way to get money back if your “deal” gets even better next week. For Amazon items, try CamelCamelCamel or Price.com to check real price history.
3️⃣ Protect your payments.
Always pay with a credit card, not debit — and never gift cards or crypto. Credit cards give you dispute power; the others give scammers a payday.
4️⃣ Stop trusting the feed.
That ad in your Facebook or Instagram scroll? There’s a really good chance it’s not from the brand it pretends to be. Type web addresses directly, double-check the domain, and if the price looks like buried treasure, assume it’s a trap.
🚨 READ THIS: Meta Is Earning a Fortune From Fraudulent Ads, Documents Show (Reuters)
5️⃣ Layer your savings.
For small, everyday buys, use cashback apps like Rakuten, Fetch, or Ibotta. For bigger tech, stack a price-drop tool on top. Smart shoppers don’t chase deals — they layer them.
6️⃣ Slow down.
Scammers count on urgency. If a countdown clock is flashing and your heart’s racing, step away from the cart. Buried treasure rarely ships Prime.
If You Still Get Burned
Act fast: dispute charges with your card company, report scams at ReportFraud.FTC.gov, and save screenshots — they’re your best evidence.
Bottom line:
AI hasn’t just made shopping smarter; it’s made scams smarter, too. Shop the deal, not the dopamine. Because this year, the new Grinch doesn’t steal presents — he steals payment info.
💬 What We’re Learning (and Building) Together
This whole crazy experiment — from the newsletter to the new podcast to the roadshow — is about making tech human again. It’s about asking what’s actually useful, what’s worth it, and what just clutters up our lives.
You don’t need to know every spec or buzzword to feel confident about your tech choices — you just need a trusted guide, and maybe a little humor along the way. That’s what we’re building here together.
So tell me:
💡 What gadgets are you curious about?
🎧 What kind of stories do you want more of?
💬 What’s the biggest tech frustration in your daily life?
Drop us a comment, question, or crazy idea on Substack or our socials — your questions, ideas, and chaos-fueled opinions shape everything we do next.
📣 Help us grow this community
If you liked this week’s newsletter, please share it. Forward it to a friend, post it on socials, or just shout “TECHISH” into the void — the algorithm might even listen.
And don’t forget to:
⭐ Subscribe to Techish on Substack
🎧 Listen to Techishly Jenn: Episode #2 — Can an EV Power Your Whole House?
⌚ Read Scott’s review — The Smartwatch That Finally Lets My Kids Explore
🎄 From the Jolly Holiday Tech HQ
That’s a wrap from the land of tangled charging cables and cookie crumbs on keyboards. Wherever you are, I hope you find a little joy in the chaos — and maybe a deal that actually is too good to be true (in a good way).
See you next week — live from Seattle!
xo,
Jenn